Monday, September 24

clocks, towels and parachutes

Aahhh...It's Monday again:) I just did up the Sunday dishes (extra deep pile this morning as it was Thom's birthday yesterday and I made side-dishes and everything for the Sunday meal!woohoo!) I am being accused of once again giving Thom a gift that is really meant for myself. You give a lactose intolerant man one icecream maker one time and they never let you live it down! (you moms will already understand that when I gave that gift I wasn't really giving an icecream maker per se, I was giving the gift of "quality time" using it with his children for a lifetime of happy memories. Unfortunately , it was from Wal-Mart so it didn't last a lifetime...or even a week.)
~This year I am giving him a double -sided station clock. He has always been fascinated by time pieces. But, since our house is full of elliptical arches between rooms, I suggested the appropriate and only place to hang it would probably be best in the kitchen, between the kitchen itself, and the small room off it. Yes, that does happen to be my office at the moment. But he does watch the evening news there almost nightly and as he sits almost always says, "What time is it? Is it 6:30 yet?" I think my case ends there don't you? It is a gift for Thom entirely.
~This weekend I washed one load of laundry three times ! The same load! I guess Al Gore would not be happy. I put it in Saturday morning before work, then went off to work and didn't get home till 9 p.m. So it had sat in the washer for 12 hours. It stunk! I set it on delay to re-wash at 5 a.m. thinking I'd put it in the dryer before church. I remembered it at 5 last night where it had once again sat all day, wet, in the heat. I washed it yet again and finally put it in the dryer where even this morning it still sits. I've pin-pointed where I went wrong. I thought someone would check to see if there was laundry in the washer which needed to be transferred. Nobody ever does do they? I know people went in there that day to get clean clothes...I know the downstairs vibrated with the noise of the washer shaking in spin cycle, thereby alerting people to the fact that the washer was in use.
I can't wait for cold weather simply so that wet laundry doesn't grow heat spores and stink when forgotten about. And let's face it, towels are toast once they've been left in the washer on a hot day. They may smell kinda okay when re-washed and dried...but once they're against your wet body...YUCK!!!! I do not understand how my grandmother had the same set of towels for approximately 50 years. They were paper thin and stiff by the end. We could have written secret messages on them and folded them back up, put them away and used them in a spy situation, because who would look in a closet at towels for directions or maps to a treasure etc.?
I have to replace all my towels every couple of years because the stink won't ever come out of them once they've spent a significant period of time in the washer on a hot day. My grandmother always worked full time so it's not that she was home all day. (during the war she sewed parachutes for the soldiers, how cool is that? Some soldier drifted behind enemy lines hanging from a parachute my little grammy sewed!)
~Well, it's 8:30 and time to wake the troops here and get the day started. Perhaps we'll start with a lesson on laundry....

11 comments:

ukrainiac said...

Sooo frustrating, I must agree!

Faith said...

I have washed the same load of laundry three times before. haha. I like this post and I like the little known fact about your grandmother. I need to come back to your shop whenever I get back into town. Do you still sell those Dr. Suess looking candlesticks that you have on your mantle at your house? The green and white ones? I think those are the coolest candles every!! They are so much fun!

Jeanne said...

I love reading and hearing about your days in Cambridge! Look for a post, SOON, about Kolya on my blog as you requested.

kibbe said...

Faith, I have a few pair left, but they've upped their prices again making them absolutely over the top priced, so I'm not carrying them when these are gone.
Jeanne, looking forward to Kolya updates:)

Anonymous said...

A blog right up my alley. Living in the "South", I just can't get used to the fact that stuff in the washer can't "set" too long. (In the "North" it could sit for weeks! 'Course my mom's cigarette smoking gave everything a different "flavor":-)

What frustrates me is that in my "energy saver dryer(thanks, Al) the same result can happen since my towels don't completely dry after 60 minutes!(yes, I've checked my vents)

Interesting about the towels that still have the moldy smell after being washed and used on wet bodies-I have the same problem. A survey will now be conducted at home to see which are the "offending" towels.

(Connie L. bleaches everything-even colored-towels)

Anonymous said...

That was lengthy...
Just read your car post. ANOTHER touchy point. You are right on girl! I am sharing with Rachel this year.(Decided double the gas money is still cheaper than never getting money towards car insurance from broke children).
I like being forced to stay home. I get done what needs to get done without the distraction of being "somewhere" but it HURTS my "widdle" brain trying to figure out the schedules-"You need the car that day-I need it this day,etc"....

Cindy said...

okay--most things are colorfast these days--My mother often used bleach even in colored (colorfast) loads--as long as it was diluted and added after all the water was in the tub swishing around--so I occasionally do it too, when nothing else works.

I have found that BLEACH will get the smell out and even if they sit there a few hours will still smell good.--even a little bleach in a colored load helps--about 1/4 cup --even less--like an eighth cup.

We had this discussion a couple years ago--remember?--since then I have used bleach when I can--especially after they get that nasty smell. I use a good bit 1/2 or more in white loads AND most of the towels I have bought since then are white or light so I CAN BLEACH them and leave them in the washer while I am at work :-)

oh--I bought a new detergent that seems to work pretty good to get them smelling okay--Arm and Hammer Essentials--but it might be my imagination.

Cindy said...

oh--Jason has no interest or time for "Projects"--but I have given him--a sander and a cordless drill--amongst other things I have always wanted.

kibbe said...

I'll try the bleach, but the reson I don't usually use it is because I use those "color catchers" in every load. I don't separate anything at all! I throw whites, reds, blacks, delicates, tough stuff all together! So, I always figure bleach will eat some sensitive things.
Funny about the tools for Jason:)

Cindy said...

more about bleach--be sure yu are wearing old clothes when you use it--no matter how careful I think I have been--some must get on my fingers and I wipe them on my shirt or something--cause I have ruined some nice stuff I was wearing when I put a bleach losd in--You can't see it at the time--but later-there are white spots!!!


do those color catchers work???

kibbe said...

I LOVE the "color catchers". While at first it seemed extravagant to use one for every load, when I stop to think that I usually ruin one or two very good items a year by having the color run from a new item, or a red or black sock that snuck into a white load they have paid for themselves over and over again! I highly recommend them!