Believe it or not, we have had neither an iron nor an ironing board since the fire.\u00a0 That’s over 10 months of rumpled Heidmanns, and I’m here to tell you, for someone who actually loves ironing, it’s been quite the aggravation.\u00a0 Not that the family minded… kids will wear pretty much anything, and Paul has shared with me on a regular basis for the past 19 years his considered opinion that ironing is a waste of time.\u00a0 I, however, take the greatest delight in the process.\u00a0 It’s therapeutic, or something… I don’t know, I just like doing it.<\/p>\n
You might be wondering why they weren’t replaced before now.<\/p>\n
Yes, that’s a mystery to me too.\u00a0 With all the more substantial items we’ve had to replace, this “minor detail” somehow never made it to the top of my consciousness during a shopping trip, or even during the making of a shopping list!\u00a0 I typically remembered it on Sunday mornings when I ruefully observed my disheveled crew scurrying out the door for church.<\/p>\n
Anyway, over the weekend I finally decided this was getting ridiculous.\u00a0 It helped that I had managed to think of buying an iron while I was actually IN a Wal-mart last week, and it was sitting on top of mom’s little fridge, in it’s box, just waiting to be used.\u00a0 So I hopped on the internet and found out that Bed, Bath and Beyond sold the same ironing board I had before the fire (I’m not a fan of the inexpensive models, I’ve had them tip over too many times, with babies and dogs in the house…not safe!).<\/p>\n
I joyfully jumped in my van and took off for the nearest BB&B, 10 miles away in Avondale, and picked one up.\u00a0 Imagine, then my joy and anticipation as I was peeling off the shrink wrap, all a-tingle with pent-up wrinkle-removal-rapture.\u00a0 At last! At Last! AT LAST!!!<\/p>\n
I swung it around, pulled the lever, the legs went down, and it wobbled.\u00a0 Not just a little.\u00a0 It was at least a two inch wobble.\u00a0 It was so significant, I knew that I couldn’t pay that much for it and not have it sit solidly.\u00a0 Which meant another drive to Avondale, and another umptidy gallons of gas.<\/p>\n
This caused my husband to frown.<\/p>\n
When I got there, I explained my problem at the counter, went back to retrieve a different board, and brought it up front and had her open it up so I could make sure it was stable before taking it home.<\/p>\n
And that one had the SAME problem!\u00a0 My last ditch hope was the only remaining board they had, which was not even in a wrapper.\u00a0 I went back and grabbed it, noting as I did that it appeared to have been used, as there was a slight water stain on the cloth cover.\u00a0 Then as I was setting it up by the front counter, I noticed the feet were scuffed… this was not boding well.<\/p>\n
To my everlasting delight, the legs went down, all four feet sat solidly on the floor at once, and the board didn’t wiggle even a smidge.\u00a0 I said, “Done.\u00a0 I’ll take it.”\u00a0 I didn’t even care about the stain or the scuffs, I was just so glad to find one that worked!<\/p>\n
Call me crazy, call it futile, but oh, how I have missed ironing…<\/p>\n