The Mommy Strike Fails
January 15, 2008 | Filed under: Stuff
I had to give up my mommy strike. One, I ran out of underwear. And two, I was getting hungry. So it was back to the grind for me, but for some time now, I’ve noticed this odd smell in my clean laundry. I couldn’t quite place it but trust me, it was foul. I had my can-fix-anything husband look at the washer and dryer but everything looked good. Or as good as it can for two machines who are put through the wringer every single day. But the mystery remained.
What was happening to my sweet smelling clean clothes?
Then one day I heard the dryer door close, which is an oddity in itself because let’s face it, when I get hit by a bus or run away from home, my people are going to have to buy new clothes every week.
I followed the sound and found Middle Daughter, putting her very sweaty basketball uniform ON TOP OF A CLEAN LOAD IN THE DRYER and then clicking on the dryer for second round.
Let me repeat. Her disgusting uniform. On top of a clean load of laundry.
Me: WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
Her: (insulted at my tone) My uniform stinks. So I put it in the clean laundry and then it smells good.
Me: ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
Her: (Sensing trouble) No, it really works! And it saves you time, mom. You don’t have to wash it. (She beams with pride)
Seriously. There are not enough cookies in the world for this whole mother gig.
p.s. Thanks for all the notes on the sightings of GET A CLUE and STRONG AND SEXY, both out in stores now. Also, thanks to Judy for reminding me that Cosmo’s Feb issue is out, and I’m in it as their Red Hot Read for the month!!
Tags: Cosmo, funny, humorous, Jill Shalvis, kids, laundry, mom, mom strike, parenting, romance novels
Posted by Jill @ 1:00 am | Make a Comment
Judy F says:
Bless her heart… LOL
Posted on January 15th, 2008 at 3:55 amStacy ~ says:
Oh my God. I think I woulda killed her LOL.
Sorry the strike didn’t go so well. I was pulling for you, Jill.
Posted on January 15th, 2008 at 4:10 amElizabeth K says:
Oh. Yuck.
Posted on January 15th, 2008 at 4:32 amAlison says:
Nooooo…
Posted on January 15th, 2008 at 6:19 amBailey Stewart says:
Oh Cosmo! I’ll have to go look for it.
Jill, Jill, Jill – she was trying, honestly … :wall:
Posted on January 15th, 2008 at 6:25 amLaurie says:
Ah, but she’s a thinker
– gotta love that!
(I’m today’s columnist at Romancing the Blog, if anyone cares to pop by! http://www.romancingtheblog.com/blog/
Posted on January 15th, 2008 at 6:42 amThanks!)
Erin says:
Are we sure she’s not a mad scientist in disguise? Ingenius! And a weeeee bit evil.
Posted on January 15th, 2008 at 7:43 amLiza says:
She was just trying to save you some time…really!
Posted on January 15th, 2008 at 7:59 amPatty L. says:
:rotfl: Your daughter is a genius in disguise. What a clever idea. Of course, if my kids did that I would have to break out the :whip: .
Posted on January 15th, 2008 at 8:39 amLOL
Shelly says:
Ha! I wish I’d thought of that one. I think you aught to sell that idea to Tide for a commercial and you can all retire.
Not to mention….it’s good for the planet…. think of all the water it saves. hehe
Posted on January 15th, 2008 at 8:52 amAsthmagirl says:
Ah… the teenage brain at work! That so sounds like something my first born would have come up with. I say that knowing she won’t see the comment!
Congratulations on the sightings of your book. I looked for Get a Clue yesterday and did not find it.
I did enjoy your excerpts here on your site!
Thanks for dropping by!
Posted on January 15th, 2008 at 9:59 amCourtney says:
Middle sounds very resourceful, albeit a bit misguided in this instance? BTW: I still haven’t found “Get a Clue” in the Portland, Oregon area, but I haven’t given up hope yet. I’m scrounging around for it this weekend.
Posted on January 15th, 2008 at 10:24 amJill says:
I’m sorry to hear some of you are having trouble finding GET A CLUE. If you ask at whatever store you’re in, they’ll either locate it for you, or order it, so don’t be shy.
Any sightings of STRONG AND SEXY? That one seems to be MIA entirely.
Posted on January 15th, 2008 at 10:33 amCourtney says:
I found “Strong and Sexy” AFTER Christmas (around December 30 I believe) in the Portland, OR Borders downtown (on 3d Street). Loved, loved, loved Dani and Shayne!
