Is it just me, or did you wash this on “hot”?
Posted by Isabel on March 16th, 2006. Filed under: They're just my family, We're having a baby.My Mom did all the laundry when I was growing up. As well as work full time and raise all of us kids. She would complain about doing all the laundry and when we begged her to let us help out she would tell us, “I work too damn hard to pay for your clothes. I’m not letting you ruin them by trying to wash them yourselves!”. She had a valid point.
Because she was the only one doing all of the laundry, we weren’t allowed to complain if our clothes weren’t washed fast enough. She had a few basic rules to the laundry:
- If she found money in the wash, she kept it.
- She wouldn’t make it a habit to check pockets. So check ‘em yourself.
- She would fold our clothes, but it was our job to put them away.
I remember a few times when she would find someone’s $10.00 bill in the wash and flaunt it around us. But we knew the rules. And she probably deserved a little kick back for all her hard work anyway.
Once she washed my Dad’s wallet and everything in it was ruined. It caused quite a fight at our house. But dude, he shouldn’t have left it in his pants pocket. Again, he knew the rules.
Every few years my Dad would get all mad and say that she shrunk every pair of Levi’s he owned. He would rant and rave and make a big fuss. Then he’d go out and buy himself ten new pairs of Levi’s. Maybe even a few new shirts.
We all knew that she hadn’t shrunk his pants. He was just getting fatter and wouldn’t take the blame for it.
A few weeks ago I put on one of my favorite black maternity tops. It was a little tight around my bosoms. I was all, “aw man, I shrunk my fave top!” and put it back in the closet.
I brought it out again today. You know, just to make sure it was still too small. Checking out my reflection in the mirror I realized that the shirt hadn’t shrunk.
My belly is just taking over Seattle.
One maternity shirt at a time.
March 16th, 2006 at 12:15 pm
You know you’re almost done when you start growing out of your maternity clothes!
The Mr. and I do our own separate laundry. Basically, neither of us wants to be held responsible for ruining the other’s clothes.
March 16th, 2006 at 12:30 pm
Laughing my butt off down in Oregon!!!!!!!
March 16th, 2006 at 1:33 pm
I love the rules!! And I am also too large for my shirts. I figure…the belly is “in” this season. I just try not to subject my co-workers to it.
March 16th, 2006 at 2:35 pm
Your mom sounds like an awesome lady. And I can’t tell you how many times I left a pen in my pants pocket. But I rarely left money.
March 16th, 2006 at 2:51 pm
I’m guilty of the wallet wash. Also the lip gloss wash, the blue pen wash, and the TV remote wash (it was tangled in the sheets-how was I supposed to know???)
March 16th, 2006 at 2:56 pm
I like your mom’s thinking. Unfortunately, my parents decided that if we were old enough to go to school, by golly, we were old enough to do laundry! So we did our own. But my parents thought the dryer was a waste of electricity, so we had to hang everything up on a clothesline in the unfinished basement. To this day, they still do that, but thank god I no longer have to live by their laundry rules!
March 16th, 2006 at 3:59 pm
I remember at the end of the pregnancy when my belly showed “just a little” in like every shirt I owned. I refused to buy anything else labeled maternity!!
March 16th, 2006 at 4:54 pm
My mom once washed my dad’s wallet. He promptly went to the faucet with her purse and filled it up.
I bet you still look adorable
March 16th, 2006 at 5:10 pm
It sure does feel like that tummy is taking over the world sometimes, doesn’t it. Great story- it sounds just like my house when I was a kid.
March 17th, 2006 at 7:40 am
I’m think I’m going to follow your mom’s lead and use her rules at my house.
And my belly has the Memphis area covered sister. It’s massive! Oh, and 8-9 month maternity clothes just don’t exist. I put a top on the other day, looked in the mirror, and my husband was all, hmmmmm maybe two months ago honey. And he was so right.
March 17th, 2006 at 12:26 pm
Your mom has the same laundry rules that I do!
March 19th, 2006 at 8:05 am
Isn’t that the worst? I hated outgrowing my freaking maternity clothes.
And it isn’t much of a consolation that the smaller maternity clothes will be all you can wear the first few weeks after the baby arrives….
March 20th, 2006 at 12:19 pm
This is the cutest post! Great childhood story.