He's Not Even Cold Yet

As soon as news was out that Michael Jackson was dead, people started trying to cash in by selling t-shirts and other memorabilia. It doesn't surprise me at all, anything to make a buck, right? But when etsy puts THIS on the front page, I was a little more than disgusted. Not only because it is tacky and cheap looking, but come on etsy, lets try to be a little more classy than the street corner t-shirt seller, okay?

It is supposed to be a tote bag, by the way.

And speaking of tacky crafts, I've opened a shop on a very new site, trendyindie, in fact, here's a link to my shop: http://geelizzie.trendyindie.com. Not that my shop is tacky, well maybe a little bit.

It didn't take long for the tacky crafters to find this site, either. Hey, if you are going to sell a dog cape, and what dog doesn't need a cape, at least IRON THE CREASES OUT OF THE FABRIC FIRST!


Actually I thought this was a baby bib when I first saw it.

And, speaking of dead celebrities and tacky things, I was way more saddened by the news that Billy Mays was dead than Michael Jackson.

Black Cat

A while back our neighbor across the street, who we'll call Steve, because that's his name, found a bunch of kittens in his backyard. We were glad it was in his backyard this time because we've found our share of kittens in our backyard and didn't want to have to deal with what to do with them. His girlfriend at the time took two of the kittens and he just kind of let the others grow up wild in his yard. So, when wild kittens grow up, what happens? They run around the neighborhood and eventually produce new wild kittens of their own.

A few weeks ago a little very very skinny all black cat shows up in our front yard, looking completely emaciated and very very hungry. Keith, being the big softy that he is, got her some food, and she actually let him touch her. Well, wild cats being the smart little foragers that they are, she started to come around a few times a day, giving us her poor me big eyed looks, and hanging around until we gave her some food. She lets us pet her, and in doing so, we realized that she must have just had a litter of kittens, what with her nipples hanging down and her incredible appetite. We've been feeding her about 4 times a day and she hangs around on the front patio, driving our cats nuts because they want to know how come this black cat gets to go outside, and what the heck is she doing outside their window, anyway.

We never saw any kittens, though, up until Friday night when Keith heard all this frantic mewing coming from the direction of Steve's front yard. Mama cat had stuffed her kittens under the bushes by his front door and the sprinklers had come on and soaked them, and they were crying for Mama to come and save them. Keith went to investigate and finds these kittens covered in mud and fleas huddled under the scratchy spiky bushes.

The next morning Keith went over to check out the kittens and tried to wash them up a bit, then got mama cat to nurse them by nuzzling them up to her. They look like they are just about 3 weeks old, born about the time that she first came over to our house, and apparently she's been trying to take care of them, but she's so young that I had thought that her litter probably hadn't survived. So, here are these poor little kittens stuffed under a bush, with a not so bright mama cat, and what do we do with these little guys? I'm all for letting nature take it's course and just leaving mama to take care of them, mainly because we just can't afford to foster another litter of kittens until they're old enough to give away.

The next evening, Steve went out drinking with his buddies (something he does every weekend), and when he came stumbling up his sidewalk after his evening of beer guzzling, here was mama cat and four kittens in his doorway. This was his reaction:

GODDAMMIT! MORE CATS ON MY SIDEWALK! GODDAMMIT!

Opens door, slams door, opens door again with a bag of cat chow, pours cat chow on the sidewalk, throws a handful at mama cat.

GODDAMMIT GET OUT OF HERE!

Slams door shut.

Keith happened to be out front when all this happened, laughing the whole time.

Then the next morning mama cat didn't come over to get her breakfast, and we see her and the kittens laying by Steve's front door, so we go over to check on them. Apparently mama cat had her fill of cat chow and was now laying in the middle of the sidewalk with cat chow dregs all around her, plus flies and ants that had also discovered the cat chow.



Keith was thinking about moving the kittens over to our yard and even got out some plastic milk crates to make them a little fort, but mama cat has moved her kittens somewhere else and we don't know where, yet. So, we will soon have even more stray cats running around the neighborhood unless we can find these kittens and get them all tamed so we can try to give them away, not that kittens aren't a dime a dozen and it might be hard to find some takers. The SPCA has a sign on their door to not even bother bringing any animals over there, they have no room, so the only other alternative is the county shelter. So, we'll see what happens here.

Oh, and it was 105 STINKING HOT degrees here yesterday. And will be in the 100's all week.

