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Tuesday, June 21, 2005
things I think
You know what is a total scam? Is laundry detergent scoops. Laundry detergent scoops are the Make Thousands A Month Stuffing Envelopes At Home of the housework world. The manufacturer sells you a box of powdered detergent, proclaiming that said box of detergent will wash, say, 80 loads of your husband's socks and your son's muddy jeans. But then they include -- here's the devious thing -- a scoop which holds THREE LOADS' WORTH of detergent. Now, they are up-front about this; they put little lines on the side of the scoop showing how little you actually need to use, but come on, they know that with a scoop that big you're going to get in a hurry and just scoop up whatever and end up buying more product after only, say, twenty-eight loads of wash.
Where is the outrage? I ask you.
(my personal solution is to replace the clear green tool of deception with a 1/3-cup measure. I'LL SHOW THEM.)
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Also, I need a haircut, like really badly. I can't do anything dramatic because I'm too wimpy, but it's going be going from waist-length (the few stray hairs that actually live long enough to make it that far) to above the bra strap, SOON, or I'm going to end up going completely off the deep end and getting it cut up to my jaw or something. And I'd really regret that. Especially when the divorce papers were served.
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And further, I think the people who are crying because cutting PBS will mean the end of quality children's programming until the end of time need to watch Nickelodeon a little bit, and also check out, say, THE SESAME STREET STORE in their local mall. I think Big Bird and the gang could probably make it on their own without the subsidy, don't you?
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Also, because we are moving our schoolroom stuff back into the main house since what has formerly been known as our schoolroom will (I hope) soon be rented out to some fortunate individual, I get all the fun of moving, without, well, the fun of moving. In other words, I hauled boxes and books for about three and a half hours today, and I'm not done yet, and then I get to scour and scrub and all that fun stuff. Anyone want a nice small apartment in a good location, all utilities included? :-D
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I'm about to reveal a dirty secret. Ready?
Our house has fleas.
NOT the apartment! Oh dear me no, the apartment's clean as a whistle. Er, at least as far as INSIDIOUS DEMONIC LITTLE BEASTS are concerned. That's because the fleabags cats don't go in there. So if you were gonna come rent that apartment you just come on ahead, it's all fine and dandy, yessir.
So far we've tried flea collars for the cats and fogging (which is a HUGE pain in the derriere, oh my GOSH, the covering of food preparation items! the shutting off of aquariums and pilot lights and refrigerators! and on top of that, it completely and totally failed to have any effect whatsoever) for the house. Now we're planning on doing the drops-behind-the-shoulder-blades thing, since everyone says that is just the be-all and end-all of flea prevention. Because sitting down at the computer and having to pinch three fleas to death within about ten minutes is really lame.
Comments
Our first dog brought fleas inside, too, and those flea drops really helped. Now, everyone in our family (who has dogs) uses them, because they work so well. They're not cheap, but it's worth the price to have flea-free pets and home!
I also need to have a haircut. I avoid it for as long as possible, but eventually, the ends start to look so scraggly that I'm ashamed to go out in public! If only hair didn't break off so much...
Posted by: Michael at June 22, 2005 04:49 AM
Every time I do laundry, I think the exact same thing about the detergent scoop. It's a total scam. I try to be very careful about only going to the line like it says but perhaps I should consider replacing their deceptive scoop with a properly-sized scoop. Theives.
Posted by: mary at June 22, 2005 05:12 AM
"Now we're planning on doing the drops-behind-the-shoulder-blades thing, since everyone says that is just the be-all and end-all of flea prevention"
We used those for Dogbert, and they worked really well!
Posted by: debi at June 22, 2005 08:57 AM
Yeah, the drops work well. It still has to break the flea's life cycle a little, so give it a couple weeks. My friend's puppy had fleas and it took longer than she expected for the drops to work, but they did.
If you just want your hair blunt cut to the middle of your back, I have scissors and will travel. ;) Frank and I cut my hair most of the time until the layers get too unruly.
They are cutting PBS? I haven't watched tv in awhile I guess...
I started using the cheap-o Sun Mountain Fresh liquid laundry soap when I got my front load machine. I use sooo little. The clothes are nice and clean too. I always used WAY less powder soap too.
Sorry you have to move all the school stuff. But now, you will have income coming from the room rent and exercise from the steps. ;)
Posted by: Sher at June 22, 2005 12:38 PM
Divorce papers...hee hee.
My roommate is CONVINCED there are fleas in the apartment. He wants it bombed/fogged/whatever. I don't--partially because Ryan and I have never seen or been bitten by any fleas (roommate is pretty dramatic and prone to...imaginations). I just don't like the idea of toxic chemicals all over everything, you know? But it's better than having fleas, I am sure.
Posted by: Kristen at June 22, 2005 12:38 PM
There are other public broadcast stations that have lots of cool children's programs and some of the ones that are on PBS will be moving to other stations. I watch KCET and KOCE which are awesome learning stations. I don't have cable and I really hate primetime and reality shows and that awful crap they call NEWS. You will still find Bill Nye the Science Guy and Globe Trecker (did I spell that right) and The Antique Road Show and Nova and all that cool stuff. Sesame Street has lost something over the years, I think, anyways. Pop-culture was much more cool when we were kids than it is now. It's all bells and whistles these days.
Posted by: jenn at June 23, 2005 12:04 PM
OK, I'm an idiot. I'm a complete idiot...please disregard the last comment I made. There are three channels I watch, 28, 58 and 50. One is KCET, one is KOCE and I thought the other one is called PBS. I feel like a moron...I don't need to explain why. I am now really upset. I do watch those stations religiously. I have learned soo much from watching them. I love the space, physics, undersea, historical, etc documentary shows they have. It is idiotic to remove the PBS channels. I mean, I can still rent these things from Netflix on DVD, but what about those who can't afford to rent movies? What about those who can't afford cable to watch the History, Discovery and Learning channels and hate regular TV? It is an outrage and I will do what I can to make my voice heard, even if others don't really care either way.
Posted by: jenn at June 23, 2005 06:02 PM
Honestly, I'd forgotten until I was telling someone else about it that the children's programming that's good is on cable, not over the air (this is how in touch with that stuff I am, I guess). That does put a slightly different cast on things. However, we do fund libraries which now stock a huge variety of videos and DVDs -- and I do think that if people WANT quality TV, then it can exist in the same way that the non-quality TV does -- by selling ads. I KNOW the kids' shows could survive and thrive that way, and I imagine the documentaries could too.
Posted by: Rachel at June 23, 2005 06:39 PM
