Bare

Another 5 Minute Friday ... one word, five minutes, no editing.  Ready, set, go!

Bare

Right now, we're wearing layers.  Two shirts and a cardigan.  Capri pants and tights.  And from the look of Aaron's hamper, perhaps several pairs of socks.  It's not that it's so very cold, right now - it's just that it's not warm.

Even now as I sit here, I have a mug of coffee at hand to warm my chilly fingers and I haven't taken my shoes off because I don't want my tootsies to get cold.  As for Lydia, she's sockless, but she is also running around an awful lot right now and working up a good little sweat.

As for me, I am looking forward to Spring for one big reason:  less clothes.  I want to see some of my kids' little bare parts:  their toes, their elbows, their bonked up and bruised shins and their bony knees.  I want shed a layer or two and enjoy some sunshine on my shoulders and legs, the warmth of spring kissing our bare parts.

And, quite honestly, I want less laundry to wash.  Bare skin means only one layer of smaller bits of clothing and that means a few less loads to sort, load and fold.  Which hopefully will translate to time outside letting my bare skin breath ... my white, desperately-in-need-of-some-sun skin.

C'mon, Spring!

My Personal Paparazzi

"Can I play wit dis?"

Turning, I see Lydia, head cocked to the left and hip cocked to the right, smiling at me clutching our camera in her pudgy hands.  The strap lays crookedly around her shoulders and her finger is already on the trigger.

I spy an opportunity for this little one to be busy and happy while I finish up the last load of laundry.  As "helpful" as she is to match socks, her folding skills leave something to be desired, as she typically resorts to the wad-technique.

"Alright.  Just keep the strap around your neck, please."

"Tanks, Mommy!"  She skips off to the living room, clicking off random shots from belly button-level.

Flash!  The dusty windowsill bathed in sunshine.

Flash!  The fireplace, complete with ancient ashes and two long-lost pieces of popcorn.

Flash!  The big toe on her left foot with the spiky nail.

Opening the dryer, I drag jeans and towels from the machine, dumping them into the laundry basket at my feet.  Peering in, I see a lone sock left in the back, just out of reach.  Leaning into the mouth of the dryer, I stretch to snatch the forgotten sock.  Flash!

"Look, Mommy!  I gotchu!"

Peeking over my shoulder, I see the picture frozen on the camera screen.  My backside illuminated in the blinding light of the camera.  Her proud smile almost makes that snapshot okay.  Almost, but not quite.

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Linking up (several days late!) with Trifecta: 33-333 words inspired by the single word mouth (something that resembles a mouth especially in affording entrance or exit).

Again ...

Trying out a new prompt:  5 Minute Friday ... one word, five minutes, no editing.  hmmmm....

Again

It's her favorite shirt, the first one she puts on as soon as the laundry is finished.  Sometimes, she doesn't even wait for me to fold it before it's slipped over her brunette bangs and worn proudly.  The cuffs are grey, in spite of my efforts and the promises of Oxyclean.  There is a definitely frayed look about the neck and it appears that she has taken to the habit of sucking on the front of her shirt.  A stain on one elbow tells me that she wore it once when we were painting or markering or play-doh-ing or chalking.  Some pinky-orange mark that has survived the repeated washings and dryings.  Her shirt that she wears even today with her turquoise glittery pants and her pink princess moon boots.  This shirt makes its appearance once (maybe twice) a week - rain or shine, home days and errand days, weekends and weekdays, spring or summer or winter or fall.  And it doesn't even matter that it's a Halloween shirt; complete with bats in flight.

It's her favorite shirt and she will wear it again and again and again until the seams let go and the fabric withers.  And even then ... she might still try.

Taming the Beast!

Whenever we return home from a trip, there is the inevitable mountain of laundry to tackle.  And this current mountain of dirty clothes was especially challenging as it was from a weekend of being one with nature ... one with dirt, one with tree bark, one with campfire ash, one with s'mores.  I make a habit when traveling of packing a large plastic bag (a kitchen trash bag works well) for all the dirty clothes to go in.  This helps the kids from intermingling their clean clothes with their filthy clothes ... as if a quick look or smell wouldn't make that perfectly clear!  It was certainly helpful this weekend because it also helped to contain the smell of camp smoke from permeating the van and house.  Why is it that a smell so earthy like a campfire can smell so good when you're sitting their sipping your cocoa, but give it 24-hours and it is pure stench?  I invited the kids yesterday to smell what they smelled like before their showers and they each stuck their noses in the laundry basket ... but only for a moment!  Whew!

