The Ugly Pocketling II

I have a clean freash ready to use orange Fuzzibunz Elite OS in my hand. 48 hours ago that was not the case. After looking at it and feeling it, I must say Thereson Dupuy deserves a monumnet, cause I don't know what other diaper would be like that after what it went through (Grovia AIOs definitely wouldn't).

But let me go back a little bit. I know it will sound gross to you, but among all the little things I've done to accomplish my no-stink life is the no wet bag. You heard it right, I don't use a bag, a pail or any other device to shield the diapers from the outside world. I throw them in the dirty laundry or place them on top of the hanging rack. Sure they smell if you approach too much, but otherwise, the overall odour in the house is safe to breath.

However, poop complicates this arrangement. If there's a poopy diaper (which, thanks to bf, doesn't happen on a daily basis), it gets sprayed with the hand held shower into the toilet and further into the sink until there's practically nothing but stains left. Of course, I'm left with a very dripping diaper that can't go anywhere but a wet bag and a tub. Sometimes I just leave it in the sink and do a load of diapers right after, but anothers, well, it goes into a wet bag and then a hanging tub in the bathroom wall. It hides it pretty well.

As you can imagine, I think I hid it too well, so much that next time I washed diapers, I totally forgot there was a poopy hidden one. And the next time, and... I can't recall.

One day it stroke me I hadn't seen the orange FB for a while. My stash is so varied in color and so small, it's easy to notice when a diaper is missing. And it hit me: I could look inside the white tub. Yep. There was a wet bag there. It was late at night, so I decided to do something next morning.

I took the bag and plain emptied it directly in the washer with another load. Then I left it soaking in Murphy's oil soap. Got it washed with another load of clothes again (I didn't care about detergents or fragances, just wanted the diaper clean!). Rinsed, spinned, I put it in the sun. Inserts, wet bag and all.

Next day: a clean diaper!!! Of course I needed to strip the oil soap, but there were no signs of mold anywhere, or any other residuals of any kind. I tossed it with the regular diaper wash (which includes a couple of drops of Dawn in the rinse cycle) and it was good to go and smeling like a clean diaper smell: nothing.

So, if you happen to forget a dripping diaper, please, make sure it's a Fuzzibunz!

Appartment Living and Laundry Debate

The super came yesterday to fix a couple of tiles, of course, I got up and immediately took the washer out of the bathroom and into a bedroom, thankfully I had already taken care of everything and the unit was ready for moving.

The evidence and trail that we have a washer is huge: all of a sudden, the bathroom door opens out instead of in, there is a bench inside it (with a baby bathtub to disguise it), in front of it there is a hanging rack  with diapers, the main bedroom open can show more hanging clothes, including a sheet, there is detergent inside the bathroom and the laundromat boy has not come in several months. The main reason for having called the super is that two tiles fell, most likely due to the vibrations of the spin dryer.

But the super comes, does his job in 10 minutes, and leaves, either clueless or just playing dumb. I hate hiding it, specially since I think we're not doing anything wrong, but for those who wonder why it is forbidden to have washing machines in pre-war apartment buildings, here is the top 5 reasons for the ban:

