Washing your curtains..

If left to my own devices, I might not wash the curtains for a year. My wife, however, tends to be more demanding about such things and I think the curtains get washed more often than that.

There are many ways to doctor up oatmeal. One way is with words and descriptions, reminding the child of Goldilocks and the three bears. Getting the child to pretend to be Goldilocks(1) or maybe baby bear eating porridge. This makes a game out of breakfast, but that might not be what everyone wants to do. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (is a product of ground oat groats (i.e. oat-meal, cf. cornmeal, peasemeal, etc.) or a porridge made from this product (also called oatmeal cereal). In the United States and Canada, 'oatmeal' can refer also to other products refined from oat groats, such as cut oats, crushed oats, and rolled oats ("quick oats"). "Instant" oatmeal is pre-cooked and dried cut oats, usually with sweetener and flavor additives. ) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (2) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (Goldilocks looked around, and saw a little table set with a nice white cloth, and on the table were three bowls -- a big blue bowl, a middle-sized bowl, and a little yellow bowl. These three bowls belonged to the Papa Bear, the Mama Bear, and the Baby Bear. ) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (3) (4) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (Porridge, or porage, is a simple dish made by boiling oats (normally crushed oats, occasionally oatmeal) or another cereal in water, milk, or both. Dishes made from cornmeal to which boiling water is added may also be described as "porridge," though these are more often described by regional/national variant names, such as polenta and grits, these are prepared and served according to special regional traditions. ) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (5) Oatmeal, being a type of porridge, is one of many different types of similar breakfasts made from different starting materials. Certainly, I can see it as being fun to make a list of the different varieties and encouraging the child to try different sorts and tell you what type they prefer. However, I guess not all children are so interested in trying new things so that could be difficult. oat porridge, rolled oats, oatmeal mush, havregrød, spurtle, groats, zacierka, maize porridge, grits, atole, gofio frumentry, polenta, m?m?lig?, cornmeal mush, Uji, pease porridge, rubaboo, barley porridge, wheat porridge, farina, semolina, wheat polenta, uppma, rice porridge, cream of rice, congee, bubur, kayu, juk, kao dom, chao, arroz caldo, risgrot, buckwheat porridge, quinoa porridge, millet porridge, sorghum porridge, rye porridge, manna porridge... You could have a lot of fun with breakfast if you were willing to go on the Internet to research the different types of porridge like breakfast foods. Making things different seems, to me, a way to keep the child interested in eating oatmeal or foods like it. Certainly, the child might decide they prefer the out of a box and into the microwave kind of oatmeal. Certainly, I would expect Quaker Oatmeal's website to have a lot of ways to use oatmeal in cooking of various sorts.(6) Specifically, I see they have a section labeled "Kid Favorites."(7) For myself, the simplest thing to do might be to try adding different dried components to the oatmeal or allowing the kid to do so. Raisins, Dates, Dried Cranberries, Dried Blueberries, maybe some cream poured on top. (This makes it look more like traditional porridge. As a kid I used milk, not cream.) I imagine that you could even pour a little bit of various coffee creamers into oatmeal. That would open up the possibility of making plain oatmeal and letting the kid decide what creamer to add. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Various included footnotes: 1) The Three Bears - ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldilocks ) 2) Oatmeal - ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oatmeal ) 3) Story, Goldilocks ant the Three Bears - ( http://www.mediainformatics.biz/kidsbook/bears.html ) This URL contians the story with some illustrations which might be entertaining to print out to help with the proposed game of make believe 4) The Three Bears - ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldilocks Another version can be found ( http://www.ongoing-tales.com/SERIALS/oldtime/FAIRYTALES/goldilocks.html ), but less useful for illustration.) 5) Porridge - ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porridge ) 6) Quaker Oatmeal - ( http://www.quakeroatmeal.com/qo_quakerKitchen/recipes/index.cfm ) For example, instead of mushy oatmeal in a bowl, you can make oatmeal bars. Martha Stewart apparently came up with a recipe but I'm sure there are many others. ( http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.fc77a0dbc44dd1611e3bf410b5900aa0/?vgnextoid=d89758f015a57110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&vgnextfmt=default ) I'm guessing Paula Dean might have a recipe for oatmeal starting something like, “Take a pound of butter...” 7) Kid Favorites, Quaker Oatmeal Website - ( http://www.quakeroatmeal.com/qo_quakerKitchen/recipes/searchResults.cfm?CategoryIDList_1=81&SearchType=BrowseCategory ) I would suggest Apple Berry Breakfast Crisp as sounding rather nice. Apple snack cake also sounds like a way to sneak oatmeal into the kids later in the day. I'm betting three minutes with the child mixing up “3-minute no bake cookies” would also encourage them to look at oatmeal in a more favorable light. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I wash my curtains every one or two months. sometimes I wash them every month if I feel the need to. My husband and I both smoke so they need washed quite often. It also gets very dusty in my home too and I keep up with it but it also gets on my curtains too so they need to be washed more often than usual.

