Posts Categorized: Peace

Yes, I’m Still Wearing My Mask

| Faithfulness, Joy, Kindness, Peace

When I made my first do-it-yourself mask, I never dreamed that we’d be wearing masks for, what seems like, the rest of my life. Later, I ordered a couple of masks that have my college logo on them. I keep them hanging on the turn signal lever on the side of the steering wheel.

At church, we are still wearing masks during Sunday School and during Worship Service. The logo mask sometimes generates questions. One adult friend asked what it was, and I said it was my college’s logo. “Oh,” she said. “I thought it might be Hogwarts.”

When I go to the elementary school close to church, I’m part of a group of adults who, once a week, spend lunch time with children who need a little help with reading skills. I’m with a fifth grader who is reading a book about Venus and Serena Williams. I wear a mask, and she wears a mask, too, until she is eating her lunch, and reading sentences, between bites. (I’ve been reading with her since she was a first grader.)

Despite the months and months of mask-wearing, I often leave my car and get almost all the way into Target/Library/Grocery Store/Drug Store/and lots of other places, before turning around, going back to the car, and retrieving a mask from the turn signal lever on the steering column in the car, and heading back to Target/Library/Grocery Store/Drug Store/et.al.

But, I have begun to appreciate my mask more, now that winter is coming up. The temperatures in Central Texas aren’t usually extreme in winter. (Well, there was that EPIC February deep freeze last winter.) But it can be really windy, and combined with cold temps., the wind chill factor can cause folks to go racing to stores for heavier, woolier, outer wear.

And I am really glad, at this point in the year, that I actually have something that helps keep my nose warm. So, as I’m walking across a parking lot, on my way to Target/Library/Grocery Store/Drug Store/et.al., I’m much more comfortable than I ordinarily would have been, and am glad that I have my mask.

 

Give each other a warm greeting. I pray that God will give peace to everyone who belongs to Christ.

1 Pete 5:14 (Contemporary English Version)

 

There are lots of ways to be warm. I wish you all the warmth you need.

Punctuation

| Patience, Peace

I know people who work at the newspaper, and I think they are hard workers and do their best to help us readers be informed. Recently, I had a “hmmmm” response, to a headline from a couple of days ago.

Here’s how I read this in my head: “County’s unspent rent, aid funds at risk.” (i.e. the county had money that wasn’t needed for rent, and now they had funds to aid people at risk.) I thought that there was left-over money that renters hadn’t needed, and it was now available to help with funding . . . something important.

I read the paper first thing in the morning, while I’m eating breakfast, so I’m not at my most competent. I do put on my glasses to see things well, but I might not be alert enough to get the drift of what the newspaper people have intended. And, of course, if I’d read the headline carefully, I’d have realized that the word should have been  aids instead of aid, if it had wanted to convey what I thought it meant. But then, when I read the article, I realized that this was a bad outcome. The funds that had been available to people had not been distributed in a timely manner, and now families were now in danger of being evicted if they can’t come up with the money. The article continued, saying that Corpus Christi and Laredo hadn’t distributed any of their funds, and other counties were also very behind. There seems to be hope that lagging localities can get some help organizing their work.

Here’s what Wednesday’s front page said (and see how they properly used a comma to help readers understand; “spending soars adding” would have been an odd phrase if read without that pause). Things are looking UP! (for folks who have money to spend). The idea is that people have been cooped up at home, not going shopping very much, and they are ready to go spending some of that money that they’ve been hoarding, saving, and keeping in their wallets/piggy banks/cookie jars. So folks with cash in their pockets are going to have a, hmmm, very Merry Christmas, it seems like.

 

 

 

My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality. It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.

1 John 3:18 (The Message translation)

 

Our church collects Christmas gifts for families. We shop for items for babies to teen-ages, and those things go to Mission Waco, where low-income families in our community can purchase Christmas items for their children at an 80% discount of the retail price. Hopefully, some of those people who’ve been cooped up at home (and haven’t been able to spend the cash they’ve accrued) will make a trip to Target or Wal-Mart or some other great place to buy gifts for the kids in struggling families.

