A Year With Eleanor

I was browsing Pixel of Ink's Part 2 books for December 1 & found a memoir titled: My Year With Eleanor. I was intrigued, but not intrigued enough to buy it. True, it was a hot deal, 84 percent off, which made it only $1.99, but $1.99 can add up, especially if I have budgeted NOTHING for FREE Kindle books. This quote was the basis for the book: 

“Do one thing every day that scares you.”
- —Eleanor Roosevelt

 Okay, my word for 2012 was caregiver. I need to be careful of the word I choose for the year. I ended up having to have people care for me for half of it. Now, I'm having a hard time fixing food my mother will eat.

I'll keep thinking about my word for 2013. But I don't think I'll choose either fear or courage.

A draft for all to see

I was ready to sit down & paper the kitchen in 15 minutes* & then the kids came over. Don-Mike played a favorite song for Amber, we sat & talked about life & death (90 Minutes in Heaven) & by the time I sat down again, I forgot what I had been going to write.

I started shutting down the many open tabs I always have on the computer & found what had led me to make my first entry. Yes, I forgot. I was interrupted & didn't paper the kitchen. Here is the passage. I want to be able to find it again.

"I would if I projected myself into the future like that." We were sitting in Sister Nancy's office. "Here we look for what God's doing right now, in each life this very day. That's where God is for all of us, you know — not in the goal but in the passing moments of the journey. Here we celebrate the little victories."

Guideposts.org from Elizabeth Sherrill Returns to Holy Angels

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*A phrase I gleaned from a Jessamyn West (I think) book many years ago.

Gratitude days 8-11

I've been very lax this year in listing the things I am grateful for.

Tuesday, Nov. 8, my son Don-Mikel. Don-Mike has taken care of my mother for the past 4 years, ever since they moved over here to Aunt Vi's house. He has built the addition to the house. I don't know what this family would do without Don-Mike. I wish he had gone on a mission for the LDS Church, but I think he wondered what we'd do without him too. Tuesday, he called CenturyLink (formerly known as Qwest) to get the link for the internet. Nick got the internet going for me, with the help of Don-Mike.

Wednesday, Nov. 9, modern medicine. Mother had a pacemaker appointment today with her cardiologist. Without the pacemaker, Mother wouldn't be here. When she had her open heart surgery to replace a valve, her heart did not start up. They had to put a temporary pacemaker on. Her heart never did start up & so they implanted a pacemaker that paces 100% of the time. Without modern medicine I wouldn't be here either, nor would my sons. I'd be one of those skeletons with a baby skeleton inside me. I'm a breast cancer survivor & also have had a craniectomy to remove a tumor from my ear canal that had grown so large it popped into the brain cavity & was pressing against my brain.

Thursday, Nov. 10, Talking Books. Mother receives audio books from the Idaho Library's Talking Book Service. She gets some good ones, then she gets some not so good ones & some she doesn't like at all. She also gets Guideposts magazine & the LDS Church magazines, the Ensign, New Era & Friend.

Friday, Nov. 11, veterans.

Thank you, especially my grandfather, Frederick Earl Porter, WWI; my father-in-law, Frank Jay Bartlome, WWII; my mother's brothers, Dorin Frederick Porter & Woodrow Gilbert Porter, WWII; my nephews, Matthew Alexander & Paul Bartlome, my niece Kimberly Bartlome Marriott; cousins, Everett Hudson, Dave Layne; friends, Glen Dutcher, Dave Hicks, Steven Hicks, Aaron Westre, Zachary Joseph Kent in both Desert Storm & Iraqi Freedom. And all the others.

OMG, I need a book blog

I found another reading blog AND another challenge. As if I need another one. I added it on "Other Blogs I Like To Read." At least I think that's what the name of the list is, LOL. The new blog is She Read a Book. It requires 250 points.

The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society

I am coming along swimmingly on my reading this year. Will I make 144 books?? I don't think so. I don't think I want to. That is TOOO many books to read. There is more to life than reading.

I finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society for the Whitney 2nd Ward book club tomorrow night. I started it Sunday. It was an excellent, excellent read. It is historical fiction written in letter form about the occupation of the Channel Island of Guernsey during WWII. By the time I was finished, I felt like I needed to visit. I wanted to look up the characters who peopled this book. Had I the time or the money, I'd be off to visit them. Kit would be almost 70. She was 4 at the time of the book in 1946.

