I have a very short list of things that fall into disrepair when I am busy. I’m not the sort of person who will leave the bed unmade or stop vacuuming (we’d suffocate from all the cat hair if I did that), and I’m a firm believer that picking up after yourself saves you a big headache later, but even I (in all my insane glory) cannot keep up with everything all of the time. And so, here, I offer you the list of things that I would often rather wither and die than do:
1. The ironing. When I wasn’t part of a couple I was awesome at keeping my ironing up. I would do it as soon as the laundry was done, hang it, and be done with it. I never had to worry about going to work looking as though I pulled my pants out from under the sofa and shook them from a tightly wound ball to put them on before I left in the morning because: all of my clean clothes were pressed. Now… not so much. Sunday is laundry day and we tend not to fold until around 7pm, just before bed,* and I’m not about to bust out the ironing board at 8pm on a Sunday. (Aside from the fact that it terrifies the cats I’m usually in deep denial about Monday morning and the last thing I want to see is work clothes.) Now, often, the pressing basket will heap to over flowing. I’ll consider buying new clothes before I dig to the bottom of the basket for my favorite grey cardigan.** I have been known to devote an entire weekend day to “catching up” on the ironing, standing for hours like a worker in some 1940s sweatshop, only instead of a sweatshop it’s my living room and instead of being yelled at for my lousy productivity I spend my off time cruising Netflix for something to entertain me while I toil.
2. Getting the mail. I will resist getting the mail until my box is full and over flowing. I’ve gotten hate mail from my mail carriers begging me to check it “at least once a week.” Look, our mailbox is a locked box a half a block away from our actual living quarters. In the summer it’s too hot to walk there (hate you, desert!), and in the winter it’s too dark and scary. (You try being a female raised in the 80s and weaned on horror movies – every shadow is a clown rapist waiting to gut me.) I pay all of my bills online so it’s not a huge deal, but I’m starting to wonder if this is why all of my Christmas cards mysteriously disappear. I’m not sure what it is about getting the mail that seems so abhorrent. It may boil down to my getting out of the car and then back into it after my 45 minute commute is pretty much the last thing I want to do ever. It could also be related to the fact that our rental office is open from 8 am to 5 pm (after I leave for work and before I get home) and I know I’m not going to be able to pick up any packages we have until the weekend anyway. All I know is I really loath and detest getting the mail.
3. Writing in this blog. I’m trying to be better. Sometimes it’s very difficult to force myself to sit down and write, and I apologize for that. Pesky responsibilities like, you know, my actual paying job, my home, my pets and family, and my friends have been keeping me a little busy as of late. (I really hadn’t banked on Michelle’s absence from the office being so mentally exhausting either. I miss that woman. Three weeks!)
Soon you’ll see some of what I’ve been so busy working on because, as you know, Halloween is this Sunday and this year I’ve gone a little crazy with the costuming. (Damn that Martha Stewart and her fabulous ideas.***) I didn’t so much do a step by step with the photos as I had planned, but I will explain what I did, how I did it, who my suppliers are, and post some fabulous after photos.
*In case I haven’t made this clear I am an old lady. I like to be in bed by 9 on school nights and asleep by 10. If you think this is ridiculous you’re either still in college, a fruit bat, or have no desire to function like a reasonable human being during daylight hours.
**What? Not everyone has 3? I may have a cardigan habit. Look, my office is cold and it’s better than keeping a flask in the desk.
***I made her pumpkin spice cake with goat cheese frosting and quince compote for Spencer’s birthday this month and it was amazing. Highly recommended, two thumbs up. (Although I should warn you that quince are over $2.00 apiece and you’ll drop about $13.00 on fruit for the compote. I was not prepared for that. Now you are.)
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If it makes you feel better, I only iron 1-2 times a year! I basically have to be going to a wedding or having a major wardrobe emergency to break out the iron. I pretty much only buy clothes that are either marked ‘wrinkle free’ or made of fabrics that I know don’t wrinkle, or don’t stay wrinkled once you put them on.
Then again, my ironing board is huge & broken – one of our cats spent most of her kittenhood climbing up it & not only destroyed the ironing board cover (which cannot be replaced since our ironing board is not a standard size) but also put several holes in the padding. And on top of that, our iron likes to leak water everywhere whenever we try to use it (so anything we iron gets SOAKED). And replacing either of those things is not a terribly high priority for us (especially regarding finances!). So for me to iron something means that it needs to be worth the time & effort of pulling out a giant ironing board, ironing the item, then waiting for the item to dry, then cleaning off the bits of dirt & fluff left from the ironing board.