Liberated by the Apron.

For years I have struggled as a clumsy house wife to keep my clothes clean. It doesn't matter what I am doing during the day my shirts always end up filthy by the end of the day. I have a tried several things to remedy the stains on my clothes, everything from Harsh chemicals, soaking, pre-treating, only wearing black. I am sure you get the picture. Every day I dig through my drawer of casual clothes to find everything from paint, grease, and mystery stains on my shirts.
Yet, one idea was put into my head more than 2 years ago to save my clothes. A friend of mine and artist told me I should just buy an apron. First, the truly liberal,woman power part of me said..what next "Corsets". At that moment I looked at the 1950's images in my head of that happy housewife in a corset, dress, and apron, thinking NO way am I taking women back that far. Like everything else though, the women of generations past knew things about home care that far escape most all of the Women in my generation today. So in trying to be neater over the past few years, avoiding the "apron", I am ruined more than 2 dozen t-shirts, and countless "blouses." I doubt June Cleaver ever ruined a nice frock while wearing her favorite apron.
Yesterday though my frustration with stained shirts came to a boil. My college team had finally won after a three game losing streak. They also played extremely well, and dominated the game. I was wearing my college T-shirt and really wanted to go out in public with it, but I couldn't. From the elbows down, this shirt has everything from Spaghetti stains, grease stains, and some weird brown stains. I have used Oxyclean, Clorox Bleach, and just plain pre-treating it with detergent to get this shirt clean. Yet this shirt is stained for good. I told myself that I was buying myself an apron and it would be soon!
After all like every person in America I have a right to clean, stain free shirts. I have a right to have as many as I deem necessary. I however shouldn't have to dig through my drawer to find a shirt with the least stains, or skipping over a stain free shirt in fear of it getting stained. I deserve a way to keep my clothing neat. Apron shopping would need to be done but not without some rules and ideas first. The market place, had far advanced since 1950, aprons weren't frilly and feminine anymore. While we are at it lets be honest, I am not a lace, and ribbon type of woman, and I am not plain either. I like things with Character and charm. I wanted an apron that was like me. I knew that wouldn't be easy, and I knew I had need to have a will to where it. Basically if it was to frilly or boring, I'd just wear my old shirts and keep plugging a long.
Last night I bought my apron at the discount store Ross. I was so happy to see all of the different styles, and they were full length. I picked through them until I found one that matched my Kitchen, and Matched my style. I have a coffee house type feel happening in my kitchen and so I bought an apron that appeared to be a sack of coffee beans. One of my concerns with aprons was the length. I am pretty short, so having an adjustable neck was important. That was one feature I couldn't ignore in favor of saving a few dollars. What good would an Apron do it if was dragging the ground?
Do I think I have sent woman kind back in time to a more oppressive life? Hardly. If anything I have liberated myself and my budget. I no longer have to be sad after a day in kitchen that I ruined yet another perfectly fine shirt, I no longer have to spend money on new shirts every couple of weeks. My $6 investment will pay for it self in every single shirt that I save.
Now what to do with all of my old stained shirts....well that will be in my next blog as they are good for more than the trash.

For all of the women out their who have suffered the sadness of ruining a good shirt, go buy yourself an apron. Get one that is just like you, there's thousands of opens, no longer does it have to be frilly, or even say "Kiss the Cook."
What to look for
- One with Personality, you will be wearing it often so it may as well be fun and it can double as a kitchen accessory.
-Full Length
-Adjustable neck strap, so you can adjust the length for your Height
-Sturdy Fabric, so that food coloring, and grease cannot seep through to your clothes
- Easy to wash.

Rethinking my blog

Hello Fellow Readers.
I have been thinking long an hard about the format of my blog. Its intent is to help connect Young mothers, living the stay at home mom life. It seems lately I have gotten off track, and I don't post near enough to make it interesting.
Some changes are coming, first Labeling will be consistent to make searching for specific blogs easier.
Next, I will be posting on a near daily basis with topics that include, House keeping, Consensual living, Marital Relationships, Cooking, Budget concerns, Montessori at home, and finally Household health.
I hope this makes reading my blog more helpful and enjoyable for all readers.

Freedom shall be Mine!!!

