Call ChemDry or some other come to your house to clean the wall to wall carpeting company. They can tell you what to do. The guy I use will come and get the smaller rugs, take them to his shop and clean them there or clean them right at your house.

Don't worry about not knowing stuff like that. Everyone can't know everything!

I have to get my car fixed and I feel silly going in to have them look at it and scheduling the repair. I have never had to do this in all my years.

Jan

Lynn,that goes on with all of us,and if anyone says differently I seriously doubt if they are telling the truth. No one person can learn all life's lessons by the time they are an adult. I've always been taught to never ever clean inside the ear..just the outside and I don't do it either and never will. The rule is never stick anything bigger than your elbow in your ear.

Go in the yellow pages and look up rug cleaners. There are places you can take your rugs to be cleaned..and I'll bet there are some in Allentown. There used to be a couple in Quakertown,not sure. There are lots of things I've learned later in life and my later is later than your later. When it happens I feel like a doofus but only for a minute or two. Ok.here's one. I didn't know until not long ago that when you fly you could put your luggage in any overhead you wanted. I thought you had to use the one above your seat. There..i said it. Oh..here's something else. I didn't know that the bottom part of the floor heaters could be pulled down and out so you could vacuum in there. We've only lived here 31 years. What a surprise to discover that one day and if anyone tells DH I'll tell him you're crazier than a loon. Here's another one. I didn't know...never mind. I'll email you that one. Quit beating yourself up over something that doesn't matter at all in the whole scheme of things. Besides..if you want to know anything..ask that girl child of yours. Bet she'll more than happy to tell you. LOL

I was the "recipient" of a mother who used to clean my ears out with the blunt end of a bobby pin. I felt totally ignorant when my children's pediatrician dressed me down for doing the same with my kids. That's when I first heard about not sticking things in an ear smaller than an elbow.

I also heard the "blackhead" thingie from a gal who hid her's under pancake make-up. The same mother who dug out my wax with a hair utensil did take me to a physician for my complexion, thank God, and I grew up with no scars because I refused to listen to a pubescent know-it-all. I have one from my childhood so totally mortifying I won't go into it in detail here, but amounted to a boy telling me I was not only too old to go topless, but I needed a bra. roflmao. Beat that one. Or the time I fell down one flight of stairs at boarding school, got up at the landing and promptly fell down the next. I was sent to the school nurse who was suspicious I might have been pregnant (I didn't even know other than the vaguest general mechanics how somebody really got pregnant at that point) and it was discovered, I instead I had depth perception problems because of astigmatism.

I didn't know about the tabs on zippers either until somebody told me, nor the fact baseboard heater covers come off until I fell over one and accidentally removed it.

One of my fav expressions is "so that's what's that's for!" and often I discover what something is for myself and the light bulb goes on and I think it's hilariously funny that I could have lived as long as I have and be so totally clueless. It wasn't so funny in a particular calculus class, however, when everybody else "got it" but me. To get through that one with a decent grade, I not only had to do my homework, but go back and teach myself clumps of math I'd somehow missed through laziness, or switching schools so many times.

And as for knowing what silver to put where and other rules of etiquette, the most polished people I have ever met were those who had enough manners to make others feel comfortable, not awkward. That's what manners are all about.

Beanmomma, honestly everyone has gaps in their knowledge. And as for the school nurse, she shouldn't have been workng around young people at all with that attitude. And my knowledge of cleaning ears is that swabs can be dangerous...an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist once told me nothing larger than an elbow should go in an ear. Probably a little bit exaggerated but he said if ears needed cleaning more than just the outer parts a professional should do it. If the ear was stopped up it indicated some irritation or infection and should be checked out. I do use swabs but very very carefully.

As to the rugs, if very fine (expensive) antiques, call your nearest Museum for a recommendation. If just very nice old rugs, a reputable dry cleaner probably handles them or can recommend someone. If you know of an antique store nearby they might have experience with or can recommend someone. I'd ask about prices...which might vary a good deal. I'd also ask about guarantees...might not get one but I'd ask in case of fading or shrinkage. You might ask at the Antiques Forum here on GW, too.

As to things like table settings, Google is your friend. Smile. I'm of the era which had to take Home Economics classes and I well remember pointing out to my Mom several things she was doing "wrong"...I have an even more vivid memory of my Dad talking to me about possibly hurting my Mom's feelings which was the real unforgivable sin of manners and politeness. He said it's nice to know the "proper" way to feel at ease when needed, but for your own home it's better to worry more about your friends and family feeling at ease than impressed with your etiquette. That lecture stuck with me...

