Overcoming the Drudgery of Housework

Well, it has finally happened. For centuries, women have complained about the drudgery of housework. Let’s face it, there’s really not much about housework that’s all that exciting; in fact, it’s outright dull. Those women really have a valid reason for their complaints.

Of all the boring tasks that make up the average homemaker’s task, ironing has to be the champion for boring. I mean, can there be anything exciting about running an iron back and forth over various articles of clothing, trying to get the wrinkles out of it? I can see it now, the greatest thrill of ironing… getting a straight crease on the pants leg. Wow! If that doesn’t get your blood flowing, what will?

Well, never fear, someone has finally come up with a solution to the humdrum life of ironing. You can still have your shirts nice and crisp, while enjoying the adrenalin rush of any number of more exciting activities. “How?” you ask. By participating in the sport of extreme ironing.

This new sport was invented in 1997 by a crazy Englishman who needed to get his ironing done, but would rather have been rock climbing. So, being the responsible Englishman that he was, he combined the two, taking his iron, board and freshly wrinkled shirts with him while rock climbing.

Well, that’s all it took. Once he had broken the ice, everyone had to get into the act; not just rock climbers, but other extreme sports fanatics as well. Today we see these extreme ironers not only practicing their skills on the tops of statues and cliffs, but while scuba diving, skiing, snowboarding, doing gymnastics, water skiing, skydiving and sailing. Extreme ironers are found around the world, on tanks in the midst of combat zones, underwater, up to their waist in icy water, on go-carts and in caves under the ground. Why there are even those whose desire for thrills has caused them to iron on train tracks, frantically rushing to beat the oncoming train.

In January of 2009, a group of 128 scuba divers set a world record for simultaneous ironing underwater, by having 86 members of their team iron within a 10 minute period. While I’m sure that their work was of the highest quality, nobody could tell once they brought their shirts out of the water.

So, here you have it, the solution for the humdrum of homework. All you have to do is take up extreme ironing. Never be bored out of your gourd again; instead, get that adrenalin rush you always knew that ironing could give you. All it takes is a little imagination, a little craziness and your standard iron and board.

Once you gain expertise as an extreme ironer, you can take it to the next step by going into extreme vacuuming. Yes, the ironing sport now has competition, with a splinter group who’s trying to take housework to a new and higher level of excitement.