Thursday night, I realized the diapers coming out of the laundry weren’t clean.
At all. Gross.
I mean, I knew the machine had about had it, but I was in denial. It sat for about 4 of the 10 years it’s been in existence. Not being run much. For one year it wasn’t run at all. Surely it wasn’t dead. But I have to admit, when Matt’s clothes still smelled like deodorant, and he set a fire the other day and his shirt still smelled like smoke, I knew it was time. Plus, it shook the whole house when it spun (even leveled, on carpet). We kept ‘missing’ sales. Waiting for delivery on one with a batch of bad smelling diapers plus another pail full is not an option. So Friday afternoon we went to home depot.
That’s when Keeley got sick. In the car, 2 minutes from home depot. Damn. I went in and checked out their washers after helping to strip her down, while Matt stayed out with the girls. I came back out so he could go in and look, and as I approached, there he was, craning back over the seat, it had happened again. Good grief. She continued on that road the rest of the night, taking one bite of toast before urping up her tylenol and water. We finally convinced her not to eat anything and she went to bed, having spent the afternoon and evening on various blankets (that then needed washed because they were vomited on), watching movies. Matt snuck out to Sears and bought us a washer. (home depot and lowes offered delivery the next WEEK). The first load I washed did well, the ‘old’ ones that were funkified from not getting clean before, I washed with a touch of bleach. They came out fabulous. I’m working on load 3 right now, hopefully it will work well enough for us. We also did 2 loads of blankets, the car seat cover, sheets, towels and clothes. I don’t think we’ve ever used so much water in one 24 hour period.
We spent all of Saturday either doing said laundry, folding and putting said laundry away, or cleaning the house. It was LONG overdue. Finally being released by my doctor, and being home all day (Matt didn’t want Keeley to go swimming and get sick there, but no worries, she was fine)– I’d about had enough. I tidied Keeley’s room when I got her dressed and got her set up with a movie. Matt cleaned the shower rings and took down the old curtain and swept the floor, while I cleaned the sink, the tub lip that holds all our soaps, and the mirrors and toilet in our bathroom. Later he put a new shower curtain up. I cleaned the windowsills in the bathroom and our room, then attempted to clean the lamps. The more I tried, the more annoyed I got. There’s nothing wrong with them, they are fine, really, but they are cream colored and textured, so dirt sticks to them. We’ve had them since we got married. I decided it was time for a change. Matt was receptive, and there is a ‘rummage’ going on through our church (drop off was Sunday), so we decided to get new lamps. So now our side tables have no lamps! I dusted the rest of our furniture (I’d already vacuumed earlier in the week). Brennan woke up, so I fed her while he fed Keeley. Then we cleaned Brennan’s room, putting laundry away, changing sheets, vacuuming (only room I hadn’t done). We got both girls to bed. Then I did the hall bathroom while he made lunch. We took an hour off to watch a DVR’d show, cuddle, and take a shower. Then he swept the kitchen while I went through newspapers, paperwork, and junk on the dining table and kitchen counter. Both girls woke up then and we had made a shopping list of things we needed from the store in each room (not really groceries, but toiletries, things like that) so I made dinner and vacuumed the living room (having straightened it up earlier) while Matt and Keeley did stuff outside, and then after we ate we went to the store. We got home in time to get the girls to bed. Somewhere in there we did dishes, unloaded the dishwasher, and continued on all that laundry.
Sunday morning I fed the baby, let her hog our bed for a while, and then made deviled eggs to take with us to a potluck, got cleaned up, made coffee and got Matt up. He bathed the girls while I finished the eggs. It was our ‘old’ church’s 160th anniversary, so we went, showed off Brennan, had potluck, visited our nephew that broke his leg and had to have surgery and have it pinned in 4 places and took him some goodies, and headed back home. Then we spent almost 2 hours digging out everything we figured we could ‘rummage’ from our house. A dress I wore in a wedding, books, glass plates, an old vacuum, etc. Everything I could find. We loaded up the truck and car and headed in. Keeley played outside while we took the stuff in to rummage and peeked through what was there. It’s all free for the taking and the rest is donated to goodwill, so we didn’t feel bad about getting rid of anything. A lot of it had been boxed up for over a year, clothes that didn’t fit, etc. It was just taking up space in the garage, our closets, etc. I even dug through the Christmas stuff. Yup, I wanted to get rid of everything I could think of in one fell swoop.
We came home and had leftover chicken and noodles (my mom made them for the potluck) and crashed pretty hard. I’m sure Matt’s tired today, I know I am. Of course I’ve already done laundry, fed and clothed the girls. Time to go do dishes, of course. The kitchen still isn’t completely clean, but it’s manageable right now, and that’s the important thing. God bless my hubby for taking a whole day he could have ‘played’ and helping me get our house into a not so horrible shape.
What’s up this week? Keeley doesn’t have her church club so we’re good until Thursday this week. That’s when Brennan gets shots and has her 2 month check up. I don’t think we have anything else, but we really need to figure out what to give Keeley for her birthday, and figure out the stuff for her party. I am SO far behind in that area. Also, Halloween costumes. No idea how I’m going to get those done.
Sayre
You wear me out just reading about what you’ve been doing! Very good of Matt to help you out all day – I’m sure that made a huge difference!
And congratulations on the new washer! What did you get? A top- or front-loader? I’m curious about the agitator… I’ve had my washer for a long time and it’s still going pretty strong, but I’ve noticed it doesn’t do quite as good a job as it used to…