I spent a substantial portion of yesterday afternoon watching a combination of HGTV and Food Network, and for reasons completely unknown to me, looking at all those different houses and kitchens made me think about the way I do certain things in my house. You know, things like how I slice an onion or how I stack my dishes or how I fold my fitted sheets or how I don’t wash my windows, well, EVER.
Never underestimate the power of home- and/or cooking-related television programming to inspire a serious bout of housekeeping inferiority, my friends. Beats anything I’ve ever seen.
And honestly, I don’t really feel that inferior. But I do think that I may do a few household-related things in a way that’s more complicated than necessary OR that’s just flat-out different from the norm.
So, as part of a deeply informal and completely unscientific surveying process, I have a few random questions for you, the people of the interweb.
1) How many days a week are you completely caught up on laundry?
2) When you load your dishwasher, do you load the silverware basket with handles down or handles up?
3) FINALLY – can you make up recipes off the top of your head? Or do you have to follow a recipe somebody else has written?
Clearly THE FATE OF THE FREE WORLD hinges on your answers.
So, you know, NO PRESSURE.
My crazy and I will be anxiously awaiting your responses.
1. In theory, I do laundry on Mon & Th. However, you will usually find me on Mon or Th morning putting clean clothes away and bring dirty clothes down, so in reality, never.
2. Handles down. Except for my iced tea spoons because the handles are so skinny they fall through the basket part way.
3. I’m a recipe girl. Although after I’ve made a recipe a few times, I may change the recipe. But, that’s usually at my husband’s suggestion (“This might be really good with more onions”).
1.)Caught up on laundry? The day that happens a leprechaun riding a unicorn will be telling me Orlando Bloom wants to marry me and I’ve won the lotto.
2.) If it can stab me handles up. If not I alternate one handle up, one handle down. That’s what Better Homes and Gardens: Making A Home- Housekeeping for Real Life suggests. So I do it.
3.) It really depends. Baking is more scientific so I generally stick to the recipe but regular cooking I usually change the recipe to the point it no longer resembles the original
Ok here goes…for scientific reasons of course!
Laundry- I do a few loads each day. Never is it all completely washed/dried/put away. There seems to be “a” load always left waiting.
Dishwasher- Handles down except for knives. They are blade down. Very scientific, huh?
Recipes- Der! I’m a GRITS! I can whip anything you want up…..out of bumpkin girl necessity of course! I love recipe books….but I make my own stuff up all the time. :) Hence the sweet words out my babies mouths…..”Mama, you’s are da best cookah!”
Hope this helps!
1. Caught up on laundry? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
2. Handles down except for sharp knives.
3. I use recipes, but I always tweak them.
Never caught up on laundry. With a husband and 4 kids I think it’s impossible!
Silverware with handles down, so the eating part of the utensil gets a good clean.
Do both, but prefer to start with a recipe and then tweak.
1.I consider myself caught up on laundry if everyone found clean underwear that morning.
2. Handles up. I do make sure that the utensils get mixed up so no food gets stuck in there – no spooning for the spoons!
3.I can mix it up on the fly – sometimes I order extra cheese, sometimes extra sausage, sometimes thick crust…
1. Caught up on laundry almost never happens. There’s always one weird piece that needs special attention and it’s forgotten and left in the bottom of the hamper. There are only two of us-I am very afraid of expanding our family and what that might do to the laundry situation.
2. I think I’d do it handles up if I used the dishwasher, but it’s broken and not high on the list of things to do.
3. I like to make something the first time from a recipe and then adjust as I go along or the next try.
1- Never, ever.
2- I put the handles down for spoons and forks. The handles go up for the knives so that I don’t stab myself when I’m emptying.
3- I must follow a recipe unless it’s something simple like adding extra cheese. My husband can make up recipes though- wish I had that gift!
1) There’s never a time when my laundry baskets are completely empty. I have a 4-month-old!
2) Handles up. I don’t want to grab the eating end, and forks and knives can prick you. Ouch!
3) I absolutely can’t make up my own recipes. This is just beyond me. I would have no clue how much of something to put in. Now, I can follow a recipe pretty well. But no, I won’t be on Food Network anytime soon!
1. Zero. Ze-freaking-ro. Ugh.
2. Handles down. My cutlery holder has little dividers in it that keep the cutlery seperate from each other.
3. Both. I make a lot of stuff up. But if it’s any type of baking, I follow a recipe.
1) 4 days a week. Don’t ask about ironing though.
2)Handles down. I heard somewhere it was more sanitary to do this because when you unload it you don’t get your hands all over the mouth part.
3) No making up recipes here. I wish I could. Stick to the words. Will be sticking to Pioneer Woman’s words today as I make those lip licking cinnamon rolls.
Define caught up on laundry. I define it as not having enough for a whole load to wash. But I only iron twice a week. (I don’t have a dryer) I’m usually fairly current on laundry, but I usually have a huge pile of stuff that should be ironed.
