Friday Orts and Blurb

The Friday selected shorts start with a picture unearthed this week. Lovely Girl had asked me to find old pictures to be used for table decorations at the Wedding of the Century (less than a month away! Squeeee!) and I came across this one of Husband, Boy#1, and me taken in the fall of 1986.

Oh, church directory pictures. You are CRUEL in reminding us of the unfortunate growing-out shapeless curliness of 1986 hair and the enormous face-eclipsing of 1986 glasses glasses.You are CRUEL in bringing up the un-saggy 1986 neck that didn't have to be artificially tautened by imagining a string pulling up the top of my head when I see a camera pointed my way.

But those woochy-woochy-smoochy cheeks on that baby, and that snowman sweater that I can feel against my face just by looking at it? Thank you for reminding me how much I loved being the mother of babies. Almost, but not quite, as much as I love being the mother of grown-ups.

And that handsome dude holding that baby? He's still the one.

*****
What is it about someone saying "Now don't get mad about this..." that makes me want to punch that person in the face? Repeatedly?

If I hear this phrase and I am not already mad, I think "Huh--am I supposed to be mad?" If I'm already ticked off I wonder what it is about my personality that makes other people think they can DICTATE MY RIGHTEOUS ANGER and DERAIL IT WITH WORDS?

Because, of course, all my anger is righteous.

*****

And the blurb of the week:

Several months ago (eight, maybe?) I finally acknowledged that the dishwasher we bought when I was pregnant with...well, one of the Boys but I don't remember which one, was no longer cleaning our dishes well. In fact, it was kind of gross and that's not a descriptor I want to use with my eating utensils. So we bought a new dishwasher.

People, it was incredible. This machine practically cleaned the pattern off the plates for the first few months we had it. It was ah-may-zing! But then it stopped cleaning. The oatmeal bowls still had streaks of fiber slime after a full cycle and the peanut butter knives...ick. I knew it was a problem when Boy#4 pointed out there was old food on his dinner plate. Oops.

A visit from the repairman later ("Everything looks fine, ma'am,") I had a d-oh! moment when I realized that I had changed dishwashing soaps somewhere around the time that the dishes started retaining leftovers. I had wanted to use up the bottle of generic brand left over when my mother-in-law moved out of her apartment because I'm cheap frugal. After the repairman left I went out and bought some of the pod-with-rinse tabs I had always used and we're back to having shiny clean dishes in the House on the Corner. They're worth the money, folks.

You may resume visiting during mealtime.