Tag Archives: laundromat

Random Thoughts at the Laundromat

Posted on August 31, 2014 by mohawkvalleygirl

I really must get back to running on Saturday mornings and have my Saturday Running Commentary. This week it was better for me to do run on Friday and do laundry on Saturday (today). I suppose I could have written about Friday’s run and published it today. Only I did not write about it on Friday and today I don’t seem to remember that much about it. Ah, middle age.

In the meantime, Saturday is passing and I have no blog post. In desperation, I offer some nonsense I wrote while at the laundromat this morning (I’m not really desperate; I just like the prepositional phrase “in desperation”).

I have discovered that 50 Mystery Classics is not filled with the delightful cheesy nuggets I found in 50 Horror Classics. I’m sure there are some films I could write about. First I am seeking films I can sit through all the way. I tried and discarded two last weekend. As I often say, one must persevere in these things. Um, not necessarily to the end of a movie. In writing a blog post about a movie. Or anything. That is what I mean to persevere at.

A note to new readers, if any: 50 Horror Classics and 50 Mystery Classics are DVD collections I purchased for my husband Steven at the local big box store for a really quite reasonable price. I have written several blog posts about silly movies in the Horror collection.

So here I am writing Another Post About Why I Can’t Write a Post. This one is perhaps destined for my Drafts section, so I can haul it out and hit Publish in an emergency. Um, unless I don’t come up with something else to write about for today. Then this baby is right here for me. (And you see what happened, obviously, although full disclosure: I, for one, saw it coming.)

OK, what I am really doing is killing time in the laundromat while my clothes tumble in the drier. I’ve already folded the first little bunch (confession: some of the sock cuffs seemed a little damp. I hope they don’t mildew). I wrote a letter to a friend, stared at the last things I wrote on my novel, pondered a few other ideas, made a to-do list for the rest of the day. Why I don’t bring a book to the laundromat is beyond me.

I continue to sit here jotting down randoms thoughts and wondering how or if I will use them. Publish them as written? A kind of stream of consciousness patchwork, a sort of modern art, abstract deal. Or could I take each random thought, expend some actual thought on it and come up with several authentic blog posts? The possibility intrigues me.

I am tired of being here and want to get on with my day. I could sit here and list all the things I dislike about doing laundry. Then I could attempt to counteract my grouchiness by listing all the good things or at least the minor compensations.

Oh, but it’s time to stand in front of the drier and stare at the 1:00, waiting for the last sixty seconds to pass.

Hope to see you all on Wrist to Forehead Sunday.

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Dining Dilemma

Posted on June 3, 2014 by mohawkvalleygirl

Why is it that as soon as you make up your mind to save some money, the only thing that sounds good for dinner is take-out?

As I write this (using ballpoint pen and a spiral notebook) (I’ll type it into my computer later, if this turns out to be usable) (and I guess it did; always feel so time-warpy when I write these things), I am sitting in the laundromat watching my laundry tumble and getting hungry. I certainly do not have the energy to go home and fix something worthy of a cooking post. I question if I even have the wherewithal to manage scrambled eggs or grilled cheese. A raw cheese sandwich? Can’t face it.

In the meantime, I have a blog post to write and I’m too hungry to think about anything beyond how hungry I am. Before I started writing this, I felt my brain was so fuzzy from lack of nourishment that I would not be able to write anything at all. Proved myself wrong on that one. I daresay I’m wrong about not being able to fix anything to eat. I could probably go home, pull out a frying pan and whip up something grand. Then I could write a blog post about it. I am da woman!

Or is that just a hunger-induced delusion?

There are a number of very find dining establishments handily located relative to where I am now. In fact, we can look out the window at one of them and get the phone number to order ahead on my cell phone. We don’t have a menu, but I happen to know they have delicious garlic wings and antipasto salad. Will we succumb to temptation? Tune in tomorrow to find out.

Just kidding, I won’t make you wait (as if the issue was even in doubt to begin with). While I was writing the previous paragraph, Steven made the call to Sorrento’s. Hurry up, laundry!

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That Damn Book

Posted on April 30, 2014 by mohawkvalleygirl

This is going to be another Tired Tuesday post, because I fulfill both criteria. I feared that would be the case, since my husband Steven and I planned on doing laundry after I got off work. Therefore, I went to work determined to write something while at work. Something not too long.

I guess no words at all is not too long.

