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. 0-I can do multiple loads of laundry every stinkin’ day but somehow I never get it all done.
2. Both-Spoons and knives go handle up-forks go handle down.
3. I try to make recipes on the fly and most times I succeed. It’s not Food Network worthy though if that’s what you’re looking for!
Since you want to know.
1.I have a laundry schedule
Monday – kids clothes and towels
Wednesday – adult clothes and towels
Friday – sheets and towels
So, no I’m never caught up, but I don’t care
2. Knife – up, Spoons and Forks – down
3. Do not make recipes up. That is what cookbooks are for.
1: I am never, ever caught up on laundry even though I usually do 1 load a day!
2: I put knife handles up and spoon & fork handles down. Easier to grab.
3: I absolutely have to follow a recipe! My husband laughs at me b/c he can just pick things out of our pantry and make a gourmet meal out of them. Can you tell who does most of the cooking at our house?
1. I am usually caught up on laundry (sort of) twice a week – on Mondays and Fridays, I do the laundry until it is done. I say sort of because I put the shirts/jeans/shorts/unmentionables/pajamas on drying racks that don’t get folded until the next laundry day.
2. Knives down, forks up, soup spoons up, little spoons down. Well, once each compartment has a little spoon down, then they go up.
3. I take written recipes and tweak them to the way I would like, or I make something up on the fly. The only recipe I follow exactly is for cheesecake.
Don’t feel crazy – I think there are plenty of us who have to do things in a very specific way!
1) Um – zero. I have a six month old with reflux. Thus, he goes through about 4 outfits a day. Baby laundry is NEVER done.
2) Handles down.
3) Definitely have to follow a recipe. If I am feeling crazy, I might eyeball a measurement or two.
1. Ha! This almost never happens. Except for last week when I was leaving town for 3 days and I was in a mad rush to get it all done the night before. So 3 days last week laundry was caught up, only because I wasn’t home.
2. However I chunk them in the basket. I do put knives handle up only because I don’t want to loose a finger.
3. Hubs is the cook of the house. He can whip up an amazing dish on the fly. Me – You better give me a receipe and let me read ALL of it multiple times so I don’t miss an important step.
1. I was caught up with my laundry for 15 minutes in 1998.
2. All the handles are up.
3. Follow a recipe, but will tweak if I don’t have the exact ingredients.
Can’t wait to hear what you do!
1. Every now and then, all three of the laundry baskets are empty and I usually pause, call the family in and do one of those operatic “AAAAHHHH” (like angels singing), and then one of my kids empties out their car (which apparently doubles as a clothes hamper because they are super heroes and change in the car?) and the baskets are no longer empty. So, well, no.
2. Handles up.
3. Start with a recipe, then improvise. I like having a general guideline for proportions. My husband, however, is an excellent whipper-upper.
1. Never. I have 4 active kids. I do laundry in my sleep and am still not caught up.
2. I throw some in handles up and some down. That way they can’t nestle together and keep food chunks on them.
3. Umm, allrecipes.com?
1. Haha, this question makes me laugh. NEVER!
2. Usually handles up
3. I almost always follow a recipe…but I am pretty good at picking good recipes!
1 – Since I am a single mom with one 14 year old son, who does his own laundry, I am always caught up!
2 – Handles up, always! Who wants to grab a fork or spoon by the part that goes in your mouth! Or in my case, I don’t want my son grabbing it there and then I have to eat with it. I don’t know where his hands have been!! =]
3 – I usually make things up as I go. I do have some great recipes that I use, but more often than not, I am just “trying things out”. My son asks, why can’t we ever have a “normal” meal… haha.
1. I stay mostly caught up, but there is NEVER a time when every single article of clothing is clean.
2. My dishwasher broke a little over a year ago. I know.
3. I make tacos–that’s about it.
1. Um, never. With a toddler who is potty training, a newborn, and no dryer, it is nigh impossible to get completely caught up. And even if all the clothes get done, there’s still sheets, blankets, rugs, comforters… it’s madness, I tell you! Madness!
2. Handles down… because my mom says so. :)
3. I cannot make things up out of thin air, but rarely do I follow recipe to the “T”. I usually tweak it to suit my taste. I wish I could say this always works out…
1) I don’t think one is ever caught up. My life became easier though when I taught my children how to do their own laundry (When they were in high school). They live at home while attending college to save money, so now we make appointments with the washer.