I Might Save Lots of Things, But I Keep Forgetting When I’m Supposed to be Saving Some Time

| Patience, Peace

It’s possible that there are some people who truly like Daylight Saving Time. I’m not really one of them. It is easier for me, I suppose, because I don’t have a schedule for each day. So, I’ve eased into the difference, getting up when I wake up, going to bed when I’m tired and sleepy. David, who does need to get to work at a reasonable and reliable time, reset all the clocks, so I at least know what time it is, in the current state of TIME. (And it really is Daylight Saving Time and not Daylight Savings Time.)

Many years ago, I read a series of children’s books about the Moffat family, by author Eleanor Estes, who won several book awards. Jane thought of herself as the Middle Moffat, having older and younger siblings. In one of the chapters, she wonders about Daylight Saving Time, instituted during during World War I. She imagines that there is a big box where the daylight is being stored so that it can be taken out and utilized for longer days. (There is a charming line drawing that shows her peering into a large box with sunbeams radiating out of it.) The Middle Moffat was chosen as a Newbery Honor Book  (in 1942).

It seems like a nice idea, when I’ve got a deadline, and I’m concerned about meeting it. I could walk or drive to the big box, just as the sun’s going down, and gather up some of that stored daylight. Think of how much yard work I could get done, if there was some additional daylight. Would I need to pay for more daylight? Would the box give me some additional daylight, but require me to have less daylight on some other day? Like the middle of January? When I might not really want, or need, extra daylight?

I looked up “Daylight Saving Time,” hoping to get the basic information. The article had 6,296 words in it. It contained the entire history of Daylight Saving Time in every country in the world. In detail. That’s the link, up in the first sentence, in case you’d like the very informative history of Daylight Saving Time.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, I went to the elementary school where I volunteer to work with a kid, where we read together while she eats lunch. Read a page, eat some lunch, read another page, eat some more lunch. And, we’re done a little bit after 1:00. She went back to her classroom, and I went to run a couple of errands. And then, eek! I’m attending a couple of seminars at the museum, and the first one runs from 3:00 to 4:00. And, I’d lost track of time and it was 2:45 already. I turned the car toward the museum, knowing that I’d be late. And, I was about halfway there when I realized that, Oh, yeah. Daylight Saving Time! I’d not remembered, at all, that I hadn’t changed the clock in the car. And, because I’d been in the house, with all the clocks that David had reset, I’d left the house to go to the school and not paid any attention to the clock in the car.

I went back home, had some lunch, got a jacket (it can be chilly in the Museum), and then leisurely made my way down to Baylor, in plenty of time for the first lecture. I should be better organized next Wednesday. Maybe.

 

The night has passed, and the day has come near. Let us therefore cast away the deeds of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.

Romans 13:12 (The New Matthew Bible)

 

I need a while to get used to the late afternoon darkness. A week, or so, or maybe a little more. I’ll probably be completely accustomed to it by time spring arrives, and we change the time back again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It Was Sort of Nice Outside

| Faithfulness, Patience, Peace

After a doctor’s appointment and a couple of errands today, I thought I could work in the yard some. The temperature was almost 70° and the sun was shining. There was also a sort of stiffish breeze. I went out with a jacket on. I noticed, as I walked into the back yard, that there were some sticks on the grass. So I went to pick them up. And, soon, I had so many that I couldn’t wrap my fingers all the way around them. I walked around to the green bins (the ones where we put the leaves and weeds and dead plants) and tossed my handful of twigs and sticks in the larger bin. I went to the back yard again, and picked up more sticks. There were sticks everywhere! The wind had been blowing at a pretty nice clip all morning, enough that any little dead end (or middling-sized dead end) of a branch, had snapped right off and tumbled down into the yard.

There were sticks in the grass, sticks in the garden, and sticks in the back part of the yard where I’m trying to get Asian Jasmine to grow (on the north-ish side at the back) and sticks in the thyme garden (on the south-ish side at the back). It seemed as though the ends of many of the limbs on the trees, an old, large pecan tree and a much younger, but still pretty large, crepe myrtle tree, were small enough to easily snap right off under the unrelenting breeze. And it was, indeed, unrelenting.

I’d pick up sticks and put them in my left hand until my hand was full, and then walk over to put them in the larger green bin. I was putting leaves in the smaller bin. I kept thinking that I was done picking up little sticks. But, the wind kept on blowing. I’d walk across a part of the yard where, just a few minutes earlier, I’d picked up a handful of sticks and twigs, and, suddenly, there were just as many sticks and twigs as there had been a few minutes previously.

