I'm in the latter part of the week and still working on the piles of laundry. This laundry battle got me thinking about how difficult housework must have been without our modern conveniences.

My grandmother had a print of the painting, Monday Morning 1912 by Vida Lahey.

I am paranoid about copywriter infringement, so if you click this link you can view the painting. I'll email and ask for permission to use it. A museum could grant permission to a humble blogger, right?

Family legend is that the woman on the right was my grandmother's Aunt. ( I probably should verify the story but I am procrastinating on researching genealogy.)

While 1912 seems like a very long time ago, the thought that my grandmother more than likely used to do laundry in this way (she was born after 1912, but lived a very poor childhood) is mind blowing. No wonder she never minded throwing in a load of my dirty clothes when I was in college. It was probably heaven compared to this style of laundry.

The eternal optimist in me is reminded of Monday Morning as I find more inspiration continue the laundry battle and be grateful. I am starting to think that I need a chore schedule of some sort. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad to have one day set aside for laundry. At least I don't have to use a bar of soap and a wash tub.