Dirty Laundry

"What are you doing?" asked Pippa from the doorway to the laundry room.

Charlotte and Mariah looked at the smaller doll.

"We're doing the laundry," Mariah said. "The Writer is very tired."

"So we're helping out," Charlotte added.

"What's The Writer doing?" Pippa wanted to know.

"She's resting," Charlotte explained. The two younger grandchildren and their parents had just left. They had been with us for a visit for a few days.

"We're doing the laundry," Mariah explained, "to save her some time, so she can write this story."

"May I help?" Pippa asked, coming closer to where the two older dolls were working.

"We can always use help," Mariah agreed.

"What do I do?" Pippa asked, looking at all the dirty clothes.

"We're dividing up the laundry, first," Charlotte explained. "We're putting the dark things there, the lighter clothes here and the white things here," she added pointing to three of the piles on the floor.

"We also go through the pockets and take out anything that's left in them, especially tissue," Mariah added. "Tissue makes a real mess. It sort of melts in the water and then the little bits cling to everything. That's a very important part of getting the clothes ready!"

Pippa thought she could help. She knew which things were dark and which things were lighter, and she really knew when something was white.

"Why do you have to separate them?" she asked, picking up something that was a very, very dark red. "Why can't you just put them all in together?"

"Sometimes colors run," Charlotte explained, as the smaller doll put the very, very dark red shirt in the dark pile. "That means that some of the color leaves something dark or bright and goes into the wash water. Then it can end up in something light, like a white shirt can turn pink if it's washed with something dark red."

"It helps that we wash most things in cold water," Mariah added. "Hot water makes the colors run more, but it's still better to divide things up, especially if you have lots of things to wash or you can set the washer for a small load, and wash the white things alone."

Pippa thought she had the idea.

The three dolls worked together to finish separating the clothes. If Pippa wasn't sure which pile something belonged in, she would ask the older dolls, like when something had lots of different colors, some dark and some light, but most of the time she could figure it out for herself. 

Sometimes they changed their minds about which pile something belonged in.

Pippa was careful to remember to feel around in the pockets, in case someone had forgotten a tissue in there. Whenever she found one, she put it into the trash.

When they had all the clothes divided up, Charlotte climbed up onto the washing machine and opened the lid.

Next, she put in the detergent.

Then other two girls threw clothes up to Charlotte. It was like playing basketball with one player standing over the hoop.

Charlotte caught the clothes and made sure they went into the washer.

Then she closed the lid.

Charlotte started the machine.

With that done, the three girls went back into the workroom to read for a while while the washing machine worked.

When the washing machine stopped, they got up from their reading on the day bed in the workroom and went back to the laundry room. It was harder to get the clothes out of the washing machine than it was to put them in. They were heavy now, because they were still wet.

They couldn't throw the clothes. Mariah handed each item to Pippa and asked her to drop it down to Charlotte, who caught it and put it into the dryer.

When all the wet clothes were in the dryer, Mariah showed Pippa how she set the dryer to start.

After that, the dolls had another load to put into the washer. They did it the same way they did the first load.

Again the three dolls went back to the workroom to read some more.

When the washer stopped, the dryer was still going, so they couldn't put the next load in yet. They listened until they heard the dryer make a buzzing noise. Then they took everything out of the dryer and put it into the laundry basket. Pippa really got into it! She found she could help better by climbing inside the dryer and handing the dry clothes out to Mariah and Charlotte.

After they finished putting the wet clothes into the dryer and starting the final load in the washer, they dragged the laundry basket into the workroom. Mariah and Pippa pulled while Charlotte pushed from behind with all her might.

They worked together to fold all the clean, dry clothes. Charlotte and Mariah folded all the big things, working together.

Pippa matched up all the socks.

When all three loads of laundry had been washed, dried and folded the three dolls were tired.

"I'm exhausted!" Mariah exclaimed. "Let's go get a snack to pretend to eat!"

Pippa and Charlotte thought that was a great idea. 

"Yes," Pippa agreed. "We're all washed up!"

"We’re done with the wash," Mariah laughed, "and we're tired. You could say we're all wiped out, but we aren’t all washed up yet!" She would have to explain this to Pippa.

"May I join you for the pretend snack?" Billy asked from the hallway, where he had been taking photos.

"Of course," Charlotte told him. "You’ve been working hard, too!"

Yes, Billy took all the photos with the camera he received for Christmas. He did his part, too!

Cast--
Charlotte: Götz Happy Kidz Anna in Paris
Mariah: Götz Happy Kidz Mariah, "Chosen" from My Doll Best Friend
Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London

Pippa: Götz Little Kidz Lotta

You can follow The Doll's Storybook here.

Note: No dolls were harmed during production of this blog. All dolls shown are Götz Happy Kidz, Classic Kidz or Little Kidz. If you like these stories and are willing, please make a donation of any amount to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital or any organization that supports pediatric cancer research and treatment.

