The weekly “little of this, little of that” feature here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!
I have this problem, which is that I usually tend to get either “before” pictures or “after” pictures.
But perhaps you can indulge me by using your mind's eye to supply the “before” for these pictures, which, if it existed, would betray to you some very sadly yellowed items of clothing.
I have been frowning over this collection of clothes for a long time now, not able nor prepared to tackle it, and knowing that bleach (even if I had some) wasn't going to do the trick. I decided (after browsing around a bit, largely on Pinterest), that these clothes needed a vinegar bath to start out with, and then I'd go from there.
My laundry situation at the Side Pocket (I should have taken pictures of it before I left: you wouldn't believe, to read me describing it, the inefficiency and absurdness of the setup: dryer doors knocking, half-open, into washing machines; coin operation; three-flights-down location, etc.) wasn't going to allow for tackling a laundry challenge. It was all I could do to try to keep on top of towels, sheets, and onesies while also (supposedly) packing up said items.
So yes, I put my yellowed whites into a laundry bag and stowed them in the moving truck and brought them in their yellowed glory to MA.
I'm so glad I did, because I think the clothesline has really been the trick. I read somewhere that it helps to line dry whites as part of a stain-removal regime (certainly no dryer-drying!), and now I'm a believer.
After that original vinegar (and hydrogen peroxide) soak, an Oxyclean hot cycle, air drying, some Lestoil treatment on trouble spots, another Oxyclean cycle, and another air-dry, these yellowed clothes are white again!
It might sound like a lot of work, but it wasn't, because doing laundry is nothing less than a pleasure under these circumstances: a happy baby clambering around in the grass by my feet, washer and dryer immediately accessible, a warm breeze, no coins necessary? Just hand me the next load!
This week's links!
On liturgy:
- Dear reader Beth recently resurrected an old article of Auntie Leila's in the Catholic Culture archive: why LifeTeen will never satisfy her (Auntie Leila, that is) – ever.
- A longer article that Auntie Leila recommends as a great resource about time and the liturgical year: Restoring Sacred Time from the Adoremus Bulletin.
Some fun and practical:
- The beautiful “after” photos of a gorgeous homeschool schoolroom makeover, with inspiration on ways to make things pretty, frugally!
- Speaking of schooling, if you are an educator with an educator's ID, make sure you're using it to the best effect with this list of teacher discounts.
On being male and female:
- From Mark Judge: A review of the World's Best Sex-Ed book fronom Aleteia.
- The text of Archbishop Cordileone's speech on marriage from Thursday in Washington, DC.
“Every child comes from a man and a woman, and has a right, a natural human right, to know and be known by, to love and be loved by, their own mother and father. This is the great public good that marriage is oriented towards and protects.”
Just for fun:
From the archives:
~We’d like to be clear that, when we direct you to a site via one of our links, we’re not necessarily endorsing the whole site, but rather just referring you to the individual post in question (unless we state otherwise).~
Celine says
LifeTeen has undergone many changes (for the better) since that article was written. You do a disservice to your readers in providing outdated information.
Mary says
They’ve cleaned up some of the grosser liturgical abuses. But the whole point of the article is that Life Teen is still inherently flawed because it separates “teen worship” from everyone else and caters to the inordinate desire to be entertained that is so common in the modern world. So even though she wrote it ten years ago, the basic problem with Life Teen hasn’t changed.
Celine says
The LifeTeen my children have gone to is nothing like what is described in the article. There is no “teen worship”–meetings are held on Monday evenings and begin with Holy Mass, which is like any other Mass (it is orthodox–right down to the music, which is provided by a pipe organ). IF it were anything like what the article describes, I would agree with Leila and my family would not be involved. What I have found in this ministry though, are faithful, magisterium-following Catholics who have a heart for teens. Just this past season one of the Core Members shared with the teens and staff that LifeTeen was instrumental in him recognizing his vocation to the priesthood. Good things are happening in our community because of LifeTeen. It would be a shame if a reader opted not to investigate it based on out-of-date information.
Terri says
Thanks for the link to Abp. Cordileone’s speach. It’s encouraging to see him ingore his powerful public critics and persevere in teaching truth.
Mary says
I love that homeschool room! Just lovely. I want to hug it.
Thanks for the reminder that the whole marriage debate is at its core about children’s right to be connected to their mothers and fathers.
Cristina says
I really appreciate this perspective on LifeTeen. At our last parish my husband was approached to be involved in the LifeTeen group as a leader but once we realized that it would involve him missing mass with the family every Sunday or having to go twice and missing family dinner either way (along with missing dinner every Wednesday for a planning meeting) we had to turn them down. They seemed shocked that we felt like attending mass and having dinner together as a family on Sunday was more important than their ministry–they made us feel like we were being selfish for wanting to keep our family time–and as a law student with (at the time two babies) his family time was limited as it was! We were disappointed because we would have loved to work with the youth group but the whole program was set up in such a way that it was just impossible.
Carol Kennedy says
I loved the article on Life Teen. Although we have no teens we have seen this problem at multiple parishes. The separation of families is not just a Life Teen problem, though. I think most parishes do it as a matter of course with their catechetical programs. There is very little (except Mass) that one can attend as a family, unless the kids are separated and herded together. We have struggled with getting involved in every parish we have belonged to for this reason. Does anyone else have this issue?
Donna L. says
Yes, Carol, we have the same problem! In fact, the youth programs meet on Sunday evenings at the dinner hour in a completely different building several buildings away from our church, in a creepy part of town. We have decided that they aren’t interested in keeping families together, and that’s sad!
Hafsa says
I love the homeschooling room makeover, it is so simple and shows a future homeschooling mom like me that less is more. The simpler the better. Everything in the article that Leila wrote about Life Teen was spot on. I am bookmarking that one.
Lisa G. says
Wonderful that your whites are white again! I’ve used Biz with very good results, but I didn’t know there was a more natural method.
Susan says
Would you please give us the specific “recipe” for whitening clothes? I’d love to try it!
Becky says
I was very surprised about the impact of line drying on clothes. It really does do the trick for a fair number of stains although it depends on the type (I have found very little to get out the oxidization stains of pear and apple sauce) and the directness of the sun. It also saves you so much time in terms of stain pre-treating. I don’t get nearly as focused on being sure I’ve gotten all the stains if I know I’m not about to bung them in the dryer and set the stain ForEVAR.