Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Learning to do laundry

When I was young, my family always attended the annual Lutheran church conventions that were held at various places around the country each summer. It always fell over the week of my birthday in July. So I usually got all the convention folks singing Happy Birthday to me around a big bonfire, or a big dinner. Kind of nice!

As we grew older, two of my older sisters (that still lived at home) couldn't get out of their jobs easily to go, so they had to stay and keep the home fires burning between their shifts at the nursing home where they were aides.

We all got back after a week and my sisters had some questions about the laundry. They had been washing their clothes themselves, which they already knew how to do, but for some reason the clothes weren't coming out as soft anymore.

Mom went to check it out and sure enough... those towels and their uniforms were stiff, scratchy and yucky. Even tho the girls put them in the dryer. Weird.

Then we found out why...

Between the washer and dryer, where Mom kept the detergent, there were two buckets. One held powdered laundry detergent and the other powdered plaster of Paris, which as you know is a type of plaster used for dry wall projects, art projects, etc. Mix it with water and you can make sculptures... Thus the reason for the scritch scratchy clothes...

Not exactly sure WHY the powdered plaster was there, but in our house, you really didn't need a good reason to misplace anything. It just happened. AND the buckets were identical, except one was red and the other blue.

This is one of those stories that you rub in every so often at the family get togethers... What are yours?

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is one of the best stories! I had to laugh. Thanks for sharing.

Two Cables and a Frapp said...

OMgosh that is too funny !!! Thanks goodness the rinse cycle was used otherwise those clothes would have been standing like statues!

Macey said...

Oh my gosh! That is hilarious! My family likes to make fun of me for the time I mistook some calves for Dalmations. Don't even ask. I think I blogged about it way way back.

Elle Bee said...

HAHHA!! That's so funny! What a great memory. And btw, I was an aide in a nursing home too, while I was in college. :o)
Elle

McVal said...

Elle Bee - I worked in the kitchen, while my sisters were aides. Then in college, I was an aide until I got certified, then quit. I liked the kitchen work a lot better!

Pam said...

That is the funniest story. It reminds me of an incident with my cousin, the laundry, and her Arizona Bull Shirt.

sitting on the mood swing at the playground said...

Oh, that's so funny!

Hit 40 said...

Wow your sisters are lucky that they did not clog the pipes up. I used to love making plaster of paris creations and painting them. Kept me busy for hours.

Unknown said...

That is funny! My sister likes to rub in the fact that I got my hair caught in the hand mixer trying to listen to it while mixing donuts. In my defense, I was only 11 years old, and I am blond after all! :)

karen said...

Oh my gosh...that is so funny!

A.Marie said...

Hi there! Thanks for coming over and visiting my blog! I also used to work as a dietary aide at the hospital and as a nurses aide. I also like the dietary work much, much better!

That is hysterical about the plaster of paris! Sounds like something that my sisters and I would have done! :)

Jen said...

LOL! My mouth was all open like, oh my gosh! How funny. You're right, thats one of those stories that you talk about at every family get together! :)

Roxane said...

Oh my Gosh! LOL That was hysterical. I once confused dishsoap and dishwasher detergent. Lots & lots of bubbles ensued...

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