The great laundry detergent mystery

A couple weeks ago, swimmer girl and I were making a tactical strike on my favorite-place-to-loathe-shopping: WalMart. (To all my friends and family who work at WM: I love y'all. But as a rule, the stores are just too big, and our local one has...well...declined in quality. Friendly folks work there, which makes it tolerable once I get my items rounded up.)

Anyway.

On my list was laundry detergent. Swimmer girl and middle son have eczema, so our laundry detergent must be free of dyes and other allergens. The front-loading washer means it must be marked with that little HE symbol. The list of choices is narrow. It's usually All Free & Clear or Tide.

Have you seen me?

I picked up a jug of All. I'm sure I did. Swimmer girl backs me up - we got the jug.

When we got home, I was pressed for time so I unloaded only the perishables and left the rest in the car overnight.

When I finally got around to bringing the other stuff in, you guessed it:  no detergent.  I didn't even miss it at first.  A few days passed and someone mentioned we were running low.  I asked if there was a new jug in the laundry room - nope.  So I chalked it up to absent-mindedness. I thought I bought some, but apparently not. No mystery there, right?

But a few days ago, as I was pulling onto the road that leads to our house, a jug of detergent was sitting on the edge of our property. Same brand, same size as what I thought I purchased.

A little worse for wear...and about 1/4 gone. Middle son said he found it on the bank of the pond when he mowed that day; he set it out on the road in case someone came by for it. He didn't know I was missing an identical jug of the stuff.

Aside from the laundry fairy, there are two possible explanations - one is a little disappointing and the other is highly implausible.

1) Someone "borrowed" it out of my car, had a crisis of conscience and returned it.
2) By some weird stroke of epic coincidence, a jug of the same brand and size fell out of someone's vehicle going around the curve and it toppled down the slope toward the pond.

Shrug. At least I have detergent again. And I guess I'll start locking my car at night.

Happy laundering,

My wild goose chase

Not literally, although with our quasi-farmlife now, that is always a possibility.

No, this is about a skirmish in my never-ending quest for organization.

In the old house, I had a nice wall-mounted ironing board. Very handy and folded away when not in use. This laundry room is not configured in a way that lends itself to another one of those, so I'm back to a regular ironing board. I went so far as to haul my original one out of the shed, but it is almost 30 years old. The rubber leg covers are dry rotted and it's rusty. Time for a new one.

So I bought one around the date we started moving in. And as I recently realized, it has sat unused - in its plastic wrap! - for a few weeks now. But I'm sure some day it will get used and in order to keep it neat, I really need (yes, need) one of those organizers that holds both the iron and the ironing board. (I'm sure my iron is on pins and needles, waiting for a new home, else it would have been over here weeks ago.)

I went looking for a wall-mounted holder, specifically one with a metal or silicone plate back so a still-hot iron can be placed in it without scorching the wall while it cools. What I found is that such a creature is nearly impossible to find locally.

I tried. I really tried. I went to four stores (three in one trip just for this object), and came home empty-handed:

WalMart - nope.
Home Depot - nada.
Lowe's - had one but it was not worth the price.
Target - has one online, but locally, nothing.

True to form, off to Amazon I went. Found this model by Brabantia.  (I have two of their stainless steel trashcans, and love them. Here's hoping this is as well-designed and sturdy.)

Who knew this would be so difficult to find?

Question:  Why is it so hard to find a selection of ironing board holders these days?

Possible answers:
A. More people using the built-in or over-the-door ironing boards, and don't need them.
B. When it comes to ironing, more of us are opting for wrinkle releaser whenever possible.
C. More of us just don't iron at all.

Hmmmm.

Happy chasing those wild geese,

Our Laundry Fairy's Tale

When we moved a couple weeks ago, the washer came with us. The gas dryer did not because the house doesn't have gas.

It's no big deal - we have been back-and-forth enough to carry a load over to dry and/or carry a dried load home every other day or so. And the Laundry Fairy has done remarkably well at keeping the laundry caught up, and folding the clothes as soon as they came home.  I've been pretty proud of her, actually.