Yesterday at 4:35PM I recieved the phone call I have been waiting for. The voice on the other end of the line was someone very important relaying a message that could be compared to a Governor delaying a death sentence. The voice said "Hi, this is XYZ at the Ford Dealership, your car is ready for pick up." Immediately my eyes glazed over with anticipation, I looked at the clock and asked what time did they close. Lucky me I had less than an hour an half to make it. However my DP was still at work, I hadn't gotten dressed all day and dinner was ready. What..o what was I to do. Well I called DP, told him the car was ready, jumped in the shower, got my DS dressed, put dinner in storage containers and waited on the back steps. There was NO way I was going to wait one more day to have a vehicle.
So, its true, my van sits in my drive-way waiting for my DS and I to climb inside and take her for a ride. I can assure you my DS is as excited as I am, for its been nearly 3 months since he last seen a playground. I was laying in bed last night, snuggled up with my DS as I thought about story time at the library, adult interaction, Playground, Grocery shopping in the morning on a Wednesday, going to the bank when there's no crowd, packing up my bike and riding around the park. My head was swimming with joy, so much freedom and of course my DP and I could actually rest on the weekends and evenings. No more evening runs to the grocery store, no more driving like mad to the bank before it closes, No more late books to the library because I couldn't make it back into town.
The joy was short lived. I had to switch gears. For the past months, without a car we have saved a lot of money with just one vehicle on the road. As a family we barely used a tank of gas a week. So with two vehicles, and driving into the nearest town, to church, what ever else I can come up with.....my van could quickly become a money hole. I have had to take a step back. I do anticipate going to the gym 3 times a week, and going grocery shopping once, story time at the Library, and the occasional homeschool group. If my estimates are correct that puts me in some city limits somewhere...3 days a week and I can always park and ride if I want to go to another city.
Today, dispite the economic whoes, the price of gas, and our tight budget I am heading to town. I am breaking free of it all and going for the gusto. My DS already knows about story time, we might swing by the gym for a light swim, and perhaps even go to the park. No one really knows where we might end up by the end of the day..but things certain I will be out of the house for much of the rest of the day. The old comment..don't mind me I'll be home ALL DAY (insert the sound of distain and dread).
To the mommies in the Orange area...that magnet will be mine ...muahahaha.

Growing a Garden

This is how it happened.
Me: DS come here for a minute
DS: Coming!

DS enters room.
DS: Did you want something mommy?
Me:Yes, Would you like to grow are garden?

DS:Yes
Me:What do you think would be good to grow?

DS:Weeeelll!, I want go grow money
Shows me the money in his box

Me:Money doesn't grow, you have to work for it.
DS:Nooo! We can plant the money and water it! And it will grow into a a Money Tree.

So there you have it! That's how you can grow a garden.

Special Thanks to Phil Lesh, and The Allman Brothers

Not long after we arrived in our New town the radio advertised "Phil Lesh and Friends with the Allman Brothers". Considering that my DP formely road the Bus and has had many long strange trips with the likes of Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, and Bob Wier, I knew that this concert wasn't going to missed by either of us.
As soon as tickets went on sale my DP bought eight, 4 for each show in our area. We however, did have one little problem, what were going to do with our DS. We have NEVER left him over night with anyone and neither of us felt the scene was appropriate for a four year old. So for the past month i have been building my DS up with the idea of going to stay with his grandmother. Each week he'd ask if it was time to go stay with his granny. Friday evening I built up his suspense even more by packing his bag. Needless to say his bag was exploding at the seams as I allowed him to put what ever he thought he needed to take. Saturday morning he woke up ready to go, he got dressed, ate his breakfast and anticipated his grandmothers arrival. After installing his car seat, there was no time to waste. My DS commanded me to leave his side as he "needed to go NOW"

My DP and I had a wonderful time of exclusively adult time. For the first time he didn't feel constrained by time to get home. We weren't in any hurry. I will say this wasn't the first concert we'd been to sense our son was born. We did see Widespread panic back in 2005, and we have plans of seeing them again when they come through our area next spring.

Aside from our own enjoyment and the fact our little son spread his big boys wings and flew. The show was awesome. I learned that a Character by the name of Jackie Green is pretty talented. SO many times during the evening I was wondering who the great guitar was, and Bam! his face would show up on the screen.

That's really it for now!