5 Things Friday
5 Things I’m thinking about lately, in no particular order.
- Chloe the Keeshond. Long time readers know that a huge luxury apartment building has recently opened in our neighborhood, taking the place of 5 dilapidated single family homes that used to be there. We were NOT happy about it, as it is a huge, 286 unit building, and our little dead end street is not going to do well with the increase in traffic. So far only 1 floor is occupied, so it hasn’t been bad yet. Silver lining! There’s a keeshond in the building! Back in May, a few days after Mulder died, I was driving past the open space near the new building, and I saw a man walking a keeshond. I was shocked, we almost never see any of Mulder’s breed around here. I was on my way to an appointment, and didn’t think it would be appropriate to stop my car, run over, and start crying uncontrollably. So I just made note and moved on. Well, last week, I was outside trying to figure out what the helicopters buzzing around were up to (they were looking for a carjacker! Found him!) and a woman walked back to our part of our townhome complex, and she had a keeshond with her! She kindly let me say hello to her 12 year old Kees, Chloe, though Chloe is shy and did not want me to pet her, so I did not. They moved into the apartment building in May. I hope I see her more, she’s a pretty girl!
Another Mulder thing this week, I heard a radio program about grieving when a pet dies. It didn’t really give any answers to help you through it, but it was nice to hear others going through the same thing I’m going through, and that it can be such a deep grief. This is a local call in radio program, Forum. - Drops of God – a newish series on Apple TV. It is based on a Japanese Manga series, and I’m really enjoying it. It’s in English, French, and Japanese. Thank goodness
I am fluent in all threefor subtitles! Here is the synopsis from IMDB.
“Alexandre Léger, creator of the famous Léger Wine Guide and emblematic figure in oenology, has just passed away at his home in Tokyo at the age of 60. He leaves behind a daughter, Camille (Geffrier), who lives in Paris and hasn’t seen her father since her parents separated when she was nine years old. When Camille flies to Tokyo and Léger’s will is read, she discovers that her father has left her an extraordinary wine collection – the greatest collection in the world according to the experts. But, to claim the inheritance, Camille must compete with a brilliant young oenologist, Issei Tomine (Yamashita), who her father took under his wing and is referred to in Léger’s will as his “spiritual son.” But is his connection to Issei only spiritual?” - Laundry – Awhile ago, San mentioned that she was giving Earth Breeze laundry detergent sheets a try, and that she liked them. I hate those big plastic containers of liquid or pod detergents, so I thought I would give it a try as well. It’s been almost 6 months now, and I like them a lot! I love the packaging, and they do a good job on my laundry. I still need a stain remover for tough stains, but otherwise they are great. Not sure how they would hold up to soccer uniforms or whatever. Speaking of laundry, I’ve see a couple of posts about how folks do theirs, so here’s my 2 cents. A year or two ago, I read a blog post where the author (who? I don’t remember!) mentioned that someone had gotten her a book called Laundry Love, which is supposed to make you fall in love with doing your laundry, and the picture of her laundry area was so pretty and organized that it completely drew me in. Well, I ordered the book, did a little organizing, and then let it go. I am not in love with doing my laundry. But it does look better than it did, which is good. My takeaways from the book were: Wash your laundry on warm. Even the detergents that are developed for cold water don’t really work as well on cold. That’s a big bummer, but I’m doing it. Wash your laundry on the short cycle. Unless it’s filthy, this is all it needs. Add BORAX if you have hard water, it will help the detergent get into the fibers and get your clothes cleaner. I was doing this for awhile, but my washing machine starting making weird noises. No idea if the Borax was a factor or if my daughter was loading it too heavily, but I’m afraid to try it again, just in case. Sort by weight, not by color. I can’t not sort by color. I’ve had too many things get dingy when I wash them with darks. I do sort by weight now, though, and have noticed that my clothes seem to be better for it.
