“Please send me your ironing. I’m on vacation and have lots of experience. Great prices!” a young woman posted on our local email list.
Now, a person could be forgiven for assuming that this ad was an answer to my prayers.
After all, I’ve been so busy BA”H with work and other real life endeavors that I’ve shamelessly neglected my poor blog.
But, of course, you, my dear readers, know better. </desperate attempt at flattery in hope that the readers will forget that it’s been a whole week since the last real post>
You know that there’s no way I’m going to hire someone to do the Shiputzim family’s ironing, because you remember the following story:
Several years ago, I spent two months on maternal bed rest.
One day, our neighbor – I’ll call her “C.” because that’s not her name -called me up with a very generous offer.
“It just occurred to me that if you’re on bed rest, you can’t iron, and I’d be more than happy to do it for you,” she said.
Although I was extremely touched by her thoughtfulness and consideration, I wasn’t sure how to respond.
“Well, um, thank you. I mean, I really, really appreciate your kind offer. It’s so nice of you! It’s just that, um, I don’t iron that much…” I finished lamely.
I could hear her eyebrows being raised.
“You don’t iron?!” she said in disbelief.
I could tell that this wasn’t going to end well.
“Once in a while, I do. But I find that most things don’t need ironing…” I tried to defend myself.
“But what about your husband’s shirts? Surely you iron those, no?” she was practically pleading with me now.
“Well, uh, you see, his shirts go in the dryer, and if you take them out right away and hang them up, they usually don’t need ironing……” I sensed that she wasn’t going to buy it.
She didn’t.
“You don’t iron your husband’s shirts?!” This was just too much for her.
The conversation ended shortly thereafter, and we’ve never discussed this topic since.
But I’m convinced that - to this day - C. still feels sorry for YZG, because his wife obviously neglects him almost as much as she neglects her blog…
!שבת שלום ומבורך
Ironing is nothing more than a socially accepted method of torturing women. Don't listen to that woman. I'm sure your husband looks very handsome wearing his freshly hung up shirts.
ReplyDeleteI'm a proud member of your club. . . I don't even own an iron. If it needs to be perfect, it goes to the cleaners, otherwise, the dry and hang works just fine!
ReplyDeleteSuperRaizy - My sentiments exactly! :-)
ReplyDeleteRachel - A non-ironing club! We could design badges for all the members! But then we'd have to figure out how to iron them on... ;-)
i an SO in the club! true story: when one of my children was sent yrs ago (about 13?) to a neurologist for an evaluation she used the dreaded book that i will call the hitpatchut book- a book that mustve been written in the 50s and had been torturing my kids for almost 2 decades. anyway the page with fruits and vegetables had radishes, epplant, khalorabi and other things that were not in my household at that time. i told the dr that we do not have those items in the house. she raised her eyebrows and went on to the next page. there they had the mother sewing, hanging laundry, and ironing. i swirmed in my seat. again my son didnt know how to name the activities and again i explained that i cant sew, put clothes in the dryer and dont iron. when i got to the ironing part she blew a fuse - even if you dont iron SOMEONE irons your clothes, the maid, someone! i said, uh no i put it in the dryer and then take it out right away and hang up she exploded at me - i see your shirt it is obviously ironed! stop defending your son!
ReplyDeleteremind me to tell you sometime the story about what the rooster has on his head..
I don't iron, either. I also whisk my husband's shirts right out of the dryer and hang them up right away. I agree with Rachel: let the dry cleaners make it look perfect if it has to be perfect.
ReplyDeleteI will try to post the cauliflower kugel later . . .
Faith/Emuna - Great story! (And I'd love to hear the rooster story...)
ReplyDeleteLaura - Exactly! If God had wanted us to iron, He wouldn't have created dry cleaners... :-)
Okay, I am so NOT in this club. I do iron. My husband and I share the cooking for Shabbat and while he's puttering around in the kitchen I find it very relaxing and zen to set the iron up in front of the television and catch up on my recorded shows (mostly off the cooking channel) while I iron my husband's shirts, his sons' shirts and even a tablecloth or two. You see, I dump clothes in the dryer and then leave them there, so they come out wrinkled. I guess that's the opposite side of the coin.
ReplyDeleteMiriyummy - That's okay. We all like you anyway! :-) In fact, we'll even let you sit with us in the lunchroom... :-)
ReplyDeleteShould I admint to ironing too?
ReplyDeleteI am quite fond on ironing, but do not really have time to iron.
I wash shirts without spinning and hang up straight away, but they seem creased, however, DH insists on having them ironed.
I would not mind, but do not seem to have time
There are girls in our yishv who make 3 shekels a piece for ironing, and have people for whom they iron once a week.
This week someone advertised to fold your laundry, now that I do not do, I sort out and each person puts their own clothes away.
Would you pay someone to fold your laundry?????
Here's the thing: my husband does not like the way his shirts come out when I iron them. So if he wants them ironed, he does them himself. It's not that I have refused to do it, but that he prefers doing it himself. He is the same way about washing dishes.
ReplyDeleteYour post reminded me of a section on ironing I remember reading in an Erma Bombeck book, you can read it online from p. 63 at http://books.google.com/books?id=4pG8_t5CVoMC&pg=PA63&lpg=PA63&dq=erma+bombeck+ironing&source=bl&ots=2OZfHfVm0w&sig=xKuaAzDrKOARvxcebkpJN38aupw&hl=en&ei=H9YLTuRcjIO2B6ffjV4&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&sqi=2&ved=0CDQQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q&f=false
I had left a comment about my utter dislike for ironing and my total inability to do it properly but I must have done something wrong as it is not up.
ReplyDeleteKeren - Would you pay someone to fold your laundry?????
ReplyDeleteI wonder if anyone hired them?
Ariella - LOL! :-) Thanks for sharing the link!
Ilana-Davita - my total inability to do it properly
When I was a teenager, I once accidentally burned a hole through my brother's suit pants. My ironing skills may have improved since then, but not by much... ;-)
I'll try your ironing tip and get back to you.
ReplyDeleteY W - Let me know if it works for you.
ReplyDelete