This will probably be the most inane post started today, but I feel like bitching.

I have a disease. I got it from my mother. I'm not sure if it's genetic or one of those lingering contagious things.

I iron.

And what's worse: I'm a binge-and-purge ironer. I haven't ironed since June because I hate to iron in the summer. After laundry last week, I now have 80 pieces of clothing in my ironing closet, more than I have in my regular (post-ironed) closet.

I'm running out of excuses. I'm also running out of clothing. So I'm going to do it.

Math quiz: if each garment takes an average of 10 minutes to iron, where did I store the butterfly nets?

Meredith, when I first started reading your post I thought you got some answer for your recent 7-8 week illness.

Then I continued to read and I thought it had to do with the iron levels in your body.

Okay, so it took me a bit to figure out where you were going with this, but I did eventually get it.

You scared me!

So, are you going to iron your way into the new year, or are you going naked?

Hmmm, one of the beauties of my son being at college is that I rarely ever iron.

My husband takes all his dress shirts to the cleaners and the rest of us wear wash and wear for the most part.

The one who is in college attended a school where he had to wear a jacket and tie every day. We couldn't justify having his shirts dry cleaned so every night before school I would iron his shirt for the next day and put a crease in his khakis.

When he came home for Thanksgiving I had to get the iron out again.

I recall my mom ironing while she watched Days Of Our Lives. Remember that? Like sands through the hour glass, so are....

I rarely iron, avoid it like the plague if I can - its gotta be wash and dry and wear, no wrinkles! Fortunately my husbands job does not require dress shirts!

The only thing I do iron is the altar linens for the church, when its my turn on altar guild. And because its about the only thing I do iron, it becomes a very meditative, relaxing 15 mins or so.....

Remember sprinking your clothes with a little water right before you iron them? I used to do the sprinking for my Mom or Grandmother.

I hate to iron, actually it wouldn't be that bad if I didn't have so much else to do. It is an immediate satisfaction, mmmm......

This is why I've increasingly gone to stretch pants in my middle age, even though some good aesthetic arguments could be made towards NOT.

I remember cotton blouses which had to be spray starched before ironing. After I graduated high school, I never bought another button-down cotton blouse again. I also avoid clothes with ruffles, buttons and other ironing slow-downs.

I wear a lot of t-shirts, cotton knit turtlenecks and sweats in the winter, all of which I think look better ironed, so I do.

I say HURRAH for stretch pants and anything else that stretches. I love stretchy clothes. I liked them even before I hit this lovely age. I say the stretchier the better.

And who has time to iron? I mean there's friends and TV and radio and movies and the INTERNET.

So much fun, so little time. Why waste it ironing?

my least favorite chore is ironing. When I first married we divided the chores and that one was my husbands. His mother had taught him to iron because she worked. Great. So, he does the ironing, everything but tableclothes. Now his office has gone to "casual" dress and he no longer needs to wear a shirt and tie except when visiting a cliet, maybe 1 day a week. He usually irons it that am. As to my boys, they too went to a school, same one as Dotsies, that required shirt and tie. At first they ironed their own shirts, but they became lazy and then just wore them wash and wear. Who cared how nice they looked. Now, they only iron when it needs to be nice, like job interview, seeing grandparents, holidays, etc. They were taught very young how to iron. I feel their future significant other will be very grateful they know how.

Meredith, now wait a minute. Did I read that you iron sweats and cotton shirts?

...umm...yeah...

I honestly feel that they look better ironed. Probably no one else notices the difference, but I do.
I only iron sweats and turtlenecks once after they come out of the laundry, not every time I wear them.

Which was kinda the reference to butterfly nets...

40 items down, 40 to go...