Jen Russum

My Ode to the Washing Machine

April 3, 2017

Some people strive for "inbox zero." I strive for empty laundry baskets. Inbox zero sounds nice, but I don't think it's worth my time. I clean out my email inboxes often, usually just leaving 10-20 messages that relate to an upcoming activity or a current project. But that moment when ALL the laundry in your house is washed, folded, and put away is a glorious one. I try to experience it at least once a week. Of course, the moment is fleeting, and the laundry piles up again, but I never let it get out of control. Disclaimer... in the past I've talked about cleaning my bathrooms religiously (every single week on the same day of the week). I think this devotion to having clean bathrooms got mistaken for enjoyment of cleaning my bathrooms. I would like to state: I do not like cleaning the bathroom. It's a gross chore and one I would love to hand off to a housecleaner forever. However, I love the feeling of having a clean bathroom and find it's much easier to keep it clean if I just deal with it quickly every single week, so I endure it while listening to podcasts. I don't like it. But laundry is another story. I actually find laundry quite enjoyable. Here's why... 1. Laundry is relatively easy because two machines do almost all the work for you. If I lived in a time or a place where I had to manually wash my clothes down at the river or with boiling pots of water, I would not be a fan. But seriously... I dump a hamper of clothes in the washer, push a few buttons, transfer the clothing to the dryer an hour later, push a few more buttons, and in another hour 2-3 days of laundry for four people are completely washed and dried. What a modern miracle! Right now laundry is more "difficult" than it's ever been for me. Since we live at the beach, we have a shared laundry room in the back of our house. To do the laundry, I have to walk down a flight of stairs and through a dirty alley. Our washer and dryer take quarters, so I have to remember to pick up a roll every single week at the grocery store. The machines are small and old, so it's hard to clean many items at the same time. Oh, and I'm eight and a half months pregnant, so hauling our clothing up and down sandy steps is extra fun. Basically what I'm saying is... even in the least convenient of circumstances the modern washer and dryer make laundry the easiest household chore. 2. I know what you are saying... it's not the washing part that bothers you; it's the folding. The laundry comes out in a giant, clean heap and needs to be put away. Here's the trick... make it fun. I have given myself a rule I follow religiously (kind of like cleaning my bathrooms): I can ONLY watch TV if I'm folding. I'm not a television girl by nature. I usually only have 1-2 shows I watch at any given time. Right now, those shows are This Is Us and Designated Survivor, and I keep up with them as I fold. I don't watch these shows if I'm being idle, and I never watch other programs mindlessly during the week. Instead, I am usually caught up on both my shows and my laundry because I only do both activities at the same time. If you are someone who watches a lot of shows, choose your favorite one (or two) for motivation and commit that 30-60 minutes to watching and folding at the same time. 3. Put it all away right away. The machine did 90% of the work for me. Then I did the next 8% of the work while watching TV. Now there is only 2% of the labor left to complete... putting the clothes away. Usually I will put everything away in my room as I'm still watching a show on my phone (or I'll challenge myself to put away a batch every commercial if I'm watching on a TV app rather than Netflix/Amazon). By that point, I might have half a basket of laundry that belongs elsewhere around the house. I'll turn off my show and have it all put away in the next 2-5 minutes. 4. At that moment, I have reached "hamper zero" and I'm pretty thrilled. I know this process will get more complicated as we add more children to our home, but right now I typically need to do about four loads per week to stay caught up (an average of one load per family member). I typically do a load of laundry on Mondays, Tuesdays OR Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. I rarely do laundry on weekends unless we have a beach day or a toddler accident. I anticipate going up to five loads a week when Baby #3 arrives next month. Even if you have four kids, you should be able to get all your laundry done in six days, always taking a laundry Sabbath once a week. Or you could do two loads per day, three days a week, and give yourself multiple days off. So that's it... how I stay completely caught up on laundry almost all the time. The rewards are great... Your closet and drawers are constantly filled with freshly-cleaned clothing. You are never missing that one shirt you wanted to wear because it's still sitting in the hamper or completely wrinkled at the bottom of the clean clothes basket. You never have the burden of "all the laundry mounting" in the back of your mind. It's just done. A machine does 90% of the work for you. And then you do the last 10% while watching TV. It's amazing. It's doable. It's easily my favorite chore. Laundry, I love you. "Habits are the invisible architecture of everyday life." - Gretchen Rubin ... Read more

Pregnancy (Baby #3)

