Missionary Prep

 "If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear."  

Preparing for his mission has taken a great deal of time.  And as for 'shall not fear'...  We began to wonder. He's had some technical difficulties with his citizenship papers.  He has had documents turned in by medical and dental both who forgot to sign the forms so we had to return.  He has had medical conditions (an ingrown toe nail), that had to be dealt with and he's been working every hour he can to earn his financial obligation.  He has also attended a year of the missionary prep class offered each week.  He has enjoyed the class, but his teacher recently told him, he's never had a prospective elder as long as Caleb... usually they are only there a few months ahead of time... not a year.  Finally once all the paperwork was turned in the only thing left was his ecclesiastical interview.  It went well, but as he returned to the van, he opened the door and managed to hit himself in the head with the corner of the door he opened himself.  It looked worse than it was and I had nothing to offer to place on the wound to mop up the blood, so he walked back into the church and grabbed some tissues.  (yes I told him to protect the new white shirt before I asked how bad the head was)  

Since we had recently been to the E.R. for his broken thumb and for Whittaker's stitches in his head we felt we were experts.  We knew that although head wounds bleed profusely, often unless they are deep, they are superficial.  We had heard from a friend that she simply superglues many of her children's cuts back together.  Once we had his face cleaned up of the blood, we have the gluing technique a try.   I'm a believer!  Forget bandaids!

Fortunately, this portion of the missionary prep has ended and with it we hope his string of bad luck!  Now to accumulate the items on his shopping list and safely send him on his way!

I received a letter from the mission office in Ohio.  'To the Parents of Elder Noble'.  It urged that we prepare him for the rigors of life away from home by being sure he knew how to prepare a few simple meals, wash a load of laundry correctly and maintain a clean environment especially a kitchen and bathroom.  It also mentioned that his mission would require him to ride a bicycle and he may wish to prepare himself physically. I read through the list and chuckled.  Just that day I had called home while out running errands and told him to start the rice and chop the veggies for the stir fry.  He surprised us by also making an apple cobbler.  I think he has the first mastered.  As for the cleaning.... I don't doubt that he knows how to clean a bathroom or a kitchen but I'm happy to allow him the opportunity to practice in the upcoming months, just to be certain.

BUT ... in all his years as my son, if he hasn't learned a thing of two about laundry.... well... I might have to disown him!

He should be capable of doing laundry in a washtub and hanging it out on a clothesline.
He should know the proper way to iron any article of clothing.
He should know how to sort by colours and by fabric type.
He should know how to pretreat a stain.
He should know how to test for colourfastness.
He should know how to mend a popped seam, reattach a button and fix a fallen hem.
He should know how to correctly hang clothing on a hangar so they don't pucker or crease.
He should know how to fold clothing so they stack neatly.
He should even know how to prewash a cloth diaper load and sunbleach them and properly fold and stuff different styles of diapers.(not likely a missionary skill needed but...)
He should even know how to make an eco friendly detergent.

As I looked back over the list of things the mission office mentioned, it dawned on me that I could simply send his cooking merit badge, his cycling merit badge and his home repairs and family life merit badge to them as my response that, yes... he is prepared for these 'rigors of life'.  

(I really ought to suggest to the BSA that they instigate a laundry merit badge.  I could be a counselor for that.)

You want more???

Between laundry, children and animals, I could blog for days without running out of post ideas.....  oh.. I do that?  Then maybe no one will notice just one more....

There's no end of great places to hang the laundry to dry... ways to indoctrinate children into loving laundry... and ways to make it clear that he's a fifth child all the way.... I can't imagine ever leaving baby Caleb in a corner of the room and hanging wet laundry around him.

The Laundry Creed

Grandma's laundry loving influence must have extended to more than myself.  Many moons ago my creative, artistic and dreadfully talented sister Jill composed the following poem.  She then wrote it out and illustrated it and framed it for me so that I could hang it in my dream laundry room...  of course currently it hangs in the hallway across from my laundry closet.

Laundry Creed

I don't mind doing the laundry

for my precious jewels

But listen up and start to learn

about the Laundry Rules!

Unroll the socks, the cuffs and sleeves,

before you throw them in.

And things that are wet or muddy

do not go in the bin!

If you have any questions

don't hesitate to ask.

