The Undomestic Goddess: Yet Another Tragedy

When I was in college, until I had my own washer, I would do my laundry at my Grandmom's house. And by do my laundry, I mean show up with two bags of dirty clothes, wash as much as I could and when it because too late my poor Grandmom would say, "Just leave it here and come get it this week." (Yes, that's right, my Grandmom is amazing- AND she fed me). As a semi-adult who does her own laundry in a washer- half-dryer-contraption here in Ireland, I realized just WHY it was always a much better idea for me to stay away from... well, machines.
Since I've been marathon training in this Irish Heat Wave, when I leave the gym I am disgustingly sweaty. After an 8-miler I look like I have been dunked into a pool... okay, maybe dunked into a pool and beaten with one of those noodle-things that I never quite understand the appeal of, but I digress. When I get home my clothes go immediately from the plastic bag they've been in all day to the wash, because nothing that narsty is going into my hamper. Last night I came home to no laundry detergent. However, we had fabric softener. Fabric softener and dish soap. After some discussion with my brilliant flatmate we conclude, "Why not? Its soap, right?!" So in go the dirty clothes. In goes some fabric softener. In goes some dish soap... and a little Shout Stain Spray for good measure. "They're just gym clothes," I tell myself. Whats the worst that could happen?
So I head to my room to get my notes organized for tomorrow and awhile later I hear a squeal from the kitchen. Now I'm not sure if you have seen the episode of the Brady Bunch when one of those rambunctious youngsters (Bobby? Peter perhaps?) puts something like a whole box of laundry detergent into the washer, causing an explosion of soap and foam as far as the eye can see? Yah... THAT episode. THAT episode was replaying itself in my kitchen. I'm not sure what went wrong exactly... maybe it was the extra squirt of dish soap that broke the washers back? So I mopped up the suds, stuffed some towels under the washer, and put that baby on rinse. And I continued to rinse all night long.
(I know what you're thinking, and YES, I am available for housekeeping services).