New Toys....

When I typed the title of this post, I got depressed because of what I now consider "toys."

I wouldn't normally get this excited over appliances, especially ones that require some effort on my part to operate them (wouldn't that be ALL of them?), and I certainly wouldn't call them "toys." But for some reason I've been giddy over my recent purchase.

It could be due to the fact that I wasn't here when they were delivered, and I've already forgotten all the work I had to do just to make room for them.

Our washer and dryer live in the basement (must have been a 70's thing), much to my chagrin. There is sort of a "laundry room," but it's mostly just a sheetrocked section of our unfinished basement. The floor floods when it rains a lot (if it ever rains again, that is), and it smells like a musty basement.

I guess there are advantages to having the washer and dryer in the basement. I can't hear them, so the noise doesn't interfere with whatever sporting event I may be watching in the living room. When the dryer buzzes at the end of a drying cycle, I can ignore it if I choose. Not that I choose to ignore it often; I've gotten better at that in recent years.

I haven't used them yet. I had just bought a new container of liquid detergent before we made this purchase, and now I have to take it back and exchange it for the "high efficiency" kind. I was too tired (and uninterested) to drive to the grocery store when I got back from Jacksonville today, so it will have to wait until tomorrow.

The second best thing about my new washer and dryer is the capacity. Since we changed to a king-sized bed, I haven't been able to wash an entire set of sheets in one load. I mean, I COULD, but it was bordering on overloading the machines, and I didn't think they were getting sufficiently clean.

But the absolute BEST thing about the new washer and dryer is that they can sit side-by-side, instead of one being on one wall and the other being on another wall.

All is symmetrical now in my world.

At least the world as it pertains to laundry.

It's Really Not That Hard....

I don't enjoy housework of any kind, but as I've noted before, I generally do the bare minimum to keep the health officials from condemning our house. I keep the dishes washed, I make up the bed every morning, and I try to control the clutter. One chore that I find particularly distasteful is laundry.

We seem to go through a lot of clothes for just two people. And I can't pinpoint why exactly. We use the same towels all week, since we ARE clean when we get out of the shower. I generally change out of my school clothes into sweats (or shorts) and a t-shirt when I get home from school, but I wear the same sweats all week. I'll wear them until bedtime, and it's not like they have a chance to get dirty.

Hubby wears uniforms to work, and if he has a short day and doesn't get his shirt dirty, he may wear it again the next day. He's considerate like that.

So I can't figure out why #1) we accumulate so much laundry; and #2) why I find it such an odious task.

It isn't time consuming. I can legitimately put a load of laundry in the washer and sit down to crochet, telling myself, "Well at least I'm getting the laundry done."

Approximately 45 minutes later I go downstairs to the basement and transfer the clothes into the dryer. That gives me another hour in which to kill time or grade assignments or watch television, all the while getting the laundry done.

It's not like I have to take the clothes down to the river and beat them on a rock or something.

Or heat a huge cauldron of water so I can stir them with a stick.

And don't even ask me why I will let a load of clothes sit in the dryer for two days. I'm getting better, but it's a terrible habit. They get all wrinkled, of course, and if there's one thing I hate more than laundry, it's IRONING. It's not like I forget they are down there, because there is this squeaky voice I can hear even in my sleep saying, "Hey! You forgot us down here!" It's the unfolded pieces of clothing.

Why do I put that off? Folding a load of laundry takes approximately 5 minutes. Our socks always come out in even numbers, so I do not have a good excuse for avoiding the act of folding laundry.

It's strange, though, that it has become such a habit that even when I HAVE folded the clothes and put them away, sometimes I hear that same squeaky voice telling me I didn't. One day I went all the way downstairs to get some clothes out of the dryer, and they weren't even in there. I had already folded them.

Good Lord. I'm even hearing voices in the laundry now.