I have this fabulous, sexy leather strap-on harness. Or, I should say, my girlfriend has it. I have orgasms. Sometimes it stays pretty clean and we can, as recommended by Good Vibrations and its packaging, just wipe it down with a damp cloth. However, sometimes it gets some pretty heavy contact and the damp-cloth method is just not cutting it. Plus, germs!
Since we don't want to get the leather too wet due to concerns about stretching and the like, our options seem to be leather cleaner and leather oil. Neither of which disinfect, methinks, nor do they feel especially safe to rub all around my ladyparts. Which, of course, is the fun.
Also, it has nice rivets and snaps to hold the ring that holds the dildo in place. Little crevices of metal on leather. It's driving me so nuts about how hard/weird it is to clean that it's affecting the frequency that we use it! Also it's bothering me that I can't find this answer anywhere. Are there seriously no dykes on the internet who are meticulous about cleaning their things? 'Tis a puzzlement.
It's a shame I didn't have a camera filming me as I skipped into a leather daddy shop in Chelsea in my green Lilly puffer vest with Phish blaring out of the earbuds I'd wrapped around my neck while I chatted up the checkout guy to get the answer to your question, because it was really something else again. Despite my totally inappropriate getup, we had a lovely and highly informative discussion that yielded the following suggestions and tips:
(1) For day-to-day cleaning, use baby wipes. The low-moisture content will keep the leather from getting water damage, but will provide just enough by way of suds to clean off any fluids left behind after a quality romp.
(2) For maintenance, use saddle soap and/or mink oil. The suggestion here is to use saddle soap and/or mink oil before you store it, which means those products will have time to set into the leather so that they won't end up on your parts.
(3) For deep cleaning, take the items to the dry cleaner. Yes really. Quoth the fellow with whom I spoke, "They've seen everything, they're used to it."
Now then, a quick note about that last statement: it's true that dry cleaners have likely seen most everything. But still remember to be respectful of them and their place of business and wipe off any egregious stains before you bring the harness in for cleaning.
My bed is a happy place, and there's a fair bit of sex happening there. In the winter I use a down comforter and a pillow top mattress pad to amp up the warm and comfy factor. Both are white and there are some telltale traces of sex on both layers. I have a crummy coin-op washer and dryer that won't hold the mattress pad, and I'm pretty sure washing a down comforter will wreck it — how can I get my bedding back to a more virginal state?
If you say vinegar I won't be shocked. If you say cornmeal, I will be.
I will not say vinegar nor will I say cornmeal! I bet you all are so excited that the answer isn't vinegar! Except you'll probably be less excited when you discover that I'm trotting out another old Clean Person favorite, OxiClean.
As old timers know by now, Oxi is the go-to product for treating our sexual stains because they're of the protein variety and Oxi is aces on protein stains. Things become tricky, of course, because of your note that your coin-op machines aren't big enough to accommodate the mattress pad. So what you'll need to do in this case is to spot treat the mattress pad using an Oxi paste. Since the stains are older, you should be prepared to have to put in a little bit of labor to get them up. Start by laying down the paste and letting it sit for 30+ minutes. Wipe away the paste with a clean, damp rag, and then get after the stain with the rag and your muscles. You might sweat! This is okay. When you feel like you've gotten the stain out, wring your rag entirely clean and go over the spot a few times to get up the last of the Oxi solution you've made. While you're doing this, try not to soak the pad. It will get wet, obviously, but you don't want it sopping and if you can contain the cleaning only to the stained sections that will help too. Let the thing air dry for a few hours, check to make sure the stains are out, and then turn a hairdryer on the wet spots to finish the drying process.
Now we'll turn our attention to your down comforter, which absolutely can be washed without wrecking it! Isn't that such nice news to hear on a Thursday in February? You'll follow the same basic procedures as you would when laundering a down parka. Using a cold-water setting and a mild detergent, wash the comforter on the gentle cycle. When it comes out of the washer it will be terribly bedraggled-looking, but the drying process will fix that right up. Put the comforter in the dryer on a low to medium setting, along with a towel or two, which will help to protect the comforter from getting torn up, and a tennis ball, which will bounce around in the dryer to fluff and plump the down filling.
There's also a newish product, similar in function to the tennis balls but with so much more panache, that I'm super excited I get to mention because I love love love love love mine: DRYER BALLS. [testicle joke goes here] My mom got me a pair for Christmas, and now I use them whenever I do a load of towels to help fluff them up, since dryer sheets are a no-no with towels. They'd also be perfect for use with comforters, parkas, down pillows, what-have-you.
What do you do when someone gives you flowers and you leave them in the vase until they've been dead for a week and are growing mold. Is there any way to make the vase all sparkly clean again?
The boring answer is to hit the vase with a splurt of dishsoap, fill it with very, very hot water and let it soak for 30 or more minutes before cleaning it with a long-handled scrub brush. Something like this? But not that one because $20+ is way too much money to spend on such a thing.
The fun answer is to drop either a denture cleaning tablet like Efferdent or an antacid tablet like Alka Seltzer into the bottom of the vase, fill it with water and let it sit overnight before rinsing out. Poofta!
In the wake of Valentine's Day I'm sure there will be many 'curious stain' queries, mine is of a more innocent nature — I was given a promotional Valentine's chocolate which I foolishly put in my handbag to give to my boyfriend later.
In the southern hemisphere Valentine's Day was quite hot, and it didn't take long for the chocolate to melt, squelching its gooey centre all over the inside of my handbag. No big deal really, as I had wet wipes on hand, but my brand new rose pink leather wallet bore the chocolate-y brunt, and now has a really unfortunate stain that wont come out. How do I fix this!? It was meant to be a long-term investment buy, splashing out on a lovely leather wallet, and now it looks like I left it in a puddle over night!
This is going to sound like it's not right, because we've all been trained up to think that leather + water = big no-no, but the first thing to try here is mixing up a water and dishsoap (or handsoap or laundry detergent) solution so that it gets very sudsy. Then dip a clean rag or sponge into your bubbles so that it picks up the suds but doesn't get saturated with water, and clean the leather with the foam. You could even put on some '90s-era dance music and be all, "FOAM PARTY!!!" or you could just be normal and listen to Celine Dion. Your choice.
If there still appears to be a greasy stain once you've gone the foam route and allowed the wallet to dry completely, get your hands on some cornstarch and put a mound of it on the stain. Let that sit for at least 15 minutes before brushing it away. The cornstarch should pull up any grease that's soaked into the leather.
Lastly, if all else fails take it into a cobbler or a cleaner that specializes in leather and have it professionally treated. Or just skip straight to that step!
Previously: This Valentine's Day, Say It With Jewelry Cleaner.
