I Love My Ironing Board
By Liz LaMac
Most of my life, l have lived in large houses. When I was five years old we moved from Parkersburg, West Virginia to Spencer, West Virginia. We didn’t have a bath room or an out-house where we lived in Parkersburg, but we had a big house. In Spencer we lived in a ten room house. After I was married and we had children of our own, we raised them, part of the time, in parsonages, but the place they called home was our 23 room mansion in Huttonsville, West Virginia. We named our home, the Hutton House, and it is in the National Registry of Historical Homes. Of course there have been a few small spaces in the course of time.
Later, because of our involvement in Country Music and entertainment, we moved to Nashville, TN. We spent many happy years in Nashville and when my husband became ill, we moved back to West Virginia. We bought his Mother’s 100 year old home. Together we turned it into the Vintage House Bed and Breakfast. We didn’t get to enjoy the house very long. His cancer worsened. And soon after that I was living at Warm Hearth villages alone.
What I am trying to say here is this: I am used to living in homes with plenty of room. I have always had a laundry room or a place in the basement set up to wash and iron the clothes. I love to leave the ironing board up. I love to pick out something to wear and run in and press it.
When I moved to Warm Hearth that all changed. There was no place for an ironing board. I tried leaving it up in the small kitchen. That didn’t work. I bought one of those silly little ironing boards that hang on the back of the door, and let down for you to iron. No good. Something had to be done. I have even been guilty of folding and putting away table napkins without ironing them. I have also worn jeans and tops out in public ‘not ironed.’
Then last week my daughter Sheree bought me a book about prettying up your home, and arranging it to suit your own needs. Not having a real house anymore – nothing in the book applied to me. But I kept leafing through it. I saw an ironing board sitting in a hall. That picture stuck in my mind. I don’t know why. I don’t have a hall that big.
The other night I couldn’t sleep. I kept thinking about the book, the picture of the ironing board in the hall and the statement – make your home work for you. So here I was wide awake at three o’clock in the morning. I was thinking, I know this apartment is no bigger that a postage stamp, but I want a place to leave up my ironing board set up. So in my mind I went over every inch of the apartment, trying to find a place. There wasn’t any.
Wait! I said to myself, Wait a minute! Maybe, just maybe, I have a spot for the ironing board. I sat up in bed. What if, yes, just what if the storage closet is big enough for the ironing board? If it is, then it will solve two of my problems. I could leave my ironing board set up and I would have a place for my linens. I jumped out of bed and ran to get the measuring tape. First, I measured the ironing board. Then I ran to the storage closet and measured the length of it. It was a perfect fit. There was a slight problem. The storage closet was packed. And besides that, there was a clothes rod close to the door, and when you opened the door the coats were right in your face. You had to part them and squeezed through to get anything out of the closet.
I wanted a place to iron more that I wanted a place to store stuff. I was going to give it a try. Soon as morning came I went down to the second floor and asked Arnold Meadows if he could take the clothes rod, from the front of the closet, and put it down under the shelves at the back of the closet. Arnold said he could move it and he did just that. He moved the rod to the back of the closet and under the shelves. Now the rod could be used to hang a few clothes on as I ironed them. Then I would put them away.
All the coats were still piled upon my bed. For now, I had to leave them there. I started taking the other things out of the storage closet. I threw away stuff I didn’t need and I gave away many things. It was slow going. I had to sleep on the couch for three nights. But it paid off. Things started going into place. I took all the table clothes, table napkins and dollies out of the large buffet drawers and put them in the ironing room on the shelves. I took the summer clothes that were hanging in the bedroom closet, and I folded them and placed them in the buffet drawers. Now there was room to hang up some of the jackets.
Items moved from one spot to another. The free standing shelves in the storage closet were placed in the bath room. The bathroom shelve went beside my desk in the bedroom. Now they held notebooks and paper. Soon it all started felling in place.
