This was the "Welcome to a House With Little Girls" load I did the other day.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
This New-fangled Invention
Jennifer wanted me to talk about my new clothes line. And I would be happy to, because I love it. Turns out our grandmothers were not crazy and deprived! I wanted one simply for the money saving aspects of it, but it has so many other benefits! For one, it saves SO much energy. Two, it lengthens the life of your clothes. Plus, your clothes smell SO good, your whites are whiter, and the UV rays kill any germs or viruses. The kids love it, too. Lulu stands right next to me and hands me the pins and Blondie helps me by throwing the clean, wet clothes onto the grass, or by running off with them. I hope the kids have memories like I do of the clothesline. I remember my grandmother and aunt hanging clothes out to dry. All of us kids would get in trouble for pinching each other with the pins, or hanging on and stretching her line. She kept her pins in an old plastic clorox bottle with a hole cut out of it. And we always griped that her towels were so scratchy, but they smelled nice.
I got a retractable line so that when we have people over, I can just retract it and it stays out of sight. Kevin hung the reel end to the swing set frame, and the hook end to the fence. It has to be anchored good, because you really have to pull it tight so it won't sag too much. And it can't be too long because that increases the sag factor. Mine is about 30 feet long. I have to use Downy in the rinse cycle to keep everything from getting too stiff, and I have found that if I take things like shirts down while they are still slightly damp and throw them in the dryer on low for 5 minutes or so, they don't wrinkle and stay soft. On nice days, things dry faster outside than they do in the dryer.
And that's about it. It's a win-win situation for everyone--your bank account, the environment, and your clothes! However, I heard from the guy at Home Depot that alot of homeowner's associations are outlawing clotheslines. Puh-leeze! Exactly the reason we won't move into a neighborhood with a HOA.
Tomorrow is payday and I am off to fix myself up with a clothesline! And maybe to buy more colorful panties, because that is just the cutest photo ever.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the details. I was holding off, thinking I would have to cement in a post like my grandmother's. I hadn't thought of stringing it between two existing objects. Because I am really slow.
That picture has to be on a greeting card of some kind!!
ReplyDeleteWe didn't have enough clothes pins for each piece of clothing to have it's own set of pins. To be a real, true clothes-liner, you have to double up. Overlap the edge of the next piece with the previous and use one pin to hold both. There now, I feel as if I have just made a connection from the past to the future to some small degree! The Nobel Prize awaits!!
ReplyDeleteCam asked if those were your panties or the girls? :)
ReplyDeleteAhem, those are NOT mine. I don't know about you, but i'm a little old for panda bears and hearts, and Elmo!
ReplyDeleteI came over here from Jennifer's blog and was delighted to see this picture.
ReplyDeleteMy grandpa was a farmer and he liked to tell the story of being a young husband who just knew he was going to have boys. Lots of boys. Big strong boys to help with all the farm work. He could see it then- nothing but overalls, overalls, overalls hung on the clothesline.
His first arrived, a boy, and the dream began to turn into reality. Until the next 6 arrived (all girls) and it was nothing but panties, panties, panties!
That is the cutest pic ever. Now I now where I can get Alexis some new panties. They look like they are the perfect size. He he he...
ReplyDeletethat picture should be entered into a photo contest.
ReplyDeleteput it through photo-shop enhance the colors... and then find out from your local photo club when the next show is.
I've asked for a retractable line for many years - but that s one of the few things thats been ignored. My mom always had one, his didn't.
Maybe I'll do it myself.
That really is a great pic. Belongs on some ecology magazine front cover. I'm a clotheliner too. How can you beat a free dryer? And going outside for a few minutes of peace and quiet -- I call it laundry therapy. Good exercise, too.
ReplyDelete