Dear Vons

We've been going steady for quite a few years now, but the time has come for us to part ways. I can no longer afford to shop at your store even if you do have a Starbucks inside. Not that I've been able to afford my Starbucks the last five times I've shopped there.

No, despite your shelves crammed full of every product imaginable and your friendly employees and your cute re-usable shopping bags and the fact that my bank, along with Starbucks, is also conveniently located in your store, the time has come that I need to go in search of cheaper groceries. We're hurting, Vons, what with having to buy a car this year, and my business slowly sinking, and no overtime at Keith's job anymore (but thank the stars above that he still HAS a job, even though fully 1/2 of his take home pay goes right to the mortgage) and six cats that like to eat, and summer is here and our electric bill will soon be in the six figures range, and I can't even afford to buy some new underwear, we just can't afford to shop with you anymore.

So, today I gave Winco a second try. Winco had opened up a stone's throw away from Vons a few years ago, and we shopped there a couple of times, liked the prices, but didn't like the ambiance and the not so great of a selection. But, considering that we needed all the basics today, nothing fancy, I decided to go to Winco. And, you know what? I'm sold.

Yoplait yogurt for 45c? Green leaf lettuce for $1.28? Rice a roni for 88c? The taco seasoning that costs $1.00 at Vons for 38c? Lactose free milk for 2.37? Apple juice for 1.69? And canned vegetables for 55c? Yep, I'm sold.

I did spend a lot because we were out of absolutely EVERYTHING and I did buy some frozen not very healthy entrees because I'm too lazy to really cook anything, but it should last us for 2 weeks, with only a trip in between to get a few things for Keith's packed lunches, and I did get like 9 big bags of groceries, so I think I got my money's worth, and whaddya know, there's actually something to eat in there!

So, Vons, it's been great, but I just can't continue with the relationship anymore, it's just not good for my pocketbook.

And by the way, I did re-apply at walmart, but they don't seem to want me, and Target just flat out tells you they're not hiring before they even let you fill out an application, and I applied at Foods Co yesterday. I might give McDonalds a try next.

TV Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett

Wow, what a weird day yesterday was for celebrities dying, right? We were all expecting poor Farrah to go any day now, but to have Michael Jackson drop dead a few hours later was odd, indeed. Now Farrah won't get her People magazine cover, Michael will get the big picture, and Farrah will be relegated to the sidebar.

What amazed me was how fast the networks jumped on this and had special 20/20s and Datelines ready to go in just a few hours. And, yes, I watched them. I'm sure they had Farrah's already in the can and just waiting for the moment, but to whip up an hour's show on Michael Jackson on not one but two networks just hours after his death just goes to show the power of TV. I guess with all the instant communications these days you can't wait too long or you'll lose your audience.

Keith was going on about why are they making such a big deal about Michael Jackson and why does his body get a helicopter ride to the coroner, but think about it, for a generation of kids, Michael Jackson was their Elvis, the biggest thing they'd ever seen and if they don't have some security on his body, you'll see deathbed photos in every tabloid and people trying to cut pieces off of him for souvenirs. I'm sure there will be Michael Jackson sightings for years to come, and you'll see Michael Jackson look-a-like conventions in Las Vegas (if they don't have those already) and sales of his albums will soar and everyone will start wearing one sparkly glove here real soon. They'll re-open Neverland as a tourist attraction and put live animals back in the petting zoo. Maybe he really is faking his death to get out from under the 500 million or so in debt that he reportedly is in.

Anyway, sad day for Farrah's family, and sad day for Michael's family. Hey, where was the hour special for Ed McMahon?

Hey, Politicians

Didn't you all learn ANYTHING from Bill Clinton? Don't have an affair while you are in office, thinking about running for office, or married to someone in office, because you are GOING TO GET CAUGHT! And then you have to go on TV and blubber about how sorry you are, and how you didn't mean for it to happen, you just fell in love, and you're so sorry that you've betrayed all your constituents who trusted in you, not to mention your wife and children who have to see everything played out on national TV, and whatever...blah blah blah. You're only sorry because you got caught and you've just pretty much ruined your political career, not that you had the affair, because that was totally worth it, you just wish you HADN'T GOTTEN CAUGHT! And what really gets me is that these are grown men that behave this way. Grown middle aged men who should know better.

Well, at least someone other than Jon and Kate were top story last night.

