Journal in a Jar #1

Clancy is so diligent in her journaling from the jar every Wednesday. I can't say I'll stick with it every week, but I'm giving it a go.

Where were you, and what were you doing the day the Berlin Wall came down?

At the fall of the Berlin Wall (November 9, 1989), I was in school. I took a couple months of German that year (my only German instruction ... I can still count and say the alphabet... I know a few key phrases, but not much), and my German teacher spoke a lot about the Wall. In History, we watched people trying to break through, but mostly just climbing over the Wall. Our history teacher also talked a lot about what it would mean for the world and mostly to the German citizens. I couldn't imagine such a communist state (East Germany) located so closely to freedom (West Germany), and yet not being a part of it. It was my impression at the time that the only people wanting to take it down were the cool young people who were ready for change and all the old boring people just finally gave in. Obviously, this isn't the reality, but what can I say, I was in Jr. High.
I also remember chatting with friends about how much the East Germans were going love the freedom of speeding down the autobahn, where it was legal to go "like 120". Yeah, we focused on the important stuff.

Interestingly enough, remembering this even brings back a flood of memories about that year...specifically because my History teacher, Mr. Fruhlinger, who talked about the Berlin Wall, became very familiar to me that year. His class happened to be right after lunch, and since I can't speak highly of my behavior that year, I was always late to both my first period class, English, and also History class, as it followed lunch. I was normally a straight A student, but that year, was not a straight A year. I put friends above studies and attitude above conscience. Fortunately, throughout that year, I made a switch...of friends, attitude, interests...etc. So, Mr Fruhlinger had to assign me detention for being late back from lunch. Usually, it was 1/2- 1 hour after school. Lucky for me, he didn't want to be there any more than I did, so I didn't usually have to sit there the whole entire time. (Mrs Hinks, however always made me serve the full detention!)

This week, Clancy had two questions.

Tell about a frustrating experience you've had on a wash day, with the machine. What was the outcome of the clothes?

Normally, I don't have a wash day. I usually employ the do-a-load-whenever-there-is-a-load method because that seems to keep the laundry room clear and nobody can say "I don't have anything to wear." Last week, I attempted the wait-to-do-laundry-until-the laundry-room-is-full method. I got tired of the clean clothes sitting in baskets because not only were they more wrinkly (even if they are laid straight, they're still wrinkly), I don't like folding cold clothes as well as folding the fresh-from-the-dryer fluffy warm clothes. No matter which way I do, it's still laundry.

I do have a few incidents where the clothes have had a bad outcome, but that was my fault, not the machine. I have been blessed to have great washing machines, so the biggest "wash day" problem I have is remembering to check all pockets all the time. I just try to throw a load in quickly, and whoops. No matter how much I tell people to clean out their pockets, something still gets left in.

An American Sycamore fruit pod, although annoying, is not damaging to clothes in the wash. Lucky for us, because we have washed these little guys quite a few times. Our kids love to pick these up, stick them in their pockets, and forget about them. What comes out of the wash, is clothes covered in wet fluff.

I'm not sure I could count on one hand the number of times we have washed chapstick. This one is really frustrating because all those little grease spots on the clothes are almost impossible to treat every single one.

We've only washed a crayon once, and since it was a load of darks, some of the articles just hid the color; the worst part of that one, was trying to clean the inside of the dryer out.

The thing I hate the most to wash...pens!!! Last year, the pen wasn't actually in anyone's clothes, but fell into the washer from the top of the dryer, a white load, no less. I was so mad that I put all the clothes that were most affected in a pile to "deal with later" and ended up never fixing them. Aidan had brand new clothes in that load that I was "washing before first wear." He never wore them. Just a couple months ago, it happened again. It was a dark load this time, and the pen was deep inside husband's shirt pocket...unnoticed. Fortunately, only 3 items actually had ink on them, but two of them were jeans that were too small for the children anyway. I was still grumpy that the clothes were ruined; husband, however, was mourning the loss of his pen.