Posted on January 15th, 2008 at 10:54 amapril says:
I saw many copies of Get a Clue in both my local Borders and Barnes & Noble. I haven’t been to the bookstore since Strong & Sexy was released, but my preorder arrived around New Year’s Eve despite e-mails earlier from Barnes & Noble that it wasn’t released until the end of January. I’m halfway through it now.
Posted on January 15th, 2008 at 11:06 amjeanne says:
OMG – whenever you think they can’t come up with anything that would surprise you – there it is
Posted on January 15th, 2008 at 11:27 amDonna M says:
That was some inventive thinking!
However, yucky for the rest of the laundry! :shocked: Nothing worse than having your clean clothes smell like a sweaty athlete!!! :rotfl:
Posted on January 15th, 2008 at 11:58 amI’m sorry to hear that your strike didn’t work! Maybe you will come up with a better idea! :wall:
To anyone having trouble finding your books there is always online ordering, easy & quick & delivered to the doorstep!! :yes:
Karen Erickson says:
OMG that made me giggle. At least the smelly mystery is solved! :rotfl:
Posted on January 15th, 2008 at 12:51 pmSusan says:
Posted on January 15th, 2008 at 1:25 pmnaomi says:
I could see the boy doing that. He’s clueless that way. *shakes head* You would think a man of his age would figure it out. Oh well.
I have a copy of Get A Clue. The B&N and Borders around here have a few copies. The library even has it, yay! I would post a picture of it in the store, but my digital camera decided to hibernate this winter.
Posted on January 15th, 2008 at 1:54 pmHeather says:
Oh, euuuuuwwwwwww!
This reminds me of an incident that happened at work some years back. We had a part-time employee who always smelled when he came in, but one day the stink was worse than usual so we went to the boss, who instructed him to go home, shower, and put clean clothes on before he returned.
So, the guy left and came back an hour later, but he still smelled.
Boss: Did you go home and take a shower like I told you?
Guy: Yes.
Boss: Did you use soap?
Guy: yes
boss: Did you put on clean clothes?
Guy: Yes.
Boss: Did you put on clean underwear?
Guy: You didn’t tell me to do that!
I kid you not!
Posted on January 15th, 2008 at 3:10 pmJSL says:
Hi Jill -
Posted on January 15th, 2008 at 3:33 pmIn retrospect, that might be funny about the laundry. But, ew. Really, ew. Being not *that* much older than your daughter… ew. What was she thinking? Or not thinking? Or… how could she think that? Ack.
Jill says:
JSL . . . I have NO idea. It’s one of the mysteries of Middle Daughter.
Posted on January 15th, 2008 at 4:03 pmBrandy says:
Okay, that’s yucky! Why is it kids will ALWAYS take a short-cut?
Posted on January 15th, 2008 at 4:32 pmBTW, I’ve seen Strong & Sexy at my local BAMM. *g*
Bailey Stewart says:
Borders had lots of copies of Strong and Sexy AND Get a Clue. I know, because I turned them out …
Posted on January 15th, 2008 at 5:22 pmCaryn says:
Hilarious! So kind of her to save you work. My mom once had a friend whose daughter spent her entire first semester away at college using only fabric softener and no detergent. She thought they were getting clean because they smelled so good, and couldn’t figure out why the fabric was curiously stiff.
Posted on January 15th, 2008 at 5:50 pmDiana says:
I had no trouble finding Strong and Sexy at the Borders in downtown San Francisco earlier this month. I think it was on a special display, too.
Posted on January 15th, 2008 at 6:25 pmCryna says:
Jill you have to admit that your girl’s are always thinking up new ways to drive you to the cookie jar.
But she really thought she was saving you extra work. 
Posted on January 15th, 2008 at 11:03 pmDru says:
Kids, what will they think of next. At least you solved the mystery of the odor.
Posted on January 16th, 2008 at 3:47 amKate Hardy says:
Jill, that’s hilarious. Thanks. I needed a laugh today
)
I can imagine my son trying that in a couple of years!
Posted on January 16th, 2008 at 11:48 amSarah says:
LMAO. That’s more like something I would find my dh doing.
Posted on January 16th, 2008 at 11:53 amLeah says:
OK … I’m already back. And, yuck! My husband does that with his dirty, nasty, man-smelling jeans! My HUSBAND … not a clue-less child, but my husband! What’s up with that?
Posted on January 27th, 2008 at 7:28 pm