2) Knife handles up, forks and spoons down
3) It’s about 50/50. Sometimes this doesn’t bode well for repeating a soup or stew that we like though.
1) I try to do a little bit each day and there may be, on a good week, one day where I am caught up for about 4 hours, haha! But then it is back to the never ending laundry battle. I have a 5 year old son and am due with a baby girl in 2 weeks, so I know my laundry is about to get completely out of control!
2) Handles down – not sure why though, habit I guess???
3) Even if I know a recipe pretty well, I still have to check the recipe to make sure I am doing it right. I don’t trust myself to make most things with out a recipe. There are a very few things I make without one!
1. Nevereverever. When we sold our house last summer, we left the Duets for the new owners. The last thing I took out of that house (on the way to closing) was the load of laundry out of the dryer. May have even moved a load or two of dirty stuff. (I know, yuck!)
2. Handles down, except for paring knives and demitasse spoons.
3. If you count adding sour cream and french fried onions to Hamburger Helper, I can make up a mean recipe. Other than that, not so much.
1- NEVER!
2- IF I had a dishwasher (which I don’t, ugh!) I would load handles up.
3- Half and half… sometimes I just fly by the seat of my pants and other times I MUST. FOLLOW. EVERY. INSTRUCTION. PERFECTLY. Go figure. :)
1. I do between 10 and 15 loads a week (depending on bed wetting, sick kids, etc.), so at least a load or two a day. Right now our washer is broken, so I’m lugging it to my mom’s twice a week. Yesterday I did 7 loads and pulled a back muscle getting it all inside. Already today there are clothes in the basket to be washed. Never caught up.
2. Handles down, our dishwasher doesn’t shoot the water well enough to clean the important part if it’s hiding in the basket.
3. Usually a recipe but will make a concoction if I have random leftovers to use. Not my proudest meals, but edible.
Well, I certainly hope there is a follow-up post to explain. I am intrigued by the randomness of these questions.
1. I have a laundry schedule, so I’m never caught up, but I’m never behind either.
Mon – sheets; Tues – Lights; Wed – Darks; Thurs – Whites; Fri – Towels.
2. I used to put all silverware in with handles up, because I’m OCD like that, but then some of them would get nestled together and not get clean so I mix it up now.
3. Some of both. I usually have a recipe as a “jumping off” point, but I rarely follow it exactly.
1 – never. 7 people in our family.
2 – handles up. that way when you put the clean silverware away you don’t have to handle the part that actually goes in your mouth.
3 – 50/50
1) almost always. But there are only two of us now. That makes a world of difference.
2) when I had a dishwasher, it was handle part down. And I always separated knives from forks from big spoons from little spoons…made it easier to put away when they were done. I’m a little OCD that way. (I also hang my socks on the line in pairs and fold them together before I take them off the line.)
3) after 30 years of cooking for my family I am finally comfortable making some dishes from memory but still prefer to use a recipe if there are more than four ingredients. I’m an adequate cook, not a great one so I don’t feel empowered to start throwing things together willy-nilly — and what the heck is a “pinch” of something anyway?!?
1-I haven’t been caught up on laundry in at least a decade.
2-I don’t have a dishwasher. Sad. I know.
3-I have to use a recipe. I’ve attempted to make things up and it NEVER turns out well.
1) Laundry is an ongoing event in our home, although we try and give it a go most Mondays. Um, interestingly, I think the last day I had everything done was exactly 4 years ago and done by my daughter.
2) handles up for everything…what is there a better way?
3) We can and do all the time. I say ‘we’ because my man is the champ at creating delicious on the fly. Unfortunatly, replicating these recipes becomes a problem because there was no actual measurements and such.
I’m a little OCD about Laundry, so I am usually caught up. This also means I do laundry all the blessed time.
Handles up. My preschoolers load the dishwasher and if the fork tines were up they might get poked.
3. Baking never. Supper, a fair bit. My hubby’s fave’s all seem to be things that I’ve sorta dreamt up.
1. One day a week (Thursday).
2. Forks and spoons up; knives down.
3. Yes. Making up recipes is a hobby of mine, but I also love to try recipes from other folks and cookbooks.
1. when the moon is in the seventh hour, and Jupiter aligns with Mars……then everything is clean…:)
2. whichever way it ends up in there..not too ocd about that.
3. I make up stuff all the time….but I use recipes, too maybe 1/2 the time?
Yep, I’m wondering about why these particular questions?????