Jolie Kerr is not paid to endorse any of the products mentioned in this column, but she sure would be very happy to accept any free samples the manufacturers care to send her way! Are you curious to know if she's answered a question you have? Do check out the archives, listed by topic. More importantly: is anything you own dirty?
Photo by archidea, via Shutterstock
WAIT, why are dryer sheets a no-no with towels?? I go to the laundromat and almost never do a load of just towels, they usually go in the dryer with a bunch of other stuff and my beloved Mrs. Meyer's lavender dryer sheets. Jolie, what am I doing wrong?
@PomoFrannyGlass One of the only pieces of laundry advice my mom ever gave me (the other was "always empty the fuzz bin") was not to put dryer sheets/fabric softener in with your towels because it makes them not absorb water, which is their job.
@PomoFrannyGlass I have heard that fabric softener makes your towels less absorbent? Am I right or completely insane, Jolie?
@PomoFrannyGlass My understanding is that dryer sheets (and fabric softener) leave a residue on the fabric that yields it fluffier, but coated in a water-repellent layer- not what one wants for your softest, most absorb-ient towels. Though, I could be wrong and Jolie may correct me.
@PomoFrannyGlass Also I have heard that washing your clothes with towels will make your clothes wear out faster. Like the fabric will get thin and hole-y.
@PrettyNicola @tortietabbie @The Everpresent Wordsnatcher @angermonkey Thanks, guys! I swear I learn something basic about being a functional human being from the Hairpin at least once a day. And I'm over 30.
@PomoFrannyGlass I do too, no shame. This is what we're here for!
@all So this is very interesting and something I am going to definitely consider. But as long as I have to fight with my apartment complex to use the coin-op dryers, I think the towels are still getting tossed in with everything else and the dryer sheet. Because I'm cheap and lazy.
Related: Cold-water washing, good thing or bad thing? I do it because it's supposed to be more energy efficient and I have to worry less about a red sock turning all my clothing pink.
@area@twitter I wash everything in cold water, so I would say good thing. But I'm biased.
@area@twitter My understanding, based at this point on experience and my mom's advice (Mom is a laundry champ), is that basically you can never go wrong with cold water. I used to be super-vigilant about what was wash cold and wash hot AND cross-referencing that against lights and darks and oh my goodness, it was a pain. I still separate into white(ish)s, brights, and darks, but I just wash everything cold and so far nothing bad has happened!
@PomoFrannyGlass @The Everpresent Wordsnatcher In related news, I think being human is really just too difficult and am considering switching to anteater.
@area@twitter I wash everything in cold (see also: poor, lazy) because I can't afford to have things shrink or leech color. Also I can't be bothered to sort anything. I feel like just getting my clothes to the laundromat is some kind of achievement and it's all downhill from there.
@area@twitter i wash everything in cold except for towels, sheets, socks, and draws. cause those get the germiest and hot water kills the beasties.
@madge I wash everything in cold, towels go in with the rest of the laundry, loads are way too large, everything gets fabric softener, and I'm doing good if I can sort out darks and lights. Everpresent laundry fail.
@miwome Is there an application you have to fill out in order to switch to anteater? A waiting list? Can I apply? Could I maybe be an otter instead? They look like they have so much fun ...
@madge My understanding, gleaned from something I read on the internet, is that it takes way hotter temperatures than you get in a washing machine to kill germs, so hot vs. cold doesn't give much of a difference in sterilizing laundry. (What, Firefox? "sterilizing" can totally be spelled with a Z.)
@PomoFrannyGlass Yup, everyone is right - it builds up a film and makes towels less absorbant. But guess what?!
Two birds one stone - VINEGAR! It acts as a fabric softener AND will help to remove what ever dryer sheet gunk is already there.
<3 you Vinnie!
@Bitterblue "I will crush you like a clam on my belly!"
@PomoFrannyGlass Thank you for never hearing of this also! I've been living a lie! But... now that I know that dryer sheets are a no-no with towels, can I stop using them and my towels will become super absorbent?? Or is it like, one tumble with a dryer sheet and it's all over?
And how would you even do this? Load of towels-only? Ehh, maybe I'll just stick with my towels (or should I say moisture-mover-around-ers) as they are.
@PomoFrannyGlass I was just going to post about using vinegar as a fabric softener!! It's GREAT for towels. BUT! BUUUUT! DO NOT USE VINEGAR IF YOU ARE WASHING WHITE ITEMS. It will make them dingy and occasionally turn them yellowish.
@Bitterblue I'm going for sloth. Do less, move slow, hang around in trees, etc. And maybe Kristen Bell will be my friend.
@laurel "Kristen, please adopt me! I'm...on...my...way..."
@laurel I think sloth and otter are both great options. I have anteater on the brain because I had to do a google image search on them the other day for a post I am TRYING and FAILING to write, and they are so crazy-looking!
@miwome OMFG anteater in a Santa outfit!
I visited the Amazon rainforest a few years ago and on one of our death hikes through the jungle we came upon a HUGE hole in the ground and I was like, "what lives here, a rhinoceros?" and my guide was like, "no that's an anteater burrow." Seriously you could drive a fucking Jeep into the thing. Those suckers get BIG.
@miwome I think I don't understand how big the tails on the giant anteater are.
I have a red ant nest in my yard. The little bastards bite hard and I have a fantasy where I have an anteater, a horned lizard and an armadillo over for a picnic.
Then we go on the road as a business where my pals and I come over and eliminate your insect pest problems in the cutest and bio-friendliest way possible. $100/hour.
@area@twitter I also wash everything in cold water, because it's more energy efficient (the cold cycle on my washer is 1/3 the amount of time of the hot wash, plus no gas needed to heat the water), and I heeeeear it's lot nicer to your clothing. But if I'm wrong, I hope to be educated by my fellow 'Pinners.
Edited to add: The only things I wash in the hot cycle are our (white) towels, because I have personally witnessed my partner flossing his ass with them after the shower (we have designated towels, but I have basically accepted the fact that life with him means I accidentally mix them up and occasionally pat my wet face down with invisible boy skidmarks). Anyway, hot-hot-hot water and enough bleachie to kill armies of ass-germs for the towels!
@laurel This. This is. This. This is a FUCKING BRILLIANT IDEA.
@LilyMarlene My fiance does our laundry so changing the rules to ALL COLD ALL THE TIME significantly reduced the chances of him shrinking things I love dearly. It doesn't seem to have damaged any of our stuff, and we hardly bother with separating colors, let alone fabrics. >_>
@miwome It is a brilliant idea...@laurel, you and your anteater are so hired!
@LilyMarlene I forgot the pangolin. There will also be a pangolin. And an echidna.
@laurel Can this PLEASE be a television serial and can it air directly after Swamp People, kthx.
@miwome 0.o
@laurel Have I confused you? Offended you?! What is it, what?! I just want to watch your traveling circus of exterminator animals after I watch alligators in the Bayou.
