Wrinkles be gone!

I hate ironing.

When Mariana was little, she was visiting my parents and saw my mother at the ironing board with iron in hand and an article of clothing on the board. "What are you doing?" she innocently asked. Oops. My secret was out. I'd like to say that my daughter was oblivious because I only ironed at night after everyone else was asleep; safer for the children that way. But I'd be lying. In actuality, I only iron when I sew.

I guess I could say that I do iron on occasion. But only when the dampen-the-offending-article-of-clothing-and-put-it-in-the-dryer method doesn't work. Or when the hang-the-dress-on-the-curtain rod-while-you-get-a-hot-shower method fails. Or after I've tried running my hands over the area a few times, willing the wrinkles out. And I only iron my own clothing. If someone really wants a flat shirt, she can iron it herself. If someone doesn't like the extra folds in his pants, he knows where the iron is. Just ask all the old ladies at church. I'm sure they have conversations on Sunday mornings about that pastor's wife who has no homemaking skills and whose husband stands up front with wrinkled clothing.

Please remember that these are the same ladies who probably grew up ironing underwear and napkins. Underwear? Are you kidding me? Just be happy you have clean undies. Who cares if they're wrinkled? My mom told me that if I was ever in an accident, she wasn't going to come to the hospital to retrieve me unless the hospital personnel could assure her that I was wearing clean underwear. She never said anything about it needing to be ironed flat. And cloth napkins? I have enough trouble keeping up with the washing and drying and folding of cloth napkins before we run out. I certainly would not have time to add ironing to that list! Does your mouth really care if your napkin has an unwanted fold or two? I'd much rather see my children wiping their mouths with a wrinkled napkin that using an arm or hand because I didn't have time to tend to the ironing.

Looks like I passed the same poor homemaking values onto my daughter. So far she, too, only irons when sewing. If this picture is a true representation, it looks like she enjoys it much more than I do, though.

But aren't you glad we at least own an iron? And my 13-year old knows how to use it? And she sews, too. That should count for something. Home economics credit at least. Oh yeah, they don't teach that anymore. I bet the Family and Consumer Sciences teacher doesn't iron, either.