March 30, 2017

This is post three in a three-part series that documents each of my pregnancies. I wanted to capture my memories of these child-bearing years before they become too hazy in mind... Baby #3... Fancy clothes. People always pitied me for having summer pregnancies, but I always thought they were wrong. Your sisters were born in September and June in blazing Phoenix, but I happen to be a teacher who got to spend my largest, most uncomfortable weeks of pregnancy wearing casual cotton clothing over summer break. I always thought dressing up in formal work clothes in the middle of winter during the third trimester of pregnancy sounded far more complicated than sweating in a maxi dress. It turns out, I was right. I found out I was pregnant with you the week I started my job as a professor in the fall, and my spring classes are scheduled to end the week of my due date. From September until now, I've had to figure out how to dress the bump in professional clothes. To make things more complex, I have horrible varicose veins this pregnancy, so all short dresses and skirts are out the question. This makes about 80% of my maternity wardrobe from Arizona completely useless. Tomorrow, I am going to wear nylons for the first time since the 90s to see if I can pull off a knee-length maternity dress for work. Eggs. I thought I learned about nausea with Talitha, but I actually had no idea. You were my first baby to make me feel like many moms do during their first trimester. All-day queasiness and utter exhaustion. I remember carrying Talitha upstairs for her morning nap the first few weeks of pregnancy and having to lie down on my own bed afterward because I felt so fatigued. And for weeks I struggled with an ill-tempered stomach that could only be appeased by constant eating. I finally learned that I had to eat two breakfasts to feel good the rest of the day. My first meal was at home - a latte followed by cereal or a waffle with a banana or yogurt. The second meal was eggs. I know some people crave meat during pregnancy, but my protein of choice was eggs. All through the fall semester, I would stop for eggs before my first class of the day. Sometimes I would seek out the best local breakfast burrito on Yelp, but most mornings, I would just pull into the Starbucks down the street from work and order a bacon, gouda, egg breakfast sandwich. It was my $3.75 solution to pregnancy nausea. I actually cried on Election Day this past year, not because of the awful candidates, but because Starbucks ran out of my beloved sandwich on a morning when I was particularly hungry. Ocean. It's too soon to be nostalgic, because we still live by the beach and you haven't even arrived yet, but I'm pretty sure whenever I'm by the ocean, I'll think of you. I learned I was pregnant just a few weeks before we moved to our beach house. I will always remember jogging slowly down the boardwalk during those first few months of pregnancy and hauling our laundry up and down the stairs with a giant bump. I'll think of the ocean sunrises and sunsets that marked the passing months as you grew in my womb, and I hope whenever I smell the sand and the salt, I think fondly of you. ... Read more

Pregnancy (Talitha Joy)

March 29, 2017

This is post two in a three-part series that documents each of my pregnancies. I wanted to capture my memories of these child-bearing years before they become too hazy in mind... Talitha Joy... Nausea. I thought I had experienced a touch of nausea while pregnant with your sister, but it turns out I hadn't. Food aversions are not the same as lying on the couch as your stomach swirls, knowing you should eat while finding the thought of all food revolting. You were my introduction to that feeling. One night I made this rather ornate honey chicken dish from a recipe I had been saving for months. As I floured the chicken and made the sauce, my appetite started to wane. By the time I had this steaming delicacy on the table, I was repulsed by the elaborate meal that took me a full hour to cook. Micah and Kayla began digging in, and Kayla looked at me and said, "Are you part-Asian, Jen? Because this is good!" At that very moment, I dropped my fork and walked into my dark bedroom. I had never thrown up in pregnancy before, but that evening I hovered near the toilet, just in case. Taco Bell. I'm sort of sad to admit it, but the one food that sounded good to me in my first trimester with you was Taco Bell. In weeks 6-11 of pregnancy I would probably "make a run for the border" at least twice a week. Chalupas and nachos were my jam. Nothing builds a healthy placenta like processed cheese and low-quality ground beef. Dissertation. When we thought about trying for second child, we knew it might overlap with the writing of my dissertation. Micah joked that the baby would be a ticking time bomb to keep me focused on writing. What we didn't know is that my dissertation process would align with my pregnancy EXACTLY. I became "ABD" (got my proposal approved) the week I became pregnant with you. I wrote page after page, chapter after chapter as my belly grew. Many of my bump pictures were taken at our local library where I would sit for hours and write on the days Z went to preschool. I wrapped up my last chapter and submitted it to my director when you were two weeks. I literally typed the final words with you strapped to my chest in the Solly Wrap. Although I am proud of my dissertation, you were the far more important project, my dear. ... Read more