No dishwasher either. :( But when I have one, I load handles up.
Yes. But I like to follow a recipe the first couple of times I make something; after that I’ll improvise. And even when following recipes, I am generous with ingredients and am not known for really exact measuring.
How will this help you? I’m all agog.
Be warned that I am a little OCD!
1. Sometimes my husband and I shower and dress for bed just so I can wash what we had on! This way I. Am. Caught up until the next day.
2. Handles up. No worries of food getting stuck bc I pretty much wash the dishes before they go in. Seriously. I refuse to let them go in with even one speck. Of food on them.
3. I am a recipe girl and my husband is a make it up as you go kinda guy..:e does most of the cooking!!!
1. Usually caught up for 1 day. I try to follow the “1 load a day” thing, but that usually only works the first few days of the week.
2. Knives are handles up, everything else is handles down.
3. Recipes all the way. I can’t stand when I screw something up because I decided to go off on my own. I’ve learned that lesson all too well.
1. Laundry….once ina blue moon, I get all the laundry washed, dried, folded and put away….but mostly it is washed and dried, in a basket needing to be folded or folded, just not put away.
2. Silverware goes into the basket – knives handle up so nobody comes away from emptying the dishwasher without a digit. and the forks and spoons go handle down into the rack that is in the basket. the serving pieces usually go handle down too cause they fit better that way.
3. Cooking with recipes….on a few things, but usually just pull a few things together and it’s dinner.
1) I start laundry every morning at 7AM and whatever is dirty is washed/dried/folded and put away.
2) Silverware handles go down (except knives who go handle up)
3)I make up my own recipes mostly. I have tons of cookbooks but I tweak them all to fit my family.
1. Caught up?? Seriously? People do that?
2. Don’t have a dishwasher…
3. I can cook from scratch without a recipe…with mostly good results.
hi! I’ve been blog-stalking you for awhile now, but what better time to comment than a survey!
1. I’m caught up once every two weeks. Until my man comes home and changes.
2. handles up. always.
3. I’m usually more successful when I make things up. if I’m following a recipe it’s because I’m baking…and that never works out!
1. There is always at least one load to do…towels are always needing to be washed.
2. Handles down…always.
3. I follow the recipe to a “T” :)
1. Sorry, laughing too hysterically to answer.
2. Neither – my husband loads the dishwasher. Before you tell me how lucky I am, I need to tell you that it’s done maybe once a week when he can’t stand to see the dishes piled any more. We made a rule when we got married, I cook and he does dishes. He washes dishes when there aren’t any clean ones left. :P
3. I can make lots of things sans recipe but like to follow one once in awhile to try something different.
1) Laundry -never, and there is just the two of us!
2)Down??
3) Cooking – off the top of my head. Baking, even a recipe can’t help me!
1. Laundry: Maybe one
2. Dishwasher:All handles down
3. Recipes: Straight from the books
I just started reading your blog..great reading!!
1)There are only two of us, so I do laundry twice a week. So you could say I stay caught up.
2)I do not have a dishwasher, not a big deal though.
3)I follow a recipe most of the time, but sometimes I will remove a ingredient or two.
1. never – if I get everything washed and dried, somebody always has something else that needs washed.
2. all handles down
3. recipes – but sometimes I tweak them a little
I absolutely LOVE the way you do this stuff! You make me think about things that I always do WITHOUT thinking :) You should get together with Bill Cosby……he makes everyday stuff HILARIOUS!!! You SO have that gift, too!
1. Never….I agree with Georgia Mom……you’re only completely finished if your family goes naked for a day. I teach school, so I’m really good at keeping up with the laundry in the summer. During the school year, I try to do (at least) one load every evening. If I don’t, I spend my weekends doing it :(
2. Handles up.
3. Probably 75% on my own and 25% following recipes. Most of my best dishes are ones I make on my own. When my oldest son got married, he and his wife wanted me to write down some of their favorites. I had a horrible time trying to do it! Then, there are some recipes I follow to the letter.
1. Laundry- if you don’t count the clothes that we are wearing…..about three times a week (So pretty much whenever I am home. I can’t stand to know that it isn’t done and I feel like it is mocking me from the hamper until it is.)
2. Dishwasher-no preference until a stray handle slides down and prevents me from pulling the drawer out. Then I vow to never again stray from dishwasher ettiquette. Generally that lasts approx. one load.
3. I need a recipe so that I can always blame someone else if it doesn’t taste right.
Laundry: NEVER! It is a plot. There is ALWAYS laundry to be done…dirty, washing machine, dryer, unfolded, folded but not put away, or very dirty clothes on a body waiting to come off…
Silverware: both. Our old dishwasher left food on them if you didn’t alternate them. The new one doesn’t, but now it is habit. The only exception is knives, those are down, always.