As far as my reading of The Book of Mormon, I'm doing well there, also. I haven't missed a day. Last night I was tempted to just read a few verses, because I had to read it out of a book instead of online. I'm spoiled. I read it from LDS.org & the text is large enough to see & I can highlight where I am so I don't lose my place.

Totally wasted day

I got up at noon today, only because I thought I heard someone at the door. Sure enough, there was. Finally about 3 I decided to get dressed. Now, not even 12 hours later, I'm ready to go back to bed. I did take both my morning & evening meds. And I filled the med boxes for Don, Nick & myself. Tomorrow I fill Mother's med boxes.

I hate feeling this crappy. The other day Rod asked me if I was sick. I said no I just don't feel good. There's a difference. He agreed. There are many days when I just don't feel good & today was one of those days.

I had many plans for today & didn't do any of them. However, I did read my scriptures & was thrilled to find out that there is a catch up day built into the booklet. I am already a day behind on my scheduled reading, although I have read every day. I am on day 18 of Lent but only day 17 of the booklet. It doesn't seem possible almost 3 weeks are gone already.

I also finished The Language of Baklava, one of the library books for Let's Talk About It. I gave it 4.5. It was sad, but also  laugh-out-loud-good. I was sad to see it end. The book for this coming Wednesday is a trilogy, three books in one, sigh. There are 386 pages. I still haven't read the first 2 books of the series. I know I won't finish this one either. Then there is the Whitney 2nd Ward book club on March 17, The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society, then the last discussion of Let's Talk About It on March 24 of Chocolat. The sad thing is, those 5 books are due then & I really do want to finish them.

A fun day

Today was a fun day. I drove clear to Syracuse, Utah, & home without going to sleep. I was getting sleepy by the time I got to Smithfield on my way home, but that's a far cry from being sleepy by the time I get to Ogden on my way down.

Mother & I drove to Ogden to pick up my new hearing aid mold. It is clear, it fits & my hearing aid actually performed quite well today. Mother & I ate at Chuck-A-Rama in Ogden. We didn't like the chuck wagon menu today. After we ate, we drove out to Syracuse to visit my cousin Sheila Coburn. Her husband Nathan was home, so we got to visit with him too.

I didn't realize Syracuse was so far west. It was a lot farther than I thought it would be. I kept saying it was out in the boonies, it is quite a ways from the freeway. There are LOTS & LOTS of houses. Their house is beautiful. I love, LoVe, LOVE her kitchen. I took lots of pictures of it.

Sheila started blogging in October 2008. She has had 2008 and 2009 printed into a book. I was SOOO excited to see it. It's beautiful. I'm counting it toward my 144 books to read in 2010. It is #9 in the total & #2 in my memoir/biography challenge. After all, I have read it. I gave it 5 stars.

I started blogging in October 2008 also. I have very few pictures on my blog, but after seeing Sheila's book, I came home & am doing some research on printing mine.

When we went to leave, I couldn't find my keys. I had left them on the kitchen counter when I went in & saw her kitchen. She put them away, thinking they were hers.

This morning, on our way through Logan, we stopped at Dr. Otrusinik's office to have her protime taken. I turned off Main Street in Logan at 11:52 a.m. Dr. Otrusinik's office closes at noon & doesn't reopen until 1:30. We were going to be cutting it really close, so I told Mother she couldn't go potty before she had her protime taken. She walked in & there was an older lady sitting on the couch in the waiting room. The lady jumped up as Mother walked in. Mother had no clue who she was. I was right behind Mother & saw that it was Loretta Walborn. I said, "Mother, it's Loretta." They hugged each other. It's been a long time since we've seen Bob & Loretta. Bob was having a pacer check, I think. He sees Dr. Otrusinik also.

February reads

I read 4 books in February & have 7 books that I am reading.

1. American Sandwich, a cook book, 3 stars, 2/28/10. It has a sandwich recipe from all 50 states in the US. I especially loved that the Arizona sandwich recipe for Navajo Taco is from Monument Valley, Utah. Utah's sandwich was an Italian sandwich & Idaho's was a trout sandwich. Did you know that Idaho has a LOT of trout farms?? I didn't.
2. Climbing the Mango Trees, a memoir.
3. The Language of Baklava, a memoir.
4. Choice Cuts, an anthology.
5. The Book of Mormon
6.  Mormon Women: Portraits & Conversations, another anthology.
7. The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
8. And there's a text book at work, Creative Typography

Not one of them is for pleasure.

