House of Suds

Ah, the laundromat. It's been years since I've seen you. I've had nothing but fond memories of you. Strolling down Harvard Avenue in Boston with my little laundry cart, suds in one hand, reading material in the other. Lets not forget the quarters, pocket full of those. Call me crazy, I know, many have, many will, but I enjoyed my days in the laundromat. Why? I have absolutely no clue. I still don't. Really, I don't. It's not like I was a laundry pro from the start. You can ask my college roommates if you can find them.

Me and laundry - we had a rocky relationship from day one. I'll admit, I was a late bloomer. I didn't start doing my own laundry until I was in my late teens. Wait, that's a lie. Maybe it was more like my early twenties. Yes, that seems a bit more accurate. That's when I went away to college. There. The truth is out. Sure, I may have "helped" when I was little but really, what's throwing a shirt in the machine really teaching me when it comes time to choosing what soap to put in? I recall my first load. I was so proud. I pulled it out of the dryer and couldn't understand why it didn't smell fresh and clean and some items were still dirty. My roommate approached and read my detergent. I used Clorox color safe bleach. Trial and error my friends, trial and error.

I've come a long way since those college days. I can now admit that I actually like doing laundry. Again, I have no explanation for this. Now I'm not as big a fan of folding but cleaning those clothes is always a task I'm up for. I'm sure you're wondering what the deal is with the laundromat. Taking a trip down memory lane? Just bored and looking for a new place to hang out? Well, I am up for anything and I do like to amuse myself with interesting places to go but no, not this time. We have been taken over by the Stinky Towel Phenomenon.

What the hell is this you ask? It's nasty, it's stinky, it's something that just won't go away. It started off feint. We would wash our towels and everything was fine. And then, once water hit them it was like they were reactivated. BAM. A funk would waft off our towels and permeate the air. I didn't know what it could be. I read about a solution called sudsy ammonia that was supposed to take care of issues like this. We tried it for a while and it worked. Until it got worse. We were so confused. This was only happening to the towels.

We couldn't take it any more. We were running out of options. Actually, I mean towels. We only had two more left. We were getting desperate. We had to do something. Buy new towels? While this sounded like a really nice option we knew it wouldn't solve the problem. To the laundromat we went. We drove around for a while until we found one that looked suitable for a photo session. Er, I mean, nice enough to wash our clothes. We hopped out and set up shop. Things sure have changed since those college days. I think they shrunk the machines.

If you want the machine to fit all your towels you have to go to the deluxe machine and we all know what deluxe means. Deluxe prices. And the dryer! Sure, I'll admit, the prices had us in shock but I can't lie. I was enjoying myself. Where else can you sit in a basket, stick your head in a washer and try to make an emergency phone call with no phone all while getting your clothes nice and clean? Why, at the House of Suds of course. Ah, the joys in life can be found almost anywhere my friends, all you have to do is look. But just make sure you have your cell phone. In case of emergency.

*For the record, my towels are snifferiffic. Looks like I'll be at the laundromat more often.

For an alternate ending and for different pictures, go to my other blog at http://www.redismynaturalcolor.wordpress.com/