Things I don’t do

I’ve still been thinking about all the stuff I wrote on Monday, about comparison and imperfection and the pressures that we feel.

And because I am a blogger, I’ve been thinking about how it’s really tough to show the whole picture on a blog, even when you try to be mindful of it, and even when you try to share some of the not-so-perfect parts.

Anyway…I thought that today I’d just make a list of some of the things I don’t do.

That way, if you ever are like, “Gosh, I can’t believe she made bread AND painted her kid’s bed last week!”, you can just refer to this and remember that I really, really do not do All Of The Things.

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I don’t send Christmas cards.

I don’t throw beautiful birthday parties for my kids.

(They usually have one friend sleep over, they pick the birthday meal, I make a cake, we open presents, and that’s about it!)

I don’t sew my kids’ wardrobes.

(I mend and I modify, but I don’t think I’ve ever sewn them anything from scratch.)

I don’t make beautiful birthday cakes. I never use piping tips or a frosting bag…just frosting and a knife, which makes a very imperfect cake.

I don’t make fancy frosted cookies either.

I don’t garden.

I don’t can.

(At least not much, outside of a batch of tomatoes every few years. And the tomatoes come from my parents’ garden!)

I don’t do crafts.

I don’t knit.

(I know that’s a craft, but it’s such a huge one, it deserved its own sentence.)

I don’t take my children on tons of fun outings, though I am trying to be a slightly better about that.

I don’t make my own cleaning products.

(Though I use very few.   I should write about that sometime.)

I don’t keep chickens.

I don’t put together super stylish outfits every day.

(Ok, probably more like never.   I am passably with it pretty much every day, but no one would ever ask me to write a style blog!)

I never have my fingernails painted.

My toenail polish is often chipped/grown out.

I don’t make my hair look its best every day.

(Down & straightened is probably my best look, but I wear my hair in a ponytail/braid/bun most of the time because it’s easier and out of my way.)

I don’t eat vegetables at every meal.

I don’t buy everything local and/or organic.

I don’t ever have my whole house clean at one time.

I don’t ever have my whole house decluttered at one time.

I pretty much never clean underneath furniture, except when we’re rearranging.

The fan blades at my house are almost always dusty.

I don’t shop at garage sales.

I don’t do freezer cooking.

And if I had all day, I’m sure I could fill up many more pages with things I don’t do!

Edit: Since this is getting a little bit misunderstood, please know that I really am quite ok with not doing all the stuff on this list.   Like everyone else on the planet, I’m a mixture of strengths and weaknesses, and I think it’s smart to focus my energy on things I’m good at (and that I enjoy) while letting the rest of it go.  

For instance, I know I could get good at decorating cakes because I can do almost anything I set my mind to, but I do not enjoy decorating cakes.   Plus, the cakes I turn out make my kids happy and they taste good.   So I see no reason to spend time honing my cake-baking skills.

Since I’m very much not a perfectionist, I can acknowledge the things I’m not good at while cheerfully giving myself a free pass on the other stuff.   And that’s exactly what I would want you to do too!