Weirdness MEME

Ok, I've been tagged for a meme. I love memes. :) This time it was whimsigal over at The Road Less Traveled.

So, the meme is to list 10 weird things about myself. Oh boy, only 10?

10. I would have purple hair (again) if I could. First it was that my job would be affected, but now I am going totally online but I'm pregnant, and then I'll be breast feeding. So, purple hair will have to wait 2-3 years. The purple I love is a deep velvet purple, very Victorian. Even so, when I worked at a museum there was no way I could convince tours or my supervising board that purple hair was appropriate. Now, I joke that I either need or get tenure or go online. So close.

9. I really like fruit with meat sandwiches. Cranberries on turkey, apples on turkey, cherries on ham, strawberries on chicken salad. Oooh. Grapes on chicken salad too. I discovered this taste when I was pregnant last time but it didn't go away. Yum. Sometimes I forgo the fresh sliced fruit and just use jam. Peach jam is really good with turkey too.

8. My OCD thing I worry about doors being locked and the oven being turned off. Whenever I talk myself out of checking, I'll come down in the morning to an open flame on a burner or the back door unlocked. I've been known to drive around the block and run back to the house to check the front door. I also hate when my family leave lights on in rooms they are not using....or in closets, I really hate that. I follow them around and turn off lights. I mean, come on people, I have laundry to do! Flick the switch yourself!

7. If I go to a home that I see has cockroaches I will throw away the shoes I was wearing. Why? Bug eggs. Easiest way to bring them home with you. I used to go into a lot of homes that needed restoration survey or demolition. I lost a lot of shoes that way. No, they can't be cleaned to my satisfaction. I also have a roach related fear of sticking my hand in oven mitts. Both things can be blamed on my childhood. That said, I have never had a roach in a place I have lived as an adult, knock on wood. No, I've never had pesticide sprayed either.

6. I tend to not finish things. In fact it is amazing that I finished my thesis to satisfaction. Honestly, I didn't. I don't think it is complete, but I turned it in anyway and passed with honors. ??? I fretted for weeks that the advising committee must not have actually read the thing, since it is not finished!!! I have one chapter left to write. 2 years later, I still have not worked on it. It may well be an Oprah book of I could just freakin' finish it.

5. Along the same lines as #6. I got a not rejected letter from the New Yorker. It said to revise. 8 years later....the revision is actually in a stamped envelope next to my thesis. I likely have to update the postage now. I think it still has a 32 cent stamp. Never. Finish. Anything.

4. I have foot in mouth disease. I say exactly the wrong thing at the wrong time to the wrong person, if the opportunity arises. Sometimes I even blog like that, but I can always delete and hide the evidence. Emails, not so much. In person, well that I have to hope can be lost to memory. I have a really hard time in groups because of this.

3. I over think things. I had to ask my sister about that one. It is her biggest complaint about me. When we are watching a movie or such, I ponder out loud at the inconsistencies. I know, that in itself is weird and annoying. Details bug me. In fact, when I read HP 7, at the end when Tonks and Lupin are listed amoung the dead I went back and re-read very carefully to see when they entered the battle. That still bugs me. Why would Tonks do that with a baby at home? After that big scene with Lupin and Harry? I blame JK Rowling. I think that it was inconsistent writing. Fine, I may have had extra sentiment towards Tonks, purple hair and all, but still, to make a big deal out of it and then not really address it again 'cept for killing them both off? Bah.

2. I like to spell things the British way. I'm not British and have never even been to Canada. I just love words and some words look better to me spelled the way that they do it: favourite, amoung, colour, theatre, dialogue, grey, to name a few. I just noticed this one while running spell check for the list and began the old out loud dialogue with the spell check, "No, I will not drop those letters! It looks better, it sounds better, why doesn't blogger have an add a word feature!!!!!" Bugger. What exactly do Americans have against the letter U anyway?

1. Did I mention, I never finish anything?

I tag:
Mama B.
Wheelchair Mama
Dreaming Laura
Sugar Creek Abby
Gookins
The Chefswife
My Cousin David (just checking to see if you started reading here!:))
Lisa @ Because I'm the Mama
Zamozo

I think that's it. It seemed when I checked that the others I read on the unschooling ring were already listed, but if I forgot someone, let me know! (I purposely left out those who I am pretty sure loathe meme's.....)

Thursday Thinking

Today Lil'Bug woke up with a slight fever. She didn't feel good last night or yesterday and today she's just kind of ornery. This means no swimming, the fever not the ornery tot thing. Usually a dip in the pool chills her out, but that's exactly what I'm worried about today: getting chilled.

So today we are off to buy a new mop head, some juice, and look for birthday presents. I'm still not sure what we are getting her. 1 week until the big day. I already purchased a few board games and some outdoor stuff. Mostly things she said she really wanted but then never mentioned again. Gah. Back to thinking about the mop I guess.

