Laundry: Wash, Dry, Fold, Put Away, REPEAT

My dad called the other day and asked me what I was up to.  I told him what I always tell him: laundry.  He said "that's what you told me yesterday and the day before and the day before that."  I told him that I do laundry everyday because I don't want to spend my whole weekend washing, drying, folding and putting away laundry.  He said something to me that resembled "you do too much laundry".  He's right I do, do too much laundry but what am I going to do about it?  

My mom did laundry all the time.  She had no choice, there are 5 of us in the family and that equals mountains and mountains of laundry, especially when all 3 of us kids were in one sport or another all year round.  It is part of what we do, being the "homemaker", its part of our job description.  I know someone who likes to do the laundry, fold the laundry, put away said laundry because it gives her a sense of accomplishment.  Accomplishment is good, checking something off your to-do list is good.  I know someone who does the laundry, folds the laundry but doesn't make it to the putting away part and she is totally fine with that-more power to her.  Laundry can take over our lives, the trick is not to let it.  I surely don't want laundry to become my hobby.

I wonder how much time we spend over our lifetime doing laundry and all the little tasks that go with it.  How many times do you rewash a shirt because the grease spot or stain was still on it?  I figure that if I can at least look presentable- i.e. my clothes are clean and I have showered and dried my hair, then the rest doesn't really matter.  It doesn't matter what I feel like on the inside or if my kids are driving me up the proverbial wall, if I look well put together nobody will know the difference, though my version of put together and someone else's are two totally different things.  If only washing machines washed our souls and scrubbed them squeaky clean, then we wouldn't have to put in too much work, only the occasional pretreatment of a stain.  

Wash on my friends, wash on!