I sat here folding laundry this morning, acutely aware of the fact that I (unlike certain people I know) am uncommonly fussy about how I fold my socks.
I learned years ago as a child that I strongly dislike having my socks rolled into a ball; especially when one takes one of the socks and arbitrarily stretches it over the other one!
Maybe it’s just me, People, but I find it’s kinda dorky to have one sock nicely staying put around your ankle/calf and the other one fully stretched-out and whimsically flapping in the breeze around your shoe – all because someone indiscriminately stretched it out while “balling it up” when they did your laundry.
And I realize I’m dating myself here, but it kinda reminds me of Pippi Longstocking (9-year-old protagonist of Astrid Lindgren’s “The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking”) – not exactly a look I particularly liked as a child nor one that I desire at this age.
(My tromping around in a blue rubber rain suit with barn boots has already given my neighbors cause for questioning my sanity. Walking around looking like Pippi Longstocking would just be another good reason for being “picked up by that little white van and whisked away to that special laughing academy!”)
I continue pulling laundry out of my laundry basket and aimlessly start to fold my sheets, when I gradually begin to wonder how the hell the Princess gets the bottom fitted sheet so nice and squarely folded?
I then decide, “To hell with it! Rolling up my socks is one thing, but having a rolled up bottom sheet is another! Who the hell cares if the bottom sheet is rolled up or not?!”
Yeah, well, the Princess does – that’s who.
(My logic says, “No one really sees the dam thing, so what’s the big deal, for Pete’s sake?”)
Unlike my Mother, her Mother painstakingly taught her the correct way to fold a bottom sheet; and nowhere in the directions did it entail rolling it up and haphazardly folding it into a triangular lump.
My Mother, on the other hand, felt that you should fastidiously iron your sheets (along with your beat-up jeans and threadbare corduroys), but nowhere on her list of Motherly sagacious suggestions and mordant mandates were any expert directions on how to fold the bottom sheet a certain way.
I then began thinking about all of our idiosyncratic, endearing behaviors and started to wonder, “How the hell do such different people even end up with each other? And how, pray tell, do they actually stay together for the long haul?”
My sister-in-law once commented that she and my brother Anthony almost ended up in a divorce (30 years ago) after one month of marriage because they ran outta toilet paper!
Now just why in God’s creation it was her sole responsibility to make sure they had an abundance of t.p. every week, I don’t know. But she said that once she learned to keep a sufficient stock of toilet paper on hand, and also made sure that there was some kind of specialty bread served with their dinner every evening (God forbid it should be some kind of sickening, marshmallowy white bread like Wonder Bread), their marriage was on solid ground from that point forward.
(I’m sure my three beautiful, enjoying-life-to-the fullest nieces are all eternally grateful for their Mom’s “taking one for the team” 30 years ago!)
Anyway, People, I think when it comes right down to it, we can choose to go through life and compromise with each other, or we can acquiesce and do things the right way – MY WAY!
In the meantime, be careful how you fold your socks and sheets this week…you (unknowingly) might be driving your significant other batty!
Catch ya’ next week for another glimpse of looking at life from my shoes.
Life in Lucie's Shoes 
You know the way I fold sheets? I don’t. I just have one pair of sheets, wash it, dry it, and put it right back on the bed. No folding necessary! (That’s how I was raised. When the sheets wore out, we replaced them and used the old ones for rags or something. I’m not sure what!) Now, if only that would work with socks…
I hope you and Princess are doing well! Keep tromping around in your blue rubber suit and barn boots. 🙂
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You’re so funny, Laura. Sounds good to me. (Only problem is I don’t always have the energy to “wash them on the same day”, so I’d hafta sleep on a “sheetless bed” and that wouldn’t be cool for an old lady, ya know?! :)P ) And we’re both doing well, thank you!!! I think I may have some “good news” to report (re: her job) in the very near future!!! I’ll keep you posted. Will be catching up on my “blog reading”, soon, so I’ll catch up with you later in the week, Sweetie! Hope the cold weather isn’t driving you totally bonkers!!!! 🙂
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It’s not the cold weather that drives me bonkers; it’s the kids’ school delays/days off for cold weather that drives me bonkers! (Good thing nobody gives tickets for Driving While Bonkers, huh?!)
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Yeah, I’d be “locked up”, at this point! “Driving while bonkers” is the only way one can survive on these freeways out here!!! 🙂
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And I thought the traffic here was strange! When I moved to Alabama at age 11, our subdivision was in the middle of an old cotton field and my mom drove me to school on a divided 4 lane highway. Some mornings, rush hour traffic into town would be stopped to a crawl because a tractor would be driving along, going the oh-so-fast pace of about 10 mph, causing everyone behind him to slow to that speed, too. Sometimes there were two tractors, driving side by side. Bonkers!
