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Category Archives: Happy Homemaking

Be glad you’re not related to me

Written on March 23, 2009 by Jennifer in Extended Fam, Happy Homemaking, Pictures

My in-laws came for an extended visit and since Tate and I do not believe in just GIVING AWAY free room and board, even to our families despite 8 hour drives to visit us, we put them to work.

For 3 LONG days, Tate and his dad worked and built a fire pit in our backyard. I’ll admit that I totally didn’t see the point of Tate’s project and that I was certain it was going to be more of a fire TOWER than a fire PIT. He proved me wrong. It turned out amazing.

Did I mention it took 3 days (and 2 bottles of Advil) to complete? Maybe when Tate recovers, we’ll work on the landscaping around the fire pit.

While the men were outside getting stinky, my mother-in-law and I made over my guest room. I think it looks like something out of a magazine.

The pictures don’t do the room justice, they don’t show off the high ceilings and the wood floors. Also, somehow I didn’t get a picture of the lamp my MIL hand painted.

As if a fire pit and a room makeover weren’t enough, I enlisted my mother-in-law to help me with the window treatments on the two glass patio doors off of my kitchen.

These stupid patio doors have caused me a ridiculous amount of stress, trying to figure out what to do for window treatments. Privacy isn’t really much of an issue, but in the afternoons, the sun streams in and temporarily blinds us, so I needed something that could easily be raised and lowered, but NOT be blinds. I also needed to make these myself because I refused to pay the equivalent of college tuition for custom window treatments.

My MIL and I brainstormed and came up with a great, custom-looking solution for the problem. (FINE, IT WAS ALL MY MIL’S IDEA. YOU CAUGHT ME, ARE YOU HAPPY?!)

Heavy duty fabric
Fabric for lining the curtains
Heavy duty ribbon/webbing
Stitch Witchery
Velcro fasteners
Rod for hanging the curtains. I used Magnetic curtain rod because I have steel doors and didn’t want to drill holes into them.
Thread to match the curtain fabric
scissors, straight pins

Isn’t my vintage sewing machine adorable! (FINE IT’S NOT MINE, IT’S MY MOM’S. SHEESH, YOU ALL ARE SUCH STICKLERS FOR THE TRUTH.)

It had been a long time since I’d sewn anything other than a button on, so I had to read the directions that came with the sewing machine.

Threading the bobbin was like riding a bike. Except with less soreness in the crotch region.

The curtains turned out pretty well, with mostly straight seams. We used the velcro to hold the rolled curtain in place. When the sun gets to blinding, the green webbing can be released and the curtains hang down about halfway down the window.

Here’s the finished look! Looks pretty nice, huh?

I think my in-laws earned their keep. We might invite them back sometime.

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I want to thank each of you for the thoughtful and supportive comments on my last post. I really wanted to reply to so many of them, but I got overwhelmed, then I got busy (see above). Thank you for telling me I was overthinking things, for reminding me why I blog, for sticking with me. Thank you.

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The way things are

Written on June 24, 2008 by Jennifer in Happy Homemaking, hole-y matrimony, Mommydom, my stream of consciousness, Randomness

Some days I’m completely at peace with the way things are in my life. I’ve more or less chosen this life, the one where I’m a stay-at-home mom of two kids and I’m a supportive and loving wife. In fact, when I imagined my life while growing up, I wanted to get married, make babies, and cook dinner. My Barbie dolls were forever pregnant, hanging around the Barbie house, driving the Barbie purple corvette, all paid for by Ken.

But with accepting my life the way things are, means accepting that the bulk of home related tasks rests upon my often weary shoulders. It means that I do laundry, and pick up all the water bottles someone leaves all over the house, I plan the majority of meals, I know when we’re out of diapers and Teddy Grahams and soy sauce. These aren’t necessarily bad or unfair responsibilities, but things that occasionally make me feel bitter and overworked.

I hear my husband talk about his career and we discuss his plans for the future. They really are our plans for the future, but with the way things are, it means that I agree to move, uproot our family, and lose my safety net of friends every few years for his career. In other words, I don’t really feel like I have any control over my own future as it’s completely based on what happens to Tate. I haven’t pursued getting licensed as a Speech-Language Pathologist in nearly three years because I’ve been the devoted wife who’s agreed to move twice and put my career on hold to raise our children. But I do realize that the way things are, are because I chose this.

Tate has two business dinners and a softball game this week, which he didn’t have to think twice about since he didn’t need to worry about childcare for his two kids. Of course I’ll be home to take care of them, that’s what I do. I stay home and tend to the children. But when I have an opportunity to go out in the evening with friends or when I plan on going out of town for a little blogging conference, I have to make sure Tate will be home or ask my Mother-in-law to come watch the children. I don’t get to just make plans and go and be free.

I don’t mean to sound like Tate is a modern day neanderthal that comes home and pounds his chest and demands dinner and his woman stay home, care for children. It isn’t that way at all. If I weren’t generally happy with the way things are, he’d be fine with me pursuing my career, though I doubt the household responsibilities and childcare arrangements would change if I were working outside the home.

This is just one of those days when I have a hard time feeling content with my chosen lot in life, despite it being EXACTLY what I always wanted.

