Education on laundry!

A happy belated Thanksgiving people and may it have been as relaxing & enjoyable as ours was.

Well number 1 who is now 12 years old has tipped me over the edge when it comes to washing. In her defense I have to admit that laundry is my thing.

I run a washer load every day and still do the English ironing thing. It can be said that my house may be a mess, and the fridge empty but there are always clean clothes in my house! However I digress.

Over the past 6 months I have nagged my darling daughter to death regarding putting her laundry in the basket or just to put the clean stuff away & not let it mate with the dirty undies on the floor! Here are a few examples of our conversations:

1. "Please remove the filthy cross country or basketball clothes from under your bed & put them in the washing basket."

2. "It smells in here bring out the muckiest!"

3. "Do you know I found 6 pairs of dirty knickers under your bed when I cleared it out!"

4. "Please put the clean clothes away." (multiply by 5 hundred million times.)

5. "My god these socks could walk to the laundry basket they are so filthy!"

6. "Oh you needed those jeans...try looking under the mountain of clothes & papers in that corner as they have been reported missing in action!"

7. "Please bring out your dirty clothes." ( multiplied by 20 million, billion times.)

I threatened the "you will have to do your own laundry" for over 6 months.

I even bought her own personal laundry system, one basket for clean & one for the dirties.

They both had no impact & dismally failed.

Alas, I had to admit defeat and hand the power of doing her laundry over to her.

I do love her dearly but I did have to chuckle yesterday.

I remind her once a week "don't forget to do your laundry as it quickly builds up."

She decided yesterday (as it had been a whole two weeks) that she would run the washer.

The reason...... she was out of undies, yes even the bikini bottoms had been worn!

She had to borrow a pair of mine!

Now even though I am only a petite woman surprisingly my bottom is not the same size as a young athletic 12 year olds buttocks especially after having 3 babies.... therefore baggy was an understatement.

I wonder if she will try & keep up with at least a weekly wash?

Good luck poppet, love you lots!

Winter is here!

The bitter, raw winter is upon us over here in New Hampshire. Every year it totally knocks me off my feet with how cruel, harsh and raw it can be. After living here for 12 years you would think that there would be no shock left..... obviously no!

Of course we are not prepared as the garden clutter needs to be brought in..I'm always hopeful that I may be treated to one more day of having tea in the garden...in other words it is called "just pushing your luck!"

I have held off using the thermals but today I had to give in. Braving the bitterness for a ten minute walk this afternoon as the wind whipped around my trousers I have to say that I am glad that leg warmers are coming back into fashion as it will be yet another layer to warm my old bones with. Thanks to Jane Fonda however I do have a personal issue with her too..

In my teens I religiously followed her records & classes "reaching for the burn!"

And yes I did get there however now I hear that all of us 40 ish folk have got arthritis due to the constant pounding on our joints thanks to Jane, her leg warmers & reaching for the burn.

Jane you owe me one!

Thanksgiving Memories for a Brit.

Hopefully I have not shared these stories with you all before!

My mind is not what it used to be!

About 7 years ago I was picking up number 1 child at school. The children had been learning about Thanksgiving and the Mayflower when one of my friends kinder gardener's said to me "are you a pilgrim?"

She had heard the accent and knew I was from England..bless her!

No I was not wearing my bonnet & praising the lord!

Then I went to the school to watch my kinder gardener in her Thanksgiving play, wow what an enlightening time that was!

Luckily I did not know much about Thanksgiving at the time as this was number one going through the school system...I just knew that everyone in America had family turkey dinners and we all had a few days off.

Well my eyes were certainly opened wide at this school play!

When the kids were shouting "down with the English king & his taxes" I certainly blushed for the whole of England including Scotland, Wales, Ireland and a little of mainland Europe too!

Sometimes the cute accent is not a good thing!

Bonfire Night

We had Bonfire Night on Saturday November 8th.. a little late but we still had it.

Mother Nature as always played the devils advocate and decided to let it stay dry until fire lighting time when she threw a huge pour down tantrum.

Half of our friends are British so the brollies came out and the Americans followed suit as we all stood around our campfire burning our guys. A bit like the 18th century times I guess!

A similar situation to when people go to Blackpool for the day with their butties & flask of hot tea. It may be pouring down & they never get out of the car yet they had "a grand day out at the seaside."

The British spirit will not be broken by a spot of rain or two (million!) Apparently neither will the Americans!

A few guys did resemble the odd political figure or two, apparently this can create a pleasing cleansing effect on ones body.

The chilli & jacket potatoes were flowing and I even scrounged up some Thorntons treacle toffee which apparently was out of date but still disappeared!

The following day all that was left in the fire pit were two stubs of someones legs........legless...similar to how Sir L felt that morning!

Boredom.

I'm bored. Number 3 has had pneumonia all week so I am low on the sleep front and just a little cranky. I had to miss work so I will get no pay this week. They put him on steroids and now he is feeling better he is literally bouncing off the walls!

One benefit is that I have been cleaning out the cupboards..that signifies how bored I am!

Well Sir L (who has slept well all week & worked except for one night) suggested that we have a Bonfire Party. Yeah, whatever was my reply as I had no idea what day it was never mind what month!

So I sent off e-invites and tomorrow we are having a Bonfire Party.

Oh yes I forgot that I was going on a course for the day...the pressure is on!

Good job our friends are all the type to muck in!

There goes my boredom!

Voting Day!

Well today is a biggie in the US...voting day.

I am a citizen and so I get the chance to say who the next President will be. I bravely marched off to the polls to colour my ballot paper in. Of course as soon as I open my mouth and my accent pops out all the volunteers look at me warily...is she an illegal immigrant??

After spelling my name numerous times they find me and shuffle me off into a little circus tent...red & white stripes! An elderly gentleman opened my tent flap for me..bless him.

I colour my paper in and to my surprise you do not just vote for the president but numerous other people too. Selectmen, cleaners the tea lady the list goes on...slight exaggeration there! I feed my paper to the machine and bang I'm done.

No more telephone calls, millions of trash mail flyers thank the lord!

Lets hope that the right chap wins!

Holy Moly where did October go?

Well life surely is zooming by over here. So I am trying to summarise what I have been up to.

1. Just finished a superb book called "The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett.. a historical story set in the UK which twisted all the time to sustain your interest. Its well worth reading and there is a sequel which I shall have to get to pop in my "be prepared for the NH winter" box.

2. New knitting project on the way.. a hat with 4 different colours in.......very tricky for me! Watch this space for a completed product photo or a huge tangle of coloured wools.....

3. I am regularly attending a powertone class with Gina who is a 50ish lady who looks like bendy Barbie and has a great attitude which kicks me into action.

4. That is about it besides the day to day working, taxiing the kids, basketball games, blah blah blah!

Oh yes & I am trying to work out where the hell all of our money is going these days!

Same pay checks coming in, everyone seems to be eating like troopers so the food situation is unreal. Surely $210.00 for groceries a week will feed 5 people???? Apparently not at the moment...I'm going to have to pad the meals out by adding pulses....then I will have to buy more toilet paper!!!!!

I guess we will have to start looking at cutting back a little...maybe sell a kid or two? Anyone any ideas?