Wash day

Well, the vast majority of the "list" got done today. All I had left was finishing the peaches (whichI worked for 1/2 hour and ended up with 4 sandwich bag sized bags of peaches - that sucks). Still need to bury a mouse and put away the pool. That'll carry over to tomorrow's list.

Selling off some of my decoration "stuff", I used to make bunnies and I have (still) a pretty good sized bear collection. Before I sell that sorta stuff, I make sure to wash it.

The view from my clothesline today.

Which reminded me of a couple laundry tips. You see, I've been doing laundry since I was tall enough to reach the buttons on the washer, and my very first job was at a care facility, which had 60 residents - doing laundry. So it doesn't phase me (but I do make kids do their OWN LAUNDRY).

Anyway, over the years I've accumlated some tricks of my own for laundry. I thought I'd share them, as I'm sure ppl are googling laundry tips all the time.

1. first type - don't buy as many clothes. No really. I've always believed that if you have a ton of clothes, then it lets you not do laundry for a while. I do have a dresser that's about 2/3 full and a pretty good sized closet of dressy type clothes, but in general, it would take me 2 weeks to wear everything I own. Same goes for Gene, except work clothes, which he has a weeks worth.

2. In that same vein, don't have too many hampers or laundry baskets - I have 2 hampers and 2 baskets. If you have a place to heap your laundry, then it's easier to ignore it.

3. Peroxide is awesome - and cheap. If you have blood on anything, it'll come right out. Just pour your peroxide on it, let it foam up (it will get hot) and then rub and rinse with cold water. I've even done this on carpet, a mattress - etc. It will take out more than blood.

4. I don't use fabric softener. Ever. I think it's hard on your dryer, and it makes your towels not as absorbent.

5. If you want to wash stuffed animals like I did above it's easy. I've done this for years and it works great. You can put in stuffed animals, complete with clothes. Be sure to check first for any raw edges of the fabric or any holes, because they'll get much bigger in the washer. Put your animal in a pillowcase (today was sheet day too) and put a rubber band on the end. I used a piece of string because I dont' keep rubberbands around. Then toss in the wash and wash as usual with a full load. If you dry in the dryer, keep it in the bag. Otherwise, fluff them up and let them air dry. This ONLY works with fiber/poly filled animals. DO NOT do this with any sort of old bear or animals stuffed with straw (they'll be your older animal or collectible).

6. I use just a tiny bit of bleach in my laundry to keep it bright. You can actually put in about a cap full in your colors - but make sure it goes in the water and not any on the fabric. It will help brighten just a bit.

7. any shirts i like, I never dry them in the dryer. I hang them all on hangers to keep them from shrinking. I hate getting an awesome new shirt, only to get to wear it once because it shrank.

I'll add some more as i think of them, those are the ones I thought of off the top of my head.

On another note, I totally forgot to tell you about my car! I had to get an new alternator on Saturday morning. Thank god Gene can do that sort of stuff.

I'd gone to st. joe on friday, and when I pulled back up to the house to the mailbox, it started making a funny noise. I thought maybe something was wet, because sometimes it makes a weird noise when it rains a lot (which it did friday). I forgot about it, and Saturday when we were going to breakfast, it was making the noise. Well, the battery light came on on the way to town. *sigh*.

We deduced that it was the alternator and we made it all the way to the shop where Gene works where his boss helped him get the new alternator on. (his boss is a really great guy!)

Next:
New tires.

OH....
And in other news, I found out that this computer has Adobe Elements on it! No way! I'd been contemplating buying it... or the new version of PSP ... and/or lightroom. Thanks for saving me $100.

who knows how long its been there. From the beginning? No idea. I was downloading digital scrapbook stuff and looking at it in PSP. I clicked on one file and PSE just opened. It can do a couple features that I've been needing.

Again....
God hands me things I need when I wait patiently for them.