What's YOUR way?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Making ramen, and doing laundry. Two things that everyone I know has their own unique way of doing.

My way:

Ramen–break ramen block in half before opening package, put it in the pot at the very beginning, bring to a boil. Drain, leaving just enough water for the seasoning to be easily distributed. I don’t go for ramen noodle soup, just noodles.

Laundry
–My sorting system is rather complicated. 1)Separate all the handwashables/line-drys. 2)Categorize: Neutrals, Darks, Pastels, and Solid Brights and Multi-coloured Brights.
3)Subcategories: blacks and greys; browns, beiges and the like; whites; bright blues and purples; bright reds, pinks and oranges; bright greens and yellows; pastels all get thrown in together; all the multi-coloured stuff gets thrown in together. (I don’t separate jeans or towels into their own loads… they just go into the appropriate colour load.)
4)Fold immediately upon completion of dryer cycle.
5)Leave in well-organized stacks on top of dryers and laundry table for an indefinite period of time.

Veni, Vidi, Visa … I came, I saw, I bought.

2

RAMEN - Boil water. Put two whole packages in. Wait a bit. Stir, breaking up noodle-like product (I refuse to call them “noodles”). Drain all water when noodle-like product is finished. Stir in funky flavor (Shrimp and Curry Beef are faves). Eat noodles only, with a fork.

LAUNDRY - Throw all clothes into washing machine. Put in detergent guesstimating the right amount. When finished, put in dryer with a laundry sheet. Maybe the next day I will actually empty that dryer.

Yer pal,
Satan

3

Laundry:

  1. Cram all clothes into laundry bag. Drive to laundromat.
  2. Pull clothes out of laundry bag, one item at a time. Toss each item into one of three washers, by color: light, dark, or black.
  3. Add detergent and money. Wait.
  4. Transfer clothes to two dryers. Add money and dryer sheets. Wait.
  5. Cram all clothes into laundry bag. Drive home.
  6. [optional] Transfer clothes to drawers and closet.

Ramen:

  1. Put random amount of water in pot. Bring to a boil.
  2. Grasp noodle-brick by one corner, and shake the broken bits out until it stops rattling.
  3. Drop noodle-brick in water. Wait 3 minutes.
  4. Transfer noodles to bowl. Fill remainder of bowl with water. Mix in seasoning packet.
  5. Eat noodles, drink soup.
  6. [optional] Die of sodium overdose.

Laugh hard; it’s a long way to the bank.

4

Laundry: (aka: the washing)

  1. Look at pile of clothes on floor and in laundry bag and think “Oh yeah, I guess I’d better do the washing today.”

  2. Look at weather, and think “Nah, fuck it. Tomorrow.”

  3. Eventually, things coordinate to the point where I get started on it (i.e. I run out of clothes to wear)

  4. Gather up clothes and force them into the washing machine.

  5. Put in goop that it turns out I’m allergic to, so I must remember to get stuff I’m not allergic to (I keep forgetting to do that).

  6. Look at the buttons and controls on machine, shake my head at all the settings I’ve never used, choose cold water fast spin and push Go. (making certain pipe leads to big sink, not to floor)

  7. Wait for an hour or so, then forget for two days.

  8. Grab washing out of machine and drag it to clothes-horse (can’t hang it up outside, the dog eats it)

  9. Handle drippy heavy wet washing, looping it onto clothes-horse in inefficient patterns.

  10. Wait three days before they’re dry enough to wear again.

It takes minimal effort, but I still hate doing it.
Ramen:

What the doggone fuck is ramen?

“Waheeey! ‘Duck!’ Get it?”
“Errr… No…”
“Duck! Sounds almost exactly like fu-”

5

GL: I just had the most fabulous time imagining you talking to yourself in that accent…

Ramen is the po’ folk’s main course. Takes about five minutes from start to finish, costs about 65 cents/package (I have no idea how that converts). Eat it plain, pop in some leftovers or canned veggies… it’s dinner!

Veni, Vidi, Visa … I came, I saw, I bought.

6

Ramen:

Boil water.
Put Ramen in bowl, pour water over it.
Microwave for 4 minutes.
Stir in seasoning.
Let sit for a few minutes, eat noodles, drink broth.

