Pay Dirt

There are some responsibilities (oh, okay, I'll say it.... chores) that go with being a Stay-at-home-Mom. The one I dislike the most is dusting.  It's not uncommon to hear me inhale deeply and then blow off a layer on top of the piano, or use a dirty sock to swipe the top of a picture frame, conveniently located just above the laundry basket.  Luckily Kel laughs about it, or maybe it has taken him 24 years to laugh about it.  The kids really could care less, except to draw hearts and flowers and their names in it.

But laundry, I don't mind so much.  And I'm not sure why.  After all, it's just as endless as the dusting.

 I don't care that the washer and dryer are located in the   basement, aka "The Dungeon".  At least it doesn't have dirt floors.  Kel has done his best to perk up the place for me with super bright yellow walls, sleek black industrial storage shelving, and smartly placed incandescent lighting.  The best part?  It's quiet down there, and people rarely follow me.

We used to own the front loader Maytag Neptune, the cadillac of washer appliances.  I loved that machine, despite the frequent mechanical mishaps (ALL of which Maytag corrected for us, at no charge).  When we used up that machine, we bought  a Kenmore Elite Oasis Canyon Capacity washer.  It can wash 20 bath towels with little water and half a teaspoon of detergent.  Since we added a $400 ejector pump right next to the machine, it now finishes entire cycles and no longer eats dishrags.  I know the Sears servicemen on a first name basis.

It's not the technology, though, that makes me appreciate laundering, although I truly am amazed when the clothes emerge barely damp from the washer thanks to the impressive spin speed of 1000 rpm.

For some reason I get some type of satisfaction sorting the soiled clothing into big piles, and whittling them away one by one throughout the day. I like the challenge of occasionally being able to empty the lint screen in one whole piece.  Surprisingly, I don't mind hauling loads up and down stairs (15 steps on 3 different levels). 

There's an intimacy, though, in laundering, and it's not just handling everyone's underwears.    It's pulling out from the dryer a big batch of warm clothing, and feeling that warmth on my arms and chest.  It's the joy of folding championship sweatshirts the kids have earned from leadership and sporting events.  It's the extra special effort of hanging bedsheets outside on the line, because you know your husband loves that fresh scent.  It's matching socks and smoothing out shirts, and it's connecting prayer for each family member as I do so.

While my family was replacing rotting deckwood this weekend, I was reaping much reward from my laundry chores.  This week it included squeaky clean $1.16.
Yeah, I regularly hit Pay Dirt...