I always wash my dress shirts in my Miele washer, either on the shirts cycle, which I think is called something else in countries outside of the U.S.A or on the perm press cycle. I hang everything even t shirts up as they come out of the dryer so most times no ironing is involved. The exception -- thin linen shirts. I send these straight to the professional cleaners who insist on starching them even while I say no starch. We have finally reached an understanding that when I say no starch I MEAN NO STARCH. I understand why they want to starch them because without starch they return to me looking like something I might have done myself..but that is the way I want them soft without starch. This year I bought wrinkle free linen shirts which seem to work OK in the washer. I wash wool using the wool cycle, and silk using the silk cycle, but do not wash 100% or 95% wool dress slacks in the washer...I they go to the professionals. I use PERWOL for wool and silk.

My X and I have a "joint managing conservatorship" with me having primary physical custody. In short, it means I have to consult X (and he has to consult me) on every decision regarding DS. Would it make my life easier if I had sole managing conservatorship? Sure. Would it be right for me to take his rights as a parent away from him just because I wanted to have all the control? No. Has he ever done anything to show me that he doesn't have the best interest of our son at heart? No. Do I agree with everything he says? No, of course not. It was the same way before I got pregnant, before marriage, during marriage and after marriage. We don't always agree, but we both have DS's best interest at heart, although we may not agree on how to go about it. Parenting is about compromise. Sole managing conservatorship basically strips the other parent of all parental rights other than visitation and CS. Other than that, FDH has no authority over anything where FSD is concerned. And BM has made sure FSD knows this. Look, I do tend to side with the man I love. Who doesn't? But, to be honest and fair, I am a very analytical person and I don't just side with people because I love them. I am on FDH's side because he is right. From every angle I look at it, he has done nothing malicious and has only had the best interest of his child at heart, even down to the stupid things he's done to get himself in this situation. Colleen - you hit the nail on the head! When Swine Flu was a big problem, FDH offered to drive out there and pick her up because the excuse then was she couldn't get on a plane because of Swine Flu. So when he offered to pick her up, then it was all kinds of activities she couldn't miss and a trip to Vegas with her mom, SF and sister. This was directly from BM; not FSD.

First of all, is it a liquid sizing agent or liquid starch? Starch is completely the WRONG product to use to condition and soften fabrics. A sizing agent provides some conditioning in the final rinse to restore hand and texture, followed by proper finishing of the fabric. Starch on the other hand requires, or at least should, finishing on a press or iron regardless if its liquid, spray, or run in the rinse. Although I suspect if its diluted enough it could provide some lite conditioning, but applying heat from a tumbling dryer would yield results far less than what the product was intended to do.

I absolutely love the velvet flannel sheets at Company store. I use them year round, with a duvet and cover in winter, with a thin down blanket inside the flannel cover in the spring and fall, using the down blanket and a velvet flannel top sheet on cool summer nights and just the top sheet on warmer summer nights (it always cools enough to need something). They don't pill and really do feel a bit velvety. I, too, would never have linen. While I might like the feel if they were super soft/worn feeling, I've had linen clothes that were too stiff to want to sleep with and the wrinkles would drive me crazy.