As the sun started to seep into the house I found myself feeling more energized and soon I was back at my normal pace. The stove got it's 3rd scrub down since we started this experiment and the house got a full dose of top cleaning as well as floor mopping. I think the house sort of twinkled with pleasure on Monday. And in the midst of my cleaning high, the tantrums began. Yes, we are quickly rounding the curve into terrible two territory and it has hit me harder than a sucker punch in the gut.
Alone in the laundry room, I found myself going over pep talks in my head as I made my way through the mountains of laundry (Monday is wash day). The sounds of my daughter screaming and shaking the baby gate as if she were going to break it down followed me down the basement steps. It was quite possibly the longest day I have ever lived.
But I am now a firm believer in miracles. Because around 3 in the afternoon, my prayers were answered and she actually fell asleep for an afternoon nap. Okay, maybe it wasn't actually a miracle and was merely the exhaustion that must follow the excruciating work of ridding your body of all of it's water by way of one's tear ducts, but she was asleep and there was silence . . . for TWO whole hours!
I quickly grabbed my son and pulled him into the kitchen where he would be well out of ear shot of his sister. I am so lucky that he loves to work with me. I set us up and we got to work in the kitchen as I started teaching him how to bake. We started with a recipe from 1950 for a Mayonnaise cake and finished up with my son's favorite treat, Banana Muffins with a hint of chocolate chip. It was the exact medicine for an exhausted and utterly frustrated mom. Watching my little guy kneeling on the floor in front of the warm oven growing more and more excited as his muffins rose in front of his eyes was priceless.
We were even able to start the dinner in peace but my little pistol was up as soon as that dish hit the oven rack. At least I got all the cooking done! Dinner was a delicious Shepard's Pie. The evening flew by as everyone seemed to be more relaxed and happy and before I knew it, the alarm was going off again this morning. Time really flies when all is peaceful.
The morning was actually quite enjoyable compared to yesterday. I took my time, flipped through some books and got to work on top cleaning. The house was still in pretty good shape from yesterday's cleaning. Granted, the cabinets are finally showing some dirty spots, but I figured putting that off one day wouldn't kill anyone. Ladies of the 50's must have taken some time for themselves, right?!
And that is what I wanted to do with my day. I have been missing sewing as much as I used to so I got to work re-purposing one more too small dress into an apron.
It is going to be so nice to have a few frillier aprons to wear as I work. There is something about dressing a little bit nicer that makes things feel a bit better. Even if you are just scrubbing down your bathroom.
And seriously, why aren't aprons still as popular as they were back then? Can I just say, since wearing an apron during my cooking and cleaning, I have not had any grease stains on my clothes! We are certainly a culture that loves fashion and expressing ourselves through our dress, why don't we try to protect them? On second thought, what a silly question this must be. In a world of fast fashion, no one truly values the outfit they are wearing. They can just replace it if it is ruined. In fact, in 2 months it will be out of style and they will be donating it anyhow. But I digress.
Back to my day . . . dinner was an easy meal today as we had a bit of snow and I knew hubby would have to shovel before he lost the daylight. So I waited to cook the meal until he actually arrived home and I made a homemade mac n cheese with a recipe from the Pioneer Woman. It was an easy make and I got to work on it while watching my kids running around and throwing snowballs at my hubby.
After our dinner we tried to relax but my littlest was in tantrum mode again and we spent most of the evening trying to get her to relax. Our efforts paid off but I am exhausted and now trapped under a sleeping beauty. But as my mind cleared, I was able to write a somewhat coherent post and my hubby has offered to make me another malted milkshake to take the edge off of the last two days. I'm going to go sip on some ice creamy goodness. But I promise to try to take a more adventurous stab at the 50's lifestyle in the next few days!
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