Heaven vs. Hell in the Laundromat

I have a question, that I think I have already answered. How do you know when it is time to do laundry. I'll give you 5 good reasons!

1...When it greets you at the door everytime you come home
2..When it does not let you out the front door...especially if you're in a hurry.
3..When the whole family has run out of under wear.
4..When everyone is also running out of clothes.
5..When you have to wash hubbys' jeans and work shirt in bathtub.

This is not Ripley's Believe it or not and it is not my Tackle it Tuesday. This is my normal or shall I say abnormal life..coming and going. From in front to behind...way behind!

Since we don't have a washer, we have to go to the laundromat. Since we are going to use tommorrow as a 'everybody- pitch- in- and- clean- the- house- and- afterwards- go- to -the- park- day'! I didn't want to use the cleaning house time with having to go out and do laundry. So I did it today while Hubby was at work. There have been a few times I have taken all 4 kiddos to do laundry with me alone. There is a reason why it has only been a few time. My kids.....and probablly everyones, seem to think the laundromat is an amusement park. Oh, if life were only so simple and carefree again!

But it is NOT!
No! Those carts are not for riding/climbing/racing or even quietly sitting in!
No! You may not eat that gummy worm you found on the floor even though we apply the 10 second rule at home...you have no idea how long it's been on the floor in this fine establishment!
No! I will not buy you a soda or candy from the machine even though it is the gazzilionth and 1 time you have asked me!
No! We are not leaving soon because I only just loaded 5 of the 10 loads into the wash!
Must I go on?....NO!
So pretty much all of this is accurate, ok, maybe not the gazzilionth thing. It was probably like only the hundreth time.

So this time I got smart..sort of. It is something I am striving towards in life.
The Dollar Store is really close to our laundromat (yes it is ours because we go there so often). So I decided to buy each of the kids a cheapo toy.
4 toy cell phone---$2 each
Color by number Care Bear activity--$1
Coloring Book to share--$1
My sanity at the Laundromat----Priceless!

Yes it worked! They walked and talked and colored and shmoozed chips off another kid and colored and were mostly pleasant for the 2 1/2 hours it took me to wash the 10 loads....yes it was actually 10 beacause 2 twin comforters needed washing!

Also, because it was around lunch time, their only 'food' was some cheapo sodas I bought from the cheapo store and some chips we had at home...pretty sad. But they were happy!

Am I tired? Yes! Was it worth it? Yes! Will I do it again? Ugh! Yeah...only cause I have to.
So wish me luck tommorow on our "Day of Purging the House"! And once again restore order. Soon I will celebrate freedom...from my house!