6.22.2011

hanging around...

if there are any of you long-time readers still hanging around, you might remember no dryer july, the month in 2008 that i line-dried our clothes exclusively, down to the last baby bootie. how far i have fallen. i must admit it hadn't even crossed my mind to me to hang out any laundry over the past few months... or year. ahem.

until i saw this post over at small notebook, one of the blogs i pop into time to time. the post, combined with some lovely photos, was just the inspiration i needed. and it just so happened i had a load of diapers in the washing machine ready to come out.

diapers, check. motivation, check. laundry line, gone. got stowed away for a party or something? maybe it broke? i don't know. a thorough search turned up nothing. so i went on the hunt for my wooden drying rack. couldn't find it (are you sensing a trend here?) but came across a metal rack--which was covered in rust from being left out through the winter(s). it was stowed ever-so-neatly under my potting table, which apparently did not provide proper cover.

okay, i was getting desperate. poking around the yard and jeremy's shop is not high on my list of fun things to do. by this time my diapers, if they'd been tossed into the dryer, would have been well on their way to getting dry. but i was committed, and i am at times somewhat makeshift-y, and so i rigged up what i like to call the laundry ladder from a 10-foot piece of picket fencing i found laying around. yes, treasures just pop up from all over the valley girl property.

it worked alright. i forgot how much i dislike hanging laundry--getting to that meditative place is a bit difficult when small people are running around dumping juice on each other (because sticky is so fun, mama!). of course, they were also very helpful in dragging the clean wipes around the deck, rendering them pretty filthy before hanging them up for me. gotta love those two for trying.

it's not the hanging of diapers themselves that i dislike, but the tedium of all the wipes. i must admit that, after shooing my little helpers away, i left a bunch of wipes at the bottom of the basket in crumples and they dried that way. perfection is not my strong suit.

i'd like to commit to at least hanging out all of the diapers (2 loads per week) through the summer. but only if i can get a proper laundry line back up. someone just about 3 feet tall took the term "laundry ladder" to heart. look at me, mommy!!! i would have got a photo, but i was too busy rescuing her from the top!

5 comments:

canoeingmom said...

It is nice to hear that when we beat ourselves up the most someone is right there with us saying we are not alone. Thanks for releiving my guilt.. :). I love the inovation!!

Ashley W said...

erin, I remember your posts from way back and how they inspired me to get all my goods out on the line last summer too. This year however, we're in a new neighborhood and don't have a very private fence, backing onto a very public playground... I haven't gotten up the nerve to have my personals flapping about back there but perhaps I should just get over it ;)

Shanea said...

Oh this post made me chuckle. All the things that we do when we are committed to something, you did get them hung and that is what counts. Hopefully you will get your line drying mojo back but cut yourself some slack between the chicks, the kiddos and the like your plate is very full!

erin said...

thank you all for your supportive comments! i managed to get two more loads up today (all bedding stuff, so it was easy) and am feeling very pleased. hurray for sunshine!

Little Liza Jane said...

Don't give up girl! You will be surprised how much your longer clothes will last. Here in Thailand no one has a dryer, and all though I felt like a hillbilly I love it now. Although I have to admit I still get a bit freaked when I pull up and my big ol' granny panties are hanging on the front fence for the whole world to see. (It took the neighbors standing on front of the house looking at them for the housekeeper to finally stop doing that) Oy yey! Life in the jungle I guess!