Well, let me explain how the fates conspired against me. You may say I did myself in by succumbing to my own addiction. Potato, po-tah-to. A friend at work had told me about a book she had read that she thought I might like. It is a novel based on a local murder case which happened many years ago.

“Oh, I’d love to borrow it,” I told her.

Who knew she would be so prompt? The book was by my work station when I got to work this morning. How very kind of her. I would begin reading it at the first opportunity. First I had a blog post to write. I did, in fact, look at the blank page with a pen in my hand for, oh, a good three or four minutes before I thought I could read just a little bit…

I get to work a half hour to forty minutes early so that I have time to write and sometimes socialize a little. I did neither this morning. Oh dear. Well, there was still the nine o’clock break. And lunch. And the 2 p.m. break. And sometimes two or three minutes at the end of the day while I’m waiting to punch out.

I don’t really need to tell you I read during all of those, do I? Determined to make up for my profligacy, I left the book in the SUV at the laundromat and brought my notebook in with me.

And wrote one paragraph, which I immediately despised.

“It’s no use,” I told Steven. “I’m going to read that book and just write something off the cuff when we get home.”

And, I’m afraid this is it. On the brighter side, the book is about a murder that took place in the Mohawk Valley. Perhaps when I finish it I could write a book report for that day’s blog post.

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Monday Muddle

Posted on January 28, 2014 by mohawkvalleygirl

Today I discovered that I can once again write with ease and fluency in a laundromat. Unfortunately, I did not make this discovery by writing a blog post. On the brighter side, my novel is once again progressing. On the duller side, the evening is wearing on, I want to go to bed early, I must make my post and anything I can think of to write about is just going to take TOO LONG.

Oh dear, now all those people who just have to be that way are shaking their superior heads at what they perceive as my lack of willingness to put in a little effort. If you are one of those people, please comment with a link to your blog so that I can see how you do it. What am I saying? None of my dear readers are snotty, superior sorts (and by “superior,” I mean “think they are better than others.” I’m sure my readers are superior in the sense that they are clearly superior people to people who do not read my blog).

Now I’m being silly. Then again, I always say go with your strengths.

In my defense, I had real Mohawk Valley adventures and wrote about them on Saturday and Sunday. It would be nice to make three real posts in a row. I’m sure I’ve done it before. I’ll see what I can come up with as the week progresses.

I hope you all had a nice Monday.

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At Least I Have Clean Socks

Posted on January 1, 2014 by mohawkvalleygirl

I thought laundromats were supposed to be good places to write. For me they usually are. Well, it has been a bad writing vacation for me. I admit it.

I have read many times and in fact I knew it without reading it, that it is a fallacy to tell yourself, “Just wait until vacation; then I can write ALL DAY LONG.” You won’t, especially if you are out of the habit of writing.

In this instance, I am quite justified in arguing, “But I’m NOT out of the habit of writing!” I write a blog post every day, I work on my novel almost every day, I write letters, post cards, the TV Journal and miscellaneous other crap as the opportunity arises.

I feel quite misused by my own brain.

Those who love to give superior advice (you know who you are), say with a sniff, “If you WANT to write, you’ll write.” Thank you for your input. If I want to run a marathon, I’ll run a marathon. If I want to flap my arms and fly to the moon, I may have a problem. I could compare writing a novel to either of those desires, but I am really not up to metaphor today.

I fall back on what I have always said, one does one’s poor best.

And every day is an opportunity to do better. What an appropriate thought for New Year’s Eve (which is today). I can work on that novel as soon as I’m done typing this in. Or I can write a better blog post and leave this one in the wings for future use (in case of emergency, hit “publish”).

In the meantime, at least I got my pen moving.

As a side note: after I wrote the above, I turned a page in my notebook and wrote a post about a horror movie I watched yesterday. I think it is a good post and I will probably publish it soon. Waste not, want not.

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Tumbling Thoughts

Posted on December 18, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

It’s not Wuss-out Wednesday. In fact, I spent a good portion of my day at work lamenting that it was not Wednesday yet. Yeah, yeah, I know, wishing my life away. I’m not going to sit here and justify my desire for the weekend. I have a headache.

Where was I? Ah yes, wussing out. I’m afraid, in fact, that it is Yet Another Post About How I Can’t Write a Post Today. Why can’t I write today? The headache? It’s not that bad. The fact that I’m sitting in the laundromat on a cold December night? No, laundromats are good places to write, and cold December nights are often strangely conducive.

I wrote a little on my novel while at work. About half a page. Actually, as I type it into the computer, a handwritten page translates (transposes?) into more than a page typed. Then again, how many pages will I throw out when I finally figure out what the plot is and begin to revise?

