Laundry was such a grueling process last night, I missed my knitting. Meaning I pined for it. Looked at it longingly. I couldn't decide what to work on, and every time I did, it was time to rotate something, it seemed, so I never actually picked up the needles. Now I'm stuck in my cube dreaming of my Opal sock yarn, and of casting on Cozy now that we're sticking around...
Laundry night in the Johnson household involves 1) sorting the pile to determine what you can't live without, 2) hefting it downstairs to the car, 3) driving to 1 of the 2 laundry facilities on my complex's campus 4) dragging the laundry out of the car and into the facility only to find that a) all the machines are taken, meaning you have to wait and the timing of your entire evening is thrown off, or b) the ones that aren't taken are out of order, and if you're lucky enough to get machines, 5) taking the chance of leaving your laundry there and going back to the apartment while it washes or dries, because you have a life and it doesn't involve reading or knitting in the outer area of a depressing room at night in a semi-safe neighborhood. I'd rather get my clothes stolen than get mugged or raped. Our neighborhood's a nice enough crowd of Hispanics, Filipinos, and Hindus, and we rarely have any serious crime issues, but this is Jacksonville, so I'm never not cautious. Half the digital readouts on the machines no longer work, so you can't tell if a machine is good until you put your pay card in. And then there's the delightful chance that you'll get a machine that appears to work, start your load, and come back to a dirty bin of clothes and water because it unbalanced itself. It's extraordinary what a person will allow themselves to get used to.
So I went down last night to start the lights and put the darks in the dryer, only to discover that scenario, which meant wringing everything in that load out by hand (including a pair of jeans—HEAVY!) and tossing it into the dryer only a third washed, because every single other machine in that room was being used and it wasn't worth it to wait for a different machine to rewash everything, as I was already running late, it was a school night, and I was fading fast, because I was a little drunkie and enjoyed a bottle of merlot last night. In my frustration, I put one of my light loads into a machine that had a bunch of residue around the bin that I failed to notice, thus creating grey streaks on my hand towels and probably several other items that I haven't noticed yet.
And the cruel irony is that we HAVE washer/dryer connections in our apartment! Have had 'em for months, but with our credit/cash problems, it's been a non-issue. Well, now that we're staying, very likely for another entire year ::cringe, scream, sigh, move on::, we've got our thinking caps on for ways to afford to buy/rent a stackable W/D system. Anybody got one they want to let go cheap?
Looking forward to the weekend...with stuff in and out of boxes, we've got some major reorganizing to do. I had an idea months ago about stacking stuff in boxes and painting the outside of the boxes so that it took on the look of makeshift decor. I'd also like to home-up the place a bit; we've never hung curtains and our picture scheme is pretty haphazard. If we're sticking around, we're getting them to fix all the stuff in that place that we've been complacent over because we thought we were leaving, and I'm going to hang curtains, pull out some of our movie posters for wall decor, cover those pillows and cushions for the bed.....I have so many neat ideas! When you let your home get as bad as we have, it sucks the life right out of you to live there. It doesn't help that we keep it pretty closed up lighting-wise, because Les's headaches and the medication he takes for said headaches makes him photosensitive. But with effort, we can make that place nice, not so gloomy. We have to. I really think we're going to be there more than just another year. It's not what I want, of course, but if our credit issues stem from what I think they do, we have a significant amount of work ahead to fix it, so I'm adopting a realistic viewpoint about our sitch.
They're opening a Starbucks next to the Applebee's on the Philips Highway end of St. Augustine Road! Dangerously close to my work, but I'm thinking of applying for part-time there, so it might not destroy our bank account...
Tearing into the stash tonight and working on socks...
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