Laundry and other complaints

Note to L. (and whoever)

What really gets to me is buying more bandaids, repellant, gauze, hydrocortizone, paper tape, etc. and then finding my supply stashed under a bed or whereever. They use bandaids like duct tape if I don't head them off at the pass. And then there's the bubblebath and room freshener (oh and let's not forget the t.p.). If a little is good ...

3 girls X 3 sets of school clothes (including undies, socks, and sometimes shoes and jackets) + at least one change after school + sleep clothing + towels and washcloths.

That's assuming Ray and I run around here nude (which we don't). We're a little past that. Add in our clothing and Carol's and yep, I wash every day either early morning or late evening. PG&E rates are lower and it's a better use of energy. Of course, so is a washboard but no thanks. I did that for one winter with my oldest and cloth diapers in Buffalo. Wet diapers hanging everywhere. My hands were raw. It was just for a couple of months - they must have had laundromats and I just didn't know they existed, if in fact they did. I was very young. Please God, never again.

When I lived in the city, the boys and I trucked once a week to the laundromat for our Saturday quality time. We filled an entire wall of the small washers. Then I discovered the "wash and fold" across the street from my apartment building. It worked out to be almost as cheap when I factored in my time (@ $.25/hour, about the going rate for household chores) and they did a great job. Even roughly sorted the underwear and socks from the clothing and linen.

Stew a great success in spite of me. I'm easing into "winter" cooking a little at a time. Stews, soups, chicken and dumplings, and other comfort foods. It gets chilly and dank here.

Rebecca got bounced from Safety Patrol - the homework issue. I told her I was sad for her but rules were rules. It may not be forever so I told her she could try to make up the ground she has lost by the next reporting period. I'll help but she has to take responsibility. She's so bright but I can't convince her there is a purpose to learning the number of degrees in a triangle or why they insist on learning to estimate when to her it's easier to just add the darn thing; especially when she has to write out the estimated numbers, the actual numbers, and then add both sets to prove her work. This is time saving? I estimate in my head as I shop (round everything up to allow for tax on non grocery items stuff and so all my surprises will be happy ones). I certainly don't carry a notepad or even a calculator shopping with me. I was ranting about all this estimating a couple of years ago with Elcie and told my husband I was certainly glad the builders of the Transcon Railroad didn't estimate. The two ends certainly would not have met in Utah or anywhere else. If it doesn't fit, get a bigger hammer? Why not get it right to begin with? I'm ranting, sorry. I've never found a use for knowing the number of degrees in a triangle or for knowing how to compute the area but I'm not an engineer or architect. I'm sure it's extremely useful to them. I just learned a lot of trivia in school and never forgot. Most of the teaching was rote, drills, and repetition. It'll come in handy on my future Jeopardy appearance.

Back to my how come list: How come I can remember 180 degrees in a triangle but can't remember to plug in the crock pot?

How do I start out with a short note to L. and end up back on homework again? Today is Friday - no homework for two days. Let's see if I can find something to talk about on Saturday and Sunday .

If anyone out there in blogland knows, please tell me how to find the "cent" sign on a computer. It think it used to be shift 6 on the old manual typewriters but I sure can't find it here. Does no one use it anymore? What am I too blind to see? Also, is there some shortcut I've forgotten to type the degree symbol? I used to know with Word Perfect (I knew how to do a lot with Word Perfect, I loved it) but haven't found it here. I'll look it up eventually rather than keep typing out "cent" and "degree" but if anyone knows, I'd appreciate their sharing. Trouble is, I don't think about it until I'm in the middle of something like this and I don't want to lose my place here to look up something dumb like the cent sign. Then I forget all about it until the next time.

Enough, already.