And, yes, I could take the big bin down to where the sticks were, but, I kept thinking that I’d picked them all up, and then the wind would blow and more sticks would gently float down to the ground. I do have a good-sized collapsible, lightweight, green bin. I finally got that and toted it around the back yard, tossing in the various sizes of sticks and twigs.

When I, at last, emptied the collapsible bin’s contents into the large green bin, I put everything away and went back inside. I checked the weather and saw that it’s going to be just as windy on Friday as it was on Thursday. One part of me thinks that, surely, all the little ends on the twigs on the trees have already been broken off. One part of me knows better.

 

The Scriptures say, “Humans wither like grass, and their glory fades like wild flowers. Grass dries up, and flowers fall to the ground. But what the Lord has said will stand forever.” Our good news to you is what the Lord has said.
1 Peter 1:24-25 (Contemporary English Version)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Havoc of February

| Goodness, Patience, Peace

Remember February? When I looked back at that post, the first sentence was “I don’t know what they’re gong to call what happened this week, but “It snowed,” isn’t going to be enough.”

Well, we’re calling it “February,” as in: “Remember February?” when we might be searching to buy heavier coats than we used to wear. Or: “Oh, yeah, February!”  when we’re thinking about beginning to stock up on non-perishables to store in cabinets and pantries. Or: “Hmmm. February. Should we go ahead and try to find some place to purchase some firewood?”

And some folks have spent the spring and summer restructuring yards and gardens, after perennial flowers, shrubs, and even full-grown trees perished in FEBRUARY!

At our house, we came out pretty well.

The Good, Bad, and the Ugly

Back in May, I mentioned a tree that I’d had to treat because it had big, brown spots on the leaves. I spoke to a nursery employee who sold me these little iron pellets, and said sprinkle them around the tree, walking in a circle at the edge of the leaves’ distance from its trunk. Then, water it in. It’s working. The tree’s leaves are a beautiful yellow-green and don’t have spots any more. I think it’s a Pin Oak. It’s in the smaller area of the yard on the left-hand side of the driveway. In the larger part of the front yard, there’s a Red Oak.

 

Other nearby trees did not fare so well.

 “Rain and snow fall from the sky. But they don’t return without watering the earth
that produces seeds to plant and grain to eat.
That’s how it is with my words. They don’t return to me without doing everything I send them to do.”

Isaiah 55:10-11 (Contemporary English Version)

 

Still Summerish, but Fall’s on the Horizon

| Joy, Patience, Peace

So. September. The forecast for the month says only one day of 101° and, by the end of the month, highs in the 80’s. Sounds great! This fall could be one of the least hot. Hopefully. Back in early spring, we had the sprinkler system guy come out to check all the sprinkler heads. I think he replaced a couple of sprinkler heads, and he ran each of the stations for a few minutes. Everything was fine. Then, all the springtime rain, and the summer rain, meant that we didn’t run the sprinklers until last week. And, the cooler weather made doing yard work really pleasant.

I’ve seen some different attitude about overalls these days. For quite some time, all overalls, short or long, had tasteful (or not so tasteful) big rips in the legs, a sort of fashion statement, I guess. I did wear those overalls, but only in my yard. And mostly in the back yard.

 

In other outdoor news:

Last summer, I bought some Turk’s Cap plants: three pink ones and three red ones. They did all right, until February. Everything on that side of the house was really slow about rebounding, but everything did. I had planted the Turk’s Caps alternately, red, pink, red, pink, red pink. When they finally began to come up, ‘way into spring, they weren’t blooming, and I didn’t know who was who, and there were just three of them. When I visited the greenhouse where I’d purchased them, I asked if there was a way to know which were which, the owner said that the red ones had larger leaves and were sturdier, so probably, the red ones were coming up. As you can see, they have grown sturdy and strong, and there are lots of them. And they are all pink.

 

 

O children of Zion, be glad
    and rejoice in the Lord your God;
for he has given the early rain for your vindication,
    he has poured down for you abundant rain,
    the early and the later rain, as before.
The threshing floors shall be full of grain,
    the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.

Joel 2:23-24 (New Revised Standard Version)

 

 

And there will be herbs for cooking, and flowers for fragrance, and ferns for beauty, and trees for shade.

