Do You Hate Ironing As Much As I Do?

I hate to iron.  I sat here for a minute trying to think of the last time I ironed something and I'm really not sure.  I'm not even kidding when I say that it may have been college.  Munchkie's Daddy used to enjoy ironing, so he would do it for me when we first got married, but then we discovered Wrinkle Release and it was the best thing that ever happened.  We still sometimes have things that need to be ironed, so he'll do it.  But if I can get by without ironing, I will.  I wear scrubs for work and tend to wash them and leave them in the laundry basket they came up the stairs in.  I have gone through all of my wrinkle release and went to the store to buy another and discovered that it was $7!  Apparently I never paid attention to this before.

So I came home and Googled "homemade wrinkle release" and found quite a few recipes.  I really wanted to find a more natural approach, but I guess that if you're natural you either don't care about wrinkled clothes, don't buy clothes that wrinkle, or iron your clothes because I couldn't find any.  But this one is CHEAP, so I decided to try it anyway.

I walked to the Family Dollar down the street and picked up some of the cheapest fabric softener they had, it was $2.50 for this container.  Then I used the previous spray bottle, added a little bit of fabric softener, I approximated 2 teaspoons, but to be honest, I didn't measure.  Poured in some bottled water (you're supposed to use distilled so there's no bacteria to grow in it) and shook it up.  I'm going to add some rubbing alcohol once I buy some to both be an antibacterial agent and to help the water dry faster when sprayed.

Tonight I took some of my scrubs out of the pile of clean laundry in the laundry basket and this is what they looked like.  These pants aren't a joke, they really did look like this.  The shirt isn't that bad, you can't really tell but the pockets and neckline are the worst.

I sprayed them down, front and back, then shook them out.  I put them over a chair to dry and when I came back a little while later this is what they looked like.  Again, I am completely not joking.  They were still a little damp, so I will definitely need to do this the night before when I set my clothes out.  But I am pretty impressed.

And this is for literally a few cents a bottle.  I have a bottle of fabric softener that will last me a few years of homemade wrinkle release for only $2.50.

Even though I have been working to get unpacked and organized, last night I decided to use my newly purchased fabric scissors to see how quickly I could make a t shirt scarf with a functioning pair of scissors.  I sat on the living room floor and before Munchkie's Daddy could finish an email I had cut out the pieces and was showing off my new scarf to my in-laws and sister in law.  I'm not even kidding when I say that this took me under ten minutes.

T-Shirt Scarf Tutorial

This is the blog that I used for direction.  I used a large white undershirt of Munchkie's Daddy's.

Another T Shirt Idea

I am busy packing up everything I own.  Everything I, Munchkie's Daddy and Munchkie own to be exact.  It's a lot of stuff.  Our tag sale didn't really get go as well as planned, so we're going to drop a huge load of stuff off at a donation center once our new friend Irene decides to move on to play with other innocent people.  

Once I can locate some t shirts I am going to be doing this to most of them.  After loosing some weight, they all look ridiculous.  Not that I want to be wearing t shirts all the time, but I would like to occasionally wear them and be able to leave the house.   Here's a way to do it without anything more than a little bit of time, a large t shirt and a pair of scissors. 

Connect the Dotsons: DIY - Husbands Large T-shirt to fitted: I have been married for four years, all of which my husband has been a coach for the Eagles. I will embarrassingly admit that I do not own ...

Update 9/8/11

I pulled out a t-shirt and while watching a rerun of L&O SVU I followed the blog from the link above.  The t-shirt went from just for bed to maybe I'll wear it outside of the house now.

Nakey Baby

I'm not in the best of moods this morning.  Not a lot has gone right in the last week or so.

First my computer died last week.  You press the power button and the power button lights up for 3 seconds, nothing happens and then the light goes off.  Cool.  For someone with a computer/internet addiction, this has been difficult to say the least. 

Then just two days later I woke up, went downstairs, turned the water on to brush my teeth.  A trickle came out and then nothing.  After multiple times turning all of the different faucets on and off, I realized that it was true, we had no water.  This continued for four days.  Four days without running water.  Nothing like no running water for you to realize that constant internet access is not a basic necessity of life.  Running water however, is.  At least there was a lot of snow outside, we melted snow on the stove in our lobster pot and then used that to flush the toilet, give the dogs water, etc. I decided that simple living is not all that it is cracked up to be, at least not for me.  I enjoy taking a shower, having clean clothes and washing my dishes in a dishwasher.  The return of running water after literally shocking the frozen pipe with a pipe defibrillator was a very happy day.



http://www.rohitn.com/images/green/water_faucet.jpg

Today another disastrous thing happened in our life.  I actually think I might rank it almost as high as having no running water.  This is how I was greeted with this sunny Monday morning.

I heard Munchkie awake and calling out so I went into her room. (Background: Because we are not morning people, we have been getting out of bed, handing her a couple books, and going back into our nice warm bed.  She has enjoyed this, reading quietly in her crib for sometimes over an hour.  In fact, the mornings that we have to go somewhere she is usually crying for books as we are getting her ready.)  I hadn't put my glasses on and so couldn't actually see anything.  I walked into her room, grabbed a few books, and turned around to hand them to Munchkie.  In my extremely blurred vision I could tell something wasn't right.  I said "this cannot be happening" and ran into my room to get my glasses.  Munchkie Daddy said "what is going on?"  I replied, "I need my glasses because I don't believe what I think I just saw." 

After rushing back into Munchkie's room I realized that the terrible image I had barely seen was even worse with clear vision.

Munchkie had unzipped and pulled off her pajamas.  She was then working on her diaper and it was only attached on one side.  Apparently this morning Munchkie woke up and decided that she knew how to use a zipper and remove clothes.  How can this be happening to us?

I then was in the kitchen making some breakfast when Munchkie came walking into the kitchen, pjs off to her ankles and dragging behind her.  Diaper off and in her hand.  Unbelievable.  She did this yet another time, this time walking around with nothing but the rice paper liner from her cloth diaper stuck to her leg before I took the nakey baby upstairs and got her dressed for the day. 

What are we going to do now?  I am so fearful that we are now going to wake up to a complete mess every morning.  Because Munchkie's Daddy doesn't like buttons, almost every single pair of pajamas are zippered.  That way it's easier for Munchkie's Daddy to put on, and now easier for Munchkie to pull off.  Fantastic.