- Movies – There are two movies in the theater right now that I would like to see. Given that one of them has been out for awhile, and the other is pretty small and already not playing in the evenings around here, I suspect we will have to wait until they come out on streaming. Which will probably not take very long. They are:
Jules – The story of Milton, played by Ben Kingsley, who is living a quiet live in Pennsylvania, when a spaceship lands in his backyard. He tries to alert folks, like the police and the city council, but no one believes him, they think he’s a crackpot. This sounds utterly charming to me.
Past Lives – All I know about this one is that my sister posted about it on Facebook, and she said it may be her favorite movie of all time. With praise like that, of course I’m going to check it out. Here’s the blurb from IMDB: “Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrested apart after Nora’s family emigrates from South Korea. Twenty years later, they are reunited for one fateful week as they confront notions of love and destiny.” - Books – Thanks to Engee and her awesome book club, I’m reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and thoroughly enjoying both the reading and the conversation over at her place. My plan was to only do the assigned reading, and thus keep with the conversation and be able to comment without any fore knowledge. Really, I should have done this. BUT I CANNOT! It is TOO AMAZING and I must know what it happening! My iPad doesn’t let me comment on her blog, so I can only do so using my daughter’s gaming computer, so I may or may not be able to chime in whilst on vacation next week, depending on the computer situation there. I just finished listening to The House on Mango Street, which was kind of a perfect accompaniment to A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. The writing is spare, the stories quick and effective. It gave me a glimpse of living in a poor neighborhood in Chicago.
20 Comments
nance
I love that you’re seeing some keeshonds. Maybe they’ll help you resolve some of your more raw feelings of Grief. Obviously, I’m not grieving the loss of a dear pet, but whenever I see any dog, I’m unreasonably happy. I especially like seeing their head out of a car window. They just look so joyful.
Being in love with laundry? That I cannot imagine. I don’t hate laundry, but I still resent all the steps involved, especially having to move the clothes from the washer to the dryer. Why, in the year 2023, do we still have to do this? Why is there not a single machine that does both the washing and the drying? It’s ridiculous. Seems to me that we could have done without the air fryer and the instant pot and they could have put those brain resources toward making a true washer/dryer machine.
J
Nance, will I blow your mind if I tell you that such a machine does indeed exist? Here are a few:
https://www.lowes.com/pl/All-in-one-washer-dryers-Washers-dryers-Appliances/4294653877
My brother and his wife had one. I don’t think they loved it. It took an unreasonably long time to complete the process, and you can’t wash one load while another dries. It is great for small spaces, though, which is why they bought it. I don’t think they bought another when it needed replacing.
Regarding dogs, I also love seeing them. Bonus if it’s a keeshond! Like the meme above, when I am walking and someone is coming toward me with their dog, it is the dog I look at, the dog I say hello to, not the human. I don’t dislike people, it’s just that I love dogs. Dogs in cars – we had a neighbor for awhile who had a small dog, and she used to strap her in with a seatbelt. Good thing too, because the dog once got excited and the window was all of the way open. The dog leapt out of the window, and was then dangling there by her harness. Hilarious instead of tragic.
We bought a harness for Genevieve, once she went blind for some reason she decided it was a good idea to try to climb in the front seat and drive the car. Like, OK, maybe I’ll let my dog drive, but a blind dog? Not a good idea. Thankfully the harness fit Mulder fine, and he could wander the back seat, put his head out the window, etc. But if we were in an accident, he wouldn’t be thrown about, and if it were a bad accident and someone opened the car door, he wouldn’t jump out into traffic. Mulder was also neurotic about me coughing or sneezing, and would want to jump on me. OK when I’m sitting at my desk, not great when I’m driving.
Beckett @ Birchwood Pie
In reverse order:
– Yay for the Cool Bloggers Book Club! Speaking as someone who uses Blogger, the commenting is whack. It’s become the norm that I have to refresh the page a few times to be able to comment on other blogs. Sometimes my own blog picks a fight with me when I respond to comments, and sometimes it moves my responses to spam a few months after the fact. Oh well.
