So I realized the other day that I use this word (domesticated) a lot. And it's always in reference to what I am NOT. And then I thought to myself, "That's.....actually not a good thing". I never really CARED to be all housewifey (a moment of silence for my Relief Society President mother-in-law, and the pain this has undoubtedly caused her) I don't like to cook, I don't like to do crafts, I don't like to separate darks from lights, and I especially don't want to put a ceramic rooster in my kitchen (gasp). In fact, if the Relief Society had a reality show called "What Not To Be", I'd star in it. But I CARE now. I find myself wanting to make casserole dishes and lemonade. I now WANT to know how to cook, and now get satisfaction out of vacuuming and washing the sheets. I want food storage and fruit trees. I want to label stuff, and have folders for things (it doesn't really matter what things, just as long as it's in a labeled folder...) I feel like purchasing Crockpot Recipes: Easy as 1-2-3, and something Martha Stewart wrote. There is a housewife in here somewhere, but the problem is, I just don't know how to get her out. I don't really have any know-how. I think this desire must have had something to do with seeing many of my friends grow up and have kids. They are all like, women now. Running households and bein all good at stuff. Everyone's giving homemade cards that they did with their Crikut, or sewing baby blankets on their OWN sewing machine, or dropping off homemade bread. I on the other hand, still need my hand held to boil water. So, please, teach me the ways of good housekeeping/cooking/being an adult. I need all the help I can get. I'm even thinking about doing a dinner calendar, just to show you how dedicated I am to Project Housewife. I would LOVE some advice on organizing, cleaning, and cooking with easy recipes (stress the EASY). I 'd love to see what works for everyone else. This is just something normal people are born with knowing, isn't it? Well, go easy on me, cuz I may be the least domesticated person, EVER.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
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17 comments:
I LOVE blog stalkers, and it's only breaking blog etiquette if you stalk me and don't leave a comment!
And I've always had dreams of being a housewife, without the kids. Just me, staying at home, doing nothing. Except that I'm not really domesticated either.
A good tip for getting the laundry done is to have your husband do it. I like to entertain, so I'm crafty when it comes to parties, but I don't scrapbook, and I really only cook when I'm cooking for more than the two of us.
So basically, I'm no help at all to you.
I hope you continue to stalk me, as I will do the same to you! I love new blog buddies. And Beth is hilarious.
Oh Andrea, this post is so funny. And first of all I have to answer your question. No, being domesticated is not something you are born with, at least not for me. I only started getting into cooking and all that from my mother-in-law, sister-in-law and neighbors. Now I LOVE to find new recipes and try them out. I get SO EXCITED when they turn out good!!
And with cleaning and laundry, I am just a freakin neat freak. That I was probably born with though. Not saying I like to do either but I HAVE to!!
Your very first step you need to take is go buy yourself cooking staples and all your spices. If you want I can give you a list of stuff you need to have in your pantry to make any kind of anything. After that just grab a cookbook and go at it. Make a recipe step by step the first time. And then the next time you make it you will know what you didn't like about it so you can make changes.
I don't want to make this post super long so if you need help with anything call me and I can help ya out.
I am not as domesticated as alot of people out there just because I don't have the time. I can't wait to be a stay at home mom and be able to be MORE domesticated.
It kinda suprises me you dont like to cook or be crafty because you are soo good at it with doing hair and fashion. Once you get into it you will be suprised how much you like it and how good at it you will be. You have a great creative side. Good luck and let me know if you want to go spice shopping.
Wow I didn't realize how long that really was until I posted it.
SORRY!!