Suzanne
1. If “caught up” with laundry means-it is clean…yet still in the baskets needing folding…then, heck, I’m caught up today!
2. ALL stabbing utensils POINTED DOWN.
3. I CLOSELY follow directions:
place “This side up” and microwave on high for 3-5 min. – stir and microwave 3-5 more.
Kelly S. in Michigan ( I heart you)
1. It’s just me,,,,,I do 2 smallish loads a week
2. Knife handles up, spoon & fork handles down to minimize nesting and water spots. The rule is – wash hands WELL before unloading the DW!
3. Recipes are merely a suggestion,,,,,you know, a jumping off point
BTW – My friend, Michelle, met you at a Beth Moore ‘thing’ in Pittsburgh and confirmed that you are truly delightful. I’m so jealous, I want to meet you and Melanie and P-Dub! and Beth!! I just know we would all be BFF
1. if totally caught up on laundry means, all washed-all folded-all ironed-all put away….never. I have 4 kids…say no more!
2. handles down
3. make up my own and use recipes
if you ask the ‘silverware question’ you will now have to ask the ‘which direction do you put the toilet paper’ *grin*
1.)Caught up on laundry? I’m not sure I would know what that would look like – ever. The number of days I was caught up on laundry would be a negative number.
2.)Handles up. I don’t know why, but my husband is a dishwasher control freak, it’s better just to humor him.
3.)Sometimes I can make up recipes. Sometimes they are edible, too.
1. Usually caught up every Sunday evening, but not this week, my dryer was broken for 3 weeks and it will take me at least a week to get everything done.
2. Before I moved in with Sheldon I did only sharp things pointed down, but he demanded that everything point down…don’t tell my mama!
3. I throw stuff together ALL the time and most of the time it turns out pretty yummy!
1.) Does caught up on laundry mean everything folded and put away? Then just 1 or 2 days a week. Just having clean clothes? then everyday. Ironing, that only happens if I’m working on a sewing project.
2.) Sharp knives- handles up, everything else handles down.
3.) I follow someone else’s recipe a couple times and then I ‘tweek’ (name that movie) it to fit our family.
1. No! I’m never completely done with laundry. My theory is that unless you do laundry naked, your family is wearing a complete load of laundry, so you’re never done.
2. Always, with the handle down. But, after reading some of the other posts, I’m beginning to question my thought process. However, I never touch the “eating” part of the utensil when putting them away and I’ve trained my girls accordingly.
3. I’m totally a “throw things together” kind of girl. I seldom follow a recipe and if I do it’s just for guidance or inspiration. But, I should mention that I don’t bake. I would be more exact if I baked.
Fun questions!
1) Six or so. My husband and I don’t go through much laundry.
2) Handles down except for knives.
3) RECIPES!!
First time here………..LOVING your blog design. LOVING it.
I’m never caught up on laundry. I do 2 loads a day, and there is always something dirty. (I have 5 kids)
I always load with the handle down, except for sharp knives.
Most of my cooking is done off the top of my head. I need recipes for baking every time though.
1. Never fully caught up; always clean clothes to put away. Now that softball/baseball season is over I might actually get a little caught up. Wishful thinking.
2. Silverware with handle up. My hubs normally does the dishwasher; he’s very anal with this task.
3. I can not make up a recipe-great at following recipes though. Only thing I can throw together is chicken salad; not always successfully.
Don’t let those TV shows get to you. They have ” people ” to help them out!!
1) Only on the day I do it. My children think our house is a laundry mat and I am the laundress!
2) Handles down, otherwise you might cut yourself!
3) Follow someone elses. My mother says it is because I never took home-ec…am currently in love with Pioneer Woman. Had the Hot Artichoke Dip last night and it was FABULOUS!
1. Laundry is usually under control in my house, but it’s just me and my husband right now. And he’s a fabulous husband who helps with laundry.
2. Handles down except for sharp knives because my dishwasher is sucky and won’t get them otherwise.
3. Recipes. I’m pretty horrible at throwing things together unless it’s something like guacamole or mashed potatoes.
1. I get caught up on laundry on average 1 day a week. It’s hard when your husband is in construction and always has dirty clothes.
2. Knives & Forks handles down to prevent food spots & bent prongs, spoons handles up. But the really sharp knives are hand wash only, so there is not a chance of getting cut when unloading them.
