Sally Buffalo

Just weeks ago even this is not something I would have foreseen.

I didn’t even know what a valance was, to start. Then we moved into this house and there were these ugly, frilly things hanging over the windows. Simply removing them was not an option, since someone had mauled the walls hanging the things. That would mean spackling and painting and that was not going to happen in this rental.

So I learned that they were called valances and that it’s not uncommon to spend $50 (and probably a stupid lot more) on each one of them.

Well, that wasn’t going to happen either. Thankfully some fairly quick research revealed that Target sells no-frills, solid-colored valances for $10. All right, $30 for a mild, low-cost improvement to the place.

I also didn’t own an iron. This was very intentional. If you didn’t own an iron, of course you didn’t have to iron anything. Less stuff, less stuff to do. Sounds good to me.

Sure, if you or your mate wears button-downs or silk suits to work everyday, I can see the point of ironing. But Ronnie and I have the arrangement we do – him working for himself and me staying at home – in part so neither of us has to wear or spend time ironing such things.

Then the London-bound sister gave me hers (rather sneakily actually, including it in a delivery of items we were gratefully expecting from her and my brother-in-law) and everyone kept insisting that we needed an iron, so fine. It’s here. I’ll keep it while we have the big place and see how I feel about it.

So then the Target valances are a little wrinkled from the packaging (ok, even my 11-year-old niece pointed it out) so fine again. I’ll iron them.

It wasn’t terrible. Minimal, one-time effort for decent, lasting effect. It was even calming in a mindless yet rewarding sort of way. But only as long as it’s an occasional thing – mindless can turn to mind-numbing pretty fast!