I started here tonight – Mt. Never Rest Number One!

So I know I mentioned the never-ending pile of laundry I face on a daily basis. I’ve affectionately named it Mt. NeverRest – because that is exactly its outcome for me. I never get any REST from the silly thing. In fact I am pretty sure I’ve seen it grow completely independent of the dryer cycle’s ending chime. it’s like a Gremlin – and mean, too.

Someone more on top of it than I am might ask, “Why, and how does this pile get SO large?” For me the answer is simple: Uncontrollable wardrobe changes – and they are not mine (insert your surprise here).

You may know that Brian is the owner/operator of a small family owned stone and tile installation business out of the Western suburbs. What this means is that he wears “work clothes” on a daily basis and I don’t mean a suit and tie. His work wear is a mess – thinset and grout encrusted t-shirts and denim which have caused us to go through three dryers since moving into our home (try getting that stuff cleaned out of a dryer drum – I don’t care how many times you take it apart – It won’t fix ANYTHING and you are at Lowes for your next dryer, again). Needless to say he is never in these clothes long after arriving home.

Generally he discards ALL work wear, showers, changes into jeans and a v-neck or t-shirt and goes on with the rest of his evening. But that is not all from Brian, of course at the very end of the night he preps for sleep by changing yet again into jammie pants and/or another t-shirt.

By-the-way, he leaves trails of all his cast off clothing around the house. If I need him quickly and he’s just arrived home, I can usually follow the trail to find him somewhere in the house!

I made progress tonight AND I found the missing iPad!

As for the boys they attend a school which requires that they wear uniforms. This poses a new laundry issue – all of the shirts need to be washed by color with ONLY uniform shirts or they start to tinge strange colors. Try taking the brand new white shirt from the laundry… Sadly, it’s made its way into Brian’s work wear wash and is now a funky shade of grey. Yuck and darn you Land’s End School Uniforms!

Both of the boys participate in soccer, swimming and skiing. Aiden currently has three different soccer uniforms which need to be washed one to two times per week and returned to his soccer bag or its mayhem trying to get out of the house to a practice on time. Thankfully Colin only has one soccer uniform right now. Not to mention the outerwear – each boy has two sets: One for school which may go missing and will not cause me to have an aneurysm if it does, and one for skiing which I also keep separate for those early mornings trying to get out of the house to lessons – plus I really might keel over if any of this gear is lost (or eaten by my dryer).

Aiden seems to have an uncontrollable need to change his clothes every time his activity changes. Perhaps it’s because he is constantly changing from one uniformed activity to another on a regular basis, but I’m seriously tired of explaining that we don’t need a wardrobe change from Legos to Wii – there is no uniform for either!

Colin is another story. He’s been a “dirty clothes hider” for quite a while now, having had some trouble mastering number two, if you catch my whif, I mean drift… It’s gotten a LOT better lately, but in the past I purchased so many pairs of mini boxer briefs from the GAP I almost questioned acquiring stock in the company over it.

Much better, but it all must be put away and this was only Pile One

So what does this all come down to? Follow along for my daily laundry list:

• A load of Brian’s work clothing (usually destroying at least one article of clothing of mine or the kids if Brian does the wash)
• A load of general colors or whites
• A load of towels, dish rags or bed linens (sanitary wash which take 2 hours to run)
• A load of Uniform Blues for school
• A load of Uniform Whites or Yellows
• Other

And then there is all my laundry – NONE of which Brian is allowed to touch. I almost died the time I pulled the cutest little sweater out of the laundry and thought, “This is the absolute sweetest teeny J.Crew sweater, but we don’t have a girl…” OMG My SWEATERRRRRR!!!! 😦

Pile Two – Yikes!!

I wash everything of mine separate from the general colors or whites on delicate and hang dry almost each item. It can be daunting, but honestly, it’s so much better than the sinking feeling of seeing that tiny pair of pants or that tiny little sweater emerge from the dryer after a nice hot cycle. Money down the drain and in the trash – literally.

If you can see some way through my sea of darks, lights and whites, I am totally open for suggestions here, people! It’s never-ending. In fact I still have a load in the wash, timed to start around 4am so that it is ready to throw in the dryer when I meander down to the laundry room in a couple of hours.

As for this evenings adventures in conquering Mt. NeverRest; I am happy to say that I made at least two summits, and gladly put away all the neatly folded items as ALL my boys slept soundly (dogs included). YAY for me.

Pile Number Two going down!

Sadly, when I felt completely accomplished I walked in to use the bathroom and the photo below is of what I found on the floor – discarded play-wear from the end of Colin’s day. And so the molehill begins to form into another glorious mountain!

Remnants of an evening shower before jammies.