@laurel Yes please, all of them! :D
@miwome I think that's emoticon for something like "wow!" or "zoinks!" or "That is eye-opening!" or "I'd never thought of that and it makes me happy (or frightened, context depending)". In this case, I loves it.
@laurel Phewwwww. I guess I often see it deployed as a sort of, "My eyes have been burned and my soul seared" signifier? But I am glad that was not the case here!
You totally should get the armadillo in the bayou! Then they can sell it as a spin-off.
@SheWhoReadsInSkirts How did you get him to do ALL the laundry?? Does he iron? Can you loan him to my household on a bi-weekly basis?
One of the few things that have sparked SCREAMING, near-relationship-ending arguments between my partner and I is laundry. I dunno why - because for us it translates into so many different life issues, maybe? He'd turn my white work shirts pink on occasion, or he'd be all "You washed and paired my socks and put them away (which I think of as loving behavior) so I can't find them (which he mistakes for me being hateful and inconsiderate)", and I'm all "they're in your underwear drawer where you always put them, open your eyes"...somehow escalates on both our parts x 1,000 to YOU DON'T LOVE ME FUCK YOU I HATE YOU" on all the issues ever. I don't even know.
To employ a Sugar-ism, we tend to emerge hand-in-hand from each argument, but an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure. To wit; in the mutual interest of preserving the peace and our relationship, we have made an ironclad pact that we now do our own laundry, start to finish - no helping out, no special favours of can-you-wash-my-undies-I'm-all-out-just-this-once, no mixing our clothing in the dryer, no nothing. We still fight about other stuff, but we haven't had a nuclear argument since laundry left the picture. This probably isn't normal, but our relationship has improved tenfold as a result.
I am still somehow responsible for washing his ass-towels. He thinks towels should never be washed because they "only" contact your clean body, which is GROSS, but...whatever. I try to choose my battles, and he's a good guy and worth an occasional invisible buttcrack to the face.
@laurel I bags orangutan. Bbl, hanging out in the jungle by myself, in a tree nest.
Also, do towels with sheets really make clothes wear out faster? Also, does vinegar really make whites dingier? That would explain things. I always wash everything on cold. I sometimes give things a once over and scrub or soak them if they need extra help, and I wash my towels and sheets on hot every.. three months or so? But I also hang them to dry in the sun, which does a better job at anti-bacterialising them than the machine can.
@LilyMarlene It was a trade. He HATES dishes with a firey passion that burns. I used to be really ARGH about laundry because it was a whole floor away and carrying stuff up and down stairs was so not my thing. Buut now we have in-unit laundry, but it's a habit and its helps us feel more evenly chored, since laundry needs to get done more frequently than his other chores.
@LilyMarlene I bet you could cure him of that attitude by leaving a wet towel that has touched his "clean" body around so long that it grows mushrooms.
@Xanthophyllippa That's a good point...hopefully his immune system stays intact, so they don't start growing in his buttcrack!
@miwome Hopping back on the animal thread here, I do not see anything anteater related, but how about a Badger of Honor?
@Craftastrophies Orangutans are the best, as evidenced by their hairdos.
@laurel That's basically how my hair looks, when it's longer.
I'm a shoe-in for the role.
@Everybody VINEGAR VINEGAR VINEGAR. It's so cheap and you just use it like it's liquid fabric softener. Also my friend had a really scary thing happen to him when he tried to clean out the hose from his dryer, and there was all this lint in there and he inhaled some of it and it caused PERMANENT NERVE DAMAGE and PERMANENT SINUS DAMAGE b/c of all the chemicals from dryer sheets. He had to have surgery on his sinuses. So, never use dryer sheets, and always have a professional repair your dryer if you do.
Also, I should point out that this does not make your clothes smell like vinegar. You only use about 1/4-1/2 cup per load of laundry.
Does anyone here use vinegar at the laundromat? Because I am pretty sure the ladies who run mine would kick my ass. I'll bear it in mind if I ever own a washing machine, though.
@The Everpresent Wordsnatcher HOOOOHHHHH! I WANT THEM ALLLLLLLLLLL
@PomoFrannyGlass No, I don't wash the towel. The towel washes me! Who washes a towel?!
Also, Dude and I have been together almost eight years and lived together for over five, and we have probably never washed each other's clothes (aside from the occasional tossing in of a few pairs of the other's underwear). Maybe I'm sexist or whatever, but I just don't trust boys to do those things right.
@PomoFrannyGlass You're not sexist at all; I've been washing my own laundry since I was 12, because I couldn't trust my mother to do it right. And if I didn't have a clean, pressed uniform to wear to school every day, I would be the one to get in trouble, not my mother. (Although, come to think of it, this MAY have been a ploy on her part to get me to start doing my own laundry ... Probably not. She just had more important things to think about.)
Laundry was a HUGE issue in my last relationship. It didn't help that he had twice the amount of clothing I did and never put it away. Huge piles of clothes, EVERYWHERE. Clean, dirty, just all over the place. And then he would just shove it all indiscriminately in the washer. Augh! Seriously, get rid of your men, they are disgusting. My apartment is so much cleaner now that I'm single!
@Bitterblue I just had a big blow-up with my dude last week because somehow we got into this habit of me always going (alone) to the laundromat, washing both of our stuff, folding everything and lugging it all back home. Oh, and paying for it. I of course waited until I was furious to bring it up with him, but...glad that's over!!
@Bitterblue @miwome You guys, this is so random, but there's a classic MST3K episode starring Raul Julia with an entire plotline about trading lives with anteaters. It's called Overdrawn at the Memory Bank and you can find it online and it's amazing.
@PomoFrannyGlass My washer just went on the blink, and you better BELIEVE I lugged my gallon of vinegar to the laundromat with me. It's just like any other laundry liquid, and it doesn't leave any residue. Don't let the laundry ladies intimidate you!
@Veronica Mars is smarter than me - I totally knew what that link was and I clicked anyway because I wanted to see Schmidt huke, twice, again.
@tootsky
Deputy LeoSchmidt everywhere, all the time!"What, should I wash the shower next? Wash a bar of soap?" (This was probably my favorite scene in this show's run so far)
@Bitterblue Seriously. I have SO much clothing. Full closet plus dresser plus coat closet plus stuff in storage. He wears the same few pairs of pants and dozen or so shirts. How does he have like twice as much clothing as me? And WHY are his closet and drawers practically empty when I haven't been able to see the actual floorboards on his side of the room in months?
NICE PLACE is right! I wonder if that painting above the bed is an original.
@whizz_dumb "This is a triumph, I'mmaking a note here, HUGE SUCCESS."
I'm not the only one, right?
@OhShesArtsy Not anymore you're not.
@whizz_dumb One time I paid a visit to Goosenecks State Park in Utah. There's a guestbook at the point overlooking 300 million years of gorgeous stripey geology. The last entry before mine was, "Nice place!"
