DIY Projects, making a plan

Making Baby Food

notdomesticmagic@gmail.com

It happened to me again tonight. Another mother said I was amazing and that she could never do what I do.

First of all, that’s crap.

Second, she is a great mother. She gives so freely of her heart to both the children she gave life to and those who came to her through marriage, even when her love is not returned, even rejected.  I admire that about her a lot.

Our families  were having dinner together tonight, and she was admiring my refrigerator (Yes, I know how lame that sounds, but whatever, I like my fridge.). She opened my freezer and noticed the ice cube trays were filled with something orange.  When I told her it was baby food for Thor, she looked at me with a look of a combination of amazement, bewilderment, and shame.  She told me she didn’t know how to do that, and her kids had never been able to have homemade baby food.  When I told her it wasn’t hard at all to do, it was obviously she didn’t believe me and the conversation moved on.

But even now, I’m bothered by her disappointment in herself.  Ladies, it really isn’t that hard to make homemade baby food, I’ll show you. Before I do, I want you to remember something. If you do not make your own, and you buy whatever you can from Wal-Mart, that doesn’t make you a second-class mom. Moms have been buying store bought food for decades and you know what? Their kids are now happy, healthy, contributing members of society too. So, there will be no self-mom-shame about this. Okay?

 

Here is what you need:

  1.       A pot with a lid OR a steamer of some kind
  2.       A blender OR food processor
  3.       Ice cube trays
  4.       Desired vegetables

 

Continue reading “Making Baby Food” →

DIY Projects, Story Time

For Real, It’s Not Magic

notdomesticmagic@gmail.com

 

A few years ago, I took a class from a woman at our church on how to make bread.   It was just a 15 or 20 of us sitting in the back corner of the gym on a Saturday morning, but it really was a turning point for me and my outlook on much of how I run my home.

Janette was in her late 60’s, her family had been member of our church since before anyone could remember.  Her and her husband raised 5 sons who were all happily married with children of their own and all living within 30 miles of home.   I first meet her early in my college career, she hosted a Sunday lunch after church that was open to anyone.   There were usually 3-4 of her son’s and their families, anywhere from 2-20 college kids and anyone else who looked lost and hungry after church.     Because of these lunches, which I should point out is one of the only ways I survived college, her cooking skills were known far and wide.    Especially her homemade rolls and homemade jelly that was served with every meal.

It. Was. Amazing.

So when I heard that she was teaching how to make those amazing rolls I had to go, even if I never got it right I had to at least try.  As we were getting set up a few of the woman were laughingly doubting their potential bread making skills. (I was one of them for sure) She stopped us and said that making bread really was easy, but that for some reason the skill had been elevated to almost celebrity status.   She added that lots of woman who know how to do it, want to keep it that way, like they have skill that makes them superior to the rest of us.  That they have a domestic magic.  It was after that day that I started to wonder if all the mothers around me, who’s lives looks so perfect and put together, were just faking it.  Maybe they did not all possess some magic that was out of my reach, maybe it really was just smoke and mirrors.

She is right it really is pretty easy to make your own bread or rolls, I’ll show you sometime.

Because for real, it’s not magic.

Story Time

Meet the Mitchells

notdomesticmagic@gmail.com

 This is us.

I’m really proud of this picture for a few reasons.    First is I love all these people with my whole heart. Second, the amount of work it took have this picture taken was intense.

Let me introduce you to the kids first,

 

“The General”

     His name is such because he shares it with two great Generals in American History, AND because he believes he overseas everything about here.     I often remind him that he is still a child  and does not have the authority to command and issue discipline to his younger siblings.  (He is not convinced)  His sweet and tender disposition is often over shadowed by his ability to be “all boy”   He is fast, loud, active and fearless.   (to the point that when he yell’s “hey Mom watch this!”  I can feel another hair of mine go grey)

“Edison”

Named because he wants to know how everything works, everything. He asked me questions like “how does a coal factory make power?”  and “why is dinner taking so long to cook” and everything in-between.     He is my quietest child, content to play alone, but happy to play with others.   He is blissfully unaware of social norms, always hungry and can never find his shoes.

Continue reading “Meet the Mitchells” →

Story Time

A world I don’t understand.

notdomesticmagic@gmail.com

I have 4 sons and I am learning that despite having a brother of my own, and working in a male dominated field for 15 years, I still can be at a loss for words.

The other day, headed into the store, as I’m walking across the parking lot I hear, “Mommy wait a second, my penis is stuck to my leg I gotta fix it!”

What do I do with that?  

(I just pretended I didn’t seem him adjust himself in the parking lot)

Story Time

Conversation with a 3 year old

notdomesticmagic@gmail.com

It has been raining here for the last few days, and that means different things to different people, and even people in different walks of life. Some see a cold and wet day at work, some see an excuse for a fire in the fireplace, some are just reminded they need new wiper blades.  For me, at the moment, it means that my kids didn’t get to play outside at all, and that’s not good.

I have heard that there are children that like to sit calmly and color. Or play quietly on the living room floor after being inside all day.

I think these children are urban myths.

Continue reading “Conversation with a 3 year old” →

DIY Projects

Google

notdomesticmagic@gmail.com

My Mom has been staying with me for the last week or so because my husband is out-of-town. Tonight over our nightly cup of tea (yes I know that makes me sound about 100 years old, whatever I like tea), I looked at her and said, “Mom, what did you do before google?” She smiled and asked what made me ask such a thing? Here is what I explained to her.

I’ve been working on cleaning out a spot in our yard,  I had gone as far as I could without cutting down a bunch of tall grass and weeds. So, I went to the shop and pulled out our Weed Whacker. Now, I’ve used them before, not much , but enough to get it started.  For the record, my sons were very impressed when it started on the 4th pull. I had reclaimed a solid 7 square feet when I ran out of string.

Continue reading “Google” →

Story Time

Shoe Problem

notdomesticmagic@gmail.com

I think I had a hard day today.

After working full time since I was 19 (I'm not tell you how long ago that was)  I quit my job to stay home with my kids full time. Now to be honest I never thought staying at home was going to be easy, not for a second, and I knew that I would find new things that are hard.   What I didn't expect is how often I would be stumped with a problem that I just didn't know how to solve and I'm pretty sure I did not handle well.   Like today, we have a seemingly epic shoe problem.  There are 6 of us who wear shoes every day. That's 12 feet, and each foot has no less than 4 shoes that fit it, which means that  there is a minimum estimate of 48 shoes in my house at any time.

Now you would think with all those shoes it would be pretty easy to find at least 2 that fit your feet in any given moment, Especially with the "easy toss-them-in-this-bucket" system I have right by the front door. Nope. Still can't find any shoes, ever.

Today after for the 9th time of telling my older boys to put their shoes away so they could find them when they needed them, AND I didn't have to trip over them, I kinda snapped.
I picked up 4 sneakers and called their names as I walked to the front door. Then as they watched I stepped out onto the front porch and hurled the shoes one at a time as far as I could into the woods. I'm not proud of it, and I don't really think it did any good, except make the kids laugh and also maybe point out to me that I might need a different approach to my day if shoes are pushing me that close to the edge.

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