What else is going on? Oh, it must be a boy cat thing because the girls don't do this, but Buddy has to rub his face on every single corner in the house every time he walks through it. Every door frame, every bend in the wall, every part of the house that isn't flat, he rubs his little cheeky scent glands to let everyone else know that he is king of the house or something. I need to get in the habit of looking around the house at Buddy face level, because after he rubs his face on the same corner of the wall for the four thousandth time, the wall gets kind of dirty there. Which I'd never really noticed before because you just kind of don't look at the wall corners that often and don't think about them needing to be cleaned that often, either.

And, our hallway is still not finished, but I really didn't expect it to be. Keith makes big plans to finish something during the week after work, but when he gets home he really doesn't get much done, not that I blame him. After being out in the hot sun for just a few minutes I don't want to do anything but lay around, and he's out there all day! But, I'm hoping that this weekend the hallway will be done. Crossing my fingers, here.

And, that's about it.

Shhhh...

Everybody's sleeping...

Buddy's on the bed.


Harri's in the window.


Bear's in the kitty condo.


Mimi's in the basket.


Lucy's under the chair.


and Pepper's behind the couch, but she's just pretending to sleep.

So This is What We've Been Doing

Actually, this is what Keith has been doing, because we just don't get along when we try and paint together. My painting style is slap that stuff on the wall and be done, and his style is slow and steady, and make sure the job is perfect. That's why jobs like this never seem to quite get finished, it takes him so long that he loses interest in it halfway through, and then I have to nag him about getting it finished.

So, we had four days to get the hallway done, and it is still not done. Day one was spent washing and patching and sanding, day two was spent with both of us painting and one of us going back over everything the other of us had painted because apparently we (me) aren't doing such a good job, day three was spent with only Keith painting the second coat because I'm getting irritated by now with him being so picky about my paint job, and day four was spent with him sanding all the trim, taking a nap, and then sanding more trim, with no trim actually getting painted.

To make a long story short, the walls are painted, but the trim is not, and we still don't have the carpet down in the hallway because we are not done painting yet. It had been so long ( a few years, I think) since we picked out the paint for the hall that I had completely forgotten what color it was going to be and it was a good thing that Keith had labeled the paint jugs with 'hallway'. The color is called Harmonious Cream, so I'm hoping that walking down the hallway will have a soothing zen like effect on us, making us feel more harmonious and in tune with nature, or something like that. It's hard to describe the color, kind of a buttery warm creamy yellowy color. It coordinates well with the peachy color that the living room is. Here is a picture, the back of the door is still the original hallway color.

The trim will be done in the trim that we used for the living room, it's another color that is hard to describe, so we'll just call it brown, but it's kind of a reddish brown redwood sort of color, called Versatile Verve, versatile because it goes with lots of different colors, verve because, well, I don't know why since I'm not real sure what that word means and will have to go google it.

Okay, here's what google says about verve:

1. Energy and enthusiasm in the expression of ideas, especially in artistic performance or composition: The revival lacked the verve of the original musical.

2. Vitality; liveliness.

3. Archaic Aptitude; talent.

Apparently there is also an energy drink called Verve and also a pop music group that I think I may have once had a CD of.
So, our trim will make us feel energized and full of vitality while the walls will fill us with harmony.

Little Fatty

No, not me, I'm the big fatty around here. This is my little fatty, Pepper.


We've had a busy week trying to finally get the hallway painted-more on that later.

Happy Birthday Keith!

Today is Keith's birthday. Cake, candles, presents, dinner out? A big celebration in the works?

Nope, today is Keith's birthday, but instead of cake, candles, presents, and dinner out, we got to spend the afternoon at the hospital having a colonoscopy! Not both of us, but Keith got to celebrate his 51st by having a colonoscopy. Just what he always wanted for his birthday!!

He needed to have a follow up to make sure no cancer has come back and he was almost a year past due on getting that done, so he decided to schedule it for during his vacation week. Yes, instead of going to Hawaii or Europe or something like that, his vacation included a colonoscopy. It was originally scheduled for this Friday, but our insurance won't pay for it if it's done in the doctor's clinic, only if done at the hospital. Why? I don't know, but you know how insurance companies are. So, the only day that this doctor does work at the hospital is on Tuesdays, which just happened to be Keith's birthday. Happy Birthday, indeed.

