Wash, Rinse, Dry, Repeat

Sort
Wash
Rinse
Dry
Hang
Repeat

Sort
Wash
Rinse
Hang
Repeat

Ah, the joys of doing laundry! Three kids, one dog and a mommy create an awful lot of laundry. There are school uniforms, weekend clothes, practice clothes, dance clothes, soccer uniforms, basketball shirts... the list is endless, and so is the laundry!

Every Sunday, we gather up the laundry and bring it down for the sorting to begin. Then the washing and the drying take place. Finally, there is the dreaded hanging of the clothes (no folding in this house as we have closets and no dressers) unless of course we run out of time and just hang things over the chair.

Back when I was married and not a working mom with three busy tweeners, I would have stayed up all night to finish the laundry and put it away so the house could be clean and organized for our beloved family. Now I am happy if everything is wrinkle-free and ready to be hung. So what if it stays on the laundry chair all week -- everyone knows where it is -- just pull it off the chair and put it on.

Of course, it took awhile for my crazily, neurotic self to be OK with the laundry on the chair. Hm... spend time reading Inkheart to S1 or hang the laundry. Hm... download current hit songs with D1 (so I can be the hippest mom ever) or hang the laundry. Hm... practice long-division with D2 or hang the laundry (might consider getting D1 to help with this so I can avoid all things related to math and hang the laundry instead, but practice long division anyway wondering who it is harder for -- me or D2).

I think the laundry is kind of like a metaphor for my life. As soon as I finish up the weekly loads of whites, reds, darks and towels, there is more in the basket just like there is always more on my list of things to do. I am not sure who thought being an entrepreneur with carpool responsibilities would be a good idea, but it is our life:

Exercise
Take kids to school
Work like crazy while they are at school
Drive all over town for practices, classes and games
Figure out some kind of healthy dinner
Read out loud
Kiss kids goodnight.
Fall into bed.
REPEAT.

And so yes, at the end of the week everything on the list isn't done and the laundry is hung on the chair yet again. But there is that one moment of silence on Sunday night when the clothes are all clean, and the list is written for the week, and the house is quiet. I tiptoe from room to room kissing foreheads (still looking to make sure they are breathing even though they are big now), and I know joy from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. I head downstairs and smile.

Fall into bed.

REPEAT!