3. I use recipes 97% of the time. I am not creative enough without them!
1. NEVER! Just when the last load is running through the dryer, one of my beloved children will suddenly “find” another arm-full of dirty clothes that have been retrieved from the depths…sigh…
2. We do both up and down. I read somewhere that it helps the spoons and such not to “nest” into each other and it gets them cleaner.
3. I get ideas from cooking shows, cook books, friends, and restaurants, but I mostly wing it in the kitchen. I am mostly successful, but we’re not picky eaters either!
I’m generally always caught up on laundry. I do it a few times a week and hang it on the lines (either outside or in the basement.) It forces me to have laundry discipline since i realized that ditching the dryer saves us $30.00 a month.
The silverware lands in the basket in whichever way that it does, but Martha Steward would specifically tell you tines up, I believe. She had a distinct passion for tines in a certain direction. I swear that they were up.
Recipes? Heck. I can’t remember what you asked. Hold on . . . oh yeah. I do both. If it is a written recipe, I generally change it a little in some way to make it my own. A bazillion years ago, you had a call out for recipes. I sent a Sweet Kielbasa Chili recipe to you. That was my very own. :) Oh here is one now.
http://baileysleaf.blogspot.com/2008/11/chicken-corn-chowder-licious.html
Ask and ye shall receive.
1. I’m caught up on laundry approximately once a month or so. (Laundry is my worst subject and I usually leave the last load of “being done” in the dryer for days.)
2. Silverware basket handles down, but sharp knives points down. Leaned that trick after stabbing myself with a steak knife that was point up in the basket. Point the knives down, people!
3. I cobble stuff together based on recipes I know. For example, we had beef tips and gravy yesterday. The gravy didn’t look right so I added stuff that sounded right until it looked right.
1. That would be a triple zero. In fact, if the question was how many days a YEAR? It would still be zero. This side of an enormous bonfire, I don’t know how that feat could ever be accomplished. Ack.
2. Handles up. For everything.
3. For the most part, I need a recipe. And I like to follow it to the letter whenever possible, and especially the first time I make it. I will sometimes play around with recipes or try to recreate something I’ve had somewhere. Occasionally, when I’m feeling especially adventurous, I”ll use allrecipes.com and use what I like from multiple different versions of the same recipe and make my own unique version using the ingredients I like/have. It works pretty well, most of the time!
1. People actually get caught up? Wow, who knew? I think I’ve been “caught up” a couple of times, but generally, no. I have grand intentions of doing a load a day, but it’s pretty rare that it happens.
2. Handles up.
3. I’m definitely a follow other people’s recipes kinda girl. My hubby often laughs at me because when I’m following a recipe I’m very OCD about following it to the letter. I figure, they wrote it that way for a reason, if I want it to taste right I should follow the directions.
1. The laundry is NEVER caught up in my house. I am pretty sure that I do laundry every day.
2. Handles up – all of them – always.
3. http://www.allrecipes.com – sort by rating. This website is my best friend.
1. You are never caught up unless everyone is completely naked! Even with all baskets empty, the next change of clothes brings another load!
2. Handles down so the water can swish all the germs off the utensils. ( but really, if it gets in there, who cares?)
3. Follow recipes, know how to tweak them to make them better, and cook from memory.
Comes after years of experience….( and i have a home ec. degree! )
1) I’m only truly caught up on laundry for about an hour at a time – I have a five week old baby, who ensures a nearly constant supply of burp cloths & onesies soaked in various bodily fluids. That being said, I’ve never got more than two loads waiting to be done, because it drives me nuts. The folding & putting away is where it all breaks down; it’s not unusual for me to have three or four loads just sitting in baskets waiting to be folded.
2) Handles down, except for sharp knives.
3) I make up recipes all the time, and have about an 80% success rate. The only problem is that when I want to re-create on of my successes, I don’t remember how I made it. Things never turn out the same way twice.
I am rarely caught up on laundry – seems I get it all washed but not put away or we get it put away and there’s more to be washed – it just never ends.
Handles up for me – too yucky holding the dirty end to put them handles down.
And I usually follow a recipe unless it is of course something I have been making for years and know how to prepare by heart. And it doesn’t take much to figure out hot dogs wrapped in crescent rolls.
1. When I get really behind on laundry, we have a clothes folding party. All three girls tackle the baskets with me, and then they put it all away! I wish I had them help on a more regular basis – then I would never get behind! I just never seem to notice until laundry is spilling out everywhere!!
2. Knives always down – Everything else falls how it lands.
3. NO
Laundry is Monday and Tuesday.
