Linterbelle, The Laundry Fairy

Well, it's happened again. 

A button fairy made it's way into my home. 

The last time a fairy's handiwork was seen, it had fluttered it's fairy wings into my minivan. 

Autozena worked her magic by putting a magic button in my car to open the windows in the last row of seats. 

This time, a laundry fairy (probably the rarely seen Linterbelle) found her way into the room my washer and dryer share with our cats. 

Linterbelle probably snuck in through a crack in our chimney. 

The chimney swifts are talkers, they surely told her where to get in.

I was putting a load of clothes into the washing machine we've had for maybe 3 or so years. 

It's a large capacity, top loading, no middle agitator thingy, Whirlpool machine. 

Over the years I've washed tiny toddler underwear, sneakers, dog blankets, a horse's fly mask, bed comforters. 

You name it, it's probably been in my washing machine. 

The big Whirlpool has used liquid laundry soap.

Laundry soap in those squishy square pods. 

And for a while, I was even making my own laundry soap using a mixture of borax, washing soda, and some grated bar of soap called Fels Naptha. 

But yesterday. 

Yesterday when I was putting in a load of towels, towels I needed to wash because I had noticed my bath towel was being used by grubby children BEFORE they washed their hands, I saw something I hadn't seen before. 

I saw the word sheets. 

Right there between casual and delicate. 

I use casual for mostly all of my regular clothes washing duties. 

And delicates for my bras and those crazy shirts that say, handwash only. 

Yeah right, like I'm going to handwash something. 

My name isn't Gigi and I don't have a washboard. 

Puh-leeze. 

But there was the word sheets. 

There's a sheets button?

I keep saying button, but there's nothing to push. 

I turn a knob to get to the desired washing cycle. 

But I'm going to call it a button anyway. 

So, a sheets button?

I have a sheets button?

Since when?

I'm going to wash some sheets next just to use it!

Wait!

My eyes glanced over to the right, to see if another new button had appeared over on that side of the big shiny dial.

And lo and behold, there was another new button!

This one said whites.

Whites?!

I have some whites to wash, too!

Thank you Linterbelle!

But I am a tinge disappointed in the laundry fairy, though. 

She left all of these empty soap bottles on the dryer. 

Maybe one of the cats swatted at her and she had to skedaddle. 

I hope she comes back for them because it's getting very crowded up there...