I've always admired both Martha Stewart and Betty Crocker. As a young adult, my friends called me Martha Crocker and would show up at my office at 5pm with a bag of groceries and would ask me to cook them dinner (They'd even do the dishes! Those were the days) In High School, living overseas, I'd see SO many women (mostly military wives) who didn't know how to do so many of the things that I thought were basic skills (my mother had always done them) like mending, cooking, balancing a checkbook, trimming hair, etc.
So, I decided very early that I didn't want to be in that situation. I started taking every Home Ec class available. I took Cosmotology classes. I took woodworking classes. I took basic auto repair classes. I took every childcare class I could. I even took a gardening and a leatherworking class.
10+ years later many of the skills I learned have left me. But, the basics are still there. Maybe that's why it is that I will watch any episode of Martha Stewart or many of the cooking shows. I love the idea of her, the possibilities that it presents to everyone and that we have the opportunity to take (or not) any skill we want and learn it.
I find though, that I put unrealistic expectations on myself. My home needs to be decorated to the utmost possibility. Everything needs to coordinate as you move from room to room (doesn't happen). Everything has a place - and should always be IN it's place unless it's being used (that would explain the room of moving boxes, right??). Cabinets should be elegantly organized and items should not be mashed in where an extra spot of space is found. One should always have a simple (or extravagant) treat/dessert onhand to serve unexpected guests - and have a matching or coordinating beverage also. My home needs to be immaculately clean (this is SOOO not the case - even with just two of us!). Some of these expectations are not unrealistic - but some of them are. I suppose I should sit down with myself and have a heart-to-heart conversation. I need to decide what Marthaisms are really important to me, and which Heatherisms can just move in. Perhaps then I can relax!
Am I alone in my MarthaCrocker-ness?
~heather
1 comment:
I feel your pain and know the need- but it's like trying to swim upstream to have a place for everything and everything in it's place with 4 kids under 6 in the house. I keep telling myself that someday I'll be able to put things down and come back 5 minutes later and see it still sitting there....
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