The Laundry Chronicles

Edit* Adrian thought that I should mention that the 4 older kids have their own washer and dryer and do all their own laundry. So basically I get into this much laundry trouble doing the laundry of just 4 people!!


Go ahead and get a snack cause I have a long laundry story to tell you. And I am a really slow typist! So about a month ago I had a bad dryer experience. It is the first time I can remember this happening to me. I went to get the clothes out of the dryer on this particular day and noticed something disturbing. Pink smears, kinda in straight lines. ALL OVER EVERYTHING! And when I say everything let me tell you that this just happened to be a dryer full of Adrian appraisal shirts. The nice new ones. Okay, it's not like they were from Brooks Brothers or something like that , they are mostly from Wal-mart, Goody's and Old Navy. I probably spent $15 on the most expensive one. But, they were the sharp looking ones, and it takes Adrian all of ten minutes to wreck his clothes. They say watch out for a redneck when he says, "Hey guys, look at this," cause he is probably about to do something dumb. At my house I need to watch out when the redneck says, "I won't get dirty." He will get dirty! He always gets dirty! It is mostly because he is good natured, helpful , and not afraid of anything. But engine grease, mildew from rubbing against the side of a house when measuring it, or mud from helping pull someone out with the tractor still causes major stains no matter what the motivation.

So I was way bummed when several shirts were totally ruined for wearing out on inspections. They are still get for farm work, but he has PLENTY of shirts suitable for that! The culprit appears to be a tube of chap stick.

Fast forward to yesterday.

I went to wash a white load. When I got to the basement Rachel had taken my white load that was in the dryer and put it in a basket and then put my dark load into the dryer. She had a load in the washer. I moved everything around and turned on the washer. I put the soap and bleach in it. Then I put the white load in. As I was putting the stuff in I was looking for a particular shirt that I want to pre-treat. I got the whole load in. Where was that shirt? DUH. I had just put the CLEAN load into the washer. The dirty load was sitting by my feet. UGH. All I could do at this point was let the washer finish its thing. So this morning I run down before I need to runt to Cookeville and finally get the other white load washed. I pull the load out of the dryer and WHOA, what the heck? Black ink. Yep, more ruined clothes. Not the whole load at least like last time. A couple of Ella's stuff was wrecked but miraculously Adrian's 2 BRAND NEW shirts are untouched. (Say AMEN!!)

AM I aggravated? Yes. So I at least am going to get this other load washed. I throw the doubly washed white load into the dryer and then I get a good look at the inside of the dryer. Wow, there sure is a lot of ink staining the inside of that dryer...oh no...surely......it.....is....dry.....













NO, it is not dry. I touch an ink spot and my finger comes back black. And I just threw a white load in there. A white load with Adrian;s good white church shirt. Are you noticing the theme here? How many ways can I find to ruin my husbands nice clothes. I never injure the manure and blood and oil stained stuff. Oh no. It comes out looking great. Just stained. But his nice clothes have a death wish.

Like a mad woman I grab all the clothes out of the washer and throw them directly into the dryer. All the while screaming and gnashing my teeth. And yes, his nice shirt was the first thing that I put into the dryer. It has ink on it.

I put soap into the washer, turned it on left for Cookeville. I have not been back downstairs to survey the carnage of that load. Tomorrow I am going to get several dark towels and put them in the dryer until the ink is just a black stain in the dryer. It feels more like a black stain on my laundry loving soul. I have always enjoyed doing laundry. It is warm and smells good. and watching the washer go swish swish brings me great joy. I think I blogged about it once but I am way too tired to try and find that post. I am not enjoying my laundry lately. If I quit liking laundry there will be nothing left. There are no other chores that I like.

I am so blue. Well, more of a bluish black. The color of the pens that Adrian uses. And leaves in his pocket.