cleaning up

[mamajoan]

Awesome chorus rehearsal last night. On the drive home, mom and I both commented on the fact that, even though we've been singing Handel's Messiah every December for many years (mom says it has been 18 years, I say 16, but either way it's a lot), we still learned and discovered new things about the music in yesterday's rehearsal. Truly a testament to the genius both of Handel and of our music director.

Not so awesome was the kids with the babysitter last night, alas. They were both cranky all night. ugh.

Also not so awesome was some unexpected drama related to our washing machine. On Sunday I had tried to do our getting-very-urgent laundry, but only got one load washed and then we went out and when we came back, I went down to put it in the dryer but found that Brian (friend who lives upstairs) was doing his laundry. So I left mine there and went back later and found that Brian had kindly run my stuff through the dryer, but was still doing more of his own, so I wasn't able to do my other two loads.

So last night before leaving for rehearsal, I ran down to throw in another load, and found a pair of Brian's pants in the washer, and the pants, as well as the inside of the washer, covered in some kind of black sticky stuff. I have no idea what it was, but I definitely was not washing my stuff in there. I went back upstairs and called Brian, who said he would look at it. Apparently he knocked on the door later, rather startling the babysitter, but of course I wasn't home.

When I got home and the sitter said Brian had come by, I tried calling him but he didn't answer. I went to check on the washer and it was mostly cleaned, but I could still feel some stickiness when I touched the agitator. Or whatever you call that big thingie in the middle. Agitator, yes? Anyway, it was still sticky.

But this morning I managed to get Brian on the phone and he said that Charles (his roommate) did some laundry last night and he thinks it is fine. So, I guess tonight I'll cross my fingers and run a load, even though the thing is still a little sticky. I mean, we're getting pretty desperate here, so I gotta do something.

Brian wouldn't say what the black sticky stuff was either. He just said "I got some sticky stuff on my pants and tried to wash it off but it didn't work." I didn't press too hard, so it's still a mystery. Ehh, whatever. I don't care what it was, I just want it gone!

So, cross your fingers that I'll successfully do some laundry tonight, 'cause it's fairly dire. yikes.

In Ruthie news, her new word this morning appeared to be "pumpkin" unless I'm losing my mind, which is quite possible, heh. Also she has been working hard on her pout. She has quite an impressive one, which she busts out if things don't go her way in even the tiniest of matters. ;) I really hope I'll manage to get a picture of this pout, because it is world-class, people.

Speaking of pictures, Amazon has a deal on this digital camera that's awfully tempting. Only $155 and you get a free 2GB memory card. It looks like a great camera, except for the part about battery life and the flash needing 4-6 seconds to recharge. That can be an ETERNITY when you're trying to get good pix of fast-moving kids! So I'm not sure. The memory card costs about $20 and there are other good cameras in the same vein for $130, so maybe I should do that instead. I dunno. What do you think?

Comments

[mishaslair.livejournal.com]

Canons are good cameras, and you should be able to get decent battery life by using high-powered (2500 or greater whatever measuring thingy) rechargables. I haven't used the specific model you linked to, but I did use a Canon digital in that series at my previous job and got good results.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

yeah...it does sound like a good camera, but I went and read some more reviews at professional tech-reviewing sites and they all talked about this long lag time for the flash to recharge. That's really just a non-starter for me, I think.

[brina-is-sassy.livejournal.com]

My first thought is pour a full bottle of rubbing alcohol into the washer and run a load with no clothes and maybe if you do it on a "small load" setting so the water doesn't dilute the alcohol too badly, it will get out any of the stickiness that is left in there. It's great for sticker residue so it might be worth a shot.