Socks as Props

LostSock, originally uploaded by carolWorldLeader.

Ok, so I told you about my venture to Sears to get a new washing machine. Maybe I didn’t tell you all about how I picked out my new washing machine.

I went on-line to check out the washers, to read the reviews, and all. Needless to say, you can get lost in reviews on the internet, these days. I believe it’s entirely possibly to endless read reviews and end up never actually buying anything, but I had to start somewhere, right?

I wanted a top-loading washer (I think the front loading ones look really cool, but they don’t last as long and don’t get your clothes as clean.) My washer has to be able to wash a queen-sized quilt because, well, I have a dog and he sleeps on the bed sometimes (usually he’s up there when there’s food involved-you know, the “cookies in bed” type of stuff but he’s been known to snooze next to me.)

So, the practical side of me wants a basic washer, one with like one knob and as few as possible moving parts. Also, as cheap as possible would be nice.

But then, I saw this model that had a glass top. One really cool thing about a glass top is that you can see through it-you can watch your clothing going around in there. Being a photographer, well, naturally, I thought this might make for interesting photos. I imagined a whole gallery wall, filled with enlargements of my socks spinning around, getting clean. Just think of how cool it would be to be able to shoot your socks spinning around, getting all cleaned up and all. (If I had a cat, that too would have pushed me over the edge. I mean, a glass-top washer would be like catnip without the hyper.)

But then, I stopped myself. I was turning my washing machine into a giant prop. It’s not supposed to do that, it’s not supposed to be that-it’s not a prop. It’s just supposed to be a machine that cleans your damn socks, not an infinite source of amusement.

The glass top model had fewer features and was $100 more than the “regular” one. $100 is not a lot of money-I mean, heck, I would spend that on props if they were good. Still, I want the socks to get clean, not make good enlargements.

So, what was I to do? Go for the economical but boring model or go for the prop?

Oh the humanity! Somebody pass me some Tide so I can float away!

Until next non-glass-top-so-it-better-damn-well-clean-my-socks-model…