Laundry:

Wait until I’m wearing my last pair of undies.
Separate light/dark.
(Optional: strip to my shorts and throw the rest of what I’m wearing in.)
Fill washer.
Put load in with detergent.
Turn it on, leave for an hour.
Go back, throw it in the dryer, leave for another hour.
Grab clothes, bring them to my room, and drop them in the ‘clean’ basket. (I’m a slob, sue me. At least I keep the clean and dirty separate…)

‘They couldn’t hit an Elephant from this dist…!’

Last words of General John Sedgwick

7

I just loooooove doing laundry. I don’t know why. I can’t explain it. I really, truly, honestly enjoy that chore.

  1. Realize that I don’t have any clean shirts to wear.

  2. Gather clothes from various places around the house and often put whatever I’m wearing in, too.

  3. Separate into lights and darks. When in doubt, it usually goes into darks. Towels used to go in according to colour, but I just bought new towels that keep shedding blue and green fluff. They get their own cycle now.

  4. Put the light load on, warm water, about 1/2 the reccommended amount of detergent, and sometimes bleach.

  5. Go on the computer and read message boards for 4 hours.

  6. Realize that I forgot about the laundry.

  7. Put the lights in the dryer and the darks in the wash.

  8. Fold/hang as soon as dryer cycle is done (If I remember).

Towels must be folded first lengthwise into thirds, then into thirds the other way. My gran drilled it into my head that that is the ‘proper’ way to fold towels, and it feels wrong if I don’t do it that way.

Assuming that Ramen is like Ichiban noodles, I don’t know why I don’t get them anymore. I like them. I always left a bit of liquid in, just for the seasoning. I don’t like any sort of soup broths. I liked to put some fresh veggies in, too. I’ll have to remember to buy some next time I go shopping, now.

8

I have a towel folding thing, too. Half (short end to short end), half again (new short ends together), and thirds (new short end over the middle over the other end) so I have a nice, neat little rectangle.

The only exception to this rule is for the “pretty” towels that I like to have sitting out. Those get the half-half part of the system, but then they get rolled up and stuck in a basket.

(If you’ve read the “Slobs of the World” thread, I don’t need to tell you how often I actually bother with the “pretty” towels.)

9

Satan: hate to ruin it for you but they are noodles. Ramen are fried flour based noodles (Japanese love them, and eat them as fast food).They are from China (the native noodles are Soba, which have a fried version called Yakisoba). The Japanese also eat chilled ramen on hot summer days. Don’t believe they’re fried? take a look at the water before you add seasoning, some oil should be on the water.

Anyway my way is to:

Bring water to a boil, place ramen in whole or broken doesnt matter (if i only have a small pot i break 'em). Take colander and place over bowl, pour a little of the water into the bowl (just enough to dilute the seasoning so it’s not so concentrated), and pour the noodles intot he colander over the sink to drain the rest of the water. Sometimes I add left over chicken or maybe ham, green onions if we have them.

Laundry:

Throw everything into the washer. throw in a cup of detergent, let run, then throw everything into the dryer (I only own cotton clothes). However I recently found I need some bleach because I threw my socks in with some fairly new jeans and they turned dark gray. I washed the socks a second time but they are an off white color now (I CAN do laundry correctly, mom taught me how when I was about ten. I am just lazy, that’s why!)
I also found the cooler cycle on the dryer keeps my printed t-shirts from cracking so soon .

Time was I stood where thou dost now
And view’d the dead as thou dost me
Ere long you’ll lie as low as I
And others stand and gaze at thee

10

I used to do laundry but I got married sometime back in early 1997 and I’ve forgotten how. Thanks for the refresher course.

11

I don’t it much Ramen anymore, cause basically I lived on it and store brand macaroni and cheese in college. Yuck. Anyways, I have two favorite ramen recipes.

  1. Put seasoning packet and a little less than 2 cups water into a pot. Boil.
  2. Break ramen into small pieces, cook until tender, about 4 or 5 minutes.
  3. While ramen is cooking, stir up an egg and pour it into the pot when the noodles are done. Stir well, and remove from heat. Serve with a side of Kim Chee (Korean spicy fermented cabbage, trust me it tastes way better than it sounds.)

