Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Keepin' It Real

Well, here it is...my first "Keepin' It Real" post - where I'm going to air a little bit of my 'dirty laundry' to you...and this time, I mean that literally!

Laundry has always been (well, at least since I've had kids) this monster that I can never seem to tame. I always have mountains of laundry somewhere...sometimes it's dirty, sometimes it's clean, but it's usually piled somewhere.

(Now, let me reiterate - the point of these posts is giving you a glimpse of the 'real' me, which is, admittedly, hopelessly flawed. One might ask why I would do this. It's because there are things is my life of which I am ashamed and would love to keep hidden from anyone's knowledge so that they will not think less of me. However, I've discovered that to some degree, most of these things keeps me bound in some way. So, in order to remove any hold that they have, I'm just gonna drag 'em on out into the light, for all the blog-world to see! And, hopefully in the process, make you feel a little better about whatever your struggles are, as we all have our own 'issues'!)

So, as I was saying... Laundry - it's always lurking behind the closed doors in my house. Actually, I can keep up with my own personal laundry, and Kate and I either combine ours, or she does her own, as does Todd. So really, it's the boys' laundry that just overwhelms me. There are just so many little socks and boxer shorts and grass-stained jeans! And when the boys 'clean' their room, everything gets jam-packed into one tiny hamper, which seems to vacuum-pack it all. (And when I say everything, I mean everything...last week I pulled a Nerf football out of the basket that I was loading into the washer!) The result of that is that I rarely actually get to the bottom of the hamper...the clothes on top tend to just keep getting re-washed and worn. (So if you seem to see my kids in the same clothes over and over, you now know why!) However, last weekend, I finally got caught up (well, mostly anyway) on all the laundry in the house. There are still a few baskets of clean stuff to be folded, but the only stuff in the hampers at this point (to my knowledge!) is what has accumulated since Sunday.

The real 'shame' in this post is what I must here admit: when I got to the last load of the boys laundry - the stuff that had been vacuum-packed in the bottom of the hamper - included a few final shorts and tank tops! Yes, it's true...that shows just how long it's been since I made it all the way to the bottom.

Todd was somewhat appalled when I told him. He just can't imagine what my problem is, I guess. He's often mentioned to me how "growing up, his Mom always had a 'laundry day' when all the laundry got done that day, every week...". That's seems like a great plan. Really it does. I don't know if it's my own retardation or if it's the sheer number of people and things I'm responsible for the care of, but laundry just simply takes a backseat here. If everyone in the house has something clean to wear, there's a clean towel for everyone, I'm movin' on. Admittedly, they may have to dig a clean pair of jeans out of a washbasket still sitting in the laundry room waiting to be folded, but the fact is that there are generally more important and pressing things to be done! No one's going to die or flunk the third grade if I don't get every last t-shirt washed this week...or next, apparently! :) So, while I really am trying to get better at this...I just have to be okay with not beating myself up over it. And now you know...should you peek behind my closed laundry or bedroom doors, this is the reality of what you might find.

Hey, I'm just keepin' it real.

3 comments:

Holly said...

Well if the point is to make others feel good, you have done just that!

I would first like to say I don't think it's the number of people in the house - cause the laundry at my house is also always piled somewhere - and if I leave the dirty laundry on my bedroom floor too long, Jane takes her all day naps on it after spreading it out just so! But what I'm really bad at is folding and putting away! Poor David asks many mornings if he has clean jeans - answer - yup in the dryer (or laundry basket or in that pile over there...)!

So take heart - here at the Winslow house I do all the laundry so that's 4 people - many less than you have - and it's still a daily struggle to get it washed, dried, folded and put away!

I'm just thankful for a washing machine - glad I don't have to do the laundry on a rock next to a creek somewhere!

Anonymous said...

Just this morning I went to put something in the dryer and found a load still in it... guess that tells you how well we keep up.

I had a friend tell me that she always did her wash two days a week and always the same days ( I think that was how the PA. Dutch ladies did it... washing and cleaning always the same day each week). She always hung out her wash weather permitting. Soon after her daughter was born she had a particularly rough night and slept in with the baby. At some point her neighbor came to check on her to make sure she was ok. Something had to be wrong with her because her wash wasn't out at the usual time. Nice to know you are looked after.. I think.

Anonymous said...

I like your KEepin' it Real theme and post. You're right, it's easy to think other bloggers have it all together, but let's face it. We only let other people see (or read) what we want them to. Onlly God and the fam see the real deal.
Laundry has always been a challenge to keep up with. I like washing clothes, but the whole sorting,washing, folding, putting away in the same day ? Nearly never happens. I tried a Wash Day . Once. Seventeen loads . (Because I do laundry much the way Mom taught me, separating by color, weight, fabric content). I was crippled as an old woman the next day and vowed I would never have a SINGLE Wash Day again.

One thing I did learn was that we simply have too many clothes. I pared WAY down and the family followed suit. It has helped because we can't afford to let four days go w/o washing.Besides, we are creatures of comfort. We tend to reach for the same outfits over and over, so why mess w/ more than we truly enjoy wearing anyhow?