Sunday 3 June 2012

Storytelling Sunday - Steamy Story

I'm joining in again, with Sian's Storytelling Sunday 2012 - go and see what else is on offer (after you've read my story and left me a nice comment, of course!).

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A Steamy Story

This is a story about ironing (you weren't expecting anything else - not here?). 

Now, I don't often do much ironing - other than to make bookcloth - because it gives me a sore back and kneck.  Mr LizzieMade has always been amazingly wonderful and ironed his own shirts.  The Boy has non-iron shirts; and most things can be shaken firmly, hung up to dry and placed in the wardrobe without needing to be pressed.  Except for my tricky summer skirt, with several tiers of flounces, which takes about 2 hours to iron, but has to be ironed, because otherwise it looks like something I used to dry the dishes... 

I digress...  Anyway, I usually manage fairly well, with the minimum of ironing, except for special garments and special occasions.

But.  Mr LizzieMade was very busy on Monday evening, after a hard day at work and a long, hot journey home by train; he was packing up for a business trip (to Albania, thanks for asking!).  He needed a shirt to wear on the journey - something neat, tidy and a little bit smart, but not a "work shirt".  I suggested a short-sleeved shirt, as the weather was hot.  He only had one, which was clean, but in the ironing basket.

I offered to iron it for him, to save him the hassle.  After all, he is fabulous and lovely, so he deserves some help sometimes.

The ironing board is heavy, so I decided to do what I often do - I placed a folded towel on the top of our ceramic/glass stove-top and ironed on that makeshift "table".

Which is usually fine...


However.... there was  a funny, scorched smell.  I looked at the iron, to see if something was stuck to the soleplate - after all, I didn't want to spoil Mr LizzieMade's nice shirt.  Nothing there.  Maybe the iron was a little bit too hot?  No...

Okay, so I carried on ironing...  More smell...  and didn't it feel a bit, erm, hot?

Well.

I usually turn off the stove-top at the wall.  This time, I forgot...  I had knocked one of the switches with the iron.

Hum...
Scorched... just a bit...

But... 
On the underside...

Oh dear...


More Oh Dear...

So, Mr LizzieMade has no short-sleeved shirts now.  He wore an ordinary long-sleeved stripey shirt on Tuesday morning. 

Do you know how to get a scorch-mark out of a cotton shirt?  Anyone?

Ho Hum!

At least Mr LizzieMade was kind enough to laugh.

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So, don't forget to go over to Sian's blog, to see what other scintillating stories await!

27 comments:

  1. Oh dear, I avoid ironing at all costs so I understand you completely here.

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  2. Oh, no! I love that you can laugh about it, though lol. And it reminds me of the tiem I was living in a student house and one of the girls decided to iron on the floor...you can't get scorch marks out of polyester carpet either..

    Great story Lizzie

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  3. Oh my! You definitely made me laugh this morning, and I hope I'm laughing with you.
    Thanks for the great story.
    Rinda

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  4. Oh no Lizzie. Just goes to prove that ironing should never, under any circumstances be attempted by some people, I like to count myself as one of those.

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  5. Another great reason for avoiding the iroining - great story.

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  6. oh!! and there has been many a time when i use the work top instead of the ironing board too. great story.

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  7. Oh dear, oh dear! You see this is exactly why I don't do ironing, and couldn't even tell you where the iron was in our house! Neither could my OH for that matter!

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  8. Poor Mr LizzieMade! ironing really is a dangerous business!
    Alison xx

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  9. ohhhh lol so sorry but there is no saving the shirt! Glad MrLizzyMade is a good sport ;)

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  10. I avoid ironing too ... This must be why :-)
    I am glad you both saw the funny side!

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  11. Yes, a good reason to avoid ironing! My Mr. Prairie does more ironing than I do, and I think I'll let it stay that way!

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  12. I'm another one that avoids ironing whenever possible. I do have to iron hubby's shirts though, or he just goes to work all creased - he doesn't seem to notice the creases but I'm sure his collegues do!
    Love you story but I'm afraid I don't know a solution! x

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  13. I also hate ironing and I always hang things up carefully to try and avoid it! Sadly if Dh does the washing it is not the same plus certain items always seem to need ironing. I have a large basketful at the moment as I need to sort out some more summer clothes (though with the current weather maybe not!) good luck getting the stain out Lizzie xxx

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  14. Unfortunately, we have quite a bit of ironing to do in our house, and I'm the bunny who does it all! I always have dreadful thoughts that I've left the house with the iron on ... can't help with the scorch mark!

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  15. Oh dear, so glad your Mr. laughed it off - and that he had another shirt available. I can't help with advice on the scorch mark, but if it is possible to do something about you can find it on the Internet - Google away!

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  16. Ah, I'm always glad of further evidence to support my avoidance of ironing! We have a similar system in our house - most stuff doesn't actually need ironing (even if it does) and The Doctor does his own shirts. I do occasionally get the iron out for craft purposes though!

    I have no idea how to remove the scorch mark, sorry... But thanks for sharing the story :)

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  17. Ugh on the scorch marks - hope you can find a new short sleeved shirt to replace 'em. No one does the ironing here...

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  18. Thank goodness it was only a scorched shirt or two. You could have had a fire... Get rid of the iron immediately! Your husband sounds lovely.

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  19. Stuff that needs ironed her just gets thrown in the dryer with a damp washcloth for 5 minutes. As long as you are standing right there when it shuts off you end up with wrinkle free clothes

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  20. Yay! It seems that most of the Bloggers in Lizzie's World do not approve of ironing as an activity. I concur!!

    Yes, Stacey, I also use the dryer to "iron" things for me - take them out hot, shake firmly, hang up... Wrinkles? What wrinkles?

    Summer does cause more ironing though - so many more summer clothes are linen or cotton... and linen is a pig to keep smooth, without ironing and starching it! I guess I should just buy non-iron stuff... but some things are just too nice not to buy, ironing or not!

    I've got the scorch-mark out by the way! Found a fab recipe for a stain remover, via Pinterest. Followed the instructions and have used it three times, washing the shirt in between. The mark has all but disappeared. Mr LizzieMade is very pleased! Brownie Points for me!

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  21. I'm with you on avoiding ironing. When I was at school we had to wear these horrendous gym knickers - in bottle green with a red go-faster stripe and they were made of some shiny material. One day I tried to iron them and for the rest fo the year had to make do with an iron print across the front of them. If anything it improved them!

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  22. Oh my! This made me chuckle away! That mark is very impressive! I'm glad to hear it came out again! I have a feeling this may happen in the future when I try and iron the boys shirts! I am great at pressing seams though! he he!

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  23. Ho hum indeed! I'm with you on the ironing front - glad you managed to rescue it though - lovely story :)

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  24. Oops! Since we decorated the lounge I haven't ironed anything! It's a bit of a palaver to get the iron plugged in, now that we've put a bookcase in front of the socket!
    Sorry I'm late visiting. It's taken me all week to get round with it being half term here.

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  25. Oh dear oh dear oh dear! I'd never ironed on our ceramic hob but we do have a scorched cork mat that was minding its own business on there one day. Hubby was glad to see the flat hob surface replaced by a gas hob as it's less likely to get dumped on and set fire to things!

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  26. I don't like ironing and avoid it at all cost! What would I do with a scorched shirt? Cut it up and make it into something else! PaTsy

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