1. Risk of flooding. Nobody likes getting water from your ceiling. That can happen if your neighbor upstairs has a flood due to a leak in his laundering system. Is it plausible? sure! indeed! It actually happened several years ago to me. I had a big washing machine in the kitchen, perfectly legal, with a place for it and installation and everything. Well, my washer was old and had been fixed before, I had gotten it from a friend that moved out of town. In any case, the risk is high when you have a device which require open faucets for installation and deals with large amounts of water.
   How I deal with it? my machine is not "installed". I fill it up with the shower hose, I never have a full time open faucet. On top of that, it has a limit placed on top, if you overfill, the water will automatically get into the inner tub and down the drain. And since it is lifted, I don't even need the draining pump. Just in case there is a double leak and water starts pouring out of the unit, well, it has less than 1 cubic foot capacity, less than 2 buckets. So that's my very unlikely worst case scenario: a bathroom flooded with the water of a bucket and a half.
2. Sudsy water in your sink or bathtub. Another annoying side effect for your neighbors downstairs. A friend of mine told me he once had a turkey marinating on his neighbors laundry water. Why does this happen? well, old buildings have a very old draining system, with a very limited capability in the water they can take. This flow of liquid can go to a max of 7 gal/min (or something to that effect, please correct me if I make a mistake). Pumping devices in washing machines get the water out at a rate higher than that. The time elapsed from having it full to having it empty and ready for spinning is quite short and the plumbing can't take it. Therefore, the water, having no place to go, gets out in lower apartments from the drain up.
   The solution is to have a buffer tank in which the water can go from the washer, so that it can get into the building's system at its own rate.
   In our case, the draining goes to the bathtub, which works as said buffer, and the water stays there until it can slowly go where it has to. Since it is a small unit, the bathtub is more than enough the size of what is needed.
3. Power capacity. Washers use a lot of juice. A brand new top load Maytag sucks 0.23 KWH per load. My Twin Tub Panda works on 250 W. That times .25  plus another 3 minutos of spin drying at 135 watts is 69WH, less than a third of a regular MayTag, and the equivalent of 3 light bulbs of full capacity for about 15 minutes, not a problem at all. Plus, my building does not have a ban in drying machines, dishwashers or AC, which can suck up much more.
4. Noise. That would be a good argument for newer buildings and hollow materials, but in pre-wars? I dodn't hear my machine from the kitchen, let alone from outside of the apartment, is that good enough? Just need to make sure the spinner is balanced, though.
5. Business arrangements with Laundromats. If there were coin oparated machines in the basement, this argument would be a little valid, not here, nearest place is a couple of blocks away. Since such agreement is not in the lease, I can't believe they would try this one on me, I didn't know I would surrender the freedom to handwash or wash in my spare house and have to patronize a specific partner of my landlord. Really?

So there you have it. I'm not breaking the lease because my machine is not "installed". But I don't think my landlord has the patience to come and look at it, he may just start a fight if he hears "washer", so we will keep hiding it.

I Washed a Disposable!!!

2 nights ago, I restored cloth diapers at night for Tiny Guy, but still used a covered disposable for Little Guy. Last night, Little Guy wore a trifolded prefold with a cover, and woke up without rash and without ammonia smell. All was well and good. I had a ton of diapers to wash this morning, so I emptied the bag, collected Little Guy's and tiny Guy's used for the night and started the "soapless" prewash agitation. Later on, I came to drain and fill with hot water, when I noticed small "drops" like cristaline, in the diapers. Didn't pay much attention, but then, I realized the water was not getting drained and the pump was suffering. All of a sudden, I saw that cristaline thing again, and then, surprise surprise, it was SAP!!!!!!! I located the diaper that Little Guy had used 2 nights ago, I totally forgot to toss it in the trash and totally forgot that he had used one, just had taken the cover and tossed it in the wet bag. My nightmare was just starting. I had a tub, a stash of diapers, and a bathtub full of SAP in my hands!!!!! I started with the tub. Passed all the diapers to the spinner and turned the drainer back on. Fortunately I have paper towels at arms reach from there, so I started getting all that gel out with them. Boy, that mass is sticky and hard to reach. The gel was preventing the water from draining, so the water itself was making my life harder. Another thing is that I didn't know what SAP would cause in the drainage, but I was in no interest to find out, so I put the hair stopper in the bathtub, so that it would not make it there. I had to go through the whole thing, fold a paper towel and clean all the edges, and not leave a single bubble of gel around. By that time, I was already exhausted, the kids were relentless and my husband was wondering what had happened to me. So I came back to the leaving room, told him what had happened and saw his face of "poor little thing, you have a lot on your hands". Believe me, I would have much rather had him saying "ok, I'll take care of the bathtub, just finish the diapers", but no such luck. So, after having taken a brake, came the cleaning of the diapers. I decided that the better and faster way would be to hose them. So I placed them in a plastic bin, right besides the washer's big tub. Took the shower hose, placed it in high pressure and turned it on. Started with the inserts and wipes. One by one, making sure there was no trace of gel in any of them. By the time I had done like 5, my shoulder was already hurting and the tub was already full. It was going to be a loooong day, so I took another break. Repeated this a few times. The situation got a little more complicated with the wet bag, then came the dreaded pockets and the Simplex. I had to hose them, hold them and turn them upside down and hose again. One by one, the wet bag too. I was done after 6 PM with severe arthritis pain and still a bathtub to go. I left it sitting for a couple of hours and made sure the tub was out of water and then went for the easy solution: the vacuum cleaner. It was a tough bet, since gel is not solid nor liquid. After 4 minutes it started smelling weird and I topped, it did most of the job, but I don't know the consequences as of yet. Finished with a paper towel. Took the vacuum cleaner out, there was a big black spot on the rug, so now I'm washing the rug too. Diapers seem ok, had to use some dawn and extra stripping. As I've said, it was a very long day, don't try this at home.