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Oh dear….talk about “freeway headaches”!!! 🙂
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My mom ironed everything too, Lucie. I do not. lol. I know the procedure for folding a fitted sheet, but it never works out for me. I understand where the Princess is coming from because I can’t stand a wrinkled sheet on my bed. As for socks I just fold my husbands over once. I roll mine and tuck them in, but I learned a trick to keep from stretching out the tops. You have to make sure the the top of the sock is all the way over so it isn’t stretched out. BTW–I love the new look around here. 🙂
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I’ll let the Princess know that I’m in the minority with “the sheets”! My Mom won’t even let me make her bed when I’m back there visiting, ‘cuz she likes her sheet “just so”…. like your trick with the top of the sock when you do laundry. I just “fold mine” and I’m good to go! 🙂 Funny how people each have their own “way”, though! 🙂
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I’ve been trained to fold clothes perfectly, but sheets can be so difficult, argh! Thank you for this post, Lucie, I enjoyed reading it 😀
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Good to go, Lily! And thanks for the “drop in”. I’m always so humbled when non-relatives actually read my writing. Thank you for stopping by! 🙂
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i am the worst folding person on the planet. i throw everything in the dryer, shake it out and pile it in the general area where it goes. my bf is pretty accepting, luckily )
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You’re so funny! I’m “like you”, in as much as I throw things in the general area. I spent a small fortune getting my closet re-done and “organized”, so now I have a nice space to THROW my stuff into and on!!! Hm…I think that’s another blog in there someplace…hafta go lookin’ for it! 🙂
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You had better talk to my Spanish neighbour about socks and sheets as she does my laundry Lucie.
❤
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So, does she use the old “fold um in a ball routine for your socks and triangular lump for your sheets” or is she a tad more conservative in her handeling of your undies and bedsheets???? How ya feelin’ this week, kiddo???? ❤ 🙂
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She is very good. Socks are flat folded one in another and the sheets are ironed so I can’t complain.
I’m fine this week. And you ?
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Glad you’re maintaining this week, Kiddo. I am ok, thank you. Not feeling “my best”, but ok. As long as I can keep putting one foot in front of the other and get out of bed, it’s a great day, ya know? And thanks for keeping me entertained. Your humor is “just what the Dr. ordered”!!! 🙂 ❤
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You must be psychic and touching something that I touched recently. No, I have not been wearing your socks or underwear. ANY WAY, I was just about to write a blog about how I despise (too strong) that my wife insists that my jeans and pants be folded from pant leg seam to seam. She knows that I like a nice crease down the middle of my pants leg. My guess is that it’s really her plot to make sure I do my own laundry.
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See! I knew it that’s why I wrote it! I learned a long time ago to have my partner do her own laundry! If your wife’s “smart” (and she sounds prettty bright to MOI!), she’ll have you doing your own laundry in no time flat! Gotta keep you guys in line, ya know?! 🙂
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AHA!!!! It’s a female plot. My mother refused to do my laundry for me after I reached 12 years old, showed me how to use a sponge/Comet/Windex/bowl cleaner and enforced a once a week cleaning schedule, reminded me to make my own bed. I was taught well. My brothers and I cook, clean, and do our own laundry. I wonder if that had something to do with us all marrying late (well, two of us did)?
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Whoa! Great Mother!!!!! I always told my parents (of my students): Remember – your little “angel” is someone’s future PARTNER!!! I like your Mom! Good woman. Taught her children well. 🙂 Now if I could just figure out how to “change my blog’s appearance today”, I’d be a happy camper! 🙂
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You’re not alone, Lucie. I never learned how to fold a fitted sheet either. I’m a “triangular lump” girl myself. Very funny post!
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Hey! Us “triangular lump gals” gotta stick together ya know?!! Thanks for dropping by! Hope you’re doing ok with all the snow storms, Kiddo! I’ve been thinkin’ ’bout ya! 🙂
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I learned how to fold a fitted sheet from a YouTube video… when I was 49. Until then I rolled them in a ball. I only fold them now to show off. “Look at me! I can fold BOTH sheets!”. I’ve never lived with anyone who was willing to take over the sheet folding duties, and thankfully they all had the sense to keep it to themselves if they had any problem with my method.
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Seriously! 🙂 They only get shoved into the closet until you put them on, so what’s the big deal???? Oh well, guess some people feel the same way about rolling up one’s socks in a ball! Everyone’s got their “opinion” on the matter!! 🙂
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I had a brief fling with sock rolling when I was a kid. I saw a friend’s mother doing laundry and I thought that colorful pile of sock balls looked so much more fun than our socks at home. Fortunately I saw the flaw in the logic before much damage was done.
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LOL! 🙂 Lucky you! Thank goodness MY Mom never liked doing it that way, either! My cousins, however, didn’t fair as well and always had one crew sock totally stretched out. Looked totally stupid! Guess when you’ve got a bunch of boys and you need to “match them up”, it was the EASIEST way!!! 🙂
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