Perhaps I should not include that last sentence. It will give the outlining writers a chance to get all smug and point out that THEY already know the plot BEFORE they begin writing. Well, that’s nice for you.

I wonder if I ought to be concerned that the only thing I seem capable of writing is stuff about not being able to write. Seriously, I keep flipping back pages and trying to continue with things started previously. Nothing doing.

Having neglected to bring a book or a deck of cards, it seems I must either continue writing this post or sit here and watch minutes pass as counted down by the clothes drier.

Full disclosure: I wrote the above while sitting at the laundromat and stopped writing after the last sentence. I am now sitting at home, typing this into the computer. I see I am approaching 300 words. That’s a whole lot of nothing. I’ll stop now and hope for a better post tomorrow.

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Suitable for Wuss-out Wednesday

Posted on November 21, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

My life has been thin of Mohawk Valley adventures lately. On perusing the TV Journal, I find I am out of cheesy movies to write about as well. What’s a blogger to do?

Well, I was about to stop writing entirely, because my pen was beginning to seriously irritate my middle finger (cue jokes about that being my most often used digit). Then I remembered I had a pen with a built-in spongy thing in my pocket. I don’t usually leave the house without at least two or three pens plus paper. That’s how I roll.

So, spongy thing in place, what can I possibly write about? I suppose I could give another shout-out to Colonial Laundromat in Ilion, NY. That’s why I had no adventures Monday night; we had to do laundry. There isn’t much to say about that, except that it is a pleasure to at least have a clean place to do a tiresome chore, especially given my regrettable tendency to drop my brand-clean laundry on the floor.

Getting back to What Shall I Write About, I feel disinclined to do another Preview of Coming Attractions. For one reason, sometimes I don’t make it to the thing I previewed and then I feel silly or guilty.

That is as far as I wrote. Full disclosure: I wrote it on Tuesday, then remembered I had been to Ilion Little Theatre on Friday. However, on finding it in my notebook today, I deem it suitable for Wuss-out Wednesday. Hmm, that’s not a bad headline either. Waste not, want not!

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Dinner and the Laundry

Posted on July 11, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

I mentioned in passing that Steven and I went to the laundromat yesterday (Tuesday). I thought I’d give that local business a proper plug today.

Colonial Laundromat in Ilion is located at 59 Central Ave, about two blocks into town coming off State Route 5. It’s clean and large, with various capacity machines.

We picked the biggest machine for things that had been in the basement during the flood and two of the next-largest for other things. We utilized one of the four change machines to supplement our supply of quarters. Another patron pretended it was a slot machine and cheered getting a big pay-off. That is one of my favorite laundromat jokes.

As I said, it is a nice clean business. A young lady was going around with a squirt bottle and rag, making sure it stayed that way.

Even though doing laundry involves a great deal of sitting around, we were working up an appetite. As our clothes tumbled in the drier, I realized the operative thing to do was to order food for us to pick-up on the way home. This entailed some discussion, because of course we had not planned ahead and, for example, stored any restaurant numbers on my cell phone or even written them in my notebook.

“If restaurants around here were smart,” I said, “they’d hang up fliers in here, so people doing laundry could say, ‘Oh, let’s eat here when we’re done!'”

Hmmm, no fliers. Finally Steven asked the young lady with the squirt bottle did she have a phone book. She did. I made the call, to Sorrento’s, right across the street, at 86 Central Ave.

When the lady heard where we had ordered, she said if she had known, we could have looked at her menu. She orders from there a lot. It didn’t really matter. I had known all day what I wanted for dinner: antipasto salad and garlic wings.

A short time later, as Steven went into Sorrento’s to get our food and I waited in the vehicle, I realized we hadn’t even needed to bother her for the phone book. There was the phone number right on the sign: 315-894-9991. We could have looked out the window and seen it.

So going to the laundromat was not so bad, especially with our reward of a yummy supper.

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Tired on Tuesday

Posted on July 10, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

I was afraid this would happen, and I don’t have a label to hide behind.

Wrist to Forehead Sunday, Middle-aged Musings Monday, Wuss-Out Wednesday, Non-Sequitur Thursday, Lame Post Friday. I was about to add Running Commentary Saturday, but since that one involves actually going for a run and writing about it, I don’t think it’s in the same category as my taking-it-easy days. In my defense, I don’t use all those categories every week. In my — accusation? guilt? where’s that thesaurus when you need it! — I’ve been using them a lot lately. In my defense again, I’m still recovering from a flood.