Recipes: Usually I follow the recipe the first time and then all bets are off after that. I make substitutions as necessary but rarely come up with anything I would say was new. That is one of the reasons I lurve top chef. They can do some amazing stuff with the most banal ingredients!
por que these three questions???
1. I usually do laundry one day a week–it’s Monday during the summer since I don’t have to work, but during the school year it’s Saturday. Every piece of laundry is clean for about 10 seconds at the end of that day.
2. All handles down.
3. I don’t always follow recipes; every now and then I try to create on my own. Things usually turn out okay, but “The Next Food Network Star” I am not.
1. We do laundry maybe once a month. Seriously. It’s just my husband and me, but still. Kids are going to be AWESOME.
2. I used to do it handles down, but have recently switched.
3. I need recipes. More accurately, I need quantities. I have no idea how much of an ingredient a dish requires.
1. I DESPISE laundry (well, putting it up anyway!). The clean clothes just get added to the piles of clean clothes that came before. I have enough clothes that I can go a LONG time w/out doing my own stuff. If my husband needs something done, he knows how to work the machines himself! We do sheets and towels often, though.
2. I alternate the handles…that way the spoons wont “spoon” together and not get clean.
3. I love to cook and just throw in what I think would be good. If it’s a new recipe, I will follow the card…but even then I end up throwning my own things in!
1. Laundry – once in a blue moon. Ironing, absolutely NEVER.
2. Handles up.
3. I need to follow recipes exactly. Like really exactly. And thank you so much for making me suddenly, painfully aware of that fact.
1– Caught up on laundry? BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. No, seriously. BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
2– I put everything handle down unless the handle is too skinny and would fall through the little holes. This is a direct result of my working in the campus kitchen in college, where we had to wash every piece of silverware THREE TIMES– it went through the dishwasher handle-down twice to clean the eating part and then we flipped it and ran it through again handle-up. Anyway, I don’t run my silverware through three times but I figure handle-down ensures maximum food crusty removal.
3– I don’t think I’ve ever invented a recipe. I pretty much always follow someone else’s. I might add in an ingredient or something, but that’s it.
I’m still laughing about number one . . .
1) How many days a week are you completely caught up on laundry? Usually one-two days. There are only 2 of us, so it’s manageable. I do, however, have an unhealthy fear of washing red things (no matter how many times they’ve been washed) with anything else…so the red load tends to remain unwashed longer.
2) When you load your dishwasher, do you load the silverware basket with handles down or handles up? I don’t like my spoons to…well, spoon, so I mix them up. Some up, some down (sharp knives always handles-up).
3) FINALLY – can you make up recipes off the top of your head? Or do you have to follow a recipe somebody else has written? For baking, I always start with a recipe (but often add things). Baking seems so scientific…not enough soda or baking powder, etc., and you have a problem! Anything else, I make up, based on what I have on hand and what my mood is! I get a kick out of finding creative substitutes for things.
1. I’m never caught up. Ever. I think to be fully caught up, everyone would have to spend a couple hours naked, and that just won’t fly at our house! ;)
2. Handles down.
3. I need recipes when baking goodies, but for other things I like to get ideas from others’ recipes and then tweak them for my family.
Laundry – never caught up and occasionally buried in it
Silverware – sharp knives down and everything else just thrown in
cooking – about 50/50, leaning a little more towards using a recipe
I am a terrible housekeeper and have never been able to keep a cleaning schedule – although I have written one out too many times to count…plans, oh, my grand plans….
1. Laundry – I probably am caught up once/week, when I take the entire day to get “caught up”. But then the next day it has piled up again
2. All handles up – just bc I have an almost 2 year old in the house who likes to “help” and he could hurt himself
3. Never just make up recipes. That’s what I use cookbooks for
1) laundry-I do it everyday. I have that pvc hamper seperated by colors. When one gets full I know it’s a load, so I never have a full load of any color. It’s always caught up. Please don’t ask me about ironing though.
2) handles down or handles up? – my neat freak mother told me to alternate, and also to never put all the spoons together etc. If all the handles are up & the spoons are all together, they will nest & not get super clean.
3) recipes? – I usually read my mom’s recipes. There are a few (chocolate chip cookies & banana bread ) that I have memorized. But my brain is so overloaded & it’s not important enough to memorize…wait chicken tetrazzini’s memorized too.
Nice post!
1. Laundry: 2 times a week. Various days each week. It depends on my schedule. But I normally TRY to do it Tues and Fri.
2. I have little separators in my silverware thingy, so they go handles down.
3. Recipes: Have to use a recipe. I’ve tried w/o one with the results not being very tasty. I’ve also tried to substitute ingredients w/ the results not being good…
1:) only on the day that I actually do it and only until my hubs comes home and changes his clothes. So I suppose only 4.5 hours per week
2.) a variety because it IS the spice of life!
3.) oh I wish I were like pioneer woman but I am only good enough to follow recipes. And sometimes that is difficult for me!
