Deployment Journal - Day #69

Awoke determined to make a dent in some of the overdue projects that are bugging me.  Brought my Little One back to bed, and sleepily began composing a list in my head.  Suddenly noticed that her cloth diaper smelled much more strongly than normal.  

But, I know I've been washing them right...!  I Googled "How to eliminate ammonia in Fuzzibunz diapers."

 

(1)  HANG IN THE SUNSHINE.

 

 

So, there I was, a Baby on my hip, trying to find our clothesline in one of the many bins in our garage.  Hallelujah!  Husband had put it in a logical place, right next to the clothes pins, in our Camping bin.  Thank you for being so organized!!!  I mentally thanked him, and headed outside.

Now, the sun had just risen, so it was cold.  (I later learned it was 44 degrees.)  I was wearing a tank top and shorts.  No idea why.  I set Daughter in her baby seat, and set to work stringing the clothesline.  And you know that Christmas light phenomenon that inexplicably converts perfectly looped strings into chaotic tangles, which knot tighter the more you try to free them?  It's a Clothesline phenomenon, too...

 

30 minutes later, my hands were numb and quivering, and Daughter was fussing.  But, the dang clothesline was up. 

(2)  BOIL DIAPER INSERTS.

 

This one was more tedious.  After rinsing and washing my inserts normally, I proceeded to boil them.  This took forever.  Like, six hours.  After endlessly heating and stirring and putting them into the washing machine, since you cannot wring out boiling hot fabric, I finally returned to my clothesline and hung them.  Not all fit on the line, (or rather, I ran out of clothes pins) so some diapers went on the grass, on a towel.  After all, it's the sunshine that really does the bleaching trick, right?  

Around 3:30 p.m., I turned to my normal list.  Daughter was sleeping.  The diapers were nearly dry now, and definitely whiter than before.  My labor felt worthwhile. 

I swept the floor, I hand-mopped the floor, I washed the dishes, chicken was in the crockpot, making delicious broth.  Today was going to turn out great.

I began to unpack my suitcase.  Finally.  Six days after getting home.  Theweather was now sunny and warm, so I opened the windows, ate a cookie, and morale began to rise.

And then, I heard a strange hissing noise.  Had I forgotten a load in the washing machine?

Nope.  It was the sprinklers.