Handles are up since my daughter’s chore is to unload.
Off the top of my head almost always… so I do LOVE Foodnetwork, I was just thinking last night, I think I want to make a broth using fennel.
-My laundry is caught up every day but that is just because I hate having it piled up. I never mop my floors so that balances things out nicely.
-handles down because safety means little to me (as evidenced by the scars and burn marks all over my hands) but I secretly think the important end of my silverware is not clean if it is down in the basket rather than up
-I cook from recipes because I am a writer and not a chef but let the record show that I do amend said recipes to suit me so that is, technically, kinda creative. Maybe.
1. I do laundry everyday so mostly it stays caught up.
2. Knives down, forks and spoons up; no good reason, just habit.
3. Oh goodness, I can mess up a recipe with it sitting right in front of me. The only thing I make up myself is maybe how much butter to put on the popcorn.
Laundry caught up? Maybe once a month, maybe… Two babies, both in cloth diapers – need I say more?
Utensils – handles up always, except for large serving spoons/spatulas/etc. Seems more sanitary to only have to touch the handles when I put them away.
Recipes – I only use them for baking, and even then I’m lazy sometimes. I never measure for regular cooking, and very rarely look at recipes. They say that is the sign of a good cook, right? That we don’t need recipes? That’s what I tell myself anyway!
I have the same problem when watching the food network or some other decorator show.
1. There are 2 days a week that I am totally caught up on laundry. Score!
2. Handles up. How else are you going to put the silverware away as fast as you can?
3. Yes, I can make up recipes all over the place, but I must prefer a recipe…and so do my family.
1- I do laundry usually once a week (I have no kids, so that’s possible), and I always feel like the hampers are full.
2- I put the spoons and forks up, and the knives down.
3- I usually make up my own recipes. Whenever I try to follow a recipe, it usually ends up being a pizza night. I’m still trying to figure out why it’s so hard for me to follow directions!!
1) there isn’t one day a decade I’m caught up on laundry
3) i handwash, it relaxes me
3)I can make maybe, 2 things without looking at the recipe..and i need to look at the recipes, when i use them, way too many times to be considered normal
1. Never caught up on laundry.
2. Most things go down, so they get clean and don’t poke me.
3. Follow a recipe. I’ve recently started to get daring and actually CHANGE a recipe like the comments on http://www.allrecipe.com, but usually I just change it like other commenters have.
1. I am caught up with laundry only on the day I do it!!! Next day hamper seems to be full….
2.Mostly down, but sometimes up…..doesn’t seem to matter to me
3. Oh Lord I follow recipes……love for fellow bloggers to post a good one….I will “Follow” it/ha
1. Maybe once a month, but typically caught up right before we leave for a trip.
2. Knives have handles up. My kids do the unloading always, and I’d hate for them to get stabbed.
3. I have to follow a recipe unless it’s something simple. Cooking has always intimidated me.
1. I’m only caught up if company’s coming or we’re about to leave town. So maybe… two days a month? (my 8 yr old asked me LAST NIGHT going to sleep, “Mama? Is that basket in the laundry room EVER empty?!”)
2. Knife handles up, everything else handles down, and arranged so nothing’s touching (so it can get clean on first time).
3. Make things up. I’ll follow a recipe too, but it doesn’t have to be exact.
I just love your crazy, BooMama. We’re a lot alike.
1. pretty much always – it’s just me and laundry really isn’t much of a challange
2. handles up – here is a never before confessed desire – I have always wanted to sort the silverware in the basket prior to washing (hmm now that I am alone, I may just give that a go)
3. if I am baking, I follow the recipe – otherwise, I usually start out with a recipe and ‘tweek’ it
I don’t listen to home show tips anymore ever since Martha Stewart told me she sterilizes her dirt in the oven. It’s dirt. Nothing sterile about it.
1. Caught up on laundry? What is this phrase? I am unfamiliar with this statement. Do you mean, “caught in the laundry”?
2. Down, so I won’t stab myself. Serving spoons up though.
3. I can’t think of a recipe off the top of my head, but I’m notorious for looking at a recipe and changing it.
1 – I am never caught up on laundry. My husband and I both leave clothing lying all over the place (well not ALL over the place, but in many places), and I can’t catch up. Also, I try not to do more than one load per day due to our septic system, so that isn’t enough to catch up.
2 – Handles up.
