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Post by BetsyMarie on Dec 31, 2014 0:16:38 GMT -5
I finally decided I would never use the 'new' film I was storing in the frig and tossed it yesterday. It's expiration date was 2001. Ack.
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Post by lesaulerouge on Jan 9, 2015 5:17:00 GMT -5
Had one distraught daughter last night. She hurt her knee badly at school and went into her cuddly toy bin to find a rabbit that goes in the microwave. As she picked it up all the internal wheat stuff started to fall out through a hole presumably made by a mouse. As we inspected all the cuddly toys we found another little treasure with its foot all eaten, no idea why as it contained synthetic stuffing stuff. Took hours to console her, she cried herself to sleep and went to school with puffy eyes this morning.
I have had enough. I feel completely worn down and defeated by it all. This is the first 'major' mouse damage, rather than just the irritation of them eating into all my spices etc, but it is just a constant presence and issue at the moment,
Anyway, washable cuddly toys are washed and are now taking their chances in the tumble drier. Unwashable cuddly toys are braving it out in the washing machine as I speak, inside delicate laundry bags. Not sure how I will be drying those.
But there are a few with noises etc and battery boxes inside, these obviously cannot be washed. Any idea what we can do to give them a thorough surface clean?
And dd doesn't really feel up to just throwing away the eaten toys, is there an alternative?
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Post by cyn on Jan 9, 2015 9:23:25 GMT -5
I'm sorry your dd's toybox was invaded. It really does get upsetting, doesn't it, when you find them in these sorts of places? I know they only want to come in to share the warmth, but can't they find a nice hidden corner somewhere?! Like in a cartoon, where they eat a tiny hole in a baseboard, and live in the wall? That's why I was getting so angry, finding their nests everywhere, and in my good stuff. Talk about frustrated! We've caught 6 so far. My dog taught me that if you make a hole in the stuffed toy, you can pull out the squeakers and battery boxes. I have one on my kitchen table right now, waiting to be sewn back into one of his Christmas presents. You could make a small slit in the seam, and take out the parts that can't get wet, and then launder the rest. I'd definitely try it, instead of tossing them. Especially since your dd wants to keep them. Good luck!
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Post by dtesposito on Jan 9, 2015 12:06:38 GMT -5
In my last paper purge I found grocery coupons for cat food, that had expired in 1987. They don't even make that kind of cat food anymore. Diane
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Post by larataylor on Jan 9, 2015 14:06:19 GMT -5
When I had house complete clean I found a mouse had crawled in the broiler from last tenant. Can you say mummy? Dried mouse! Needless to say got new broiler pan from landlord! I'm sure my DH would have saved and treasured that mummified mouse. We had a dried cat for a long time … he found that in a barn and just had to keep it.
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Post by larataylor on Jan 9, 2015 14:16:35 GMT -5
lesaulerouge - the one thing I purged that I really regret was a stuffed animal from my childhood. I like cyn's idea of taking out the unwashable parts. Would you even need to put them back in? See if your DD cares about the squeak or whatever. Drying the delicate ones: Set them on radiators if you have those, or near the dehumidifier if you have one? We had a stuffy with long, fluffy fur that I washed & dried, and it came out *felted.* This has also happened to fluffy slippers. Hugs to your DD and you!
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Post by lesaulerouge on Jan 9, 2015 14:52:41 GMT -5
Thanks both. Unfortunately just taking bits out isn't doable - one is a dog that has a sore paw, a heartbeat and a variety of other things if you press different bits of it etc. Another you pull a baby Joey on a string and mummy kangaroo plays a tune etc.
She isn't attached to the eaten toys as far as I can tell, she's not really a cuddly toy person, so I wouldn't feel bad about binning them, but she isn't having it.
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Post by cyn on Jan 9, 2015 15:10:01 GMT -5
I'd use rubbing alcohol on them, if they can't be wet washed. At least it's a disinfectant, and it also dries almost instantly. sorry for your yucky mess.
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Post by Irisheyes on Jan 9, 2015 16:33:52 GMT -5
My most embarrassing daily find is...oh, heck, I can't pick just one. Let your imagination roam and choose something. I probably have it somewhere. Sigh.
I wasn't planning to post on this thread (because I have just so many embarrassing things to be found), but I've been noticing a lot of folks regaling us with rodent tales. ;-) (I crack myself up because I'm so punny!) Anyway, we have yet another mouse/mice that has moved in. Last night, for the first time in many weeks, I heard the little $#@/*!& chewing and scratching. Ggrrrr...
