Swallowing The Frog

There is currently a book about overcoming procrastination that likens the unpleasant tasks we have to complete as "frogs" and states that the best thing to do is to "eat the frog" first. We all have one or a few frogs we have to swallow each day, but if you eat it early you don't have to spend the day watching the frog jumping around before you eat it.

I think laundry is my "frog" and most frustrating of all household chores. I procrastinate and procrastinate until it is MANDATORY that I wash the clothes (read: as of tomorrow, my children will have no more clean underpants). It's because of my procrastination that the whole ordeal becomes more terrible - I now have ~9 loads of wash to do. The horrendous catch with laundry is this: unless you're doing laundry while everyone in the family is nude & the beds are stripped, THERE IS ALWAYS MORE LAUNDRY to be done!!! :::sigh:::

The girls & I sat on the floor tonight sorting their laundry to be washed. They've gotten pretty good at it & like to do "their" job. To keep from losing those little socks, I put all of them in a "delicates" bag with a zipper. As long as I remember to actually zip it up, it works so very well that I can honestly say I have never had one of my girls' socks drop out of my pant leg while in public. The girls take relish in going through the mountain of their clothes & placing all the socks in said bag as well as tossing all underpants in the laundry basket and placing all the towels to the side.

I actually enjoy the sorting (& folding afterward). The girls like to sit & talk with me & race to find all the socks while I go through turning all the clothes right-side out and spotcleaning them. I know, it sounds exceptionally OCD to put OxyClean on every mark & stain, but it has made me one of the top sellers in the Mothers of Multiples Clothing & Equipment Sale for the last 4 sales. It may take a few extra minutes each time I do their laundry, but it means more clothes make it through the beating my girls give them.

Down At The Car Wash

Life lesson with twins: Everything will now take you about 3 times as long to finish.

Deal with it. It's a fact that having twin "helpers" makes everything exponentially more difficult/time consuming/complex... and exponentially more fun as well. For example:

4:00 pm - I decided that today was an excellent day to wash the minivan. When the girls were let out of their room...er, woke up from their nap, I changed them into soakable clothes, gathered the necessary "stuff" to wash the car & headed outside with my 2 ducklings in tow.
4:15 pm - I sprayed down the minivan and filled the bucket with soap & water. The girls were fascinated by my sponge and decided that the old washcloths I had given them to "help" with just wouldn't suffice. Back into the house, dig up 2 old kitchen sponges from under the sink & trek back outside.
4:30 pm - Actually begin to scrub the van in earnest this time as the girls "help" me by washing the other side.
4:35 pm - Console a soaked & crying Caleigh while trying to explain to Alessa that if she's going to spray her sister, then turnabout is fair play & she needs to think about if she wants to get wet. Caleigh edges closer to the hose. :::sigh:::
4:45 pm - Break up a sponge and suds fight. Yes, they were both laughing at the time, but boy does the car wash soap hurt if it gets in your eyes.

5:00 pm - Shriek in dismay as my entire back is soaked by my water loving, hose-wielding Alessa. Convince Alessa to give up the hose because "Mommy has to wash off the soap"...for the dozenth time.

You see, when washing a car on your own, you don't worry about the other side drying because it's usually such a short amount of time or it's just water. Not so with "helpers" - I had to constantly rinse the opposite side of the van to keep their soap from drying. In addition to the added "drying soap" aspect of having twin "helpers", there's also the height aspect. Three and a half year old children seem to see only what is DIRECTLY in front of them. No higher, no lower.

Do you see where I'm going with this? Needless to say, washing the van took me 1 1/2 HOURS.