And suddenly, wham- the ironing board went up. And you won’t believe it until you see it: in my tiny apartment I have a room just for linens and for ironing. My ironing board stays up all the time. I can walk in and iron any time I feel like it. Then walk out and close the door. I may be prejudiced, but I think I have the prettiest ironing room in the Warm Hearth Village apartments. However that may be, I love my ironing board.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Saturday, October 30, 2010
The Rowdy Writers: Liz LaMac, Author, Entertainer, TV Personality, Ve...
The Rowdy Writers: Liz LaMac, Author, Entertainer, TV Personality, Ve...: "Let me introduce myself as one of the Rowdy Writers. I have been a freelance writer for many years. I have published work in magazines an..."
please to to my other blog. at WWW.lizlamac.blogspot.com
please to to my other blog. at WWW.lizlamac.blogspot.com
The Rowdy Writers: The Rowdy Writers Unite
The Rowdy Writers: The Rowdy Writers Unite: "The twelve rowdy writers, now a year into Jeff Fuller's West Virginia Writers Project, are ready for publishing. Most of us have written an..."
Please check out my Creative writers blog at WWW.lizlamac.blogspot.com
Please check out my Creative writers blog at WWW.lizlamac.blogspot.com
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Some of the First Times in my Writing Career
Some of the ‘First Times’ in my Writing Career
By Liz laMac
Today is Tuesday, October 19, 2010. It is the night that our Writers Group meets in the Karr Activity Center in Warm Hearth Village, Blacksburg, Virginia.
This is a very special Writers Group meeting. It will be the first time some of the members have ever seen their writing printed in a book. Some of the members will be published for the first time. No longer are they amateur writers. Everyone is now a published author. And since the books are being sold and money is being exchanged, that makes everyone who has a story in the book, Stories from the Hearth, a professional writer. In spite of the fact that our part of the sales goes to the Warm Hearth foundation with our permission, we are all, now, professional writers. Therefore we should be very proud and stand a little taller.
And for some of the members, it will be the first time anyone has said to them, “Would you sign my book, please?” That is a good feeling. I have signed hundreds of books, but it is still gives me a thrill every time I am asked to sing one of my books. I love it. I have had many wonderful first times in my writing career. Of course in show business these times are too numerous to mention . . . with all the television shows, the live shows, the radio shows, and then there was the mingling with the stars-all that was great. And I wouldn’t forget my first dummy and the ventriloquist conventions. But now I am thinking only of my writing career.
One first time that I will never forget was the first time I walked into a Nolan’s Book Store and saw a row of my books on the shelf, and then I saw the long table set with flowers and with stacks of my books ready for me to sign. And the people were waiting for me and, and my dummy, Little King Joe. It was my first book signing. And it was the first stop on my first book signing tour. I’ll never forget it.
Then there was the first time I saw one of my books on a library shelf and watched as a young boy checked it out. That was inspiring. It gave me a burning desire to write more and more.
But, tonight is another first time, for me. It is an exciting time and a time to be remembered. It is the first time I have had any of my stories published in a book along with a group of associate writers and friends. I have had several books published, and I have had stories printed in newspapers, magazines, and various trade supplements, but never in book form along with other writer’s stories. And for that reason, I am very humbled, as I ask each of you that have a story printed in the book, Stories from the Hearth: “Would you please sign this book for me?”
By Liz laMac
Today is Tuesday, October 19, 2010. It is the night that our Writers Group meets in the Karr Activity Center in Warm Hearth Village, Blacksburg, Virginia.
This is a very special Writers Group meeting. It will be the first time some of the members have ever seen their writing printed in a book. Some of the members will be published for the first time. No longer are they amateur writers. Everyone is now a published author. And since the books are being sold and money is being exchanged, that makes everyone who has a story in the book, Stories from the Hearth, a professional writer. In spite of the fact that our part of the sales goes to the Warm Hearth foundation with our permission, we are all, now, professional writers. Therefore we should be very proud and stand a little taller.
