Monday, November 10, 2008

Laundry

It seems every time I tell someone what I've been doing, it's always "I'm trying to catch up on laundry". I think I'm just going to make a sign that says "Never ending laundry going on here...any more questions?"
I would love to reach the point where I could just do a couple to three loads a day and stay caught up (it's always possible in theory) but somehow it never works for me. Maybe I should stop being so picky about "how" it gets done and just settle for "getting done".
First of all, I detest folding wrinkled laundry, so if there is a chance that I won't get to it right away I let it stay in the dryer until I can make sure it gets folded immediately. Then, I hate having baskets of clean folded laundry sitting around I like them all put away and hung up right away. But because it would take a herculean effort to get ALL my laundry washed, dried, folded, and put away IMMEDIATELY.... I just always stay behind.... Until the kids are saying "Mommy I don't have any clean pajamas" and then I rush in and start wildly doing laundry until the wee hours of the morning so that it all gets done "right".
Or like today, I just do it and put it in the baskets and if I get time to fold it I do or I let the kids fold it and turn a blind eye to the less-than-perfect results. I am in the process of teaching each of the older 3 how to run the washer and do the laundry...all of them know how to sort and fold...except Levi and he is learning. But they are just children, and since my tendency is to redo my OWN work if it's not just right, I try to be careful not to critique their's very much. They really do a great job for as young as they are, and I know that with continued training they will one day do it as perfectly as I could ever wish. I try to let them do the play clothes and pajamas and I do the dress clothes since it's more important that they look good ( i.e. not get shrunk or come out with stains). I realize most of what I just said all sounds like it contradicts itself, but I feel like that most of the time...that my goals and reality don't live in the same house very often. So the question in my mind is ... do I change my expectations or my reality? and if so how? I do realize that I am just talking about laundry here, but it is sort of symbolic of other areas in my life also, so, I've made it a matter of prayer. I don't want to waste my time on the unimportant, but on the other hand "whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might" . So there you have it...feel free to leave your opinions, I would love to hear them.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I can relate! My goals/schedules always sound so do-able on paper! I think praying about it is the best advice!
Bon