– I’d be down to see Jules.
– Oddly I am fascinated by all the laundry talk and I’ve done about laundry in the past few months than I’ve ever done in my life. I don’t hate it and I also don’t love it. I started using cold when I moved in with the hubs because he uses cold and I didn’t feel like changing the knob AND I haven’t noticed a difference. I never sort unless I’ve got something like new jeans that are likely to cause trouble.
– Thanks for the rec! I’m seeing quite a few Apple shows that look interesting, so I might finally get a subscription.
– last but not least, it’s so hard when pets die and we don’t really talk about it or acknowledge that it’s a thing. IT IS A THING. When my childhood cat died it was so painful that I swore I’d never have another pet. I told that to my hubs on one of our early dates, and he said “yes you save yourself the pain but you also miss out on all the love”. And then somehow we became dog owners. I’m pretending that I don’t know the average lifespan of a dog and refuse to do the math on how close our dog is to that. All I know is that she brings us so much joy. So no answer but I’m sending you a big hug.
J
Thanks Beckett,
Yes, right now my heart feels like I don’t want to go through this again, no more pets. But gosh, Mulder gave us SO MUCH joy…laughter and love. I want that again, and I think the way to get it is to adopt another dog. I’m grateful that no one has talked to me like my grief is not a thing, but I do know many people feel like pets are not seriously grieved, and people who feel that way are idiots. I hope your dog lives a LONG and HEALTHY life. We so wanted to have Mulder for his life span, which is supposed to be 13 – 14 years. He was only 8, so a lot of my grief is anger and feeling cheated by what happened to him. Sigh.
Ally Bean
The House on Mango Street is one of my favorite books. Charmingly simple, yet profound enough to make you think.
I’ve read about Past Lives in a few places and everyone seems to like it. I usually see movies years after they come out, but this one I’ll try to see as soon as it hits streaming… assuming it’s one one of the streams we get.
286 units? That is going to gum up your traffic and your water pressure and your mind. So sorry to read about this development [no pun intended].
J
Ally, I first read about House on Mango Street on your blog, so thank you!
Margaret
I don’t love laundry but I do very little of it these days with just one person. Sheets once a week and towels a couple times a week, always on warm. How wonderful that you’re able to see a dog of Mulder’s breed although it would give me a pang. I hope the reminder of him is precious although poignant. We read “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” for Book Club and all enjoyed it very much. We don’t read many classics.
J
Margaret, yes, there is definitely a poignant pang when I see another keeshond. It makes me happy, but reminds me of how much I miss my boy. Sigh.
Glad you and your book club read and enjoyed ATGIB. 🙂
Nicole MacPherson
I loved The House on Mango Street! I especially loved how the author made the vignettes so short so that people who worked long days could enjoy each story without it being a whole thing.
I am thinking about putting that laundry book on hold at the library. I have a laundry room now and I feel like it has changed my life.
One of my closest friends has a dog who is a smaller version of Barkley, and when her dog met Rex, it was like they were long-lost friends. It was a really special thing. Anytime I see a brown Labradoodle, it just makes my heart swell.
J
Oh, with a laundry room, you will probably get a kick out of the book! The author was very into making it a beautiful space.
Nice to have those reminders of your past pets, right? I had a black lab mix when I was a kid, she was my best friend. When I see them now, they always remind me of her. <3
San
I am so thrilled to hear that Earth Breeze is working for you. I am so glad we made the switch (and I gladly use a stain remover or bleach for any tougher stains).
I also very much agree on washing with warm water (or even hot). I have never understood all the cold cycles in the US (I don’t think we have cold cycles in Germany) because stains – often grease – will not be removed with cold water. Have you ever tried to clean a dirty pan with cold water? Doesn’t work. Hot is where the stain removing power comes in.