On Friday, Mr. Official decided it was time to quit dallying and get a new dryer, so we ordered one and it was delivered yesterday.  Good call - now we can wash and dry clothes much easier.

Yesterday - for the first time since we moved in - I realized the iron did not make the trip.  Some linen napkins came through that absolutely positively must be pressed before they can be put away.

Now that I think about it, the Downy Wrinkle Release (magical stuff) is still at the old place, too.  So for 16 days, not a single blessed piece of clothing we've worn has been touched with an iron.  And thinking back, I'm not sure anything got ironed during the two week paint-and-move-a-thon.

I'm still trying to figure out how the Laundry Fairy has managed to totally avoid ironing for the better part of a month.  If you have seen us with wrinkled clothes and were simply too kind to say anything, thanks.

Happy Monday!

What a Beautiful (?) Mess

Life happens.

Stuff happens.

But organization doesn't just happen. At least not at our house.

Two weeks ago today, I packed up the Highlander and headed south for a week in the sun. I left behind a freshly vacuumed and dusted abode, with clean sheets and towels in place, laundry caught up, and the refrigerator, freezer and pantry in reasonably good shape.

The night before I returned home, I heard the words I dread to hear from left-behind family members: "Well, I guess we should run the dishwasher before you get back tomorrow." That is an ominous portent of what awaits me when I get back.

Aside from the atrocities in the kitchen, my clean desk is suddenly less-than-pristine since my docking station has died and I can't get my monitor hooked up directly to the computer (long story...) The net result is my laptop is sitting smackdab in the middle of my blotter until I get a new docking station. It's a process.

This week has been a time of catching up on work and after-school swim practice has cut into my evening hours. Those are my excuses for not tackling the neglected areas of the house or laundry as quickly as I would have liked. Today brought me face to face with a crisper of mushy vegetables, which now must be tossed to make room for the fresh produce I lugged home from the grocery store (another postponed chore that was badly overdue.)

There's no time like the present to dig in and get caught up; I'm making chili for a benefit cook-off tomorrow evening, then Sunday will bring us a houseful of high school youth for their monthly devo. (I'm thinking takeout pizza...no prep, no worries, just toss the boxes when they're done.)

As for the rest of the house? This too shall pass. But not without some elbow grease helping it along. Here's hoping the laundry fairy and cleaning fairy show up soon.

Happy homecoming,

The laundry fairy rides again!

Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there was a busy wife and mom who had a laundry fairy. (And a cleaning fairy, cooking fairy, grocery shopping fairy, and errand-running fairy. But this story is just about the laundry fairy.) The laundry fairy came every couple of days, gathered up all the dirty laundry, washed, dried, folded it and put it away for everyone. The busy wife/mom loved her laundry fairy...

Wow...wouldn't that be nice? Well, unfortunately my laundry fairy is just about worthless. She shows up once or twice a week - at best - and sometimes she doesn't even stick around to get all the clothes washed, dried and folded! Anyone know of a good place to search for a new laundry fairy?

Every time I threaten to sack her lazy backside, my family - for some WEIRD reason - comes to her defense. "Don't fire the laundry fairy!" "We love the laundry fairy!" The way they carry on, you'd think she was related to them or something.

Today the laundry fairy decided to grace me with her presence. All I can say is it's about time she showed up. The cleaning fairy must have hitched a ride with her, because somehow the beds got stripped and re-made, the bathroom is tidy and clean, and the vacuuming and mopping is done. Maybe I'll give 'em another chance...

In other news, I gave Rachael Ray a chance this week, and she didn't come through. Sorry Rach but the salmon en croute was not so great. I'm thinking a little more flavor in the 'shroom and onion, a little less lemon "tang," and maybe some Hollandaise sauce inside the packets, or drizzled over the top. And asparagus - this is definitely a dish that calls out for fresh, tender asparagus stalks to go with. They're almost in season...a few more weeks and they won't be astronomically expensive.