When the weekend, with its out-of-the-ordinary schedule and extra activities ends, one thing helps me to recover my mental equilibrium as I reinstate order in my home: going to the laundry room to start a load of clothes.
There's something so
normal about it. I like the fact that I don't even have to
think while I'm doing laundry, and there are no hard choices to be made...well, other than "should I do a load of lights or a load of darks first?"
As the water pours into the washer, calm energy pours into my soul:
calmness because I realize that, despite some areas of chaos in our home, all is well...
energy because I'm once again inspired to attack those areas of chaos and bring order again.
As the washer fills, I look around the room and give thanks for the little touches that make it home. Soap in an antique crock...
...the clothespin bag, which will see frequent use when the weather warms but which is hardly used during this season (because unlike my Old Order Mennonite neighbors, I am not sacrificial enough to hang clothes out on the line when temperatures are hovering anywhere near freezing)...
...blue jeans finishing their drying on a peg...
...a rack filled with clothes...
...(because a penny saved is a penny earned, and less time running the dryer is one tiny way I can help our family financially)...
...the button jar on a shelf.
But by far, the best thing I see is a small boy...
...who is always eager to be my laundry helper.
As I feel the peace descend upon me, I leave my laundry room ready to face the day, the week, the house, the schedule. As I go, I remember the wisdom found in the saying on the wall of my laundry room:
Indeed.
5 comments:
I have a drying rack in my laundry room as well. I hang jeans on it, because the take so long to dry in the dryer. Like you, I am one to hang clothes out ONLY in fair weather.
I need to get caught up from a crazy weekend.. leading into a crazy week followed by a crazy weekend.. but next week looks SLOW yay! Now to find my motivation.. I think its hidden behind all of the stacks ;-)
JDaniel loves to help my husband with laundry. I love to use a drying rack too.
Ok, couple questions...
How do you keep your washer so clean? No really, am I the only one who has a dirty washing machine? It seems to get gunky so easily.
What is the wooden spoon for? I've seen other people keep one in their laundry room but never asked why.
Ok, that's all. :)
Valerie - to answer your questions, I keep the machine clean by wiping it down every so often. The only time the interior needs wiped down is if I've washed a load that left a lot of fuzzies or other random gunk inside it, but that doesn't happen very often. For the exterior, I keep a container of cleaning wipes in my laundry cabinet; and every once in a while, I grab a wipe and use it to clean the outside while I'm waiting for the washer to fill with water. I'm blessed to have a room devoted to laundry, so maybe it doesn't get dirty as fast as it would if it were in another room of the house where more little hands were touching it! :)
The wooden spoon is my version of a laundry stick, an old-fashioned habit I picked up from my mom (and probably my grandma, too). I use it to poke the clothes into the water and see if there is room for more clothes or if the load is full enough. Because of the eczema on my hands, I have to be very careful about what I expose my hands to...and every time they're dunked in soapy water, I pay for it with itchy rashes. Using the stick keeps my hands out of the water which is a great thing for me!
Thanks for asking questions! :)
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