Back in the day women washed on Monday and ironed on Tuesday, that’s just the way it was. Why? Oh, who the hell knows, you didn’t ask questions back in the day, you just “did it."
I was the child of a mother who hated ironing almost as much as Moi. Enter Mabel Thompson, this older skinny woman in our small village, who walked around town wearing a headscarf and toting a pocketbook, chain smoking an endless supply of Pell Mell cigarettes.
Mabel didn’t have a regular job, but she “took in” ironing, probably in part to purchase all those Pell Mells'. Mother would fill up a bushel basket, drop it off at Mabel’s house before she went to work in the morning, pick it up in the evening, everything would be on wire hangers, ironed to perfection, and it cost her seventy-five cents. Imagine, ironing an entire bushel basket of clothes, especially in the summer with no air-conditioning, for seventy-five cents!
After LC and I married, I made many attempts at Tuesday ironing, but I never quite got there. Oh, I did what I had to do, the boys never went to school with wrinkled clothes, partly because I taught them how to iron when they were in diapers, a skill that still serves them to this day. I did iron hubby’s clothes for him, but those days are long gone, thank goodness. And you do realize I’m just kidding about the diapers, they were actually in first grade before they ironed. *wicked grin*
As I’ve gotten older and wiser, it’s “iron on demand” at our house. Whoever needs something ironed puts down the built-in ironing board, fires up the iron, fills it with water, because somehow it always needs it, and does the deed.
But then, fabrics are forgiving these days. Everything is either "wrinkle free" or 'wrinkle resistant." But even so, a touch-up helps, but more often than not I just don’t want to mess with it. When Ry was in college he was a fan of just heating things up in the dryer to get out the worst of the wrinkles, and ya know, it’s not a bad idea, I’ve been known to do it myself. And you can do wonders with a flat iron, seriously you can. Just try it the next time your jeans are wrinkled, it works like a charm.
I still see old(er) women that obviously still adhere to the Tuesday ironing day. Their jeans, heaven forbid, are neatly creased, and their husbands shirts and Dickey work pants are starched to perfection.
It’s just not me, just not the way I roll. I have better things to do on Tuesday than iron. How about you...
0 comments:
Post a Comment