3 – I can improvise a little bit, but I am certainly not Top Chef or Next Food Network Star material. I do make my own marinade for steaks…but it’s EVOO, Worcestershire sauce, and some salt and pepper, not rocket science.
1. laundry gets done almost every day. it does not, however get put away every day. that is a different issue entirely.
2. handles down.
3. i can usually remember the recipe, but i prefer to look at it.
(i spent my time on bedrest watching hgtv and food network. talk about feeling like a slug!)
my house is on the market, therefore i have to stay on top of the laundry. normally, i’m caught up about 1 day a month. since the sign went into the yard, i have forced myself to get into the habit of putting the clothes away as they come out of the dryer. it has changed my world.
i do handles down…the tines on my forks get bent if i don’t.
i follow recipes. i wish i didn’t have to. but i have to.
1.Zero. 5 kids, one construction working husband, and a pool= NEVER caught up on laundry.
2. handles up
3. I like to use the written recipe as a loose guideline. Unless it’s something that has to rise. Then I always follow the recipe. Not that it helps me, I’m a bread failure.
1. Never. By the time the clean laundry is sorted and folded and put away the baskets are full again. We have too many clothes.
2. Handles down except for sharp knives, since I don’t want to take chances with little ones running around. For some reason I think the part we off of does not get as clean if it is in the basket.
3. I am a recipe follower for the most part. I have made up one or two things with success, but I can’t afford taking too many chances.
1. Maybe once a week for a couple hours before the kids get ready for bed. Is it humanly possible to be caught up for more than half a day? I mean, with the socks and undies and all…
2. Handles always up – just have to check the spoons to make sure they are not spooning. And each kind in its own compartment. From back to front I do lg. spoons, sm. spoons, forks, knives, misc – in that order – always. It wasn’t too hard to “train” the rest of the family and when it’s time to put them away, it’s a snap. Some might say I have OCD. I say I’m just extremely efficient!
3. My man is the cook. But IF I do make something I have to follow a recipe.
About once a week I’m caught up on laundry, but then the next day – bam! – the baskets are getting full again.
Handles down on spoons and forks, handles up on knives. Cut my finger on a knife with the handle down, so up from now on.
I follow some recipes, like meringue, cheesecake. But some I just make up or I’ve made it so often I don’t really measure, like chocolate chip cookies, or enchiladas.
1. As my Grammy always said, you Must leave two pieces of laundry in the basket as seed for tomorrow. So even if I get that far, as soon as I undress for bed, I have at least those – for seed :)
2. Handles down. I read once that if handles are up tiny bits of waste may stick to the part that is in the basket; however, I have stabbed myself on a knife, so now they go in the farthest back basket section.
3. Yes, there are times almost every week when I make up or experiment. I think I have about 70% success rate. I always say that tonight is “let’s pretend night,” meaning if it isn’t something you like, pretend it is something else!
1. Two days a week. I do laundry on Wednesdays and Sundays, so at some point on either of those days, I am caught up. I don’t have children yet, so I know that is short lived.
2. Handles down, on everything. I just always assumed it would get cleaner that way.
3. If I am baking, I follow the recipe exactly, otherwise, I usually start out with a recipe as a guideline and wind up doing whatever. :)
I am right there with you with the HGTV & Food Network marathons. I usually do it on laundry Sunday!
1. Once a week. I do laundry once a week – in my mind, it’s an event, not a life style. I refuse to do laundry all the time.
2. All handles are down. The sad thing is I had to go look at the dishwasher to tell you that.
3. Do salads and sandwiches count? Anything more than that, I need a recipe. I will change a recipe some after I’ve made it the first time if I think I can make it better suited to my family.
1) really never … I do laundry every 2 weeks (which calculates to about 8 loads over the weekend) so that I don’t feel like I am always doing laundry. BTW, we have lots of underwear and towels at our house so we can make it 2 weeks at a time!
2) both. whatever makes it all fit. Knives and any other sharp objects always go down.
3) I am definitely a recipe follower. And I measure everything.
1) I am never caught up on laundry! :) It’s not that we have a whole lot, I just don’t do it enough.
2) I always put handles down except for knives. When I worked for a tea room they said handles up so you don’t touch the part of silverware that goes in people’s mouths. I don’t do that at home though. :)
3) I have never tried to make up a recipe. Usually just follow directions :)
1. I am NEVER caught up on laundry!
2. I do not use the dishwasher. I insist on washing all my dishes by hand and I use the dishwasher for stoage.
3. Yes- I love to cool and make up stuff all the time. I rarely have all the ingredients needed to follow a recipe so I am a great improviser!
