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DAVIS08081's Recent Blog Entries
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Tuesday, June 26, 2012
I did a lot of thinking over the weekend and devised a modified 50s housewife routine for myself, and I still didn't get everything accomplished! That being said, I feel GRRRRREAT about this. Today I managed to re-clean everything I had previously cleaned, go to the bank (where I actually went inside and waited in line), have an anti-50s lunch out with my sister, deep clean both bathrooms AND clean out under the couch cushions...all while wearing a dress and apron. Just as I was about to jump head first into my daily deep cleaning chore of cleaning the currently horrific master bedroom the 105 degree heat and my frozen air conditioner got the best of me and I bailed over to my parents house where someone else (my mom) makes me dinner in her deliciously air-conditioned house. Now tomorrow I will have to do two deep cleaning chores, re-clean everything from today, and cross my fingers and toes that the AC works all day!
In addition to shouting my daily routine to the world, I blog to reflect on my mission of becoming a better me. Today I decided to change my blog from "One Step Shy of Awesome" to "21 days to a better me". The reason behind this change is that being one step shy of awesome, sends the message that I am chasing my dreams but never really catching them. Instead today (while I was doing the dishes) it hit me, I am already awesome, I just want to reach for something a little bit brighter and better. It is for this same reason that I am abandoning the 50s housewife theme. I embrace my femininity, and will likely return to the 50s housewife event at a later day. However, at this time my being a 50s housewife is more like playing house than it is moving me towards my goals. I have yet to have a day that I actually met my goal of making the 50s housewife cut, yet I am ecstatic with my progress. I think the problem isn't my lack of success, but rather the unrealistic goal. They say that it takes 21 consecutive days to form a habit. I am going to tackle one habit at a time (without excluding others) for 21 days, hence the new name.
At my tender age of 25 (Yes, I may be 26 in a matter of weeks, but I am holding on to 25 with all my might), I can sit here and try and remember a day when I wanted something with my life that didn't include my family and my home. It may seem outdated to many, but I believe in gender roles. Now don't get me wrong, I don't believe that my husband has a right to treat my poorly, or that as a woman I am too delicate or ignorant to do anything more than be a teacher, nurse, wife, or mother. I believe that a woman can do anything a man can do, I just don't understand why we would want to. My husband and I are a team, each with different roles that embrace and benefit one another. I have a degree in Elementary Education and I LOVE to teach, yet in four years of marriage I have never held a full time job outside the home. Occasionally I do take a part time job because I want to contribute more, or because I am bored, but I believe my priority should be my family and home. To oversimplify it, My my husband works to allow me to stay home, and I stay home to make it easier for him to work outside the home.
I am one of those people who actually enjoys cooking, cleaning, any type of craft project, and taking care of others. Yet I must confess, in the past, I have been a terrible homemaker. When my husband and I were engaged and starting our lives together, I was a good homemaker. My only obligation outside our home was to go to my classes at the local community college. I used to walk the 1 mile to the grocery store EVERY DAY, not because I had to, but because I liked to. We didn't have cable and played board/card games every day. I walked the dog. I babysat all my little cousins. I even remember once when Nick came home from work and asked me not to have his dinner ready, something about how he wanted 15 minutes to take a shower. At the same time that Nick and I started seeing each other, his parents were getting divorced after 25 years of marriage. Although it is more complicated than this, one of the reasons behind the split was that his mom felt under-appreciated. Having seen this so recently, my husband actually encouraged me to stop making dinner, we got TV and Guitar Hero. It was at this point that my A's turned into B's and our relationship deteriorated.
I love my husband very much and I appreciate everything he does for me. Our relationship isn't bad, I just miss the closeness of those early days when we spent our time interacting with each other rather than being alone, together. When we decided to get married we made an actual verbal agreement that Nick would bring home the bacon, and I would cook it. Yet we go out to eat 80% of the time and he does just as much of the housecleaning as I do (which isn't very much). I vow to break this trend and get back to the way things are supposed to be.
Rather than apply for teaching jobs for the fall, I have chosen to substitute teach for one year. Being a substitute will greatly free up my time, allowing me to be both a working partner and housewife. We don't have children, and Nick works out of state for two weeks of every month, so I don't believe that once it's a habit homemaking should be the full time job that it currently is. The 21 days to a better me is about building that habit. I have so many visions of the woman I want to be that if I tackled them all at once I would surely fail. Instead, I am going to begin my amazing transformation with the one piece I believe will make the biggest difference. I am going to become the best modern housewife I can be. For the next 21 days I will clean my home every day, cook dinner every night (working towards cooking all 3 meals), work in my yard, and spend as much QUALITY time with my husband that I can.
I will update the world on my progress regularly and in 21 days we can lay it all out in black and white and decide on the success of the 21 day plan. If the plan is successful (as I believe it will be), I will launch a new 21 day plan (most likely revolving around physical activity). I hope that you stick with me for this first 21 days. I picked homemaking first because it is one of the most important goals for me, but I have a hunch that my next goal will be applicable for a larger audience.
