Yellow Wallpaper

This last week has been busy for me as I've been revisiting some of my old hobbies. I think it's kind of funny that I was much more of a 'homemaker' in high school; now that I have kids I sometimes feel too busy to do some of those old-school things. But this week I ended up really busting out the provident living skills. First I canned twelve quarts of peaches. It's still early for Utah peaches, but last weekend Bountiful Baskets was offering boxes of California peaches for only 11 dollars (for 25 pounds). I bought a box and managed to turn them into lovely jars of fruit. I did two batches and the first one was rather stressful since I haven't canned for years. I used to just freeze fruit, but now we have a tiny freezer and a large basement storage room. Thankfully I decided to try a second batch the next day and it was much easier after doing it once. Now I'm looking forward to doing applesauce and possibly some pears. Last year I made a ton of jam and I s...

Tonight my mom called while I was making dinner and we commiserated for a while on the fact that the world seems to be going to pot these days. She suggested that we start up my grandparents' farm again and live off the land, but as much as I love Star Valley I don't want to live some place where winter lasts for nine months of the year. The point of this is to say that feeling stressed about the economy and the fact that Mr. Fob has sent out a number of applications with no response whatsoever has piled on top of my end-of-quarter assignments and left me feeling kind of down. So I thought I'd write a few things that I'm proud of about myself and invite you to do the same, either here in comments or on your own blog. 1. By next Thursday I have two big research papers that are due. Today I finished a first draft (it's rough, but there) of one and I have an outline and notes ready for the other one that I'm going to start tomorrow. I haven't always been focuse...

I have noticed during my time on the internet that blogging about being a mom tends to swing back and forth between two extremes. Either we work hard to reassure ourselves that we are alright as we are, that we are doing plenty for our children, and that it's perfectly fine to be "lazy". The other extreme is the ideal of perfection--that moms should work hard to provide decorated homes, nutritious meals, cute clothes, inspired teaching, and a variety of other things for their kids. I have pretty much always fallen on the "lazy mom" side, and have even caught myself feeling judgemental of those who expend extra effort on their children. I think where I'm at right now is trying to find some balance somewhere in the middle. Kids like the little things; they like stuff like fun invitations to parties, cakes shaped like buses, and nicely wrapped gifts. Doing things for others is a way to show that you care about them. I think the problem comes in when we do thi...