If we travel in similar mom or homeschool circles, you’ll have seen this title and know EXACTLY what I’m talking about.
Part of the adventure here is learning how best to operate the appliances here in Europe. Laundry here is…different. In some ways it is better! E.g., my clothes are SO much softer than they are in Austin. In others, it is definitely more challenging. Both the washer and the dryer are much smaller here. And they run for a VERY long time. I don’t even know how long the washer runs, but it’s well over an hour even if the water temp is only 40 degrees C. The dryer will run for 1:48 on the “Automatic” setting. And the clothes are still wet at the end. I don’t mean slightly damp, either. I can run them again for a second cycle and then the result is mildly damp clothes. The dryer doesn’t vent to the outside world, so it basically heats the clothes enough to cause them to steam and then condenses the water again into a separate container. Thus, I have a new gate on how much laundry I can do in a day:
I washed two small loads of kids’ clothes. And the drying rack was full. Everything has to hang to dry. I just took the photo before I hung anyone’s underwear. 🙂 You were looking, weren’t you?
As long as I run a load of laundry every day, it isn’t a problem. Washing sheets makes for an interesting afternoon, though, as I have to use chairs to spread them out to dry. My sincere hope is that eventually spring and summer will arrive so it will only rain once per day instead of mornings, afternoons, and evenings. (Please note, I’m not saying it rains all the time. I’m saying it rains multiple times per day). I would love to dry some clothes outside, though!
Meanwhile, I’m off to restart the dryer before Isaac wakes up. He’s out of long pants. If I start rerunning the dryer now I can probably finish drying them on the towel warmer before we go out this afternoon.
A final note, for those of you following along on the “mystery meat” saga, we have an answer! It was rabbit. It’s packaged similarly and placed directly beside the chicken. I finally returned to the same grocery store and was able to find it.
Leavin' for Leuven 