How Does All This End Up In The Laundry ?

Song Of The Day:
While it is true that the above photo represents items 'saved' from the washer and dryer over the preceding 3 or so months, I don't think it makes it any less questionable how some of these things were found in kids' pants pockets.
And this was just the downstairs laundry - yes, in a house of 9 people, dual washer/dryer areas are a virtual necessity!
Today's song is "Nothing Lasts Forever" by Maroon 5, because it reminds me that the time is not far away when my kids will be grown up and I won't have the humor that comes from rescuing their 'prized possessions' before they get washed away.

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Who Needs A Folding Table ?

I hate ironing.

I am certain this stems from having ironing as a household chore growing up.  I'm quite good at it (after years of practice who wouldn't be?!) but I avoid it as often as possible.  This is partly why I do the laundry in the Case Place.  Some loads can sit in the dryer for any length of time, but permanent press items should be hung up as soon as possible.  Especially if you want to avoid any ironing.

It may look silly, but hanging shirts is
MUCH easier this way and can be done
right in the closet!  Efficiency win!

For as long as I can remember I've used the bed in our master bedroom as a makeshift folding table.  After years of bringing hangers from the closet and trying to find places to hang shirts, pants, skirts, etc. I had an idea.  Why not bring the clothes into the closet and just hang them there?!  But then I thought, how can I avoid making so many trips to the closet?!  A few different tests and voila! ... I had it!

My wife laughs every time she sees me piling our outer garments on my shoulders, but why would I care about a little poking fun at me when the results are so good?  That's right, I don't mind at all.  Especially because there's still no need for ironing!


Song Of The Day:
The song "Under You" by Trickside came to my mind the other day and I think it fits here.  Not just because I'm talking about laundry and the song features references to a pair that should have stayed together.  I know they didn't mean socks, but they could have.  I also think the lyrics "anywhere you are, I'll be under you" could be the piles of laundry that appear each week to be completed.  "I start gaining ground" but the piles are just everywhere!

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Just Another "Day Off" ?

What a Monday!

Sometimes a day off can be relaxing and give you a chance to recharge for the days or weeks to come.  Today was NOT one of those days.  Today was a day off that will cost me about a week to recover from.

Before

The short list of activities completed today:
 - Pick up lawn mower
 - Finish load of laundry (permanent press items)
 - Mow front and back lawn (on lowest setting)
 - Purchase and have new tires installed on my car
 - Finish load of laundry (whites)
 - Buy a sewing machine (for Karen)
 - Purchase and replace the vacuum breaker (and copper piping connecting it to the sprinkler system and house) for my sprinkler system

After

 - Finish load of laundry (jeans)
 - Take Ben to have his glasses fixed
 - Food shopping at Wal-Mart
 - Finish load of laundry (girl's clothes)
 - Remove and replace backyard downspout / drainage
 - Pick pears from the pear tree
 - Finish load of laundry (boy's clothes)
 - Complete three haircuts (both boys and my hair)
 - Help three kids with various homework assignments
 - Finish load of laundry (towels)
 - Uncover backyard sprinkler heads
 - Repurpose one sprinkler zone in the manifold area (and fixing the drainage underneath the manifold housing)
 - Write 4 "catch-up" blog posts (and post 3 previous posts to Facebook)
 - Finish load of laundry (missed items and assorted bedding)


Song Of The Day:
While listening to tunes on my MP3 player during the above activities, I heard the song "As I Lay Me Down" by Sophie B Hawkins.  That is a great tune for today because as I lay me down tonight, I will have a feeling of great satisfaction with all that was completed today ... coupled with sheer exhaustion and physical pain from all the hard work of course.

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Who wears the pants in your family?

Okay ... so this blog is about laundry.  Don't get confused by the title.  This has nothing to do with whether or not Karen is the real "head" of this family (she and I argue more about not wanting to be the "adult" than we ever would about being in charge).

I do ALL the laundry in this house!

You might think this is me bragging more about how awesome I am, but I'm really not (not bragging ... the awesome part is totally true!)

Here's how it all went/goes down:

Although it was never an official "let's chat about it and hammer out a contract so there are some boundaries in this marriage" kind of thing.  There were many conversations mind you, just nothing written or even remotely as official as say, naming a child.  I hate cleaning bathrooms.  Karen would tell you she hates it too, but there is a smile on her face after they are clean.  That smile NEVER happens on my face after washing sinks, toilets, showers, mirrors, etc.  I could blame my mom for this but she actually taught me quite well how to properly clean a bathroom and I sincerely thank her for that.

(Where is this guy headed?!  I swear he jumps from subject to subject ... maybe if he read his blogs before posting he would realize that it's like a train wreck that can never happen because the trains aren't headed in the same direction ... and besides, one of them is a boat and the other is a helicopter).

Anyway, Karen hates laundry.  Well that's a bit of a stretch because I don't think she could actually ever really hate anything but early on in our marriage (well at least the part after kids so maybe it was more like 7-8 years into it) I can recall seeing Karen's frustration with feeling that she was always doing laundry.  Being a man (not trying to be sexist but we fit stereotypes pretty nicely most of the time) I quickly devised a solution: I outlined how Karen could do all the laundry on one day and if she was diligent about responding to the buzzer sounds for the washer and dryer, she could only be upset one day a week.  (What a gentleman!)

I cannot recall how it evolved from there but I am pretty sure I kept hearing frustration from Karen (to be fair, this was warranted even if it did occur, which is highly unlikely and probably just made up) and I was also frustrated because she wasn't sticking to the laundry schedule.  She would stop to make lunch or clean the bathrooms ... you know, get "distracted" and then the laundry wouldn't be finished by the time kids needed to head to bed.  So I took over ... and I haven't relinquished control ever since.

Late Sunday into early Monday is my Laundry Day* and everyone in this house knows what that means: I take my laundry seriously!

 - You better have your socks and jeans and whatever else you want clean in the laundry baskets by the time dad comes calling on Sunday afternoon.  Not even Karen is exempt (she would begrudgingly agree that I have left her jeans, etc. unwashed for an extra week to "set an example" for the kids).

 - You better collect your hangers to a single location in the closet.

 - You better know that when you get home from school on Mondays that you have clothes that need to make it from the half-wall near the stairs into the appropriate drawer or shelf.

 - You can expect clean t-shirts and nicely folded unmentionables.

 - You can also expect that if you forgot to include a sock for this week's load (Ben is the most common culprit) it's mate will be relegated to the "Matchless Sock Drawer" until the following week.

Be sure to ask my kids about the "Homey the Clown" styled sock thumper I made from about 40 unmatched socks.

*Astute fans of mine (and of Jason Mraz's music) will catch the reference to the song "Geek In The Pink" but you have to listen to the album version to catch the fun humor about "What time is it?!"

Call me what you will.  Judge me as harsh as you like.  I don't care.  But I guarantee ... wait, that's the buzzer ... just a minute.  Okay, what was I saying?  Oh yeah ... despite 6 kids and two adults worth of laundry, I complete EVERY LOAD EVERY WEEK without a single murmuring word ... but that's mainly because then Karen can't really guilt me into doing bathrooms ever again.  :)