I finished THREE Dewey Decimal books this month, only have 7 more to go for that particular challenge.

Still reading

I blogged about signing up to participate with the reading program at the Larsen-Sant Library here. The program is sponsored by the Idaho Commission for Libraries & is appropriately named Let's Talk About It. The theme this year is "You Are What You Eat." The committee chose 5 out of a possible 8 books to read this year.

The first one was Choice Cuts by Mark Kurlansky. Interesting non-fiction book. I had a hard time reading it. I am not even halfway through it. I've still got a month to read it though.

Dustin Crawford, a professor from Utah State University, led the discussion. He said this is not a book to read page by page, but to skip around in. If I skip around in it, can I say I read it?

There is a recipe is for Chicken Intestine Omelet. It even tells you how to prepare the chicken guts to make it.

Crawford is originally from Paris, Idaho. His mom was there that night & I discovered she was with Don's Grandma Mildred when she died. I've heard of Jeri Crawford for years. G-ma Mildred used to take care of Jeri's handicapped daughter.

The next book is Climbing the Mango Trees, a memoir.That discussion was held Wednesday night, Feb. 10. I didn't finish this book either. Another fascinating discussion, this one led by a lady prof, also from USU, I think. I had a hard time relating to this book as I don't have lots of "close" relatives. And, again, the foods are not something I would eat.

I do enjoy the discussions though. I feel like I've come a long way to be able to attend these discussions without having a panic attack. I even participate in them. I have to sit on the back row though, so I can "escape" if I need to. I like to get there early so I can sit where I want to, LOL.

I ran out of fingers

When I came home tonight, I went to Don-Mike's computer, as I usually do, to unload my stuff, but Don-Mike wanted his computer, he did NOT want me to unload my purse, personal DVD player & drink. Nick wanted me to come here NOW!!! I told Don-Mike just to let me put my stuff down & to go see what Nick wanted. Man, I was wishing I hadn't even bothered to come home.

Anyway, Nick was irritated at me. All he'd wanted to say was good-night. But I'd made such a big deal out of it, he didn't. So, I said good-night anyway, told him I loved him, picked my way back to Don-Mike's computer chair &, sufficiently chastened, picked up my belongings &went to the bedroom. I picked up a Sheri Dew book, "Saying It Like It Is." I had borrowed this book from The Citizen quite a while ago & had forgotten about it. I was actually trying to find the envelope to mail a Netflix movie back & found the book.

I sat on the bed reading through it & Don-Mike came to tell me he was going home. Don then came to tell me I could use Don-Mike's computer. I was still reading the book, but by then I had run out of fingers to mark places.

Saying It Like It Is, Sheri Dew (2009), Christian Life
Inside the front cover, the synopsis of the book begins:

Sometimes one little thought is all it takes to get you through a complex day, to give you the energy to try a little harder or keep at it, to help you remember why you're here ...

It was just the thing to pick up when I was feeling so deflated, defeated, if you will.

• We are here on earth now because we were chosen to be here now, page 32 
• The only way to be happy is to live the gospel, page 53 
• You are here now because you were divinely elected to be here now, page 69 
• The Lord has set no limits on what He is willing to teach us and give us, page 89
• Ultimately we will become what we give our hearts to, ... page 97
• Read D&C 138 & Abraham 3 about the noble & great ones, & ask if these verses have anything to do with you.

And last, but not least,

• While life is meant to be a test, ... it is an open book test. 

If we're trying to do it alone, we are doing it wrong. Well, I do a lot of incoherent praying, LOL.

More books to read

Don-Mike took Mother & I to Ogden today for audiology appts. Mother has very waxy ears. She had an 80% wax buildup in one ear.

