What Has Become of Me???

I'm letting you know up front that as you read, you may find yourself wondering things like, "Where is she going with this?  Is there something more productive I could be doing right now rather than reading this blog?"  Try to be patient. It has been a bit of a long week....the hubby is out of town, it's been raining almost every day and my girls have been forgetting to turn on their "listening ears".  Oh, and just try to start a job search in Europe in the summer when everybody is on "holiday"!  So just keep reading, cut me a little slack and be happy that I am not attached intravenously to a bottle of Riesling!

Calgon, take me away!

While the hubby is away on business, I tend to look around the house and see what might need to be cleaned or "organized" (yes, I am well aware that this is not normal behavior).  My husband usually "loses" a few thing during this process and, I must say, is not always pleased.  Anyway, organizing usually involves a trip to Ikea and who doesn't love that?  Unfortunately, by now most things have a place and I am left to simply do more cleaning- booooooo!   Sadly the dust bunnies here multiply very quickly (just like the real bunnies) and I have plenty to keep me occupied.   During my cleaning, I found myself (more than once) moving around a laundry basket full of crumpled dress shirts.   Now I must backtrack a little.....

Over the years, the hubby has grown a nice collection of button down shirts.  Back in the states, these would be taken to the dry cleaners to be laundered and pressed.   Even when we were living an ocean apart, he would return from Sweden with a suitcase full of wrinkled shirts and, you guessed it, take them to the cleaners.

And yes, he is man enough to wear pink!

When the girls and I moved to Sweden, I observed the familiar pile of button down shirts.  Over time, I noticed that while the shirt pile didn't grow, it also didn't make it to the cleaners.  It simply moved from place to place (all of them inconvenient in our small house).  After further investigation, I discovered two reasons why these shirts had not found their way to the magical place where very nice people take your clothes and return them to you in ready-to-wear condition.  1) Dry cleaners are pretty much non-existent here in the land of (extra) business casual and 2) the ones that do exist are crazy expensive.  I guess that's why the hubby has resigned himself to jeans and golf shirts for work....no sense in adding to the pile of dress shirts that may never be worn again.

Recently, however, he found a dry cleaners in Malmö (which is about a 30 minute drive from here) and was going to bite the bullet and drop off the shirts. Perhaps this place was less expensive than the one, yes one, dry cleaners that is listed in Lund (thereby justifying the drive).  Anyhow, things kept getting in the way and the shirts never made it out the door.  The hubby then left on Sunday for a week of business travel.  So the shirts continued sitting...mocking me...in a laundry basket at the back door. (I know you're still waiting for a point to all of this...give me just a little more time!)

Now, before I go any further I must disclose that I do NOT iron.  My mom irons, but I guess the ironing genes skipped a generation.  I will, however, drive to the dry cleaners or might hang wrinkly stuff in the bathroom while I'm taking a hot shower (I heard the steam removes the wrinkles!).  Sometimes I will even wear things that should have been ironed first... for shame!   I had two irons in our old house but could never find either of them...not that I was looking very hard.  If the hubby and I had signed a pre-nup (which we did not) it would have stipulated that I am to do NO ironing (or windows...or dusting....sorry, I digress).   

You get the idea!

You now understand my relationship (or lack thereof) with the iron but are still wondering, "Where is she going with this?"  Not to worry, it will become clear to you now...

Here is where my hatred of ironing meets my hatred of the of pile of crumpled shirts meets my hatred of paying out the nose for dry cleaning.  In a moment of possible insanity (remember the rain, the crazy children, etc.), I decided to take matters into my own hands.  I selected four of the shirts, tossed them in the washing machine, then hung them up to dry.  Now what?  Do I dare attempt to iron these myself?  Almost like a gift from the heavens, the homeowners had left behind an iron and a smallish ironing board.

Just what I wanted!

A few "How to iron a dress shirt" Google searches and YouTube videos later, I decided to give it a go.  As I mentioned, the weather has been crappy and perhaps the ironing helped me rationalize watching a lot of E! and ESPN.  

American TV....hooray!

After limited success with the iron's steam function, I dragged the girls out past their bedtime in their pajamas so I could track down a proper spray bottle.   Four dollars seemed a little pricey, but I was desperate and it ultimately turned out to be a wise investment.  I was suddenly on a mission!


Three days and several hours of hard labor later, I had ironed ALL of the shirts!  All four?  Not even close.  I ironed all TWELVE shirts!  I think they look pretty darn good, although I'm probably not the best one to judge (and if you know what's good for you, you won't judge either!)

The hubby is 6'8"...no need to display the whole shirt!

So the questions remain.....am I becoming so frugal (ok, cheap) that I would rather just do this myself rather than spending $100 on dry cleaning?  Am I trying to be extra domestic since I am not currently working "outside the home"?  Or perhaps this is just my sweet way of saying "Happy Birthday" to my hubby! (it's like giving him a closet full of new shirts, right???).   After much pondering and a few glasses of wine, I'm still not sure that I have the answer.


For the record, ironing is not an "acquired taste" and I have not learned to enjoy it during this experience.  Here's hoping for a sunny day so that I might avoid discovery of any additional domestic talents!