Most folks nowadays are more casual but I've run into a few occasions where the hostess just tried too hard...I was sorry because she made the evening uncomfortable for herself and her guests. On the other hand DH and I had a bachelor friend who loved big formal dinners right down to individual tiny salt dishes with itty-bitty spoons...but there was so much laughter and good conversation everyone felt completely at ease...so I guess the moral is if you are comfortable and at ease regardless of table settings your guests will enjoy your home. Might be fun to have a more formal meal occasionally for just your DH and kids..just to see how you... and they.. enjoy it. Then you could branch out with confidence.

Now I hope you feel better. Noone knows it all...but we all have instant access nowadays ..I rarely pass a day without Wikipedia or Google. If I wonder about something I've read or seen on tv or just never explored before..there it is. You've had a hectic time lately...'m glad to hear you're in a "good place". And you've got plenty of time ahead to explore all those things you feel unsure about.it's a journey that never ends. josh

Hydrogen peroxide dribbled into the ear does just fine. I live dangerously and use a q-tip.

Lynn, I didn't know that turning the tab down on a zipper locked it until I just read it in your post!!

I was taught never to put anything in my ears and I hear just fine, I just wipe my washcloth all over my external ear but nothing goes in the ear canal. My accountant once canceled our appointment because he had a Q-tip stuck in his ear and had to go to the doctor to get it out!

Michael, why would someone dribble hydrogen peroxide in their ear? Is this is something else new I'm about to learn?

We never had napkins, paper or otherwise, in our house until the fifties but that might have been because of the war...my mother certainly knew about them since she was sent into "service" right out of school at 14. The right way to set a table never came up, we had a knife and fork and spoon...how hard can that be to set?:)) I was baffled the first time I went out to a really upscale restaurant when I was twenty. That brings up the issue of all the different kinds of food I never heard of or ate until I was grown. Potted shrimp? Escargot? Who knew??

I only learned about ten years ago that eating asparagus gives urine an odor - I could ever figure out where that odd aroma came from LOL.

Lynn, you will come across new things until the day you die and even then there may be a code to crack:)

Using hydrogen peroxide is an easy way to keep the ears clean. If the ear canal is dirty, don't be surprised with the snap, crackle and pop. That just the hp working.

I've had tinnitus for 15 years. If I try peroxide and the cricket sounds go away I'm going to kill myself. Stay tuned.

Well now you all have me laughing. Thank you all. I knew I could ask here.

Michael, I use special earwax preparations which have carbamyl peroxide, but only if needed as I can't stand the bubbling. For some reason we are an especially waxy family. :^)

So we have learned some new things. Sheila, now you know about the zipper. I feel wise having imparted that knowledge.

I had no idea how to eat this large shelled prawn-type-thing perched on top of my meal in a fancy restaurant in Ireland, and the waitress very nicely explained the odd knife was a fish knife. I still didn't try to use it, and I didn't attempt the prawn.

On that subject, is it true that you can eat shrimp shells and all? I just read that in a cooking article where it suggests cooking them shell-on to preserve the flavor, and then said you can eat them shell-on as well.

Really?

...trying to imagine the looks at the next company dinner if I try that....

...."the most polished people I have ever met were those who had enough manners to make others feel comfortable, not awkward. That's what manners are all about"

I think this just about says it all. I had a grown woman "try" to embarass me publicly for pronouncing a potpourri wrong. Hey it looked like it should be "pot" LOL !!

If I don't learn something new daily/weekly/monthly, I figure I am not paying attention to life.

I am always having "ah ha! moments. Adds zip to life.

Lynn,

Having lived in the South on the Coast my entire life, I have eaten shrimp every way possible (I think).

I have found the trick to eating shrimp with the shell still on is to grill them until the shell is VERY crisp.
To me, it is NOT desirable to eat shrimp with the shell still on any other way.

When we cook them with the shells on, I use a good deal of black pepper coating the shells, as well as rubbing with garlic and sea salt.

I either cook them in the oven under the broiler or put them on skewers and cook them over the gas grill outside.

We really like them prepared this way.

And, as others have said, don't be hard on yourself.
We all learn something new every day.

Gosh, I never knew about the zipper thing, either. Nothing smaller than an elbow in the ear I had heard about, which is why our doctor had to clean my ears, occasionally.

I have decided there is no way I'm ever going to know all the things I should, and with access to the 'net, it may not matter. If I want to know something, I'll just look it up. Having said that, I also think there's so much knowledge floating around, it's almost overwhelming. Still, I find it exciting and interesting to learn new things.