@whizz_dumb Here is my magic power. Five minutes after entering that room, there would be a chocolate smear on something/everything. Even if I had brought no chocolate with me, and had not eaten or been near chocolate for the last week.
Yes, ACTUAL chocolate, thankyou.
Jolie, you are a treasure. But my understanding, at least when it comes to maintaining my hiking boots, is that saddle soap is for cleaning/conditioning, and mink oil is for waterproofing/conditioning. So is it really an either/or proposition when it comes to a leather harness?
@boyofdestiny I would say do both, in that order, well in advance of sexytimes. (Best bet is to probably clean up as soon after sexytimes as is possible--that way the stains don't have time to set in, and the saddle soap and mink oil have time to sink into the leather and keep it--and your ladyparts--happy for future encounters.)
@boyofdestiny "hiking boots"
@boyofdestiny As the former owner of a saddle and similar accoutrements, I feel fairly certain that saddle soap does clean but does not waterproof/condition, because after the soap comes the other thing I don't remember what it's called, which does the conditioning. (We didn't use mink oil. It was...that other thing. It's been a long time since I cleaned tack.)
@miwome Neatsfoot oil?
That's what our stable always used. I think
Can't be much different than cleaning off dried mud, yeah? Saddle soap and a shoe brush (stiff for thick leather, soft for fine leather) to clean, and a thin layer of mink oil or an extremely light wipe of neatsfoot oil after, for conditioning and waterproofing.
Man, too bad I don't have service fetish. I'd be a hella good bootblack.
"Be all FOAM PARTY!" I adore you. I picture Monica Geller doing this gleefully while dancing.
@Slapfight So I live in the kind of backward place where foam parties still happen. They are so disgusting, I can't even think about them without gagging a bit. Or maybe it's just that the kinds of places that still do them are just trashy and disgusting all on their own and the foam just forced you to contact all that? I don't even know.
*shudder*
@OhShesArtsy I'd think they do foam parties as a way to clean their establishment and the grody people in them AND make money at the same time. It's kind of genius.
@Slapfight One of the Ladies Nights (as in Ladies who love ladies) we have around here has a monthly foam party, which I refuse to attend because if I'm getting all dolled up to go out with my girls and drunkenly molest my girlfriend on the dancefloor I AM NOT RUINING MY HAIR WITH GRODY-ASS FOAM, THANK YOU.
These establishments do not consider the femmes!
I must've been ruining my $2 Target towels because I've been dryer sheeting them. Boo! Jolie, show me the error of my ways!
Also, the apartment in the picture is a dream, but is anyone else skeeved out by big windows like that without curtains in a bedroom (or anywhere)? FOR INSTANCE. Right now I'm reading this while naked in bed (TMI much?). Or you know when you see the big fancy apartments in movies that have floor to ceiling windows everywhere.... what happens when you have sex in the living room? Or eat an entire carton of Ben & Jerrys with a spoon? Or watch embarrassing TV shows? Can't everyone see you?
More importantly, how do you clean those windows???
@bonnbee If you're rich enough to live in an apartment with floor-to-ceiling windows, you're rich enough to pay someone to clean them for you.
@bonnbee
I think windows like that tend to come with a view, which usually means high up, so most people can't see into them anyway.
@bonnbee My dude is an architect and always sending me photos of cool houses and buildings. Architects are OBSESSED with floor-to-ceiling windows and no curtains. I guess the ideal client is rich and hot? Or just really confident? Or lives in the middle of nowhere? 90% of my comments to him are, "looks nice but that's not a house you could be naked in."
@tortietabbie I know! I appreciate the beauty of Phillip Johnson's Glass House, etc. but all I can think is, "But what about hanging out in my underwear? What about having sex on the ottoman??"
@All Mimsy This. It depends totally on where everyone else's windows are.
Also, in real life, I think a lot of people do get shades/curtains/whatever, they just get fancy subtle ones that you don't notice much unless they're actually covering the windows.
@miwome They have these fancy windows with the shades built in between pieces of glass so you can still get some privacy but it doesn't ruin the "look". I have huge windows without fancy shades but I live in the middle of nowhere so I walk around naked all the time - it took me a couple of weeks to get used to it, but now I love it - nakedness and views! I'm so in the middle of nowhere that I can walk around naked outside too!
@tortietabbie And also, I hope those are triple glazed, or else it's going to get very cold/hot.
@bonnbee My living room has floor to ceiling windows (I am not rich, although the two bedroom I used to be in had floor to ceiling in all the rooms) and you get curtains, OTHERWISE YOU DIE OF THE SUN.
But I didn't have curtains for a while and did occasionally walk/sex around in the nude. It's nothing special to see, so eh.
LW2- No duvet cover?! I would never knock boots on my raw-dog down comforter!
@Exene But sweat and other, ah, fluids soak through a duvet cover. And then you have stains on your duvet.
Definitely jamming to Celine Dion at work and alternately turning it wayyy down when people walk by and pumping it back up when I'm alone.
@matisse As someone who grew up in Quebec I find all these Celine Dion references kinda disturbing. I've never known a non-Quebecois person who really liked her before.
@ReginaSavage My French teacher was always making us listen to and translate Celine Dion songs, it was the worst. Especially that one about Eric Clapton's son jumping out of the window.
@ReginaSavage I just have such a soft spot in my heart for power ballads. Not appropriate for every day listening, but every once in a while, I need a powerful female voice to wail at me.
@matisse Here, try this, it's the best.
Wait - you can really wash a down comforter? Really and truly? I'm so excited!
@Jennifer Michelle@facebook You just have to make sure it gets dried all the way through so it doesn't go mouldy. Oh and dryer balls, altbough I have heard tennis balls also work?
@Megan Patterson@facebook Apparently any small, dense object works--there's a story in one of these columns from back when about somebody using a baby shoe.
@Jennifer Michelle@facebook Take it to the laundromat, though, even if you have a home washer/dryer. They have giant machines that are commercial strength and usually cost around $5. Their spin cycle is faster, which makes the whole drying process better, and their dryers are hotter. I don't think home washers are really equipped to handle down comforters. And yes, tennis balls work just fine -- throw in a few of them, and it will keep the down distributed evenly.
Also, you shouldn't wash them *too* much -- probably once a year or so at the absolute most.
@Jennifer Michelle@facebook you can! I tried it once, just to see (I mean, I tried it on my brothers one just in case) It works, but if you can afford it, I would go to the drycleaners. Mine cost me like $20 (that's NZ too, so like, 15USD) which, to me, it totally worth it.
@Jennifer Michelle@facebook You do realize that geese and ducks are waterfowl, right? So heck, yes, feathers can get washed, no problems! There's nothing more delicious than a freshly-washed-and-dried down comforter!