How do you kill a purple elephant?

I heard that joke when I was 15 and always loved it, silly and childish as it is.

Here's my version:

How do you kill a purple elephant?	With a purple elephant gun
How do you kill a pink elephant?	Tie his nose so that he becomes purple and shoot with a purple elephant gun
How do you kill a white elephant?	Make him drunk so that he becomes pink Tie his nose so that he becomes purple and shoot with a purple elephant gun
How do you kill a green elephant?	Scare him so that he becomes white Make him drunk so that he becomes pink Tie his nose so that he becomes purple and shoot with a purple elephant gun
How do you kill a blue elephant?	Roll him in the grass so that he becomes green Scare him so that he becomes white Make him drunk so that he becomes pink Tie his nose so that he becomes purple and shoot with a purple elephant gun
How do you kill a yellow elephant?	With a yellow elephant gun
How do you kill a red elephant?	Don't be silly, red elephants don't exist!

This joke has been very helpful to me and to others, not only it explains recursiveness, it also teaches you several important lessons:

• For an imaginary question, goes an imaginary answer.
• For a silly question, goes a silly answer.
• You can complicate matters tremendously to fit a solution for a problem that you know, when in reality you can simply get an easier one.
• One solution can fit several situations.
• If you live in this country, it's highly improbable that you'll find yourself in a situation in which you have to kill an elephant in the first place.
• When programming recursive loops, you cannot mess the order.
• Sometimes you need to do something extra before the last step.

Anyway, this whole theme came up because I may have to use a babysitter soon, and because my husband is not exactly swift when disposing of diapers. So, due to the different types we have, I have something similar to the elephants:

I must add, I don't use a pail, but a hanging bag instead.

What do I do with a wet or soiled with soluble stools AIO?	Toss it in the wet bag.
What do I do with a soiled with messy stools AIO?	Take the shower head, use the massage option, flush the mess away in the toilet with it and Toss it in the wet bag.
What do I do with a soiled with solid firm stools AIO?	Toss the stools in the toilet and Toss it in the wet bag.
What do I do with a wet or soiled with soluble stools Pocket?	Take the inserts out and Toss it in the wet bag.
What do I do with a soiled with messy stools Pocket?	Take the shower head, use the massage option, flush the mess away in the toilet with it, take the inserts out and Toss it in the wet bag.
What do I do with a soiled with solid stools Pocket?	Toss the stools in the toilet. Take the inserts out and Toss it in the wet bag.
What do I do with a wet or soiled with soluble stools AI2?	Put the velcro flaps in the laundry tabs* and Toss it in the wet bag.
What do I do with a soiled with messy stools AI2?	Separate the insert from the cover, take the insert and the shower head, use the massage option, flush the mess away in the toilet with it, Toss it in the wet bag. If the cover is dirty, do the same flush, then Put the velcro flaps in the laundry tabs* and Toss it in the wet bag.
What do I do with a soiled with solid stools AI2?	Toss the stools in the toilet. Put the velcro flaps in the laundry tabs* and Toss it in the wet bag.
What do I do with a disposable diaper?	Toss it in the trash.
What do I do with a reusable diaper that does not need washing?	Don't be silly, red elephants and reusable diapers that don't need washing don't exist!

* Skip step if cover uses snaps 


So there you have it. I will print this table and display it in my bathroom anytime I get a sitter or if I leave the house for longer periods (what I do with my husband is leave the baby wearing an AIO or a snap AI2).