I am so excited that you met Chloe and I hope you see more of her. A little silver lining to that apartment complex on your street! 🙂
J
Thanks San, I really liked meeting Chloe, she is very sweet.
There are detergents in the US that are supposed to work with only cold water, which are better for the environment in one way (less energy) but the book I read says that even those are not great. The author agreed with you. We had a problem with our kitchen faucet once years ago, and didn’t have any hot water. It was almost impossible to get our dishes clean. So I agree with you wholeheartedly. Thank you for the tip on the detergent sheets!
Lisa of Lisa's Yarns
Wow, how did the developer get the ok to build that large of an apartment building on your small dead end street! Sheesh! They have changed the coding in our neighborhood to make it easier to build 4-8 unit buildings. There’s been uproar about that even! But even those 4-8 unit buildings have to be on a more major thoroughfare. So nothing like that could be built on our small street as it could not handle that kind of travel volume!
I don’t love laundry but I don’t hate it either. I would like to read that book eventually – the other is local to Minneapolis. He used to put on laundry boot camps at the Mall of America here in the Twin Cities, I think! Anne Bogel of Modern Mrs. Darcy is a HUGE fan of his book! I am very particular about how things are folded so I fold mine and my boys’ laundry; my husband folds his. Eventually I will get over being particular about the boys’ clothes, but not until they are picking out their own clothes. Neither is yet so I want their drawers tidy and organized! I’m curious about this earth breeze but fear it wouldn’t be strong enough for this stage of life where we have a potty training toddler who has MANY accidents. :/
J
Oh goodness, no, I’m not at all sure it is strong enough for potty training. Though hot water might work with most detergents really.
Regarding the housing, there is a large push in California to build more high density housing. The state is putting pressure on the counties to override regulations in order to accomplish this goal. We are very close to public transportation, which makes it even more of an asset. If it were not for our little street being one lane each way, and a dead end, I would be all for it. As it is, it is a mess. When they were in the early stages, they had to get approval from the planning commission. One of the members was instrumental in the development of our area, which has a LOT of high density housing, she is a big proponent. She said, “I am very much in favor of very high density housing, especially so close to transportation. But I know this area well, and this is not the street for it.” But she was overridden. Had it been a year or two later, they could have had a better location, a private school closed due to the pandemic, and the housing we WISH had gone in here is going in there. Townhomes, with some open space, and I think plenty of parking. Sigh.
Stephany
I’ve been wanting to read that Laundry Love book, so I’m glad to hear you got some interesting tidbits from it! Right now, my washer only works on cold or warm, not hot, so I do my clothes on cold and all towels/sheets on warm. But I guess everything should at least be on warm! So, that’s interesting!
J
I think maybe it depends on how dirty the clothes are? I don’t know. The book says warm for everything, though I do like hot for sheets especially. Let me know if you read it, I’d love to hear.
Tobia | craftaliciousme
I love those laundry detergent sheets. It looks like its more or less the same brand 8 i can see similarities in the design) but just different naming and branding. So interesting. Ours are called magic leaves. i just wished they would make some for black clothes and for wool. Then I could swap all my bottles out.
J
You don’t use them for black clothes? Is there an issue there I should know about? I have been using them for everything.
Kyria @ Travel Spot
I have used laundry sheets before at a friend’s house and I liked them! I just got one called Clean People and will have to check in with you once I have used them a few times. I always use cold unless it is something infested with fleas or something like that, then I nuke them. I have always done used cold since I though it was saving electricity, or gas, and also it seems to work fine to me (but maybe I don’t know what I am missing)! I have tried one of those combo washer/dryers when I lived in Europe, as they do have them there, and they seemed to work just fine, although I found it just as easy to wash and then hang dry, which is also what a lot of Europeans do.
J
Yes, I really like the laundry sheets, they are great. I’m not ready to change back to cold water washing, though I am sure I should as it takes less energy and is therefore better for the planet.