July Storm

I love thunder storms.  I could just sit on a big porch with a hot cup of coffee and revel in its beauty.  That is, if we had a porch.  What we have is a deck that isn't covered, so instead I'm stuck sitting inside to watch. It's not quite the same, but still nice.  So we had this really pretty thunder/lightning storm move through a couple of weeks ago.  The only "bad" part about it was the strong wind gusts and the damage that occurred to trees. 

Now, before I move onto the next picture. I just want to add that my 16 year old son ran past this tree branch in the pouring rain with thunder booming and lightning flashing and wind gusting and then up onto the deck and saw this:

He ran into the house and said ...I kid you not...

"Mom, did you put the table like that?"

Laundry

 This is a laundry hamper.  It has but one use. To hold dirty laundry. 

I have always owned a laundry hamper of some sort.  Whether it be a laundry basket or an actual laundry hamper, the concept is not new in my house.  This particular laundry hamper has been owned by us for 9 years and 3 months.  I know this because I bought it when we purchased our first home.  I do not move it around to various parts of the house.  It has one home: in this tiny crook outside of the bedrooms.  I love my family and I'm willing to break my back as I carry this hamper downstairs so that I may wash/dry/fold/put away the laundry. 

But...

I am fed up with being the only one that knows how to use it.  Seriously.

Clothing does not belong on the kitchen chair.  I realize you were hot when you came in the house dear husband.  But the laundry room is one room over.  You PASSED through the laundry room to take off and toss your shirt here.  (Notice I failed to remove the previous days shirt.  Leaving it there doesn't help).

One moment please while I count the steps to the laundry room.....

5 steps TO the laundry room.  3 steps to the laundry organizer.  Not that any of them would understand the concept of separating whites and darks since they clearly don't how to use a laundry hamper.  

Don't think for a second that as a male grows older that he learns.  They don't. 

Case in point:

These 3 pairs of socks belong to my father. As if he's going to wear them again.  He's not. If he was, there wouldn't be 3 pair there.

While you would expect the kitchen to be the last place in the house to typically have dirty laundry, the living room is not immune either.

This shirt is actually atop another.  Like my husband and his use of the kitchen chair, my father has deemed this his location to hold his dirty shirts.

From old to young, even the teenager leaves his clothes lying around.  However, his are always in his bedroom and either left on the floor or on his bed. 

Like our teenage son, my dear, sweet husband also leaves his dirty clothes on the floor.  I would like to point out here that these clothes are 19 inches from the doorway.  If you look at the picture of the hamper at the top, you'll notice that the hamper is just outside of a doorway.  

Yes, it is the exact same doorway. 

Now if you're going to wear clothing for about an hour or so, there's really no point in putting it in the dirty laundry, right?  I mean, you could just fold it up and put it back in the drawer.  

That was my husband's intention.

Except, when he went to bed last night, they ended up on the floor with the rest of the dirty laundry.

 

 My husband had a job interview last week.  These are the clothes he wore. He was told he'd have a second interview.  So he's planning on wearing these again.  

The problem: We own 5 cats.

The bigger problem: I'm not moving them.  

The biggest problem: He really needs a job.  I really need him to get a job.  Damn.  I guess I'll move them to the hamper.  Tomorrow.