I Hate Laundry!!!

Let me just start by saying I HATE DOING LAUNDRY!  I understand the necessity for it, none of us can wear something till it gets dirty and just throw it away and go buy more.  I really do get that.  I just hate the whole process of doing laundry.  So last week I had no clean socks and actually had to buy some, I knew laundry day was not far off. Our washing machine is broken so I have to go to the laundry mat right now.  I won't even go into why it broke but I think it has something to do with me felting a few items in our front loader and stopping it and prying the door open. (apparently, the manufacturer does not like when you do that)  Ahhemm, we won't talk about that because my DH may read this and if he did not already figure out that is the reason the glass front popped out and smashed to the floor, I certainly do not want to be the one to alert him. But I digress, anyway when you are down to that last pair of undies that you hate, you know the ones, they have the waist band that has stretched out so much you rely on the waistband of your jeans to hold them up, when you get down to those you know it is time to make that dreaded trip to the laundry mat.  I have a thing about throwing away dirty underwear, it just seems wrong so I wash it and then when it comes back I hate to throw it away because, well it's clean and I might need that pair when I am desperate.  Now I have no problem throwing away my husband and sons ripped and nasty panties!! Figure that out Sigmund Freud.
     I started out by loosely sorting my clothes into piles and then bagging them up into garbage bags. Oh yeah I was way beyond baskets at this point. As I was hauling my bags to the hallway so the boy child could load them into the car my darling husband looked into our room and said, "I am really glad I do not have as many clothes as you!" I responded, "Yeah well I only have to do laundry every 3 months!" (I am not so sure I won that one.)  I hinted around to everyone that it would be great bonding time if someone came with me but I guess they all decided we are bonded enough because they all suddenly scattered with really important things to do.
    I got to the laundry mat with all my bags and a few baskets, in which I carried the laundry soap and dryer sheets, loaded it all in and started to get myself all set up, I had put my big girl panties (OK, really they were granny panties) on and was ready to tackle this chore all by myself.   I loaded 7 normal size washers and 1 super sized one, I was trying to get the door shut on the big one when I looked up at a guy who had been reading and he was staring at me.  I could not get the door to latch and he said, "Yeah, I could not get that one to latch either."  So, do you think he could have mentioned this BEFORE I loaded my garbage bag full of clothes into it????  Now we are not talking kitchen can bags oh no, I have heavy duty cinch sacks with flex-steel so they do not burst when you stretch them.  (did I mention I have a lot of clothes and hate doing laundry?) I unloaded it, mumbling curses on him, his family and his dog. I am not usually that mean to animals but this had started to become quite an ordeal.
      I went to the change machine and it happily sucked in my $20.00 bill and I took my change and started plugging washers. I got to the end of the change in my hand and still had 3 washer to go.  I am sure I looked like a deer in headlights, I looked all around and started digging through my purse and unbelievably came up with $8.75 in quarters.  Who knew??  That still left me .25 short. I considered asking Mr. Helpful if I could give him small change for a quarter but decided against it.  I dug and dug in every crevice of my purse and low and behold I came up with a green quarter with half a stick of chewing gum stuck to it.  I don't even remember the last time I had gum in my purse!
     I got everything going and then had to go back and put soap in each washer, I almost soaped someone else's but caught it at the last second.  I then had to go to the grocery store to get something quick for supper and change for the $50.00 I had so I would have more bills to change into quarters for the dryers.  I got back just as the last washer stopped.  I went to my friend the change machine and fed it another $20.00 bill and it gave me more quarters and some gold dollars.  That is all well and good but the dryers do not take gold dollars. I looked around quite confused for a bit and spotted the "other" change machine, it takes gold dollars and turns them into quarters. REALLY? That's all I have to say about that.
      I fed the dryers and got everything going in circles and the world was a happy place. I had brought several crochet projects with me because I thought I would have hours to sit and work, others were reading, sleeping, knitting and watching football, I managed to get 1 row done and then I had to feed the dryers again. I did not want to have to feed it the whole $1.50 if it stopped so I was running from end to end, because of course I could not get 8 dryers all next to each other, checking time and how dry things were.  How do I own so many tank tops??? Well to be fair I guess I never throw them away. Hens the black "Jets" tank, bonus points to anyone when even remember the Jets!! I think I made it home with all the socks I left with. There were of course a few that did not mate well when I got to the end of the pile but it is OK I tend to wear mismatched socks some days just for fun. I did however find one in the washer when I was loading, (I think it might have belonged to Mr. Helpful but I just put it on top next to the soap dispenser, I also saw one on the floor and one in the parking lot, none of those were mine and unfortunately they also did not match any of the ones I was missing mates too, I checked.
    4 hours, 1 row of crocheting and $49.00 later I got everything folded and back into the bags plus the basket. How did my pile get bigger by getting clean? I got home, dragged all my clean laundry up to my bedroom and have I ever mentioned I hate putting laundry away?? That is for another days rant!

Needle Felting Class

I had a wonderful needle felting class at Yarn Harbor last weekend.  We had 6 people in class who all made two different Christmas ornaments.  We made a round ball and also a flat hanging one.  We learned a few different techniques for needle felting and blending colors.  It is always so wonderful to see what everyone makes.  No two pieces are ever the same.

http://craftside.typepad.com/

Go to this fantastic site    http://craftside.typepad.com/ for an opportunity to win some great prizes and check out some great other projects.

Where did November go????

AHHHHHHH! How did it get to be December 1?  I know, one day at a time.  Well these days seem to have been zooming past at a speed faster then 24 hours at a time.  Deadlines! Deadlines! Deadlines! oh yeah throw in the fact that Christmas is only 3 weeks away, Thanksgiving came and went, eldest child moved back home, lots of classes taught and lots of massage clients........ CALGON take me away. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy and actually do my best when I am under the gun and have to get things done, but it seems like there has been no time to breath in the past few weeks.  I have not had time to post a single blog or even tweet very much.  I am not making excuses just explaining the facts. "The facts, ma'am, Just the facts."  I will make every attempt to do better this month but I can make no promises!   Today is my ONE YEAR anniversary of being in my new office space. I think it was a fantastic move for me and my businesses.  I have plenty of room to do massage, a waiting room, and space to set up my sewing machine, winder, swift, and many many skeins of yarn.  As I was writing this I looked around my office and realized I have all of those other items set up and in various stages of use right now.  I am making Christmas gifts for my family members. I can't yet say what it is because they are all getting the same thing and some of them "claim" to read my blog so I do not want to let the cat out of the bag.  I have 17 of the same item to make.  I have completed number 11 as of today!  I am getting there.  I am also making items for sale at Art in the Alley. Unfortunately this is the time they will sell the best so I need to get items done and on the sales floor asap.  I also have a few items I cannot discuss till later in the year but lets just say they need to be done and in this month as well. Again, I am not complaining I am just sayin"!  OK RANT OVER!! I will take a deep breath and move on! Tomorrow is a new day!