Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Laundry Day Blues



Have you ever thought of laundry in this light before?


Years ago an Alabama grandmother gave a new bride the following recipe.
This is an exact copy as written and found in an old scrapbook -with spelling errors and all.



"WARSHING CLOTHES"

'Build fire in backyard to heat kettle of rain water. Set tubs so smoke wont blow in eyes if wind is pert. Shave one hole cake of lie soap in boilin water.


Sort things, make 3 piles
1 pile white,
1 pile colored,
1 pile work britches and rags.
To make starch, stir flour in cool water to smooth, then thin down with boiling water.
Take white things, rub dirty spots on board, scrub hard, and boil, then rub colored don't boil just wrench and starch.
(For you non-southerners - wrench means, rinse)



Take things out of kettle with broom stick handle, then wrench, and starch.
Hang old rags on fence.
Spread tea towels on grass.
Pore wrench water in flower bed. Scrub porch with hot soapy water.
Turn tubs upside down.
Go put on clean dress, smooth hair with hair combs.. Brew cup of tea, sit and rock a spell and count your blessings.


Paste this over your washer and dryer, next time you think things are bleak, read it again, kiss that washing machine and dryer, and give thanks. First thing each morning you should run and hug your washer and dryer.'

AND WE THOUGHT WE HAVE IT ROUGH?

Our New Laundry Room

Glimpse of Pantry Doors


The Little WC in the Laundry Room

Decor Only~Thank Goodness!

I finally found the lamp from our warehouse I wanted to use in here. I tried several but I liked this one best. I love lamp light in all the rooms, it just adds a great atmosphere at night and eliminates having to have all the over head lights on.


I used to have a lot of navy blue in our house but slowly it is all gone now except for a few things that I truly love. So I have used some blue accessories in this room so I can keep them close by. These pansies are a beautiful ceramic piece I bought years ago on a shopping trip in Los Gatos with my sweet mom. My dad had passed away and it reminded us both of him and his love for growing pansies in our backyard when I was growing up. I just love this little thing! It makes me feel a closness to each of my parents.

I adore this blue bottle it looks so pretty with the sunlight on the window sill.

I love the fun shape of this purple bottle.

A glittery bird vase and tiny pansy
Make me happy and look great against all the green outside.
A laundry room should be fun.
It makes the work a lot more palatable day in and day out.

I really do want this laundry recipe in our laundry room someplace. None of us have anything to complain about in the laundry department except maybe having too many clothes, too many choices, too much of everything. I think I will go hug my washer and dryer after I hug my hubby for all his hard work to make this a very nice place to do laundry!!


So I meant what I said...I copied the" Warshing Recipe"
in blue ink and framed it. Here it is right above the washer!

7 comments:

Sara said...

Doing laundry is one of my least favorite chores! I think if I had to wash clothes like that I would have to hire someone to do it, buy/make new clothes or just go without! The new laundry room looks GREAT!!!

Laura said...

I LOVE your new laundry room. Great food for thought. I hate folding the laundry, but I guess it could be MUCH, MUCH worse. Thanks for the reminder, and I love the new room. DReamy!

Marie Rayner said...

Bonnie, I LOVE your laundry room! I don't have a drier over here, only a washer, but can you believe the washing machines over here take about an hour to do a load of clothes! Insane!! My mom had an old wringer washer and I remember being quite afraid of it. She didn't have a clothes dryer either. In the winter it was really a chore hanging the clothes outside in sub zero temps. They often froze solid and had to be brought in to the furnace room to finish drying anyways. But they did smell nice. We do have it pretty easy today!!

Connie said...

Our entire life is a cake walk....I'm convinced it's so we can have the leftover strength to stand up for what we believe in this day and age! If we had to boil our laundry and scrub it out and then 'wrench' it (I love that word!) we'd be so tired we'd be seriously tempted to say, "yeah, whatever..." when the REALLY important stuff came along.

CA Poppy said...

Your laundry room is beautiful. I feel inspired to put in a load of warsh.Love,Michelle.

Deanna said...

I think if I had a laundry room like that, I'd be doing laundry all day! I think it turned out fine and dandy! Yew shore caint go wrong with them thar washers and driers....gits our britches purt near clean! ( I sound like my dear late mother in-law Willa. She actually spoke that way.)

Hugs,
Deanna :D

Nellie's Cozy Place said...

Hi Again Bonnie,
Oh, I am in love with your laundry
room. That is one thing we don't have, mine is in the garage, but
I am very thankful to have a washer and dryer, and like you said Thank Goodness that iron and clothes pins are only decorations.
We really have it soooooo good, and it is soooooo easy to forget.
I hear my wash calling me to put it in the dryer!! See ya later,
and have a great day, I think I
would be just looking for things
to wash!!
Blessings, Nellie