So, instead of cake, candles, presents, and dinner out, he got to be put under and have a garden hose shoved inside him. The good news is that they found nothing, no polyps or anything.

So, for his birthday, he gets a cancer free colon and a bill for the 20% that the insurance doesn't cover. No cake, candles, presents, or dinner out. You're not supposed to eat anything heavy right after a colonoscopy and you don't really want to anyway, so tomorrow we might go have a birthday lunch instead.

And that's what we did today.

Nothing Worse Than

Stepping into someone's big steamy wad of gum while loading your car in the Target parking lot.

Except maybe stepping into someone's dog's big steamy wad of poop. That doesn't happen as much these days since all the pooper scooper laws went into effect, and dog owners don't let their dogs run loose like they used to. Back in my elementary school days the worst thing that could happen when you got on the school bus was for everyone to start yelling 'eeeewwww, who stepped in dog doo?' We didn't call it poop back then, I don't think that word had been invented yet. Dog doo was dog doo, not poop, shit, or caca. And people did not pee and poop, they went number one or two, or tinkled and bm'd.

So, anyway, here I was, stuck to the pavement by a big wad of nasty gum, trying to scrape that shit off my shoe so I wouldn't trail gooey gum into the car.

Caturday and Stuff

I guess Mimi really likes to be close to me even when I'm not right there. Besides jumping onto my shoulders to purr away any chance she gets, she is fond of where my behind has been, too.

Besides taking over my recently vacated stool,

She also likes to lay on my recently vacated pants.


I did get some cleaning done yesterday, even dusting things in the bathroom that hadn't been dusted in a very very long time, judging by the thick layer of dust on them. I cleaned the toilet, the bedroom, vacuumed the workroom, and finished redoing my entire shop with new more colorful pictures. Such as:
I also have a new shop on a brand spanking new site! http://geelizzie.trendyindie.com

So far, I'm just double listing all my etsy stuff onto the new shop, since sales are so slow and the site is so new, I think the risk of possibly double selling something is next to none, what I'm doing is just removing whatever sells on etsy from trendyindie. I'm really excited about this new site, it's got all the features you could ever want, plus a really nice look to it, all for 6.49 a month for unlimited listings. My etsy bill is 6.49 a day sometimes!

So Much to Do

So little ambition to do it.

I need to clean the house today. You'd think with all my free time this wouldn't be an issue and I'd have a sparkling clean house. Not.

I've been working on some new stuff for my shop this week, taking new pictures, and taking old stuff out of my shop. I'm not happy with the new pictures, though, so I'll probably re-do them all again. Anything is better than cleaning the house, right?

Ha Ha.

So, I am going to force myself to GO CLEAN THE HOUSE! NOW!

But first, I'm loving the weather we've been having. It's cooler than normal so far this month, with temps only reaching the low 80's instead of the 90's. Each day I've been able to have the windows wide open with nice breezes blowing through the house. And what's even better is that the air quality is good! Well, except for the pungent manure odor last night from the fields that is. But, manure is better than choking pollution I suppose. At least it has a nice farmy smell to it.

Oh, and what's new for my shop? A couple of metal pendants, and I'm working on some glittery flower pendants. I'm tired of soldered glass and it hasn't been selling lately anyway, so I'm looking for things that are easy to make but with a little more fancy look to them, if that's the word. More sparkle in the shop.

Here are the metal pendants.


No pics yet of the sparkly ones, I'm waiting for the sun to come out a little more before I can get some shots of those.

Okay, NOW I am going to go clean the house! Maybe.

The Library, The Library!

So, I was watching that Earth 2100 or whatever it was called show the other night, you know, the one about how the earth will change in the next 90 years, and thank God I won't be here for it, because it was really really depressing. In a nutshell, if we keep on going the way we have been going for the last 90 years, and if we keep on multiplying in population the way we have been in the last 90 years, and if we keep polluting the earth the way we have been in the last 90 years, the next 90 are going to be the end of the world as we know it. We will have no food and no water and extreme pestilence and disease (which will take care of that overpopulation problem) and the whole world will be in a state of extreme chaos and anarchy. And there will be no electricity and NO INTERNET...oh, the horror! Basically the world will be the way it was in the Mad Max movies.

The whole show was designed to scare us all straight and get us to start cleaning up our acts.