@Jennifer Michelle@facebook I would recommend washing it yourself, and drying it on hot. Depending on where you live I would be afraid of bringing home bedbugs if the cleaner does not properly separates dirty/clean laundry. But having a nice clean comforter is great. (I would wash my sheets daily, too, if I could justify it.)
I have dryer balls and HOLY HECK are they loud. Am I doing something wrong or do I just need to upgrade to a house with laundry in the basement, instead of the kitchen?
@PrettyNicola Even in the basement they're STILL LOUD. Is there some secret to keeping them in the INSIDE of the towels?
@PrettyNicola Mine are in a separate laundry room and they're only loud when I do smaller loads. Maybe my usual laundry loads are too big? The only one who goes nuts about it is my dog who is convinced that they're for him and just are stuck in the dryer.
@PrettyNicola You're not doing anything wrong, they're just loud.
The worst combo is when I am drying all my ferret hammocks (what) because they have little metal clips to attach them to the cage. So it's like the thumpthumpthump of the dryer balls combined with the clinkityclangclang of the clips and my boyfriend calls up the stairs, "What are you doing?"
OMG. Thank you so much, Jolie. Long story short, about five years ago I was partying in Ireland and had this gorgeous leather patchwork Fossil purse, which I foolishly left sitting out in the living room. Well, I went to sleep (which means I blacked out and had to be dragged upstairs and put to bed by my sous chef) and when I got up the next day, a bunch of gross sticky alcohol had been spilled all over my purse! I've tried to get dry cleaners to help me out with it, but even the ones who say they work with leather won't touch it AND NOW I CAN CLEAN MY PURSE AND IT WILL BE PRETTY AGAIN.
Seriously. I'm having a shit week and this really brightened things up for me.
@Anji Long story short...I was artying in Ireland...I blacked out and had to be dragged upstairs and put to bed by my sous chef
I salute you.
@miwome Whoops, "artying," haha.
@miwome Minus the sous-chef, that is also my experience of Ireland.
@miwome It was a culinary school internship. I think I freaked out my Irish coworkers a bit with what an experienced drinker I already was at 22. I'm mostly just impressed that the sous chef was able to drag 180 pounds of dead weight up those narrow little cottage stairs. I woke up the next morning missing a contact lens and unable to remember exactly how I got in bed fully dressed in the first place. So not only is this the story of my poor wrecked purse (which had been a gift from my dad) but also how I had to have my spare pair of contact lenses air-mailed from Baltimore to Cavan. "I won't need to bring those!" I scoffed. "Everything will be fine!" I WAS SO VERY WRONG.
@Ophelia Ireland is kind of the best, isn't it? Northern Ireland's neat too. I was actually really charmed by Belfast.
@Anji Me too! I totally loved Belfast (and one of the few friends I still keep in close touch with lives just outside it, and I LOVE visiting). I did once cross the border (in a bus full of students going to a swim meet) and realize belatedly that I'd forgotten my passport, but they didn't actually bother to check.
@Anji Ha! I assumed "sous chef" was a euphemism for person-you-kiss-regularly. Like "partner in crime" or "sidekick".
@Ophelia That totally surprised me too! I was all ready to show my passport to any authority who wanted to see it, but nope, apparently nobody really cares if American culinary students decide to cross the border. I was actually going to Belfast to visit a good friend I'd met online years before and it was our first time meeting IRL. It was amazing. We drank tea and ate Jaffa Cakes and watched old horror movies and gossiped.
@Alibi Jones I am going to nickname my next girlfriend "sous chef", despite whatever profession she may actually have.
@Anji From now on, in my head, "sous-chef" is going to be secret code for "Irish water-polo player"
@Anji My best friend is someone I met online who lives just outside of Belfast and loves Jaffa Cakes. I wonder if it's the same person!
@anachronistique Does she also write book/movie/play reviews with her awesome Dutch partner and love Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles? Because if so, we totally know the same person. And probably know each other, by extension.
@Anji Nope! She is a massive Star Wars nerd and her husband is also Irish. (Northern Irish?) But that's still pretty cool!
@anachronistique Aw, well, you sound pretty cool too! :D
QUESTION: I have a cloth harness (the gentleman caller and I are going to try out some pegging) and can I wash it in a washing machine? I have to do my laundry at a laundromat and for poverty reasons I generally wash all my clothes in one load (pls don't judge). What do I do with this thang? Do I throw it in with the rest of my clothes or should I hold off and wash it in a sink by hand?
@Nutmeg If it has heavy buckles and rings, it may damage your other clothes. I think I would hand wash.
@Nutmeg I used to have bondage pants (loads of zippers and D rings) that would go in the wash all the time, and they didn't mess up anything.
@Nutmeg As someone who also does the throw everything in together and hope it's all fine laundromat thing I think maybe throw it in a lingerie bag so it's at least contained? That is what I do with things I don't want escaping into the general population when I wash them.
@celacia @Nutmeg: Or toss it in a pillowcase? (Or take a bath with it.)
@celacia I agree. That is pretty effective separation for us cash-poor launderers.
What!? No dryer sheets with towels? I've been doing it wrong my whole life! I'm so excited now to do my laundry and see if my towels feel more absorbent!
@LALeo You have to get the dryer sheet gunk off first! I think you do that by (wait for it) washing them with vinegar! I may be wrong but I'm pretty sure that's what I read.
As someone who worked in a dry cleaner's in high school: YES.
Also I didn't know that about fabric softener and no towels either. Imma just keep doing what I'm doing cuz they're all wrecked anyway. Plus it is not really feasible to do when you have to pay for the laundry machine.
Now I would like to know what IS the appropriate outfit for doing cleaning research at a leather daddy shop.
(Also - the last time I heard the word poofta it was from a sheltered Tasmanian girl who didn't realize that design college is not the place to trot out homophobic slurs. #australianpinner)
@iceberg i don't think that's how she meant it? see downthread
@smidge Oh, haha no obviously, I just thought it was funny that what is a random noise to y'all is something different to us! and a #themoreyouknow moment.
@iceberg I'm English and thought the same thing! (Er, not about the Tasmanian girl, but the "homophobic slurs" part.)
So let's say you accidentally spill dish soap in your purse, and because it is soap you try to rinse it out of the cloth lining, but the water soaks through to the outside of the leather and now there is a big tide-line where the water went up to... is there any way to get rid of that or is this hypothetical person out of luck?
@anachronistique Asking for a friend, I'm sure.
@anachronistique I had something similar to this happen -- in my case I had my purse under my seat on a plane, and the lady behind me apparently spilled her drink on it and didn't bother to inform me.
My improvised solution (which worked) was to use some just barely damp clean rags and rub around the waterline area until I couldn't see the line anymore.
