OK, so I can't whistle, it's true. (Joey has tried to teach me, but to no avail.) But the concept is still there.
I hate to iron. I hate it even worse than vacuuming and, as all my siblings know from growing up, I will do almost anything to avoid vacuuming. Conveniently Brother actually liked to vacuum, but I always made sure to beat everyone else to the chore chart on Saturdays so I could pick dusting and cleaning the bathrooms and not get stuck running the vacuum. But this has nothing to do with ironing.
On Tuesday night I walked into the closet after work and was almost knocked over by the pile of ironing that I had been "saving for a rainy day". I'd like to think that someday when I don't have a full time, semi-stressful job I will wear a linen apron and high heels around my house and joyfully iron every shirt as soon as it comes out of the dryer, all while making applesauce and strawberry jam. Unfortunately this is not my reality, though, so I pile the ironing and usually do it once a week. (I think it had been two or three weeks worth, though, because the ironing was starting to weigh down the ironing board.)
"I have to do ironing tonight," I said glumly to Joey. "I hate ironing. It's hot and boring."
"You'll probably be OK," he reassured me.
"Can you set up the ironing board for me? If it's already set up then I'll feel like a loaf if I sit here and look at it knowing that I still have to do ironing this evening."
Joey happily agreed to set up the ironing board (probably because 2 of his pairs of khakis are in that ironing pile) and we moved it out into the large empty space in between the living room and Joey's study. He flopped himself on the futon and started to read this 5 lb. textbook while I filled the water in the iron and made sure it was plugged in.
I could no longer stall. I had to bite the bullet.
"I'm going to put my iPod on while I do this, OK?" I always check first if I wear my iPod in the house.
"Sure," he said.
"That means that I might sing. Loudly. It will keep me from wanting to poke my eye out."
"No problem," he replied.
So I cranked up my iPod and started singing along, rather softly at first. It never takes long, though, before I start to wonder if the neighbors can hear me. But this time I didn't care because I was ironing. Ew. After awhile, though, the song that Sister and I sang at Christmas came up and I forgot that Joey was studying. I forgot that I was ironing. I was pretending that I was back home in Faith Bible Church singin' with Sister and Mom on the piano. Because of my little daydream, I had momentarily forgotten that I was doing ironing and I was probably singing so loud that I was blowing off the rafters. (But then I quickly stopped doing that because I was getting homesick and one should try to avoid homesickness while doing ones least favorite chore.)
Joey got up and went over to the iPod bowl (yes, we have a bowl of iPods) and got out his Shuffle.
"What, is it that bad?" I teased him.
"I can't concentrate," he replied. I guess I don't really blame him. I mean, I was harmonizing with Chris Rice and that's got to sound extremely silly to someone on the other side of the headphones.
And, shortly, after singing my way through the ironing...I was done. Forty minutes after I started. Gosh I hate ironing.
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2 comments:
I'm one hundred percent in agreement with you that ironing is NOT fun! In fact, it's so much Not-Fun that I avoid it altogether. In fact, we don't even own an ironing board (the last one we used, I broke...) and the iron we do have is very old. So, you're a better woman than I, Jenna. And a braver one at that! Actually, check that, the only time I iron is when I sew cause that makes the garment or whatever way nicer...but on the rare occasion I do that, it's with the old iron on the floor with a towel to protect the carpet.
By the way, you're the first person I've heard of who had a Chore Chart growing up. So did we! I always opted for the dishes, which may surprise you for the piles of dishes we had when we were roomies and it was my turn to do them!
And speaking of singing (wow, this is a long comment), I remembered the other day in church how we talked about getting a group of girls together to sing at church. I'm sad that never worked out! I think it would have been fun to sing with you!
Ok, I'm done commenting, now. Seriously. :)
Sister, Life was quite convenient growing up, I guess. Brother liked to vacuum, which you hated with a passion. You liked to clean bathrooms, which I hated with a passion. I liked to do just about anything BUT bathrooms, so I'm glad you liked doing them. Will you please come over and do mine tomorrow? They need it.
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