“O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is thy name in all the earth!” (Psalm 8:1a)

Unearthed Treasures and Unearthed . . . Other Stuff

| Joy, Peace

I wrote a blog post, several years, about my parents’ cedar chest. They bought it when they were very first married. It was a dark piece of furniture, in the style of the day, I think. Mother painted and “antiqued” it, when that was the style. And, years later, I stripped it, and discovered the beautiful wood that had been hidden for so many years.

A month ago, we had lots of company. For a week, there were anywhere from three to seven extra people in the house. A couple of guys (and a little boy) agreed to sleep on nice, camping, blow-up mattresses. Then, there were beds to accommodate the four extra women.

I gathered all the extra sheets, pillowcases, towels and washcloths from the linen closet, to take care of all the guests. I think it worked. No one complained. I also opened up the cedar chest and pulled out blankets and quilts, which was something of a nostalgia journey. A few days after all the guests had left, and all the extra linens were being put away, David asked, “How many quilts do we have.” I said I wasn’t completely sure. So we opened the cedar chest back up and pulled out the quilts and blankets for an inventory.

One of the quilts, homemade for us by a relative, was showing some significant wear.

I told David that this quilt cannot easily be repaired. The most sensible thing would be to completely remove the damaged rows (which go all around the circumference of the quilt), which could be removed and a new binding put on, but that would be a big project. I could donate the quilt to a helping agency, and let them decide if it was worth their time to do something like that. And he said, yes, and that they could fix it for us. And I said, no, if they fix it, it will be to sell it in their own agency. Or, they could create a smaller quilt that they would then put out for sale for their agency.

And he thought there might be a seamstress, somewhere, who could repair it. And I said that the amount of time and effort to:

1)remove all the tiny stitches from around each and every damaged square, and then

2) to replace all those damaged squares with new squares, also with small, hand sewn stitches, would undoubtedly cost ‘way more money than we would be willing to pay.

We said a sad good-bye to that quilt.

 

When JoAnne was getting married, she got some quilts from her in-laws. And, Mother, I guess, feeling bad for (quiltless) me, handed over some quilts that she had. I don’t know the story of most of them.

 

 

 

I do know about this quilt. David’s great-grandmother, Sarah Bible, made quilts. MANY quilts. David’s mother ended up with lots of them. Quilts on every bed. Quilts on quilt stands in many rooms. Quilts folded and stacked up on shelves.

At one point, she walked me around the house and asked me which quilt I wanted. And I chose one. And, as the mother of six children and oodles of grandchildren, she was quite organized. At one point, as she was getting older, she handed over this quilt to me. I didn’t actually recall which quilt I chose, but I’m pretty sure that this is the one, not because I remember it so well, but because I’m sure that she wrote it down in a notebook, so she’d remember.

 

 

 

And my grandfather’s razors, from his barber shop in downtown Hillsboro, Texas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a time for finding and losing, keeping and giving, for tearing and sewing, listening and speaking.
Ecclesiastes 3:6,7 (Contemporary English Version)


Some Refurbishing

| Patience, Peace

We’re going to have some company in a couple of weeks, and I need to do some cleaning up around here. We’re not going to paint or replace the flooring, or anything like that, but some areas of the house need some attention. Some more than others.

The space that is my office is easy to overlook. When I’m on the computer (reading something, writing something, watching something), the part of the room where people sleep and relax (single bed with a trundle underneath) is behind me. So, yes, of course, I see that part every time I walk into the room; however, I’m all too ready to drop books, knitting, magazines, and so on, on the bed. Things pile up back there. (Also, there’s a treadmill in the room. Yes. Really. And I do walk on it every day, so it doesn’t usually have things piled on it.)

There’s another bedroom, which is sort of a guest room. It’s also where the sewing machine is. I don’t sew very much, but, sometimes I’m repairing an article of clothing or sewing a gift. Also, the ironing board is stored there, hanging on a hook on the door, but it’s often set up in that room, where I might be pressing some wrinkled article of clothing. But, guests are coming, so I’ve had to be better organized about clearing off the beds and removing the clutter.

Here’s what the day bed looks like on a good day. It’s more of the look of the room when I know that company is coming, and I have to clear off the bed. It’s also where Peter and I sit when we’re ready to watch an episode of The Great British Baking Show. Or Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. Often, Peter will barricade himself behind the pile of pillows while he watches all that baking going on.

