If you have an Advent Calendar, today is the day that you should open up that twenty-third little door. You've only got 2 more little doors to open. By now, you will have either cheated and opened all the doors or you've got greater control then I. But...you can only open door number 23. For all the rest of you, you've only got 2 more days before Christmas. Try to be nice to someone today while you're out racing around. Signal your turns and lane changes. Don't talk on your cell phone while you're driving. But if you'd prefer my daughter's advice, keep in mind that if you don't see a speed limit sign posted in the mall's parking lot, there isn't any!

Just because your son is 17 years old doesn't mean that you shouldn't check his pockets before you launder his clothes. I wish I'd followed this little bit of advice this morning when I washed his dress pants...along with all the rest of the dark clothes that needed washing today. If I had checked his pockets, I would have removed the pack of JuicyFruit gum that he had stored in his pocket. If I had removed the pack of JuicyFruit gum from my son's pocket, I wouldn't have had to take the time to clean away gunky gum which stuck itself all over my dryer. If I had removed the pack of JuicyFruit gum from my son's pocket, I wouldn't have to check a whole load of clothes for gunky gum. If I had removed the pack of JuicyFruit gum from my son's pocket, I wouldn't have to rewash half a load of clothes. I suppose I should be happy that I saw the gunky mess in my dryer before I put the second load of clothes into the dryer. I suppose I should be glad that I only have to wash half a load of clothes instead of a whole load of clothes. I suppose that I should be glad that next year my son will be washing his own clothes...most of the time. I suppose I'll miss him while he's at college. But in the meantime, I plan to check his pockets. Better check my husband's pockets too.

Today's Little Bit of Trivia

Woohoo! Washing dishes by hand is not better for the environment than using an automatic dishwasher! Apparently, dishwashers save energy and water compared to hand washing. OH! Listen to this! Prewashing the dishes before loading them into the dishwasher is a waste of water because most machines can handle even heavily soiled dishes. I feel so vindicated!