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Karen the Laundry Nazi (and, the Laundry Meme) August 17, 2007

Posted by Karen Joy in Clothes, Get Organized!, Housework, Memes.
14 comments

I never thought I was particular about my laundry until I took a trip this past Spring.  I was in the home of two different friends and two different relatives, and, apparently, among my friends & family at least, I’m more-picky-than-average about how my family’s laundry is done. 

Me, well, it seems simple:  I want my family’s clothes to stay looking as close as possible to how they looked when I purchased them. 

I decided to do a laundry meme to find out what everyone’s clothing care habits are.   I really am curious.  NO STONES of laundry judgement are going to be thrown by me to those of you, for example, who don’t sort. 

Though I’m (mostly) happy with my laundry routine, I’m not saying my ways are best.  I have seen, for example, that there are benefits to not sorting.  Namely, the laundry always stays done, because everything that everyone has worn for the day simply goes into the wash.  My dirty laundry tends to pile up until I have, say, enough reds and pinks for one full load.  Sometimes the piles threaten so greatly to overtake the house that one door into/out of the laundry room is completely blocked.  That’s certainly not to be emulated.

(I did find one other laundry meme out there, but it wasn’t detailed enough for my taste.  And it began with something like “Do you do your own laundry, or do you send it out?  What???  Send out ALL OF IT????  Good Lord!  Are there people in the world who don’t wash any of their own laundry????  They obviously live in a different world than I do, and this meme is probably not for them.) 

There are no rules for the meme.  Add, subtract, change questions, tag whomever you choose (or not), credit me, don’t credit me, whatever.  I’m just curious about your laundry!!

  1. In your home, who does the laundry?   I do all the laundry.
  2. Do you sort your laundry?  Yes, certainly.
  3. If you sort, how many different color/fabric type groups do you sort it into?  At a minimum, there are 1) very darks, 2) reds and pinks, 3) extreme whites, 4) lighter colors  (and that 4th category often gets turned into mediums — like light blues & greens, and lights — like yellows & beiges).
  4. Do you hand wash anything?  I used to handwash a lot.  Now, I mostly just put the articles in a mesh lingerie bag and toss ‘em in with their appropriate color.  Exceptions are made, but not many.
  5. Are there any articles of clothing that you send out to be cleaned professionally?  Yes.
  6. If you have any clothes cleaned professionally, is that drycleaning?  Or regular laundering/pressing?  My hubby’s button-up dress shirts get laundered & pressed, his slacks get drycleaned.  I have an occasional thing that gets drycleaned.
  7. At home, what detergent do you use?  Any detergent additives that you regularly use?  I absolutely LOVE Melaleuca’s laundry products.  They work fantastic and are environmentally friendly.  I use their MelaPower detergent and MelaBrite enzyme-based brightener.  (I’m not a Melaleuca salesperson.  I’ve just used their products for 4.5 years and am very happy with all of them.)
  8. What whiteners/brighteners do you use?  With every load of whites and light-medium colors, I put in OxiClean.
  9. Do you use any fabric softeners?  Nope.  When we had hard water, I used to put a cup of white vinegar into the final rinse cycle.
  10. How do you handle stains?  I usually just use Melaleuca’s spray stain remover, but tough stuff (especially baby stains) gets a soak in OxiClean.
  11. Do you use different water temperatures for your different loads?  Yes.  Whites and very light colors get hot, light-medium colors are washed in warm, dark colors in cold.
  12. Do you use a tumble dryer, or do you hang your clothes to dry?  Tumble dry, except for the delicate stuff, and clothes that I specially want to stay looking new, and most everything that I need to iron.  Usually about 1-3 pieces in every load gets rack-dried.
  13. In your home, who folds the clothes?  Me.
  14. Where do you fold your clothes?  (i.e., in the laundry room, at the kitchen table, etc.)  Almost always at the kitchen table.
  15. Who puts the folded clothes away?  I put away all the clothes, except for my 10yo son’s, who does his own.  Sometimes my hubby puts his own clothes away, too.
  16. Do you have a certain day of the week you consider ”laundry day”?  Sort of.  I try to do laundry throughout the week, but if it’s piled up, Thursday is when I hit it in earnest.  I try to have all laundry done throughout the house by Saturday night.
  17. About how many laundry loads do you do per week?  About 10-12.  There tends to be more in winter, because the clothing is bulkier and simply more clothes are needed.
  18. Do you iron?  Yes.  I love the look of ironed clothes.  However, I need to get a handle on my ironing habits.  My ironing tends to pile up into a *mountain*, then I have a marathon ironing session every six weeks or so.  It’s a goal of mine for this coming Fall to get that scheduled better.