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Male Pattern Blindness

Written on March 24, 2008 by Jennifer in Happy Homemaking, hole-y matrimony, Huh?, Men?

I have a question to ask about your husbands. Before I do, though, let me just be clear…I’m not saying that men are dumb idiots, ewww, yuck, blech MEN! No. I’m simply asking a question.

Let me set up the scenario. Husband can’t find something and calls to you to help him find it. “Honey! I can’t find the ointment/peanut butter/towels/shoes/whatever.”

You call back, “Honey! It’s right there on the shelf/in the drawer/on the floor/where ever!”

Somehow the Husband cannot find the item. You are beckoned to come find it for him. You are irritated because you KNOW that the item is RIGHT THERE. You huff and puff and roll your eyes on your way to find this item for him.

And voila! There it is. It truly is RIGHT THERE. Husband would have found it if he had looked behind, over, beside….. Instead of putting any effort into the search, he asked for your help. Instead of being grateful, he’s irritated that it wasn’t in plain view, and that he’d have to actually LOOK.

This male pattern blindness, as I like to call it, also occurs in the kitchen. Let’s say that the Husband offers to clean up after dinner, but cleaning up only entails putting dirty dishes in the washer. It does not include wiping the counters, sweeping the floor, or hand-washing any items not suitable for the dishwasher. When the “over sight” is mentioned, the Husband claims not to have “seen” the smeary counters, crumby floor, or giant high chair tray in the sink.

Does this happen to all husbands or just the one I’m married to named Tate?

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When I Need Expert Advice, I Consult Mah Peeps on Teh Internetz

Written on March 18, 2008 by Jennifer in Ask Teh Internets, Happy Homemaking, photoshop fun, Pictures

I have a very serious medical condition. It’s called Icantdecorateforsh*t-itis. Please don’t worry, I know you want to help me and luckily FOR YOU, I think you can.

One of the symptoms of Icantdecorateforsh*t-itis is the inability to decorate a large patio door with anything besides UGLY VERTICAL BLINDS. Help! This will eventually will be a door that we will go in and out of frequently, although right now we don’t actually have a yard. In the mornings we need something that blocks the sun’s blinding fury.

I think my dilemma is obvious. Those blinds SCREAM 1990.

Yet another symptom of this very serious disease, is the utter and complete feeling of being overwhelmed when trying to figure out how to decorate this wall…

Please note the monstrosity that is our television, currently fulfilling the role of “focal point.” I’d like to hang some pictures along the wall next to the TV, but I’m afraid it will look terrible. Also, I wonder if I need some sort of table thing to “anchor” the pictures. How would something like this look? Table? No table?

You can help! For just one comment, you can cure me of Icantdecorateforsh*t-itis.

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I had the pleasure of meeting several great bloggers at the Indianapolis area blogger meet-up this past weekend. I would have written about it yesterday, but my thumb and elbow were too sore from bowling. Have I mentioned how much I love Indiana? Well, I DO.

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One last thing, you can check out my new celebrity buzz column over at Blissfully Domestic (among many other far better columns) every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday!

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It Just Keeps Getting Better? or Worse? or Better? or Worse?

Written on March 9, 2008 by Jennifer in Happy Homemaking, meijer, Pictures

Welcome to yet another installment of Jennifer’s Meijer adventures. I should be earning free groceries for all these Meijer laden posts. Are you listening Fred Meijer??

So the excitement today was this:

Meijer was on fire. (I’m a poet and didn’t even know it!) (I’m sorry that was lame.)

Really! Meijer was on fire while I was THERE this morning! I truly couldn’t make this stuff up.

As I paid for my groceries, I saw the manager rushing towards the deli with a fire extinguisher in hand. The cashier (who was an excellent bagger, by the way), nervously told me, “Ha! Yeah, there’s a fire. Ha. Ha, ha!,” and yelled at her manager, “send smoke signals if you need help!” (I’m sorry, again, that was also lame.)

I looked up and saw smoke billowing from the deli area.

And you know what a fire means, right? That’s right! Firemen! Raur!

Too bad they didn’t arrive until after I had pulled out of the parking lot. I might have needed to be revived by mouth to mouth resuscitation when I was overcome with smoke. *cough, cough*

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Thy Name is Suzie Homemaker and I Must Be Stopped

Written on March 7, 2008 by Jennifer in haiku friday, Happy Homemaking, Pictures

Thy name is Suzie
Homemaker. I bake cookies.
Bring on the butter.

Suzie Homemaker’s logic for baking oatmeal chocolate chip cookies…

1. OATmeal=HEALTHY. Even when the OATmeal is surrounded by butter, sugar, and chocolate chips.

2. There’s no need to add raisins to oatmeal cookies. This would be a healthy overload. The OATmeal is sufficient.

3. Butter is a better, healthier choice than Crisco or margarine. Crisco=lard. Margarine=weird hydrogenated oils. Butter=pure heaven from a cow. Therefore butter=healthy.

4. OATmeal (cookies) can indeed be a part of one day dieting. One must only eat half a cookie at a time. 8 halves of a cookie do not actually equal 4 cookies when you properly do cookie math. Cookie math is very complicated. No time to fully explain here, just trust me.

5. One must entertain the children on these long, cold winter days. What better than a enriching and educational lesson in measuring, mixing, baking, and tasting?