I'm the least mechanically inclined person ever.
but my car developed an oil leak, so I learned to check the oil & add it as needed.

After several months, I finally got the car in to the garage to have the leak repaired.

& the mechanic opened the hood & propped the arm thing up...in a hole designed for the purpose.

I had been propping it up on a small opening at the center of the hood.

lucky it hadn't smacked me in the head.

which reminds me of a funny story an old roommate told me:

She was fresh-divorced & was driving an ancient orange Datsun.

When she "went home" one week-end for a reunion, one of her brothers told her that her car sounded like it needed oil & she should check it.

"How do I do that?"

Her brother told her to open the hood, prop it up, pull out the dipstick, wipe it off, stick it back in, pull it back out, & bring the dipstick to him in the shop where he & her other brothers were helping their dad with something.

Sure enough, it was a quart low.

so Evie took the quart of oil & went back out to add oil to her engine.

About 45 minutes later she re-appeared & her brother asked her where she'd been for so long.

"So *long*? It *takes* a long time to put a quart of oil in that little bitty hole that stick thing came out of!"

...........
...........

"If I try peroxide and the cricket sounds go away I'm going to kill myself."

No no no, now *that's* backerds:
if peroxide kills the crickets, all the more reason to keep living: to enjoy the sounds & the silences!
...........
...........

"Google is your friend."

Amen, Sistahs!

Learn as you go, I always say.
Life is an education.
We learn from our mistakes, we learn from others
and we learn from being curious.

I never knew about the zipper thingy either.
Now I can't wait to wear something with a zipper so I can try it out.:0)

"My husband had to tell me just a few years ago that a zipper locks if the tab is turned down."

I never knew that thanks I just zipped them and they stayed

Oh good,now I really want to try it..anyone else willing to get enlightened along with me? We can all sit in a circle and pour peroxide into our brains and then discuss the purpose of life. Thanks for the tip Marilyn,LOL.

Seriously though,like Sheila I've never heard of this so did some Googling and it looks like the jury is out.. Some people say it really works and others,including some MDs say it can be dangerous when it expands the earwax. Like most things I guess...2 sides to it. I might give it a whirl ,with just a little bit.

Lynn..did you ever think your thread would take all these twists and turns?

Oh, I'm so smart! I knew about the zipper thing! I guess I already poured the peroxide in and my mind has been opened.
What was that all about, Marilyn?

Let's not hi-jack Lynn's really fun thread.

I was forever rinsing out the little plastic cup that is used with liquid detergent. My DP walked by one day and said I could just drop the whole thing in the laundry and just pull the cup out at the end of the wash...OY!

IT WORKS!!! The zipper thingy works!
Now don't beat all!

Why didn't I figure that out a long time ago? :0)

Jan, whose pants are staying zipped now that she
learned the secret to the lock.
(don't go reading anything eles into that statement)

LOL..you are so bad Jan. Never would have thought of it until you mentioned it. Wish my mother had told me this little secret.

This secret needs to be shared...I'm thinking of all those pants unzipped recklessly when a moment of thought to unlock the zipper could have made the difference.

Wow, Lynn - you have started a revolution! LOL

I never heard the hydrogen peroxide thing. I'm going to have to try it. i've got that problem with my ears too, but could never figure out how that little bulb thing worked.

The zipper thing I knew about, but it doesn't seem to work 100% of the time.

I remember when I was in college, my best friend got a job waitressing at a nice restaurant in town. The afternoon before she was going to start work, she came over to my house in a panic asking my mom how to set a table properly. She had told them she knew how & didn't have a clue.

If we all knew all about these things, there wouldn't be a need for all thew forums out there in cyberspace where people are constantly asking questions just like therse.

If I couldn't type the words "how to" into Google, I wouldn't know nearly as much as I do. I really did know about the zipper, but Andie's right that it's not foolproof. However, it works well enough.

And then are the times when one doesn't want it to work, lol!

Here's what happened a couple of weeks ago. we went to a very fancy benefit for an art museum which included a formal dinner. There were 10 of us at the table,which was gorgeous by the way with fresh flowers,candles etc. etc. Ok..so in comes the soup in a dainty little cup with a small handle. There was also a soup spoon in the place setting. So...do you drink the soup using the handle on the little cup,or do you put the clunky soup spoon in the dainty cup? I didn't know which way was correct. Some at table used the spoon,others used the handle on the cup. I tried both. Where's Linda C? She always knows this kind of stuff.

I have to really say how glad I am that so many now know about the zipper. I had quite a bizarre collection of paperclips that were twisted into fantastic contortions to hold up various pairs of pants.

