laundry

laun·dry  [lawn-dree] –noun, plural -dries.
articles of clothing, linens, etc., that have been or are to be washed.

That's the dictionaries definition. My definition.....my own personal hell.

I have tried everything to make laundry easier on myself. I've read every article ever written, bought cute shelving/bins, products that promise to make it more effortless....everything. For years, I've tried to come up with the "perfect system" to streamline the process, but unfortunately, with four kids, there is no easy way to get it done. And it's probably not even the four kids issue, it's the three kids involved in way too many sports issue that does me in. For instance, I just received an email from Brady's soccer coach saying he needs to wear the same t-shirt and shorts for tomorrows training that he wore tonight. It's filthy. And smelly. And the shirt is white. And the shorts are black. That equals two different wash loads. Get what I'm saying?

Let me show you the math on a typical weekday (I'll use today) of laundry here at Casa Smallie.....

All three boys change out of their jammies (or whatever they wear to bed) before school. 1 outfit each in hamper. They wear school uniforms so when they come home, they have to change into soccer practice clothes. 1 school uniform each into hamper. After soccer, they hit the showers. 1 outfit each into hamper. 4 towels used during showers (Carter uses two...ridiculous, I know) all end up in hamper. I know I should make them reuse the towels, but I picture them drying their butt cracks with them and well, now I'm sure you understand my point.

Scott wakes up and changes into workout clothes. 1 outfit in hamper. After he gets back from the gym or track, he showers and changes into work clothes. 1 towel in hamper. 1 workout outfit in hamper. After school he has basketball practice. When he comes home in the evening, he drops his work clothes and bball coaching clothes into hamper. 2 outfits in hamper.

Me-when I wake up, I put my jammies into a basket in my closet. Marvel idea, right? I wear the same outfit all day. At night, I go for a run, often in the clothes I wear during the day. So, today, I had 1 outfit in the hamper and 1 towel and put my jammies back on after my post-run shower. Obviously, I do the laundry around here.

All of this makes me appreciate Cate's current obsession with her pwincess dwess jammies and her Minnie Mouse jammies dwess. Her laundry is very minimal these days :)

So, in total, I currently have 14 outfits or..... 14 shirts, 14 shorts, at least 10 pairs of undies, six towels, and 18+socks to wash FROM TODAY ALONE!!!

Needless to say that neglecting to do laundry for even a day puts me so far behind. No wonder I'm always so friggin' crabby!

Random stuff-

• Each boy has a certain colored hanger...Carter-blue, Bennett-white, Brady-brown. This way, if anyone ever helps me put the clothes away, they end up in the right closet.
• The colored hangers also incriminate those who leave them on the floor or rip their "heads" off
• Headless hangers are one of my biggest pet peeves. Ripping a shirt out of the closet so fast that it breaks the hook off really gets me fired up.
• Bennett is notorious for changing more than five times a day and throwing his clean clothes into the hamper.
• Clean clothes in the hamper is another one of my biggest pet peeves.
• Bennett always gets dressed right next to his hamper and his clothes NEVER make it in there.
• Hamper is such a weird word and I've obviously overused it in this rant :)
• Scott throws his clothes that can be worn again before washing at the foot of his closet rather than hanging them back up. Drives me crazy. I think the men in this house are sabotaging my laundry efforts.

Socks....DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED

Ok, enough venting for one night. The dryer buzzer just went off...time to change loads :) I will conclude with a classic picture of Ms. Cate.

Cate in her Minnie Mouse jammies (and headband gone wrong). I'm telling myself that her "one outfit a month" habit is her little of way of helping me with the laundry. That and the fact that rather than using a towel after her bath she runs around naked and air dries while yelling "my boys, look at my butt".