@anachronistique Saddle soap! And I'm dying to know how your hypothetical friend spilled dish soap in her purse.
@ormaisonogrande, I'll give that a shot!
@caddie Overfull reusable shopping bag plus too prideful to take a damn plastic bag at the grocery store.
To echo, well, everyone, I'm so depressed about this no dryer sheets with towels thing. And I went into this post being so proud of myself for washing my bedding this week!
Soooooo I guess 'poofta' means something different in the US than it does in Australia?
@sevanetta I've honestly never heard it before, but took it to mean "puffer" as in "puffer vest/jacket" as in the down ones that are all puffy. I gather from @iceberg above that it's a derogatory term for A Gay? Definitely doesn't mean that here (although "poof" used to, I think, but it's not something I think many people say anymore).
@miwome I think she meant "poofta" like "eureka!" or "magic!" Not like the derogatory term.
@sevanetta Yeah, double-take at that here too.
@smidge Oh definitely not a derogatory term, that was my point! I didn't even know that WAS a derogatory term (like I said, we had "poof" but it seems to be superannuated now). I didn't go back up to see the actual sentence, but I remembered a puffy green vest and conflated that with "poofta." But "Hey, presto!" works too, totally.
@miwome or "bam!"
Plus a million points for you for "superannuated."
@sevanetta Omg not gonna lie, I flinched a little when I read it until I realised that Jolie wouldn't be running around yelling homophobic slurs :)
YES to the cleaning the egregious grossness off of garments before taking them places. As a seamstress, I had to mend a lucky sports sweatshirt covered in snot, and I have definitely had to hem my share of pants-that-havent-had-undies-beneath them. Biohazardous!
@remargaret Ohhhh my goodness, I'm so grossed out for you. It would never occur to me to take an unwashed garment to a seamstress. What do you do? Tell me you at least give clients the stinkeye when they pick up their goods.
@SarahP Nah, I was usually over it by the time they picked up their stuff.
Guys, I am sorry to hijack this thread, but this is insane and important and still marginally sexytimes-related (?) so maybe it's okay? The House Oversight Committee is meeting today to basically try and kick Obama's contraception coverage mandate out of the law, and the guy who's chairing it "has refused to allow female witnesses to testify at the hearing, saying it was “not about reproductive rights and contraception but instead about the Administration’s actions as they relate to freedom of religion and conscience.”"
WHAT IN THE HELL?
@The Everpresent Wordsnatcher The ENTIRE debacle makes me question what CENTURY we live in. WHAT CENTURY IS THIS?
And why do men get to talk about my uterus, my WUZZA, my ANYTHING?
@The Everpresent Wordsnatcher HOLY FUCKING SHIT. This is EXACTLY LIKE something that happened in Israel a little bit ago--they were having an OBGYN medical conference and the Jewish fundamentalist organizers wouldn't let any women doctors attend, because, I don't know, looking at them onstage would soil men's minds. Happily, about half the men who were invited walked out, because COME ON.
I think in some ways the "it's about religion and conscience, not your dumb uteruses" justification is almost worse. Like, women don't have any conscience or religious beliefs? "Don't let any of those walking uteruses in this hearing, fellas, they won't have anything to contribute and they'll just drip everywhere."
@The Everpresent Wordsnatcher I actually yelled "FLAMES ON THE SIDE OF MY FACE" earlier today about this. Luckily I have very understanding coworkers.
But what do we do?
@anachronistique Show up at Congress and barge in en masse?
@The Everpresent Wordsnatcher Holy. Shit.
@anachronistique I just emailed Rep. Issa (R-CA) chewing him the fuck out. Beyond that, I'm loving @Ophelia's idea of barging in en masse, especially if we all dress up as walking uteruses. (Uteri?)
@The Everpresent Wordsnatcher The whole thing makes me so angry. They'll cover viagra but not birth control? Grrr argh. And using the freedom of religion argument is a red herring.
@anachronistique Well, any Pinners in Rep. Issa's district should definitely get on the horn, write a letter, whatever. There's gotta be a list somewhere of who's involved in this and who isn't, and any constituents should burn their eardrums or eyeballs (I say, why not both?) with REMOTE FLAMES, posthaste.
@The Everpresent Wordsnatcher And I was in DC YESTERDAY. Had I known, I wouldn't have come back to NY last night. If you're looking for ways to contact your rep, here is the directory of phone numbers:
http://www.house.gov/representatives/
@miwome You can also see reps' positions on various issues, voting records, etc., here:
http://www.opencongress.org/
@The Everpresent Wordsnatcher I KNOW RIGHT i want to knee him in the junk
@miwome Okay, it seems Congresscritters who have actually protested in some way are: Carolyn Maloney, D-NY; Eleanor Norton, Delegate-DC (AND THAT'S A WHOLE OTHER ISSUE); Mike Quigley, D-Ill.; and Elijah Cummings, D-MD. I think maybe a little vocal support sent their way wouldn't hurt.
Meanwhile, a little yelling at EVERYBODY ELSE, especially the Democrats, could be good too. Here's the full list of members (goodness there are a lot), so if you see your Rep.'s name on there, holla at 'em. (STEPHEN LYNCH I AM COMING FOR YOU.)
@Ophelia F'sho! I was trying to find something more specific regarding this particular
travestytrainwreckevent, since there's not much anybody who isn't on the committee can do at this moment. (Isn't there? Correct me if I'm wrong.)@The Everpresent Wordsnatcher It is uteri! I was just at Planned Parenthood the other day doing volunteer training and saw a poster that used it.
In reference to stones used as contraception for camels....
@Bambi Another ridiculous side of this? I need Viagra/Cialis for a lung disease and it's outrageously expensive. Like $1500 pre-insurance. $200/month even with.
It could be due to a higher quantity, but I can't imagine that accounts for all of it.
@miwome I just IMed a friend of mine who works for Tierney (D-MA), and she confirmed that the "event" is happening, but was scheduled before Obama compromised with the Bishops (and made the right look even more foolish--my editorial). The committee doesn't actually have any power to do anything today, they are just yelling about it.
From a political standpoint, I'd say, let's let them yell, and tell every single woman of voting age in America just exactly how they ran this session, and quote them on it. Keep digging that hole, boys - EVERYONE likes contraception, and the more loudly you can talk about how you disagree with it, the better.
All that said, we'd better (by "we" I mean the Democrats) do a MUCH better job of reframing the debate from "religious freedom" to "they want to take your rights away."
@Ophelia Oh thank goodness!
@The Everpresent Wordsnatcher Wait, what? I go to lunch and THIS happens? Holy shit.
@The Everpresent Wordsnatcher WHAT KIND OF FUCKERY IS THIS
@teffodee In case y'all need something else (ANOTHER THING, HOLY CRAP) to get riled up about today, check this out:
http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2012/02/16/oklahoma_personhood_bill_passes_state_senate.html.html
@Ophelia This makes me nauseous. I can only hope that these are the desperate measures of those who realize on some level that they cannot win.
