complicated feelings

Reed played this song for me a few days ago, and it nearly knocked me off my feet. That is, the Loretta Lynn version of it (which I couldn't find on Youtube, but I'd say this lady Tanya Tucker does a pretty fine job), which then prompted me to get on Grooveshark while I was at work, and listen to just about every song Loretta Lynn ever wrote, even a few twice over. To back up a little bit, my place of employment is currently within the home of a lovely couple in the neighborhood, caring for their 2 mo old baby since the mother went back to work. He sleeps about 1/3 to half the time I'm there, and when he's not sleeping, he's pretty low maintenance, so part of our agreement is that I also do some light housework. Unloading the dishwasher, occasionally taking out the trash, picking up toys and bottles of juice left in the aftermath of their two year old going to school, and laundry. Previous to my employment with her, the mother bought all the ingredients to make a homemade laundry detergent, from a recipe her sister recommended on this blog: Homemade Mothering . She never had a chance to make it, and so this project subsequently became mine. I was skeptical of this potion for a number of reasons. Initially my reaction was, of all the things to spend the time making yourself, laundry detergent? Reed and I go through a regular sized container of it in about 6 months (we just recently restocked, and opted for Dr. Bronners Sal Suds , which we also use (diluted)to wash our dishes). I soon came to understand that laundry detergent was used much more quickly in this household, perhaps because the parents only wear their clothes one time before washing, or wash the various bedclothes in the house with more regularity, but certainly because both children soil their outfits, and accessories with a variety and volume of bodily fluids on an almost continual basis. Secondly, I was skeptical of this recipe . Ivory soap? Fels Naptha soap? Arm and Hammer washing detergent with Color Safe Bleach? I would have done some research and suggested something better, but she had already bought all the ingredients. And so it came to be that I found myself chopping up bar soap with a kitchen knife, baby gurgling in its chair, listening to Loretta Lynn sing emotively of the plight of the 60's housewife.