The Pony, when in his home paddock of the Mansion, is about as energetic as The Old Gray Mare. And we all know SHE ain't what she used to be. I try not to be a nag. I figure The Pony will get around to something when he's good and ready. He's just come off of finals week, you know. And had to get up at 5:00 a couple mornings, to study and walk to campus ahead of his apartment shuttle. Then he was whisked right into CasinoPalooza 3, unable to loll about the bed into the wee hours of the afternoon. So I figure he deserves some down time.
Let the record show that The Pony packed dirty clothes. He's been wearing what might be considered "laundry day" clothes. Not exactly up to my standards for being seen in public, but he has no problems with it. I guess he was down to some of his last clean gladrags on Friday. In fact, I sort of liked his shirt, a lime-green t-shirt, kind of pastel, with the name of a college organization on it.
Poor Pony. He's always had a hole in his chin. I warmed up his leftover rigatoni for lunch. Next thing I knew, The Pony was asking me how much laundry detergent I use. It wasn't a survey, of course. Nor research for a between-semester thesis. The Pony uses Tide Pods (he assured me that he didn't try eating them) for his laundry at college. Here, I use regular powdered Tide.
The sudden laundry fire under The Pony's haunches was lit by an errant rigatoni. He dropped one on his pastel lime-green college organization t-shirt. Right on the middle of the belly. Quite obvious. Can you believe he turned down my offer to open up a mini bottle of Diet Coke to start dissolving the stain? He DID! It's not like someone was going to see it. I swear it works. I couldn't just pull up a straw partially full of my magical elixir, because I'd already put my cherry limeade flavoring in it.
I explained how much Tide to use, and how to wet the stain with cold water, and rub a little paste of Tide into it and let sit for five minutes before washing. It works as good as SHOUT, just like Diet Coke works as good as a Tide Pen. I cautioned The Pony not to put that shirt in the dryer before I'd taken a look at it. Don't want to expose it to heat and set the stain!
Let the record show that The Pony dutifully brought the washed shirt down to my dark basement lair, where under the light is showed no remains of the stain.
If you want to spur The Pony into laundry action...just feed him some rigatoni.
I know those pods are convenient, but they cost too much for my cheap ways! I make my own detergent using laundry bar soap and borax. If I want to boost the cleaning power I add a cup of vinegar to the load. I use the laundry booster crystals to fool HeWho into thinking I am using Gain. He swears the clothes get cleaner with Gain. It is almost too easy to fool him. I think it might be my hobby.
ReplyDeleteThank you (& The Pony) for the laundry tip!!
ReplyDeleteDiet Coke dissolves stains? All stains or just tomato based stains? I usually rinse with cold water then rub any remaining stain with good old fashioned velvet laundry soap. Do that for several garments at a time and when you're done you can peel the skin from your hands like it was a pair of gloves. I try not to spill any foods because of that.
ReplyDeleteI used a different laundry method to spur my kids into washing their clothes. I told them when they were about 12 or so, they wouldn't be allowed to leave home until they knew how to cook two or three different meals including desserts and they had to be able to successfully wash and iron their own clothes. They all learned those things plus dishwashing before finishing high school.
Kathy,
ReplyDeleteI guess The Pony goes the easiest route, seeing as how he's subsidized by me and Farmer H. Heh, heh! The thought of you pursuing your "hobby" makes me giggle.
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fishducky,
We're givers like that. Well. I am. The Pony doesn't really care about helping people...
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River,
When I am out of the Mansion, and drop food on my shirt while eating, I always get a little of my Diet Coke in the straw, and drip it on the stain, rubbing it in a little bit. Sometimes I do it a couple times. Yes, I have a wet stain, but it dries. This often makes the stain almost unnoticeable, and kind of "pre-treats it for laundry when I get home. Tomato stains are a bit more difficult than others. And too much grease isn't completely gone. But the Diet Coke helps!
Don't use regular Coke! I can't be responsible for that!
When I'm home, I use cold water, and a little paste of the powdered Tide. Let it sit about a half hour. I think the only stain that method didn't work for was grass stains on khaki pants.
You prepared your kids better than I did. I only gave the laundry lesson a couple days before they went away to college. They both had meal plans, and had to subsist on ramen noodles or call me to ask advice, once they moved to apartments.