Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Cranky/Happy/Cranky/Happy/...

This morning, looking south from the sidewalk in front of my house. There is a hill (mountain) hidden in that cloud.





Happy St. Patrick's Day! It's a cranky/happy wintery day. First it was quiet and rather nice outside (even though there is snow on the ground). Then it "blizzarded". Then the sun shone for a few minutes. Then it "blizzarded" again. Now the snow is lazily drifting down. No, the sun is shining!

Corned beef, potato, and cabbage dinner is being served at friend's house this evening. Musical notes here: I don't have to cook dinner. nanner, nanner, nanner. Friend said I cannot contribute toward the dinner, so what to take her??? I know! Hot cocoa mix or mocha mix. If I were rich, I'd buy her a dishwasher, but I'd want to buy myself one, too. :)

Got up to a mess this morning. The dogs? the cat? had spilled the watering can. My own fault! I filled it and set it right where it would get knocked over. To clean up the water, I had to unload a bookcase that was loaded with junk, kitchen appliances, food stuff. The bookcase has real oak laminated to particle board. Right now, about an inch of the veneer looks bad. I have the bookcase on its side so that the bottom will dry. We'll have to wait and see what damage was done.

Sometime today, I need to try to start the pickup, because there are errands to be run. Wish me luck! Makes me so mad, though. I'll go out and try and try to get it started. I'll tell DH that it won't start. You guessed it! He gets in and it fires right up. GRRRR (I do exactly what he tells me to do, and it still won't start for me.) It is "my" pickup. Why does it hate me so much???? lol

Tale of Two Stinky Bath Towels. They smell like a combination of sweat and pet urine even after they are washed. I've tried everything I can think of: Woolite, Clorox 2, hot water, Spray and Wash, Murphy's Oil Soap, lots of baking soda (except chlorine bleach). These two towels are of a different size, different weight, and different color and get washed in different loads. I cannot get the smell out of them. I'm now running one through a second soak cycle with a cup of white vinegar in a small tub of water. Not only do these always get hung up to dry after a shower, but a fan gets turned on them so that they dry fast. And, I think, they are always dried thoroughly (after washing, of course) before I put them away. I've probably spent more trying to get the smell out than it would cost to buy new towels. We have wooden towel racks. Would that cause the problem? If so, why only those two towels???

Something scary. Try this sometime. Put your towels in the washer without adding any laundry aids. Fill tub with rather warm water and agitate. Real SUDS not just air bubbles! I use less detergent than the directions say, and I always use the second rinse option!

I love recycling. I'm not an environmentalist, but I don't like waste. When our (privately run) recycling center closed, I was really upset. For quite a while we saved all the stuff and hauled it to Moscow's recycle center. Well, finally it just got to be too much, so I threw a bunch of it in the trash. Then about four days ago there was an article in our little local rag saying that we can still recycle metal if we take the cans to the transfer station (dump). At least it is something. (I always save aluminum cans to take to Moscow, because we get cash back on those.)

Murphy's Law at work. Last week DH and I broke down and bought a treadmill - a luxury purchase. Late that evening after we got home from Lewiston and moved the furniture so that the treadmill could be set up, I plugged in the vacuum cleaner, and it went "spofffsst". It wasn't even turned on, and sparks flew out of its butt. Now I have to buy a new vacuum cleaner. :(

AHA! I think the vinegar is working. I'm running the towel through one more vinegar wash just to make sure. It must have been mildew causing the odor, although I'm not sure why or how.

What the view south looks like now (11:10 AM). It is gorgeous out - warm, no wind, and bright blue sky.



Blessings!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was going to suggest soaking it in vinegar/water and then washing it with a vinegar rinse. Vinegar works wonders!

I HATE when the cats knock over a left out glass of water. Yeah, it's my fault, but why do they do this? It's not like they don't have a full bowl of water in the kitchen.

Lucky you and all that snow! :ducks!:

Adrienne said...

I am sooooo sick of winter. However, I have tulips coming up already.

We have so much damage to deal with from that first 30" blizzard. The heavy equipment that dug us out massacred a few evergreens and there is huge piles of driveway gravel everywhere except the driveway... Oh well

Amber said...

Today I was thinking that I missed the snow - just a little bit. Then I read your blog and smiled at the pictures. :) Winter is seems to be so bi-polar it seems!

Amber said...

I was missing snow a little bit this morning (with my 60+ degree weather) - and then I read your blog. Isn't it grand! :)