Me wearing the shirt/tunic I made

Day 15 Sunday: Need I say?

Day 16 Monday: Well I put on one very full load and I shall do the other tomorrow.


Day 17 Tuesday: I put on another very full load. And I decided the other day; to hand wash my sister’s band shirt and also my hand made shirt. I have made two shirts and I have noticed how the one that has been through the wash a lot of times is not looking so happy in some places so I think I shall attempt hand washing them. The first time we washed Jane’s band shirt a few other clothes got rather damaged…. We didn’t realize it was brand new and of course it is red…. So one of my favourite brown and white skirts is now… well not so white, along with a few other clothes. So today I washed that offending red shirt by hand and turned the water in the bucket into a brownish pink colour. Disaster averted!

Day 18 Wednesday: The only problem with hand washing things is they take a lot longer to dry. So Jane’s band shirt is still a bit damp. I put on another load today with towels in it to fill it up, it is quite cloudy but hopefully it shall dry.

Day 19 Thursday: Didn’t do washing because I managed to forget about it for… well most of the day….somehow

Day 20 Friday: I did two loads….. wonder why???  The problem was that one of my sisters was mowing the lawn so I obviously couldn’t hang it out until she had finished, so I put one load on… and pulled it out into the basket then put another on and I hung out the first as it said there were about 6 minutes left for the second load to be finished. 

By that time the sun had shone on the ground for some hours and heat came not only down from the sun but up from the dry grass. The ants were also nicely active, just tiny black ones….. but if you stand on their trail for long enough, or not very long at all, most of the ants in the vicinity will climb onto your feet and nibble them…. Apparently between my toes is the tastiest place. 
When I had hung out the first load I went back in and got the second to hang out and pegged that all up too. 

Day 21 Saturday: I pulled a few gumnuts out of the door seal of the washing machine today…

Day 8 Sunday: Obviously I didn't do washing today, because it is Sunday.  

Day 9 Monday: I had to do two loads today. And I also ended up having to use about 15 PINK pegs because I ran out of blue ones… really not good. I got both loads out early before it got really hot, but the sun still burned down when I got them in at about 5:30. I sorted them out while listening to an audio book.

Day 10 Tuesday: I only had to do one small load today. The only thing is it still smells smoky outside, as it has all day. I hope it does not make all the washing smell. Alice got it in today, while I made tea and since the air just smells so much like smoke we have all got used to it…..

Day 11 Wednesday: The washing could have been rather interesting today except I found the book in the pile as I was putting it in the washing machine. I almost wish I had not found it… I am rather interested to know what a book would be like after being through the wash…. And what the washing would be like…. It was only one of Ann’s books… and I suspect that is how it got there.

Day 12 Thursday: There were not enough dirty things to put on a load.

Day 13 Friday: There was quite enough today. I put on one load then a few minutes later my dad asks what the odd noise is. I say it’s probably the washing machine. Then I think; wait why would the washing machine be making odd noises? There is this dull thud thud thud coming from the laundry….. not that there is much I can do about it. About half an hour later a great crashing and clattering starts…… When I pull the clothes out of the machine (FYI ours is a front loader) I also find a very large and very clean black rock…. As I hang out the washing I also pull out a small piece of stick. The day is cool and the clouds are grey so we shall have to see if anything gets dry. Luckily nothing went wrong with the second load except for the fact that it didn't get dry properly…..

Day 14 Saturday: Nothing unusual happened today…. And if I recall rightly Alice helped me get today's washing in. Then I sorted out both yesterdays and today's while listening to part of an audio book.

NOTE: We actually fold our washing as we get it in…. I know some people do not. The only times we don’t is when we have to get it in really fast like when it is about to rain. The folding of washing as it is got in results in less crinkled clothes, and therefore less ironing. 

My Mum had decided that this month I am responsible for getting all the washing done. This entitles, getting it out of baskets into the laundry, then from the laundry into the washing machine, then hung out and got back in again, all dried and folded, and finally putting it into piles and those piles in their respective rooms. I can’t decide if this will be simple or not, I think I shall leave that judgement for later. 

As to why I am writing about it, well I am a writer…. And I like recording stuff. I could also end up learning a few things while doing this month of washing. So feel free to read it, but washing only has a certain amount of amusingness, so feel free to skip it, but I shall try wringing all the amusingness in there out. Of course if it gets too boring I will stop posting this log, so tell me what you think. Do you help doing the washing for your family?

Day 1 Sunday: It is Sunday so no washing is done.

