I think CoCo loves a clean Copper almost as much as I love fresh, clean sheets on my bed. Let me introduce you to Copper, Colton's (affectionately known as CoCo) blanket. He is my Linus, and I love it. I am not sure how this particular blanket became his favorite because we had so many similar ones. These are really soft blankets that are breathable. When I had the twins, my one fear was putting them into the crib with a blanket. I feared them getting smothered. This fear seams so silly compared to all of the other potential dangers that lurk out there for our little ones. Our doctor finally told me very frankly that they were fine to have a blanket probably because it was winter and she felt sorry for them. They were two. I came up with a brilliant plan for Colton. My friend Molly introduced me to some really soft blankets that were "holey" and breathable. Before I would buy them I would cover my mouth and nose to make sure that I could breathe through them. Everytime I found one, I would buy it. We ended up with a lot of holey blankets, and CoCo was allowed to have them since birth. CoCo's favorite one is the smallest one and it is aqua colored. I have wondered if this became his favorite because that was the color of his walls in his nursery, and it is still his preferred shade of blue if given the opportunity to choose. For a long time he could not say the word "aqua" correctly when we would be looking for it. He pronounced "aqua", copper; therefore, the blanket became named Copper. I realize that sometime soon we will have to wean him from Copper, but it will have to be baby steps. I think as long as we inforce Copper to stay in the bed I may let it stay around longer. Today when I took Copper out of the dryer, the new dryer I might add, he giddily exclaimed, "mmm...mmm...mmm..I love you!" It is really too bad that this typewritten quote does not have the same emotion and inflection of his sweet voice to accurately portray his gratitude and excitement.
If I had a full-time maid my sheets would be washed every day. That may not be very "green" of me, but that is one thing that I absolutely love. They do not need to be warm, just fresh and clean smelling. This alone can really make my day. Too bad I do not have the time to clean them daily. I have a hard enough time keeping up with the laundry for a family of six. Laundry is the one thing that I did not take into account when we became a family of five. I greatly underestimated the amount of laundry increase by just adding one more member of the family. It was by far the hardest adjustment when Colton came along. I was a little more prepared when Kylee came around; however, I must honestly say that just knowing that there will be more laundry does not magically make it easier. If I do not do a load a day, then I am in for a laundry marathon. I completely understand why the Duggers have a laundromat built in their house. (If you do not know who the Duggars are, they are the family on the TLC show 19 kids and counting. They are a really cool story, and they are raising amazing kids.) An important piece of time-saving technology breaking down even makes the marathon more daunting.
I made a little mention earlier about a new dryer because the ol' dryer finally gave out 5 days ago. I am happy to have a new dryer, but I am still having buyer's remorse just because the money spent on it took away from another important fund. I guess I should be grateful that we at least had our tax refund to help us with this or else I would have been putting the clothes out on a clothesline. Our ol' dryer will be dearly missed, and it had been with us our entire married life of almost 13 years. I know that this one will probably not last that long. They just don't make things like they used to. My grandparents had purchased the ol' washer and ol' dryer for us. We lost the ol' washer a couple of years ago, but we still had the ol' dryer. Now, I think the other part of my buyer's remorse is that I have to say goodbye to my ol' dryer. I know that is so silly, but it was really special to me that my grandparents had purchased these for us. I can remember my grandfather, Duke, going shopping and picking it out in Tyler. He then called and said that he had purchased it, and they had it in College Station. My Duke and Lou have long since gone to be with the Father. Duke did not get to meet my sweet children, but Lou did have a precious short time with Kevlie Ann and Calvin.
The buyer's remorse sting is a little less because we happened upon a really great deal. Our new addition was delivered today. Since I have a sick girl at home, we have been having a laundry marathon since about noon today. I am afraid the marathon is going to last the rest of the week.
I thought the dryer was going to give out about a year ago, but it miraculously came back to life. I am so thankful for that, and rightly gave God the glory for that little miracle. I remember several friends at the time suggesting to hang our clothes out on the line. I honestly shudder at the thought not because I am becoming Miss Susie Homemaker in my own right, but more because that is all I would be doing. I can just imagine hanging all of our stuff and the amount of stuff we are talking about. It is just mind-boggling to me. Maybe if I lived out in the country where I would not have neighbors spying on my unmentionables. Or worse, what if they blew into their yard? I have no doubt they would be extra fresh smelling...maybe I should line dry my sheets. I know that I could live without a dryer, but I am spoiled and already struggling at fulfilling my daily homemaker duties. I will add that something practical did come out of getting the new dryer. It is stacked on top of my washer, and it opened up my laundry room. I feel like I have a mini-laundromat at my home. They both have circle openings you can see through and they are stacked on top of each other. The kids think this is so cool. The only thing missing is the coin slot or card swipe nowadays. Instead we get it on credit and receive a paper slip in the mail to remind me to pay the bill online every month. I should cancel the paper slip, which would be the more "green" thing to do. I hardly ever even open the thing and it goes straight to the trash. Why ruin a perfectly good afternoon by checking out the utility bill? I wait and ruin one afternoon instead of many when I log on to pay many bills at one time. At least the new dryer was bought with cash. No more credit in the Haas household. I will say that choice alone takes away a lot of stress, temptations, and fewer bills. Enough about bills. The awesome thing is that I can now fit a freezer in the mini-laundromat...that is if the freezer ever makes it up the priority expenditure list.
