I KNOW. The excitement! But you know, that's just the way my life goes. Sometimes I find myself ironing at 8 p.m. because Cubby is being, ahem, difficult, about napping, and I am therefore finding it difficult to get anything accomplished during the day. At least, anything that really must be done Cubby-free. Maneuvering a searingly hot, heavy piece of metal on a cord, with a plug, most definitely qualifies.
So. Ironing at 8 p.m. My original intention was just to iron A.'s shirt for him, because it's his only clean one and it's been sitting around for days unironed and he had to go to court this morning and so needed a shirt. So even though pretty much the last thing I wanted to do at that stage in the evening was iron, I did it.
I really hate ironing shirts. Men's shirts particularly. They're just so big, and they have so many parts, and I can never get the crease in the arm right. But I figure it's mostly under his suit coat anyway, right?
Right. Any justification for my ineptitude is aces.
Then, since I had the iron out, I decided to iron the pile of napkins and tablecloths that's been sitting around for, um, months. Yes, literally.
This being Blackrock, the House of Accumulation, we have way more table linens than any modern family needs. But of course, many of them are from the Not Modern era (several sets belonged to A.'s great-great aunt, which would make them . . . at least a hundred years old). So we use them. And when they are used, they do not get returned to the sideboard until they've been washed and ironed. Which is why there is usually a pile of napkins somewhere downstairs sitting around awaiting ironing.
I was pretty sick of looking at this particular pile of two tablecloths and about a dozen napkins, so I ironed them too. Ironing tablecloths kind of sucks, because they have to be moved around so much on the ironing board, but ironing napkins I find to be sort of soothing. I mean, I'm not saying it's something I go out of my way to engage in to calm my nerves or anything, but it is delightfully simple. One flat square ironed all smooth, then folded into the desired shape and pressed once again, and what was once a ball of wrinkled linen is now a respectable and classy napkin ready for company.
That's kind of nice.
So how about you, poppets? What's your opinion of ironing?
DON'T do it....ever
ReplyDeleteI don't.
ReplyDeleteI actually like to iron if I can watch TV at the same time. I just ironed our cloth napkins from Thanksgiving and had a similar experience to what you had--neat little piles. Mary in MN
ReplyDeleteFlashbacks of my families maid/part-time nanny in the tin garage ironing, in the summer, in Louisiana. Makes my minor ironing in the house, watching TV seem not so bad. I feel the same about napkins, but the wrinkles are hard to iron out dry, and I never seem to have a water spray bottle that works.
ReplyDeleteFor the most part I don't iron. Almost all of my clothing now comes from the thrift stores and if I happen to pick up something that needs to be ironed, I either only wear it at home where no one sees me or I return it to a thrift store. I do still own an iron, although I might not know exactly where it is at any given moment. (I know you like to keep us anonymous sorts straight and I like to accommodate, I just can't seem to remember from one comment to the next what moniker I used - this time I'm hoping for a better result as I am going to use "timberdawn" as a tribute to a beloved cousin.)
ReplyDeleteMy opinion on ironing? Very low.
ReplyDeleteI iron a few times a year, I guess. I try to choose my clothes carefully, "dryer iron" if possible, and am glad my long lab coat hides my sins....
Moi
Like a number of things, I love to iron when I feel I have the time to do a proper job of it but I resent every minute of it when I'm doing it under a time constraint.
ReplyDeleteTable clothes are always a challenge but I'm lucky now that I have the room to set up an ironing board in the dining room and shift the ironed cloth onto the table as I go.
Can you say "wrinkle free" or "no-iron"? I have an iron but use it very minimally. But, then, I don't have a husband that wears Oxford shirts either!
ReplyDeleteIf I am to buy anything that requires ironing, I must love that "thing" beyond all normal emotion. I must adore it. It must be the greatest thing on the earth.
ReplyDelete(Do I like to iron? Not so much...)
This is where I admit that I don't even own an iron. All of Mr. B's shirts and pants are wrinkle-free. When we got married I declared that I hated ironing and didn't want to own one. Mr. B isn't the ironing type so he agreed! My mother in law can't believe we sleep on wrinkled sheets. Some people iron everything!
ReplyDeleteI hate ironing. I do it about once a week, though, ever since our office went business casual. I'll even take the time now to iron my non-work clothes, since thing really do look better when ironed rather than "fluffed" in the dryer (my old way of getting most of the wrinkles out). I'm still not very good at ironing, so my clothes still have a few wrinkles when I'm done!
ReplyDeleteI don't understand how people get away with not ironing! I line dry though so I think that must be the difference.
ReplyDeleteI do it every week and don't mind it if the pile isn't too high.
Given that most people seem to hate ironing I'm almost afraid to admit that I LOVE it. To see something go from a wrinkled mess to smooth and crisp is such a joy. I iron every thing. Yes, it is crazy but it makes me happy. Growing up I learned to iron using my fathers handkerchiefs and pillow cases. The only thing I hate to iron are my husbands uniforms. They are polyester and tend to melt if the iron is too hot.
ReplyDeleteI own very few things that need ironing, thank goodness. But my fashionista daughter? She's getting a tabletop ironing board with pad and cover and a small but decent iron for her birthday in two weeks. I got major deals on each piece, too.
ReplyDeleteLOATHE.
ReplyDeleteI try not to buy anything that needs ironing and the linens get pulled out of the dryer right away and folded so that I never have to iron their annoying asses.
I have to iron my work uniforms. As in, it states clearly in our employee handbook that our uniforms must be ironed. (Right next to the part about being an 'at-will' employee.) But I am a too cheap to pay the cleaners to iron my shirts, because I have to have one part of the uniform professionally starched (yep, in the employee handbook again), and 'professional starcher' is not on my resume. So I pop in a "True Blood" dvd or such and iron them all in one fell swoop so that I have two weeks' worth of no ironing. As for regular clothes, no way. My cloth napkins go straight from the dryer right back into the kitchen drawer. I don't bother with buying clothes that are dry clean only or require ironing. I'll take a chance on a thrift/garage sale item that says to hand wash--I throw it in the washer. If it survives, great! It's not hand wash anymore. If not, I've got fancy rags.
ReplyDeleteword verification: hebiestu--ironing gives me the hebiestus.