Random Thoughts Thursday

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Why is it that if one of the girls gets a stomach virus, it usually only affects that one girl and leaves the rest of us alone, but if someone gets it while we're on vacation, the whole family gets sick?  Mind you, I'm not complaining about only one person getting sick, but it seems really strange that it works that way.

So many people are sick right now.  The hypochondriac in me wants to lock myself up with a bottle of hand sanitizer and hide until everyone's better.

Good thing I work in an elementary school, huh?

Look!  Sweater ponies!

via

I'm bummed that I didn't blog at all last week.

I know I've said this before, but I love, love, LOVE that my girls' favorite music is showtunes.

How does blogger not recognize "showtunes" as a word?  There's something really wrong with that.

I have to watch a video of a laparoscopic gallbladder surgery for my A&P class.  After the knee surgery video and the heart valve repair video, I'm learning to not be grossed out by stuff like that.

I finally took down my Christmas decorations.  But my neighbor still has a Halloween cat on her front door.

Do you have any idea how awesome it is that my kids will choose programming a robot over watching TV?

And that all three of them can quote The Princess Bride at the drop of a hat?

Face it, my family is cooler than yours.

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Random Thoughts Thursday

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Every time I start feeling bad that our Christmas decorations are still up, I look at my neighbor's front door and realize that she still has Halloween decorations up.  I guess when she takes the black cat down, I'll know it really is beyond time to take down the tree.

In Tic-tac-toe, why is it called a cat's game?  Where's the cat?

I have decided that I'm getting old.  I don't know how else to explain my increasing hatred for being cold.  It just seems like I can't get warm, no matter how many layers I put on.

I do think I need some more hoodies, just so it doesn't look like I'm wearing the same few shirts day in and day out.  I promise I'm wearing a different shirt underneath the hoodie each day, okay?

I think it was Mark Twain who said something about "Lies, damned lies, and statistics."  I think of this quote whenever I sit down to study for my statistics class.

I finally manged to take pictures for an entire year!

Aaaaand, I guess I'm out of random for today.

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Random Thoughts Thursday

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(The "Hey, it's actually Thursday!" edition)

I'm not even a full week into this term and I'm already stressed.  I need a vacation.

I've submitted one application to nursing school and have at least three more underway.  Fingers crossed that I get in somewhere!

I'm learning the implications of what it will mean to be in the health care field: people feel comfortable telling you about their bowel movements.

I got knives for Christmas, and it only took me three days of using them to discover just how sharp they are. Ouch.

We discovered over the break that Vicki is only about an inch shorter than my sister.

And next year Lexi will be in middle school.

I'm getting old.

When I was in middle school we wrote out our assignments.  On paper.  In one of her classes, Vicki has a blog. (Granted, it's a technology class, but still...  My "technology" class used Apple II computers, and that was in high school.)

Lexi did a report on her family for school.  My favorite line: "My dad's side is very, very rowdy."

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Random Thoughts Thursday (Friday Edition)

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You'd think that being on vacation would give me more time to blog on Thursdays.  Not so much.  Of course, I'd have had more time if I hadn't slept until 9:00, read for three hours, showered at noon, gone sledding, and taken Ellie for a playdate at her cousins' house.  Pity me for my busy day.

I was informed yesterday in no uncertain terms that it's not a playdate if I stay.  I stayed anyway.  Talking with my sister-in-law is a playdate for me.

While we were sledding, Ellie dubbed herself The Sledding Master. The she said, in all seriousness, "I don't know how I got so good at sledding.  I wonder if any of my ancestors were professional sledders?"

Having a Kindle is dangerous.  It doesn't feel like I'm spending money if I don't actually have the paper book in my hand.

When I showed Vicki how to check out library books using the Kindle app on her new tablet, it was like she'd died and gone to heaven.  "Are you serious?  I have the whole library at my fingertips!"  All she needed was an evil laugh.

A few days ago Ellie spilled chili on the ceiling.

Chris and I watched the movie Sleepwalk With Me.  It wasn't quite what I expected.  It was funny, but also kind of depressing.

I need a new profile picture.  But I'm always the one behind the camera.

I left my phone with Lexi for a little while and when I got it back, it was full of pictures like this:

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How to Get Crayon Out of Washed and Dried Clothes

...Because I'm helpful like that.

We're still on vacation, but fortunately we're staying at a fabulous 5-star location (my in-laws' house) that has full laundry services at no extra cost.  After being here over a week, I finally gathered up all the girls' clothes yesterday, separated them into two loads (though I didn't bother to sort - I just put half in the first load and half in the second) and threw them into the wash.  And when I pulled the first load out of the dryer, I was horrified to discover that everything was covered in brilliant purple crayon splotches.

You'd think after the iPod incident (which, now that I mention it, I don't think I ever blogged about - rice is the key there.  Rice and not turning it on right away) I'd have learned to check pockets before washing the girls' things, but, alas.

I may or may not have said a few choice words.  After all, this is the second major screw-up of this trip, and there were a lot of brand new clothes in that load.  Really cute brand new clothes.  But then I turned to my best friend, Google.  Seriously, what did people in these situations do before the internet?  There were several helpful results, but the one I was most interested in trying was the one that required the least amount of work.  I figured before I started dousing things in WD-40 or scraping every single stain (and there were a LOT) with a toothbrush, I'd try the easy solution.  This blog post was very encouraging, especially with the number of comments after it that all claimed success.  And, bonus, I only had to buy vinegar (and only because my mother-in-law had just run out), as opposed to some other options that had you adding all kinds of crazy stuff to the wash.

So, here's what you do:

1. Put the clothes in the washer, and set the water to hot.
2. Add your laundry detergent, 1/2 cup of vinegar, and 4-6 Tbsp of dishwasher liquid.
3. Let the clothes soak for 10-15 minutes.
4. Let the wash run normal.

My mother-in-law has a front-loading washing machine, so I wasn't entirely sure how to go about the soaking part, and she uses powdered detergent, so figuring out how to add that and the liquids was a little challenging, but I managed to figure it out.  Here are my variations (some on purpose and some on accident, but it all worked out):  I used a full scoop of the powdered detergent, 1 cup of vinegar - but only because I'd read so many different "recipes" that I'd gotten confused as to what the actual measurement was supposed to be - and 5 Tbsp of liquid dishwasher detergent.  I mixed it all together in a measuring cup, thinking that the powder would dissolve in the vinegar and then I could just pour it into the liquid portion of the detergent drawer, but apparently detergents react with vinegar, so that was kind of a volcanic experience.  I got it all in there eventually, though I don't know how much vinegar actually made it into the washer and how much I had to clean up off the counter.  I set the washer on hot and used the autosoak setting along with the heavy duty cycle, so the whole thing took about 2 hours.

It was quite the production when I opened up the washer - my mother-in-law and Vicki were both there, curious to see if it worked (I'll be honest, we all had our doubts - it sounded way too good to be true, especially considering the plethora of other solutions).  I pulled out the bright green sweatshirt that had originally held the crayon in its pocket and was relieved to see that ALL the purple stains and clumps of wax were gone.  In fact, all but two items were completely purple free!

So there you have it.  Should you ever find yourself in this same situation, have no fear!  The clothes can be saved.

Now, too bad I don't have a whole host of household stress relievers to post about.  I could start a series.  Of course, all I need to do is a few more loads of laundry and I'm sure I'll have some other disaster to share. That's just how I operate.