NEVER caught up on laundry
fork & spoon handles up, knife handles down
recipe follower
1. I’m single and I still am never entirely where I want to be. I have been known to do the laundry commando so that I know all of my underwear is clean. I know it’s crazy. What can I say?
2. Handles down. I don’t like to touch the eating surface and I’m not one of those people who washes things before I put them in the dishwasher.
3. I do most of my cooking on the fly. However, if I find a new recipe I want to try, I’ll make it how it’s written the first time and then wing it after that.
1) One – i do laundry once a week (obviously a one-person household, eh?) and that is the only day that it’s all caught up!
2) Handles down. i read in Reader’s Digest (clearly they know everything) that the tines and blades and such get cleaner that way. Made sense to me, and since that’s the part off which i eat, i figured that was what i wanted clean.
3) i make up recipes all the time – and most of the time, they are pretty delicious! Yay for a useful talent!
1. ok well, me and laundry…..we dont get along! it is always around and never seems to be done!!!!!
2. when it comes to silverware i have often wondered as you do! does it make a difference which way they face and all of that?! i usually put the handles up. the funny thing is, my handsome hubby puts the handles down! :)
3. i tend to make up my own recipes usually, just because i hate having to buy so many ingredients and then never using them again! i will usually use a recipe though when we have guests over and such! :)
Wow, you really care about this? Then you obviously care about my answers!
1. I have a schedule: MWF I wash all towels (I was raised in a home where it was akin to blasphemy if you let towels go over 2 days) and T and Th I wash all clothing. (I don’t always sort. Blasphemy again, I know.) On Sunday I rest. Even with that schedule, I’m not always caught up.
2. We don’t have a dishwasher. I can’t say.
3. I’m not confident yet, even after 4 years of marriage and planned, cooked meals, to do much on the fly. I mainly use recipes, but I’m getting a little more adventurous.
So there you have it!
1) half a day.
2) handles up.
3) does making spaghetti count as flying by the seat of my pants?
1. Laundry is only caught up on our bi-monthly “Nekkid Thursday.” For pete’s sake, don’t dirty any of those clean clothes the very day we got caught up on laundry!
2. Knives down. Others up.
3. I insist on tweaking every single recipe, no matter what. I even refuse to put in the amount of water indicated on the instant oatmeal packet. A little less water “makes it mine”…plus I douse it with maple syrup.
1. Once or twice a week–for a few minutes until somebody has an accident. Oops!
2. Mostly handles up, but if Hubby helps it’s all willy nilly.
3. Mostly recipes. I’ll only make something without a recipe if I’ve already pretty much memorized the recipe and I’m not sure that really counts. :)
p.s. What I want to know is vacuuming and mopping floors. I swear a clean floor is a magnet for kid goo!
1) We are a family of 6 which equals LOTS of laundry. I do it all on Monday so that I don’t have to think about it the rest of the week.
2)Handles down–a safety tip from my dad who cut his arm one time on a knife sticking up in the dishwasher.
3)A recipe is a framework to work from. I change things around based on what I have in the pantry and personal taste but I don’t usually come up with them on my own.
Obviously there has not been enough Diet DP consumed yet today…#2 should be handles up..not sure what I was thinking! It is Monday you know!
1. I am never really caught up – I have 4 kids =)
2. My silverware goes handles down, but all my cutting knives go handles up.
3. I am definitely a recipe follower the first time I make something. If it is good, but doesn’t quite fit our family tastebuds, I will tweak…..
1) Anyone who says they do, is lying, or they do laundry naked. However, once or twice a week I will be in a place where none of my standing loads are big enough to put through the washer. (I keep a standing “whites,” “colors,” “darks,” and “towels” load in a laundry organizer.)
2) Handles down, any other way squicks me right the heck out. The dirty bits have to get BLASTED TO OBLIVION.
3) Recipes suck. Typically, unless I’m following a recipe by someone who is KNOWN to be good (note: no one on FN qualifies) I always seem to fail. RR is especially bad. I’ve never had a recipe of hers turn out remotely edible, much less tasty, and I’ve made some things of hers that I KNOW I can make. Like chicken soup. I know how to make it, it’s tasty, her recipe looked nice.
We ate pizza that night. uggggggh. Don’t get me started on her butternut squash soup. I’d only been married a month, and my sainted husband *tried* to eat it.
Ughhhhhhh.
However, my mom taught me to cook as she taught me to walk, so I am decently handy in the kitchen.
1) If I am going to be totally honest, I am COMPLETELY caught up on laundry maybe once a month?! I seem to always be doing laundry, but am never done.
2) Handles up!
3) I do both. There are so many wonderful and delicious recipes out there, it would be a shame not to take advantage of them. On the flip side, there is a definite thrill in creating something from scratch! My creations usually involve pasta as it is the most yielding to ‘mistakes’
) How many days a week are you completely caught up on laundry? Uh…usually never!
