Meanderings and musings

Let's start with toilet paper, shall we?  Seven years ago I became incensed at the high cost of toilet paper.  I was also unhappy about the fact that a sheet of toilet paper keeps getting narrower, so we were paying more and getting less.  I opened the subject for discussion on my blog, asking my friends which toilet tissue they found to be the cheapest (you can read the entry and comments HERE).

After their input, I opted to go with the cheapest recommended brand I could find, which turned out to be Scott.  You had to use about 2 yards of it, but I was on a quest to save money.  Unfortunately, Cliff got tired of it very quickly and said he'd pay for the toilet paper if I'd just get some decent kind.  He was already paying for it, so I shopped around for other cheap brands that might fit his requirements.

Possibly too much info here, so beware:  I'd been playing this TP frugality game for a couple of months when we went to visit our oldest granddaughter at an apartment she'd just moved into.  While there, I needed to use the facilities.  Being used to the cheap brands of tissue at home, the kind where you needed to pull off about two yards of paper if you didn't want your fingers to break through it (but it was CHEAP), I was very pleased with whatever it was she had available.  Stepping out of the bathroom, I asked her, "What kind of toilet paper is that?"

"Charmin Extra Soft," she answered.

OK, so I'd buy that wonderful stuff for Cliff and I'd use the Scott in the other bathroom.  Everybody would be happy.  Yeah... in HIS bathroom everybody would be happy, not in mine.  After gravitating to his bathroom more and more, I resolved to start buying Charmin after the cheap stuff was gone.  We'd cut corners on something else, by george!  You only live once, and at our ages, we'll keep life's simple pleasures as long as we can.

It didn't take long to notice a roll of Charmin lasted SO much longer than a roll of Scott that I was spending less in the long run.  So even though there are only two of us here, when I saw Costco had $4 off their already decent price on Charmin this month, I bought two huge packs of it (limit 2).  Who says you can't learn anything from your grandkids?

That's the toilet paper story.

I will only mention one item about the Instant Pot.  I finally made rice in it:  Perfect!  However, I had to figure out how much water to use.  One source said 1 1/2 cups of water to 1 cup of rice, which seemed strange, because cooking in my double boiler I use a 1/1 ratio.  Another source suggested 1 1/4, and yet another, the 1/1 ratio.  Part of the problem was that the various kinds of rice cook differently.  One source, the one with the 1 1/4 to 1 ratio, said rinse the rice first, drain, then add it to the water.  That's the one I chose, and yes, it was perfect.  This was the first time I've ever used any button other than "manual" on the cooker.

And now, on to a random memory from yesterday.  I don't even know what brought this up, but Cliff and I were talking and I jokingly said, in a whiney manner "I'm just an old dirty dishrag.  Everybody throws me around and uses me like an old, dirty dish rag."

This is not the line of talk you normally hear from me, but I was joking.  As soon as I said it, I was immediately sent on a trip down memory lane to the only person from whom I ever heard such a statement:  It was the '70's, I suppose.  I was working on a conveyor at Whitaker Cable in Lexington.  Sometimes one of us would get behind, so the boss might assign someone to be a "rover".  This person would go to whichever of the several conveyors might be in trouble, help whoever was behind, and then go wherever else help was needed.  One day a lady whose name I can't spell... sounds like Neeawawna... was the rover, keeping things running smoothly.  I can't tell you a thing about her, but I remember the unusual name and I can actually picture her perfectly in my mind's eye.  The factory wasn't air conditioned and could be as hot as 100 degrees in summer; this lady was doing her job as a rover and stopped near me to help, saying, "I feel like an old dirty dishrag, the way they throw me around."

Thanks to one statement she made forty-some-odd years ago, although I really never knew her well, I thought of her yesterday, then told the story to my husband.  Now I'm sharing it with the world.  Folks, you never know what silly thing you might say that might be the only thing someone recalls about you.  Isn't life grand?  I wonder if that lady is still alive.

As I figured, Sally knew the lady's full name:  Neawana Creason.  I guess she died several years ago.  "She had red hair," Sally said.  I do remember that.  I can't even imagine why I have such a vivid picture of the woman in my mind, because we didn't really work side-by-side where I'd get to know her.  And I can't tell you why I remember exactly what she looked like, and this one silly little story.  I'm awful at remembering names; I believe her first name stuck with me because I always wondered if it was an Indian name, and I loved the sound of it.