1. Handles up, except for spoons. They stick together if I put the handle up.
2. Not a whole day, just a whole hour.
3. Yes. And most of the time, I make a new recipe for the first time by the recipe, and after that I wing it and add my own thing.
Laundry – none – as soon as I think I’m done I see I am NOT – will pray I am not assigned to the heavenly laundry room as my useful work in eternity!
dishwasher – combination of the two – if I put them all one way they seem to glom together and not get clean.
Recipes – I absolutely can create something – now not usually in baking things – that is chemistry and I follow the rules in chemistry. In cooking, frying broiling etc. – I’m all for experimenting – I mean someone had to be brave to be the first to put bacon with lettuce and tomato to create the perfect sandwich!
1- Almost never, unless there’s a vacation in the offing. I do a load a day Monday through Thursday and take Friday through Sunday off, so there’s always something waiting for me. I’m okay with that.
2 – It’s a hodge-podge, really. My dishwasher manual says to vary how you put utensils in the basket because that will let everything get cleaner. I don’t ask questions. And they’re all clean.
3 – Yes, ma’am, I can come up with recipes of my own, albeit admittedly with varying degrees of success.
1) usually once a week (except for the clothes we’re wearing!) But I do all of it one day because I can’t face folding laundry every day or getting it put away more than once a week!
2.) Handles down – unless it is a very sharp object
3.) Use a recipe – but often improvise from the recipe I’m using (more onion, more garlic. . .)
I’m married 31 yrs. and have been caught up on laundry once, for about 5 seconds.
All silverware go in headfirst, handles up.
Spaghetti, tacos, hamburgers I can do on my own. Everything else requires a recipe.
Love your blog! May God bless your week.
1. Do laundry Monday mornings…every Monday morning. So, guess the answer is 7?
2. Handles up
3. Yes…I can make up a recipe at any time. I’m a foodie!! That’s why I am constantly on a diet!!
1) Zero. As soon as one load is done, another has magically appeared!
2) Handles down. Our dishwasher has a telescoping element that comes up in the middle and sprays, so it would be counter-intuitive to put the heads of the silverware down in the basket where the water can’t reach them.
3) Both. If I have worked with certain ingredients often enough, I begin to know what they go well with and will just throw together “recipes” out of things in my cupboard (sometimes they turn out well enough that I post them!). I usually follow recipes, but almost always tweak them a little (add some spices, up the cheese content, etc.).
I like to think I’m completely caught up with laundry one day a week (on Sunday). But, I’m pretty sure I’m in denial – I don’t think little fairies are filling it back up on Monday mornings.
Handles up.
I must have a recipe!
Well, since it’s just me and hubby here & we don’t work outside the home, so I only do the clothes laundry one day a week. Usually on Sat., I take all the clothes & get them washed. Luckily I have about 900 pairs of underwear, so I could go months, but not so much for hubby.
Other days I do sheets and towels, but it’s not an every day occurance. So, really I go days without doing laundry.
Knives are pointed down in the dishwasher & everything else is UP.
I do make slight adjustments to recipes ALL the time, so am not hung up on what is written on that paper.
1) never, there’s always hand washables waiting for me to make the great effort that it is to use the hand wash cycle & then find a place to lay it out & block it & keep turning it til it dries.
2) forks & spoons – handles down, knives – always handles up (“how many times do i have to say it!” – that’s me telling my husband after he’s loaded it & i’m unloading it)
3) i forget the question – oh yeh – on the rare occasions that i do everyday cooking anymore – i usually wing it. cookbooks & recipes involve ingredients that i end up not having, so i don’t bother even looking. if it’s for a special occasion, i might use a recipe, though. and, of course, it would be one i’ve never tried. because i love having a nervous breakdown right before dinner.
I am NEVER caught up on all of my laundry because that would mean someone would be wandering around naked and while that is tempting in S. Texas, it’s still not legal.
I always put handles down, except on knives.
I can come up with my own recipes, but I also love to use other people’s recipes, too. But, am I weird that I tweek other’s recipes? I don’t think I’ve EVER followed a recipe verbatim.