2) When you load your dishwasher, do you load the silverware basket with handles down or handles up? I usually put them in handles down because they are so heavy.
3) FINALLY – can you make up recipes off the top of your head? Or do you have to follow a recipe somebody else has written? I can and I do….but I am a lover of cookbooks and I do often review several cookbooks before making some dishes….just to find a consensus on ingredients to use. LOL
It’s impossible for bloggers to resist answering specific questions. So here I go:
1) I’m never completely caught up. I DO laundery once or twice a week, so by the end of those days, I’m caught up. But then we change into jammies and…
2)Both. I don’t like my spoons and forks to sit inside each other and not get clean, so I mix it up.
3) Usually, I use a recipe. The creative gene didn’t get a chance to mature in me. I’m not afraid to deviate a little bit, but I need a recipe to get me started for anything special.
1. ZERO. ZIP. ZILCH. NADA. NONE. Laundry is my arch-nemesis.
2. If I’m loading it, usually handles up. If my kids are loading it, who knows?! And… if my mother-in-law is visiting, handles down. Actually there are quite a few household chores I do differently when she’s here. Weird, huh?
3. I’m a pretty good cook, but I’ve never felt comfortable making stuff up from scratch, but if I have a recipe, I really like to modify it and make it better. So, does that count as making up recipes?
I feel your pain! I too watched a ton of Food Network & HGTV yesterday. I looked around my house and almost cried with frustration!
I could do laundry daily and NEVER be caught up. Mainly because my seven year old daughter has to have a different outfit every hour! UGH!
I put knives handle up because my kids unload the dishwasher and they are not careful. I can just see a need for stitches if I didn’t!
When it comes to baking… I use a recipe, but vegetables and meat… I wing it. You never know when you might have the next million dollar recipe just by dashing stuff in a pan!
My goal is to do one load of laundry a day. And when I do stick to this system, I am a happy person. My laundry is never completely done, but I don’t feel overwhelmed by it either. In reality, I usually get caught up around Thursday and enjoy about 30 minutes or less during which all of the laundry is clean.
I don’t watch HGTV anymore because it made me constantly feel discontent. I thought I would never say this, but my life is much better without it! =]
1. I do all the laundry on Wednesdays. I usually fold them in front of the TV that night with Hubby and put them away on Thursday, but sometimes I get lazy and they don’t get folded until the next Wednesday. But, I always wash on Wednesday, does that count for being caught up?
2. Handles up. If the handles are down, you have to touch the eating part to put them away. I don’t understand why this is a question. :)
3. I always cook with recipes. Even the things I cook without a recipe, I’m really cooking from memory. I do, however, love to change things. People ask for my recipes all the time, and I have to give them the disclaimer that it probably won’t taste exactly the same. :)
1. Mon – parents & towels, Tues – little girls, Wed – little boys, Thurs – teenage daughter, Fri – parents & sheets, Sat – pre-teen boy, Sun – delicates. There is always laundry, but IF it gets done each day then I feel “on top of it”.
2. Spoons & Forks – handles up, knives – handles down.
3. I’m a little OCD (could you tell??) so I follow recipes, but I have finally stopped perfectly measuring 1 tsp of salt! My hubby is the pull everything out of the refrig and make something yummy guy. However, I do 90% of the cooking.
1. 1-2 days totally caught up
2. Handles up but that is only because my 18 month old wants to yank out all the knives so better be the handle first because I never catch him in time.
3. Baking…recipes and exact measurements. No on a whim for me.
1. 3-4. If I have laundry piled up, I get annoyed. Especially since I have to look at it while I cook dinner. I’m a little obsessive, maybe.
2. Handles up. That’s just how it’s done.
3. When I bake, I follow recipes exactly because you can really mess those up. I shouldn’t say that. Sometimes I take take a base and turn it into something else. Just cooking? I fly by the seat of my pants. Constantly.
1) never caught up on laundry. well maybe once a month :)
2) handles always up on all of it
3) both. i make some up and follow some as well.
1) I am NEVER caught up on laundry. Sigh.
2) Handles up.
3) Sure, I make stuff up all the time.
oh goodness, now we’re all questioning our housekeeping skills.
1. i don’t think i ever get caught up. there’s only two of us (no kiddos yet) so i can literally do ALL the laundry in the hamper and by the end of the day there’s more in there. i mean we have to wear something while i’m doing the laundry right?
2. i place knives down so that i don’t cut myself unloading them and all other silverware handle down so it doesn’t take up as much room in the silverware rack.
3. more often than not a follow a recipe, but sometimes i try and get creative.
4. i’ve never washed windows. i occationally wipe down the sliding glass door, but windows i’ve yet to venture. not looking forward to it.
(1) One day a week at most even though only 2 of us
(2) handles always up and each utensil in its own compartment (makes it easy to unload and sling right in the drawer
(3) unless baking, I usually fly by the seat of my pants and it all turns out OK. Mostly it depends on what I have on hand.
