Quick Laundromat

The next Saturday when we went back, same morning routine of packing, things seemed to be going okay, the feces were still there but I checked every single washer thoroughly before I put in any clothes. I did manage to save a lady from putting her clothes in the soiled washer and she so very nicely told me that the owner was outside and I should let him know. Great, fabulous, I now have the pleasure of telling the owner about his disgusting washer. Never ever thought or wanted to be this person.

I walk out to tell him what happened, and I’m sure my face was red, wouldn’t yours be?! He casually walks in, looks, turns to me and asks, “What should I do?” Now I wanted to scream and tell him to get it out, it’s disgusting, it’s gross, and don’t you look at anything, or haven’t you smelled it in the past week! But I didn’t; I looked and said I would go home, get clothes, wrap my arm in a plastic garbage bag and pick it out. This is not what he had in mind… ”let’s just wash it.” And that is exactly what he did, ever wash crap? Well it doesn’t go away; it just goes into many, many pieces throughout the entire washer.

Laundromat Nightmares

As I said, I really don’t care for Laundromats, there has only been one in my entire life that I didn’t mind so much, and that was before I had a child. Saturday mornings were reserved for getting up, getting the baby ready, and heading four miles down the road to the disgusting place. If you are a mother or someone that has a young child you will understand how much of a production it is to go to a Laundromat to do several loads of laundry and keeping a young child entertained without touching too much of anything. I made oatmeal and thought if I can feed him breakfast while the clothes are washing, it might kill some time and he won’t be as antsy. So let’s go through the mental checklist to make sure we have everything: breakfast, milk, a spoon, napkins, bib, diaper, wipes, toys, stroller, laundry basket, laundry, detergent, dryer sheets, quarters, keys, hopefully that’s it. We arrive and I have my son in the stroller, wheeled him halfway, get the clothes out of the car, with my son always in my sight, take the clothes in, wheel the stroller in, and okay, actually everything is now inside. And I’m thinking I’ll get the clothes in to the washers and started, then breakfast, well what I wasn’t quite ready for was when I started putting my husbands work clothes in something smelled absolutely horrible. I mean I know that sometimes they smell but never this bad; I questioned whether he had an accident. (He loved that this crossed my mind, please note sarcasm.) I put in the second armful of his work clothes and thought they can’t all smell this bad…so I looked into the washer and there it was. Disgusting, foul, gross human feces. Oh I have never been so grossed out, now remember I already have some clothes in this washer, have to pull them back out and thank God that none of the clothes came in direct contact with the feces. Picture the sight, because at this point I’m gagging and jumping around because I was disgusted beyond belief. My son is watching with wide eyes because his Mommy is jumping around. So much for the nice smell of oatmeal.
I did wash that round of clothes twice. My son did finally get his breakfast and got too tired of being there about halfway through the second round of washing my husbands work clothes, and the people that arrived were not pleased with my son’s unhappy fussing.
Oh well, this was our Saturday’s!

Along with a new job…

My husband was given the opportunity to have a new, more stable job and after weighing all the pros, growth, stability, and the cons, moving, not being near my family, we decided he should take the position. He was driving over two hours to get to work and then over two to get home, six times a week, which would drive anyone crazy. So we decided that we would rent a small place, that way he could come home each weekend and the baby and I would stay a couple nights through the week.

We assumed we would slowly transition, sell our home, and I would search for a new job. That slow transition turned into a downright sprint. I received a wonderful position and it was decided that husband, baby, and I would move into the rental and try to sell our house as fast as possible.

What you don’t yet understand is the rental…a small, two-bedroom, dirty trailer with a neighbor that wasn’t even cordial. I am not bashing trailers or trailer parks by any means; I lived in a trailer court until 3 years of age and a trailer until 10 years of age, but this particular trailer was gross. Although, I cleaned and it was temporary, so I kind of got passed that. Kind of! The three bottles of Lysol, 409, Pine Sol, and air fresheners helped. The outlets didn’t always work, the stove would quit halfway through a meal, and the faulty wires all added to my particular love of the new place. The part that I could not, maybe would not, get passed is the laundry, at the Laundromat. I’ve never liked going to the Laundromat, it’s always been a pet peeve of mine, especially because I wash a ton of clothes. Too bad, so sad, I had to, every Saturday and sometimes once through the week.

This all just scratches the surface of my real life nightmare. But thankfully, the nightmare is over!

New Home

We recently signed papers for the bank to own our new home for the next 30 years. : ) We are ecstatic, to put it mildly.
You see the end of summer and most of fall we have been living in a trailer park out in the middle of nowhere. I grew up in a small-small town but compared to this place, the small town I was raised in would be considered a city. While living in BFE we had quite a few experiences. The next few blogs will allow you to have just a glimpse into our last couple of months.

The Noisy Kid At Church

I used to sit in church and wonder why they wouldn't have a nursery for all the kids or at least the babies...I don't believe I'm alone on this and if anyone was at the service that my child and I went to, I'm positive they wanted one that Sunday.
We started out in a pew, we always START out in a pew, and it's where we end up that constantly is a guessing game. My little guy was starting to get a little rambunctious, so I pulled out some toys. That did not work for more than a few seconds. Then we went on to the newsletter, and that was okay until he started ripping it. Then he reached for the church missal and the hymn booklet. So we hurried and moved on to the cheerios, thank goodness for cheerios. Breakfast in the pew lasted for a little over five minutes. Everyone may think this is quite quick but anything that works for a little while is a blessing. Little bit of milk and he was ready to move. I couldn't let him down or he would certainly crawl off so we bounced, then we stood up to sing, yes...noise! And it's not only coming from my little guy!
The priest begins to read and that's it, no more quiet...he's screaming, so we get up and go to the back, still in the main room...we sit down on the floor...maybe this will be enough...big fat NOPE! We move back in foyer and we are on the ground. The little guy sees boxes filled with things that are donations for the poor. (The child loves to dump out anything, especially my purse and his toy box.) He's trying to grab things out of the boxes, okay so we move around a little. A woman and her elderly mother arrive to church a little late and the mother needs to sit, so her daughter pulls out a wheelchair, my child's eyes light up...he thinks he can play with the rolling wheels. Oh boy!
As I'm trying to entertain him with things from my giant purse I'm also trying to right out a check for the collection...just as I'm placing in the basket, he reaches and grabs it out of my hand. So then I have to take it away, more squeals. We made it to communion and then had to leave just before the last song.