My hearing aids are FIVE years old. No wonder they are not working as well as they should. Well, the right aid hasn't worked for a couple of years, so I don't use it. The 3 programs on my left aid don't work. The button is stuck. The main one still works. The feedback I was getting is from the ripped mold that goes into my ear & the hard tubing that conducts the sound. I got a new soft tube today & the aid is working 100% better!! I have a new mold on order. The new tubing & mold will help the aid work better, not as hard as it has been working. The new mold & tubing cost 72$. Repairs to fix my old hearing aid would be almost 400$. I will need to replace the current aid in a couple of years to the tune of 2 grand. I need to remember that is what I am saving for.

Amanda, don't remember her last name, showed me the difference between the "dead" eardrum in my left ear & the eardrum in my right ear. The eardrum in the left ear looks just like any other skin. You can tell there is nothing behind there but air, as Amanda said. I corrected her & said there was belly fat back there, LOL. A live ear drum is moist & glossy, with kind of a red hue to it.

When the new mold comes in, I will have to go back down to have it fitted. Another trip. It started snowing in Willard on the way home. Don-Mike said he'd never driven on a freeway in a snow storm. He said it snowed all the way to Richmond, 14 miles south of here. I fell asleep soon after we got in the canyon.

After the appt., we went & picked up Mother's friend Melba & went to Chuck-A-Rama for lunch. I walked up to the cashier & said I wanted 2 seniors & 2 adults. He rang it up & it was about 20$ cheaper than I expected it to be. After the others left the cash register, I thanked the guy for not including me as a senior. He hurried & checked the receipt. I said I didn't want to be a senior, but the last time I had eaten there, I had been given a senior discount & it upset me to think I looked old enough to be eligible for a senior discount, LOL.

I didn't even make it out of the restaurant before I had rented my dinner. We dropped Melba off at her house & drove out to Janene's. I had texted her & asked if she had any anti-diarrhea pills. If she didn't, I was going to have Don-Mike stop at one of the grocery stores on the way to Janene's to buy some. Mother keeps telling me I need to carry some in my purse. I forget until I need them.

Janene let me borrow 4 books to read. They sound really good. All 4 are by Cameron Dokey, an author I had not heard of.Winter's Child, A Retelling of the Snow Queen; Wild Orchid, A Retelling of The Ballad of Mulan; The Storyteller's Daughter, A Retelling of The Arabian Nights; and, Belle, A Retelling of Beauty & the Beast.

It was fun to see Tamina & her kids, Adam, Ari & Sara; Kim & her kids, Isabel & Ben; & Grant Douglas, his wife Kelli Ann & their son Noah. Noah is 7 now!! I cannot believe it. He still looks a lot like Grant did at that age. He remembered me & came up & gave me a hug. He hugged Mother too. Don-Mike was so cute, he was reading books to the little kids.

Book 2, 142 to go

I finished The Runaway Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini & gave it 3 stars. I decided what kept me from reading it is I knew the ending. Besides that, it is a historical novel about families that ran stations on the Underground Railroad.

I picked up another Chiaverini book, #14 The Lost Quilter because the name intrigued me. Lo, & behold, it is the direct sequel to #4, but was just published in 2009. However, I decided to try Sue Grafton's "A" is for Alibi.

A new book challenge

I was reading through some of the posts in the Goodreads group, 144 Books in 2010 & found this awesome idea for a challenge by a Goodreads member named Lynn

WHAT'S IN A TITLE? 2010

Challenge: Choose one book from each of the categories. This challenge will run from January 1st until December 31st.

1. Profession - An Irish Country Doctor by Patrick Taylor
2. Time of Day - Troubled Midnight by John Champlin Gardner Jr.
3. Relative - The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
4. Body Part - Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian
5. Building - Baker Towers by Jennifer Haigh
6. Medical Condition - Blind Your Ponies by Stanley Gordon West
7. Town - Dubliners, by James Joyce
8. Plant Name - The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
9. Color - The Black Cat by Martha Grimes

It is too late to do this, or maybe it's not. Perhaps I could cut the number of books by favorite authors to incorporate this challenge. I saw someone else with a challenge to read a book with numbers in the titles, numerically, instead of alphabetically. I'm already reading Janet Evanovichs by the numbers books. She is one of my favorite authors.

I could use Numbers, Weather, Gender ... A challenge for another year would be to read a book with the name of each of the 50 states in the title.

Today I went to the library & picked up a book from my "May Never Read" list, The Runaway Quilt, #4 by Jennifer Chiaverini. I finished it & gave it 3 stars.

