Iron

Do people iron anymore or is it just me?

I love nice pressed clothing. When I pull out the iron to iron my husband's shirt he will say, it looks fine. Once I didn't get his summer shorts out of the dryer quickly enough and they were very wrinkled. 
A Khaki wrinkled mess. We were going to a BBQ at someone's home. 
I didn't want him looking like he slept in his clothes. I pulled out the iron and he went crazy. They will flatten out and they will be fine he kept saying. No, no, they won't.  
But the thing that makes me laugh most is that every single time we are out, he will point out a wrinkly looking person and will say, "that guy doesn't own an iron" And my response is always, "or he told his wife it looked fine"  He always laughs. It bothers him but of late, not enough to iron anything anymore.  He used to iron all the time, why suddenly does he just not care? (I do the laundry only because as I have said, I promised him I'd do it for the rest of his life if he did it while we lived in that haunted house where I refused to go to the scary basement. He did it for all those years, so I kept my promise!)

When I went to Rick's apartment the first time in April 1987 he had an ironing board up in his spare bedroom with a laundry basket of clothes. My first thought was, "cool a guy who irons AND cooks" When I asked him about it, he told me, "Well I have my dress shirts done at the cleaners but everything else I do myself. I can't look disheveled."  He said it like he was appalled that I had to ask. Why else would you have an iron up in your spare room? But today, he would no more iron than I would try to go fishing. 

When we travel we seem to have the same routine which we found funny.
You see we both traveled several days a week in our careers. I had a system. 
I did the same thing each time I got into my hotel room. 
Apparently, he had the same one.  Years later on a trip together we began doing the same things without even speaking. It made us laugh. We unpack. We iron things and hang everything up and/or put away. Then we can begin to have fun or go to dinner or whatever. I asked him why he did it that way. That too was the same as me, when traveling for work you don't want to pull something out and realize it needs to be ironed and you sure don't want to go to a meeting looking like your slept in your clothes. You also don't want to be ironing in the morning while you are rushing to get to an appointment. So he figured, get it all done now and the rest of the time you have for yourself and you can hop out of bed, throw on your clothes and go. 
I always thought it was so funny that we did the same exact thing. Now he is no longer traveling and it appears he no longer feels the need to iron either. I realize he isn't wearing suits and dress clothes but come on, you still don't want to look like you sleep in your clothes. Apparently, I am wrong and he doesn't care about any wrinkles in his clothes most days.
Just because you don't have meetings? I don't get it.

He asked me out on a date a couple weeks ago.  Friday night no less. 
He never wants to go out on Friday night. That is his night to come home from work and just relax. I kept saying, "for real?"  Nothing fancy he said, just some margaritas at our favorite Mexican restaurant and dinner. He came out looking all pressed and crisp and nice. I hadn't seen this shirt in a long time. I asked him if he ironed it? He did. I laughed and kissed him. I told him he looked great. Nice shoes and big boy pants. (That's my joke when he's not in shorts or sweats.) 

It's difficult not to look frumpy all the time for me when you work from home. I get lazy. You get up, you shower, you have coffee, you walk the dog, you go home to work. You are home all day except for a walk. You see no one except dog walkers during the day. You find you don't really need makeup, I spend all my time with a dog and people on the phone, they don't care. Damn, if it weren't for the dog I wouldn't have to put on a bra either. But I have to walk the dog and when it's not parka weather I must have on a bra. I throw on one of my 100 pairs of black leggings & a top and I'm at work. Rick works in painter pants and company T-shirt and he comes home and instantly takes what we refer to as a Silkwood Shower (referring to the movie) So during the week we look pretty bad. Especially me.

On our date night, he kept telling me how nice I looked. Loved my dress. My hair looked great. I asked if he was just looking to get lucky. He said, "Always, but you do look really nice Margaret."  He was being sweet. 
I realized I didn't really look that nice it's just that I have been frumpy lately and I have to stop that. So I have begun my effort to stop this frumpy shit that is so easy to slide into. Okay, I am not wearing a full face of makeup every day or fancy clothes. But I will do my hair and make an effort with some mascara etc. (okay on a very rainy day a baseball cap will have to suffice like today)

I will never wear pearls or heels while I vacuum but I don't need to look like Herman Munster either I suppose. Then again if I wear nothing at my desk when he gets home he won't notice my hair or if I'm wearing makeup. That may just be my ticket. 😛