1.) Anyone who is caught up on Laundry a. does not have kids! b. Wears only 1 outfit per day and/or wears the same clothes over and over and c. cannot be trusted =)
2.) Silverware with stems down so it washes down and doesn’t collect. My genius -or lazy?-16yr old son loads the silverware by grouping all the spoons together, forks together, knives together. It makes it faster for him to put them away later!
3.) Always a recipe. If you dont have the liquid/dry just right some items can turn out aweful! But i do usually adjust or omit items to my liking!
Fun post – hope this helps!!!
If I were ever, EVER to get caught up on laundry in this house, you would be able to hear my gleeful yell. All the way in Alabama, you’d hear me yelling.
Depends on the utensil: Knives handles up, forks handles down so the tines won’t go through the holes in the cutlery basket, spoons mixed so they won’t, well, spoon. And yes, I do group them in the dishwasher.
If I were the cook I wish I were, I’d create recipes. I’d be Bach in the kitchen. But I am not a composer. I am, however, a bit of a jazz musician: I take someone else’s compositions and improvise. But not when baking. When baking, I follow the music precisely.
And just so you know, I am going to email you. Even though I know you may not ever have a chance to read my email, much less respond.
1. I’m never caught up on my laundry. (Sometimes I think I am, but then the girls clean their rooms and the hamper is full again!)
2. I load the silverware with the handles down. I think it cleans better that way. I also try to put each type in its own compartment to make it easier for my girls to unload.
3. With only a couple of exceptions, I must follow a recipe. I wish I could just wing it, but I don’t have those kind of kitchen skillz!
1. I am caught up on laundry about 3 or 4 days per week. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the laundry…I know, it’s a little crazy.
2. Always, handles up.
3. I read recipes all the time, but I rarely use them just as written when cooking. Most of my main dishes are my creations, and baking is usually an adaptation of what I am reading.
I would be lying if I said I was not jealous of your trip to Ree’s. Do a load of laundry between reading posts :)
1. Most of the time. Believe it or not, I actually don’t mind laundry. Now bathrooms, that’s another story!
2. They must absolutely be mixed so that they will all get clean. My parents put all spoons in one compartment, etc and it grosses me out because you know some of those spoons get turned the same way and they don’t get clean. Shivers!!
3. I almost never follow a recipe exactly. I usually improvise with whatever I have on hand. If I am making something specific, I will usually look online at two or three recipes and use the best ingredients from each. Nobody complains about the food around here, so it must work out okay.
1- Never ever caught up on laundry. I bought extra undies for me and my daughter so I could do laundry less (I know bad).
2-Sharp knifes and forks tines down the rest whatever.
3-I follow recipes to a T. I am not creative at all.
1. .5 … that’s about half… even when we are caught up, something goes in the basket later (like dishes, the laundry is NEVER DONE)
2. Handles go up! This way when you are emptying the basket and grab everything you don’t dirty the clean eating part. (Learned that one from my mom) Thank you
3. No recipe can really come out of this foggy brain, I have to use other people’s (mostly from the Food Network)… though sometimes I can alter a written recipe and it’ll turn out OK.
1- Never caught up on laundry…I just give up on it and have to wash everday!
2- All silverware is down, handles up.
3- I usually follow recipes….I have tried to mix it up a little and it never turns out well for me.
1. The only people that ever get caught up on their laundry are nudist.
2. My mom taught me to put all utensils up, this drives my husband crazy due to his mom taught him to put them down. This is an ongoing battle in my house.
3.I follow recipes. The only way I am creative is if I am out of an ingredient I look for something that is the same color as the item I needed.
1. for about 15 minutes.
2. handles down
3. Yes, i can make ’em up. But my OCD side really puts up a fuss.
1. Never!
2. Handles down!
3. Must follow a recipe!
1- Never
2- Always handles down so all the yucky, germy stuff is closest to the spraying water… sidenote. although dishes will go any which way in the dishwasher I think there is a certain order that works better… putting all plastic cup and sippee cups in a row then all the real glasses: all salad plates on one side and dinner plates on the other… the only un compulsive thing is that I don’t rinse the dishes… that’s what the dishwasher is for.
3- I never follow a recipe exactly. I think they are there for quidelines and ideas but I always improvise… adding spices, tweaking amounts, etc.
1. If I get two days a week where I’m caught up, it’s a perfect week and I must have the week off from work and have spent the entire day washing, folding, and putting away.
2. Handles down except for knives, in which I put the blades down. I’m too clumsy and I’ve cut myself too much!
3. I follow recipes but eyeball everything and add my own ingredients. Nothing I do in the kitchen is exact. Unfortunately that goes for baking too, which is why I’m a horrible baker. :)
1. One day a week, if I’m lucky.
2. I wish that I could say I have an aeshetic and beautiful answer to this question… but the truth is I throw them in and however they fall, that’s how.
