Tuesday, January 19, 2010

turned on.


it's tuesday morning.  the kids are back at school. biff is off to work. i'm almost ready to go to a scheduled appointment.  i've started another load of laundry.  boy, do we have laundry.  we are only 4 people.  4 people with 2 dogs, 2 cats, 2 fish.

thankfully, the fish have no clothing.  the cats take care of their own coats.  the dogs may require some loungewear washed on occasion, but they're not too picky.  and boy do they know how to lounge.  they have a comfy bed in the family room and a fleecepad with a touch of leopard.  they don't seem to object to lying on a print of a very large, jungle cat.  i guess it makes tham feel either accessorized or superior. there is another pretty dogbed in the living room, a little more along the floral shabby chic decor.  and since daisy has always been a loyal sleep next to me kind of dog, she has her own sealy posturpedic in our bedroom, it's about 7 inches thick with a faux shearling cover.  it may be more comfy than our bed.



so, there is no explanation for the constant flow of giant laundy circulating through this house.  blacks, whites, colors.....pinks with reds, blue jeans, bright blues and greens.....it goes down the stairs...lug, lug, lug....sort, sort, sort, sort, sort, sort, sort, sort, sort.......one load, another, another, another, another,  washer, dryer, washer, dryer, washer, dryer washer, dryer, washer, dryer, washer, dryer.......lug, lug, lug, lug, lug, lug, lug, lug, lug, lug, lug....fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold..........stack, stack, stack, stack, stack, stack, stack.....ready for pick up.....ready for pick up....ready for pick up....ready for pick up.

then it begins....."please pick of your pile of clean laundry and put it away....in your drawers.  no, not on the drawers.....in the drawers.  no, not on the chair.....in the drawers."

"please put your laundry in the laundry basket.  please put that laundry in the laundry basket.  why is that clean towel on the floor?  please hang up that towel.  please pick up that clean towel.  why are all of those clothes on the floor?  no they're not dirty, they are clean....i just washed them.  how did those clean clothes get in your laundry basket.  or, where is your laundry basket?  oh, i couldn't see it under all of those clothes.  where is the dirty laundy? are you sure this is all of your laundry....then why is there still stuff on the floor?"

please refer to my third paragraph to see what happens next...i think you may be familiar with the routine....although since others in the world have it down to a perfect science, i've only been doing this for a few years.  after all, my kids are teens.  that's when the laundry game changed.  that's when they forgot everything that we spent time teaching them for years.  that's when they got that distracted look on their faces?  what laundry?  they peek out from under the piles and piles of laundry that they are under....they aren't really trying to look at me....they are just trying to breathe.

oh and i'm not a laundry martyr....my husband is sensitive new age or desperate for navy socks, he does lots of laundry too.....even the kids have learned some pieces of the laundry puzzle, like folding....sometimes sorting and turning on the washer and pouring half a gallon of tide in the wash, with bubbles from here to the next pile of laundry.......sometimes switching a load.....

we are blessed to have so much....or are we.....isn't it just too much.....too many.....we have lots and lots.

we share, we give away, we donate, we hand down.

and we still have more...on the floor...in the drawers...in the closets....in summer storage.....

and yet, this morning grace asked me for her white j. crew v-neck t-shirt.  she had made that request last night.  imagine that girl, thinking ahead like that.  she specifically asked for that white shirt...no other.
oh, i said,"it's in the dryer."


i went to the dryer.  it had never been turned on.