I tag:  Helen, Erin, MLBAH, Southern Girl, Julie, Melissa and Sarah.  And, anyone else who wants to participate, whether I know you or not, consider yourself eagerly invited!

Whoa. Scary. August 17, 2007

Posted by Karen Joy in Christianity, Sad Things, Scary stuff.
9 comments

Nothing like a pic to jolt one into reality.

Read this post from Steve at Careful Thought, which adamantly underlines the point that the god of Islam and the God of Christianity is NOT the same God.

Phones, water and vomit August 17, 2007

Posted by Karen Joy in Digestive Woes, Motherhood, Parenting, Sad Things, The Dear Hubby, The Kids.
2 comments

We have two phones in our house.  (Two home phones, that is;  I’m not counting mobile phones.)  They are driving me nuts teaching me patience.  They came as a set, with a main base that has an answering machine, and a separate smaller base with a charger.  We’ve had the phones for about four years, but they’ve been dying for about two.  They simply won’t hold a charge, and die almost spontaneously.  They give one little “beep” sometimes, then die.  If you can hit the “transfer” button before the phone dies, you can pick up the other handset and continue the conversation.  We’re rarely that quick, though.  Usually, you’ll be having a conversation with me, and hear, “Oh, shoot!” followed by some loud static.  On my end, I can’t hear the static, but the odd and troublesome thing is that the dead phone then ties up the line, and no one can make calls out (on either handset) or in for a good 15 minutes.  This is less of a problem now that I have a mobile phone, but I keep forgetting that I have it;  I only got it in April, and I’m more accustomed to life without it. 

We’ve replaced the handset batteries, but it didn’t help.

A few weeks ago, I dropped one of the handsets in a sink full of water.  I was rather hoping that the phone would die completely, which would justify the expense of new phones, but it didn’t die;  it just now has perpetual static.

This morning, I hear a happy, “Splash!  Splash!  Splash!” and I look over, and 16mo Audrey has one of the handsets, and is joyfully dunking it into the dog’s water bowl.  Several things went through my mind at once, “Oh, I’m glad I saw that Mythbusters that proved you can’t get electrocuted from a cordless handset!  Oh, maybe the phone will really die now, and I can get some nice, new phones!  Oh, shoot, I should really get the phone away from her.”  I take the handset, shake it a bit and lay it out on some dry cleaning rags to drain.  Again, I hear a happy, “Splash!  Splash!  Splash!” as I’m taking care of the soggy phone.  I look over, and Audrey is splashing with her hands, now, in the dog’s water dish, sucking on them after each dunk.

Ah, ha!  That might solve a little mystery.

I was up last night with my little girl, who kept crying, “Ow-weee!  Mah-meeee!”  Cough, cough, puke.  This started around 8 p.m., and didn’t end until 1:30.  She never had the gut-wrenching vomiting action, but as any mother knows, even a little bit of puke is far too much.  I comforted.  I consoled.  I nursed.  I changed sheets.  I changed blankets.  I changed jammies — hers and mine.  I tried to put her in bed.  Ten minutes later, I’d be back.  It was a long five and a half hours.

The whole time, I was thinking, “Where did she get this from?”  We are short one vehicle, and haven’t been out much.  Audrey, other than daily trips to the mailbox with Daddy, has literally not left the house since church on Sunday.  Ethan and Grant have spent time at friends’ houses, so they could have carried something home… but I didn’t think that was likely, because no one else has been sick. 

Then, the “Splash!  Splash!  Splash!” followed by the hand in the mouth, and the moment of (possible) revelation.  It is an daily effort to a) allow our dog easy access to her water, especially as this is summertime in the desert, yet b) not allow Audrey to get into it. 

Maybe the throw-up sessions came from muck in Tally’s water.

Or, maybe I’m just super-tired from less than 5 hours sleep.

I’m just glad that she’s no longer vomiting, and hopeful that I can get the thumbs-up from Martin to add “telephones” to the Costco list.