First of all, I realize that you are striving to better yourself and want to make some really great changes, and that is awesome. That is what it is all about right? But I read your post again, and all I could think was, dang she is really hard on herself! It doesn't help that we live in the scrapbook capital of the world. Where it seems everyone LOVES making home made bread, creating home made cards, and sewing intricate blankys. But DUH, you have so much more to offer the world, I would never sit there and worry about, wow, she doesn't clean, cook, and sew. Which in itself is a lie. I remember the Annie who all of a sudden liked to have a clean room, and liked to wear shoes (hehe just throwing that in, this isn't really about shoes now is it). So as far as I am concerned you are light years ahead of me! I know for a fact that you do some amazing things for your home, and for your husband, and will most definitely continue to do wonderful things when you have kiddos. You cannot compare yourself to anyone, this I know all too well. Not everyone was supposed to be cookie cutter perfect, play on words..? Start out by doing something YOUR own way. Be domestic in how YOU see fit. Not what Martha Stewart tells everyone to do. Because you are that great, that some day we will be doing things the Andrea Harper way, and I will be buying your books thinking, why can't I just be more like this beeatch! Chunk it all down love. I have trouble with the domestic life myself, but if I beat myself up over everything I DON'T do, I forget the small, and very few, things I DO do. You also have to realize you don't have all day to sit there and create the perfect center piece. You are a busy girl. I have just started to get the hang of cleaning daily, but that is about as far as I have gotten. And I DO have all day to sit here and create a perfect center piece. I get down about this very subject constantly, and it is just not worth it. It takes women a life time to domesticate themselves to how they see fit. (shoot it took 20,000 years to domesticate the everyday dog we know and love now. hehe) You are an amazing person, and yes you are a creative housewife that does more than you will ever give yourself credit for. If you strive for perfection as it seems to be, you will fail. If you strive for what you know you can do, you will change yourself for the better. And that is all you really want deep down. Please play with me. This is something we could do together, I need help too and I would hold your hand everytime you needed to boil water until the day you could cook an entire Thanksgiving dinner all by yourself! I love you Annie!
So I am right there with you. I cook about once a week or twice, but I had this revelation that I needed to do better. I have started cooking more this week, and I actually enjoy it. I dont' know how long this will last but for now it's working fine.
Ha Ha your SO funny! :o) i'm with ya though- i'm not the greatest domesticate-or either i do cook sometimes i have looked up a couple easy recipes i just hate cooking cuz i pick too much at the food then i am almost full by the time its done! as far as laundry i do whites and colors and thats it!! :o)
I love this you my friend are now domesticated, I am almost in this club too!!!!!!!!
You have to take baby steps or you will get overwhelmed. Come do Dream Dinners with me and that is an easy way to start out! You are still putting it together and it's pretty easy to pull out of the freezer and follow the directions. You will LOVE it and they are really good! I too have started to scrapbook and be a little crafty, it's fun!! But like I said - baby steps and eventually we will be knitting blankets and bakin' bread for half of Africa :) I think it's great that you want to do this.
HEY LADY, SO I THINK WE ARE SO ON THE SAME WAVE LENGTH. I JUST GOT THIS AWESOME COOKBOOK WHICH HAPPENS TO BE BY BILL PHILLIPS ITS CALLED EATING FOR LIFE. ME AND BRANDON JUST STARTED THIS WEEK AND THE RECEIPES ARE SO EASY AND OH MY GOSH SO DAMN GOOD. BUT THATS WHAT IM GETTING YOU FOR YOUR BIRTH. SURPRISE!! SO DON'T GO GET IT I WILL GIVE YOU AN EARLY BIRTHDAY GIFT. I THINK I WAS INSPIRED! THATS WHY WERE BEST FRIENDS THOUGH:)ALSO IM WITH DELL YOU ARE SO AMAZING JUST THE WAY YOU ARE. BUT ITS ALWAYS GOOD TO BETTER YOURSELF LITTLE BY LITTLE. I GUESS IT WOULD BE GOOD TO KNOW HOW TO USE THE ELECTRIC BEATER THOUGH. HA HA SO FUNNY THAT FOREVER WILL BE ONE OF THE FUNNIEST MOMENTS OF MY LIFE. I LOVE YOU ANNIE
Hi. My name is Jillene and I blog stalked you from Kristina's blog. I loved your post! I have always felt the same way! I am the 2nd Counselor in the Relief Society Presidency--which means that I am the Enrichment Counselor--I feel so out of place.
I found a website through a friend called simplifysupper.com (there is a link to it on my blog in one of my posts). It has easy and yummy recipes and you can either use their calander menu or customize your own (it's easy) and then you can print the recipes or e-mail them to yourself and then it generates a shopping list so you know what to get. Just an idea! Hope it helped!! (0:
First off, you are my funniest friend! I love your posts! By the looks of it we all feel the same way you do! I think every woman/girl/wife/mom goes through this! I get overwhelmed when people start talking about scrap booking! I wonder where to start with all the crafty papers with endless die cuts! It seriously gives me anxiety! Maybe one day I’ll actually Yet, I just jumped on the blogging bandwagon and I’m feeling pretty good I’ve come that far:)!
