It Never Ends....

You know what chore bothers me the most lately?  Well, if you didn't I'm going to tell you, laundry.  It's one of those things that needs done, and it needs to happen often, but not as often as I seem to be doing it.  If I had my way I would have all of the clothes and linens in a separate room instead of in a place where the children can get to them.  I wash too many blankets and sheets because the kids use them to build forts, then leave them on the floor to get mud and dog hair all over them.  I'm also tired of my 3 year old taking all of the clothes out of her drawers looking for something and her big sisters putting all those clean clothes in the laundry basket, only to have a peed pair of panties get tossed on top of them so that I have to wash them all again.

I can't convince my husband to let me have a clothes room, though.  He thinks it's good for the kids to have dressers and closets in their rooms.  I can see his point, but I'm not sure he's seeing my point.  My big girls are pretty much the same size so they basically share all of their clothes.  In fact, besides a few specifics that they have gotten for birthdays or other special occasion, there is no distinguishing who's are who's.  Amazingly enough, they don't fight about it either.  It may change as they get older, but I'm enjoying it for now.  I dream of a room where clothes are sorted by size and gender and not by who they belong to.  I long for a linen closet that stays organized, instead of one where blankest get pulled down and shoved in.  I wish I didn't have to do so much washing, drying, putting away of clothes. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that we have plenty of clothes to wash and blankets to keep us warm all winter.  I know that I am blessed beyond measure to have this problem.  I can't help but reflect how sometimes our greatest blessings can also be great burdens.  I keep thinking I should downsize on the amount of clothes we have, then some child complains that they are out of underwear or can't find any pants and I wonder if I had less clothes would they have enough to wear, since they run out when they have tons?  Maybe I could keep up with the laundry better if I didn't feel so overwhelmed?  Maybe if I didn't have to wash so many blankets, sheets, and towels I could get around to washing their underwear.  If I had all their clothes in one room instead of hiding in each of their rooms maybe I could monitor better what needed to be done?  Did I mention this room would have a lock on it so that they couldn't go in and grab whatever, whenever?  I also think their bedrooms would be cleaner if their clothes weren't in there.  I could be wrong on that one, but I don't think so.