There is something satisfying about clean laundry. Fresh sheets on the beds, clean, fluffy towels on the towel racks, drawers and closets full of clean clothes, empty laundry hamper. Ditto a clean kitchen. Dishwasher running, counters wiped down and disinfected, floor swept and mopped.
Occasionally over the years I’ve encountered other women who think that housework is beneath them. Granted, cleaning toilets is not the most enjoyable of tasks, but someone’s got to do it. Many women manage to work outside the home and arrange for help when it comes to keeping their homes clean and tidy without looking down their noses at those of us who choose to not work outside the home. Live and let live. Bloom where you’re planted. Can’t we all just get along?
I’m a weird duck. I like being a housewife. No, belay that. I love being a housewife. I’m happiest when the house is clean and I’m caught up on laundry, when the pantry and the fridge are well stocked and I have time to devote to knitting, spinning, weaving, reading, cooking or anything else that strikes my fancy.
Don’t get me wrong. Our house is not spotless. There are rooms that don’t get cleaned as often as I would like and some things are quite a chore, like cleaning behind the washer and dryer and around the water heater and under the utility sink in the utility room.
I have to budget my time with regard to what my body can tolerate given my cranky ankle and lower back problems. I take frequent breaks and kick back in the recliner to putter on the laptop, read, or work on my knitting before the next round of cleaning.
Today has been a long laundry day. Literally. I started at 8 am, it’s a little after 2 pm and I’m still going. It was time to launder not just sheets but blankets as well. Brad’s bed is now made with fresh sheets and clean blankets. My bed is made with clean sheets and my cotton summer blanket is also freshly laundered. I’ve got a load of towels in the dryer and the sheets I took off of Brad’s bed are in the washer now. I laundered a brand new set of Egyptian Cotton sheets for his bed and he should enjoy crawling into bed tonight between cool, clean sheets. I keep two sets of sheets for each bed, Brad now has three sets: Two sets of flannel sheets and one of Egyptian Cotton. I prefer Egyptian Cotton sheets for my bed that I ordered from the My Pillow website.
Another chore is dusting Brad’s room and my studio. There are so many surfaces to catch dust! He has loaded magazines for semi-automatic pistols laid out on top of his dresser, along with odds and ends of other things that do an excellent job of gathering dust, three book cases and a set of shelves mounted on one wall that holds stacks of paper, books, files, etc. I’ve got open wire shelving and it’s all full of baskets and bins full of fiber and yarn and odds and ends. Then there are the plastic bags full of fiber and yarn on the built-in shelves above the wire shelving. It all catches dust and it’s past time to take everything down and get rid of the dust.
I’ve got a couple of more hours before he’s home from the gun range and I’m going to take that time to grab the hand-held vacuum and tackle some of the dust, especially around and under his bed. It won’t take that long and I can tackle the rest of it tomorrow.
The washer just finished a wash cycle and I need to add vinegar to the first rinse. I’ve got a lot more to do today and I’d best get to it. Have a blessed Friday, ya’ll.
Rural Texas Knitter 