Imperfectly Domestic: A Reality Series

I don’t have to be perfect. All I have to do is show up and enjoy the messy, imperfect and beautiful journey of my life. -Kerry Washington

You’ve found it. The (likely imperfect) blog “reality series” about my imperfect domestic life. Come back here every day in October 2014 for a glimpse of how I make the best of the imperfections and crazy days in our large family. It’s all about family life, faith life, food, and more. Scroll down for Day 1. Each new post will be linked here through the month!

Day 2: Yearning For More
Day 3: Family Patron Saints
Day 4: At Mass with Kids
Day 5: Liturgical Year in the Home (imperfectly)
Day 6: The Surprising Thing About Boys, Prayer, and Routines
Day 7: My Prayer Fallback
Day 8: Feeding the Family
Day 9: Turning Kids into Sous Chefs
Day 10: Kids in the Kitchen: Jobs
Day 11: The Dreaded Meal Planning
Day 12: Sunday Dinner for the Weary
Day 13: A Wee Bit More on Meal Planning
Day 14: Can’t Be or Do Everything
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Day 31:

As I type this first post for the 31 day series, my kitchen isn’t cleaned yet (though most of the dishes are done!), toys are strewn through the playroom, my desk is an organized chaos and I know where everything is in the pile, my Pinterest is full of recipes I’ve loved and hated, and the ideas for DIY’s and crafts and gifts for holidays are swirling. My family had a homemade dinner. We just finished celebrating Michaelmas (because I’m writing on Monday evening, September 29), and I’m printing pages for St. Therese’s feast day (October 1) and some art projects.

Beneath the desk are 3 science kits waiting for a rainy day. Oh wait, today was a rainy day, but we didn’t do school today at all. Instead we drove north an hour, dropped my hubby off to get his new truck, and then visited my mom. After that, it was lunch at Chick-fil-A, and then we went to the store for a quick care-package for a dear friend who was feeling really under the weather at 15 weeks pregnant. After the hour+ drive home, I started dinner. It was supposed to be chicken pot pie, using some chicken I cooked last week and frozen veggies I have had in the freezer for a verrrry long time. And then I realized we didn’t have the right gf mix of flour to make the biscuit topping we like on our pot pie, so I scrapped the idea and made soup instead (because I’d already started the roux…I just added broth and water and we had creamy chicken soup).

My homeschool lesson plans for the week are on sticky notes.

My freezer is full of things I have prepped ahead, but forgot to write down so I can easily make a dinner from them.

We have mismatched pillows on our couches, which are 11 years old.

All our walls are white because we’re renters.

Tomorrow we are going to be canning apple pie filling, making apple butter, and who knows what else. I have no idea what dinner will be, or if we’ll have a “real” school day.

Sometimes I do “domestic” really well. Other times, I wonder how earth God chose me to be a wife and mother, because dinner is a fail, the clean laundry stinks, and the kids are running around climbing walls (literally, and leaving hand and foot prints all over). Chores aren’t done, tiles are falling from around the shower (thank goodness for a good property manager who will soon come to fix it), and I feel woefully behind on our lessons.

Join with me this month, as I share the fun and successful ways I do this domestic life, and also share the fails and flops and bloopers. I can’t guarantee you’ll actually learn anything (I am no Martha Stewart!), but I am pretty certain you be able to nod and laugh along with all the flops. And hey, if you have tips to share with me, please do! Lord knows I could learn a few things.