There's a wind whipping up what looks like it's going to be a lovely rainstorm this evening. I've been folding the laundry I washed this morning and thinking that if I were living 60 years ago I'd probably be rushing out to the line as we speak to bring in my clean, dry clothes before they got rained on!
While I sorted the laundry last night in preparation for today's wash, I realized just how interrelated some of these missions are going to be. Cleaning the bedroom on Thursday evenings means I'm going to have additional laundry to wash on Mondays and - because the manual takes for granted that my sheets will be ironed when they're tucked away in the linen closet - additional ironing on Tuesdays. Yep! I'm going to iron my sheets. That's a definite first here in the Jitterbug household. I suppose that means I should iron my pillowcases, too. Apparently there are two ways you can iron your sheets. One method, termed "especially careful" by the authors of the manual, also applies to tablecloths:
Fold selvedge to selvedge, right side out. Iron first on one side, then on the other. Fold again, lengthwise. Iron again on both sides. Fold to put away.
This second method must be what we'd call "quick and dirty":
Iron 4 thicknesses at once: fold hem to hem, then fold in half, bringing hem side to fold. Iron first on plain side, then on hem side.
Such a decision! Thank goodness I have 24 hours to think this one over...
The manual gives us a charming reminder of 1940s bedroom decor when they recommend that the housewife be sure to remove "dresser scarves" for laundering as she gives each bedroom its weekly cleaning. I'm guessing that a '40s housewife must have had at least twice as many dresser scarves as she had dressers if she didn't want to leave her dressers bare after cleaning the bedrooms. (Wash Day being still several days away.) I used to think that dresser scarves were all about the same shape and size, but it turns out that there are several different types of dresser scarves. According to Lily Haxworth Wallace in The New American Etiquette (1941), every bride should be equipped with the following for each bedroom of her new home:
Two bureau scarfs
Two dresser scarfs
Two vanity scarfs
Two night-stand scarfs
Multiply that by several bedrooms, and that's one hefty addition to the Monday wash! Whether your scarves were doilies or embroidered flatwork, they had to be ironed as well. What's with all the scarves, for goodness' sake? Was the look of a simple wooden surface so abhorrent?
