April 17th, 2019

This morning I am wrestling with a dilemma of the laundry kind.

On the left you see my ironing pile.  All neatly folded and waiting for me to get crackin' at it.  And yes, that is my piano bench that they are resting on.  I don't know where the ironing pile is at your house, but at my house it lives on the piano bench.  It is, if nothing else a way to motivate me to iron.  Otherwise I have to move the pile somewhere else to play piano. Clever eh?

The picture on the right is  the source of my my ironing dilemma.  Do you see that big white blotch right around the knee area?  Yeah.  That's a bleach stain.  How did it get there?  I honestly do not know.

I don't use bleach every day. But occasionally I will do a load of whites and add a little bleach to keep them from being grays instead. And when I clean the bathrooms I usually use some bleach to make sure things are superduper clean.  BUT because I know from personal experience the kind of damage bleach is capable of with regard to my clothes, I am Very Very careful.  I even buy so - called "splashless" bleach. Instead of being a liquid, it's more like a very loose gel.  Kind of gross actually.

Well it may be "splashless" but it's clearly not Sam-proof.  Evidence above.  Sigh.  

It's not as if these are new shorts really.  They are at minimum 4 years old. Rather old in clothes-years style wise.  And of course being in style has never been high on my list of priorities.  But they are comfortable and cotton and easy to throw in the washer.  Non-fussy.  I like that in my clothes.  And, other than the bleach stain, they are perfectly fine shorts.

They aren't even really shorts.  I'm not sure what they are called now. Back in the day we referred to them as "Clam-diggers".  They appear to be about mid-calf but not capri's because they are wider in the leg.  The intent is to roll them up to  just below the knee. And that's what I usually do.  Unfortunately, just below the knee means, just below the bleach stain. 

Oh and that little blue/green thing above the stain?  That is an iron-on patch from a small tear I got about a year ago.  I don't recall the circumstance of the tear but I do know that an unexpected tumble was involved.  Maybe on my bike?  Regardless.  Now that same leg has both a patch and a bleach stain. Dang.  It's like these shorts are cursed!

Back to the dilemma.  Obviously these are no longer suitable for public wearage.  I would not wear them to work at the museum even on a super hot day.  I would not wear them to teach English at the library. And in fact, I would not wear them to the grocery store.  (I am beginning to sound a little bit like a Dr. Seuss Book!)

But I would wear them to clean house, work in the yard, y'know things like that.  So it really doesn't matter how they look.  I can't do anything more about the patch really.  Oh I suppose if it fell off I could, I don't know, iron another patch on?  The point is, as long as those pants exist there will be a patch of some sort ironed on.  And I absolutely have zero recourse about the bleach stain.  Bleach stains are eternal.

Sooooooo  here is the question:  Should I bother to iron them?

On one hand, it seems kind of silly to go to the trouble of ironing a pair of shorts that nobody is ever going to see on my person because it would be a day of scrubbadubbing. I don't usually invite guests over to watch me clean grout or wash baseboards.    On the other hand, if I don't iron them, if feels as if I've given up.  Sort of like, if I've gained a pound or two even though I've been working REALLY hard at eating properly and exercising more , sometimes I tell myself, "Oh go ahead and eat the damned cookie.  Obviously it doesn't matter!" (By the way that attitude only lasts about a hour or so. Just long enough to eat the damned cookie. ) Then too, ironing the shorts doesn't eliminate the patch or the stain, and in fact perhaps it accentuates it by contrast?  But ironed clothes just look so much nicer, don't they?  

It's not that I mind ironing. I really don't.  Every week I have a pile of clothes which are improved by ironing.  I usually watch either some wonderful old black & white movie, or something that's I've recorded earlier, or  one of the HGTV shows while I work, smoothing wrinkles and creating order out of chaos.  Everything looks so nice. Crisp and perfect and almost new once again.  

But some things are just not worth my time.  And these shorts may be one of them.  I'm on the fence.  I just cannot decide.  Iron or no iron.  I leave it up to you.  Vote yes. Vote no.  Or abstain.  You always have that option.

Thanks for helping me out guys!