Wet Report — For the Love of Comfort

Dateline Boston — On Wednesday night of last week, instead of watching history as the Chicago Cubs broke a 108-year losing streak, I flooded my basement. We got a new comforter. This purchase was at least three years in the making. Every fall we take out two comforters; one of them is too flat, and the other is too small. We’ve made do by piling them on top of each other, but they slide around, and by the time we wake up in the morning, our bedding is a mess. Also, they are both white, which gets dirty, and dealing with comforter covers is the worst part of having a comforter.

This year I vowed to buy a new comforter, one that fit the bed, was fluffy, and red, our favorite color. We discovered that the comforter that was too small was actually a twin size, so that one is going to either my stepson or the “guest” pile. The other comforter was donated to Syrian refugees.

I did a Facebook poll about where people got their comforters. The Company Store got rave reviews. I have been coveting a covering from that catalog for at least 20 years. I shoved the latest catalog in front of Husband and told him what to click online. Full/Queen, medium warmth, Primaloft (feathers can be tricky), classic red.

It arrived, and I took it out and spread it on the bed. The perfect color and the perfect size. It seemed a bit…crispy. I did a quick search online about washing a comforter after you get it, and it was highly recommended.

I went down to the basement and stuffed the comforter in the top-loading washing machine. It was definitely past the fill line. I hesitated for just a moment before I decided to shut the lid and put my quarters in the machine. What was the worst that could happen?

I stayed in the basement to wait for Husband, who would soon be arriving with groceries. I figured I would give him a hand. The machine started up fine. After a few minutes, though, it made an unusual straining sound. Suddenly, water began shooting out of the back of it! At the same time, I noticed water slowly pooling onto the basement floor.

Doing It the Right Way

I’m a rules follower. You’re not supposed to open a washing machine when it’s running. Normally I wouldn’t. But this seemed a little extreme. I opened the lid. The machine stopped. It was full of water. The water stopped flowing onto the floor. I dashed upstairs to get the “mess” towels, and threw them on the puddles. Then I called Husband.

He arrived a couple of minutes later, leaving the groceries in the car. We assessed the situation, and realized we would have to take the comforter out of the machine and bring it down the block to the laundromat. Only thing was, it weighed a ton because it was full of water. We went upstairs (with the groceries) and got an industrial trash bag to put the soaking comforter in. It was really heavy. Husband sloshed it to the parking lot, and proceeded to squeeze the excess water out of it. What a river! It took a few times, but eventually it was light enough to bring to the laundromat.

We stuck it in the front-loading machine, added a zillion quarters, and ate greasy slices of pizza for dinner while we waited for it to be done. One of our favorite shows was about to start, so we timed the dryer so that we could start it, sprint home, watch our show, and come back when it was finished. We made sure to add tennis balls so that the comforter would fluff nicely.

Guess what? It got done! We now have a fluffy, non-crispy blanket to keep us warm now and in the coming months. Husband looked at the tag after we put it on the bed, and it said to bring it to a professional laundromat. Thanks, Honey. I’ll pay more attention to the fill line in the future.

Ms. Vaillancourt may be contacted at snobbyblog@gmail.com