Carving
Happy Halloween! (Also known at our house as the Best Holiday Ever).
Category: Uncategorized
Domestic Duty Day
Soundtrack to this post: CBC’s Tapestry program on Gospel Music.
On the stove: water boiling for pasta, and white sauce simmering, because, yes, my Fooey shall get her macaroni and cheese supper tonight. In the oven: two large squashes baking, to be put to use for soup tonight, and possibly for winter squash bars (but will the kids eat them?). On the counter: a cooler filled with yogurt-in-process. On the kitchen floor: an enormous basket of laundry waiting to be folded. In the basement: two small children watching a movie.
And on the dining-room table: herbs drying. Now, this is an experiment. The kids and I went out to harvest what we’ve grown this year, much of it perennial and unplanned: must not let it go to waste. What amazing scents. Spearmint, lavender, basil, thyme, and celery. The celery freezes well to be used in Christmas stuffing. I also freeze the basil into cubes for pesto. I’m drying the other herbs. This all seems so easy and pleasurable that I’m wondering what other herbs I could plant. Favourites and recommendations, please!
:::
I am now calling Tuesdays and Thursdays my “domestic duty days.” I am home on these days, with the two littlest children, and I am experiencing what it’s like to work part-time in a serious way with all the domestic work tucked into a smaller squeeze of time. I like the rhythm. Wednesdays and Fridays are writing days, with a combination of school, nursery school, and a wonderful babysitter taking on the childcare for six straight hours. Mondays, I have the morning to work, but find that’s not enough, so I’ve been using that time instead to do organizational work, to exercise, and to volunteer in Fooey’s class.
Run, Mama, Run
Have I mentioned that I’m running a trail run today? It’s part of my triathlon project, and having not run since high school (and having shown no particular talent back then), I am filled with rather unpleasant sensations of nervous anxiety. My goals are small: I would like to finish the race, and ideally, I would like to finish the race without stopping to walk. I know that I can run 8km, but I don’t know what it will be like to run with others around me; I have a competitive personality that I spend most of my time repressing, but it might flash out to ill effect during the race. (It’s not that I think being competitive is a bad thing; but life is so much more enjoyable when the element of competition is removed … at least, that’s true for me).
Kevin is very excited. The children are only interested in my prospects of winning. When I told them that there is no way I will win, nor is that my goal, they were nothing but baffled. Why enter, if you know you’re not going win? Why indeed.
I’ve done a very poor job of soliciting pledges for the charities involved (KidsAbility and the Rotary Club), but if anyone out there would like to sponsor this new runner, please click here.
:::
We had another “first day” yesterday: CJ started nursery school. He will be attending three mornings a week, giving me more time to write and work. He wasn’t overly enthusiastic at drop-off time (Kevin managed that), but he was in fine spirits when I picked him up. And he was still wearing the same pants.
Tomorrow it will be Fooey’s turn for her “first day,” as a senior kindergartner.
:::
This morning, it’s just been me and the two little kids. I put on classical music and we played on the floor, then popped popcorn, and did puzzles. It was so peaceful with the music in the background. We don’t listen to music often enough, in a background, mood-setting, soothing kind of way. Usually if we turn it on, it’s loud kids dance music, and not conducive to good behavior or talking (though excellent for rowdy energized indoor play). My goal is to play more music more often, in the background, so that it’s part of their hidden knowledge, their brain-maps, among the things that they will grow up knowing without knowing that they do.
Home Economy Audit
Here is a list of domestic duties at our house (unpaid), as mentioned in my previous post.
Note: this was really fun to do!
Daily chores
– plan menus, prepare food, serve food, store food
– set table, clear table, wipe table and counters and clean under chairs
– wash dishes, put away dishes
– clean counters and sink in bathrooms
– sort laundry, wash laundry, hang laundry to dry, fold laundry, put away folded clothes
– water plants
– tend to children’s hygiene: bath/showers (3 x weekly), clip nails (weekly), brush hair (daily during school year)
– tend to younger children’s toileting needs
– organize creative activities for children (home-based)
– get children to and from school/nursery school
– empty backpacks, fill out forms from school, empty lunchboxes
– make school lunches
– supervise homework, piano/guitar/drum practice, theory homework
– arrange and supervise playdates
– bedtime: snacks, toothbrushing, reading/singing to children
– check and update scheduling calendar
– update grocery/pharmacy list
– tidy toys, books, puzzles, games in main downstairs rooms
– empty garbage, compost, recycling; take to curb (weekly); clean composter
Weekly chores
– grocery shop, order and pick up food from buying club
– make laundry detergent
– bake bread, make granola (bi-weekly), bake cookies and muffins, make yogurt (bi-weekly)
– clean toilets (bi-weekly); replace toilet paper, refill soaps
– vacuuming
– arrange outside childcare/babysitting
– outdoor, seasonal: water plants, tend garden, mow grass, sweep patio, tidy outdoor toys, shovel snow
– library visits, keep track of books due
– family meetings; allowance
– banking; bills; budgeting
– tidy toys in upstairs rooms (children’s rooms and playroom)
– change sheets
Seasonal
– canning and freezing
– arrange extra-curricular activities/lessons/camps, pack supplies necessary, provide transportation, entertain children who have to go along but are not involved
– sort and size children’s clothing/coats; organize by size in attic; give away; buy shoes/boots/etc.
– arrange for repairs (ie. appliances)
– birthday planning
– thorough cleaning/organizing of house and garage and yard
– apply sunscreen (beach/outdoor swimming/mid-day)
– pest control
Yearly
– eye appointments, dentist appointments, dr. appointments (as needed)
Evening Outing
Sunday evening, we biked to a picnic gathering in the nearby park, joining other local food enthusiasts in a potluck of amazing variety and in overwhelming quantities. Delicious fun. It was also fun doing something as a family, and I thought, we must not waste these long summer evenings.
So the very next day, I organized a picnic/cycling adventure. As soon as Kevin got home from work, we put the finishing touches on the food, jammed it all into the bike stroller along with the kids, and headed out on a rather longer haul to a little creek-side spot the kids and I found last summer. This summer, someone had added a swing. It was a challenging pull there, mostly uphill, with at least 100 pounds in the stroller behind (though coming home was a breeze). I took my camera.
We laid out a picnic blanket, ate, talked, and then went for an after-supper wade in the creek, which included dam-building, and rock-hopping, and of course ended with two out of four children getting completely soaked. I scrounged the diaper bag for dry clothes, and Fooey had to make-do with a pair of shorts sized for a two-year-old, but she and CJ shared the picnic blanket and laughed and played all the way home. The happiest I’ve seen them in the stroller EVER. They were pretending to be spies and were hiding from people. The sun shone and there was so much green.
Tonight, I am planning another family outing, to make up for the general dullness of the every day (friends away or otherwise occupied, babysitter here this morning, distracted mama; though we did read more from The Hobbit, and I sent everyone to run around the yard for ten minutes before “quiet time.”) Our evening activity, if all goes as planned, is a bike ride to the outdoor pool, and a swim before bed.
After the Ceremony
Sparkling cider in champagne flutes. Flowers. Dancing. Piggy-back rides. Oh, did I mention that the wedding took place in the couple’s backyard? A beautiful space perfected for the day. And now they’re off to a honeymoon (two weeks!) in Nicaragua.