At Old Cowboy's….steam cleaning the carpet throughout.  Crushing boxes and recycle.  LAST dump run loaded into truck.   Grocery store,  Feed store.  Bring in wood and like in the old cartoons,  "Night Falls".

 

F

but at the grocery,  bought my first Ever roll of freezer paper so i can make the Intense Library that Sharon showed….which i know will prove to be invaluable.  I am sentimentally attached to that first little strip i did,  will love it forever,  but this will make a big difference.  There is enough freezer paper in this roll for 20 or 40 lifetimes,  so if anyone wants some,  i have Way More Than Enough to SHARE.  Since i am not fond of flat cloth,  as in unwrinkled cloth,  am pretty certain this Library is the only time i'll use it????  Never say Never

 

AND I FOR GOT TO SAY

that as i have done for so long,  while i was there,  i ran a load of laundry.  And because the arc of Day is so small,  i threw the sheets and pillowcase in the dryer.   Just now,  i made my bed.  remembered that i forgot to say how grateful i am for that washing machine of Old Cowboy's.   How i can do two things at once instead of sitting there dull witted at the Laundromat unless some Navajo people are laundering and i can listen to the language and imagine, exchange smiles with the kids.  I have spoken before about how much i love clean sheets.  It's almost orgasmic.  Maybe, really better and more than orgasmic.    When that house is 

gone

as in,

gone from me,  from him,

i will return with constantsy to the Bubble Machine,  the laundromat.  Which has it's pluses, really, but …..well,  i will miss Old Cowboy's machine.  The ease of it.  The convenience.

 

 

 

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17 responses to “the Art of being ok with doing things you really don’t want to”

  1. Wendy Avatar
    Wendy

    I wish I lived closer. Three years ago a neighbour moved. Her husband died in the apartment, she couldn’t stay there she decided. She asked if we would like her portable spin washer. It is like from the 1970s, I grew up with the exact same one, on wheels, agitate one side, spin on the other? Out of a desire to give her money to launch her move, I insisted we buy it. Somehow I thought “it won’t take much room, and it is the exact thing for us if we fall on hard times and the washer breaks”. It’s in the garage. I’d happily wheel it to you. But it’s like a thousand miles. Lots of love to you Grace.

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  2. Linda Avatar

    as you know, I live in the land of lots of rain. It has been raining for ages now. I can’t imagine not having a dryer. I know people love to hang out their clothes and in the summer at the cabin, I do that. Here the softness of clean sheets are, as you say, orgasmic. (almost better)..
    sleep well in your bed tonight.

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  3. Michelle in NYC Avatar

    why not take the washer and dryer?
    and for that matter, rather than give all the proceeds to the kids, why not do a bit of planning for your own future needs. You can always give to them when you no longer need to take care of you my dear. Isn’t our first obligation to care for ourselves so we can care for others effectively?

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  4. Dana Avatar

    Freezer paper is fun. I use it to make stencils or guides for waxing…mark making. One time I cut out many leaf shapes and ironed them randomly on top of each other. Then I painted dye over them all, removed some, painted more, removed more leaves, painted again…I got many ghostly leaf impressions that had lots of depth. Fun. I share your appreciation of clean sheets. Its truly one of life’s great pleasures.

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  5. Deb G Avatar

    Every once and awhile I long for a dryer…

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  6. grace Avatar

    i guess i think for sure better…..
    it is so easy here, the clothesline, so much SUN
    and again, that sense of hanging flags
    i do. i sleep so well….

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  7. grace Avatar

    well, the idea is that they take care of themselves. I pretty
    much have everything.
    I might have taken the washer if i had somewhere to PUT it.
    I don’t. Someone was wanting me to take one of those stacked
    sets a while back that they no longer had use for…that
    was tempting, but again….where to put it? Nowhere.
    and really, i just whine about the laundromat. It’s efficient
    and keeps me mindful about use.

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  8. grace Avatar

    the only time i really do is when i’m washing the quilts and
    blankets…the big stuff…but really, the laundromat
    is the best place for that too. I put stuff in and go off
    to do the grocery shopping while it’s whirling away. Never
    quite let it go long enough, so finish stuff off on the
    clothesline.
    i guess what i was saying is that i have appreciated the
    convenience of how it became a non doing, really,

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  9. Deb G Avatar

    Yep, it’s the quilts and blankets that get me too. Not a problem in the summer but this time of year…
    Makes sense, the non doing part.

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  10. Liz Avatar

    I used to say (on the rare occasions I bought a ticket) “If I ever win the lottery, I would have fresh, air-dried sheets and towels every day of the week” (not environmentally friendly, but also unlikely to ever happen).
    As for freezer paper, I bought my box 5 years ago with no end in sight. I used it most recently for masking areas of cloth before bleaching moons with SoftScrub bleach gel a la Spirit Cloth. Knowing it will be useful with Inktense is a bonus!

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  11. Wendy @ the Late Start Studio Avatar

    A new blessing: May your future be filled with clean sheets smelling of sunshine!
    I have a dryer but seldom use it, perhaps on the 3rd or 4th day of rain or when the wind is laden with salt from the sea or to finish what the winter sunshine couldn’t manage. I’d rather not do the washing if I can’t hang it out but perhaps that will change when I’m 90-ish.
    And just because the cloth had been ironed doesn’t mean you can’t crumple it again . . . just warm it by the fire and give it a hug.
    There’s a strong wind blowing in from the sea . . . no laundry today . . . more time to stitch and read.

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  12. yvette Avatar

    Be back some time
    Explain later
    Hugs

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  13. grace Avatar

    i will always be waiting for you…be Well,
    LOVE to you, North Star

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  14. grace Avatar

    i don’t know where my response to this went, but i LOVE
    this
    her portable spin washer…what a Magic Thing
    and i can just see you, walking across the continent,
    pulling it with a rope, noticing small scraps along the
    roadside and stuffing them into a knapsack
    SO MUCH LOTS of LOVE to You…..

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  15. grace Avatar

    ee…well we’ll see…freezer paper

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  16. grace Avatar

    once a week is Good. No more….longer is Not Good

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  17. grace Avatar

    eeeeeeeee, a strong wind blowing in from the sea….
    oh, how much i love reading those words…Feeling them….

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