Mice are one of my biggest pet peeves, my nemesis. The ONLY reason I don't have a cat to help keep them at bay is because dso acquired a deep aversion to them after being attacked by one when he was a child. He also hates cauliflower, which I also love but rarely have in the house now, but that is neither here nor there.
He knows I am always on the cusp of getting a kitten if we can't keep the mice out of my house. In fact, I am much more likely to go get a kitten now because he will be traveling for months, than I will buy cauliflower because the kids don't care much for it - but they do like kittens!
Mousal aggravation is making me crazy enough to write about cauliflower here, which isn't embarrassing in the least. The cauliflower itself, I mean, not my writing about it.
I think I better go clean something. This simply isn't funny anymore. ;-)
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Deleted
Joined: January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jan 10, 2015 18:51:22 GMT -5
Had one distraught daughter last night. She hurt her knee badly at school and went into her cuddly toy bin to find a rabbit that goes in the microwave. As she picked it up all the internal wheat stuff started to fall out through a hole presumably made by a mouse. As we inspected all the cuddly toys we found another little treasure with its foot all eaten, no idea why as it contained synthetic stuffing stuff. Took hours to console her, she cried herself to sleep and went to school with puffy eyes this morning. I have had enough. I feel completely worn down and defeated by it all. This is the first 'major' mouse damage, rather than just the irritation of them eating into all my spices etc, but it is just a constant presence and issue at the moment, Anyway, washable cuddly toys are washed and are now taking their chances in the tumble drier. Unwashable cuddly toys are braving it out in the washing machine as I speak, inside delicate laundry bags. Not sure how I will be drying those. But there are a few with noises etc and battery boxes inside, these obviously cannot be washed. Any idea what we can do to give them a thorough surface clean? And dd doesn't really feel up to just throwing away the eaten toys, is there an alternative? My carpet cleaner has an upholstery attachment. Maybe something like that to clean the toys? And then keep them in a rubbermaid bin to keep those dang mice out?
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Post by poppy on Jan 10, 2015 22:09:02 GMT -5
In the past, if my children really loved a stuffed animal, and as long as the stuffed animal was *not* filled with bean-bag, plastic, or pellet-like material, I'd place it in a pillow case and gently but firmly knot the end of it. I'd wash it on the cold setting, then the drain and spin cycle a few times to get excess water out. I'd also wring it manually.
I'd use the dryer only for a short time, again being cautious and aware of the type of filling.
Finally, I'd let it do a final drying time for about a day or two out in the open on top of the dryer because the deepest parts still needed drying. Sunlight and warmth helped speed it along.
Never had a problem.
I did this figuring that it would be much more gentle on the stuffed animals and, if worst case scenario the stuffed animals did split open, then all the filling would be caught inside the pillow case and could easily be disposed of without leaving a mess in the wash or the dryer. I always washed them alone without anything else in the wash and I also made certain to use a pillow case I didn't care about in case of any color bleed.
Again, if they really loved a stuffed animal...
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Post by lesaulerouge on Jan 11, 2015 3:14:13 GMT -5
All the non vocal or active toys came out just fine, clean, smelling nice and soft and fluffy.
Still don't know what to do about the ones with mechanical bits in them.
Or the two eaten things.
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Post by lostchild on Jan 11, 2015 20:02:40 GMT -5
Scrub outside with dampen cloth. Dampen cloth in soapy water and rescrub with alcohol,scrub again with fabric softener on cloth. Then put outside to dry or in dryer.
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Post by 2bc4me on Jan 14, 2015 11:24:12 GMT -5
I had ants. I give my dogs femer bones with the marrow. The dogs had not finished cleaning the bone before it got tossed into their toy box. By the time I discovered this, I had a small black ribbon of ants climbing up the side of the toy box and down to the bone. They were living in the heating vents. I pitched the box and the toys. I was so grossed out. Ant bait worked. It turns out that there are at least 2 kinds of ants, a grease eating kind and a sugar eating kind. I needed to get the correct bait to kill them. I am much more careful about the femer bones now. The bones do not go to the toy box until they are bare bone.
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Post by cleanbee on Jan 21, 2015 16:13:05 GMT -5
Today The electrician found a mummified mouse Above one of the light sockets he worked on. I wasn't too mortified but more disappointed that I didn't get thru his visit without some icky discovery.
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