This is the post in which I teach you a few things.
Or admit that I wish you had taught me a few things sooner.
1--
Less is more when it comes to laundry detergents. I know this. But somewhere in the past few months our washer (not a front loader) has started smelling and something in me decided that adding more detergent couldn’t hurt anything. Wrong. After finally, googling my odor problems, one of the main sources of smelly washers is using too much detergent! It produces too much suds that can’t rinse out, and get stuck in the washer barrel.
2--
You can buy Washing Machine cleaner. I used Smelly Washer and it worked like a charm. I also read you can put in some powder Cascade and run on hot and it will help a lot. I tried that first, after I ran bleach through a few times. Then I resorted to Smelly Washer. I also looked at the #2 line on my detergent cup … and man have I been using WAY too much detergent. It (it being the website that gave me all my answers) also told me that powder detergents breakdown better and liquid ones leave a lot of soap build up. We’ve switched to powder.
3--
Don’t be fooled. It is only November. They are pulling out Pine Candles, and Peppermint Spice Mocha. But I am not falling for their capitalistic trap and neither should you. It is November people. And I want my house smelling like pumpkin and fall goodness until the Day after Thanksgiving, thank you. Though I did sniff that Pine Candle, and I have to admit… I cannot wait!
4--
If you have a snazzy camera where you change your settings in different lighting, and adjust your aperture to get that nice blurry background. You up your ISO inside and drop it down when outside… you know, wielding your Digital SLR like you know something. When you come upon a celebrity or statehead figure, etc around town (ahem) … unless you know how to get to the perfect setting for your current environment in .2 seconds…. just die to your photography pride and flip the dang camera setting to automatic. Until you are Ansel Adams, then don’t let your starstruck awe get you all in a tizzy trying to figure out the settings. otherwise you might ruin a perfectly perfect picture like this….
(Not like he is a super celebrity or anything, but he is the Commandant of the Marines and our kids probably won’t ever get a chance to sit in his lap again… nor will we probably ever meet him again…and we have a warm place in our hearts for Marines. )
You see my settings were still set on my camera for this….
Yep…awesome. Not so awesome when it is now pitch black outside and the settings are WAY off. And it didn’t even cross my mind to look at my settings… until after I glanced at the picture. You can’t quite ask a public figure “oh excuse me, can we try that again?”
Does the Commandant have a facebook page? Because he had a photographer who snapped a picture as well, and I can bet money he probably had his settings right.
5--
Just to redeem myself, and to actually teach you something. I am going to let you in on a yummy delicious fall dinner. My cousin made this years ago, and it has been a fall staple to our menu. It is Beef and Cheese Noodle Bake. Don’t let the carrots dissuade you. Your kids will gobble this up. You will crave seconds. It will fulfill the cheesy goodness you hope for and the protein you need. YUMMY, hearty, fall goodness in a casserole dish.
AND the original recipe came from Cooking Light. SCORE!
6--
It’s time to turn the clocks back this Saturday night. See everyone will start talking about it Friday. But not here. Here at Little Llamas, we bring the important news to you first. So you “fall back”… meaning we turn our clocks back an hour. So your kids go to bed at 8, then you turn your clocks back an hour. You see when we were single, we all said “yeah” because we got an extra hour of sleep. Not anymore. Your kids will wake up at their normal time… they will think it is 7:00. But really (with our new time change) it will be 6:00am. Good luck with that friends!
7--
Your TV remote will NOT mute your laptop when you are watching your favorite TV show on hulu during your kids’ Quiet time. (not that I would ever do that….you know, watch a TV show while my kids have room time)
That’s all for now! If you have any tips on smelly washers, photography skills, fall casseroles, or getting our kids to sleep past 6, please leave a helpful comment below!
Aren’t you glad I taught you something today???
