Wednesday, August 13, 2008

I Hate Modern Conveniences.....

Normally, I dry our clothes on drying racks..either outside in the warmer months, or in the cellar, next to the woodstove in the winter. I just use the dryer for sheets, towels and fabric. This summer has been very, very wet. 11 of hte past 14 days have seen at least 1/2" of rain. Clothes aren't drying on the racks. Went to use the dryer last week. It ran, it produced heat. It didn't tumble. When Michael finally had a chance to take it apart, the belt was broken. I was lucky enough to find a replacement belt at a local appliance store (no big chain) and he put it in and the dryer works fine. However, I was over a week with no dryer. I had laundry on racks, sheets and towels over the doors, banister, chairs, mirrors, I even put a sheet in the refrigerator door, put a chair in front of the fridge to keep it closed and draped the sheet over the chair.

Of course, nothing dried properly and I ended up washing everything. Again. I never thought I would be so happy to hear my dryer going around and around and around.

Then, last night, I went to the fabric store with the kids. It was dark when we came out. Got in the car. Put key in the ignition. Turned key. Lights came on, radio came on. Car made NO noise. Called for a tow, called Michael, who was actually on his way home..to come rescue freaking out children. As we were sitting there, I heard a click and the lights flickered for just an instant. I tried the car again. It started. Cancelled tow, called Michael.

I took the car in today..there is a bad spot on the starter. It will start 99% of the time, but with 2 little kids, I'm not risking that 1%. With my luck, it will be 10 degrees, dark and in the middle of no where with no cell service.

So, I went to another fabric store that's closing. Was going to take advantage of their 50% off sale, but since the car repair was substantial, I just got the few things I needed and came home.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Ranch Dressing Does Not Make Good Body Paint...

These are the words that came out of my son's mouth as he came down stairs, all red, blotchy and itchy. For some reason, he thought he'd take the ranch dressing up into the bath tub and paint himself. He started to itch, turned on the water to rinse himself off...and it didn't work. On the positive side, the mess was contained to the bathtub. On the negative side, somehow he got the dressing in a spot he shouldn't have.....and it was quite itchy. However, I wasn't going to be scratching in there!

Another lesson learned...bathroom cleaner does not cut through ranch dressing. It sort of clots it up, like curdled milk. Hot water and vinegar does the trick. I guess soap scum and Ranch dressing are 2 totally different entities, when it comes to cleaning........