A Spoonful Of Sugar

We recently got a clothesline at our house. As I helped my daughter hang her clothing on the line last week, she informed me that she has a very particular way to organize her clothing on the line. It's like file folders. All blue jeans and slacks on the first line. All short sleeved tops on the second line. Next, come the long sleeved shirts. Behind that is the sock and underwear row. (So the neighbors won't see her delicates. Smart thinking!) And finally, her sweatsuits, pajamas and jackets on the rear row. A place for everything, and everything in its place.
She was quite adamant that I hang her clothes in this and no other fashion, or I'd be relieved of my duties as "laundry hanger upper helper."

My middle daughter likes to hang her clothes like there's a party going on. Her dresses want to mambo with her jammies. Short and long sleeve shirts waltz together in the breeze, holding hands and bobbing up and down. Her socks would never dare to hang together in matched pairs- this IS a get-to-know-your-neighbor kind of affair, after all. She finds a pink knitted poncho and plays matchmaker with her green camoflauge cargo pants. The match made, they tango on the line for the rest of the afternoon. She twists the legs of her jeans tight so they can unwind and twirl from the clothespin- just because she thinks her jeans might enjoy the ride.

You would never, ever find either of these children hanging her clothes out to dry like her sister does it.

(Me? How do I hang out my clothes? Oh, I thought you'd never ask. I color code the clothes line. I wash all of our clothes in color groups so I've been having fun hanging out my many colors of the rainbow. But within the parameters of ROYGBV I'm also trying to be efficient and balance the weight on each line so things don't drag in the grass. Who wants to wash the same piece of clothing twice just because it dipped in the mud?! Not me. No sir.
Look and see... you can tell precisely where one wash load ends and another begins.)

I've been pleasantly surprised at how willing we've been to wash laundry around here lately- all because we get the giddy pleasure of hanging and organizing our belongings in the way that pleases us. (I have taken so many photos of our laundry hanging in the sunshine this week, that I know the neighbors are beginning to wonder.)

It all makes me think of Mary Poppins and her spoonful of sugar. It really does help the medicine go down.

In ev'ry job that must be done
There is an element of fun
You find the fun and snap!
The job's a game

And ev'ry task you undertake
Becomes a piece of cake
A lark! A spree! It's very clear to see...

And so I thought we might help each other here on SoulPerBlog.

What is your least favorite household, school, ministry or work-related task? Something you can't escape but find completely mundane? The thing you dread beyond all other things? The job that brings out the groans and full-body convulsions when you know it's "that time again"?

Share it here in the comment section we can help each other brainstorm a creative approach to our mundane tasks. Sooner than you can say "supercalifragilistikexpialidocious," our creative selves will be engaged in transforming those jobs we detest into...

A lark! A spree! It's very clear to see...
(and now you'll be humming for the rest of the day.)