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    Thursday, November 15, 2007

    State of the House Address...

    ...for you, dear readers.

    All is well this Thursday morning. I'm not feeling bad now, I am certain it was a cyst. We had Pumpkin Pie Blizzards last night at the mall. NAUGHTY...but yummo. What else? My older sister is in town for a class, my younger sister is turning 26 today, the trash guys took the broken toilet this morning, and my laundry is (drumroll, please) CAUGHT UP. My laundry room is EMPTY. Naked. Bare. Clear. Allow me to elaborate (because I KNOW you've been dying to know about my laundry).

    Looks pretty weird in there, quite frankly. Usually there's at least some blankets waiting to be washed, but when I sorted/organized/complied the laundry loads Friday night, I did blankets, towels and linens first instead of last. A brilliant idea, if I say so myself. I know I'll wash the clothes, but the blankets always get left for last and then I run out of steam and leave them for next time. So they got bumped up the chart this time. Result? - naked laundry room.

    I should clarify the OTHER brilliant part of my plan, which I save for times like these when laundry was in DIRE need of a jump-start, and when a $40 trip to the laundromat looks imminent. That other part is this -make laundry a centerpiece. Into the hampers, up the steps, and dumped RIGHT in the middle of the livingroom, all of it. Scour every room, find every sock, shirt and washcloth. Every single one, and into a giant pile in the livingroom it goes. Did it require me to take laundry AWAY from the laundry room, still dirty? Absolutely. Is it more work? You betcha. But you know what else it does? It makes it almost impossible to ignore or forget about. It's tough to leave laundry lay when you know anyone who comes over at any given moment would see the big nasty piles of dirty drawers and t-shirts, laying there like Barbie-sized Rocky Mountains. And no fair sorting it and then taking it back down all at once, no sir. That's how it got piled up in the first place, it's easy to ignore down there.

    I will not share how many loads we did over the weekend and into this week - my shame just won't let me. Suffice it to say that the laundry around here was OUT OF CONTROL, and just blankets and linens took all of one day. Fine, I'm a slacker, whatever. Sue me. Somebody get that maid-iternship program going and then I won't have these problems, will I? But anyway, for now it's all caught up, and I need to focus now on maintaining, keeping caught up so we won't have this issue again.

    Ok, was that enough about laundry to suit you? Yeah, me, too. More later, gotta go get the boy down for his nap.

    4 comments:

    Anonymous said...

    I told you I would come do your laundry any day of the week. Is it a little sick that I like doing laundry??? I guess you kind of have to get in a good habit of keeping your laundry up to date when your washer and dryer are in your kitchen. No one would want to have dinner with us if they say Nik's dirty boxers on the kitchen floor!

    Anonymous said...

    Glad to see you're feeling better!! And congratulations on being caught up on laundry!!! It's an awesome feeling isn't it?! I was caught up once....

    Anonymous said...

    Smart ideas! You know, I wonder if it would create a crisis or a more urgent demand to do the linens more often if you didn't have so many. Or if you put some away for the really dire times when someone is sick or something. I know that there are some things that force us to do the laundry every week because I/he/we don't have a lot of that item. It kind of feels different to do laundry because you NEED it rather than it just having to be done. I dunno. Maybe when the kids are a little older and you don't have so many bedding and towel accidents/needs. =)
    There was other stuff I was going to say but I forgot what it was! Will write more! =)
    *Jenny

    Anonymous said...

    I know what it was! I have often thought to myself, "Do we try to do the laundry in a day or in a weekend thing because that is what has always been done or is it because it is the smart way to do things?"
    I have thought about doing a load a day - like run a load in the morning, put it in the dryer when you get home and fold by dinner. One a day doesn't sound so overwhelming and it would keep you from having that feeling that you JUST finished the laundry and already there is a new load piled up. Not to be mean to Tim but that is kind of how he does laundry - sure there might be a few reruns because it sat in the washer for too long - but it is way more laid back. Also, I should note that it isn't really his plan to do the laundry all week like that - it just kind of happens that way. =)

    One of the other problems that happens with laundry is puling it out of the dryer to get the next load in (so you feel like you are getting somewhere) and then letting it sit in the basket and it wrinkles beyond repair. I can smash a couple of loads into the basket! You should see what Tim can do! Whoa! I was on a mission to combat that and I started to fold the laundry as I took it out of the dryer and then it would be done then and there. Sadly, I outsmarted myself and when I would hear the buzzer I would dread folding all the laundry so I would tell myself "Ahhh...I'll get it later." and then I might or I might not. Another thing that is happening is that we will get it folded and into the basket but not the next step of put away. I hate putting it away. You know. The only fun part of laundry is throwing it into the machine. You feel like you are getting something done, the soap smells good, you feel like you can multitask, and it is only one step. It is after the dryer that the process really starts to suck. I wonder how laundry would change if the washer became a dryer and it just did all of that on its own. Then you wouldn't have to move loads, loads that sit too long wouldn't get smelly and need a rewash, you would put it in, take it out, fold and put away. I wonder if that would help. Mark my words. If it isn't already out there, that is the future of laundry.
    -Jenny