This could go back and forth for a while, but I think my point is clear. I do not have a blog post for today and I do not have an excuse not to have one.

For any astute reader who just said, “What about that murderer dumping bodies in the Seine you keep saying you’re going to write about?” I answer, “Good question.”

That post is partially written, but I want to write more and edit what I wrote so far and, you know, make it sound really good.

“So do that now,” the reader continues, beginning to sound less like an astute reader and more like that inner critic I keep mistaking for a legitimate blog reader.

Listen kids, Aunt Cindy is tired (oh yeah, like any nieces and nephews read my blog!). The temperature and humidity are enough to melt any wicked old witch (yes, admitting to belonging in that category), I worked all day, and then I came home and went to the laundromat and did LOTS of laundry.

Yes, my husband helped me with the laundry. What are you getting at?

In fact, as I waited for the washers and then the driers, I worked on another blog post about a movie, this one in the psycho-biddy genre. Just to give a preview of coming attractions.

Even as I was writing, I said to Steven, “Oh, I am just going to go home and write something off the cuff. It’s all I can handle today.”

So here it is. I’m afraid not as clever as I had hoped, but it will have to do.

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Lame at the Laundromat

Posted on July 6, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

My real Mohawk Valley adventure on July 4 involved going to the Laundromat. I wrote the following while there, largely because I had neglected to bring a book to read. This being Lame Post Friday, I make bold to use it.

I have not been to the laundromat in years. Steven and I used to make quite an event out of it. We’d wait till we were wearing our bathing suits instead of underwear, load everything into the car (one more reason we drove a station wagon) and head out, usually on a weeknight. This was a good time to go in the North Country, where we used to live.

The most we ever filled was, I think, ten washers. It gives me a little giggle even now, thinking about it. Being me and Steve, we made silly jokes the whole time. I even started to write a song about it: The Dirty Clothes Blues.

With all this in mind, losing our washer and drier in the flood (um, they didn’t float away, they just got flooded) was the least of our worries.

“We’ll just go to the laundromat till we’re more beforehand with the world,” I declared.

“We used to have fun doing that,” Steven remembered.

So I had envisioned a fun if silly couple’s activity. However, what with mud and sweat, our clean clothes ran out faster than anticipated (and I don’t have a bathing suit any more). I put on my last pair of clean shorts and a sports bra and said, “I need to do laundry.”

Steven felt bad about not accompanying (he was working a double shift), but I made light of it.

“It’s the Fourth of July,” I said. “How many people are going to be doing laundry?”

Famous last words.

Steven helped me bring the baskets put to my vehicle. I had decided on a modest three loads. That is, all the dirty clothes that were NOT in the basement. Those are out on the back deck, awaiting a HOT washing or else a decent burial, as we will decide. The only sad thing was that our schnoodle, Tabby, saw us loading stuff into the car and immediately concluded that we were all going on a fun road trip. Imagine her disappointment. And mine.

A quick stop to pick up detergent (another casualty) and I was off to Ilion, NY, to the new laundromat there. At least, I can’t remember how new, but recent at least. I drive by it on my way to work and know it has a large number of machines.

The first thing I noticed was the number of cars in the parking lot. Well, that falls squarely under the heading Should Have Known. Weren’t basements flooded all over the Mohawk Valley? Didn’t many of those basements contain washers and driers? I found a parking space and hoped for the best.

And everything was fine. Like I said, large number of machines. I had a moment of sticker shock when I saw the washer said $5.50 as the price. I felt better when I realized that sucker could hold two of my baskets. Then I saw smaller washers that were only $2.50. Perfect for my small load of whites.

This was cool.

The truly lame moment happened after I was done writing and doing laundry. I got all the way home (a modest distance, but still) and realized I had forgotten my detergent at the laundromat. You know how people handle big problems with aplomb but fall apart at the dumbest things? All week people have been telling me I was reacting very well to this being flooded thing. I have tried to keep my spirits up and not lose my sense of humor.

Well, doing something as stupid as forgetting my brand new detergent at the laundromat made me dang near burst into tears. I made the drive back to Ilion, cursing my (lack of) brain and telling myself it was no big deal. Either the detergent would be there or somebody else would be happy to not have to buy some. Perhaps even another flood victim.

My not so random observation on this Lame Post Friday is that half-baked philosophy will only get you so far. I recovered my detergent. I still felt really, really dumb.

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