Miss Mom: Of T-shirts And Flat Irons

My daughter Ashley’s husband has been away doing his Army basic training for the past several weeks. This coming weekend, he and a buddy will be coming home for the holidays, and Ashley is so excited. Derek had managed to arrange for his buddy’s fiance to meet Ashley, and these to women became instant friends. They are planning to meet their men at the airport together and have even decided to make everyone T-shirts. Yes, little Helene’ gets a t-shirt to welcome her daddy home in too.

These two girls got the supplies they needed: T-shirts, fabric paint and iron on letters were all obtained and the night of crafting began. However there was a slight snag; they couldn’t find my iron. Ashley called me at work asking where it was. I told her that I thought it was in my closet but wasn’t quite sure. I do know that I had put it somewhere to keep it away from a certain toy-strewing toddler. She had already discovered it in a place she could easily access, and I caught her carrying it around. She likes doing that, and as soon as you blink or take a five-second bathroom break that little girl is diaper-deep in something that she shouldn’t be.

Why was my iron in a place a toddler could find it? Well with moving people, and getting down Christmas paraphernalia, two college students taking finals, and the assistance of a little person who is good at getting things out and leaving them in her cute little wake, one can see how my house is currently anything less then organized. The iron got moved out of my closet, where I normally keep it, to temporarily house Ashley’s clothes and hidden Christmas presents, and I had moved the iron to what I thought was a safe spot, not of interest to the pre-toilet trained set.

Ashley and her friend looked everywhere I had suggested for the location of that iron and several that I didn’t with no luck. They then went ahead with the making of their originally designed T-shirts. I must say they were quite innovative with their improvisation of what to use to get the job done. Who knew that a flat iron designed for straightening and smoothing hair could have another purpose than for what it was originally intended? But it does. The flat iron did a decent job of making letters and iron on patches stay where they were supposed to. It was just a bit more difficult as the design of a flat iron requires one to pinch things together to work. Add the fact that most flat irons have two six inch long, one inch wide plates, you can see how it would be more of a task to get letters onto what is otherwise a large flat surface.

The shirts actually turned out quite nicely, and I am quite certain that these two young men will be pleasantly surprised when they step off their plane for their long awaited leave time this Friday. A lot of planning and love was poured into the project and it sure shows. I do hope someone remembers to take photos as I will be at work when the plane lands.

As for that missing iron: It was right where I had left it, in plain sight, just out of reach of little sticky hands, sitting on a little display shelf in my room. Ashley had walked by it at least 10 times trying to find the thing. Yes I did give her a bit of a hard time over it, but not too much. I lose my car keys so often, get confused what event I am supposed to do on what day, and can’t remember what I was going to get halfway into a room. But I still get a chuckle every time I walk by that shelf right now. At least I know I’m not the only one in the house who’s brain goes on hiatus.