For recipe two, skip the egg and add a generous amount of taco sauce or salsa. Add Tabasco to taste and Presto! Tex-Mex flavoured Asian-type noodle food product.

BTW, Chris CTP, .65 is way too much for Ramen noodles! I pay .17. You must be getting the gourmet brand. :slight_smile:

As for laundry, I live on the fourth floor and the laundry room is in the basement, so I only do it once per week. First I sort it upstairs and apply stain stick, and then I sigh and pout until Hubby gets the hint and lugs it all (about 3 or 4 baskets) downstairs. Then I go downstairs and since some idiot has left his clothes in the washers again, I wait ten minutes and then leave his/her clothes on the dustiest spot I can find. Then I go upstairs, set the timer, because I, unlike some other people, am a good and considerate neighbor, and wait. Go back downstairs, find all the dryers are full of cold dry clothes. Wait ten minutes, then carefully place the clothes on the second dustiest place in the laundry room. Place clothes in dryer, go upstairs, set timer. Go downstairs, fold whats dry, go upstairs, wait, go back downstairs, fold, ad nauseum. Finally get everything done, collapse on couch, then suddenly remember there is no food in the house. Order pizza.

“The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.” Albert Einstein

12

Ramen - Just sneak past it on the grocery store shelf so it can’t jump in the cart.

Laundry - Dress shirts and slacks on hangars, the rest of the shit gets stuffed in a laundry bag or basket. Drop it off at the laundry/dry cleaner. Pick it up the next day and write the check.

“The problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind.” - Humphrey Bogart

13

ChrisCTP, where are you shopping that Ramen costs you 65 cents? I can get 10 packs for 1 American dollar, in the regular supermarket. They get even cheaper when they’re on sale.

14

I dispise ramen

For laundry I just break mine into:
Whites
Darks
Gentle Cycle items

I always let the water run for 20 seconds before adding the detergent (liquid only)

After dry, I fold or hand up immediately

Just add water, it makes it’s own sauce!

15

Laundry:

Pile stuff to go to dry-cleaner on chair. Deliver to cleaner when mood strikes.

Separate white from colors. Wash colors in cold water, whites in hot. Because I have a front-loading stackable washer/dryer, I run each wash cycle twice. You wouldn’t believe how much soap still swishes around that second time, and, yes, I use minimum detergent. And detergent marketed for front-loading machines. I had thought it was because I had an old machine, but the brand-new one works the same (grrr!!). Unfortunately the plumbing in the building is not set up for full-size w/d. I will also sometimes just run white distilled vinegar through the empty washer to clean it.

Dryer - dryer sheet plus time. Depending on items, either one or two cycles.

16

Tater:
we are kindred souls!

wanna come over for some Ramen? I love Ramen with egg…Yummy!

Laundry: grab a armload of clothes, shove 'em in the washer…add detergent and wash. Throw in the dryer, remove when I need em, tumbling first to get wrinkles out (tumbling the clothes, I don’t tumble very well myself)

Some mornings it just doesn’t seem worth it to gnaw through the leather straps.
http://www.angelfire.com/ny3/zettecity/index.html

17

Ramen -

Open a corner of the bag, stick finger in hole and pull out packet of seasoning.

Pour seasoning back into bag.

Shake well.

Open bag completely and eat.

Who needs water?

Laundry -

I am pretty anal.

Sort into colors, drycleaning, delicates, towels, sheets, etc.

Pre-treat stains with Quick and Bright.

I used to haul the drycleaning to the cleaners, but now I use DRYEL - It’s wonderful!

I wash the towels in hot and add an extra dryer sheet to the dryer. Same with sheets.

Whites - Fill the washer with water, detergent, and bleach before I add the clothes. Soak for an hour before I run the cycle.

I wash sweaters and lingerie separately using Woolite.

Jeans are only washed with jeans and in cold water.

Hang shirts before the dry stops.

Stick a good video in the VCR and fold clothes on the livingroom floor. I also have a certain way that the towels have to be folded. Short ends together and then folded into thirds.

The kids have to put it away.

>^,^<
KITTEN
Coffee, chocolate, men . . . Some things are just better rich.

18

Around here they call those noodle things “Mr Noodles” and the main ingredient is MSG…we dont eat them (we eat ALL types of other garbage though ;))

Laundry like this:

Kelli: “TED get those dirty clothes out from under your bed.”
wait five minutes, and yell :“RIGHT NOW!”

