This Is The Way We Wash Our Clothes...

Have you ever, for circumstances I'm quite sure were beyond your control, let the laundry pile up so high you can't even guesstimate how many loads it will take you to dig out from underneath the avalanche? No, of course not. You are a perfectionist that would never let that happen, right? Yeah. Me, too. Sometimes, anyway. So how did this happen??? How is it that the laundry is so backlogged that processing it will take a herculean effort for the next few days? I honestly have no idea. Not a tincture of a clue. Nada. Nyet. Nothing in the ol' brain cells that would come up with even a modicum of an excuse. Well, aside from sheer laziness. Which you all know I'd never admit to as a first course of action. So I figured I'd do something drastic. Something as yet unheard of. In this household anyway.

I declared a "No Clean Clothes Day". Sadly, that didn't mean that I didn't need to clean any because we've already established that the desperate need existed. What it really meant was that anyone not going to work that day, an exemption necessary for the wonderful Daddy who supports us, must wear something they'd already worn. They were instructed to preserve the few remaining clean items in their closets in honor of the day and were to dig up something not so dirty and lacking wrinkles to wear instead. They were to suck it up and get with the program. And I'd prefer they choose something that didn't smell too badly as a special favor to me. My declaration met with blank stares.

Momentarily stumped by this unexpected reaction, I started racking my brains for some reason why they weren't rebelling at the very suggestion. Had we done this once before in a previous moment of desperation? No. That wasn't it. I'd spent much of their lives telling them to go put on clean clothes - from the bottom up so to speak. Hmmm... Perhaps they were wondering if I'd momentarily lost my mind. While I'd like to say that it couldn't happen, I'd be deluding myself and adding to the problem so I figured we'd just let that one slide for now. I wondered if perhaps they were having trouble comprehending what I'd said. You know, as it 'I have an earache and I can't hear you' type thing. But they looked perfectly healthy. That couldn't be it, either. So what was it?

Then it dawned on me. As I carefully looked at them in an effort to discover another helpful clue to their reaction, it hit me that they were attempting to figure out why this was a new thing. After all, Jonathan was standing there in the t-shirt he wore yesterday, and quite probably slept in. He was wearing jeans with holes in the knees that were too short and designated to be used only when not leaving the house. And I think he had them on yesterday. Please tell me he didn't sleep in those, too!!! And Matthew. Yes, that was a t-shirt he'd worn to bed at the very least. It was wrinkled in places shirts don't get wrinkled in while in the dryer. Could it be that putting on clean clothes that morning hadn't even crossed their minds? Was the fact that they knew we were staying home for much of the day impacting their fashion choices for the day???

Heaven help me. You'd think I would be upset by the fact that they were wearing clothing that wasn't vaguely clean. And more so by the fact that they'd not had any intention of changing. At least until their friends rang the doorbell asking them to join the latest neighborhood game. But that wasn't it. No, it was more of a "Oh My Goodness!!!" I was further behind than I thought I was. If indeed they were wearing clothing that was dirty already, where did all of those other dirty clothes come from??? *sigh*

I guess it is no longer a secret. I hate doing laundry. Absolutely despise it. It is only done out of necessity. And usually kept up at least to some standard. Until lately. It seems that in all of the joys of returning to schooling at home, the fun of fall and the issues around getting Laura's feet attended to, laundry had slipped not only to the bottom of the priority list, but might have slipped off the list altogether. I needed to face facts. First, laundry needed to get back on the daily to do list. I needed to make it more of a priority. Pronto. Second, I needed to readjust my kids concept of what was acceptable. Hmmm... on second thought, perhaps I'll just tackle one thing at a time. Laundry it is!

This is the way we wash our clothes, wash our clothes, wash our clothes. This is the way we wash our clothes, each and every day... Sure. I'll be working on that. Maybe for a New Year's resolution list...