My cool finds

In the past few days, I've discovered two different things that will make my life better.

The first is a retractable clothesline. There aren't many places to hang a clothesline at this house unless I want our underwear to fly in front of anyone who drives by. The one location that includes privacy is on the deck, but who wants to have to look at that while you're grilling burgers?. . .not to mention the risk of one of the kids running by and..well, clotheslining themselves.

When I lived in Chile, my host family had a retractable clothesline, but I'd never seen one in the States. I finally started searching the internet and found they do exist, but were a little spendy. While we were in Eugene this weekend, I dropped Brad off to take his class and found myself in the parking lot of Home Depot, which much to my delight, carries retractable clotheslines! I bought two 20-foot lines and Brad installed them for me. They are amazing! You pull out the line, attach it, and hang your clothes. When you're done, the line sucks right back in like a piece of spaghetti in the mouth of a child. I can hardly wait to get my next electric bill!

My other amazing discovery is that I can order photo prints ONLINE and have them in my hands in one hour. No kidding! I can take a picture with my digital camera, upload the photo to walmart.com, and stop by in an hour to pick up the print for just 19 cents! The pictures are crystal clear and the process is simple. I can even order different sizes of prints, but so far I've only tried 4"x6".