I also picked up a biography & another Jennifer Chiaverini book that is actually the sequel to Runaway Quilt.

A New Year's resolution (goal)

I just made a New Year's resolution. It's not even going to be a goal. It will be an ironclad rule. It's midnight. I was going to turn off the computer & was thinking about picking up a book.

I WILL NOT PICK UP A BOOK AT MIDNIGHT.

If the computer goes off at midnight, I go to bed. No books after 11:30 p.m. The other night I picked up a book & the next thing I knew it was 5 o'clock in the morning. Yes, that's right FIVE A.M.

I'm going to give the 144 books in 2010 challenge my best shot, but it will not be by reading all night.

144 books in 2010

Over on Goodreads.com I joined a challenge to read 144 books in 2010. That is 12 books in 12 months or a gross of books. Now is that gross or what? I have got to be a better guardian of my time. Last night I started a new book in the Ali Reynolds series by J. A. Jance. I've been reading these books backwards. Never thought that was a good way to read a series, but this way I'm filling in some things that I wondered about in book #4. With Jance's books I DO NOT read the end of the book. I don't have time. The books never slow down. At any rate, I read until 5:20 this morning. To say that I am tired is an understatement.

So, this is the way I have set up a way to achieve this goal:

° Alphabetically by author last name = 26



° Alphabetically by book title: = 26



° Dewey decimal system = 10


° Favorite authors = 24


° May Never Read = 10


° Memoir &/or biography = 12


° New author = 12


° Re-reads = 12




° TBR = 12


According to my calculations, this does it. Listopia will be a good source of books. Especially for my May Never Read mini challenge. That is books that I have tried to read & just can't seem to get through them. I have several of them, but I have forgotten. Then I go through the lists on Listopia & I remember.

I'll be posting more of my New Year's "goals" later in the week. Right now, I'm going to see if all these little tickers work, & go to bed. It's a work day tomorrow.

Party pooper

I am such a party pooper. I said I'd do the Pampered Chef party. I love Pampered Chef. I love to GO to parties, I just don't like to GIVE parties, grrr. I was hoping to reschedule this party, but I'm a week off. I don't have to work next Thursday, it's the week after, Thursday, Sept. 3. Labor Day is Sept. 7, sigh. It also means that I have to cook Sunday.

I hate always being tired & never feeling well. I spend a lot of time vegging in front of the computer. If I had my way, I'd never leave the house. But ... luckily, I don't. I have to get out.

Tonight the whole north end of the valley smells like one big bonfire. It has since last night. There was fire up Cub River yesterday afternoon across the road from Deer Cliff Inn.

I finished Life Among the Lava Beds by Leonard Stephenson. A fun memoir of "growing up in rural Idaho in the 1950s." He describes my Uncle Carl's family as "devoutly religious," but says my cousin Richard had no conscience. I think Richard has outgrown the no conscience.

I also picked up Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich last night. I was going to go to bed at a fairly decent hour, but knowing what I'm like when I pick up a book, I should've known better. I knew it was time to go to bed when I started looking forward into the book. I didn't look too far, just found a piece of paper to mark my place & put the book down. It was 2:30, by the time I put the book down.

I went to bed, & as I was getting comfy, I remembered I hadn't finished my evening chores. I got up & did those by the dim, dying light over the stove & finally got back to bed at 3 a.m.

Today, I added the books I've read in 2009 to a bookshelf on my Goodreads shelf. I have only read 10 books so far this year. But compared to the last few years, that is a bunch, LOL

I'm off to finish Plum Spooky. I have Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees out from the library & today I picked up #3 in the Elm Creek Quilters series by Jennifer Chiaverini, Cross-Country Quilters. Mother listened to The Secret Life of Bees from the Idaho Library for the Handicapped & liked it.

Lent, Day 5

One of my obsessions is online word search puzzles. I had trouble with a clue tonight, 1994 Disney movie. So, I clicked for a hint, L, K. I could've kicked myself. Lion King, Mufasa! Of course! We rolled our car up Logan Canyon that March because I HAD TO HAVE The Lion King on the first day it was released on video. The weather was fine in Rich County, Utah, but as we started up the mountain it was snowing. The roads were snow covered, but they had just sanded a corner & it was slushy. We hit the slush, spun out of control & rolled down the hill. It was right at the top of the Logan Sinks.

