Last night, as I was switching over a load of laundry, I gazed upon the top of the washer and was reminded of this quandry I posted a few months ago.  So for those of you who are new to my blog, I am re-posting it again.  For those who have seen this before, I have added one update to number 2 below.  

I’m guessing that I’m not alone with these experiences:

1.  On top of my clothes dryer is space reserved for the Lonely Socks Club. These are socks that have made their way through the laundry process, but have lost their mates somewhere along the way.  I place them there with the apparently naïve belief that at some point their mates will also make their way through the laundry and they can be reunited.  This, however, rarely happens.  Why?  Are the lost mates buried deep somewhere in our drawers, waiting forlornly for their now clean mates to come back?  If so, how is it possible that they escaped being worn and washed? OR, are the missing mates hiding under our beds having singles parties?  I just don’t know. What I do know is I will wait several weeks, then finally decide to throw the socks on top of the dryer away, and only then will their missing mates magically appear a day later.

2. On the days that I am finally able to get all caught up on laundry and ironing, I will inevitably run out of available hangers. The last time this happened, I actually went out and bought more hangers.  I then had plenty. Even a few extra. It was lovely.  Now, just a couple of short weeks later, I’m back to scrounging for hangers. I raid our closets to find the bare hangers that were left behind, stripped of clothing.  And yet, it still doesn’t add up.  I have not bought that many new articles of clothing in that short amount of time.  So how can this happen?  Are the hangers being “borrowed” by the men in my life to act as sink snakes, last minute tools or school projects?  OR, have the hangers run off to party with the socks under the beds?   Update:  This Fall, as I was packing away summer clothing and pulling out winter wear, I started finding hangers. Lots of them.  As a matter of fact, I believe I could now open my own small hanger store. But I better not. Because apparently, by summer, they will have all disappeared once again. 

3. If anything is going to happen in “the middle of the night”, it will happen at 2am.  If your child has a bad nightmare, it is at 2am.  Your pet suddenly needs to go out to chase a skunk, or is sick, or just suddenly needs to relieve himself, it is 2am.  Something breaks in the house at night – yup, at 2am.  Never 11pm or 5am, which would be more convenient.  Nope, it is at 2am so you can be assured of being overly tired the next day.  Why 2am?  Is there some cosmic connection for things to happen because that is literally as close to the “middle of the night” as you can get?  Or are the socks and hangers being extra noisy at that hour?

4.  This last point is one we will all experience even more as the holidays approach....Let’s say your social calendar is fairly open, except for one commitment you have one particular weekend.  Without fail, you will get at least 2-3 other invitations, requests, or opportunities that come up for the EXACT same weekend.  Not before, not after, the SAME weekend.  It is impossible to be present for them all.  At moments like that I start wishing for a cloning machine, then I could be everywhere at once.  But no, I have to resign myself to the fact that others, and quite possibly myself, will be disappointed in some way by having to say No to something.  Perhaps I should just go hide out with the socks and hangers.