Novice Housewifery: Keeping things Alive

I've always had a love of nature...plants, mountains, whatever. I don't know if it's my feminine need to care for other living things, or my somewhat-hippie mother who taught me the values of recycling and gardening (love you mom!), or my years in the girl scouts. Unfortunately, whatever its source, my love of living things has not translated into the ability to keep them alive. (Aside: this does not apply to Jack and Dan, they are both still alive and healthy) Nearly all of my attempts at keeping house plants or container gardening have ended in dry shriveled leaves that mark yet another failure.

But my new residence has a yard, and therefore a chance to actually grow things in the ground...hopefully. A few weeks ago, walking through our previously neglected an unkept yard to take out the trash, Daniel and I spotted this:

Yes! We have grapevines in our backyard! I always imagined them as a sort of delicate plant, but these vines seem to be doing okay, or at least are still bearing fruit, in spite of being very tangled and overgrown.

So I'm thinking maybe this is my chance. I can try to cultivate a plant that someone else has already established and seems to be doing alright on its own. In addition to the delicious fruit, these vines also have horrible snarly sections that would make you think you just walked into a Tim Burton movie. So I spent the afternoon today trimming off dead fruitless branches and reading up about grapevines. Let's see how this goes!

Home Sweet Home, Vol. 2

Surprised to see me? I know, life has been pretty crazy lately, and I'm finally getting caught up on life, and now the blog. Anyway, after a year of living in Denver, we've had the time to find a home more suited to our needs. So, for all our friends and family outside of Colorado, here's a peek into our new place. I don't have a very steady hand, so it's not the best, but enjoy!

Travels: Kim's Wedding

A couple weeks ago I traveled to Virginia for Kim's wedding.

I have never seen her more happy in the entirety of our friendship.

And after being with Michael for, what was it, 6 years? It was the most long awaited wedding I have ever been to. I believe Kim knew this day was in her future for most of those six years.

And so I have also never been to another wedding where I was so happy for the couple or so positive they were meant to be!

Kim and Michael, congratulations! I know you will continue to love and care for each other more and more for the rest of your days, and I am so glad you found each other! (Enjoy the hike!)

Also during my trip, I had the blessings of being able to see my wonderful friends Megan, Skye, and Robby, who I had not seen since the week of my own wedding; enjoying a belated Christmas dinner with my parents; and visiting with the in-laws and their new beagle, Maxwell Smart.

Novice Housewifery: Not Living in Filth

I belong to the generation of TMI. With the introduction of twitter, I can know, at the click of a button, when all my loved ones are getting coffee, watching their favorite tv show, or popping a zit. And while sometimes these things just seem unnecessary, there is a beauty in it. We're a generation that shares our lives with each other. Sometimes what seems like TMI is also letting each other know that we don't have it all together. Every once in a while social media gives us a chance to pull down the facade of perfection and learn that you're not the only one struggling with exercise goals, or career direction, or loneliness, or depression. So, TMI generation, I dedicate this blog post to you. I have decided to air my dirty laundry. Literally.

A funny thing happens when you go from living alone to living with another person. You suddenly have twice as many dirty dishes, twice as much laundry, and everything just seems to get dirty twice as fast. But wait, don't you also have another person with whom to share the burden of this labor? Of course! What a blessing! Except for one thing, neither Daniel nor I were very good at keeping our apartments clean before we got married. So the struggle continues.

Why do I get the funny feeling I'm actually supposed to use all this stuff?

Ask my mom, I've never been a very neat and tidy person. Sometimes it just seems physically impossible to keep the apartment clean! So I'm starting a new plan. I've made a list of the chores that should be done about once a week and those that should be done daily, we'll see how long this lasts.

Weekly To Do List:

I know I'm being a little ambitious here, considering our normal habits. (Insert quote about the moon, stars, and projectiles)

-clean bathrooms

-dust/vacuum

-laundry (just a load or two)

-manage budget/pay bills

-more of whatever needs to be done the most

That's five things, leaving me two days a week off, plus my wild card day to make up for which ever other day I slacked on during the week.

Then there's the Daily List:

-wash dishes

-scoop kitty litter

-pick up Dan's trail of soda cans

So today was day one of this plan. I have a (kind of) spotless kitchen, cleaned one bathroom, and picked up all the soda cans. I've decided to judge how this is working, not by whether or not I stick to this list perfectly, but if, using this as a guideline, the apartment is generally cleaner than it was before. And, with Dan's help, (he's not allergic to laundry and does most of the cooking) I think this just might work. I'll keep you posted.

While living in Findlay, I picked up a 1968 book about housekeeping at an antique store. It features helpful chapters such as, "How to Make a House Smell Good."

So there you have have it. I live in a mess for weeks at a time. The sink is usually full of dishes. We often have more dirty clothes than clean. And I don't care who knows it! Here's to you, my generation of twitter followers, may you never feel alone in your struggles!