fifty-two projects | project forty-one

this is project forty-one of fifty-two projects. to see more completed projects click here.

project forty-one: create something during the time when you are doing your laundry. the deal with this project is that you can only work on this project when you are doing your laundry. it will be known as your "laundry project." some laundry project ideas...write stories that are all connected in some way to the chore of doing laundry...

alteration: none really, except that these stories will be non-fiction and will be used to delve into my past.

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i call this piece: "laundry | time after time."

introduction: i like a good refreshing tumble. you know - when you want to wear something but it's a little wrinkly, and a little smelly and a little cold. so you toss it in the drier with a bounce sheet and your day is suddenly brighter. i like that. when you think about it, laundry is consistent and really never-ending.* it follows you through everything you do. and because of that, i suspect we are all bound to have stories related to laundry, mine are below.

laundry room one: since i was obviously too young to do laundry at this time, my strongest memory associated with this laundry room is yellow spray paint. one day we went downstairs to discover that my younger brother had taken yellow spray paint from the laundry room/workroom and had sprayed the clothes, my favourite blue jacket, as well as the couch and the basement coffee table. i think we flipped the cushions.

laundry room two: next to this laundry room is where we kept my kitten's litter box. i remember coming home from camp to discover my parents had gotten us a little black and white kitty. molly got lost this past year and it's very sad. she was the meanest cat ever and didn't like to be touched but i still miss her.

laundry room three: it was in this laundry room that my mother taught me how to do laundry. she didn't force me into it. i had just graduated to more womanly underwear and wanted to do my own laundry so that my dad didn't pull it out of the bin and make some sort of embarrassing dental floss comment.

laundry room four: this laundry room was located in my university dorm. i had this great pair of pants. they sat loosely on my hips, went straight down from there and belled just a little. they were also the perfect shade of fade. if you have hips like me you will know how important the fit was to me. before a night out, i went down to tumble my jeans.** when i went back for them fifteen minutes later they were gone. i put up hand drawn signs all over the building but no one ever admitted to the heinous pant stealing crime.

laundry room five: this laundry room was in my apartment building and involved a long ride in a slow elevator. at the time my favourite way to do laundry was while i was getting ready for work and cleaning my room. this meant i would put in a load, shower, ride down the elevator in a towel dress*** and a towel on my head, and put the wash in the drier. in this way it was done by the time i was done my make-up and hair so i would lay it out or fold it before i left the house. my roommate worked casually for the landlord and one day he said to me "the landlord is wondering whether you are a nudist. he said he can see you on the cameras riding the elevator in your towel." i have never been so embarrassed in my life.

laundry room six: in this victoria suite, j and i shared a laundry room with the owners upstairs. during my first time using the washer, i put in all of our towels and pressed play. while downstairs, i heard a loud sputter. i ran upstairs and saw that the washer had stopped during the spin cycle. i quickly and anxiously tried to fix it but eventually had to call the man who lived in the upstairs house. it turns out i hadn't broken it but the machine was "unbalanced" because all the towels had migrated to one side!

laundry room seven: finally, i live in a condo with an in-suite washer and drier. it's heaven, really. the only downside being that i have now come to discover a serious anal retentiveness in my husband when it comes to his laundry. the man has a pile of socks on the floor next to his bed, and only washes his sweat pants bi-monthly, but god forbid you put the towels in cold water, or the whites on hot.



* unless of course you are a movie star and people send you free clothes so that you never have to wear the same thing twice and also you probably don't do your own laundry.
** that's right, i paid a $1.25 just to tumble one pair of pants for fifteen minutes! i really liked them!
*** in my defense it was a towel dress and had a velcro closure.