God's Word for today

Monday 16 February 2009

Clean-up day

Monday is supposed to be my day off, but my involuntary single status means that I need to attend to certain domestic tasks, such as washing. I'm most grateful to my Circuit for providing me with a washing machine, as well as arranging for someone to come in once a week to do my ironing, but one still neads to LOAD the thing in order to get some clean clothes for ironing!

Having been spoiled by my Proverbs 31 wife for the past 17 years, my arrival in Uitenhage has meant that for the first time in many a year, I've had to fathom out things like how much detergent to put in, where to put the fabric softener, and which clothes should be separated. Last week I bunged my long-sleeved clergy shirt in with two towelette pillowcases, and ended up with a shirt that, if worn, would earn me the nickname "Rev. Fluffy". It's taken two further washes to get it "fit for purpose" again!

I've also found out that the hard way that "10-kilogram load" is a LIMIT, not a target! In order to get clean clothing, one needs to leave space for the water to swish around in between the clothes. Otherwise they get wet but remain dirty!

I'm also having a struggle with how to treat dirty collars on my lighter clergy shirts. While this fancy machine weighs, punches, swirls, and spins my clothing according to some fancy device called "Fuzzy Logic", it doesn't seem to have a programme to scrub collars. (To my fellow bloggers out there tempted to offer "washing my neck more often" as a solution, just DON'T get cute!). The warnings on the various detergents not to apply them directly to fabrics don't exactly inspire me with confidence!

The other bit of "cleaning up" that I did today - which was more within my limited capabilities - was to empty my wallet of till stubs, credit card slips, and petrol vouchers for the last 5 months. It's taken me this long because first I needed to reconcile my credit card statements, then I had to update my fuel consumption spreadsheets (don't ask - it's an accountant "thing"). Anyway, I managed to plough through it all, and my wallet is now looking a lot more deflated since it now only has (very little) money in it!

Next week, seeing as it has been raining in Uitenhage for about five days (and we give thanks to God for answered prayer), my lawn will be reaching out its arms in gratitude. Since the manse that the youth pastor and I are staying in is on about 1000 square metres of land, that's a lot of lawn to mow!

Maybe in two weeks' time I'll be able to enjoy a "real" day off and head for the beach.

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