Laundry Grievance

photo by kathleen hennessey on flickr

With this household running about 80 loads of laundry a month, I must state a grievance with my family.

Why, why, why must you people leave your clothes turned inside out as you undress?? I don't really understand the manner in which you take off your pants. When I strip down, my pants are still turned the right way, hence, when I do my laundry, they are easily able to be folded/hung.

With five people living in this house, turning pants and shirts inside out turns this mountainous chore into Everest. It takes two seconds to turn one pair of jeans inside-in and outside-out as you undress.

I started to leave these people's clothes turned inside-out, thinking as the kids wore each item, they would correct each article of clothing. Nope. They just wore them inside-out. Sheesh. At least this system would work with my husband, right? Wrong.

My husband devised a new strategy: leaving one pant leg inside-out and one pant leg outside-out. Can't fold it. Can't hang it up. He hates me.

I know what you're thinking. Why don't they do their own laundry?

Now that my children are approaching that age (one down, two to go), I see the light at the end of the tunnel.

With my husband, it all started when we first got married. He proved his incompetence with laundry after leaving 1,211 piles of clothes washed, dried and unfolded -- a wrinkled mass of crumpled cotton -- so I forbid him to enter the laundry room. After thirteen years, I'm starting to see I am the fool in this equation. Very well mapped out, Jeremy. It seems I suffer from a demented version of Stockholm syndrome. I just can't relinquish control of the laundry room to him in any way. So there it is. Very well played, indeed.

I have to ask: does anyone else empathize out there?

In honour of this post, I will share this great recipe. All five laundry-hazing people ate it and loved it. Of course they did. Because it's called:

Inside-Out Turkey Burgers


garnished with homemade pickles - yum!

5 slices turkey bacon, broken in pieces
1.5 - 2 pounds ground turkey
salt and pepper
2 teaspoons mustard (I used dijon)
1/4 cup old, sharp cheddar (I used Imperial)
1 tbsp olive oil
iceberg lettuce; chopped
tomatoes; chopped
dill pickles; sliced

Cook bacon in frying pan until crisp (4-5 minutes). Set aside.

Place ground turkey in mixing bowl with salt, pepper and mustard. Mix together then divide into four patties. Make a divot in each patty. Place some crumbled turkey bacon and cheese into each well. Seal these ingredients by working the meat around them. Be sure to completely cover them so they don't ooze out during frying.

Fry each burger until cooked through and no pink is showing.

Arrange chopped lettuce on plate and surround with sliced tomatoes. Place burger on top and garnish with sliced pickles. Serve ketchup and mustard on the side if desired.

I really thought my kids wouldn't like this without the buns, but they loved topping each bite.

dryer photo by 'mugglesdontscareme' on flickr