We are getting ready for a busy month of November. Lil'Bug's B-Day, NaNoWriMo, a big celebration for Great Grandma in KC, Thanksgiving, ect. I'm thinking ahead to the food. Mmmmmm.....holiday food. My favorite kind.

How Sometimes Some Things Go

I woke up with energy this morning. :) Yay. We got up, had breakfast, and I graded papers. Got them done. Wow. 9am. I decide to make 5 lasagnas. Some to eat now, some to freeze. I thaw meat, get all ingredients out, saute the veggies, and......I can't open the sauce jars. Dearest Husband suggests a pipe wrench, then popping a nail through to depressurize. Both hammer and pipe wrench are in the room that I got shot at in on Monday, (whole n'other story involving forgotten, yet still plugged in air compressor and nail gun....) I forgo those suggestions in favor of his co-worker's idea of running the lids under hot tap water, which worked BTW.

Cool lasagnas made, all 5, in the oven bubbling away, when little one screams, "Bad poopies!" and takes off running. She made it and oh my was it an accurate description. I get her cleaned up, me cleaned up and head downstairs. Cat is vomiting. Cat talks like a people when she vomits, which is a freaky thing. I decide to leave it. I waivered a bit and decided to leave it. Dog decides to be helpful. The thought of that makes me vomit (morning sickness is soooooo misnamed!). So now I might as well clean up cat vomit since I have to clean up my own. "Mom, bad poopies!" Oh child.

All is calm now and I decide I should also actually clean the floors. I vacuum but brown sugar clogs the vacuum up (last week Lil'Bug spilled a whole bag, the vacuum seemed like a good idea at the time.....) Fine. I sweep. Then I get out the soap water and flood the tile. That's what I usually do and then mop it up, wringing the mop out in the sink.....

Except......my mop broke. The sponge head fell off. I had to mop on my hands and knees with a towel. I can't well leave puddles as tot and animals would track it all over like snail trails. Mopping is Lil'Bug favorite chore and she was mad mad mad that we were not using the mop bucket and mop. She stomps off.

Sigh. I no longer have energy. I have to go to work tonight and I won't be home until 10 PM. So much for good intentions........oh wait, I smell lasagna....

Update on Soap Nuts

Edited to add: Wikipedia's entry on soap nuts AND an article on soap nuts.....

Edited to add more: Here a link to the company I buy from.

The truth is that I was getting frustrated with the soap nuts so I switched to Method brand detergent. Then my husband's skin issue came back, painfully so. He asked why, why, why did I stop using the nuts. Well, 1) they didn't lather up the 3rd use like they do the 1st (supposed to get 3 wash loads from every sack) 2) that made it expensive 3) the bag kept breaking open in the wash and then I was picking nut bits out of the clothes or out of the dryer.

He didn't care. He wanted his skin back.

So I researched a cheaper nut source. I found a supplier in Illinois that sells a lb for 18$ plus 3$ in shipping. That's 150 nuts as apposed to 60 nuts. Way better deal if the quality is as good. It is. Bonus, they now sell on Amazon too! So, then, what about the other issues?

While searching for a different supplier I found a couple blogs and a couple product reviews. One said to brew the nuts in a tea and use that for shampoo. ?? Well, wouldn't that work to get a more consistent laundry detergent too? And eliminate the nut bits? Hmmm, yes.

And so......I brew with 4 cups of boiling water in a mason jar, 10 nuts. I use 1/2 cup of the "tea" for each load at the beginning of the week and 1/4 at the end when the concentration gets stronger. The mason jar should have a lid to prevent spilling, use as a pouring strainer for the nut bits, keep the cat/ flying bugs/ laundry lint out, and keep the mixture from going rancid. I don't make more because I don't use more than that in a week. I get 10 loads from 10 nuts or 150 loads from the lb bag. Excellent. I get the sudsing I needed, no bits, and my husband's skin back. :)

An added bonus is that I cut the cost of laundry. I only need one rinse cycle and dry time seems to be 1/2. We don't have to buy fabric softener or a separate wash for delicates and wools. No phosphate ground water contamination, so I can feel really good about the waste water not adding to water pollution.

Also, did you realize how many non auto related products have petroleum? Forget SUV's, our dependence on the stuff goes way deeper: cosmetics, lotions, plastics, soaps, shampoos, conditioners, hair product, detergents, air sprays, candles, Fells Naphtha, preservatives....my goodness, I am still surprised when I find yet another petroleum product. So many go on our skin, the most absorbent organ we have. I am certainly glad to eliminate one more from our use, since that is likely the basis of our family's allergic reaction.

I also get the label of "hippie" from my husband's friends. Fine. It's possible my friends think so too.... ;) If only I could grow my own nuts, then I'd be truly, truly deserving of that label.