On Mothers and Underwear

Recently, I was reminded by the very funny Katia about the "benefits" that come with a European mother-in-law. It seems that the Italian ironing obsession extends beyond its borders and into France. If you don't know what I am talking about, let me digress for a minute.

~~~ digression
Italians iron EVERYTHING. And by everything I mean everything, encompassing more than mere shirts & pants, oh yes - socks, underwear, sheets, etc. I have to be honest with you - my Italian and I have fought over the evils of ironing. It seems initially, he had a misguided opinion that I would work full time AND iron his stuff. Yeah - I had to quickly squash that idea. Hey, if you want your socks and underwear ironed - either do it yourself or take it to the cleaners - love you lots =) I do realize that some things need to be ironed and if I stretch my imagination, I can understand ironing sheets (my mom can't sleep on wrinkled sheets) but I'm not doing it. Stef's mom loves to suggest teaching me to iron and chocks my refusals up to "crazy American" behavior. hehe

Take my word for it - it is a national obsession, I mean past-time in Italy, ask any expat living there.
~~~end of digression

Evidently, this extends to France. Katia tells a very funny story about visiting her in-laws; her French mother-in-law finding her dirty laundry bag, washes/dries it; and then proceeds to iron her thongs. =) Woohooo THIS scenario hits close to home.

A couple of years ago, my in-laws came to visit for a couple of weeks. One of those weeks, I was working so they basically hung around the house during the day. Well, one day I came home and Stef's mom was very excited. grabbing my hand, chattering at me in Italian, gesturing wildly, and dragging me upstairs to our bedroom (stef trailing in our wake). Much to my surprise, she pulls open my dresser drawers and proceeds to show my how nicely organized they are now, everything neatly ironed, folded and stacked. Oh but not just any drawers - lingerie drawers =) panties, nighties, you know, the regular things you keep in drawers that are not necessarily made for family viewing.

Stef then proceeds to tell me how hard his mom worked, organizing and ironing my "unmentionables" while his mom stood beaming at me. Of course, I had to thank her profusely all the while inside, I was mortified. When she was left properly praised, I smacked Stef and asked him WHY he let her get into my drawers??? He of course had that "what" look on his face and couldn't for the life of him understand why I'd care. I mean, sure some are plain white undies used purely for function, but do you really want to your mom digging through the other items picked out especially for sake of seduction? Yeah, I know I am a repressed American but COME ON. lol

He finally got the idea, but of course we never let on to his mom how mortified I was about the whole thing. And really, I know his very sweet mother only did it because she sees me as her daughter and thats what mom's do. I mean, my mom is happy to help her girls with cleaning or laundry, ironing or whatever we need, but she wouldn't dig through drawers to do it. LOL

I am totally lucky with both wonderful parents AND in-laws - I love them dearly. But it never ceases to amaze me the cultural differences I can see between the two. Each have their own frustrations and blessings. =) I must admit though, in regard to the panty issue - I am glad I'm not in that club alone! lol

More later...

9/11

I don't usually post much about 9/11 mostly because I start crying and so many people give very touching tributes that are honestly much better than anything I could do. But this year I read a post by one of my favorite authors who watched the whole thing unfold outside her window and I thought others might like to read it too.

So many of us can remember exactly where we were when the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center. Me - I was driving to work, a bit annoyed cuz I was running late, needed to get gas and thinking "what the heck are they talking about on the radio?" Later, getting nothing done at work, watching every minute of coverage and feeling so helpless, hundreds of miles away, only able to watch and cry. I don't have many friends in NYC but I do have one, who worked for Morgan Stanley at the time - though I didn't know which office he was in, and that company took up many floors in one of the Towers.

Thankfully, I did manage to reach him on his cell. He had walked to a friend's apartment in NJ and was on the balcony drinking a beer, watching the military jets and helicopters fly around. Uhm... back up a sec - JETS?? Like in a war zone? How unreal is that? I could hear them over the phone, but was glad he was ok.

My thoughts and prayers are with those who lost loved ones on this day 6 yrs ago.

More later...

Who am I?

I have to admit I am a total personality quiz nerd. So when I saw this quiz over at Italian Trivia, well I had to do it. Here are my results:

Your Personality Cluster is Extraverted Intuition

You are: A true wordsmith - a master of words Original, spontaneous, and a true inspiration Highly energetic, up for any challenge Entertaining and engaging, both to friends and strangers

What's Your Personality Cluster?

HA! I am not so sure about the "wordsmith"-ing and if you stop by here regularly, you might be questioning that as well. lol But, since my life is fairly boring lately - mostly consisting of late nite skyping with the husband, working, Saturday soccer games, and working some more - well, I don't have much to blog about. Hence, the quiz =) I am also very "iffy" about the inspirational, but hey - it sounds good anyway. hehe

Hope your September is going well!

More later...