just set it and forget it...

wow do i miss those days.

by the way, i'm talking laundry.

i miss the days of not only set it and forget it, but when the biggest laundry crisis was losing a sock. (which by the way never happened when it was just kelley, no it seems the sock monster strikes only in households of more than one child).

and in defense of what i'm about to share...for the first several years i dressed my girls happily and thankfully in hand me downs given to us. and when i splurged it was on osh kosh and carter's.

most of you know exactly what i'm talking about with this laundry thing. but for any of you who don't, i'll explain. about four years ago i entered into a different phase of shopping for girl's clothes. it seemed like a win-win...buy the cuter, better made, a little pricier clothes. which if you shopped the sales right, it really made the prices comparable. but what really made this cool was that when the season was done, so were the clothes. no hand me downs. no wearing clothes til they were outgrown. nope, the clothes were sold on ebay. for pretty decent money, sometimes even more than i originally paid. in essence buying nice clothes for almost free!

sounds like a great deal huh? it is. and imagine having the best dressed kids around. it's fun.

however, there is a hefty price to pay for this hobby. it's called laundry. you can't just throw it in the wash, toss in the dryer fold it up and be done with it. nope. you have to slave over stains. wash in a very delicate manner and avoid the dryer at all costs. it is really a lot of work. (actually selling the clothes on ebay is too, but i cheat sometimes and let trading assistants do that for me).

a not so funny-ish story...when i found out i had cancer, i had to spend over a week in the hospital. and i fretted the entire time about the girl's wardrobe, would the outfits be matched together right, what if something isn't stain treated and it gets tossed into the drier, so i begged, pleaded with the family left at home helping out to please, don't wash anything. please, just leave it. well they didn't-they wanted to help, bless them. and when i got home and tried to put the closet back together, i cried, i panicked, i could not rest til it was back together. guess i had more than one sickness, huh?

well let me just say that after four years of this constant in and out of clothing. which by the way the girls could care less-their most prized possessions come from the mary kate and ashley line at walmart. well to use kelley's big word, it's become drudgery. (did i use that right?).

this laundry process is wearing me down. another fab little trick about the hobby is that you can actually get more clothes than they need because it's such a great deal. and because there is more, the clothes are in pristine condition when it's time to sell them. which means i can go longer between laundry sessions. way longer. and this is such a bad idea. i'm so backed up i could cry. seriously. it's that bad.

in 7th grade i went to school with a girl named randi, she was famed for never wearing the same outfit twice. and it was true. we're not talking jeans with different shirts. actual outfits, different ones, every single day. this year, i do believe i have two randi's.

so i have made a decision. the insanity will stop. i will not replace wardrobes every season. i will let the girls wear the clothes til they grow out of them. i will pass things down. when they need something i will get it, or if i see something that "i" just have to have for them.

this will not help me out of my current predicament. no. but when this season's batch is done. i will go back to just set it and forget it. you all will hold me to it right?