@Ophelia UGH.
@AniaGosia
Meanwhile, Rick Santorum's billionaire backer thinks aspirin makes the best birth control. You just hold it between your knees.
@Ophelia Hm. This pisses me off less so, probably because state legislation pisses me off less than federal legislation. But I also identify as anti-abortion but pro-choice (as in, I wouldn't choose it for myself, I don't think it's great, but the legislation most pro-lifers are trying to push is bullshit that would be terrible for women, and the only way to eliminate abortion is to increase access to alternative forms of birth control, and create an environment where pregnancy/birth is less demonized, and where the foster/adoption system is not broken). But yeah, the most WTF thing I had with the first article you posted is the no-female-witnesses. WHAT?... but this article pisses me off somewhat too.
@teffodee yeah, I think most/all pro-choice people are not all ABORTIONS FOR FUN AND PROFIT, and in my more generous moments I really do think a lot of pro-life people are just super misguided about our perspective. I think we all want a world where all children are born wanted, you know?
@teffodee I think I take issue with legislation overall - while state-level legislation will affect fewer people than federal, it affects those people's choices/liberty/health/well-being just as much.
That said, I agree with you on all of the ways we could reduce the number of abortions, but I honestly don't think that's all this fight is about right now. It really seems to boil down to a belief that no one should have sex outside of marriage, and that every child conceived within a marriage should be born. And that's a position I can't support, not matter what the legislation looks like.
There are so many places around the world where that's the paradigm: women don't have good access to the vital combination of contraception and pre-/post-natal care (and in my mind, that does include abortion). Those places are almost uniformly aligned with high rates of poverty, low rates of women's literacy and political participation, and high rates of violence against women. That's not a vision I share for the US.
edited to add a link to a useful article with citations: http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:21835941~pagePK:64257043~piPK:437376~theSitePK:4607,00.html
@realtalk Yes. I get really stabby when people confuse abortion issues with all birth control issues-- it happens on both sides (recently you can see it with the Komen foundation shitshow, and the way pro-lifers were calling it a victory-- like hello? Breast cancer screening, guys, but it also happens with the "oh noes pro-lifers are against ALL BIRTH CONTROL" thing). I don't like abortion, but with the U.S. as it stands, I'm firmly convinced that making it illegal would do terrible things.
@Ophelia I agree with you. The fight has become some strange defense of the "Christian values" that the U.S. "was built on". In my opinion (as a Christian and U.S. citizen), the values they're defending are not Christian values, and the U.S. sure as hell wasn't built on them. I wish the focus of the pro-life contingency was more on providing birth control and birth control literacy and reforming social services, rather than criminalizing abortion.
@teffodee That's part of why I get so riled up about "personhood" amendments - they're coming from that same vein of "christian morality" (using both those terms quite loosely here!), and can actually serve as not only an attack on abortion, but on many forms of birth control, as well. I'm pretty staunchly pro-choice, but I don't think high abortion rates are what any of us really want.
Wouldn't it be amazing if Congress could have the conversation we're having, instead of the one it's actually having?
@teffodee Sigh, so on the one hand I totally agree that BC and abortion are two separate questions, but the problem is that they actually don't always get treated that way, and so I end up feeling like I have to view them as a bit of a unit. It's when people on the right (who I recognize are not representative of all anti-abortion or sexually conservative people!) get to talking like this that it seems like it really DOES become a generalized issue about sexual and reproductive freedom and health of any kind. And even though people like Santorum (at the link) are a minority of cranks, they have real loud voices and they work real hard to get the legislation they want.
So what I'm really saying, I guess, is that sometimes I am that person ("omg pro-lifers" etc), but I feel like I have reason? I don't know. I'm interested to hear what you think.
@Ophelia said, "It really seems to boil down to a belief that no one should have sex outside of marriage, and that every child conceived within a marriage should be born. And that's a position I can't support, not matter what the legislation looks like."
This a million times. This is just another way to legislate morality.
@miwome "Even though people like Santorum... are a minority of cranks, they have real loud voices"
Yeah. I know. Santorum is a nutjob who never shuts up.
Yes, I think there's certainly basis for assuming that pro-lifers are all anti-contraception. It's because the loudest voices don't make an effort to delineate between the two, and have that weird perspective that sex should always be procreative. I think it comes from having blinders to the society we live in-- in today's world, people become sexually mature long before they're necessarily ready to have kids.
See, for me there's a definite difference between prophylactic and emergency contraception. I'm definitely comfortable with prophylactic; I'm less comfortable with emergency. But the loud right contingent doesn't make that kind of delineation; it's all or nothing. I think the loud left contingent makes the same mistake, though. People are very quick to make the jump from anti-abortion legislation to anti-prophylactic legislation, and I sincerely doubt anti-prophylactic legislation would go through. That being said, I've already mentioned that I think banning abortion would be a foolish, dangerous decision.
I just wish the vocal majorities on both sides would be less willing to jump to sweeping conclusions. There is a lot, a LOT of generalization in the discourse, and it's the generalization that bugs me. My view puts the burden of responsibility on myself, and other like-minded people. Those of us who are passionate in our convictions but moderate our reasoning need to start speaking up, so the crazies don't preside.
and because I can't say it this well: http://www.salon.com/2012/02/02/im_pro_life_and_i_support_planned_parenthood/
@teffodee I totally hear you! I don't have my lines drawn in the same places, but the overall philosophy is right on, as far as I'm concerned. High five.
@miwome High five back atcha :)
@teffodee Three-way high five?
@atipofthehat I just watched that. It is rage-inducing!!! What the what? There are literally no words.
@Ophelia Only if we make sure to use protection.
@miwome http://garflyf.tumblr.com/post/1161045420
@teffodee !!! It is entirely possible this is a simple coincidence, but Clone High (whence the image) is one of my favorite television occurrences of all time. OF ALL TIME. Here is the opening of the first episode, just because.
@miwome Not coincidence! That is the first thing I thought of and I spent like ten minutes scouring the internets for an image of it. I wish there was a gif.... :) Love Clone High forever.
Abe Lincoln: Hey, Joan, you're back!
Joan of Arc: Wow, Abe, you grew, like, a foot!
Ghandi (to Joan): You grew, like, a pair of breasts.
hee hee hee hee
@miwome Was it breast camp?
@teffodee Aaaah! Aaaah! Ahhhh! Ahhhh! I love the Hairpin, this kind of thing always happens. Oh, you have made my day.
@miwome :) :) :) :) :)
My day is also made!
Now, back to Frankenstein and Paradise Lost...