Thank you all for your great input and stories.

Years ago, before my dh retired, I'd call him up out of the blue about once a month and pick him up at work and treat him to lunch, or pack a basket and take him to a park for a picnic, just to break the routine of his often long days.

One time, I picked a fancy new restaurant in town, and after one course the waiter brings over two bowls of sherbet. We look at each other and I chime in.....We didn't order ice cream! We are then informed this was to cleanse our palates. We accept the dinky bowl of sherbet and collapse laughing. You would also have to know our community where one of the more popular eateries is in a room over the cattle auction. So cleansing palates isn't big on the list of local priorities, just as long as the forks are clean. It's been a private joke now at supper time for years at our house, if I slap something down on the table he doesn't expect. I just tell him his palate needs cleansing.

Marda, I'm guessing your soup in a cup was probably consomme or boullion, a clear soup often comes in a cup- you drink it like a cup of tea unless there is stuff in it, sometimes there are julliened vegetables floating arouind. If there is stuff, use your spoon.

What an educational thread this is!

Have known about the zipper lock since I was 3 or 4 yrs. old---had a mother who was the most precise seamtress I've EVER known.
Am absolutely terrified of being in a large group of people, yet can approach strangers and strike up a conversation easily.

Years ago was at a book club meeting being held at the home of one of the Charlottesville women, who were new to 'our' book club started here in our town in the mtns. In her kitchen, I saw a lovely piece of enameled cast-iron 'Le Cruset' and commented on it AND for some totally unknown reason, said 'Le CruSET', instead of 'Le CruSAY' She waited 'til everyone filing into her kitchen could hear, and then said, "Oh; I'm sorry;. I thought it was pronounced Le CruSAY!" I was horribly embarrassed and turned beet-red---there was no explanation for me to mutter, so I stood there and just smiled a beet-red smile.
Our group decided later on our trip home, we didn't like Charlottesville and we SURE didn't like that woman----who happened to be a TEACHER at a private school, of all places! A teacher who will knowingly embarrass another doesn't deserve the title.
So, now when I might actually find myself cleaning the kitchen, I'll pick up any number of my 'Le CruSAY' pieces, and grinning my head off, will mutter, "I got some dagonne good pieces of that there Lay CRUSET stuff!!!"

Bean, we all have our little cracks in the facade
we think keeps us so safe from being 'known' as we really are, by others.
You removed yours; you are so REAL and such a beautiful person in my eyes, I can almost touch you.----But, you've ALWAYS been real here---real and truly, truly, a sweet young person.

KJ, who stumbles through each day the best she can, forgetting more than she can remember! :o)

(PS----I used to have to put an ear softener in my sons' ears, followed by a rinsing out with peroxide, once every couple of weeks, so he could hear what the teacher was saying at school. I couldn't imagine ANY Dr. or nurse saying what that school nurse said to YOU!)

Neil has a simple rule that he taught his kids when they
were small. "If it comes in a bowl, eat it with a spoon",
"if it comes on a plate eat it with a fork".

DH has a funny story about the first time he ate edamame. I had been telling him how good they were. He ordered some while on a business trip and was eating them back in the hotel room while watching a game.

He was having a hard time chewing them and felt like they had a little too much roughage for his taste...yup, he was eating them tough fuzzy steamed pods and all. Said his stomach hurt a little the next day. He finally figured out the technique.

That there woman really didn't know how to pronounce Le Cruset. French nouns that end in -et are pronounced as spelt. Only verbs and conjuctions that end in et are pronounced with the long "A".

That's a small clue to let you know who really speaks french.

She keeps Moet et Chandon in her pretty cabinet.

That's "Mo-et A Chandon" with the nasal ending on.

I don't think that statement is correct. The word for wrist in French is le poignet. It is a noun and it also ends in an "et". I do not pronounce the "T". The "T" at the end of it would only be enunciated if it were in a liason, or followed by a word beginning with a vowel. It's been many years since I lived there and I may be wrong.......but I don't think I am.

And this is probably why we mangle French more than practically any other language.

You are correct Suzy. It's pronounced Cruh-zay.

but for the sake of clarity..having taken French for many years,when I got my Le Creuset set in the early 70s in San Franciso,I pronounced it wrong,even though I knew better. I had heard it pronounced wrong for so long I just figured they knew something I didn't.

Well, I've owned some for years, and I have always pronounced it more like

Le CrER-zay. maybe more to rhyme with 'duh' for the first syllable. And Suzy is of course correct; that ending 't' is silent. As is the 't' at the end of 'Moet' (MO-eh). I also own some of another French brand, Cousances, which is much simpler! (although that last 's' is silent).