And for some of the members, it will be the first time anyone has said to them, “Would you sign my book, please?” That is a good feeling. I have signed hundreds of books, but it is still gives me a thrill every time I am asked to sing one of my books. I love it. I have had many wonderful first times in my writing career. Of course in show business these times are too numerous to mention . . . with all the television shows, the live shows, the radio shows, and then there was the mingling with the stars-all that was great. And I wouldn’t forget my first dummy and the ventriloquist conventions. But now I am thinking only of my writing career.
One first time that I will never forget was the first time I walked into a Nolan’s Book Store and saw a row of my books on the shelf, and then I saw the long table set with flowers and with stacks of my books ready for me to sign. And the people were waiting for me and, and my dummy, Little King Joe. It was my first book signing. And it was the first stop on my first book signing tour. I’ll never forget it.
Then there was the first time I saw one of my books on a library shelf and watched as a young boy checked it out. That was inspiring. It gave me a burning desire to write more and more.
But, tonight is another first time, for me. It is an exciting time and a time to be remembered. It is the first time I have had any of my stories published in a book along with a group of associate writers and friends. I have had several books published, and I have had stories printed in newspapers, magazines, and various trade supplements, but never in book form along with other writer’s stories. And for that reason, I am very humbled, as I ask each of you that have a story printed in the book, Stories from the Hearth: “Would you please sign this book for me?”
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Talking Cats and Rain Drops
If it had not been for these two things I would be in the sun in Florida. The rain has kept us from driving today and the cat talked to me all night.Of course the cat dose not actually talk. It is one of those cats that mew all the time. If they are out they mew to come in, and if they are in they mew to go out.They are called talking cats because they won't shut-up. But they look at you so sweetly and tilt their head to one side and mew.
Talking cats are something else, especially Little Miss Prissy Soft Paws. I used her in my latest mystery and she was true to character last night. Previously, she inspired me to have a Sheriff fall into an armoire and crack his head when she landed on his back. Last night she inspired me to create this Blog. She wouldn't let me sleep and I swear she was saying, MEOW BLOG MEEOOOWWW BLOG!
And where was she at tea time while I was drinking my Dragon Formosa Oolong from a Mikasa, Narumi, Blue Spruce, cup with the hand crocheted lace antimacassar between the cup and saucer? Napping, of course.
Cats, raindrops, and antimacassars, sounds like a good title to me. I know I am not the only one who uses antimacassars as my friend Lisa uses them for her elegant afternoon teas and they use them here. I buy the little round ones by the dozens and often give them as gifts. They fit perfectly into antique glass powder jars for a nice little gift. You know the kind of powder jar I mean? I like the pressed glass ones you can find with ruby or green lids, embossed with a rose.
Antimacassars add a special flare to tea time and keep those tea cups from clanging while also preventing drips. Well, it looks like I'll be her another night and that cat, she's not my cat, will be carrying on outside my bedroom door until I let her in to sleep with me. I may just stuff one of those antimacassars in that cat's mouth come night fall.
Talking cats are something else, especially Little Miss Prissy Soft Paws. I used her in my latest mystery and she was true to character last night. Previously, she inspired me to have a Sheriff fall into an armoire and crack his head when she landed on his back. Last night she inspired me to create this Blog. She wouldn't let me sleep and I swear she was saying, MEOW BLOG MEEOOOWWW BLOG!
And where was she at tea time while I was drinking my Dragon Formosa Oolong from a Mikasa, Narumi, Blue Spruce, cup with the hand crocheted lace antimacassar between the cup and saucer? Napping, of course.
Cats, raindrops, and antimacassars, sounds like a good title to me. I know I am not the only one who uses antimacassars as my friend Lisa uses them for her elegant afternoon teas and they use them here. I buy the little round ones by the dozens and often give them as gifts. They fit perfectly into antique glass powder jars for a nice little gift. You know the kind of powder jar I mean? I like the pressed glass ones you can find with ruby or green lids, embossed with a rose.
Antimacassars add a special flare to tea time and keep those tea cups from clanging while also preventing drips. Well, it looks like I'll be her another night and that cat, she's not my cat, will be carrying on outside my bedroom door until I let her in to sleep with me. I may just stuff one of those antimacassars in that cat's mouth come night fall.
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