Giving up on being Superwoman

This year off of teaching has given me loads of free time, right?  What does a stay-at-home mom do with all of that time?!  I must be failing at housewifery if I'm not living in a pristine house, cooking extravagent meals ready at 6pm every day, and exposing my child to all the available learning opportunities.  In case you haven't realized yet, I'm being sarcastic.  Articles on the stressful lives of full-time parents have been popping up on social media a lot lately.  I never expected it to be easy, but I do think I subconsciously stored a lot of the misconceptions about what a stay at home mom should be.  I have done some Martha Stewartish crafts, made some granola-crunchy/green momma changes to our household, and paid more attention to what food goes into our bodies, but these changes are not sustainable for me, especially now that I'm (hopefully) going back to teaching.  So, here it is, my list of things that I will NOT try to do in the next year.  Not because I don't want to, but because I am not superwoman, and I'm trying to be okay with that.

some cacti that were pretty once

I will NOT try to:

• Bake all our own wholegrain sandwich bread.  I did it this year, every two or three weeks.  Healthy?yes.  Yummy?yes.  Worth the time? probably not.
• Avoid fast & easy meals.  I still don't want the chemicals and preservatives, but there's nothing wrong with Dinner a la Microwave every now and then.
• Go Jogging every morning.  Yeah, that was never going to happen anyway.
• Build my own above ground planters and start a vegetable garden.  Nice thoughts, but I live in Phoenix Valley.  Vegetables don't want to grow here and I don't want to convince them. 
• Take on sewing projects.  I can't sew fast or very well.  Maybe I'll make a tablecloth or a window valance once in a while, but that's about it.



I made that meal.

• Obsess about my child's development.  No, he isn't eating.  No, he isn't crawling.  I'm sure he's fine. 

I am not going to try and do those things because I think these things are more important:

• Relaxing with my husband and child
• Doing my (hopefully, soon-to-be, I don't want to jinx it) job to the best of my abilities
• Playing cello
• Playing with the dog
• Sleeping a reasonable amount each night

That's it for now.  I've completed several job applications and the waiting has begun.

I made that valence