You’d think that with the steady training for 10-15 years, I’d have laundry down pat. You’d think I have a super organized system that resulted in color sorted closets and labeled laundry baskets. Rather, I loathe laundry. It is partially because when I was working on costume crews in the theater, I was spending nights in the basement of the building, doing laundry for the actors. I’d have to wait around for them to change into their normal clothes and then we’d say goodbye. They’d head off, going home or out to eat. I would be heading downstairs, going to do loads of laundry. My first year, the closing crew member would just throw the loads in and the opening crew member would throw them into the dryer in the morning. We’d fold and sort during lab hours that afternoon and iron them right before the actor’s call that night for the show. We lost a lot of our budget the second year, and I became the sole regular crew member. We’d get other volunteers, but they were normally just trying to get a certain number of required volunteer hours in for a class and would vanish after one show. I’m a push over nice person and would let the one or two crew members I had leave early. I’d take care of all the laundry every night and would stick around to throw it in the dryer so that I didn’t have to come in early the next morning. Including my own personal stuff, I did more piles of laundry in college than I have my entire life.

Needless to say, I’m tired of doing it. Since I’m only 28, this does not bode well for our future. I still do laundry of course. This is mainly because Dan will not let me just buy new clothes every day.

He is mean.

Anyway, we have a basket for towels, a basket for whites and three giant baskets for everything else. Each time I finally get a load done, I pile it on the bed. It sits there until we go to bed, and then I drop it into a basket. When we get dressed the next morning, our clothes are wrinkled. I whine and moan about it and harrass Dan that his shirt looks too sloppy for work. He sighs and hangs up all the laundry. It could be because he’s nice and knows I hate to do laundry, but it’s more likely because I can whine loudly.

There’s more of a point to this blog than just telling you my super awesome methods of doing laundry. The bigger point is how to successfully do housework.

#1 – Fail miserably at it.

#2 – Whine to your husband about how awful your cleaning/folding/sorting skills are.

#3 – Whine louder about how sloppy/disorganized he looks because of your failed skills.

#4 – Go to wash the dishes while he cleans/folds/sorts.

#5 – Break a plate or leave hard water stains on the dishes.

#6 – Repeat steps #1-5 as necessary.

I also managed to work five consecutive 12+ hour days on the set of a short film. But that is another story for another day.

So after demanding that Dan let me feel sorry for myself and cry for a full 24 hours, I realized something. Being unemployed is kind of a blessing right now. I can focus on school, the store and upcoming craft fairs. I can finish all the projects that had to be abandoned due to my stress level the past few weeks. I can clean the house. (Not that it’s a distaster zone… Hi Mom!)

More importantly, I can take some Me time. Dan wants me to look at this as the reinvention of Sara. I originally took this to mean that he doesn’t like me the way that I am. After we got over that fight, I realized that he was right. It was time for me to figure out what I want to do when I “grow up.” I need to figure out what I want to accomplish after school and what my long term goals are for the store. I need to decide if the film industry is calling my name or if a stable business job is the way to go. I need to figure out what I want.

This led to more cookies, but it also led to the realization that I may need to blog less often. I need to focus on the here and now. I need to fill the store with oodles of cards, stock up for the craft fairs and begin production on my stamp line. (3 designs so far!) I need to catch up on school work and put my resume out there. I need to catch up with family and friends and take my phone off silent mode. There’s dogs to groom, cats to play with, gardens to tend to and one house plant left to keep alive. There’s Christmas cards to make and birthday presents to ship and Halloween decorations to put up.

Life goes on, even if this particular career will not. I think it might be life’s way of telling me not to settle for a job that I liked but didn’t love. It was time to find the real me, find my calling and figure out the future.

For the record, I love being a Lady of Leisure. I could see it being my future if Dan wasn’t such a fuddy duddy. He’s rolling his eyes as he reads this…

Dear Kickin’ New Heels That I Got for 70% Off,
I love you.
Loooooooooove,
Sara

You’ve really got to draw out the “o” sound in love, otherwise it means less.

I used to get funny looks from Dan but he’s learned to ignore me rather well. In fact, he’s started adopting the habit. In the past few weeks, we as a team have composed love letters to:

- Sandwiches
- Sims 3
- Energy Drinks
- My pillow
- Cranberry jelly
- A chocolate chip cookie
- My camera
- You Tube
- commercials with puppies in them
- pink nail polish
- the clothes steamer
- My car
- My car’s new air freshener
- dill pickles (obviously, not my love letter)
- fresh tomato (ditto)
- Disneyland
- bubble baths (also, surprisingly, not my love letter)

Due to recent frustrations at work, I have also begun to compose hate letters in my head.

Dear Subcontractor,
What do you not understand about the term “deadline?” When I say “due by May 15th,” I don’t mean “it’s ok to turn it in on June 10th.” You make me really mad. So mad that I would like you to come over here and stand really still so I can punch you in the face.
Loooooooooove,
Sara

Ironically, some of my coworkers still call me the sweet, quiet one in the office.