Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Leaving a legacy?

Well, there's this skirt my Mom gave me and every Sunday I want to wear it and every Sunday I pull it out and think: Dang! I need to iron it! So one SATURDAY, I wrote a note to myself on the fridge and actually pulled out the ironing board and iron.. and ironed my skirt. YAY me! I was so proud. And then after the first twenty minutes of Beck wriggling on my lap in sacrament it was wrinkled again, but hey, I did iron it. And it felt good. I think I've ironed enough for a few years now.

The kids were fascinated by this bizarre ritual. Kaia said, "Mom, what are you doing?! Why? What is that? Can I help? Can we do that to my clothes?" Okay. So I NEVER iron. REALLY. NEVER. Even, Zeke said, "Yeah, I guess you don't iron much..." Nope, I don't. It's been YEARS. Really.

Oh yeah, and then there's dusting... let's not even go there. Let's just say, I don't need a message board... I could write messages to my family in the dust on my TV and nightstands and bookshelves. I loathe dusting.

Here's the deal, I'm really not a good housekeeper. I only do things if I like doing them. For example (say it like Hermione):

laundry (yeah, it's creepy)
vacuuming (stress reliever)
baking (obvious)

So any of you out there... can you somehow help me LIKE ironing, dusting, washing dishes, mopping, changing litter boxes? I'm always making my kids do the chores I don't like. I remember doing those same chores when I was growing up... Mom, is there something you should tell me? And I always vacuum, because it's fun! Mom always vacuumed too... hmm.

Anyway, I've noticed lots of my friends don't like doing laundry. Of all the things people complain about on their blogs and Facebook and such... a BIG majority complain about doing laundry.

Well, this is my "secret" to enjoying laundry. Now I can't promise you will enjoy it, but it will make it easier and you'll always have clean clothes. At least I think so. There's this cool chic called The Flylady. I subscribe to her daily emails to help me keep track of my house. Now, I obviously don't do all the stuff she tells me, but I really like her solution for laundry.
She calls it: "No more Mt. Washmore!"
This is my laundry pile, but I am so "persnickety" I must confess: this is several loads of clean clothes piled up just for the picture (I can't handle too much dirty laundry sitting around!) Yeah, I might seem crazy, but it's a great blessing! Here's the trick: the Flylady says to do one or two loads of laundry EACH day. That means washed, folded, AND put away. Done.

I don't have a "laundry day". And I don't ever have a huge pile of dirty laundry taking over my basement. But I always have clean clothes. Now, there's always a full basket or two of clothes that needs to be washed, but when I do one or two loads a day, I'm always making a dent in it.

Another reason I like doing it this way is when I used to have a set "Laundry Day" (mine used to be Monday several years ago), it seemed like something would happen that day that prevented me from devoting my entire day to laundry. The kids would get sick or I needed to run to the store or something. I don't know about you, but with 4 children, I couldn't devote one day to anything!

Anyway, the Flylady and her routines have been a HUGE help to me. I like the idea of doing a little bit everyday and it all adds up. It does. I just need to stop ignoring the email reminders to dust my house!

Oh, and this is totally random, but I when I was little, there was an awesome cartoon I loved to watch called "Hong Kong Phooey" I loved it! A Karate Master/Super Hero dog and his sidekick, Spot, a smart cat who really does all the work. Anyway, my dear hubby ran across an AWESOME cover of the Hong Kong Phooey theme song. It's from a band we like, "Sublime." I love the reggae and ska punk influence they put into it. I can't get videos to work on my blog for some reason. Zeke's going to help me figure it out when school is done (NEXT WEEK, by the way!!) But here's a link. It puts me in a good mood every time! I love how music can do that. (P.S. Just for the record, I think the band could use some shirts, but hey... they're having fun, right?)

7 comments:

  1. Yeah, I don't even own a full size ironing board, just a table top one. My kids would probably ask similar questions if they ever saw me iron...which I don't anticipate will be anytime soon! :)

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  2. Oh man Lacy! I love it! If you enjoy it so much, wanna do the laundry at my house?? HA HA HA HA. Just kidding. I've been better at the laundry lately. Just do at least one or two and I've kept up with it. But that's just the washing and drying. There's a nice clean pile on my floor that needs to be put away. HA! I'm almost there...And I hate dusting too. In fact, I never think of it cause it just seems to be the least important thing to do. But I hate my vacuum. I don't mind to actually vacuum but the stupid thing is annoying. I should get a better one. Maybe I'll vacuum more often! lol. Thanks for this post. I need to go put some laundry away now...

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  3. Lacy, I just love your posts. So glad to hear nobody else likes the dusting, laundry, etc. I swear I dust one day and the next day it is dusty again. And, it seems like men just don't even see the dust.

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  4. I love the flylady and I love you blog! I definitely want to hook up someday and eat pie. How about Shari's in Twin Falls? We can set a date later.

    I'm really glad you sent me an email so I could invite you to my blog. You are always welcome.

    Thanks for being my blogging friend.

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  5. I have to say that I hate ironing too. In fact, I just washed one of my new shirts and I realized I'm going to have to iron it if I ever want to wear it again and that is very disheartening. But I really like this shirt.

    I try really hard to do a load or two of laundry a day, but my work schedule makes it hard. I love it when I can, though! Because it piles up! I think one laundry day only works when there's just 2 or 3 people in the house. But once you're up to 5 or 6 that equals at least 35 shirts, 35-40 pairs of pants, 35-40 pajamas, 35-40 sets of underwear, not to mention all of the towels and sheets! YIKES!

    And as far as the rest of the housekeeping, I don't love to do it. But I also can't function when things are messy (I have my mother to thank me for that), so I go on cleaning rampages. Then I don't clean again for a few days until I can't stand it anymore.

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  6. I am with you on hating the mopping and dishes and such. I would rather clean the bathroom than do dishes. Crazy I know. And I think I might only dust 2 or 3 times a year. But, I do have to disagree on the laundry day. I hold Monday's sacred. I forget too easily that there is something in the washer. I don't let much happen on Monday. That way, I have 1 1/2 hours of folding to do and then I get to watch a movie or TV and don't have to feel guilty becasue I am being productive. Your post on your mom was beautiful. I got choked up. Someday I hope to be half as good as mine.

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  7. I had to cancel my flylady subscription because I kept feeling guilty about not doing all the things, but I loved the pick up everyday thing. Loved as i a thing that is past.

    I'm so glad you like laundry.

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