And I will do your laundry

if you do these little tasks!

I'm telling you, the love of laundry runs deep.... my first EVER blog post was about laundry... http://noblemoments.blogspot.com/2008_04_01_archive.html 
Perhaps this blog should have been called laundrymoments.... or noblelaundry....

... the love of laundry is either contagious.... or indoctrinated.... 

Laundry

I realized while writing the post about my systems that even writing and thinking about laundry was therapeutic for me. I love a day of laundry tasks. Gathering, sorting, spot treating, washing, hanging, ironing, folding, putting away. It's so satisfying.

If I had lived in the era of laundresses, I would have volunteered.

Unfortunately, when we bought this house I had to make a concession or two from what I would have thought ideal. The ideal laundry room is an open bright room preferably with a window. It should be in the main area of the home and also be near the door to the backyard. There should be counter space, room for an ironing board to left up at all times, shelves for folded laundry in baskets ready for delivering.  There needs to be space for sorting bins and and shelves for laundry equipment (soaps, brushes, spot treatments, bucket for soaking etc.)... an ultimate laundry room would have it's own sink for spot treatment and hand washing.  Another ultimate inclusion would be area to hang things indoors when inclement weather doesn't allow for outdoor hanging.   

(Photo from http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/07/

trusty-old-robots-vs-energy-star-appliances.php...

a great article about the importance of saving resources!)

I have never actually had an ideal laundry facility available to me.... only in dreams.  Growing up the laundry area was adequate, but it was in the basement of a four story home.

In college I was introduced to laundromat type facilities.  While multiple machines is nice, the carting it around and babysitting it, without personal facilities was not to my liking.

My first house on the ranch had hookups right in the kitchen!  We quickly found a used set of washer and dryer for a screaming deal $75.00 for the set!  and installed them.  I affectionately referred to them as my poo brown set.  Obviously they were brown!  Not that the colour indicates anything when it comes to performance.  That set was awesome!  Having them in the kitchen was fantastic.  Even better was that the kitchen had a door to the outdoors..  to a small deck next to a clothes line!  It was heaven... until cattle came by... or until my mother visited.  (small mishap with a cast iron skillet and Pat's white church shirt that really should be it's own post!)  With a sink in the kitchen available for special attention items, I became an avid fan of washer's in the kitchen!

We moved all too soon to a house in town.  Fortunately the laundry room was right off the kitchen in the mudroom.  Although there was a doorway to the outdoors, it never opened because it didn't really exist.  It was boarded up and had a thick sleeping bag stapled up over it for extra insulation!  Not ideal... also there was a large window in the room... directly behind a large bush, so no light came in!  It had a sloping cement floor and no heat.  But convenience was good.  Lots of space and good cupboard space.

We moved to SLC and lived in a small town house without facilities.  We brought our poo brown machines anyway.  Patrick rigged up a washer hook up with hoses that could be draped across the kitchen so I did have a machine to use at my convenience and again it was in the kitchen, but thanks to the draping hoses, laundry became a late at night endeavor.  A tiny apartment isn't the best place to hang clothes to dry until I discovered the hanging method in the bathroom from the shower rod... Showers had to be scheduled around the laundry drying.

In our first house that we owned the laundry room was in the basement.  And it was only a small closet with space enough for only the washer and dryer!  My used set of poo brown machines had been split up shortly after we moved to the apartment since we just didn't have space to store the dryer that we couldn't use so we only had the trusty washer.  We were given an avacado green older dryer shortly after we moved in.  I loved that the way to open the door was a foot pedal.  I was so out of the habit of using the dryer that I still didn't use it much.  The small laundry closet had large doors that had to be opened and closed constantly as I carried baskets up and down the stairs.  Patrick ran a clothes line outside and between the outside line and now two bathrooms with shower rods, clothes were still hung to dry!

The day my 50 year old poo brown washer died was a very sad day!  But fate smiled on me and I happened upon a used white washer that was fairly new.  It only lasted a few months before it died.  New doesn't equal good in my books.  I was looking for another work horse!  The next washer was also white (which I really do prefer) and worked satisfactorily.

