Laundry, Laundry and More Laundry

Ok, everyone knows how much I despise dislike enjoy love doing laundry... well perhaps not everyone. But my entire readership of what... three people... I'm sure they are very aware of my love-hate relationship with that wonderful chore. So, being the organized person I am... I decide to go through boxes of hand-me-downs for the boys, a sensible 3 days before school is to start. See, very organized aren't I? I also never procrastinate nor am I ever sarcastic **ahem**. Anyway, so I haul out said boxes and figure, "oh, we'll just sort through it all and put what they can wear in their dresser drawers"... ha... yeah... sure we will.

First box reveals some clothes that will fit, some that they have already outgrown, socks that were not paired PRIOR to storage and therefore missing matches on several, and other assorted items. Assorted items include, lost Lego pieces, a bag of electronic cables (wth?), KinderEgg toy pieces, and a bunch of other crap not even worth mentioning. BTW, this particular box is a lovely plastic rubbermaid type container with a lid and wheels.

The 2nd box is a cardboard moving box, well past it's life, falling apart at the corners and the packing tape is drying out and coming off. Only clothes in here, well... sort of, and mouse droppings.... ughhhh, so now we get to the laundry part. I'm thinking the clothes from the 1st box can just go in the boys drawers... ha.... yeah... sure. So not noticing the aforementioned mouse doo-doo at first, I start adding the clothes that fit to the first piles... then I see those lovely little turds... mocking me and my love for laundry. At this point I've realised that I now not only need to wash the clothes that are in that box, but also from the 1st box because... mice don't just defecate, they also pee and although we can't see it necessarily, oh it's there. Ok, maybe I'm a bit anal and the 1st batch of clothes is still fine... but... ewwww, it's rodent poo, and pee... eeeeek, yuck.

Now, on top of the hundreds several loads of laundry in hampers I had managed to ignore most of the summer as the boys dressed in shorts all summer, I have added an additional 5... count 'em... 5 freakin loads of laundry. And this is in the large capacity front load Kenmore Washer to boot... **sigh**. (There are at least two hampers and two garbage bags of bedding alone that needed to be washed prior to all this as well).

So, I have clothes strewn all about my living room, they are piled on the coffee table, on top my crap junk magazine & book basket, on the love seat, 1/2 the sofa, in the plastic box, a laundry basket and on the floor. Just a bit of laundry, no big deal (whatever)... Then on Saturday, we head into the city to do a quick pack, clean and move of ds21's things... quick... ha... yeah... sure. Well, that's for another blog if I bother, but I managed to bring home 3 more garbage bags of laundry, mostly bedding... will it ever end???

Well, I must say I am frustrated and feeling a tad overwhelmed with all this laundry on top of all the other crap stuff chores I need to do and get caught up on... and then today I was cleaning out emails on my yahoo account (not procrastinating at all, really... ha... yeah... sure) and came across this lovely gem. Please take a moment to read and perhaps you, like me, will not feel so bad about our laundry woes after all.

Washing Clothes Recipe

Imagine having a recipe for this ! Years ago an Alabama grandmother gave a new bride the following recipe: This is an exact copy as written and found in an old scrapbook - with spelling errors and all.

WASHING CLOTHES Build fire in backyard to heat kettle of rain water. Set tubs so smoke wont blow in eyes if wind is pert. Shave one hole cake of lie soap in boilin water. Sort things, make 3 piles 1 pile white, 1 pile colored, 1 pile work britches and rags. To make starch, stir flour in cool water to smooth, then thin down with boiling water. Take white things, rub dirty spots on board, scrub hard, and boil, then rub colored don’t boil just wrench and starch.

Take things out of kettle with broom stick handle, then wrench, and starch. Hang old rags on fence. Spread tea towels on grass. Pore wrench water in flower bed. Scrub porch with hot soapy water. Turn tubs upside down. Go put on clean dress, smooth hair with hair combs. Brew cup of tea, sit and rock a spell and count your blessings.

Paste this over your washer and dryer. Next time when you think things are bleak, read it again, kiss that washing machine and dryer, and give thanks.

First thing each morning you should run and hug your washer and dryer, also your toilet—those two-holers used to get mighty cold! For you non-southerners -wrench means rinse.

And... when you're all done with the wash, it's time to make music... Washboard as a Musical Instrument ... better than any rock song you can think of I'm sure ;).

Blessings,
Shannon