I'm on the rampage today. Maybe this is not a good time for me to write, but I'm not here to pretend my life is perfect. I'm here to be real. I wouldn't want anyone to look at our family and think that we have it together (not that anyone would) or that I'm in any way a Stepford Wife. Haha
Maybe the little thing my daughter posted on my facebook this morning is true. "I'm in a bad mood, so I think I'll go yell at the kids so they're in a bad mood too." (unknown source)
However, here's my version of it. If the kids didn't drive me crazy, I wouldn't be in a bad mood and yell at them. haha
Just kidding. Well, kind of. I know that I choose how I react or respond to life's little ups and downs, but let me tell you, nothing brings out the crazy lady in me faster than my laundry room/basement area.
I mean I really dislike dishes and paper clutter, but the laundry monster makes me see red. Oh no, it isn't the task of the laundry, such as washing, drying and folding that drives me insane. Perhaps I should make my sweet innocent little children help you say?
Believe me, I do! Therein lies the problem. How is it you can teach your children to do laundry and think that it will lighten your load when in reality, it can, at times, make things worse?
How? Maybe you don't have this problem, which is why I'm asking for your ideas. ;) My laundry room is out of control... I will admit, on a bad day, it has brought me to tears (on more than one occasion).
My hero is the Proverbs 31 woman who seems to be able to do it all, and her children arise and call her blessed while her husband praises her at the city gate.
My reality is that when I go down to that dreary basement to do laundry, I find that the washer already has a load of clothes in it. No problem, I'll just throw them in the dryer. Until... I open that, and it's full of someones dry clothes. Ugh. Where are the teens who do their own laundry? Not one of them is home.
So, in the midst of dryer sheets strewn across the floor, because someone was too lazy to pick them up, I take the clothes out of the dryer and throw them in a basket. Yep, you read that right. I'm a little irritated, and I'm not folding them. It seems to me that said teens think they have to start laundry at night without a thought of when they will finish it, and the fact that someone else may need to use the washer or dryer the next day.
I should give them grace, right? I do, and I have folded the stuff forgotten in the dryer many times. Just not today. It's been one of those weeks.
It didn't help when I walked through a certain someone's bedroom, and they (I won't mention any names) have 6 towels strewn across the floor. Used, and probably damp. Six of them! Hmm.. no wonder we never have enough towels. Perhaps they could hang them up to dry, use them more than once, put them in the hamper.
Mount Washmore... never ending. I seem to be the only one who knows how to sort the pile that comes down through the laundry shoot. I guess it's easier to just pull what you need out of the pile, or wait until Mom sorts it for you, and then wash it.
(this is where I would insert photo if it wasn't such a mess) I'm real, but not quite ready to share that yet.
Whoever said that you will miss all of that laundry when your children move out must not have had this issue.
Maybe the answer is to just do all of the laundry myself, but that doesn't sound so great to me. Maybe if there weren't 6 of us, with extras like work clothes, etc...
Perhaps, it is these little daily irritants that are making me into who God wants me to be. "In nature a pearl forms when some type of irritant enters the mussel or oyster. The irritant may be a food particle, a piece of shell, bacteria or even a piece of sand. The protective process begins. Nacre is secreted in layers around the irritant. The result is a pearl" (Joan Reinbold, ehow.com)
I think that God has a lot of refining to do yet in me but I hope that someday, all the rough edges will be gone, and the result will be a beautiful, shiny pearl, a true wife of noble character (Proverbs 31).
Meanwhile, I'd love to know your household irritants, or your advice on how to resolve this issue. I hope that I didn't scare you away, this was meant to be a little sarcastic, but fun... however true)
Blessings
Friday, July 13, 2012
If you liked this post, please click to share it with your friends.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
link within
Oi! For me, it's the clutter of toys. I have a 4 y.o and a 2 y.o. Their bedroom is upstairs, so they always play in the living room. Of course, the toys don't even just stay in the livingroom. They are everywhere! I at least want them picked up before my husband comes home and it is an hour and a half long process. I am so stressed by the whole ordeal. I may or may not have thrown the whole kit and caboodle in the trash. And I may or may not have thrown half their toys in a bag for Goodwill. :\ And there are still toys on the floor! Aaaaahhhhh!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, glad I'm not the only one seeing red some days! Lol. :)
We always have a mountain too. We're a family of 6 here too and I turn into crazy woman every so often when the toys start reproducing in every room of the house. But then my kids are still on the younger side. I was thinking today about how I was going to start them on actually doing their own laundry. I just give the two older ones their clothes to sort, fold and put away. Other than that I do all the laundry except for when my hubby throws in whatever he needs for work. I was thinking of having a day designated to each to do their laundry, but then I was thinking how much more organized I would have to be to see that through. Ugh. lol
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of the laundry and mom getting mad about it though reminds me of when I did my own laundry as a teenager and I didn't want anybody else to do it because I couldn't be certain they hadn't used detergent on it, which I was allergic to. So my mom had apparently been doing this load and I kept throwing it back in the basket because I didn't know who was doing it, and I intended to wash it myself but every time I went to wash it the washer was going with someone else's stuff so I kept having to put it off. My sister and I decided to sneak out one of those nights that my mom saw the same laundry in the basket that she had already washed a few times, and went to find out why on earth it was in the basket AGAIN. Well they caught us not there all because of the laundry.
So my only suggestion: "Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary." Galations 6:9 NASB
I grew up into a responsible adult and yours will too. I try to remember this simple truth as I train my children up in the Lord though I have to repeat myself so many times I feel broken. But maybe that's the point, to just go ahead be broken and stay broken before the Lord. We can't do it all, and everyone is NOT going to meet our expectations all the time. I'm learning how to bless them anyway. I need God's grace just as much as they do, maybe more, but then, there is always more when I need it.
God bless you. May he give you wisdom and creativity to discipline in love, and strengthen your heart so you can carry on in him.
Love,
April
Some things that have helped us:
ReplyDelete- everyone has their own basket for dirty clothes in their room
- no laundry chute - so no expectation "someone else" will sort
- a towel bar in each bedroom. Two if they share a room.
- bought a sorter (frame with three fabric bags to sort laundry into. Full basket = a load for my machine.)I taught them to sort their dirty stuff into the sorter... This has really helped!
- continual learning and training. :o)
PS I sent more detail in an email :o)
ReplyDelete