This brings me to our current home.  When looking for our house, I saw some lovely laundry rooms... however not in houses that we could afford or in ones that had adequate bedrooms or decent kitchens or large yards.  It was very difficult to satisfy all of our criteria when looking for a house.  So.. we got the large yard, enough bedrooms and a decent kitchen but again we only have a closet off the hallway for a laundry room..  I've bantered about with Patrick remodeling the master bedroom into the laundry room and giving us a small nook for a bed since I only sleep in my bedroom but spent many quality waking hours with my laundry... He isn't sold on the idea ... yet!

The laundry closet, while small, is upstairs off the main hall and that does make a huge difference compared to a basement laundry.  It is also close enough to the bathroom for spot treating and soaking and hand washing.  I have the worlds best clothes line off the back deck and have some very innovative indoor hanging systems now at my disposal.  I hadn't realized when we bought this house that the 'wasted space' above the stair well could be put to such usefulness.  My biggest complaints currently are the lack of sorting space, difficult to reach shelving (although thank you Patrick for putting shelves in!) and no where to set up my ironing board!  A reverse laundry chute has also crossed my mind... the kids rooms are all downstairs so a chute sending up would be handy.  Patrick has looked into locations for a dumbwaiter, but for the amount of work to put it in... the exercise going up and down the stairs is good for us!

As far as machines themselves go... I currently have a lovely front loading energy efficient washer that was donated to my laundry fetish by a lady who decided to get a new set when her dryer went on the fritz.  She actually asked if Patrick would help haul it away... he did.. he just hauled it right on over here!  I donated my old work horse to Jim with a set up similar to that in my first apartment with the old hoses dangling across his kitchen... He also has a clothes line!

The more I think about it the more I think I have a solid argument for my master bedroom / laundry overhaul...   

The ramblings of a lunatic laundry lady!

P.S.  I taught Derek to match and fold socks... He seems as excited as I about laundry so I let him have a menial task.  I don't even give my children the opportunity to fall in love with the glories of laundry, because I keep it all to myself...

Laundry Lady

Just to be fair.. after maligning mum's actions in the last post I thought I'd point out the benefits of having her visit as well.

I can be assured of almost new small appliances... well they'll all look new when she has finished!  The inside of the microwave will be gleaming.  The garbage cans will look and smell wonderful. On one particular visit she made it her personal mission to clean the windows of the house inside and out.  I thought it futile in the winter and then again in the desert summer but they did look much better for a few weeks.

But most assuredly her claim to fame regardless of who she visits would be her laundry lady status! She lives for laundry.  She scouts it out.  If the laundry is caught up she practically invents things to wash, like 'the bath mat, the kitchen aprons, the curtains, and sometimes teddy bears and sneakers! 

At my house I could live with out a dryer because in my day to day operating of the laundry facilities I hang all but the unmentionables load.   Grandma lives a 'when in Rome, live as Romans life', so when here she hangs the laundry as well.  Not too unusual for her.  We grew up hanging the laundry.  However sometimes the life around here gets hectic and although she may have begun a load of laundry in the morning, the day ends without it being hung... she has taken the liberty of becoming creative about the hanging to dry portion....

One night when I got up to feed Whittaker, this is what I discovered.  Apparently she is usually up before the chickens and can take all her 'hangings' down before I see them. 


On her latest  visit she did become a little more particular about the laundry.  Apparently the donations to the laundry bin were not to her satisfaction, so she left the following note. 

"These clothes were rejected by the house laundry service. -- Please untangle and put in laundry basket again.  
The underware wear must be washed by hand by the owner.  We do not put poo in machine with other peoples clothes.  Learn to wipe yourself better." 

She did not mince words.  The items in question were corrected and the one child with the 'streaks', has made dramatic improvements.  She did mention that she wished she had spoken to said child before embarrassing him with the note, but he did take it in stride and has corrected the situation... I guess all's well that ends well.



Ok... just realized that I've blogged about poop twice in two days... I'll have to ponder my thought regarding this...

