Grumpy

I'm grumpy today, so here's a grumpy post to go with my mood.

Yesterday I had to run two errands: Pick up Bible Lessons for Bible Club from the Mailbox Club, and pick up bags of cereal for Bible Club from WalMart. Maddy hasn't been feeling well, and whined, "I wanna go too" 63 times, so I took her too.

We made it through the first errand ok, Maddy actually broke through her self-absorbed meanness to wave goodbye to the sweet lady that compiled my lesson order. Then as we drove to WalMart she fell asleep. In the parking lot, I was thanking Jesus because there was an empty spot, literally right by the door (shady, too). As I was about to pull in, these people who were in the spot next to the empty one walked right through my spot, parked their cart right in the MIDDLE of my spot and proceeded to unload. I was miffed, but they only had a few bags, so I just inched forward and put on my blinker so they would be sure to see that I was waiting (I'm not very aggressive when I'm in my car).

I was absolutely shocked when the man got into his car and LEFT the cart right in the middle of that empty spot. I mean, geez, I wasn't going to leave my sleeping kid in the car to push HIS cart out of the spot so I could park! To make matters worse, I now had a line of people behind me, and the jerk who left the cart was trying to back out, but had no room with me cramped behind him.

Do you think they moved the cart THEN? No, they waited until the car in front of them moved and then drove forward. Ugh. By this time, a lady must've seen all this and grabbed the cart and wheeled it into the store. I didn't even get a chance to thank her.

I had to ask God to forgive me over and over for the ugly thoughts I had toward the selfish individual who left the cart in the MIDDLE of a parking spot. My penance was that I had to carry my 40 lb. two year old around walmart (she wouldn't wake up) with one arm while pulling a cart full of cereal with the other. And my arms ache even now to remind myself not to be selfish and at least push the cart over to the side.

I whipped it!

Laundry used to be my nemesis, my mortal enemy. Anyone who knows me, knows there was always, ALWAYS laundry hiding in mounds somewhere in my house. Always. No matter how clean my house looked at first glance, there WAS a pile of clothes somewhere other than where it should be.

Usually it was clean. Oh, I have no problem stuffing into the machine and pressing the right button. Most of the time, I'd even fold it. No, my achilles heel was getting it put away. Then the kids dig through the basket, it hits the floor, someone scoops it into the hamper, and there we go, I'm washing "clean" clothes all over.

Well, I've finally whipped it. I've exorcized my laundry demon. And I am so proud of myself. How did I do it?

Well, my breaking point came after watching the Duggars (you know, the lady with 18 kids), and hearing her say that she does 10-15 loads of laundry a week. Hey, wait a minute.....I did that much laundry a week!!!!! (Well, that depends on your definition of "doing" laundry, as I explained above.) If I had as much laundry as a lady with 18 kids, and I've only got three (four if you count the husband, and sometimes I do)......what is wrong with this picture?????

So after a 2 week debate with my husband who would rather NEVER get rid of anything, I finally won (or maybe I just ignored his argument) and I spent a week going through EVERYONES clothes. I got rid of stuff that doesn't fit, stuff that was the wrong season (although I kept the winter stuff in tubs in my closet--I knew we were going to the mountains for spring break), and stuff that was ugly or stained. Then I further refined the stash by only keeping what would fit in their drawer.

I know that seems like such a no-brainer--why in the world would you have more clothes than will fit in their drawers in the first place? Well, for starters, my wonderful mother-in-love goes yard-sale-ing regularly and frankly gives me stuff faster than I can keep up with. Add that with my love for a good sale, the fact that my kids grow way too fast, my husband is a packrat and fakes a heart attack evertime he sees me with a trash bag.....well anyway.

That week, I also moved CJ's room down the hall to share space with Casey's office, and the guest bed into CJ's old room, which is now Cole's. This moved Cole and Maddy's clothes into their own space (and out of mine). (Bonus: Cole has slept in his own room for a week and a half!)

So this is the second week in a row that I was able to wash, dry, and fold ALL the laundry, and it is sorted and waiting for my little minions to put away in their proper place. THAT has to be the best part of the whole thing--even Maddy can put her own laundry away. And CJ miraculously learned (finally) the proper way to hang clothes in the closet, so his school uniform and church clothes are no longer squeezed into his drawers. It makes my heart happy for everything to be in the right place.

But that doesn't mean that my house will be clean if you come over. It just means I don't have laundry hiding in the corner! (o: