One of the few traits that I reluctantly thank my mom for is my love for ironing.
Yes! I LOVE ironing! (Don't give me that look!)
Ironing to me is like meditation. I can completely immerse myself and get lost in thoughts. Many times I've used my ironing time to figure out a problem, or cry through a rough time.
It's quiet when I iron. I can organize my thoughts, think things out, or, if I need to, tune out altogether.
One of my chores when I was a young girl was doing the ironing. At the time I despised it. It was in my eyes a cruel punishment, while my friends would play outside, my brothers never had to DO anything and my little sister was too little for chores.
Mom was extremely picky about HOW the ironing was done. HOW everything had to be folded JUST SO. And no way were you allowed to 'improve' or 'experiment' with the ironing. No ma'am!
In those days there were no steam irons. So we had to spray all the cotton things, roll them up tight and let them sit for a while.
My mom ironed EVERYTHING. Handkerchiefs, towels, underwear, sheets....
The worst were my father's shirts. And my grandfather's long underwear.
There were no short cuts, every shirt had to be without ONE wrinkle, and had to be folded perfectly.
One of the reasons everything had to be folded a certain way was purely practical. We just didn't have the closet space.
When I came to the USA, guess what...when I lived with my relatives one of my chores was....you guessed it....the ironing!
And not just the clothing and the household stuff...noooo.....we had a restaurant, remember?
We did all our OWN laundry! Which meant not only our drip & dry clothes, but all the towels and those damned apron with the long strings.
Eventually I surrendered to the Ironing God, and once I was married, and happened to have a husband who wanted his shirts to be ironing JUST SO....well....I gave up...
From then on I just started liking it.
And I still do. And since I considered this little chore of mine to be kind of special, I allowed myself to buy an expensive Rowenta iron last year.
Great iron, while it lasted. It started leaking a few months ago, and the day before yesterday I plugged it in and a huge spark ran from the outlet to the iron and after a few orange and yellow sparklers it died!
I'm no electrician, I suppose it could be the outlet, but the thing is dead. I taped up the outlet, just so I won't plug anything else in there.
So off to Target we went, Boo and me. Bought a cheaper sort this time, money being rather tight these days, a basic Black & Decker.
It doesn't work as well as my beloved Rowenta, but it'll have to do.
I've been sorting, cleaning and yes, ironing, three tubs full of baby clothes, and have been listing them on eBay.
Of course today is Sunday, my day off, and my regular laundry day.
Again I will stand behind my board, humming and letting my mind wander.
And thank you Mama, for teaching me how to, and you can be proud, my closets look like an Eddie Bauer store. Everything folded JUST SO, and in neat stacks.
News from the home front:
Bugs was diagnosed with kidney stones. Gall bladder is fine.
She had another test on Friday, where they shot some die into her veins and low and behold....
There was apparently one stone lodged in one of the ducts, which created the infection. (We're on a new antibiotic now). She has another appointment tomorrow, I understand they're going to "watch" it for a while, see if it comes out naturally, or....
She is still not well though. Is really wanting to change her life. Is really wanting another job. Her boss chewed her out something fierce the other night in front of her staff. The man is bi-polar, I swear!
She just needs a 'regular' job, perhaps with a larger company, I don't know.
She was offered a manager's job at a pizza chain. Her bride friend went to work for them a year ago and is VERY happy with her job. Reasonably hours, Good training, great benefits.
We tried to tell her that she would be a fool not trying out for a job like that...(I don't wanna do pizza....) ARGHhhhhhhhhh....
She was able to find a home for Priscilla:>), she took Hot Suy to the pound :<( and PeeWee ran away:<(.
Boo-boo has a cold, so we call her Snotty again for now.
I hope you all enjoyed the video. She is getting very good at eating with her spoon, of course her hand works even better.
SGMKJ!
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3 comments:
A simple and most important lifestyle change to prevent stones is to drink more liquids—water is best. Someone who tends to form stones should try to drink enough liquids throughout the day to produce at least 2 quarts of urine in every 24-hour period.
In the past, people who form calcium stones were told to avoid dairy products and other foods with high calcium content. Recent studies have shown that foods high in calcium, including dairy products, may help prevent calcium stones. Taking calcium in pill form, however, may increase the risk of developing stones.
Patients may be told to avoid food with added vitamin D and certain types of antacids that have a calcium base. Someone who has highly acidic urine may need to eat less meat, fish, and poultry. These foods increase the amount of acid in the urine.
To prevent cystine stones, a person should drink enough water each day to dilute the concentration of cystine that escapes into the urine, which may be difficult. More than a gallon of water may be needed every 24 hours, and a third of that must be drunk during the night.
I know you can only influence, not mandate anything. However, I feel this is a moment with maternal influence could be useful. Antibiotics is unlikely (as I understand it) to effect the kidney stone. Typically a procedure called lithotripsy is used to blast the stone with ultrasound so that it pulverized and the smaller pieces can generally pass "easier." Easy being a euphamism for less screaming involved. Kidney stones are a bitch and very painful. Drinking water that comes from anywhere other than the South is important. She probably does need to buy bottled water (not Crystal Springs which is city water from the Marietta city spring) and drink lots. There is a very positive correlation between kidney stones and living in the South. Read up on lithotripsy, and see if you can influence her to get into a lithotripsy clinic. It gets it over and done with faster and no surgery is involved. No surgery being a very good thing.
I have some great scars on my left hand where I tried to "help" my mom iron when the ironing board was way taller than me. I had 3rd degree burns that finally did heal without skin grafts, but it took a long, long time. My mom left the room to take the ironed shirts to the bedroom to hang them up and I decided to "help" on the hankies. Which I had decided I could do. Unfortunately with the ironing board much, much higher than me, the iron got put down on my hand instead of the hankie. :( Ironing is kind of a meditation, but be really, really careful with Boo. She's so precocious that she might try to help you. It only took a moment and I don't think my mom was irresponsible or anything.
Sorry that so much complex crap has come to visit your house. Makes the moments with yougurt more special for their normalness!
Take care.
Joann...please rest assured that I ONLY iron when the baby is not here.
Brrr...your story gave me the creeps.
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