Let’s face it – Most of the time, mothering and homemaking is pretty much a thankless job. Even if you have the world’s most unselfish children, and a tender, communicative, appreciative husband or partner, you just aren’t going to hear “thank you” as often as you deserve it.
After you serve everyone a particularly delicious meal, you might hear kind words about your cooking, or a thank you for the tasty food. Once or twice in your marriage your husband might let you know how much he appreciates coming home to a clean house, or always having clean laundry to wear. In your dreams, you might overhear him telling someone how lucky he is to come home to a comfortable, well appointed house he can be proud of.
But there are so many little things you do every day that nobody else but you probably notices.
The windows are always clean, because well, you clean them every month. The bathrooms never look dirty – did little magical elves come in last night and scrub the toilets? Wow, there’s always lots of good things to eat in the pantry – some fairy must have gone to the store and made thoughtful selections. And do you think anybody but you will notice that recently all the light switches in the house were de-fingerprinted, and if you run your hand along the top of the wood trim over your doorway, it won’t come away dusty? Did pixies come in the night and dust the baseboards? Nobody else probably notices, but you can see them gleaming.
THANK YOURSELF
Go ahead today and give yourself some mental pats on the back for your hard work. (Quietly, no muttering under your breath!) Walk through a room you’ve worked on lately that you’re proud of. Sit in one of your cozy, restful rooms. Open your linen cupboard and look at your carefully arranged stacks; peek in your well-organized pantry and admire your food stocks. Peep into your children’s rooms (only if they’re clean though) to see the safe haven you’re providing for them. Put your feet up for a few moments, relax with tea and a magazine or catalog, and honor yourself and your home efforts.
QUICK THINGS TO DO TODAY:
- Empty or fill dishwasher if needed. It feels so nice to have cupboards full of clean dishes; or an empty kitchen sink because you’ve put everything in the dishwasher.
- Sock sorting day! Grab a sock drawer that needs it and start sorting. If the drawer belongs to someone else other than an infant, give that drawer to that person and race them with your own drawer. Give up on any mismatched socks, tossing them into the rag bin. Your family likely has more than enough matching pairs to get you all through the next year without you needing to hold onto holey socks or socks with no mates.
- Are you hosting an Oscars party this year? (The Oscars air on Sunday, February 26)? If so, have you sent out invites, set your menu, made your lists for shopping and cleaning?
TODAY’S PROJECT: Guest Room Checkup
Remember how hard we worked back in November to get our guest rooms ready for the holidays? Well that was over three months ago, and my guest room is a bit dirty and messy again.
I don’t have any overnight guests coming that I know of – perhaps just three little cousins over the weekend. But life is full of surprises, so I want my guest room to be ready to go.
I’m washing windows, laundering the curtains, dusting the nightstand, dusting the lamp (and bulb), making sure there is a coaster for a glass of water, putting out a fresh box of Kleenex, dusting the baseboards, vacuuming, laundering the sheets and bedding (they’re dusty from sitting out for over a month unused), removing a box of keepsakes that should be stored in the closet, and removing clutter that wandered in here.
I’ll finish by spraying a “fresh linen” scented room spray in the room.
LOVELY BLOGS: A Good Appetite
This blog is by a couple in Minneapolis. They blog about interesting, tasty looking foods, such as pancakes with brie and cloudberries; potato, onion and endive tart; and something called drunken pig chocolates.
http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com/
LOVELY COSMETICS: Estee Lauder’s “Mad Men” Line
Estee Lauder is launching a line of “Mad Men” show-inspired cosmetics just in time for the new season in March. So far the line only includes a lipstick and a creme rouge (both are colors I absolutely love). I hope they add a few more options.