Skip to main content

Laundry Monster

Stuff(ed)

Well, it hit me the other day that we are officially a household of SIX! Like when we fill out forms and they ask you 'How many live in household?', I now have to write SIX. You may be thinking, "So what? Big deal."  Well, it was really profound to me when I first realized it. On a random Friday we were five. By Monday, we were six. That's pretty huge. Especially since our house is not. We have been juggling things around haphazardly just to find space for everybody to sleep. But the biggest puzzle always is, where do we put all these CLOTHES!
 
I had just gotten things to the point that I could say that everything had a place. It wasn't always in it's place, and often I seemed the only one who ever knew where it's place was, but it at least had one. Suddenly, back at square one. Well, maybe three or four.
 
Vic and I and Kit are pretty much living out of suitcases and cardboard boxes since we want to give Grandpa as much privacy in our room as we can while he stays there. I have places in that room to put everything, I just can't put them there right now. So that means finding temporary housing for three peoples clothes.

The Monster



Laundry. An innocent little word for such a monstrous task! The bigger your family gets the more monstrous!

About a month ago, my washing machine died mid-cycle. It wasn't very old though, so, I think it might have committed suicide because of the heavy work load. Thus, while I was waiting for our new one to be delivered, I did what most people do. I went to our family dinner and brought detergent! I was commenting to my sister that what I had brought to wash, about four loads, was just the essentials! She laughed and said, "Well, yeah. When you're a family of five, there are a lot of essentials!" 

Ugh.

So needless to say, despite having an entire laundry day scheduled, I am still usually behind. And as I mentioned above, now we are six. That's a lot of essentials.

 

The Heroin   


In sweeps Nana! My mom, and the lifesaver of the week! Each of my large laundry baskets holds two bushels of laundry. (Who knew laundry was measured like produce?) She folded five of these basket loads! That's ten bushels of laundry! That doesn't include the sock box that she made it halfway through before almost going blind from trying to tell if sock A matches sock D, M, or Q. That also doesn't include the two  smaller loads that I finished after she went home to rest her weary arms, valiantly taking two of my children with her! Thank you, Mom! I LOVE YOU!
 
Every week I am in shock that our family produces that much laundry. Of course about three loads were leftover from last week that never got finished, but still, that seems to me a ridiculous amount of laundry. Especially since we really try to keep our wardrobes simple and small. I cull through the girls clothes at least every other month and pass on items that are too small or that simply are not being worn. Still, the piles of dirty clothes form and grow all week, staring at me, mocking me. "You will never be rid of us!" they taunt.
 
Ha! Well, today I won! There is something very satisfying about ending the day with all hampers and baskets empty. That is until we change clothes to go to bed and start a new pile. Perhaps someday I will miss this about having young children and a busy family, perhaps not though. I do love the look of an empty laundry basket.  













Comments

  1. GREAT blog! Very funny and fresh. Looking forward to your next entry.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Le Petite Chef: Mud Pie

Here it is, as promised, Grace's Mud Pie recipe! She did all the work, I helped explain terms and measurements, stirred at the very end to make sure everything was evenly coated (at her request), and helped hold the pot. She let one of her friends spread the Nutella and add the "dirt" to one of the pies while she did the other.  This is a very kid friendly recipe, I highly recommend it for ages 8 and up! The original recipe is in the book The Cooking Book, by Jane Bull. But we modified it just a bit. Here are our supplies: 3/4 c butter 1 tbsp cocoa powder 1/2 c sugar 1 c graham cracker crumbs 1/2 c dried fruit 1 chocolate bar (we used Nutella spread instead) We added: Heath chocolate and toffee bits Black Sixletts (found in the party aisle) These are the original measurements, we doubled the recipe though. Step 1: Crush graham crackers. We used a gallon size zipper bag and a coffee mug (I don't own

Saying Goodbye

For the entire month of August, I just didn't let myself think about it beyond the facts. For the last two weeks, I just focused on anything else that took my mind off of it. Over the weekend I was busy getting things ready, so I was too busy to think about it. Tuesday came. Miss V came. It was a good visit, with laughing and smiling, and questions asked and answered, and Kit played with her, and smiled and made us laugh like usual. But it was different, and we felt it. I didn't let myself go there, because I didn't want to break down, not that it would have been the first time in front of her (nor the second, or third, or even fourth probably.)  And then it was time for her to go, and we took some pictures, and all the kids hugged her, and I held Kit on my shoulder on the steps so she could wave goodbye until Miss V is out of sight like she has every week for at least five months. And then we closed the door, and Kit went on with business as usual, beca

Preschool at Home! Chalkboard Painting

Here is another treasure from the backfiles. This started as an act of desperation on my part, I just needed her to be occupied so I could finish something, but it quickly became one of her favorite activities. If you have a chalkboard (we made ours on a half wall with chalkboard paint), all you need is a paintbrush, sponge, or washcloth, and a cup of water. Dip the brush in the water and have at it! Kit LOVES how the water turns the board black. So often, she will be at this so long that by the time she gets across the board, the first area she painted will be dry and a fresh pallet once again. You can get creative with the things you use as paintbrushes, but she has been completely happy with our basic art brushes from Walmart. I love watching her do this.