1) I do all the laundry on Monday because I hate, hate, hate looking at piles of it all week and only want to have to carry it all down and back up the stairs once! I don’t even think about cleaning anything else on Monday and I fold it all on my bed putting it in rows sorted: underwear, pjs, shirts, pants by each family member so I don’t have to think about sorting it later. Boom! Boom! Boom! And it’s done and out of sight!
2) Knives and forks – handles up. Spoons – handles down. I don’t want to get poked or cut and spoons don’t fit well or get clean handles up.
3) I have to have a recipe but I tweak it according to my preferences; a little less or a little more of this or that.
Can you ever really be caught up with laundry?!?
Handles down.
I like recipes, but I like to adjust them a little for my families preferences.
Love your blog!!
1. I am pretty much never caught up on laundry. Ever.
2. Silverware… handles up. you don’t want to cut yourself!
3. I pretty much have to follow a recipe unless it has anything to do with marinades or sauces… with that stuff I just kinda figure it out as I go along.
1 – My husband does the laundry.
2- I put handles down just because it’s easier to get them. The exception is a knife, which I put point down so I won’t stab myself. Of course, I still feel guilty when I do that since my mother taught me to always wash knives by hand. But…I don’t.
3-I strictly follow recipes. I was terrible at chemistry and it’s basically the same. That what recipes are for – for us!
4-I’ll throw in an extra as a freebie. I put toilet paper on the roll with the loose part down the back, not the front. I used to have a cat that would roll the entire roll onto the floor if she found it loose on the front.
1. Never, and when it’s all washed, it is probably sitting in a pile on the loveseat waiting to be folded.
2. Handles up…you can’t touch the ends of the fork that someone else is going to eat off of! They might as well still be dirty!
3. I have to follow a recipe. wor for word, unless it involves onions and those are always omitted!
1) We usually are caught up for about 15 minutes a month.
2) Knife and fork handles up to protect the injury-prone (um…me) and spoon handles down to prevent nesting. Both for the dishwasher when we had one and now for the draining basket post hand-wash.
3) Recipes are good but I think of them more as suggestions than instructions. I do a lot of improvisational cooking and baking, sometimes with fair results. This drives my sweet husband to distraction, as he is a rules guy all the way.
1. Never
2. Handles up
3. Sometimes I have these revelations, and I can just go whip things together…usually, though I follow the recipe book.
: )
1. Define ‘completely caught up’? Are we talking washed and folded? Or washed, folded, and put away? Because if it’s the latter, I will never be completely caught up.
2. Stick yourself with a fork tine underneath the fingernail and you’ll NEVER put those babies in sticking up again! So…spoon and butter knife handles go down, fork and sharp knife handles go up.
3. Well, I’ve never once made a recipe exactly as it was written, but I usually need them as a reference point, so…both?
1) Zero.
2) Handles up.
3) Follow someone else’s recipe. I just recently purchased How to Cook Everything for my husband and I’ve used it more than he has. And that NEVER happens!
1. I don’t think I’m ever caught up on laundry since we wear clothes while I am washing them making them dirty making me never caught up on laundry. BUT! I will tell myself that if I do the laundry, fold it and put it away before the kids are in bed, I’m caught up on laundry. That happens about once every six months or so.
2. Handles down. My mama told me that was better because the dirt and water run down.
3. Recipe. If I don’t have it, you won’t eat it.
1. Never
2. If it’s me loading then handles up ~ if it’s the kids, I take what I can get.
3. I totally do both. I would make them up on the fly more if I didn’t have so much laundry to do and so many dishes to load in the dishwasher. And, you know, the general mayhem of children running amok.
1. I generally do a load of darks and a load of whites every day and stay somewhat on top of the laundry this way.
2. Handles up.
3. For day to day cooking, I just kind of throw stuff together (my lucky, lucky family!)mostly because I am lazy and recipes seem like actual work. I do cook from them the first or second time I make something, though.
1. For exactly 90 minutes on a Sunday evening! The time after dinner and doing your final fold of laundry. Then you get ready for bed and create laundry. That happens maybe once every two months.
2) Knives have the handles up. All others I put the handles down. I think it cleans them better.
3) I do both to recipes. Some I follow to the letter. Others I tweek. Maybe make them creamier or spicier. Just depends.
1.ha ha ha ha….I am never completely caught up on laundry and I have decided to be ok with that.
2. Both. Since my kids have started helping, it’s willy-nilly and I have decided to be ok with that, too.
3. I’m a recipe following girl. I can add some spices here and there but have never made something completely out of my head. And yes, I am totally ok with that. :)