Thursday 27 June 2013

MrsM in the confessional


MrsM is having a one-to-one with her ironing guru.

Ironing Guru
Tell me exactly how you feel

MrsM
"It’s a feeling deep within your heart,
one you try to ignore, of heaviness.
Of dread and discouragement.
Of sadness and guilt and collapse."

Ironing Guru
How do you respond to this feeling?

MrsM
"I want to fall on a bed and shut out the world.
But that doesn’t work,
because the feeling follows me into bed,
and actually intensifies until finally
I have to get out of bed to try to escape it."

Ironing Guru
"You must take action!
Otherwise your life will degrade
to a point where you don't respect yourself."

MrsM
I have gone significantly beyond that point.
I have THREE ironing piles.

Ironing Guru
Follow my four step plan for ironing Nirvana
1.
"See the problem in perspective:
it's not the End of the World."

(MrsM "it feels like like it...")

2.
"Reframe the failure:
it's not you who are failing,
it's your method."

(MrsM "no kidding")

3.
"Change the method:
add some accountability."

(MrsM "Oh dear - I see MrM as Ironing Monitor")

4.
Iron the first shirt :
Just Do It

(MrsM "Deep, deep sigh of despair")

Ironing Guru
"The single [shirt] you iron today
is the antidote
to the soul-tearing effects of failure."

MrsM
Right.

*****

with apologies to Leo of zenhabits

21 comments:

  1. Love this, hate ironing, read zenhabits too.
    I am a failure.

    ReplyDelete
  2. p.s. Took me three times to do the capchas..I wonder what he would advise me to do in the future. Oh, just dawned on me...there will be another set now. See..I am making progress.
    Happy weekend..no ironing, only good tea, some wine and delectable food for you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJune 27, 2013

    My solution was getting someone to do my ironing for me in exchange for euro's. Works fine. I still do the crucial things myself, but now I have my trusted ironing lady as motivator. If I don't do the silk blouse or the linen pants myself, she will have done it for me with pleats in places I don't want them to be. So there you go.
    My motto: Everybody is entitled to his or her particular Waterloo, including MrsM, Girl Perfectionist.
    xx Andrea

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I need à trusty ironing lady to save me from my Slough of Despond.

      Delete
  4. AnonymousJune 27, 2013

    I always felt that iron(ing)y was wasted on some people

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MrM - you are pushing the boundaries again.

      Delete
  5. Liz in Missouri, USAJune 27, 2013

    I thought for a while that I could put off the ironing by simply not doing the laundry. For reasons too obvious to state - this didn't work. Failure again. ~~~sigh~~~ Feeling your deep, deep sigh of dispair.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes. I can totally relate to that.

      Delete
  6. AnonymousJune 27, 2013

    I don't iron things, I do press things when sewing though and that is a totally different thing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Did you ever have a crisis point when you realised you had unreasonable expectations about ironing and rationalised them to your 'no ironining' policy? I think that is where I am.

      Delete
    2. AnonymousJune 30, 2013

      I don't believe I did, I just always hated ironing, especially my (then) husband's incessant shirts. I certainly didn't do what one of my neighbours did - ironed the towels!

      Delete
  7. I tried just leaving the ironing board up in the kitchen and ironing a little bit now and then, including blouses I was planning to wear to work that very day. It worked for a while, but then it seemed like it was taking u a lot of space . . .

    In short, I have no answer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I try to wave my hand nonchalantly and say I am making positive choices about my time. I can't fool myself.

      Delete
  8. You've lost me. It costs $2 per shirt to have LB's dress shirts washed, starched, pressed, and put on a hanger. Anything less important than a dress shirt gets thrown in the dryer for a few seconds to get the big wrinkles out. What, exactly, are you ironing?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nothing. That's the point. I have this vision of what I should iron and what I do iron and the two don't match up.

      Delete
  9. My solution was to buy lots of clothes. But then sooner, no sorry LATER, they all still need ironing.....
    BUT I am blessed as my dear Mama, who knows where I hide my 'secret' piles; comes to my rescue. She knows I don't often..... I know she does often.....you still with me? Somehow it works and I thank my lucky stars for being an only child (on this occasion). She puts me to shame though as she is 78, but I then I remember it is a life choice. Convinced???
    Me?
    Not sure.
    Gosh At this rate perhaps I should go back to lurking!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think I want to be reincarnated with a mother who dedicates her life to doing my ironing but I suspect that my fate is to be that mother.

      Delete
  10. AnonymousJune 29, 2013

    I have a cupboard under the stairs that is full of un-ironed clothes and bedding. My solution is to keep the door shut. Unfortunately when I am required to retrieve some cherished long forgotten item for a special occasion I am reminded of my slovenliness, but it is not often that happens and so with the door of doom shut I am happy.........I think........
    Ali whale

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think you may have the answer. My first objective is to make the pile small enough so that I can shut the door but I think that is achievable.

      Delete
  11. I think your post struck so much of a chord with me that I wrote a post on ironing today and then remembered afterwards your post. I have all the intention to do the ironing but I do it so badly nobody wants me to do it. That is failure on another level.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you! I love reading your comments and even though I don't always have time to reply I am really grateful to every one who joins in the conversation.