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Thursday 22 June 2017

Bear Happens

Bear treated himself to chewing gum at the shop.  I was less than impressed.  Chewing gum has traditionally not gone well.  However bear is now ten and as long as he stuck to the rule of always wrapping the chewing gum in a paper tissue before throwing it out, I let him be.  This is after several unpleasant incidents where bear threw chewing gum at a bin, thought it had gone in but actually it had missed with unpleasant consequences.

Today bear was chewing gum, blew a bubble and it popped over his chin, where it stuck.  Bear looked like he had a very prematurely grey fuzz goatee.  He saw my expression and went to the bathroom to wash it off.  Soap and water isn't very good at getting chewing gum off the chin of a ten year old, so bear gave up and wiped his face on my new towel, the one that is supposed to get fluffier with each wash and is coming along nicely.  The one that now has an intractable strand of chewing gum stretched across it.

I'm checking on the internet for the 'how to get chewing gum out of towels' hints.  The trouble with those hints is a lot of them are hype, some are wishful thinking and most of them have been repeated for years whether they work or not.  I know about freezing the chewing gum, but there isn't room in the freezer for a bath towel.  Peanut butter has been mentioned as a good way of dealing with chewing gum, but I think that will be a trial to get out of a towel.  I think the cooking oil method would be worse!

I looked at my friend eBay for commercial products to remove chewing gum.  Most of them cost more than the towel.  I'm considering cutting it down for facecloths.

12 comments:

  1. UGH! I think that product is the worst thing ever invented. Nasty stuff! Cutting down the lovely towel for facecloths will probably be your only solution.

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    1. I loathe the stuff myself. It causes havoc! Thank you for commenting WS x

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  2. Replies
    1. It is kind of funny. I may be losing a towel, but I did find the funny side. Thank you for commenting WS x

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  3. I have used both the veg oil and peanut butter with success. Don't pour it all over, just dab on with a paper towel, or a clean rag...Good Luck.
    Barb

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    Replies
    1. It's looking like peanut butter and I have really good detergent, so fingers crossed! Thank you for commenting WS x

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  4. Replies
    1. Embarassed here - we don't have ice cubes or an ice cube tray. If I can't get it in the freezer and the peanut butter doesn't work I'm going to freeze a small sandwich bag of water and try that. Thank you for commenting WS x

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  5. I have no idea who this bear person I is, presumably your young son?
    I've read to remove chewing gum, you freeze the item onto which it has adhered itself and then you can scrape it off. That wouldn't cost a penny, and might even work!
    Margaret P
    www.margaretpowling.com

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    Replies
    1. Fitting it into the freezer is my first choice, followed by peanut butter. I'll share what happens, and about bear. Thank you for commenting WS x

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  6. Oh dear, sounds like little bears and chewing gum don't mix too well together! Of course it had to be your new towel, too. Making some ice and using that on the towel would be my suggestion, too. Hope it works well for you.

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    1. It is in the freezer as I type. Thank you for commenting WS x

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