But, about all I could think of while watching the part about how the melting of all the ice caps and frozen tundras will cause the sea level to rise and big storms will come to wipe out Manhattan was, don't you people know you're supposed to go to the big library like they did in that movie The Day After Tomorrow? As soon as Manhattan starts flooding, get your asses up those library steps and barricade yourself into a big room with lots of books so you can debate about whether or not to burn great literature to keep warm. And then Dennis Quaid will come and save you.

Sigh

It's Monday and this Monday is almost as depressing as the Mondays were back when I had a real job. You wake up to check your email to see if you have any sales and it's just a big fat zero staring you in the face, not even any spam emails. Of course I have a really good spam blocker so I don't get spam emails much anyway. But, a big fat zero is no way to start your week out.

I've been looking at the sold features on etsy lately to see what and if people are still buying, and you know what? They're buying, but it seems to be mostly supplies so that they can open up their own etsy shop. Etsy was featured on Good Morning America a week or so ago as a great way to stay home and make tons of money. They did stories on some etsy shops claiming that they were making tons of bucks, but when you looked at the etsy shops, the sales numbers just didn't add up to tons of bucks as far as I could see.

I've been wondering if scrabble tile pendants are still selling or if people are getting a little tired of them. Currently there are over 14000 listings for scrabble tiles, and while some shops are doing pretty well, you'd think that everyone would already have a scrabble tile pendant by now. When looking at the sold items, you don't see quite as many going through these days, and with everyone selling scrabble tile pendant supplies and collage sheets, they're all starting to look the same, too.

Oh, well.

So, I'm still trying to find that magic something that people can't live without and will come to my shop in droves to buy it, but the magic just isn't happening these days.

Caturday Cuteness

Once again, it's Caturday, amazing how fast the weeks fly by!

Here's Mimi in her little corner that she likes to sleep in, she fits herself in between the candle stand and the cupboard, but she usually doesn't contort herself quite like this.


She was sound sound asleep.


And here are some lolcats that I found amusing. When you're feeling a little down because of the economy or the fact that you're eating bean burritos every night for dinner because that's all you can afford, nothing like a lolcat to cheer you up!


And, speaking of the economy, news is that walmart will be hiring 22000 people this year. Whoo hoo! I did put in my application over there but I guess they don't want me to be one of those 22000 people, because my phone has not rung. Not that I really want to go back to walmart but we're getting desperate here, folks!

Somehow I don't think that hiring 22000 people at walmart will take care of the rest of the million or so who lost their jobs just in the last few months, though. But, it does give me hope that this mess may turn around before we're all living in cardboard boxes.

Friday Finds

Some cute stuff from etsy!

I've always liked koi ponds, they're so soothing and it's very calming to watch the big fat koi swimming around. These pendants from starless on etsy would be great to wear to work and contemplate when your every last nerve is shot and you are all stressed out.

They are made with polymer clay, something that I just don't have the patience to work with.

I also like the jewelry box koi pond.


And, now, an etsy oddity. This is supposed to be a bubble necklace, but it looks like a bunch of eyeballs to me.


It's definitely unique! Nobody else would be wearing this, that's for sure!

Phone Survey

Yesterday afternoon the phone rang and it was one of those recorded survey takers on the line. I almost hung up but wasn't really doing anything else so I stayed on the phone to see what the survey was about. Lots of questions about the economy and do I think it is press one for better, two for about the same, three for worse, and four for there's no hope at all, that sort of thing.

So, after numerous questions about the economy, GM and the bailouts, do I invest in the stock market or know anybody who does, I was starting to get a little bored and about ready to hang up, when the next question, right after a question about the stock market, is do you follow the news stories about Jon and Kate Plus 8? And do you believe the recent stories about their marital troubles are press one for real or press two made up for the ratings.

What? Jon and Kate Plus 8 is as important as our weakening economy and the GM bankruptcy? What?

Then after the Jon and Kate questions come some about Octomom. What?

If you don't know who Jon and Kate and the Octomom are you apparently never go into walmart and see the racks of tabloids that feature them on the cover, and you must never ever turn on a TV, because yes, they are big news these days. Just as important as GM apparently. Wow.

My take on Jon and Kate and the Octomom? Who gives a crap? I really don't care if they exploit their children by following them around with cameras all day and make boatloads of money in the process. There are a lot worse things that parents do, and from what I've seen of Jon and Kate's kids and Octomom's kids, they seem to be pretty happy and well adjusted despite having cameras in their faces 24/7, so sorry, I just don't see the point in getting all riled up about them and demanding that thier kids be taken away from them. I just don't care about these people that much, and the people that do blog incessantly about how horrible they are would just find someone else to blog incessantly about if Jon and Kate and Octomom weren't around.