Airing my Laundry

My book club this month told to us to select a poem that we could share with the group for national poetry month.... (I considered not attending this month, I mean after all it is a book club and I do 'read too much'... and without a book what would we discuss?!)
But at the last minute I did decide to go because in doing some research.. (the other thing I'm accused of 'doing too much') I discovered some appalling things... and a poem to go with my appall?.. I'm getting a new clothesline this year!.. I'm very excited. I didn't give it a whole lot of thought other than one weekend this spring I'll have Patrick put up a clothesline for me. I have a large yard and a deck to stand on to put out the clothes, so I thought a pulley clothes line would be perfect. I assumed that when he had the time and I decided on the exact location I'd send him to Lowes for the pulley system and voila I'd be ready to hang.

BOY was I mistaken!... Not only did he not know what he was really looking for but went to Lowes anyway with my admonition that "Oh come on just because you don't know what I'm talking about doesn't mean that the people in Lowes won't be able to point you to the clotheslines!".. He came home without a clothesline and apparently he confused the people at Lowes also. So, I went back to Lowes. I also came home empty handed. I called a few other stores, and to the internet I go. Google is my friend, it won't let me down. Apparently clotheslines are not only passe they are against the law in all but two states!!!! UNBELIEVABLE!!!! Fortunately, Utah is one of the states that it is legal in, unfortunately, there aren't any local places that provide clotheslines in a pulley system. (Apparently while legal, there really isn't much demand for many systems) Utah favors the 'T's or umbrella systems.

That isn't what I wanted though. I want to stand on the deck and hang the clothes. Patrick sensing that I'm about to become the new clothesline distributor or advocate and really wasn't wanting that to happen made wild promises to string a clothes line anywhere I'd like.. back and forth across the deck.. from the satellite dish to the fence... he'd attach an umbrella system to the top of the tether ball pole... just please let it go!! But it was too late!.. I wanted what I wanted! It wasn't like I wanted to convince people to pronounce words like 'foyer' or 'route' correctly.. that is a lost cause.. I just wanted an old fashioned pulley clothesline!

Although I spent much of the wee hours on the internet, (since once my dander is up I apparently don't need sleep anymore) I was only able to find two sites that offered my pulley system for sale. One for $40.00 plus shipping and the other $70.00, but they'd include the shipping! There was a store back east that carried all the parts for you to put one up but they don't ship. However they did have a local store. It just didn't carry any of the parts. It was definitely time to sleep on it.

I wasn't any less exasperated the next morning. Especially after washing all of Patrick's work clothes for the next week. I decided to visit the local store and plead my case. A very nice couple who own and run the little store knew what I was talking about so after some nice smiling and some explaining I was able to convince them to order in the parts if I prepaid for them. So this weekend come rain or shine (and yes or come snow...) I will get my clothesline. I only paid $23.00 for mine.

I feel however, compelled to help somehow with the fight for further states (and I should add provinces) 'right to dry'! Google led me to many discussion groups which helped me to feel better about the fact that finding a clothesline was a predicament and the appalling truth about the lack of the right to dry in so much of the country. The arguments against clotheslines are weak and the desire to have the right to dry is growing! I'm happy to say that change is coming. Although many states have the 'right to dry' on their legislative dockets it often is decided that it needs further investigation or studies, or it gets vetoed or tabled until following years. You haven't seen the last of this laundress!

But I digress.. I was going to book club with a poem. So here is the poem I took to book club.

The Clothesline Said So Much

A clothesline was a news forecast
To neighbors passing by.
There were no secrets you could keep
When clothes were hung to dry.

It also was a friendly link
For neighbors always knew
If company had stopped on by
To spend a night or two.

For then you'd see the fancy sheets
And towels on the line;
You'd see the company table clothes
With intricate design.

The line announced a baby's birth
To folks who lived inside
As brand new infant clothes were hung
So carefully with pride.

The ages of the children could
So readily be known
By watching how the sizes changed
You'd know how much they'd grown.

It also told when illness struck,
As extra sheets were hung;
Then nightclothes, and a bathrobe, too,
Haphazardly were strung.

It said, "Gone on vacation now"
When lines hung limp and bare.
It told, "We're back!" when full lines sagged
With not an inch to spare.

New folks in town were scorned upon
If wash was dingy gray,
As neighbors raised their brows,
And looked disgustedly away.

But clotheslines now are of the past
For dryers make work less.
Now what goes on inside a home
Is any body's guess.

I really miss that way of life.
It was a friendly sign
When neighbors knew each other best
By what hung on the line! 

Author: Marilyn K. Walker