Monday, June 25, 2012
I have to say this has not been a good weekend. For one thing it has been over 100 degrees since Thursday (Normal for Colorado in June is 0 days over 100' and only 3-4 in the 90s). As of yesterday there were 8 fires burning in Colorado, two in our county alone. Resources are stretched thin and the firefighters, cops, and national guard are exhausted. The closest fire to home is the High Park Fire, which as of today's news has burned 248 homes! making it the second largest fire and single most destructive fire in Colorado history. I ask that everyone who reads this please pray for the fires and all those affected.
My father and brother are police officers, so this hits close to home, but we also had a Denver Police Officer get shot and killed while on duty today. She left behind two children, and although I didn't know her I am positive loosing her is a tragedy. I ask that you will also keep her family and friends in your thoughts and prayers tonight.
As for me, this heat has really thrown me off my game, it has been too hot to do much outside, including my walks. So I have spent the entire weekend over at my parents house trying to get the weekly garden duty done (20 minutes at a time due to the extreme heat). So in short I am hot, my dogs are full of energy (even they don't want to spend any time outside), and I haven't gotten my homemaking chores done this weekend. Although I'm only one bathroom and two bedrooms away from being caught up, I wanted to start my 50s week on top of it. I think I may start it tomorrow anyway because without my hubby being around I think I can take care of those things when I would be taking care of him if he were home. Wish me luck, I will keep you updated...Because I LOVE it when you take the time to read and respond to my posts!
P.S. I would like to paint some pictures to put up in my kitchen of farm animals (absolutely a chicken, but I am also considering a pig, cow, or maybe even a goat). I however, live in a patio home in the middle of town. I have scoured the internet for photos of these subjects that I could paint, but am afraid I will copy something that is copyrighted. If anyone knows of a link to copyright free photos, or has any personal photos of these animals they would like to share it would be greatly appreciated.
On that note, the power has been out at my house for about 15 minutes and I can't post this until it comes back on so you probably won't get this post until tomorrow, but all the same good night, and I wish you all a great week ahead.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Okay so in the way of my new and improved housewife program today was a wash. I started off really well, I finished up any miscellaneous jobs in the kitchen and living room (like you know, washing the windows), cleaned the bathrooms, and made two loafs of bread. After marveling about how good I feel when I am domesticated, I went to lunch with my sister and it was all downhill from there. She invited me to her sister-in-law's 21st birthday party at 6 so I abandoned all my housekeeping plans and hurried over to my parents house to do some work in the veggie garden and trade a loaf of bread for a dozen eggs. As it turns out today was not a good day for garden work. First, it was 101 degrees (literally). Second, I have a serious fear of bees so after about 15 minutes of working in the garden I was sweating profusely from the heat and had been run off a plant on three separate occasions by a wasp. Needless to say I will be going back at 6am to embark on a second attempt.
On a less festive note, The High Park Fire has been burning out of control for the last two weeks and I am interested to see the new perimeter data after today's anti-fire control weather. I have seen reports saying that the fire is now over 100 square miles! and that containment dropped back to 45% today, but the best reports come from the sheriffs office each morning. On the one hand I am miserable, the smoke is killing my allergies and I have had a consistent sinus headache for almost two weeks now. On the other hand I feel guilty for thinking these thoughts being how my Aunt, Uncle, and their three kids have been evacuated from their home since the 9th and still don't know the status of their missing cats (although the humane society believes they are alive because "something is eating the cat food in the house, we just can't find the cats.") The sheriffs office has also evacuated 1000 additional people today (some of whom have been evacuated on 3 separate occasions). My heart and soul goes out to all the victims of the fire, and my serious support goes out to all those who are working on it. In conclusion, it is still 90 degrees outside despite being 11:30 at night and tomorrow is supposed to top out at 102 degrees with high winds. Please pray for all those effected by the fire.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Wow! I knew I was letting myself slip with the homemaking but apparently I was more behind that I had thought. My plan was to clean my house today, do a little bit of baking, and walk my dogs...doesn't seem that bad right? WRONG! turns out cleaning my house is going to be a two day adventure. As it turns out all I managed to get done was four loads of laundry, clean the living room and the kitchen, and go on one of the three planned dog walks.
Sounds pitiful right? To my credit I did clean those areas of my home well, I even cleaned the oven (see the product of 2 hours elbow grease below), vacuumed the edges and tossed out all the expired food in my fridge. Also, even though my border terrier climbed up on my lap and looked at me with the "you forgetting something? look" after lunch, the walk I did take them on is a mile and a half so we did both get some exercise, even if not as much as intended.
It's now 8:30 at night, much earlier than my normal bed time and I'm pooped! I believe that now I have earned some "me time" so I am going to set goals for tomorrow, take a bubble bath, and in good 50s housewife fashion, put my hair up in curlers just to make a repeat performance tomorrow.
Goals: My 50s housewife plan was on a whim and I now know why you should never ever start an undertaking like that, behind. I think I will spend the rest of this week setting the stage and begin my 50s housewife adventure on Monday! Tomorrow I hope to do a second round of laundry, make breakfast and dinner at home (going to lunch with my sister), finish the few things I have hanging over the kitchen and living room, and tackle the bathrooms. If I have any energy left after all that (plus walking the dogs of course) I may putter in the garden.
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