Some days are better than others

If you, like me, were never taught to meal plan, cook, clean, organize, budget, or care for children, becoming a homemaker is quite the lesson in humility.  You’d figure women have been doing this sort of thing for thousands of years and it would all just come to you as some sort of X chromosome linked birthright.  Not so much.

For example, the first time I baked bread (which was all of two weeks ago), I used a standing mixer as called for in the Cook’s Illustrated recipe.  My husband, who has more experience in the kitchen than I do, warned me about the potential for a suicide attempt on the part of this appliance when used to mix dough.  I was, however, behind in the dishes and needed the loaf pan, which I had used for the prior nights meatloaf.  After establishing that the mixer didn’t appear to be moving all that much on the countertop I turned my back on the standing mixer for all of thirty seconds.  Of course, I had the door to the dishwasher open to receive my soon to be cleaned loaf pan.  BANG!!!  The standing mixer hit the open dishwasher door on the way down, bending it pretty remarkably, as it crashed to the ground.  My husband came running.  Having established no one was hurt, he started laughing and did his best Ricky Ricardo “Luuuuuucccyyyyy!!!  What have you done?” imitation.  Thank God I married a patient man.  Who is able to fix dishwasher doors.  The bread turned out wonderful.

Ooopppsss....  At least I'm not the first to have more misadventures than adventures!

In retrospect, it’s easy to see I was asking for trouble.  Lessons learned?  First, don’t try to multitask when you’re doing something completely new.  Second, if you hear the word “suicide” and “appliance”, don’t turn your back for a second.  Treat it like a baby on a changing table.  Third, there is absolutely no replacement for a good humored, loving husband.

It’s slow going learning how to keep a home.  I read forums and books, talk to friends and, slowly but surely, figure out things along the way.  Even though some days feel like absolute disasters, I look around the house now compared to a few months ago, and it’s amazing what a difference it makes when I apply the time and energy I used to spend making money for my boss to making my home for my family instead.

We now have a meal plan every week, which we pretty much stick to.  No one wants to go out to dinner, because we have really good food here.  Our financial worries are minimal because the money we save by meal planning, line drying laundry, repurposing and reusing adds up.  Our debts are being paid off at a fantastic rate, even though we’re making less money than six months ago.

This post, of course, is inspired by today just being rough.  Rough in no particular, easy to nail down way that might be funny in retrospect like the bread thing.  Fussy baby (tooth number three appears to be on the way), cranky mommy, dismal weather, and a few minor crises.  I’m just trying to offer it all up.