So, anyway, it was a strange survey, indeed.

And, in other news, if you are trying to sell a belt on the internet, don't take a crotch shot picture please. Not attractive at all.

It's Official

When you see Opie on the cover of AARP magazine, you know you are old. And, what's even worse is the fact that you even have an AARP card and YOU GET THIS MAGAZINE IN YOUR MAILBOX!

I Guess

I have a very juvenile sense of humor because these two pictures of unfortunate ad errors from Criggo had me rolling.

And, on to another subject.

I had a bad day yesterday, with not much getting accomplished and generally not feeling very energetic, but today I managed to get my self up and going early instead of sitting at the computer messing around. Vacuumed, scrubbed the bathroom floor on my hands and knees, did some laundry, made some granola bars, and even walked over to walmart. All before 10am. Then I took a shower and chopped off my hair, which was really getting on my nerves. My hair is straight but not straight and always looks like a big triangle, with flat on top and wide at the bottom. Hence, it's always in a ponytail or bun. I hate going to get my hair cut and only do that maybe once every three years or so. I tend to just get sick of it and chop it off myself. So, today, I chopped. I did a layered trick that I learned back when layers were in style, where you put your head upside down and brush all the hair to the front in a ponytail and then chop off the ponytail, making layers. After you chop off the ponytail, you still have to trim some of the longer pieces off, but it didn't come out too horrible, and doesn't look quite as much like a triangle.
I think I will cut some more layers up a little higher later so the top will curl or whatever the heck it seems to be doing. I'm not one for blow drying, straightening, spraying, or any of that mess, just wash it and let it dry by itself.

Yes, that's gray up there on top, but you know what? I don't care anymore! And since I quit the stress of walmart it's not getting as gray as fast.

June 1

June first already? What the heck? How can we possibly be half way through the year already? How come I haven't accomplished a single thing yet this year?

I hate summer here in Bakersfield. It's hot and it will be hot for the next three months and it never ever rains here. Our electric bill will soon be in the triple digits because it's HOT here! I delay using the air conditioner each day until I absolutely have to, I open up the windows and back door each day to let the 'cool' breezes flow through the house. The cool breezes and the sounds of birds and what's that noise? Oh , yes, the daily leaf blowers and lawn mowers, what a pleasant sound.
In another month or so, I won't even be able to open the windows in the morning because it will already be about 90 outside. Yuck. I don't do well in the heat. I get even lazier than usual when it's hot.

What are we doing this summer besides sitting in the air conditioned house? Not much, that's for sure.

Keith is taking a vacation this year, something he hasn't done in quite a while, what with job changes and surgeries and such. His last vacation was spent recuperating from knee surgery, and the one before that was spent recuperating from cancer surgery. What fun!

So, what will we do while he is on vacation besides get on each other's nerves because we'll be stuck in the air conditioned house because we can't afford to actually go anywhere? I'm talking not even go to the early show at the movies can't afford to go anywhere. We'd like to take the train up to Sacramento and go to Old Town for the day, but may not be able to spend the money, what with the electric bill being triple digits and all, but we'll see. It would be nice to do something fun.

I am hoping that he will get some of the still, yes still, unfinished house done while he is off work for a week, but I'm certainly not going to hold my breath. Don't get me wrong, he does a lot around here, but he's been fixated on the back yard (which still isn't done and it's getting too hot to work out there) but he is a perfectionist and it takes him a long long long time to finish a project, if ever. I am getting really really tired of not having a kitchen floor. Really tired.

And, in other important thoughts that go through my head on a random basis, how do I know it my laundry load is small, medium, or super? Do you just gently drop the laundry in the washer and kind of guess by how far it fills it up? Or do you stuff that laundry down in there and put it on the super setting, and just wing it from there? They're telling me to only wash full loads, but I need some clean underwear and that goes in the white load, and there's not that much else in the whites since it's summer and I'm not wearing socks every day to keep my feet warm, so basically it's just my underwear, so am I safe in assuming it's a small load and I'll put it on the small setting to save water? I can't afford to go buy more underwear, so I have to wash the stuff, and I can't wait until I have a full load since I'm out of underwear! Oh, the quandaries we face every day!