I learned my lesson. I no longer have to have a video the first day it is out. Now, Harry Potter books are another story. I've never had to drive very far to get one though.

I got to bed at midnight last night & woke up at 8:35 this morning. It took me a half hour to get up. Nick asked me how I was, I said I was tired. He said I need to wake up earlier. I said it didn't matter what time I woke up or got up, I am always tired. I woke up early on Sunday & drug myself out of bed. All day I wanted to lay down & take a nap. Nick laid down to take a nap the other night & woke up at 2 a.m. Saturday I got up late & was still tired. Maybe we'll find an answer when I have my blood test on Wednesday.

I had a bad start to my morning. I finally got up at 9:05 & went to work. I got up to the railroad tracks & turned onto the highway going into town (northwest) & saw a big orange tabby cat cowering in the gutter on the southwest side of the highway. He looked me in the eye. I thought it might be Sammy, but I was sure I had seen him just before I left home. I turned around & went back, parked behind the cat with my flashers on. I got out & it started hissing at me & trying to run. It's back leg was all bloody & dragging. It ran out into the highway & here's cars & trucks coming. I found that if I didn't approach it, it wouldn't try to run. Big county dump trucks would slow down & just drive by, I was so upset. I could see the cat running under one of them & getting killed right in front of my eyes. I stood my ground though, they were going to have to kill me to get to the stupid cat.

A man came along in a pickup, pulled up behind me & grabbed some leather gloves & pulled those on. I had a flash of sanity. What was I doing trying to approach a scared injured cat with no gloves, no place to put it if I did catch it? He asked me if it was my cat. I told him no & he told me to get in my car & go. I said I was going to take him to the vet. He said he would. He chased the cat off the highway into Saxton's used car lot, where the A&W used to be, if that means anything to anybody. I swung north onto First East, turned west onto Third South to see if I could see the cat & what the man was doing. I couldn't see the cat, but the man was talking to Doug Saxton. They probably thought I hit the cat. If he did catch the cat, he probably took it to the vet & had it euthanized.

I thought I'd come home tonight & see the cat dead on the highway, trying to cross the highway again to get home.

It reminded me of the time when Don's mom hit a truck that had dropped it's transmission in the middle of the freeway in Ogden. She was out in the middle of the freeway directing traffic. I asked her why she was doing that & she said nobody was going to hit her car. When the police came, they called an ambulance & had her taken to McKay-Dee Hospital. She gave them mine & Don's phone number & Don-Mike answered the phone. I took the phone & they said it was the Utah Highway Patrol & my MIL Ruth Bartholomew, or something like that, was in the hospital. I said I didn't believe it was really the UHP because my MIL's name was not Ruth in the first place nor was it Bartholomew. I was ready to hang up on them, but I heard the dispatcher talking to the UHP, saying I said my MIL's name was not Ruth & I was pronouncing the last name differently. So, I asked what kind of car she was driving. I had to concede it was my MIL when I heard the UHP saying she was driving a blue Pontiac Phoenix with Idaho 2B 314 license plates.

When I got off the phone Don-Mike said they asked for Don or RaNae. He said he could have talked to them, his name was Don. I told him I was glad he let me talk to them.

I almost had a 12 hour day today, probably more like 11 hours. I got there after 9 & left before 9.

Before I could get dressed I had to pick up the mess that I've been trying to declutter since Wednesday. It has been in front of the middle of the vanity & I piled it in front of the vanity drawers last week. So, in order to get to my underwear drawer, I piled everything back on the bed, sigh.

When I went into the bathroom this morning to get dressed, every towel on the shelf had been pulled off & was piled in a wet heap in front of the toilet. The clothes I had draped on the side of the tub last night to put on this morning were at the bottom of the heap. Nick had taken a bath. This happens EVERY time he takes a bath. I will be so glad to get the new part of the house finished & he can take a shower. I don't know that the number of towels he uses will diminish, but ......

I draped the clothes back on the tub along with most of the towels. I dread going in the bathroom tonight, I haven't been there yet. I KNOW they will still be there. If someone hasn't already tossed them into the tub, I will. I have to work again in the morning so I won't get them in the washer & the towels will lay there & mildew.