Hello ersmommy. It is really a hard job to wash the curtains.I am sorry to say that my curtains in my apartment on campus used to be washed once a year, but not these years. After reading this discussion of yours, I am planning to get it washed when summer vacation comes. Thank you. Something more to add, the curtains in my home's apartment are washed once a year in summer by my wife.

I responded to another discussion yesterday about how often do you wash your bed sheets, and at the time I answered it, my bed sheets were in the dryer.. But after I finished the bed sheets, I took the drapes down in the bedroom and washed them also.. so I am one up on you in this one, mine are washed and hanging in place already.. They weren't dirty but it does make the bedroom seem fresher and cleaner after I do the laundry, I guess it is all in my mind.. And also, great minds think alike!!! Have a great day..

lol...i have done that before, there are just some rooms in the house you don't think about i would have to say i have to wash them at least oncea month,as my 3 yr old likes to put his hands on EVERYTHING!

All my curtains are those vertical vinyl types that you only need to wipe down to keep clean. I, also, like to get around to cleaning them about once a year. But, overall, they look pretty good. I was so glad when they put them in my apartment because the curtains they had here were really thin.

i washed them once a month or so..depending on how my time availability...on getting them out the hook

My curtains in the house have been up for nine months now and have not been washed. I washed them when I first bought them and hung them and and there they have been. I dust them and run a vacuum over them about once a month or so. I don't know how often I plan on washing them. With all my other house work, probably never!

Over a year ago, I hung off-white curtains in my laundry room. Yesterday, my cat chased a couple of birds INTO my house, through the front door and straight back into my laundry room, right next to my back door. The poor birds were scared sh!tless, literally, and all over my curtains. I took them down for the first time since hanging them, washed them, and they still look exactly the same color as they did before. There's a lot to be said for off-white! I custom-made the curtains in my living room, just before I hung the others in my laundry, and I realized yesterday that I've never taken them down for a wash since hanging them, either. I suppose I only wash my curtains when they are noticeably grimy, or so smelly that the Febreze quits working on them. I have other things to worry about. P.S. I rescued both birds from my cat, both completely unharmed. Cat got pecked a lot, though.

I don't normally have full length curtains, usually just mini blinds with some sort of topper. I did just find two cheap sets at two different thrift stores this week though, and washed them before hanging. My living room and bedroom are both much brighter now. How often will I wash them now that they're up? Probably not very often. My husband smokes but not in the house, and I have an air cleaner so there's not too much stuff floating around the air.

We replaced most of ours blinds, the few we have left are custom, and I am afraid of wrecking them, I try to keep them vacuumed and as clean as possible, but I have only taken them to the dry cleaners once, in the last 5 years.

i wash them about every six months, when i first moved i washed them every other months, until i got tired of taking them down and putting them back up lol

Twice a year I wash curtains, blinds, and windows. I will wash my windows inbetween though. I also change my curtains from winter to summer. I like sheers or light flowing curtains for the summer and heacy drapes for the winter. I was raised to do it this way and never changed. My Mom actually does this a lot more often. She is a clean finatic.

hi ers! well, hehe i am not really the one washing the curtains in my room (yeah that the the only room where i have jurisdiction), but yeah, it is practically the same in frequency as yours. after about 8 months after i got married, i asked the maid to take it down because the curtain looke dusty already. so by now, it has not been washed again yet. maybe after another 4 months, i will ask her to do that again. :-) i will notice it if it is dusty because i will sneeze. lol good day ers!