Day 2 Monday: I put on a large load of all the dirty washing in the house. Outside the sky is grey and we had 10 mm of rain on Sunday. I didn’t even think of checking in the boys pockets until the washing had finished. I pulled about a handful of rocks out of the washing machine. A few were large but most were almost small enough to fit through the holes in the washing machine. I shook rocks out of clothes while handing the load out and banged rocks out of the basket at the end. 

NOTE: Check Pockets

Day 3 Tuesday: I wasn’t expecting quite so much washing to pile up… I did a full load again and had more left over. I forgot about hanging it out until almost 12, and I got Jane to help me then. I have decided not to do a second load today, hope that is a good decision…… maybe it’s not. Last night I also forgot to get in the last few things that were wet when I got the rest of the washing in. It is all sorted out and in peoples rooms now.

Day 4 Wednesday: NOTE: Don’t forget you put the washing on.

For it to dry you also need to hang it out…… if it is midday before you remember, there is the side effect of melting into the grass while you hang it out. If it is a hot day.... which it was.

Day 5 Thursday: I should actually try remembering to get the washing out of people’s rooms’ earlier otherwise it ends up much later before I can put the washing on. Meaning it will be later when it finishes. Meaning I will probably be doing something else when it finishes. Meaning I melted into the ground like yesterday.

I heard Mummy saying she was going to go get in the washing. So I told her she was not allowed. Because I had to tell people to do it or do it myself. (that was the deal, not sure what I get out of it though, except this) But she was going to take Ann out anyway so then I told her to get in the washing….. then I asked her to get it in….. and I sorted it all out afterwards. 

This is an example of when the loads of unsorted washing add up

NOTE: it is a much less daunting task to put away the washing on the day it comes in than leave piles of it in the hallway until everyone is too scared to do it. Especially if you can listen to an audio book while putting it away.

I don't think our hallway has ever been so empty most of the time....

Day 6 Friday: I learnt that sometimes washing hangs on the side of the laundry tub and Mummy wants that washed too…. Should have been obvious. I could have easily fitted those few more things in.

When I got the washing in today the basket felt like it held plain static electricity. If I moved my hand or arm over it my hairs would stand up. Some of the washing had been wrapped around two lines so there had been some wind, I do also rather jerk washing off the line…. Maybe that is why…. it is very hot and dry....

The top of the peg basket is now entirely blue pegs….. Yes I am a little weird about that….. I must use blue pegs and no other colour…. Unless I run out, and that is a dire circumstance.

Day 7 Saturday: I asked my mum if she could hang out the washing, because I knew I would not be there when it finished. Granny got it in and I sorted it out.

21st Thankyou God For:
~washing machines
~washing lines
~washing baskets
~Clothes to wash (that look a lot more like clothes than in that picture)
~washing basket holders
~Our peg bag (That I made) and is now all faded but still works really well
~Last but not least blue pegs. 

I use blue pegs unless I run out and that is rather disastrous. I have used blue pegs for as long as I can remember. I don’t know why I started but I just do now and I have no intention of stopping. Some people also find it amusing when I happen to get a white or pink peg and then nearly hang something out with it. Sometimes it goes flying and if someone gets hit a peg fight can commence. Peg fights also start when there are sheets to be got in. I used to be the tallest and have the longest arms so I am the one who normally gets them in; tradition just like the blue pegs. When I do that, I still need my hands, so the pegs go flying in the general direction of the peg bag which incidentally is also where my sisters often are. So another peg fight rages. 

We chase each other around the clothes line and chuck pegs. When doing this I use any that come into my hand blue or not. A piece of clothing comes down and the pegs fly, the clothes often get folded in a rather messy way, but still the pegs fly. We, often turns out to be Jane and I or (less often) Alice and I. Tis obviously me who is the problem. But then I never have peg fights with my self, and if only Alice and Jane are getting in the washing obviously I was not there! So maybe they do....

Once the washing is in the fight will sometimes go further afield and occasionally into the front yard and around and around the house. Pegs do sometimes get found in strange places, or come inside tangled in hair. (usually mine) 

It is really quite fun. I should know. But don't try this at home because, pegs can, as above mentioned get very tangled in hair, ankles are liable to be twisted and sometimes washing gets dropped. Most of all it is dangerous for the poor pegs which often end up crushed under pounding feet or lost. I don't know where, if I knew where they were they wouldn't be lost would they. 

Sometimes I wonder why we keep needing to buy more pegs.....