Thursday, August 21, 2008

Two Bits of Advice & One Question

Note to self: Never, ever, buy WHITE rugs for the bathroom again. It appears that people's feet are actually DIRTY when they're stepping into the shower or bathtub. Hence, the brownish color on the once-white rugs.

I decided to wash them today. Which leads to the next bit of advice...

Stop using Fabric Softener. I use Downy or Suavitel cuz I love the way clothes smell when I use fabric softener. Today, I put bleach into the bleach dispenser, and it promptly spilled on my feet. It appears that the dispenser was CLOGGED with WAXY, BLUE-ISH stuff, and so the dispenser had no choice but to overflow.

(Never mind the fact that I don't actually PUT fabric softener in the BLEACH dispenser...but that's a mystery to be solved another day. I have a couple of people to interview on that topic...)

So I've spent the last 1-1/2 hours cleaning out the gunk from my machine. I've googled how to do it...some say vinegar...some say vinegar ruins your machine. Some say use CLR cuz it's "natural", then they say, make sure you have adequate ventilation cuz it is "toxic" (natural AND toxic, huh?) So I used a good, old fashioned towel and brush and scraped it off. YUCK.

After a bit of Googling, I decided - no more fabric softener. I've been using liquid cuz I heard that dryer sheets are bad for your dryer..so now I surmise that the choice is to A) ruin your dryer, B) ruin your washer, or C) go without. I choose C. Hard scratchy clothes, here we come. Also, I read that Arm & Hammer detergent contains "washing soda" which, according to to the information highway, keeps your pipes clean. So, there you go.

Ever dream that my blog might actually be informative? Nope, I didn't either.

Now, for the question: HOW MANY TIMES CAN "THE VIEW" RE-RUN THE EPISODE OF MICHELLE OBAMA???????

I don't watch it every day. Just once in a while. And these random viewings have caught the same episode of them interviewing Michelle Obama THREE times. (and I figure those are only the ones I've caught). It was an OK interview. She seems like a nice lady. I just wonder why I haven't caught any McCain reruns. Things that make you go, "Hmmmm..."

That's it for now. Just wanted to complain for a minute.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Tuesday - 8/19/08

We were gone all weekend and when we got home, the house was clean - because that's how I left it. Two days home and the dishes are stacked up in the sink, the table in the TV room is filled with games, remotes, cups, toy cars, papers... and the most annoying thing to see...the pillows from the couch are thrown all over the floor. One day, instead of puffing them up and placing them neatly back on the couch, I'm gonna assume the discus-thrower position and I'm going to FLING them out the front door. Obviously, I didn't do much yesterday - just hung out and relaxed - hence, the messy house. But come on...TWO days in the house should NOT a disaster create. But, it does.

"We're out of bottled water", I was told. We always have cases of water in the garage. But they will die of thirst in this house if I don't lug a case of water in from the garage and put the bottles in the fridge. In an act of immature defiance, I have placed the case of water on the kitchen island just to see if any bottles ever make it into the fridge if I don't do it.

Today, Little Boy and I were invited to go see Space Chimps with a friend of mine and her two boys. (By the way - the movie was surprisingly good). After that we went to lunch. After that, we came home briefly, but then were off to karate class. After which we went to the Bible Book store to buy Little Boy a bible for school (he needs an actual bible in 3rd grade!). Of course, he decided on the leather bible with silver-lined pages and the thumb index. He sat and started reading Psalms right then and there, and kept telling me that this was the perfect bible for him! I wanted to go with a cheaper bible, but it seemed to me that he loved that one and was excited about reading that one. So I went with it.

...And I say all that to say...I didn't do much around the house today, either.

But guess what? I don't care. I always have to do it eventually. So who cares if I put it off a day or two. (Someone does, but it ain't me!)

However - in unusual behavior, I decided to start planting stuff. Now, here's the thing: gardening is not my thing ( I kinda hate it). But I hate my yard, so I figured I would take a three-foot length of our side-yard at a time, pull out the already sparse and dying grass, add a bag of soil, and plant something. Anything. My first project is a tropical looking leafy thing that I've had in a pot for a couple of years. The roots are starting to come up and its getting way too big for that pot. So what the heck, I'll throw it in the ground and see what happens. Then, when the urge hits me again, I'll do the same with another three-foot patch of grass. So tonight while little boy played outside, I pulled some grass up, and I used that four-pronged sharp thing that you stick in the ground and twist. I kept hitting something, so I decided to dig it out. It was a ridiculously HUGE rock. About the size of half a loaf of bread. Maybe tomorrow I'll dig-n-twist some more. When I feel the ground is ready, I'll dig a hole and put the plant in. (This is major gardening for me!)

I can't want until school starts so I can do these things without feeling like I should be doing something to entertain my child. Although when school starts, I'll feel like I should be doing something like trying to sell my handmade jewelry to boutiques, or trying to find a part time job somewhere. At which time I'll probably feel like I should be home cleaning or volunteering at school. There's no winning. NO matter what you do...you're not doing something else. (How's that for a nugget of wisdom?)

And so you say, "maybe if you spent less time BLOGGING...."

But that, my friend, is what keeps me sane!