If I am extra ambitious I sort into ‘mine’ ‘ted’s’, and ‘frankie’s’, and ‘house’.(we currently dont have anything that ‘runs’ or ‘bleeds’ onto the other clothes.
Toss in load, liquid store brand soap (it smells DIVINE!) and the downey ball if I remember. Later, walk by and stuff into dryer(or if its nice out, out on the line). take out and toss teds on his bed, frankies on his and mine on my bed. At bedtime, toss on floor or available furniture. In the morning dig through pile for clothes. Work great!

For bedding only: I *always * hang it on the line…it smells so good!
For my work clothes, I dont put them in the dryer, I have a small inside clothes line I use.

When I get really ambitious, and fold stuff, the kids put in the drawers, they have a drawyer for socks&underwear and jammies, then one for school/daycare shirts, one for play shirts, then play pants, and school/daycare pants. Very simple system.

19

Ramen
I do not eat ramen. Every time I’ve opened a package of ramen, I have found dead bugs in the package. Identifiable bugs, not little bits that could either be dust or bug parts. We’re talking whole, pristine, real dead bugs. I’ve even found them in the Campbell’s ramen, which is the creme de la creme of ramen, if there is such a thing.

Laundry
I do laundry sometimes. I feel guilt because I don’t do it more often. I kind of like it. It’s not a tough chore. Anyway, when I do get around to doing it, here’s what I do:
1)Search entire house for dirty socks & underwear that husband has dropped. They’re everywhere. It’s like an Easter egg hunt.

2)Gather everything that needs washing into one really huge pile.

  1. Sort into 3 piles–must be washed, can wait a while, and why-is-this-here-it’s-still-clean.

4)Search all three piles for paper, money, and children’s toys.

5)Wipe look of astonishment off husband’s face (with the nearest small appliance) when he catches me trying to accomplish a real domestic task.

6)Sort must-be-washed into whites, reds, colors, and jeans/darks, except for underwear, because I really don’t give a hoot if my underwear acidentally turns pink.

  1. Teach my daughter how to spell l-a-u-n-d-r-y, and tell her that it’s okay to wear clean clothes sometimes.

8)Accept husband’s offer to carry first pile of laundry downstairs and throw them in the washer, because he was going down there to copy some tapes anyway.

9)Make sure new baby isn’t mixed in with laundry–he’s pretty small & could easily be mistaken for a pile of blankets.

10)Spend rest of afternoon keeping kid from mixing whites & reds, and making sure she doesn’t accidentally drop crayons into laundry piles.

  1. Have husband put laundry into dryer, since he’s still down there looking up gear articles in his back issues of Guitar Player.

12)Have husband bring up dry laundry, because his bass player is on the phone & he’s got to come upstairs anyway.

  1. Have husband take another load downstairs, since the tapes he was copying are done, and he’s got to go downstairs to get them anyway.

14)Expierence a very brief moment of gratitude that husband does not need to be told how to actually run washing machine.

15)Get over gratitude, begin gloating that he’s done the hard part of 2 loads of laundry.

20

RAMEN

Place two to three cups of water in pot and bring to boil. While waiting for water to boil, take a hard object and beat on the package for a few seconds, crushing all noodles inside the package. Open package, remove seasoning packet, and pour broken noodles into pot. Let boil for a couple of minutes, drain water out, and then add the seasoning.

LAUNDRY

Sort clothes into five different categories, whites, darks, colors, delicates, and towels, and place each category into its own laundry basket. Talk husband into carrying laundry baskets down to the basement. Start water and let run for about ten seconds, then add liquid detergent (usually whatever was on sale that week at the store). Wash clothes in this order: Towels first, then colors, darks, delicates, and finally whites. Each load goes into the dryer on the heavy duty cycle, except for delicates, which I hang up on the small clothes line in the corner of the laundry room. When clothes are dry, remove husband’s work clothes and hang them nicely on hangers, place the rest of the laundry in the baskets and have my husband cart them back upstairs, where they usually sit for at least a day or so before I finally get around to folding them and putting them away.

Shadowfox
“I had plastic surgery last week. I cut up my credit cards.”

  • Henny Youngman