Friday, September 7, 2012

Laundry Woes

Posted by Tracy Wainwright at 2:07 PM 0 comments
How do you do laundry? I know some moms who prefer to do a load a day. That way, the piles of dirty (or clean) clothes don't feel so overwhelming. I especially find this true for my friends who work outside of the home full time, so their Saturday and Sunday family time isn't dominated by washing, folding, ironing, etc.

Or, like me, do you save it all up for one (or two) dedicated days? That's the way I like laundry.

I'm not a consistent, do something every day kind of person. Don't suppose I ever was. Will be surprised if I ever am. Therefore, laundry every 10 days or so works for me. However, when I tackle this monumental task, it does take up the better part of a day or two.

This is what it looks like to begin with, all piled in the floor, sorted (not just by lights, darks, and whites, but also reds and blues):


It all gets washed, dried, and piled on the pool table while we're doing school, cleaning house, mommy writes and kids play, etc. And it looks like this:


An hour or two of folding and all is ready for individual owners to put away:


You might think I'm crazy, and I just may be, but this system works for us. Until....something happens.

Two years ago, that something was my dryer breaking. With one load 1/2 dry, another soaking wet, and still more to do, I became creative with ski ropes strung throughout the garage. Not fun, but my father-in-law found a scratch and dent within a week and I was good to go again.

Now it's the washing machine. I'll admit that I wash fairly large loads, I fill the cavity to capacity. However, I don't ever stuff it overfull. Once I washed too large a load and my poor decade old machine walloped out of balance. It's been running fine ever since, although it sounds like a 747 trying to take off during the spin cycle. 

About a month ago, I noticed a leak. So, I put a towel under it. (No, there's no catch pan underneath.) Problem solved :)

Then yesterday, on the first load - which of course was jeans and a set of twin sheets, which I never do first - my daughter screams at me from the den that the upstairs smells like smoke. I look around the kitchen. No burners are on. Hadn't even touched the ovens. The coffee pot's not even brewing. I sprint upstairs to find my washing machine is making a low whir but is not whirling. In other words, the motor was attempting to spin, but the bucket was as stationary as an in ground pool. Going nowhere, but trying really heard. The smoking odor proved it.

I didn't handle this challenge well. My first reaction was anger at my husband not taking care of the off-kilter, leaky machine sooner. Then, when he came home and implied (okay, he didn't imply, he stated) that my load had been too big, I dug my heels in. I hadn't done anything different that day. How could it be my fault?

This time, my mother-in-law came to the rescue and took the sopping, dripping wet clothes plus two other loads and finished them at her house. Hubby ran a smaller load the the machine performed fine.

Great. Fantastic. So, it was me. Although I wouldn't admit it out loud.

Then God reminded me of the Bible Study I'm writing. The section I'm on happens to be on humility. And I certainly was not experiencing or exhibiting any humility. My feathers were ruffled and my quills were sticking up. 

This is what I was reminded of: Jesus, "Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death -- even death on a cross!" Philippians 2:5-8

Wow. I couldn't even humbly consider I'd done something to mess up. And I do mess up quite often. It keeps me humble. Especially when I need to be knocked down a few notches.

And so I was. 

We all have defenses. We all have trigger points. But whether we let them rise up and control us is up to us. I don't want to be controlled by these emotions. It doesn't feel good. I want to be controlled by the spirit.

It is a constant struggle. I will keep working on submitting myself to God to complete that work in me.

In the meantime, let me update the washing machine saga. One big load flopped. One small load finished to completion. A second small load stalled. So, there's no solution at this point.

The lesson, however, stands. No matter whether my washing machine starts working again on its own, hubby's able to fix it, or we get a new one, I will cling to the reminder that humility is a choice that God honors.


Friday, September 7, 2012

Laundry Woes

How do you do laundry? I know some moms who prefer to do a load a day. That way, the piles of dirty (or clean) clothes don't feel so overwhelming. I especially find this true for my friends who work outside of the home full time, so their Saturday and Sunday family time isn't dominated by washing, folding, ironing, etc.

Or, like me, do you save it all up for one (or two) dedicated days? That's the way I like laundry.

I'm not a consistent, do something every day kind of person. Don't suppose I ever was. Will be surprised if I ever am. Therefore, laundry every 10 days or so works for me. However, when I tackle this monumental task, it does take up the better part of a day or two.

This is what it looks like to begin with, all piled in the floor, sorted (not just by lights, darks, and whites, but also reds and blues):


It all gets washed, dried, and piled on the pool table while we're doing school, cleaning house, mommy writes and kids play, etc. And it looks like this:


An hour or two of folding and all is ready for individual owners to put away:


You might think I'm crazy, and I just may be, but this system works for us. Until....something happens.

Two years ago, that something was my dryer breaking. With one load 1/2 dry, another soaking wet, and still more to do, I became creative with ski ropes strung throughout the garage. Not fun, but my father-in-law found a scratch and dent within a week and I was good to go again.

Now it's the washing machine. I'll admit that I wash fairly large loads, I fill the cavity to capacity. However, I don't ever stuff it overfull. Once I washed too large a load and my poor decade old machine walloped out of balance. It's been running fine ever since, although it sounds like a 747 trying to take off during the spin cycle. 

About a month ago, I noticed a leak. So, I put a towel under it. (No, there's no catch pan underneath.) Problem solved :)

Then yesterday, on the first load - which of course was jeans and a set of twin sheets, which I never do first - my daughter screams at me from the den that the upstairs smells like smoke. I look around the kitchen. No burners are on. Hadn't even touched the ovens. The coffee pot's not even brewing. I sprint upstairs to find my washing machine is making a low whir but is not whirling. In other words, the motor was attempting to spin, but the bucket was as stationary as an in ground pool. Going nowhere, but trying really heard. The smoking odor proved it.

I didn't handle this challenge well. My first reaction was anger at my husband not taking care of the off-kilter, leaky machine sooner. Then, when he came home and implied (okay, he didn't imply, he stated) that my load had been too big, I dug my heels in. I hadn't done anything different that day. How could it be my fault?

This time, my mother-in-law came to the rescue and took the sopping, dripping wet clothes plus two other loads and finished them at her house. Hubby ran a smaller load the the machine performed fine.

Great. Fantastic. So, it was me. Although I wouldn't admit it out loud.

Then God reminded me of the Bible Study I'm writing. The section I'm on happens to be on humility. And I certainly was not experiencing or exhibiting any humility. My feathers were ruffled and my quills were sticking up. 

This is what I was reminded of: Jesus, "Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death -- even death on a cross!" Philippians 2:5-8

Wow. I couldn't even humbly consider I'd done something to mess up. And I do mess up quite often. It keeps me humble. Especially when I need to be knocked down a few notches.

And so I was. 

We all have defenses. We all have trigger points. But whether we let them rise up and control us is up to us. I don't want to be controlled by these emotions. It doesn't feel good. I want to be controlled by the spirit.

It is a constant struggle. I will keep working on submitting myself to God to complete that work in me.

In the meantime, let me update the washing machine saga. One big load flopped. One small load finished to completion. A second small load stalled. So, there's no solution at this point.

The lesson, however, stands. No matter whether my washing machine starts working again on its own, hubby's able to fix it, or we get a new one, I will cling to the reminder that humility is a choice that God honors.


 

themommyanswer Copyright © 2009 Paper Girl is Designed by Ipietoon Sponsored by Online Business Journal