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Thursday, January 13, 2011

Ironing Out The Kinks

For the last few days this is where my butt has been. For some reason my lower back muscles have decided to go on strike. I am tired of sitting around surrounded by too much stuff to do. I am going to attempt to do my ironing. I have a feeling my butt will end up right back in that massaging recliner though!

Here's what I came up with to make ironing a little more tolerable...

I chose Thursdays for my ironing day. Why Thursday? Because it is already the day I do not make any appts. or plans for during the day. I have TOPS at 6 pm. Cutie does not have preschool. It is my favorite tv night {Vampire Diaries & Beverly Hills Housewives}. I did not want to choose Monday for several reasons, but especially because Monday is usually a dreaded day already!

I gathered up my supplies. I purchased extra shirt hangers, a hanger that will hold 6 items, a new ironing board cover, and ironing spray. I already had my iron and Twilight cup for adding more water.

I have had this cover for 5 years. That is not dirt. It is dark lint stuck in layers and layers of dried ironing spray starch. The water swirly stains are from me knocking the iron over when it is not on and water leaking out of it. Because I leave the ironing board out all the time, it becomes a "catch-all" for things that need to be put away. I plan to only bring it out for ironing day once a week.

I removed the old cover and now it is fresh and clean and bright. There isn't much creative design in the ironing board cover options. I found a few pretty ones on etsy.com, but I wasn't willing to throw away $45.

It even has a little pocket on one side. I got tickled at the warning not to put your iron in there. I am sure that is for the blond housewives who think it is a great place for their hot iron while hanging up each piece. lol
So why not dry cleaning? We live in the COUNTRY country. The little town with Dr. Hubby's office doesn't even have a dry cleaner. I was so jealous to read about Chanda's cheap prison-ran dry cleaners. What a great idea!
I am sure I will never LOVE ironing, but I think this plans makes it a little more manageable.
Time to tackle another housewife chore...

11 comments:

Kristina P. said...

I had no idea people even had whole days they set aside to iron!

Chanda said...

Hope your back is better soon, that is no fun. I have the very same heating pad, but my is always shutting down and starts blinking and the heat goes off. I know it is only a safety feacher, but gesh i do need to lay on it alittle.
Happy ironing, it can be soothing and it is rewarding to accomplishing each piece. Also EVERYTHING looks better ironed. Truly it does. I have always thought that is way I love new clothes, they are ironed.
I have a question for you, do you watch Kathie Lee and Hoda, I bet of your not, you would love the morning show. 4th hour of the Today show. It is always no "now" and whats happeniong. I love it and laugh along each morning. I have never heard you mention it so thought you might be missing out on something funny and entertaining for us housewives.

Scrappy Girl said...

Chanda, I do not watch it. We don't have NBC right now. I have seen clips of it here and there and you are probably right...I would like it.

Dana and Daisy said...

I rarely iron anymore. We embrace our wrinkles. What is that pocket for anyway? What do you put in it?

Scrappy Girl said...

I am not sure what that pocket is for. I guess I could sit my starch in it and my empty water cup. I have a feeling it is going to get in my way...and I may *snip-snip*

just call me jo said...

I'm probably some kind of bigot, but I don't want prisoners touching my clothes (at least if I know about it.) I'm strange, I know. I think I must embrace wrinkles more than I should. I leave my ironing board up quite often too, especially if I'm sewing. My cover looks far worse than yours did. I hope your back feels better soon. Dry-cleaning is so expensive now. I used to take all my school clothes in so they wouldn't wear out so fast, but it got so I was paying more for cleaning than the item cost originally. You could use that pocket for your cell phone and packages of snacks. (Not that any sane person would snack while ironing, but...I'm just saying...)

DesertHen said...

My lower back is acting up today. I coudn't figure out why as I haven't done any lifting lately, but then I realized that I was so tense driving home in the snow on Tuesday night from work and driving to work on icy roads yesterday morning that I must have tensed up my back and now its going to spasm! I think I need a heating pad for work...lol.

A friend of mine just posted a cute post about ironing and ironing board covers. Here is the link, I think you would like it. http://jeffanderinterry.blogspot.com/2011/01/ironing-board-re-do.html

Hope your back feels better and your ironing goes smoothly! =)

mCat said...

I actually don't mind ironing, but have very few clothes that need it.
And my boys have to do their own, or I charge them!

CB said...

OK now that you have your schedule planned (and it is a good one btw!). I meant to tell you that my mom used to pay me to iron clothes when I was younger. So if you get sick of it you could try that :-D

tammy said...

Cute supplies make every task better. My ironing board cover is black and white damask. I almost want to put it in the front room, it's so cute.

Hope your back is better soon. Yay for RHBH tonight!!

CreativeMish said...

Great idea for the ironing planning. I never use a dry cleaner... well... I should never say never... I've probably used one maybe 6 times in my life. I remember taking a prom dress and a couple of winter coats. I never buy clothes that have to be dry cleaned.