But I'm sure they don't give a fig, as long as they sell the stuff. :)

I love that edamame story!!!!

Well now...I don't know about LeCreuset, but I do know that while Moet is commonly pronounced "Mo-ay" bu those whose native language is English it's pronounced with a hard t in France. I can't say what the rule is, might be something to do with the umlat (sp) which we don't see here, but...if you're in France and order "Mo-ay" they will smile politely and then have a good laugh in the wine cellar.

Now let's all have a glass of the lovely stuff and then we won't mind how it's pronounced.

I've no clue how Mouet is pronounced, and never even heard of it until this conversation. Would not have corrected anybody if I heard them pronounce the T in Le Creuset either. I get a steady diet of customers who slice up botanical names of plants, and I just smile and sell it to them anyway. I'll give them the proper pronunciation if they ask, but as long as I understand them enough to fill their order, Sarah summed it up, I don't give a fig, ca-ching.

The only reason I even responded about liasons and grammar (and God knows I have enough difficulty with grammar in English) is that I didn't want somebody else who might read this, and to whom it might make a difference..... (like a student or tourist) abiding by an erroneous grammar rule and then have a native smile at them politely and then have a good laugh in the wine cellar as Sheila says, or where ever else....... or worse yet, laughed at to their faces. And I've had that happen to me and told I have a terrible accent.

I try to be careful about making "absolute" types of statements on the inet, since so many people take it at face value, so unless I'm pretty darned sure I'm correct statements should be prefaced with a disclaimer like "I think" and not presented as fact.

The phonetics of French are the real baptism by fire. I first started studying it when we lived in the Maritime Provinces and then was constantly sat upon by my teacher later when I went to a boarding school closer to Paris, because even some of the idiomatic expressions I used and pronunciations I was comfortable with differed from what he used.....and you can be sure I heard about it. Even though I quizzed out of French in University back here in the States and given credit without having to take the courses, I don't now, nor have I ever considered myself "fluent" in it.

It is unfortunate of course that the 'American' accent when speaking French is 'terrible' while a French accent while speaking English is so very charming.

I'm not being snide. Some accents charm, and others grate.

I think anyone who attempts to speak another language should be applauded, no matter how they mangle it. I tried in Denmark. Most people there speak English so well. The older generation largely seems to having a 'charming' British accent while the teens a less charming American accent.

The few times I tried Danish were comical. It is very difficult language. Many times people would ask where I lived. I would tell them, in my best Danish accent, and get a blank look. After a few tries I would write it down whereupon their faces would clear...OH! you mean...(insert what I just thought I said). Nørre Herlev, where we lived, is pronounced something like Neur Herloo, but swallow the oo and slur the eur.

It was definitely not pronounced Nor Hairlev as we said the first few times, lol.

My DH was a medic in the army. He spent a lot of time using peroxide cleaning out the guys' ears after field maneuvers.

I can't resist this! Suzy, in your post, is "inet" pronounced "i-nay"?

rofl!!!! Good one. Still laughing.

Because of my name, and my sister's name (we have French lineage on my mother's side) and how comfortable I was at that time with the spoken language because English was not spoken in my French classes at all.......sink or swim. ( I didn't have to stop to translate in my brain) most of my American friends in France assumed it was my first tongue, but I assure you I didn't fool any Frenchmen.

Beanmomma, that's an excellent point; we think French accented English is charming - well apparently most French think English-accented French is charming too.

(I did know about the zipper tab. Perhaps from dressmaking?)

If Q-tips aren't for cleaning ears, what ARE they for?

Qtips can be used for cleaning the outer portion of the ear and very carefully around the opening, just not deeply. I also use them dipped in polish remover to clean up nail enamel, especially around my toenails which I have trouble seeing much less reaching ...LOL And dipped in eyemakeup remover it's easy to remove bits of mascara if you blinked before it dried. DH uses them dipped in paint remover when he's working on his little model buildings. That's all I can think of...not as useful as duct tape.LOL

I got such a kick out of the "elbow in the ears" visual...had no idea it was such a widely known and used phrase. I think it should be in Bartlett's Quotations. LOL josh

My mother always cleaned out our ears with peroxide.

Marda, Have you tried it yet?

Mama would pour in a cap full and leave it in until it finished bubbling.
Thirty years later, I can still hear the fizzing.
LOL!

Sara, Q-tips are sort of like duct tape which is good for everything except heating ducts. Q-tips are good for a multitude of cleaning purposes, just bot deep cleaning ones ears.