In fact, I felt just like you’re feeling at a recent Relief Society activity. We went around the room to sharing our "hobbies"! I was sweating bullets because everyone was saying how their hobbies were scrapbooking, or crocheting, canning, or cooking. I had NOTHING like that to add!!!
I remember when I first walked into Babies R Us! The anxiety started in when I realized I had to be a Mom and where to start with all this baby gear? But like everyone says, with time, I got more and more acquainted with that store… and being a mom for that matter!
As for you being the on reality show “What Not to Be”… LIES!!! I don’t know a girl with more talent than you! Whatever you choose to focus on… you succeed at! Remember Math class? You cared less about Math until you actually started doing the equations! Then all the sudden you were acing every Math quiz! Then you decide to take an English class in at BYU Hawaii and your teacher kept remarking how amazing your papers and writing skills were! She said you were her “favorite student” and she “always looked forward to reading your papers”! Do you remember our Institute class? Yeah, that too… you’d read your scriptures in the brink of time then ace all the exams! So, maybe I’m just going off on school stuff. However… your honey mustard chicken recipe (you taught us as roommates together) graces my kitchen all the time! None of us can forget the darling, amazing, oh so cute calendar you and Talisha scrap booked and put together for all the girlfriends for our GNOs! And you call your self not domesticated??? My point is, when you decide “to be domesticated” you’ll blow the rest of us out of the park with your skill!
Andrea- You are so cute! I know you have it in you and I'll be the first one to admit 90% of what I do as a mom I have to really dig deep and work hard at it to be creative! You will do great! When I was first married and over the last 7 years I have put a cook book together that has all of James side and my side and my most favorite recipes in it. I love it because I can actually cook every one of them and they are practical. Plus all of them are pretty good! Let me know and I'll get ya one. Your gonna do just fine, just do baby steps like a home cooked meal once maybe twice a week! With two of you leftovers is a must!!!
Oh, stop it, you! Honestly, it will come. Also, I don't think being a good housewife/domesticate/adult has to be cheesy like the rooster in the kitchen, cause I'm with you on that one!! And, you don't have to scrapbook and decorations all over your house for every holiday including Labor Day, Flay Day, and Arbor Day. I think the idea of a domesticated housewife had a total stigma of the mom with curled hair waving good-bye to her husband on the porch as she wears an apron and mixes a fresh batch of homemade scones for kids. I think that now you can be fun and sassy and not a smiling all the time robot.
Anywhoo, I have some EASY recipes that are good, but the problem is that they are NOT necessarily fat free...
As for the laundry, fold it with Kev while to watch your favorite show on TV. You will also totally get motivated with food storage when you have a baby. Before, I thought that Steve and I could survive and eat dirt if we had to' but now I realize that Ava needs me to be prepared for her too. I can give you a list of everything we have in our 72 hour kits and emergency car kits and then you can just get a few things a week. Before you know it, you will be done with those things and ready to move onto the next project. Basically, it just takes motivation and baby steps.
Hi Andrea! I have to say that I never in a million, billion, gazillion years would have looked into a crystal ball when I was in my 20's and recognized the woman I am now. I was going to work, have someone else take care of my kids, and truly be the opposite of everthing around me. Funny how life changes you little by little, isn't it? I never expected to look in the mirror and see the "soccer mom" I am now (and truly, my daughter plays soccer, we have a Suburban, and I'm always the room mom at school...seriously) but I love being this soccer mom chick. I have breakdowns all the time about how "not perfect" I am, but mostly I look around and realize that my life is really blessed, and it's cool to be just whoever I am. You'll get there...don't be so hard on yourself and just let it all happen. :)
Hey just a heads up if you are really wanting to start a food storage. Smith's is having their HUGE case lot sale. It is a good way to start and alot CHEAPER then buying 20 cans of something. It goes untill September 17th!!
Everyone has a domestic breakdown at some point in their life. If you look around and try to compare yourself to someone else, you will always feel like you are coming up short. I know I have many times. I have had to look at what I am good at and keep focused on that. Even though it has really been hard on me to not have you be into crafts! You have certainly had your moments, though. (sewing pajama pants, the magnet board) I think that if you had a sewing machine you would really be designing outfits all the time. I have to say that I have never, ever, been a scapebook person. I love to look at them, but have never wanted to create one. ( I had offered to pay Beth for doing one for Tyler or Erik )pathetic! Hang in there and start small, say cooking dinner for 2 nights a week then work up to it. You need to take Beth up on going spice shopping with you because salt and pepper are not really spices. Love you lots and you will be great!
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