Thursday

Just like Jen, I have a set laundry day. That day is today, Thursday. I love having a set day. I love knowing that all my clothes are clean at the same time. It is wonderful. What is even better is knowing that I don't have to do it again until next Thursday. Unlike Jen, I HATE ironing though. I will just say that my husband really knows I love him when I iron his shirts. But since Jen already wrote about that, I will give you a few laundry tips.

1. Oxy Clean-I am sure you heard of it, but I love it. Add a scoop to your laundry for an extra boost.

2. Baking Soda-you can add up to one cup per load to help remove stinky odors.

3. Vinegar- (distilled white vinegar) add one cup per load to your towels and it will help make them softer. It helps remove all the leftover residue from the detergent. You will be amazed at the lint in your dryer after trying this.

I actually have a Sam's Club sized container for each of these products that sits on the shelf with my detergent so I can use it every week. You will be amazed at the results.

Oh, but don't add the Vinegar and Baking Soda to the same load. I have never done it, but I can only imagine the mess it would make. Think elementary school volcanoes, but in your washing machine.

4. If you have a stubborn stain that did not come out, do not dry the item in the dryer. Re-treat it and wash it again.

Happy Laundry Day!

Downy-Scented Bliss

Call me crazy, but I actually enjoy doing laundry. I end up doing a small load here and there throughout the week, but there is always one major laundry day where everything gets washed - full loads of all colors, bedding and towels. Once everything is sorted, I just keep it going throughout the day while I'm doing other things around the house. As each batch is washed and dried, I unload the laundry basket on the sofa. At the end of the day when the kids are in bed, I can relax, watch some TV while I fold and organize the Downy-scented mounds of clean clothes into neat piles. Somehow this process is therapeutic for me, and I think I actually sleep better knowing that everything is clean and put away and the laundry baskets are empty when I wake up in the morning.

Ironing is something I don't enjoy as much as laundering and folding, but I don't mind it either. Really the only time we wear clothes that need ironing is to church on Sunday. I know my husband appreciates his crisp white shirts, and my kids (as short-lived as it is) look particularly cute and spiffy in their starched shirt, pants and dress.

I made this ironing board cover for my mom for Mother's Day using this tutorial.

She uses my grandma's old ironing board which is fatter and shorter than today's standard size. It's always been difficult, if not impossible to find a well-fitting cover for it, and with this tutorial, you can make it whatever size you want. I used scraps from my stash, but wouldn't it be cute in this:

(Laundry Day from Michael Miller)

or this?

(Laundry Essentials from Michael Miller)

I think I need to make one for myself! And if you just want a good laugh, take a look at this:

Well off to do some...well, not laundry. That was yesterday. Wishing you loads of happiness in the land of Laundry-dom!

The Laundry Pile that Ate New York

My laundry pile in October 2008.
Some things never change.

This is the story of the Laundry Pile that Ate New York. Okay, so maybe it's not that bad. But it certainly seems to be eating my sofa. I don't even know how many loads it is, I'm afraid if I start counting I'll never ever stop! It begins innocently enough. I devise a system - say, one load washed, folded and put away every single day. And then it gets tedious. It just doesn't seem worth the effort to have only one pair of pants to put away here, two shirts to put away there. And so the pile grows. And grows. And grows. And finally I break down and spend an entire day on laundry, folding it all at the end of the day while I put in some rare TV time.

But it's all good. I'm cool with it. It's just the way I roll.

I think the only time I honestly do like doing the laundry is on beautiful summer days - sounds crazy, I know - but that's when I hang it on the line, and I love, love, love it. There's just something peaceful and meditative about being outside early, when the sun isn't too high yet, methodically hanging laundry. It's a ritual that's impossible to rush, so it forces me to begin my day slowly. We've pretty much had two days of sunshine since March around here, and I am longing to hang my laundry; I am missing those beautiful, peaceful summer mornings.

My laundry last summer - see how happy it looks?

While we wait for summer to finally arrive in the northwest, I am contenting myself in the meantime with the loveliness that is homemade laundry powder. Seriously, I love this stuff. It's easy to make, easy on the budget, and I can make it smell however I want! I've been mostly using this recipe from Sew Much Ado, only I really can't stand the smell of Fels Naptha soap, so I've been playing with substitutions; my favorite so far is Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day bar soap in lemon verbena. SouleMama uses a similar recipe using Dr. Bronner's castile soap. Next time I can get my hands on some, I'm going to try using homemade soap made by the hands of my very own mother-in-law.

(Anne Taintor rocks. Go buy her stuff!)

However you get yours done, I hope your laundry pile is well-behaved, and may you fold in peace!

Sunshine and Happy Thoughts Will Come and Go but I'll Always Have LAUNDRY!

This is what lay in front of me today...only all over my upstairs floor.  I knew it needed to be done (several days ago) and today I had no choice.  9 loads of dirty stinky laundry (camping yuck included) that lay at my feet, begging to be cleaned.  Oh! And that does not even count the two clean loads I left in a wrinkly wad on the floor or the moldy-by-now-one I forgot about in the washer before we left.  Is it possible to be intimidated by your own mess?  Where do I even begin? 

I call the day before these kinds of days (which sadly lands too often on a Sunday) my monster laundry days.  It's like it slowly creeps up on me through out my week (or two) until one scary moment when I wake up to find that it has consumed all surfaces and it's icky smell I'm sure, can be noticed outside by our poor neighbors.  You can usually tell when I experience these nightmarish days by what my kids and I have to wear to church.  Like Yesterday...no sort of tan nylons to grace these baby white manly legs of mine, a dress that was obviously too small for Sadie that beautifully showed off her baby white chunky legs, and Payton got to wear white socks to church and size 3T pants that flooded above his cute ankles.  It's fun going to church and trying to hide your obviously icky legs.  So yesterday I did my best pity dance in front of the mirror before I left and I, in my head forced myself to move on...refusing to do anything about it until Monday.  It drove me crazy but I held off because I was taught to not do it on our day of rest, and mostly because it was easier to ignore it.  All I had to do was not ever go upstairs.  Ha ha!

Well, my hopes of tackling this awful job were high today, as high as my never-ending-I'll-have-to-do-it-literally-for-forever pile of laundry. I got up early and cleaned the house (mostly I just had to pick up all the clothing lying around) sorted it all into piles (whites, kind of whites, lights, dark jeans, darks that didn't include jeans, blankets, kitchen towels...ya I had enough, bath towels and hand-washables...why do I own those anyway?) and Payton helped me fold the two clean wrinkled loads. I was excited to get it all done and to show you the progress I had made...or how enormously high my neat folded piles were.

BUT...doing the laundry made me remember that our little family needed some things for a few special weddings coming up.  I put the kids in the car and we left as the washer and dryer kept on working hard. I intended to return soon after the loads were done but we didn't return until 5 hours later. Oops!

So with a very frowny face and a huge loud disappointed sigh I regretfully admit that I, instead of doing what HAD to be done, went shopping.  Ironic, isn't it, that my day was spent only adding to the worst chore in the world? I did score some pretty awesome deals though and at least my family is going to look presentable for these weddings.  It's just a really good thing that I have tomorrow to continue what I started today.

Help!  There has to be a better way.