The bed has looked like this since 2001. We bought it when Kevin and April were getting married. Kevin’s bedroom at our house was pretty small, and this was the solution for two sleepers in that cramped space. I made the blue cover, brown dust ruffle, and pillow covers.

I looked at it recently and thought, Maybe it’s time for a change.

 

That quilt’s been lying at the end of the bed for a few years. The blue comforter is pretty heavy, but, the person who’s sleeping on the trundle bed, at the floor level, might need some heavier bedding. That’s what the quilt’s been for. So, now, I’m going to have to rustle up some additional covering(s) for the lower level sleeper. I have more quilts. And blankets.

I like this new look in the room. Sometimes, even as small a change as a different bed cover and pillow covers can make a new resolution to keep things neater and better organized. This is where I typically dump library books that I’ve checked out. Hmmm. Where did I put those library books?

 

 

Even as I’m writing all this, I realize that I have all these books that I’ve not looked at for years. Some of them are treasured books that I sometimes revisit. Some of them are books that I used in class when I taught at our community college, years ago, which I am unlikely to ever want or need to keep. What if I cleaned out the unloved, unneeded books and made a place to keep library books that I’ve checked out.

And done

Then he said to the crowd, “Don’t be greedy! Owning a lot of things won’t make your life safe.”

Luke 12:15 (Contemporary English Version)
I’m trying.
 And, seriously, when I looked up “refurbish” at Dictionary.com, I got: “verb (used with object) to furbish again; renovate; brighten: to refurbish the lobby,” which means they’d like me to look up “furbish” also.

Over, Over, Overalls

| Faithfulness, Patience, Peace

I’ve written before about overalls.  For several years, I had a great pair. Then, I got another great pair. I pretty much wore out those overalls a few years ago. When I began to need a new pair, I discovered that overalls had become a fashion statement. A sort of teen-age statement. But, still.

I saw some overalls at Target. I got the largest size they had, and worked in them, quite happily, for some time, in my yard. Those were long overalls, and I appreciated their fall and early spring warmth. When summer came, I was thinking that I’d need to cut them off, or . . . And, yes, indeed, there were short overalls on the racks at Target. I bought some. However, I did see that there were some issues with the newer overalls on the racks. They were, in the style of the time, rather, um, pre-used, They had the “fashionable” rips in them. Every kind of overall had some sort of “used,” “well-used,” or “quite used” look. I bought them anyway. It’s not like I’m going out shopping in them. Even to a nursery, where, I guess, I could have smeared mud and grass stains on them, and rushed into the nursery and said, “I need plants! And I need them right now!” (Gardeners may do that, I suppose.)

Also, I learned to check the pockets. When I’m outside working, I have my phone with me. Some of the trendy overalls have the tiniest pockets. When I’m overall shopping, I always make sure that my hands go ‘way down in the pockets. I don’t want my phone plopping down into some muddy patch of dirt.

Some of the short overalls are pretty short. I let the straps down as long as they’ll go; the crotch is then farther down, which, frankly makes sitting down to do the yard work more comfortable, and that makes the overalls a bit longer. In a good and comfortable way.

 

 

These overalls had a QUITE large area of just horizontal strings. And maybe I will get around to adding some extra length to them, also

Because the overalls I buy at Target are really for teen-agers, I have done a little adapting. Often the overalls have pre-distressed elements, like rips and areas of just strings, instead of complete areas of fabric. I solved that problem by sewing pieces of this plaid fabric underneath the string areas, and then cutting the strings away. And, on these overalls, I also added some of that plaid fabric to lengthen the legs a bit.

 

Here’s the whole complement of overalls. Three pairs of shorts and two pairs of longs. The long pair at the top left has a lot of stringy patches. When the weather cools down next fall, I’ll probably find a way (plaid?) to make them adaptable to yard work in the chillier (but sunny) days.

For now, I’ve done about all I can do in the yard, beyond keeping things watered. Here in Central Texas, and, frankly, for most of Texas, at this point we’re just trying to keep things alive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jesus taught them this parable: “How can I describe God’s kingdom? God’s kingdom is like the smallest seed that one might plant in a garden. When it grows, it becomes a huge tree, with so many spreading branches that various birds make nests there.”

