Iron Man

I was wrong when I said Frank doesn't have a hobby. I realized that the man is actually obsessed with ironing. Every single night he gets out his ironing board, his iron, his starch and his water/steam thingie and irons one shirt. He rarely irons more than one shirt at a time. I think this is because he actually likes to iron so he spreads it out.

He always sets up his ironing supplies in front of the TV. He used to do his hobby in the mornings. He would watch The Today Show and iron. He said that was his last thing to look forward to before he went to work. (Totally sad, huh?) Now he's a night-ironer because he gets up too early to iron.

The other night I was going to Target and he asked me to get him a new iron cover. Natch, I chose the super cute one when, in fact, I should have chosen the super padded one. I learned my lesson from Iron Man when I got home. But then--an ironing light bulb moment! Frank realized he could put the new cover over the old one to make a semi-thick ironing pad. An ironing triumph!

When we're staying with people he likes to ask, "What's your ironing situation?" which means, "Do you have a top of the line iron and a full-size ironing board?" He absolutely cannot iron under less than desirable circumstances--which would involve an iron that costs less than $100 and/or one of those mini-boards that college kids use. (Speaking of college, I've always been a fan of the "college ironing" method--putting clothes in the dyer for about seven minutes to get out the wrinkles.)

There are two cool things about this hobby: 1. It doesn't take up a lot of time. In fact, it doesn't take up any incremental time as he does it while we're watching TV together. It's quality time. 2. If I need something ironed, I can just throw it in with his one shirt. He does a good job too!