"The Doll's Storybook" is not affiliated with Gotz Dolls USA Inc. or Götz Puppenmanufaktur International GmbH.
Watch for the next story each Friday afternoon at 1:00 PM Pacific Time.

Mariah: Stories from the Doll's Storybook and Emil: Stories from the Doll's Storybook are available from Amazon worldwide. Also available from Barnes & Noble,  BookBaby and other booksellers. Royalties go to support pediatric cancer research and treatment. If you don't get free shipping elsewhere, buy from Book Baby. Half of the price goes to St. Jude.

Image on Mariah's yellow T-shirt used with permission with thanks, from Free To Be Kids, where human-size shirts with this image are available.

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Copyright © 2022 by Peggy Stuart

Work in the Workroom

"Are they gone yet, Mariah?" Mandy asked.

Mariah was looking out the window of the workroom. "They're just pulling out of the driveway," Mariah reported. "I'll keep watching for a few minutes to make sure they're gone."

The old people were going to get their second dose of the vaccine (vax-EEN) they needed, and then they were going to the grocery store. The dolls thought that might be enough time to tidy up the mess in the workroom and surprise The Writer when she got home.

Mandy and Veronika stood in the hallway looking into the workroom.

"Oh, my!" Exclaimed Veronika. "What are we going to do with this mess?" (We couldn't show you the mess because it would break the camera!)

Mandy looked at the piles of yarn on the floor by the table, the piles of fabric on the floor by the window. There were scissors, pins, knitting needles, books, pattern pieces, the dolls' clothes, trash and other things they didn't recognize lying around on the table, sewing machine cabinet and floor. "We have our work cut out for us," she said finally.

"Well," Veronika said, "They say 'Many hands make light work.' I guess we have many hands. If everyone does a little bit, I think we can make a dent in it." (That means to make it a little better.)

The dolls did have many hands. Sixteen, in all, because there were eight of them, and each doll has two hands. They were small, but they were clever. After looking around the workroom, the dolls met in the upstairs hall.

"I'll fold the fabric and put it away," Veronika said.

"I'll take care of the yarn," Mandy suggested.

"I'll try to tidy up all the...stuff," Billy volunteered.

"I can help you, Billy," cried Pippa, who wasn't sure where everything belonged.

"I'm used to packing clothes," Jolena put in, "because I have to travel with the Doll Ski Team, so I volunteer to organize our clothes and put them away."

"I'll pick up the trash and recycling," said Emil.

Charlotte had seen the pile of knitting needles on the cutting table. "I'll put the knitting needles away," she said. "Each one will have to be checked for size. I can do that."

"Let me put away the books and the shipping envelopes," Mariah begged. "I know how they should be stored."

The dolls got busy. Veronika folded the fabrics. She separated the scraps that could be used for making quilts into one pile and made another pile with the larger pieces that would be good for doll clothes. Then she folded each of the larger pieces of fabric and put them away in the cabinet.

The small scraps she put into a bin with a lid. They could be used for making quilts.

Mandy took the unused balls of yarn and put them in plastic bags. The scraps left over from projects she and The Writer had made all went into another bag. They could be used for hats and mittens for dolls.

Mandy put the bags of yarn away in the cabinet. She put all the thicker yarns together and all the thinner yarn together. Then she arranged them by color. She climbed up on the ladder to put the yarn away with other yarn that was similar in size and color.

While Veronika and Mandy were busy with the fabric and yarn, Billy tried to find places for everything. Pippa followed him around, looking for something she could help with.

"What can I do?" Pippa asked. 

Billy didn't answer. He put things away where he had seen them before, while Pippa followed him around and watched. Then Billy ran into a problem. He needed to figure out what to do with the small red chair. He thought it would be good to talk about the problem with someone, and Pippa was right there. "I see the place this chair should go," Billy said to Pippa, "but I don't know how to get it there." He pointed to the top of the cabinets that hold the fabric and yarn.

Pippa looked at where Billy was pointing. Brownie was standing on top of the cabinet with some chairs that were not being used.

Maybe Brownie would like to sit on the chair. She must be tired of standing.

"I can lift the chair," Pippa said, "and I can climb up there where Brownie is, but I don't think I can climb up there with the chair."

"You!" Billy exclaimed. "You're too little to climb up there! The ladder isn't tall enough."

"I am not!" Pippa cried. "I climbed up on top of the bathroom counter with no help from anyone! This is just like that only higher."

Billy would have rolled his eyes, but he knew he couldn't. His eyes don't move. "Well," he said, "if you can, that would help. but we need to get the chair up there."

"You can throw me some yarn after I get up there," Pippa suggested. "I can let down one end from up there. We can use that to bring the chair up."

