Living Without

There's some that say living without is character building. We appreciate something so much more when it has been absent. This happened to me recently with Q tips. Over a period of about a month I kept forgetting to add them to my shopping list. After making do for several weeks I can say with confidence that nothing takes the place of a Q tip. The same is true for spray starch. I don't know how it's made .... I just have to buy it. I know polyester is easier but I love my cottons and linens and so I must iron and I must have spray starch. Here I am slightly embarrassed to admit that I iron sheets (or at least touch them up a bit) since this usually attracts a reprimand or mockery of some sort. I just don't like slipping between crumpled and creased sheets.

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While housekeeping for the DuPonts I got to use a mengle iron which is a wonderful luxury. One can fold a flat sheet in half and run it through the press and roller in a minute or maybe two. But these sell for $3,000. I will probably continue to live without .... but think how much I might appreciate one if I had it! Ah the gift of time. Any how we ironed everything at the DuPonts ... even the Governor's boxers (with a request for no starch).

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One thing I have never had was a lingerie bag. Any women out there who has had her underwear or favorite sweater wrap three times around a load of laundry can see the practicality of such an item. But here I am a married woman of nearly 35 years and I have never had one! Now my sweaters and underwear are no longer being mangled .... which goes to show that sometimes one must spend some money to save some money.

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Thus gratified and emboldened, I am now eyeing an extra deep dust pan at the Acme so that I can sweep up the leaves and debris that blow down my basement stairwell. I could keep it by the basement door with the broom that is already there for said purpose and the pile of leaves that has been waiting clean up for several weeks. This is as it should be.