The old adage is "Laughter is the Best Medicine." Today I sure hope so, because I spent a good chunk of it laughing at myself.
Simplified story: Day starts with me owning a pink shirt. Day ends with me owning a lavender one with some funky blue spots. If it weren't for the funky spots, it would almost be a pretty color. Almost.
How did this happen? Easy. I'm a genius at saving time and energy. Normally this is actually somewhat true. I'm good at simplifying things to make life easier. Today, well today was a different story....
This is where the long story comes in: My genius moment was when I decided to do laundry.
I debated throwing all my laundry in together. I'm on vacation and I didn't bring that much with me. So I figured, what the heck? I only have to do one load of laundry!
Good thing I have a brain.
Don't worry, I didn't follow that line of reasoning. I decided to do my laundry in 2 batches: Whites and colors. The reason I did this will explain the now purple-ish shirt. Included in my whites is a new shirt I bought while down here that I LOVE! I bought it and a pair of jean shorts the same day. I realized that my jean shorts might bleed a little, and I didn't want to ruin my new shirt.
DING DING DING!!!!
That should have been the warning bell going off in my head. Unfortunately it didn't. I had previously considered washing the shorts by themselves, but that would be a load of laundry for just one item, and I thought that was a dumb idea. Extra time, extra energy, plus, I was saving water by using less loads. Isn't that what you're supposed to do in a desert? And then when I decided to do 2 loads, I completely stopped worrying about it. I was throwing my shorts in with colors, no whites included. Nothing should turn out funky looking right?
Obviously, I was wrong. Without another thought, I threw my colored clothes in the laundry.
My pants and my shorts came out fine. Same with my dark colored t shirts and tank tops. But my LIGHT pink shirt and my pink tank top and my sister's PALE yellow tank top didn't fare too well. There would have been less ruined clothes if I'd thrown those 3 in with the whites! But I didn't.
Luckily, I learned to laugh at myself a long time ago. So instead of freaking out, I held my new purple shirt up to myself in the mirror and laughed. I laughed for a good 5 minutes. Then when my mother in law came home, I told her and laughed.
I had two different ways I could have responded today.
One would have involved an unhealthy dose of stress. I have to replace the pink tank top. I can probably get away without the shirt, but well, it was cute. The yellow tank top will pass under other things--the splotches are coverable, but since it's my sister's, I have to replace it anyways. Freaking out was a viable option.
The other way, well, no stress involved. I just laughed. I'm the one who made the stupid mistake; lesson learned. And really, it's pretty funny that the shirt came out purple...
But I still think the adage is wrong. Laughter isn't the best medicine. At least not laughter itself. It's what's behind the laughter that's so good for your health: The Ability To Not Take Life Too Seriously. Laughter is just part of the process. For me, the choice is obvious. Taking life too seriously is a pain in the neck. Literally. Plus, I know this won't be the last "mistake" I make in life.
Good thing I love to laugh.
(Hopefully my sister does too! :P)
I love to laugh too! And I've learned early in life to laugh at myself, it does make life Much more Fun!! :D I've a good many mistakes and mishaps where I just couldn't help but laugh while i'm explaining my predicaments to others. Like the time I was runninng late to my friend's wedding reception in Murray, driving from her luncheon in downtown Salt Lake, and with my lack of direction I took an unexpected detour to Tooele...with less than a quarter tank of gas... I was laughing pretty hard when I called my Dad at work for directions to get home! XD that's one of my favorite stories ;)
ReplyDeleteHaha! You hopped on I-80 west, not I-215. :P I know exactly what you did! (what does that say about me?)
ReplyDeleteI have totally done this with the baby clothes. My mother in law actually helped me out a lot, because I ruined my favorite outfits for Angela. fill the washer or sink up with enough water to completely cover the shirts and put a dollop of bleach in. swirl it around and let it soak for a while, checking on it every little bit. The outfits I had got pretty close to the original color. and the spots on the yellow will hopefully fade a bit. Hope that helps. I've done this several times and fixed it to where I wasn't ashamed to let her wear them again. :-)
ReplyDeleteOh Cindy, I've done that before. I put a forest green shirt in my load. Most of the darks were fine. But my yellow shirt turned this weird weird color.
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