Luke 13:18-19 (The Passion Translation)

 

I’ve planted seeds. I’ve planted plants. I haven’t actually planted anything that’s grown up to be a large tree. But, I am keeping the existing trees and shrubs alive and green. And, if you come to visit, I’ll give you some thyme. Come on over!

Out With the Old . . . and the Older

| Joy, Patience, Peace

When my mother had passed away, and my dad was moving into a retirement residence, my sister and her kids came to help organize the house and gather up things that we/they wanted to keep. We  cleaned and organized and decided what to keep and found out who wanted what. We were washing items when the washing machine stopped working. I contacted Sears and explained that my parents had purchased a replacement warranty, and we needed a Sears repairperson. She came, examined the washer, and said that the broken part wasn’t available any more. “And?” I said. And she said that they would replace the washer. Wow.

When David and I moved into the house, a few weeks later, we kept the brand-new washer, but used our own dryer in place of my parents’ dryer, because ours was a newer model. Not new, but newer. And those are the laundry appliances that we’ve been using since then. Both the washer and dryer have been working well, but I’ve been thinking that, at some point, maybe soon, something’s going to give up. (We did buy that dryer when Kevin was in college, and he is 48.) They’re not really broken; they still wash and dry. But it seemed like a good idea to think about new appliances.

When Kevin and April (and Peter) came for Memorial Day weekend, I asked April to come with me to look at washers and dryers. We spent a couple of hours (I think) looking at different varieties and brands. It’s only David and I doing laundry, so we don’t need big machines with super/duper options. After looking at lots of machines, I made a choice. And then we spent another half hour or so doing all the paperwork. The employee said, “Not delivery this coming Thursday, but the next Thursday,” and I agreed. She also said that a helping agency like GoodWill or Salvation Army might take the old appliances to refurbish for resale.

The old appliances, waiting for the Salvation Army pick-up team.

When I contacted Salvation Army, the woman asked if the appliances were still working. I said, “I did laundry in them yesterday.” I was told that the first date that the old appliances could be picked up would be July 7. Really? Yes, really. There’s a backlog. We have room in the garage, so I agreed. And, then they called back quickly and said, they’d had a cancellation. New date? June 21. So, as I write this, there are still old appliances sitting in the garage. For a few more days.

Because our dryer (and Mother’s dryers before me) were gas, that meant that a plumber would have to come and disconnect the gas line before the dryer could be removed. And, after the appliances were delivered, the plumber would have to come back to attach the new dryer to the existing gas line. So I called our plumber. His dad was my parents’ plumber and now the son is our plumber. He came, and, not only did he disconnect the old dryer, he replaced some parts, like nozzles and handles, laughing a little at the age of the out-dated pieces. We made a plan for the reconnecting.

 

The appliances arrived on the scheduled date. I called the plumber and said the appliances were being installed and, whenever he had some time, he could come on over. The guys removed the old appliances from the laundry room and set them in the garage. They brought in the nice, shiny new washer and dryer. They plugged them in, and attached the washers hoses to the faucets. And, while they were putting the boxes and packing material in their truck, the plumber arrived.

He attached the gas line and the duct, and TA-DAH! I could do laundry, except that these new appliances are somewhat more complicated than the other ones. I spent a loooong time reading the instruction books. I didn’t do any laundry until the next day.

There are lots of cycles and options. And, while the laundry room does have an overhead light in it, I still am having a struggle reading the instruction panels. I went to Target yesterday and bought a  battery-operated lamp to keep out there to be able to see all those options. It’s working great.

I’ve now done several loads, and I love my new washroom appliances!

I keep files of instructions for everything we’ve purchased over the years. A few days ago, I looked through them and located the instruction booklets for the old washer and dryer. I was about to throw them away when I thought I should put them in those old appliances that are going to Salvation Army in a few days, in case the employees who are going to refurbish them might need them. I took them out to the garage. I lifted the washer’s lid and tossed the booklet in. Then, I opened the dryer to do the same thing, and discovered to my dismay/horror, that there were damp clothes in there. That’s how excited I was about getting the new appliances! I left WET CLOTHES in the dryer.

To my great amazement, they didn’t seem smelly. They didn’t look moldy. But, I did re-wash them (in the nice, new washer) and dried them and put them away.

 

 

Soak me in your laundry and I’ll come out clean, scrub me and I’ll have a snow-white life.

Psalm 51:7 (The Message Translation)