"Great idea!" agreed Billy. "I can tie the yarn to the chair, and you can pull it up!"

When Mandy was through with the ladder for a few minutes, Pippa opened the door to the cabinets, and she and Billy moved the ladder into place. Pippa climbed up the ladder. When she was at the top of the ladder she used the open shelves to climb on.

When Pippa reached the top of the cabinets, she moved over to where the chair needed to go. Brownie moved aside a bit to make room. Billy made a ball out of some thick yarn and threw the ball to her. Pippa caught the ball of yarn. She let down one end of the yarn, and Billy tied it around the chair. When he was done, Pippa pulled on the chair. She pulled until it was up on top of the cabinet. 

Pippa left the chair on top of the cabinet and climbed down again. (Brownie did not want to sit on it, but she was fine with having it there.)

While all that was happening, Jolena folded the clothes and put them into bags to store in the set of wire baskets on wheels. She put the pajamas, bathrobes, towels and sleep masks in the bottom basket, where they would be easy to reach at night when the dolls were tired. The next basket was where she put underwear, socks, tights, bathing suits and her ballet clothes.

The next basket was for sweaters and skirts. There were a lot of those. Then she put all the play clothes (shirts, jeans, slacks and leggings) into the top basket.

Next, Jolena put all the winter clothes, like coats and hats, into plastic bags and put them into a big bin, because there was no more space in the wire baskets.

All the boots went into a box with the umbrellas.

While Jolena was busy with the clothes, Emil went around the room picking up anything that looked like trash. Anything he was sure would be thrown away, like used tissue, candy wrappers, scraps of yarn shorter than 2 inches, and old plastic mailing wrap, went into a big black plastic bag.

Anything that could be recycled went into another bag. Every time Emil found a yarn label or anything else he thought The Writer might not want thrown away, like a sales receipt or a coupon for savings on something to buy, he put it into a big plastic basket for her to go through. He knew he needed to let her decide whether to throw them away or recycle them. These things belonged to her, and she needed to be the one to throw them away or put them into recycling.

Charlotte was busy with the knitting needles. Some of them were too small to have sizes written on them, but she knew how to use the tool for checking the size. She knew you put the needle into a hole, and if it stuck and wouldn't fit in the hole, the needle was too big, so to try the next size up. If it went into that hole but not the next smaller one, that was its size. After checking the sizes, she put each needle into the needle book in the correct pouch.

Mariah picked up the books that were stacked on the floor and put them into a box. She put a piece of paper between sets of ten books, so The Writer could see at a glance how many were left. Then she put the mailing envelopes and mailing labels into another box.

Mariah closed the boxes so The Writer could stack them if she wanted. They were too heavy for Mariah to lift.

When the dolls were all finished with what they could do, they heard the garage door open.

"The Writer is back!" Charlotte exclaimed.

They climbed back up to where they had been before The Writer had left. They knew she would be surprised. They knew they had done a good job. The workroom was much tidier than it had been when the old people had left.

The Writer came upstairs to put her sweater away. She stopped in the doorway to the workroom. Something had changed. She could not remember when it had been so tidy and organized.

The dolls were all where The Writer had left them. They were trying to look innocent.

"Hmmmm..." The Writer thought. "My workroom looks tidy now. I wonder if I need another shot of vaccine soon."

Cast--
Veronika: Götz Classic Kidz Vroni
Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015
Jolena: Götz Happy Kidz Lena in Aspen
Charlotte: Götz Happy Kidz Anna in Paris
Mariah: Götz Happy Kidz Mariah, "Chosen" from My Doll Best Friend
Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London
Emil: Götz Happy Kidz Emilia

Pippa: Götz Little Kidz Lotta

You can follow The Doll's Storybook here.

Do you have questions or comments for us? Would you like to order an autographed copy of one of our books? You can email us at thedollsstorybook@icloud.com.

Note: No dolls were harmed during production of this blog. All dolls shown are Götz Happy Kidz, Classic Kidz or Little Kidz. If you like these stories and are willing, please make a donation of any amount to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital or any organization that supports pediatric cancer research and treatment. We are not affiliated with St. Jude in any way other than these donations.

"The Doll's Storybook" is not affiliated with Gotz Dolls USA Inc. or Götz Puppenmanufaktur International GmbH.
Watch for the next story each Friday afternoon at 1:00 PM Pacific Time.

Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook and Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook are available from BookBaby and other booksellers worldwide, such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble. 

Author's page on Amazon. 

Royalties (net proceeds) go to support pediatric cancer research and treatment. If you don't get free shipping elsewhere, buy from Book Baby. Half of the price goes to charity (specific information available upon request). Autographed copies of all three books are available from the author. (Multiple books to the same address have a discount on shipping.) To inquire, email thedollsstorybook@icloud.com.

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Copyright © 2021, 2024 by Peggy Stuart