The Week the Women Went- Part 5

I'm starting into my second week of bachelorhood now.  No she didn't just decide to stay away longer.  It WAS planned this way!  So today I decided I needed to do some laundry.  I have done a bit of laundry in the past, but not unless I had to and not since we've had this current washer and dryer.  Patti gave me a crash course before she left, but nothing written down.  My memory is great, but it's short.  So first the washer.  I know that comes first.  Which setting is it supposed to be on?  Why so many knobs and buttons?  Does the water go in first?   Or the clothes??  Or the detergent???  How much is too big of a load?  What do I do with the whites?  I don't have many, certainly not enough for a load, but I need them!

Out of the washer and into the dryer.  Again too many knobs.  Why won't it start?  Knob out or in?  Why won't it start!?  Oh yeah, there's an extra knob just to start the stupid thing.  And then to time it exactly.  If I get the clothes out the second it stops I won't have to iron them I'm told.  Not that I'd ever be able to iron them anyway.  So I set my watch and run down a couple times to check.  Apparently the dryer timer is not the same as my watch.  So I stand there twiddling my thumbs and waiting.  Finally it stops.  Get them out and on hangers.  Now how do you fold which type of pant again?  And can the shirts be put right into the closet or do they need room and time to breathe or for the wrinkles to fall out.  I'm sure there was something like that!

So now it is nearly noon and I really have nothing done but a bit of laundry.  Well I spent a half hour on the exercise bike and showered and phoned my parents.  But I haven't even eaten.  I started in that direction, but then decided to make up a bit of a grocery list because that's next on the agenda.  And then I start discovering food that is spoiling in the fridge.  A rotting cucumber.  Bread that is going bad even in the fridge.  A container of spaghetti that's been sitting there for a week since I cooked it by mistake.  Don't even ask how you can cook spaghetti by mistake.  You just can!  I hate wasting food but how do you figure out how much to buy or how much to cook when you're only single once in a while?

Well Patti is five hours closer to home now than she was.  She's gone from the home of one son to the other.  At least she's heading in the right direction but it will be a few days yet.  I am missing her.  Not just all she does for me, but that too.  

I take my wife altogether too much for granted.  I'm sure we can all relate to that concerning all our blessings if we stop to think about it.  You don't miss them or it or whatever until they are gone.  So take a second to give your loved one a hug or a phone call.  Take another few seconds to count your blessings and thank the Lord.

Grace and peace,

Dave