But even if we are not returning from a trip, just a regular week in the Kellum house accumulates a lot of dirty socks, shirts and pants!  I guess that comes with the territory of having a large family.  If you think about it (which I try not to do because it might depress me!) in one given day we will dirty 12 socks, 6 undies, 6 shorts or pants, 6 shirts and perhaps a leotard or two.  And that's if no one changes their clothes part way through the day!  Ta-dah!  One load of laundry!  In light of this I have a few tricks that make my weekly laundry labors a little less work.

For one thing, I do laundry several times a week.  There is NO WAY I would want to see what we could stockpile in an entire week.  (See the above list and multiply by seven!)  Instead, I am in the habit of doing three loads at the first of the week, typically Monday, a small load of odds and ends on Wednesday and then three loads again on Friday.  In this way, I usually am not doing laundry on the weekend and I can usually keep my big laundry days to just three loads:  whites/lights, colors and jeans/towels.  My "odds and ends" laundry day is when I toss in bathroom towels, kitchen items (we use cloth napkins) and any really stinky clothing items that have penetrated the hamper.  Another perk to doing laundry frequently is that I don't end up with an overpowering pile of socks to match (according to our previous equation = 84 singles) and seeing as they are all white (!!) this can be quite a time saver.

A second laundry tip I would share is recruiting any help you can get ... from within your house, that is.  We'd all love to have a laundress, but that probably isn't going to happen!  Brett is a great help around the house, especially with laundry.  In fact, he tackled much of this week's Mt. Everest of stinkiness and I enjoyed a laundry-free Monday!  But, I have also learned to get the kids to help, too.  On Monday and Friday mornings, if time allows, I send the kids upstairs to sort laundry.  It is an easy task for them and it is easy for me to re-sort a few items if Lydia is helping. :)  The kids are also solely responsible for putting away their own clothes after school.  I fold the laundry and make nice piles on my bed of all their items (piles of their pants, socks, shirts, etc.)  The kids then come in after school and put their piles away.  I will be honest with you that sometimes those nice, clean, fresh clothes get CRAMMED in their dresser drawers.  Part of me cares ... but the other part of me who isn't putting away piles of clothes just lets it go!  On days when the kids are home, I invite (require) them to join me in the folding of clothes.  It is a great teachable moment for them to learn how to fold shirts and pants and how to match socks.  And someday I figure they will be well-trained and ready to do it on their own!

Having little people means having big stains on some of our clothes.  I try to not let stained clothes sit too long.  I typically try to spray the offending spots with a pre-treatment spray (I like Oxi-Clean) and then launder it soon.  Another practice I have in getting really grimy clothes clean is letting things soak.  Our washing machine has a setting that fills the tank, agitates and then lets it sit.  You can do this on your own by setting yourself a timer and lifting the lid after the clothes have agitated a bit and then let it run the cycle as usual.  By using a pre-treatment spray as well, I almost never have stains that persist.  I check the clothes before I dry (the heat will set the stain) and if the stain is still there, I try washing them again the same way as before.  If that doesn't work, that outfit gets sent to the rags ... or they can wear it again the next time we plan on getting filthy.

Here are a few snapshots from our post-camping laundry yesterday:

Proof we enjoyed camping ... and we wanted to take a little bit home with us!

In this picture you can see that we apparently didn't have napkins on our trip :)  I especially like how dirty Lydia's bottom was ... she had no problem just plopping down anywhere!  Norah also had some good brown spots on her back ... I'm not sure how that happened.  I wasn't sure how well these would come out as they had sat for about 12-hours letting those stains really take hold.  Now for the results:

Voila!

Not too shabby!  Norah's shirt shows almost no evidence of dirt - definitely nothing that will stop her from wearing it again.  As for Lydia's onesie, there is still some residual stain, but it has certainly be saved from the rag bin.

Now you might ask, "Do you have any tips on ironing?" to which I would reply with this little story:  Aaron (age 6) walks into the living room to find me with a large contraption, a pile of fabric and a little gizmo that's hissing and steaming.  He asks in a bewildered voice, "What are you doing?!" To which I reply nonchalantly, "Oh, I'm just ironing these curtains."  Aaron responds, "Is that a new thingy?"  "No... " I say, "Mommy just doesn't use it much."  And hasn't used it much since!  Be assured, however, that we don't all walk around in rumpled clothes - I am very careful to check labels when shopping and if something requires ironing, back on the rack it goes!  I have also found that I can frequently steam rumpleness out of clothes by tossing them in the drier with a damp towel.  Also, if I catch clothes fresh out of the drier I can shake them out and hang them right away, oftentimes avoiding the need to iron.

I hope these few little laundry tidbits will help you out.  Or at least remind you that laundry is here to stay but with just a few tricks up your sleeve, it doesn't have to ruin your day.  I would love to hear and share any of your laundry-tips.  Leave me a comment and I'll post any ideas you have for the rest of us.