3. I follow almost all recipes to a T. When I don’t, they usually don’t work. My husband, however, is very good at experimenting. I know that perhaps should be an insult to my personal call of womanhood, but it means he cooks more so I don’t have to and I’m fine with that!
1. Maybe twice a YEAR I’m completely caught up on laundry, because that’s when I take the pillowcase that’s crammed with mismatched socks and match them up, but then again maybe I’m NEVER caught up because I cram what’s left over for the next 6 months update.
2. Handles down, mostly.
3. I make a few things without receipes that are old stand-by’s, like Crock Pot veg. soup and beef stew, and Southern Sausage Casserole. I like to do the recipes though.
1.) In our household there is only my husband and I, yet I’m ashamed to admit that I’m only caught up COMPLETELY on laundry about twice a month. Yes, there are days when I see my husband pull a pair of dress socks out of the hamper, or he walks downstairs in the hope that I just haven’t had time to bring his clean clothes up from the clothesline.
But in my defense, I’m still adjusting to working full time, being married, doing all the laundry, shopping, cooking, cleaning, planning, laundry… so sometimes I forget about details…like washing his one & only pair of dress pants, and that caused a problem when he was trying to get ready for church yesterday morning….
2.) There isn’t a dishwasher in our 50+ yr old house, and there isn’t really room for one next to our lovely 5 foot tall avocado-green refrigerator…but if there was one, I would definitely put my silverware in handle-down. Why? Not really sure, except that’s how my mom always did it. :)
3.)Soup & smoothies are about the only things I make where I use no recipe at all. Most the time I do refer to a recipe, but only as a rough guideline. I like to add my own seasonings, use up extra ingredients that are in the fridge, and just be creative with my cooking — it’s a great outlet sometimes. Haven’t had too many disasters yet, so I’m stinking with it!
1 Laundry – never, ever caught up. It just doesn’t happen
2. silverware in dishwasher – all goes handle down so I can see what is in each compartment – I sort silverware as it goes into the dishwasher. However SHARP knives never go in the dishwasher so I don’t have to worry about the points sticking up
3. only a very few standbys can I do without a recipe. That’s what cookbooks are for don’t you know………..
1. Never. My family has this annoying habit of feeling like they have to wear clothes…sheeesh!
2. The silverware all goes handles down, unless it’s a sharp knife. I also space it out, so that not all the spoons are together, etc. It may make unloading easier the other way, but then the silverware starts to get to chummy and doesn’t get as clean.
3. Are you kidding me? The recipe police would come after me if I did that. Nope, I follow a recipe. If it says don’t do something, I don’t do it!
I’m a domestic nightmare. You don’t want me to answer these questions, really. I have been known to buy the family more underwear due to a laundry backup. Might need a haz-mat suit to go down there now. Handles up except for knives. Cooking?…
1. I am never caught up on laundry. I do 1 – 2 loads a day.
2. Handles up.
3. Very few recipes from memory.
1. Since it’s only me, I can get away with doing laundry once a week, so I am always caught up.
2. Handles up
3. I almost always use a recipe. I am great cook, but I need instructions
1. Only one maybe two days a week am I truly caught up on laundry.
2. Handles are up so when I take them out of the dishwasher I’m picking them up by the handles and not putting my fingers on the part I eat from.
3. Recipes – I’d say 9.5 times out of 10 I have to follow a recipe or else the food turns out slightly scary.
1. HA! Oh, seriously?! I have 4 kids, and don’t think I’ve been COMPLETELY caught up ONCE in 10 years of married life! I mean, right now my sorter is empty, but there are hampers in bedrooms with dirty clothes, and there is clean laundry not completely put away. SO…never.
2. All knives go handles up, everything else, I start handles up, with one of each in each compartment, then go back through handles down in each compartment…until all are in there. I know. OCD.
3. Usually make up meals, but sometimes use recipes, too. I don’t bake often because I have a hard time being exact with measurements.
Thank you for this. Reading other answers has made me feel pretty stinkin’ normal!!!
1) NEVER, the two times it did happen, I got REALLY mad when hubby took his shirt off and put it in the hamper. It was ONLY 30 minutes after I finished the last load. :)
2)Handles up
3) Make up my own, plus remembering what momma did when I was a little girl.
1) Empty nest = easy to stay caught up with laundry most of the time.
2) Handles down
3) 50/50; it depends on what I’m making. That said, most of the recipes I use are ones from my own collection…I am not very adventurous.
1 The only day I’m caugt up on laundry would be the day after it’s been done.
2. handles up and i’m OC I have an order and keep things alike in each slot makes it so much quicker when unloading. I’m all about the speed.
3. I have made up recipes on the fly but it is not a regular thing.
1)I do laundry every 5 days (because I have 6 bras, lol!!), and I’m only caught up RIGHT after I’ve finished that day. As soon as the kids go to bed, there are more clothes!
