Good Enough

So two weeks ago whilst Missy was enjoying an Equestrian experience…really she’s enjoying herself, I don’t know what the deal is with her scowl in this photo! 

I decided that bringing my boys berry picking at the local U-pick farm would be a wonderful experience for ALL involved…umm…yeah. I guess I forgot about my experience berry picking with my mom as a child. The first fifteen minutes were delightful, and then I spent the next 2 hours wondering how my mom could search through every leaf, gleaning off the strawberries, moving down the long row at a snails pace. It wasn’t fun for me. It was torture!

Like I said, I must have forgotten all this, but it came flooding back to me in visions as I tried to pick as many berries as my pregnant body could handle. This one did okay for about 30 minutes. I had him sit across from me and I made it into a sort of contest. Buster is very competitive and was able to concentrate for the most part.

The problem was…my 2 year old. Don’t let the care free exterior fool you. He liked being in the strawberry patch, but he also like playing sword fights with the stakes at the end of the rows, throwing dirt clods, and running far far away until he just couldn’t hear mom call “COME BACK.” And when the 7 year old was sent to retrieve his little Bubba, fights ensued.

Oh it was a joyful day. My only goal was to get to the end of my rown. Scooting along on my bum because you KNOW I wasn’t leaning over with my big pregnant belly. I should mention that the row I was assigned was half the size of a normal row and I thought the goal was attainable.

In the end, after one tantrum and having to take the little one to the car to show him how serious I was about his behavior, we ended up with two whole flats! That was 11lbs. Not bad for two hours work and two bored children.

And the best part was what happened later when I made my very first homemade strawberry pies.

So worth it.

Every bite washed away the pain and agony of a hard day’s work!

Yet another adventure for the domestically challenged…

Kathryn wrote about her challenges she is facing with over-scheduling and becoming a little too ambitious in the home- making category. I don’t disagree with her on what she said about doing too much…to know her is to understand the hurricane that is the Daring Young Mom. When she does something, she does it with gusto and passion. Please read the post and take note of the beautiful pictures.

I, on the other hand, rarely feel overwhelmed by my domesticity. I don’t like feeling over-worked and under-appreciated. Mr.Good rarely notices if the house is clean or dirty. This frees up my need to clean for anyone other than myself. I warn my friends that they take their chances when coming to my house. You just never know what you going to get.

Although I love to cook, I hate grocery shopping, and the money I spend on rare ingredients that go into a delicious meal. After my third child was born I didn’t know how I was going to get dinner on the table ever again. I found the answer here and my life has become monumentally easier, and dinners have remained tasty.

I don’t sew, or craft, and I’m very bad with yeast products…my garden consists of 3 ears of corn, one pumpkin, 2 cherry tomato plants, 3 cucumber plants (2 if you don’t count the one that died) and a few pots of strawberry plants. These all get tended to when I feel like being outside with my kids.

I’m not trying to bash on myself, my strength remains in my ability to have fun with my kids. That’s why I became a mom…all the rest of this homemaking stuff is something I do to make life a little more interesting. I really do look at each new experience as an adventure. If you’re a stay-at-home-mom you have to find joy in small things.

Take the canning experience…I don’t think the canning was necessarily cheaper than buying a box of canned peaches at Costco, but I enjoy helping out the local economy and I like to know where my food comes from.

I also wanted to can because I wanted to understand part of my heritage. My mother and grandmother and great grandmother all had to can. I have some jars that they used. It was exciting to me to learn how it was done. I could have never done it alone, so I tricked Kathryn into doing it with me. She was fabulous and even started a day ahead of time and in doing so made all the mistakes before I got there. And she let me mess up her kitchen!

When I have my dream farm (which will hopefully come to pass in the next 5 years) I don’t want to waste the food that I toil over. I have visions of neighbors and friends coming over to reap what we’ve made. Heaven knows I need a good reason to get outside in this dreary Northwest weather, and animals and plants just might make me get out of bed in the morning. Despite the frigid, wet air.

I liked canning. Next time I’ll start it earlier in the day, and in a mere six hours I’ll finish two boxes with time left over to relax and watch some movies. That’s not necessarily something Great Grandmother could enjoy!  So take it easy on yourself people! Don’t do something you don’t want to do, unless it involves changing diapers and feeding the family. These are two must-do’s you can’t get out of them. Everything else is negotiable.