I’m a 40-something mama to six children and I have a confession… for the past six and a half years (YEARS people!), my mother has been doing all my laundry. Yep… I am S.P.O.I.L.E.D!
Okay, sure, I’ve done some here and there. She does get sick from time to time… or we have some extra laundry in the form of children who aren’t completely potty trained… and sometimes she leaves town. When these things happen, we generally do our best and still run out of underwear and socks. [Eye roll] It is hard to switch it back into our routine. But for the most part, my mom does it all!
I talked about this several years ago, but it all started after baby number 6 was born and things were HARD (head over to read the other post for details if you are curious). My mom lives with us in a renovated detached garage, but she worked full time, so she wasn’t able to be around much to help. A couple weeks in she started doing all the laundry. Husband was very thankful to have socks and underwear every day and I was very thankful to no longer feel like a failure every time he didn’t. Win win!
It was a great help during a difficult season, but as we were finally climbing out of it several months later, she told me she was going to keep doing it. (Again, more details in the other post.) And she has! For six and a half years! Now she did retire this past summer and has done quite a bit more traveling since. It’s been a transitional year as we prepare to take it over for good. This summer the new laundry room should be fully functional, and I will take back the laundry baton that she has faithfully carried for so long.
Several years ago, as I was reflecting on how much I appreciated my mom and her willingness to serve us in such a tangible way, I decided to paint her a card for Mother’s Day with a giant basket of laundry on the front. I had no idea that 4 more years would pass before I would take that chore back from her.
This year, as I’m anticipating being the chief laundress for my large family once again, I thought about how laundry is one of the many thank-less jobs moms do. Most of the time they only notice if we don’t do the laundry (“Mmmmmooooommmmmm, I don’t have any underwear!”… I hear this a lot when I’m in charge.) They don’t think to come down in the morning to say “Thanks for the clean underwear and socks in my drawer mom!” (To be fair, my husband does thank me for laundry from time to time… I am spoiled indeed!)
So, with these thoughts in my mind, I have brought the laundry themed Mother’s Day card to my Etsy shop. I am selling them as digital downloads so you can purchase, print and send them without waiting and without leaving home.
I also created some bonus tags and a bookmark that are included. Great for Mother’s Day, birthdays, or just because!
As always, I want you to have an opportunity to have them at a discount during their first week in my shop. Enter LAUNDRY33 as the coupon code for 33% off through the 22nd or use this link to have it taken automatically.
You can find me gathering here.
