I made the mistake all wives make at some point. I washed a load of jeans, and I didn't check the pockets first. Of course, girls leave very few items in their pockets, because we have purses. So we can generally throw our pants into the washing machine without a second thought. Actually, I saw a guy at my college the other day who had a purse. Well, it looked a lot like a purse. Not a letter-bag, not a bookbag. An olive green purse. But what kind of bothered me was that I really liked his purse. So does that mean I'm masculine or he's feminine and has good taste in purses? Well, he does have a man-purse. I think he's effeminate. But I bet it is easier for his partner to do laundry.

Men are a bit different, in that one must inspect every pocket of every pair of their jeans before washing them. I've washed Brandon's wallet before, which cleaned his cards and money quite well and shredded business cards into tiny pieces which gleefully tumbled in the dryer like white confetti. This time, though, a pen found its way into the washing machine. And did it attack the pocket of his jeans? Why, no! It attacked my jeans. My new pair of jeans. And I tried Spray n' Wash, color-safe bleach, and even Goo Gone to get it out, to no avail. I searched briefly online for a solution, but most of the suggestions I found I had already tried or required that I buy a "wonderful, powerful, fail-proof cleanser" in order to get the ink off.

So does anyone have tips on getting ink out? I'd be much obliged, because I really did like that pair of jeans.