@EVERYONE Aaaah, I went to class for four hours and missed most of this fantastic conversation, and would just confuse things by going and replying to everyone. (It would be mostly YES, THIS, so feel free to take that if applicable. I thumbs-up'd everyone. You are all awesome and I am so glad you're all here.)
I am so very glad we're having this conversation and that the levels of outrage and action here are appropriate to the severity of the situation. What this boils down to for me, is, as mentioned earlier, an effort to legislate morality (Read: "Christian" morality, as interpreted by a bunch o' white Protestant and Catholic dudes) and punish women for having sex. Reiterating the argument about this conversation not happening about ED medication--only contraceptives. I'm firmly in the camp of "don't tell people what to do with their bodies, don't force them into a situation without choices, and do what you can to keep everyone healthy." I think that available contraception is a key factor in keeping unwanted births and abortions low, which should be an outcome that everyone likes, right?
@Opehlia "Wouldn't it be amazing if Congress could have the conversation we're having, instead of the one it's actually having?" YES.
@The Everpresent Wordsnatcher So, it's ok to have a fetus testify via ultrasound, but not the actual voice bits of a real lady? I hope that fetus was a man fetus, then.
And women don't get religious freedom also?
Did you read Amada Marcotte's piece on Slate about the dividing up of the issues of religion and birth control? http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2012/02/10/obama_riled_up_republicans_on_contraception_and_then_delivers_a_knock_out_punch_.html
If ya need dryer balls check out these hedgehog
ones that are only $6! :D
@Hello Kidney OH MY GOD
@Hello Kidney YES. The 99c store ones I got for Christmas a few years back have gone missing (well, one has) and I have been tres sad about it. Those are adorable.
@Hello Kidney THEY HAVE A GATOR GRATER WHERE IS MY CREDIT CARD!!!
@Hello Kidney that website is my mecca, oh my lord.
HEY VASE CLEANER, another alternative to alka-seltzer: baking soda and vinegar! Only a little bit of each, obviously, or you'll start a volcano, but sprinkle a little baking soda in the bottom of the vase, add of hot water and swirl around, then add a couple splashes of vinegar. Not only is it fizzy magic, but treating glass with vinegar makes it sparklier and gets rid of water spots when it dries.
@SarahP Or even just soda water. Anything fizzy will do the trick I think.
I used to work the breakfast shift at a restaurant and letting some soda water sit in the mugs for a bit was THE BEST and easiest way to get coffee stains out.
Magic, I tell you.
Strap-on Lady, wisdom from the tack room: You can clean leather with castile soap, like good old Ivory, which smells better and seems cleaner, for intimate appliances. Don't work up loads of suds, use no more water than you need to, and dry it with a towel-y cloth when you're done. Toothbrush for he crevices, and get them dry. Dry it at room temperature, lying flat not hanging up, if it's so light that it might stretch. If you notice it's dry, treat it with just a little bit of Lexol (best ever for leather), which leaves less residue (and smell) than stuff like neats foot oil. Mink oil will waterproof it, but it does leave a noticeable residue, and it won't hurt leather to get wet if it air dries in between times.
@noReally your typo here: "Toothbrush for he crevices" made me read "toothbrush for her crevices"
D:
@redheadedandcrazy This made me think of the time a gentleman who will remain nameless tried to convince me that an electric toothbrush would work as an ersatz French Tickler. No.
@redheadedandcrazy Ha. Yes, just what I meant. The better you groom your horse (or lady) the less time you'll spend cleaning your tack.
@noReally GET THEM DRY
@noReally "Mink oil will waterproof it, but it does leave a noticeable residue"
And it takes a toll on the mink.
@teffodee Nonononononono!
Am I the only one who gets really excited when I see AACP in my reader?
Also, as a new convert to OxiClean, I have found that sometimes the water used to get the paste out can create a water stain. How do I fix this?
But I thought minx oil was the problem.
I spent Valentine's Day getting drunk on champagne and realized afterwards that baby bottle cleaners are perfect for cleaning champagne glasses - there are ones that suction to the bottom of your sink that make it even easier to clean lots of glasses.
@AniaGosia I'm thinking of the endless hours of dirty jokes that this would bring into my life...
Also: BORAX! It should be your best friend when washing anything. Throw some into your washer when you're doing laundry, and will help take out sooooo many stains! Throw some into your dish washer and it will help make your dishes sparkly/spot-free!
@CurlsMcGirlypants Also, you can make bouncy balls with Borax.
@suddenvalley And hanging crystal doo-dads! And the cheapest ant/roach killer!
have you ladies considered purchasing a strapless strap-on? FUN FOR EVERYONE. They are held in place with vaginal "plugs" and are made of silicone, so easy peasy cleaning.
Also oh my god GUYS MY PEGBOARD ORGANIZER IS DONE! IT IS BEAUTIFUL AND FANCY AND PERFECT!
and ugh one more: does anyone know how to clean out metal water bottles? Water is real hard in my region so they get all sorts of deposits on the insides after a while. I know they sell those "bottle brush" tablets for something crazy like $15 at the grocery store and I refuse to believe that is the only way to do it, ugh
@Third Wave Housewife VINEGAR. hard water deposits are mineral deposits (calcium and magnesium compounds usually) and vinegar or lemon juice, or an acidic cleaner, will help. Soak in 1:1 water:vinegar. If that doesn't help, add some baking soda to the mix and make a mini volcano like in this post for cleaning vases!
@realtalk Yeah, I've used lemon juice, because then if I don't get it all out it just tastes lemony.
@Third wave pics or it didn't happen. OF THE BOARD obvs.
@Craftastrophies I'm probably going to send pictures to Jolie's pinterest board for bedroom storage. Ugh it is SO GREAT and it has a cigar box full of hooks mounted to it AND I HANG RINGS FROM THE HOOKS GUYS IT IS SO GREAT
@Third Wave Housewife I want to SEE.
@Third Wave Housewife Show meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
@Third Wave Housewife That is fucking brilliant.
@realtalk Yes! The vinegar gets it so much cleaner than soap.
Oh my god there is no way I would ever take a sex toy to a dry cleaner. In my entire life my dry cleaners have only ever been sweet little old people and just... no. I CAN'T DO IT, CAPTAIN.
You know that post earlier in the week, about what we would like to see more of on the 'Pin?
I think a practical, direct accessible sex column written in the voice of Jolie/AACP would be tops. Practical advice, suggestions, techniques, Q&A's, etc. - all in this voice.
@karion I think @thirdwavehousewife could definitely help us out here.
@Ophelia Hello. At your service. Sex ed is in my blood and right now I do SEO and content work on websites to pay my bills and I kind of hate it and would like to do something more fun with my time.
Quoth the fellow with whom I spoke, "They've seen everything, they're used to it."
Never before has any similarity between dry cleaners and emergency rooms crossed my mind. But it makes a twisted kind of sense.
"POOFTA" is now my magic word.