The A-B-C’s of Homemaking

I was honored to be tagged for the homemaking meme by the author of one of my favorite blogs, The Gift that’s Kristen. (Okay, so that’s my name for it.)

When it comes to homemaking, I am a total work-in-progress. I love having my home all neat and tidy, but with five little people running around it doesn’t often happen. Sometimes I start to overly fret about all of the nicks in the wall and the scratches on hard wood floor, yet my husband assures me that “this is a home, not a museum.”

Fortunately for me! Currently there are some smudgy little handprints on the wall leading out of the kitchen, a dining room table so stacked with books and other clutter that we are schooling in the kitchen, and an old “down-by-the-sea-themed” wallpaper border in the kids’ bathroom that has been thoroughly ripped and picked at by little fingers over the years.

We mothers have our work cut out for us, that’s for sure.

Anyway. On to the meme.

Aprons – Y/N
According to my husband, “I cook big.” So yes, I wear an apron that coincidentally was a gift from my husband’s sisters one Christmas. It’s cutely patterned with purple eggplants and green thyme leaves and I love it lots. Still, wouldn’t it be fun to have a bunch of aprons to choose from? You know, one for every mood, like your coffee cups?

Baking – Favorite thing to bake:
Did you say bake or eat? I think my favorite things to bake are breakfast treats: cinnamon rolls, sweet breads, muffins. I love baking with the kids but I also love the meditative aspect of baking by oneself in the early morning hours.

Clothesline – Y/N?
I dream of having a big old house in the country with a wrap-around porch out front and a clothesline out back. Our current home, however, is as suburban a dwelling as you can get. So no, I don’t have a clothesline. I do have a couple of drying racks in the basement, though.

Donuts – Have you ever made them?
No. We go to a great little mom-and-pop shop just down the road where the donuts are delicious and where the kids can watch them baking through a window.

Every day – One homemaking thing you do every day:
Only one? We pick up the main living areas at least twice a day. We make our beds every day. I also try to stay on top of the kitchen chores, even on the busiest of home-schooling days. The kitchen is the heart of our home, and my heart is at peace when it is tidy.

Freezer – Do you have a separate deep freeze?
Our refrigerator has a tall, narrow freezer on the left-hand side that is worth next to nothing: fruit for smoothies and frozen veggies, that’s about all that will fit.

So yes. We have separate freezer for all of our frozen meat (and pizzas!) in the basement.

Garbage Disposal – Y/N?
Yes, and it gets a work-out. We mostly use it for left-over cereal and the odd bit of mac-n-cheese; however, there have been a couple of spoons and even a dishrag that met an early death at my distracted hands!

Handbook – What is your favorite homemaking resource?
Looking and learning, mostly. I’ll ask my sisters and my friends what works for them and am working hard to make some of the Flylady principals a habit.

Ironing – Love it or hate it?
I don’t mind it, actually. Apart from the girls’ church dresses, though, I don’t really do a lot of it. My husband goes through so many shirts that he has them professionally laundered. I am so very thankful for this; if I had to do his shirts, I’d do little else.

Junk drawer – Y/N? Where is it?
I love my junk drawer! It’s in the kitchen under the computer and is fairly organized, though its contents are highly random!!! For example, right now it contains one of my favorite butterfly hair clasps, a tube of my daughter’s eczema salve, my son’s catechism flash cards and a box top from Hodgson Mill 100% pure corn starch (which I’ve just thrown away). A place for everything and everything in its place–most of the time!

Kitchen: Design & Decorating?
Red walls and matching “fruit-themed” border & valances.

Love – What is your favorite part of homemaking?
Definitely being home with my children. I wouldn’t miss all of this for the world.

Mop – Y/N?
Sometimes. To tell you the truth, this is one homemaking task that gets neglected! We sweep a couple of times a day, but usually I leave the mopping to the cleaning service. I am not ashamed to admit this! This service is a gift from my husband and I just love him for his thoughtfulness.

I used to feel tremendous guilt over “not doing it all myself” until I heard Kimberly Hahn at a conference. She said that she hasn’t cleaned her own bathroom in ten years! Or something to that effect. She spends the time saved home-schooling.

Nylons – Wash by hand or in the washing machine?
Both.

Oven – Do you use the window or open the oven to check?
I take a quick peek near the end of the cooking time.

Pizza – What do you put on yours?
My half of the pizza has lots of onions, black olives and mushrooms. As such, it is always my half!

Quiet – What do you do during the day when you get a quiet moment?
I love to sit down with a cup of coffee and my planner. I am truly a teacher at heart! And in the morning I get up well before the rest of the house in order to pray, catch up on my favorite blogs and also work on my own.

Recipe card box – Y/N?
Yes. It’s a bit disorganized at the moment because my toddler is fond of emptying it. I also have a binder for the recipes I tear out of magazines and print off the computer.

Truth be told, though, when I am pressed for time I often just do a Google search for the recipe. My computer is right in my kitchen—very handy!

Style of house –
Traditional colonial, I think. It’s a large, four-bedroom, two-story that we bought with the intention of “filling up!” We are three kids richer since we moved in six years ago; so far so good!

Tablecloths and napkins – Y/N?
Cloth tablecloths and napkins for the fancier meals; paper napkins always.

Under the kitchen sink – Organized or toxic wasteland?
Um, let me go check.

Well, it’s in between. We keep it locked on account of our toddler; out of sight, out of mind.

Vacuum – How many times per week?
A couple of times, I’d say. I like to vacuum. You get an instant sense of accomplishment and a mini-workout at the same time.

Wash – How many loads of laundry do you do per week?
“Mount Washmore” is one of my biggest home-making challenges. I am weird in that I love to do the laundry but I abhor putting it away! Why is this? I am working out the kinks at the behest of my ever-patient husband and with the help of Flylady. Two or three loads a day from start to finish is my goal.

X’s – Do you keep a daily list of things to do that you cross off?
Yes. I am a highly distractible, extremely visual person. I need the accountability of a list! (And I love love love to check things off once they are finished.)

Yard – Y/N? Who does what?
Yes, we have a yard. My husband mows the lawn and tends to the roses. I have a little flower bed out front.

Zzz’s – What is your last homemaking task for the day before going to bed?
On a good night, I zip around helping the kids tidy up their rooms before retiring. On a bad night, I lay down on my bed “Just for a moment! I promise!” while Daddy does it all. Which is ultimately quite embarrassing because then for bedtime prayers they will all “gather ‘round Mommy’s carcass” at Dad’s behest.

This in turn has the desired effect of me scuttling quickly out of my cozy environs, like a hermit crab in reverse.

The beautiful thing about homemaking is that my to-do list will keep me busy—right up ‘til the day I die. I say with St. Paul, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been ineffective. Indeed, I have toiled harder than all of them…” (I Corinthians 15:10).

I tag sweet Jane, dear Diane, and the ever-lyrical Matilda.