2)handles up, unless it’s something big like spatula, then handles down. It’s “supposed” to keep the spoons from nesting…
3) I *can* make something up while cooking, though I’ve had some come out WRONG. Baking… you can’t bake off the cuff, there is actual science there!
As for washing windows… I’ve never done it! We bought this house 3 years ago… I did notice they were looking pretty grimy though. We do have the nice tilt-in windows, if I ever get the urge to wash them, but I’m thinking that only pregnant nesting would put me in THAT mood… and I had 3 kids in less than 5 years, I’m not planning to be pregnant again :)
1. I never feel caught up. With three toddlers, there’s never a day when EVERYTHING is clean. Either the clothes are clean and not folded, everything that’s clean IS folded and the hampers are full, or all the clothes are clean and folded, but the towels are piling up.
2. I do about half the handles up and half down. I read somewhere that they get cleaner that way. It doesn’t really make sense to me, but I trust just about everything I read in a magazine and so I’ve done that ever since.
3. I cannot make up a recipe to save my life! The last thing I made up was making a box of macaroni and cheese and cutting up wienies in it. The kids loved it, but then I saw it in a quick cooking magazine. Plus it’s a fairly obvious alternative to our usual hot dogs and macaroni and cheese since we were out of buns!
1. I didn’t realize there was such a thing.
2. A little of both
3. Oh, how I try. It NEVER turns out.
1. NEVER completely caught up on laundry – I do a load or two a day to try to keep ahead but as soon as I am done, someone dirties SOMETHING. Dang hygiene. :)
2. Dishwasher – knives with handles up, everything else handles down. My mom always did it that way so that sharp knives didn’t cut you while you were unloading.
3. NO WAY could I make up recipes off the top of my head! Not if you paid me a million bucks. I always follow someone else’s great idea. Why reinvent the wheel?
1. I do laundry one day a week and it’s done!
2. Handles down
3. I am a whipper-upper. Every once in a while I will find a new recipe to try.
I’m so glad you asked. These are three things that I have *very* strong opinions about. [Because, it appears, I have an ever-shrinking life.]
1. LAUNDRY: I can remember my grandmother whispering to me on a Sunday afternoon, “I did a little load but I didn’t use bleach.” Since I can still hear Nannie’s voice [and pitiful rationalization] in my head, I don’t do laundry on the Sabbath.
I am, therefore, caught up on laundry 6 days a week.
Because
a] We are officially empty-nesters.
b] And now that the boys have moved with their 358 pair of grimy jeans, I have a spanking new front loading washer/dryer set. [flawed logic there on the timing maybe?]
I actually go around the neighborhood rounding up baskets of dirty laundry from young mothers. Really. Either they love me .. . or are collectively planning travel arrangement for my trip to Whitfield. [for folks that didn’t grow up in Mississippi … that’s the ‘institution’.]
2. DISHWASHER
Pointy things down, please!
So : spoon have handles down.
Usually forks and ALWAYS knives have handle up.
And unless you have divorce lawyer or bottle o’Xanax standing by … don’t sort them by compartment. [all spoons, all forks, all knives in a section] They will not get clean that way, people!
*whew* : I apologize for this mini-blogging in your comments sections, but this is serious stuff. Feel free to hit ‘delete’ after reading if so inspired. Twitter has helped me grow some thick skin.
3. RECIPES
I can order take-out without following any step-by-step instructions whatsoever.
Empty nest, remember? =)
1. Is that even possible?
OK, I didn’t think so.
2. Knives – handles up. Spoons/forks – handles down unless there’s something really goopy on them that I think might be problematic or if something really goopy failed to be washed off in the previous wash or six. After the seventh consecutive post-wash goop discovery, I just throw the utensil away. Except not really.
3. I modified a cookie recipe once because I, like you, was inspired by Food Network fanciness and heard on a show that orange and chocolate were good when paired up. So I added some orange extract and some other stuff to an old standby chocolate cookie recipe. The result was slightly chewy (like rubbery chewy, not Soft Batch chewy) but somehow drier chocolate cookies. I do make up my own concoctions for marinading. So I guess the answer to question #3 is: maybe.
1. Most days the laundry is caught up. It might not be folded or put away, but it is at least clean.
2. Handles up! I cannot stand it if handles are down. I do not want to touch the part of the silverware that goes into your mouth as I’m putting it away. If I did, it would once again be dirty and would have to stay in the dishwasher.
3. When trying new things, I read a recipe one time. Each time after that (if I make it again), it is from memory, and changed up to my liking.
Hope this helps!
1 – What do you mean by “caught up on laundry”? I’ve never heard of such a phenomenon.
2 – um, not sure if I have mentioned it but the organization? it doesnt exactly exist in our household. So ours are usually a disastrous mess of up and down (gasp)
3 – Recipes? do you mean the directions on the box of Kraft macaroni and cheese? Because that I can do by heart . . .