Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Sometimes, Sears Knows Best

On Friday, I bought a couple of new towels. I don't think I've bought towels since my very first year of teaching, when I was RICH, I tell you! RICH! Pulling in $11,300 a year, by cracky! Money, money, everywhere, and not a gang of friends to go out drinking with!

I was renting an apartment over a garage at the end of a home lived in by the owners of a trailer park in Mountain Grove, Missouri. As you might imagine, rental property was at a premium there. Only one duplex in town, and as so happened, the lady who taught in the classroom next to me was renting it, with a friend who taught in a neighboring district. Don't you worry, though! Mrs. HM was directed to this rental apartment by her employer, the local school district.

Let the record show that renters like to rent to teachers. They'll have a steady income, and be there for at least nine months, the duration of the school year. AND they are pretty much not a problem, what with their school districts keeping them on a short leash and telling them all the vices they can't partake of while employed. As you might imagine, rent for an apartment above a garage in a trailer park is not very high. And, being neither a cook, nor a gourmet, and having no fast food restaurants in the town...Mrs. HM had very few expenses.

I guess it was the friend of my co-worker who suggested that I buy myself a few good towels. Why I would take advice from her, I don't know. It's not like she bathed there and used my towels. Perhaps she saw one hanging when she visited with my co-worker, and used my bathroom. Anyhoo...I was up for some new towels, having only some given to me by my mom when I moved away to college. Probably some of them gotten out of that detergent box that Dolly Parton hawked back in the days when she was on The Porter Wagoner Show.

I ordered my new towels from Sears. Sears Best. That's the way to go, that co-worker's friend said. My dad always bought Sears Best when he got hardware and stuff. So I figured it made sense. I picked out five different colors, and ordered those towels, and they were great! I STILL HAVE THEM! Although after all these years, they ARE getting a bit threadbare. And since Genius and his Friend and The Pony were coming home for Christmas, I figured it wouldn't hurt to pick up three new towels.

Sears Best was not an option. I grabbed three off the shelf in The Devil's Playground. Let me tell you, my friends. I know The Devil's Playground. The Devil's Playground is no friend of mine. And The Devil's Playground is no Sears. Best, or otherwise.

The two darker towels I washed together, with a pair of my black socks. Such a mistake I'll never make again! My socks need sheering. Farmer H says that he has a lint roller that will take the towel fuzz right off. I think not. I can't even give you a picture of my socks, which I'd worn only once. But I will give you a picture of those two towels. And the washer.


Let the record show that the teal towel had just as much navy blue lint on it, but that the colors didn't photograph as well. The washer was also full of lint.


I swear, I could have made a whole new towel out of what came off of those two. The light purple one I washed alone, but it also shed. I don't remember my Sears best towels doing this! Of course, I did my laundry there by driving it an hour to Springfield, to a laudromat, when I made a trip to town on the weekends, so I might not have noticed. But I think I would.

Genius commented that he really liked the teal towel. He may be getting a late Christmas present to take home to his new apartment.

9 comments:

Sioux Roslawski said...

A USED towel for a gift? That teal towel ain't no velvet, you know...

River said...

I have two towels, easily over 20 years old and very threadbare, so they're great in summer to just wrap around and drip dry as I sit by the TV, they never shed so much as a single thread. A third towel, probably 12 years old by now, from Ikea, is still in good condition and has never shed at all. more recently, I've been gifted a whole stack of assorted brand new towels from a neighbour who got them over the years as Christmas and birthday gifts, but never used them. 12 towels! I washed them and most are fine but one or two shed fluff onto other things. One pair she gave me are absolute luxury and have matching hand towel and face washer, all still bound with the satin gift bow. I'll never need to buy another towel, I'm set for life.

Hillbilly Mom said...

Sioux,
Thank the Gummi Mary! He won't want to drape himself in it!

***
River,
You won the towel lottery!

Anonymous said...

Isn't it just as easy to rub against a good, sturdy bush?

Hillbilly Mom said...

fishducky,
You don't get quite as dry when you use a good, sturdy brush after your shower...

Kathy's Klothesline said...

When I ordered my Instant Pot, I also ordered a couple of bath sheets. I like big towels, I need lots of coverage. I have several bath sheets and they are becoming worn. I planned to retire them to the dog towel shelf. Well, the Instant Pot came long before the towels and when they finally came I tossed them in the laundry room. They were supposed to be charcoal gray, but look green to us. An ugly green. Not only did they fill the washer and then the dryer with tons of lint, they are not user friendly. They shrunk in the dryer and are now just bigger than a regular towel, and they did not absorb well. I still felt really wet after drying off! I will never buy another towel on line. I need to touch it!

Hillbilly Mom said...

Kathy,
First of all, I can't begin to describe the glee that both The Pony and Genius would have over the name "Instant POT!"

Wow. You could have got a towel THAT DISAPPOINTING at The Devil's Playground. Of course, I don't think The Devil sells Instant POT...

Kathy's Klothesline said...

I did order the towels from Walmart!!! If I thought some Instant pot would help, I would give it a try. I am so sick with a respiratory ailment. I think I may have coughed up my toenails last night!

Hillbilly Mom said...

Kathy,
Mine might have lost half their absorbability, when they shed the lint, but at least they didn't SHRINK!

I also have an ailment, but it's not as bad as yours. YET, anyway!