The Laundry in the Dryer

So for about a week and half or so now, That Boy and I seem to have been having a battle of wills. I entered into it unknowingly and unwillingly, but I am not afraid. I will emerge victorious.

Recently, Tony did a load of laundry. This is not surprising, because in my house, everybody does their own laundry. Including sheets, towels, etc. And, yes, we all have our own towels; we're happier that way. Tony's been doing his own laundry since he was 11 or 12, something like that. And I will give credit where it's due, that was at his father's insistence, not mine.

Anyway, Tony washed a load of clothes and put them in the dryer. He ran the dryer but did not empty it. For approximately 10 days now. I encountered the clothes in the dryer last week when I was doing my own laundry. I removed them to a clothes basket until I was finished with the dryer, and then I put them back. I've done this at least twice more since then, most recently right now. My sheets and towels are in the dryer, and Tony's clean but very wrinkled clothes are in a basket in the hallway. When I pull my stuff out of the dryer, his will go back in, and my clothes basket will go back into my closet.

I've told him a couple of times that he has a load of clothes in the dryer. The first time, his response was that he knew he was missing some clothes but couldn't figure out where they were. My response, as a girl is "Huh? You don't know where some of your clothes are and you're this calm?" Anyway, he actually turned the dryer back on for a few minutes to dry to get some of the wrinkles out; when the dryer finished, I told him that it was done. He told me that he knew and he'd get the clothes.

That was last week.

Last night, he opened the dryer, because he was sure he had a pair of jeans in there. He found them, pulled them out, put them on, closed the dryer, closed the door to the laundry closet, and walked away. I wanted to scream.

I'm at best an indifferent housekeeper, but I do have one quirky housekeeping thing. The instant that the dryer stops running, I must empty it. I'll stop whatever I'm doing (even reading in the middle of a sentence or writing in the middle of a blog) and empty the dryer and immediately fold the clothes. No massive piles of laundry to be folded and put away for this girl. It's washed, it's dried, and it's folded instantly. Piles of folded clothes may sit on my bed for a few hours, but they are put away the same day, usually as soon as the last load is done, but sometimes right before I go to bed.

That my children (Amanda too, to a certain extent) are OK with loads of clothes in the dryer for days and/or only folding them after all the laundry is done makes me crazy. It's literally causing me almost physical pain to put Tony's clothes back in the dryer time and again, but I'm going to make myself keep on doing it because I think it's good for me, and good for him too.

Perhaps I need a 12-step plan for my laundry issues?