Lesson 34

This is going to be one of the rare (so far) lessons that you and your brother will share.

Well, we're coming up on the holidays again, I'm excited. I'm just dying to have everyone here and decorate our new house. I've been talking about Santa a lot to get you excited. I have a nice sized "ho ho ho stash" in the bedroom of toys for you and your brother for Christmas. I know, I'm weird. It's not even September quite yet. Dad put your new swing set together, and you LOVE it. So much in fact, I feel horrible that I can't let you play on it. It's a heat index of 105 this week. Instead, we went to Science City, Fritz's, and the planetarium this week. All air conditioned, all fun. Now that school is back in, there aren't as many kids running around. I called about you going to school, I still have 2 more years before you start. I'm glad, because I get to hold onto you for just a bit longer before you're having a life that I'm not in 24/7. There aren't many things that I think "Man, I can't WAIT until the kids are older." In fact, I can only think of one. Laundry. I hate doing laundry, I would rather clean an entire house than fold laundry. I don't mind washing and drying it, but folding it is torture to me. So, as soon as you're old enough, I'm going to teach you to do your own laundry. Which brings me to lesson 34.


Laundry. Here's how you do it. First sort it. Whites, towels/bedding, blue jeans, clothes you don't want to dry (usually nice work clothes or new clothes you don't want to shrink,) and colors. Wash anything you don't want to shrink in cold water. It will also help keep colors from running. If you are washing a new shirt or something that is a bright color, like red, for the first time wash it by itself. Fill the washer with your clothes, you don't want it to be so full it can't spin. Add soap, use the cup and line to measure. Add fabric softner (in our machine now, it goes in the center.) If you have clothes you don't want to shrink, when they are finished washing, hang them up on hangers to dry. Otherwise, put them in the dryer. The longer they sit in the dryer after it's finished, the more wrinkled they will get. Whites are washed in hot water, add a little (1/4 cup) of bleach IF they need it. I find it helpful to alternate loads by how much folding, that way it doesn't seem like I'm folding laundry all day. I'll wash whites, which is typically a LOT of folding, then follow up with towels or jeans since they don't have a lot of folding. After laundry is folded, PUT IT AWAY. In your closet or dresser. Not the floor. After you have washed, dried, folded, and put all your laundry away, run the washer empty on hot. This will help wash out any gunk from dirt or soap. We'll work on ironing another day.