Non-domestic Goddess

So, I’m working on perfecting the whole stay-at-home-mom thing. I’m still writing, but my main job for the last nine-and-a-half months has been Olivia’s Mommy.

The stay-at-home part is no joke. This means I feel much more responsible for the variety of other at-home tasks that need done during the day, including laundry, dishes and more. Just because I feel responsible for these things, doesn’t mean I’m successful at completing them.

I’ll note for anyone out there who has never attempted to work as a baby caregiver 24/7 – it is exhausting. Every job I’ve had has times that required a lot of extra hours. None of my previous jobs have been as exhausting – or as rewarding – as this.

Before having a baby, before getting married, before meeting the hubby, I declared to my mother and some friends that I was pretty sure I was never going to get married because I was embarrassingly non-domestic. Not that I had ever envisioned myself as a domestic-superstar, but during a particular cookie-making effort (during which I realized I didn’t own a lemon zester, nor did I even know what the heck one was), I came to the harsh realization that I would probably never make my way to a man’s heart through his stomach.

Don’t get me wrong, I can cook, but because of my stubbornly, structured brain, there has to be a plan. I like to have everything set out before I start. I like to have a recipe, just in case. These things just aren’t always realistic, so in my singleness, I was a big fan of instant and frozen items.

For Christmas after the cookie fiasco, I was gifted not one, but two lemon zesters. One month later, along came the hubby.

He loves to cook, and he is pretty darn great at it. He was not offended by my lack of domestic skill in the kitchen. It worked great, especially because I got home from my former job about an hour after him. We didn’t have to eat dinner really late just because I was home late.

Since Olive joined our lives, the hubby has continued cooking dinner (which I couldn’t be more thankful for), but today, he got called into work unexpectedly for about five hours.

So, with the babe by my side, tonight I made dinner! OK, so I realize this is not an amazing task for a great many people, but for this lady, it was a big accomplishment. Miss Olive was thankfully an angel. She sat with me snacking on butter braid pretzel sticks while Mama whipped up some mean Sloppy Joes – a meal I had never even eaten until about a year and a half ago.

Sloppy Joes might not be a five-star dinner, but they tasted good. And, the effort saved the hubby from having to cook a whole meal once he got home (though he admittedly did help finish up a side dish while I fed Olivia her dinner).

Former successes: Directing a community theater production – check. College degree – check. Established successful journalism/communications career – check. Led major successful fundraising campaign – check.

Today’s success: Tasty Sloppy Joes for dinner – check.

It’s the small accomplishments like this that I now take such great pride in. And I’m really happy with that.