YOU MUST GO CRAZY WHEN YOU COME TO OUR HOUSE

My oldest brother and sister-in-law have a busy schedule between their jobs, three kids, kids’ school, sports, etc. So their house gets a little hectic at moments, to say the least.  But it’s their house.  Believe it or not, I don’t walk around judging or thinking how someone’s house could work better if only…It’s not my house, I don’t live there, and I’m not familiar with the day to day intricacies that are their lives.  Judge not lest ye be judged, yeah?  Now that having been said, I can and do step in with tweaks (warranted or not) every now and then.  Occasionally.

It was on one of my last visits to their house that I came up with my ah-ha laundry moment.  Now keep in mind that it’s just my son and I at home so I don’t have to worry about this yet.  Or maybe ever.  If you have more than two people in your house you MUST, I repeat, must have individual laundry baskets.  No ifs, ands or buts.  Trying to figure out whose undershirts, jeans, t-shirts, and socks, OMG, the socks belong to whom is enough to push someone into a nervous breakdown.

I was washing some of my own clothes at my brother’s house so, of course, I finished up their laundry for them first.  I decided to take on matching up a pile of socks I had noticed from the beginning of the week as part of “finishing” their laundry.  Now, I honestly like doing laundry (maybe that’s a given?) but this pile was absolute torture.  It was so overwhelming and was probably there for a week (if not more) because everyone in the house was terrified of it.  I matched maybe five pairs in 30 minutes before quitting.  I packed it in right there.  Done.  Goodbye.

That’s when the wheels started spinning.  If everyone had their own basket, socks (and obviously everything else) would go in together and would come out together.  Minimal time wasted matching socks or deciding whose jeans, tees, other, belong to whom.  Especially in a house with 3 women and 2 men.  No thanks!

So maybe I was pushed to a certain kind of crazy on this trip but I swear, it doesn't happen often.  And being pushed can often lead to great moments.