Successes and failures

This late afternoon and evening I spent time in the kitchen, something which I rarely do. I invaded Justin's territory, as he refers to it, and made our dinner. On Facebook I had seen a recipe for potato puffs using the pre-made or leftover mashed potatoes, cheese, eggs, and sour cream. We already had the potatoes on hand, just about to expire so this was a good way to use them up. I also made some more chicken thighs, using the recipe Linda gave me. Both items turned out nicely, the thighs much better than the first time I tried it. The potatoes were good, too, but Justin suggested less parsley and more cheese, much more!  A true Wisconsinite!

Saturday I was putting some stuff away in my room including the cotton cardigan I got at Ross for Less when Linda was here. It was rolled in a ball yet in the bag and quite wrinkled so I decided to put it through the rinse with my swimsuit cover-up. Well, when I took it out of the washer and shook it to hang up for drying, I saw numerous stains on the cardigan. What the heck? The beach cover was okay, however. Hmmm...

I figured there was something in the machine that did this so I ran it with bleach in the water through a cycle. When it was done, I discovered a gob of something on the bottom of the machine. By putting a rag on the end on the fly swatter handle (hey, it worked!) I wiped it off as best I could, while standing on my tippy toes to reach all the way in. I sprayed the stains with pre-treat and put the top through a cycle one more time, this time sure the mission would be accomplished. Nope!

I could not say for sure if the spots were old ones, or different ones or even more, but regardless, it was ruined! Was it soil or grease?? From the machine somewhere or what?? I was resolved (ha, ha!, a little stain remover humor there) that the top was ruined and I was out 10 bucks. I had intended to use it for the Worship Conference in July in case the meeting rooms were air conditioned. Oh well, I can just use orange one from last year. 

Here I am in my orange cardigan, sitting with Betty

Justin came to my room last night, then, and said he was going to be soaking a load of wash overnight and asked if I had anything to be washed with towels. I said I had some clothes on the floor in my closet and sure, try the cotton cardigan one more time. This a.m. I washed the load which had been soaking in OxyClean over night and when it was done, pulled out the cardigan. Ta da!!! It was almost entirely spot free!  I did see a couple of teeny spots remaining but otherwise, it's good to go. I can hardly believe it, and am so very thankful!