>This is my fourth attempt at this post – and it’ll stay an attempt until I get it posted – but I’m hoping to dash home and get it up before passing out. It’s currently 9:23pm, I’m sitting in front of a pay phone right outside the ladies room at the Palazzo (reference: shock-creted hell and the only garage I’ve been kicked out of to date). I didn’t get kicked out again, it’s just too empty down in the basement so I figured air conditioning beat arguing with the minions in yellow. And it also beats sitting alone like an abandoned child on an under-stuffed, non-ergo couch in front of a storefront featuring pink bulldogs and overpriced men’s wear. Instead, I’m sitting under my own personal spotlight (kinda like an interrogation room) on a bar chair too talk for my short legs, staring at the continuous scrolling of this pay phone, telling me to “please lift receiver” and asking if I’m “calling collect?” I probably look rather strange to anyone paying enough attention to notice me – after all I’m staring into the smallest cubicle known to man.
Anyway, my first and second attempts at a post were left unfinished while stealth camping in the cargo area of my SUV. I decided if I had to be anywhere besides bed at midnight two nights in a row, I was going to do my best to sleep. Didn’t work out too well, unfortunately. It’s too hot still. The first night I had just a sleeping bag for cushion and got rather sweaty. The second night I took the couch cushions and it worked better. Both times, right about as I was dozing off, Honey would call and say he was done. It just takes too long to settle down to sleep after jamming down the freeway trying to make sure Honey isn’t late. And it’s a little weird every time someone walks by the car, oblivious to my presence…I feel a bit like a stalker.
I forgot my next thought…
Oh yeah, we’re doing our damnedest to go fishing next month. It doesn’t matter that the sensible thing to do would be save the money (who wants to be sensible after all, when the alternative is a day on a boat in the glorious sunshine?) I’ll be sensible another day. I need to get out of town or I’ll go stir crazy. We haven’t gone anywhere since they took the boat away, which was further back than I care to remember at the moment. We are overdue for a little time to mentally say “fuck absolutely everything” and take a breather from the drama that is inevitably life, as much as we try to prevent it.
As a side note: this mother just slapped the crap out of her whiny little kid for hitting her. It was awesome. Unfortunately, now she’s running around the reception area. An ass kicking is coming…
*sigh* there is a reason I will never have children. It’s probably child abuse.
Anyway, I made laundry soap successfully (finally) with a recipe I found in the comments section of Mother Earth News. I’ve been talking about it for a month or so though I haven’t posted to mention it to anyone. I opted for the dry powdered version, since most recipes are basically the same with varying amounts of water. Instead of 10 gallons of liquid, I made 1 gallon of dry, which will probably last a year or so in our house of three. I spent $15 bucks and won’t need to buy soap or worry about plastic container pollution or my skin freaking out until this time next year. I am one happy hippie.
Soap Recipe:
1 bar Fels Naptha soap, grated
1 cup borax
1 cup baking soda
1 cup washing soda (not the same thing)
1 cup oxygen cleaner (think OxyClean, but I bought the generic for half price)
Put all ingredients into a food processor and run until a fine powder. Use 2 tablespoons per load. Everything but the baking soda is available in your grocery store laundry aisle. I went to Smiths. Three bars of soap and one container each of the other stuff will make three batches with ingredients to spare. I now have a gallon paint can on my shelf and my laundry room smells like the naptha. My clothes smell like clean water instead of perfume. Eventually I’ll be experimenting with bars of body soap and I understand it makes a lot, so anyone who loves the smell of lime like I do might get soap for Christmas.
Looks like the red carpet finally started. I see flash bulbs. We have three more here in the next 5 days. I found the other entrance to the parking garage which shoots you straight into the basement, avoids the Strip, and is a lot less crowded. Also found an elevator right by this night club where all the carpets are held. It’s still my least-favorite venue, but at least it’s bearable now.
A Conundrum of Contradictions 