No More Mt. Laundry

Since the New Year, I've been doing a load of laundry a day (this I learned from my Momma). Doing things this way usually includes 1 load of towels a week. And believe it or not, this actually makes it feel like I'm not really doing laundry at all. I highly recommend giving it a try.

Well, last week we had a "head lice scare" and everything in the house got washed, including EVERY towel, last Wednesday.

Well, fast forward to this morning. It was time for towels again, and I thought it looked like the pile was bigger than it should be. As I begin placing the towels in the washing machine, I realized that there were WAY TO MANY TOWELS TO FIT ALL OF THEM INTO THE MACHINE (did that look like maybe I was a bit frustrated? Well, I was). After I did a quick count, I realized that my small family (2 adults, 2 pre-pubescent children) had dirtied 13 bath towels and numerous wash cloths and hand towels. This didn't even included the 3 kitchen towels I wanted to clean. With all of these smaller towels, I'll round 13 bath towels to a total number of 15 (even though, all-in-all there were more, I figured the smaller ones added up to a total of 2 bath towels.

15. That's almost 4 towels a piece. And I think most of this excess is being fueled by the children's use of towels. Is it just me, or does 13 (much less 15) seem a bit excessive?
I know what my "Parts of the Day" will be tonight around the dinner table.

Parts of the Day for August 15th

Worst Parts:
Me - Not being able to help my dog.

Willis (my black lab) has bitten a stick and a part of it is lodged between her back teeth. Today was the second day of her staying under the house sulking because of this stick. She won't relax for me to be able to pull on it hard enough to get it out. I can get my hand in her mouth and begin to tug at it (the stick feels as if it's as big around as my finger), but she panics, and I am not able to get it. I know it must hurt, plus ... it's in there SUPER tight. She is generating enough saliva that hopefully the wetness will help to break down the stick and help it come loose.

Ella (my yellow lab) is known for this "Stuck Stick" phenomenon, but she seeks me out to get me to help dislodge it. Smart dog! She's not as high strung as Willis is - and that's an understatement describing Ella, not Willis, I promise you haven't met a more laid back dog than Ella.

I even enlisted Thomas' help to try to hold Willis down so I could better get at the stick. He was great at holding her down, but she was still squirmy enough that I couldn't make any head way. My heart hurts for my dog. I'll try again tomorrow.

Children - None

Best Parts:
Me - one of my best friends (she's also a cousin), Sue, has opened Belle Amie Salon and today was the Opening Day! Sue has been doing my hair since before Bryan and I were married and we've been waiting on her to hang her own shingle. And wow, is Belle Amie a precious salon! Congratulations, Sue!!!

Children: (two Good Parts since there were no Worst Parts)
1st part - Today, they are again in agreement...renting movies...RV and Shaggy Dog.

During one scene of RV (a very cute movie, but some of the humor was a bit old for my kids) the Dad is placing blocks under the back tire of the RV so that it doesn't roll away. When he is done he says, "That was easy". To which Legare exclaims, "He could have just pushed the Easy Button!". Of course there was lots of laughter!!

Too much TV in Legare's day, I would say. For those like Bryan who aren't in the know, the Easy Button is a sales gimmick for Staples. It is a big red button that if pushed, is supposed to make things easy for you. They really sell them in the stores. It has "Easy" printed on it, and when you push it a voice says, "That was Easy". Legare wants one.

2nd part - Talking to Granny this morning on the phone. I think they each must have told her about every individual school supply they had, down to the box of Kleenex. Sorry, Mom.

Parts of the Day for August 9th

No Worst Parts today....Yay!

Best parts (for both children)....



Helping to make Legare's Birthday cake.
















Probably really just licking the beaters.
















Or maybe just licking the spoon.

But since I allow for two Best Parts if there are no Worst Parts....they both said their second Best Part was taking these pictures......








...after they saw this one, the laughter became contagious. Even Bryan left the couch to see what was so funny.

The Parts of the Day

I saw some movie years ago with Michelle Pfieffer and their family took turns sharing a "Worst part of your day, and best part of your day" with each other around the dinner table. Bryan and I also engage in this with our children. My thoughts are that it gives everyone a chance to share their day with the others and it also lets me have a sneaky glimpse into what may be going on with the children at school or with their friends. Legare refers to this as "the parts of the day".

The kids have loved this so much that they began fighting over who's turn it was to go first. Luckily, one of my children was born on an odd day and the other on an even day. So...if it's an odd day of the month, Julia goes first, if we're on an even day... you guessed it, Legare goes first. If I had more than two children we would have had to come up with something else, luckily this works.

This method also works on lots of other things, not just "The Parts". IE: who goes first in lines, who sleeps with Granny first when she's in town, whose turn it is to give the cat his treats, who picks dessert...you get the drift.

And sometimes we pick who goes first at the dinner table by who has the special plate at the table. I have Portmeirion Botanic Garden plates and though most have flowers, I also have some that are the white accents to the Botanic Garden plates. I don't seperate these, they are all stacked together. This inevitably makes someone be odd man out - be it three floral plates, one white; or three white plates, one floral. So instead of having one of my family being left out, I have deemed it "Having the Special Plate". And if you happen to have a special plate (it does't happen every night), it trumps odd or even. Which means you get to be the one who chooses the blessing and goes first with The Parts of the Day. If there are no Special Plates on a particular day, we revert back to odd/even.

Over the few years we have done this, I have learned that my children don't think that they have many "Worst Parts". Which is great. But I try to get them to come up with something. This way I can help keep better tabs on things. Sometimes it's as easy as "I didn't like lunch today". Legare's exceptions when he was in the 4 year old class where when his friends got sent to time out. Those were always his worst parts.

Best parts can sometimes be quite amusing. For instance, Legare's Best Part yesterday was getting his bunk beds...which actually happened last Tuesday. We are really getting some mileage out of that one.

I will share some of these dinner table delights with you from time to time. Maybe I'll even call them Dinner Table Delights for Day/Date.

Well so far today, I have no Worst Parts for today. Those happened yesterday. So....my two best parts are:
1) My Mom should be here in about 15 minutes
2)Legare has been a big gentleman. Opening and closing car doors for me and his sister. And overall using great manners. This is probably in an effort to smooth over my Worst Part of yesterday which was he and his sister failing to heed my repeated requests for cleaning their rooms. They definitely knew I was disappointed, so I'm sure he's doing all he can to make up for it.

But we all know how charming he can be.

Love to you all!
Anne