Decidedly Domestic

I had a fabulous day today. One of those days when you pick up the mantle of the Proverbs 31 woman and run with it ... and it feels good.

First and foremost, today was my 13th wedding anniversary. Amazing, isn't it? Mr. Blandings and I truly have one of those marriages where it feels like we just met--but yet, it seems like we've been together forever. I think this is a good sign. Plus, it's a lovely thing, being a wife. Knowing that I have someone to walk through life with is priceless; knowing that someone right here beside me would do literally anything for me is enough to send my heart into little flutters of girly love.

Add to this the fact that Jo was beaming with happiness, Manolin is flirting with taking his first shuffling steps, Atticus was his huggable self, Oliver found his way into a truly adorable, truly toddler predicament that cracked me up when he was supposed to be taking a nap (o.k. the truth is I found him in the toilet, splashing away happily. But the toilet was clean, I promise!), and Logan only had two near-misses when it came to the whole obedience thing ... and you can see why it was a good day at Casa MG.

And then ...

I cleaned out my fridge. Really cleaned it out. It felt so good to have every surface wiped clean, every jar free of dribbles, every shelf immaculate. It was so inspiring that I vowed to tackle another reorganization project tomorrow.

On the school front, I administered the CAT tests for Atticus and Jo. Our state requires some form of evaluation and the $25 CAT tests were just what the doctor ordered this year. The kids rolled their eyes all the way through them ("Seriously? Why do they call it an opposite? It's an antonym!") but I felt reaffirmed in my homeschool mom capabilities. Which, of course, is never a bad thing.

But wait, there's more!

Today's meals were absolutely scrumptious. I am not a foodie, per se, but I appreciate it when the simple becomes sublime. And today, when I tucked in to one of the best lasagnas I've made in ages, complemented by fresh lettuces and spinach that I had grown myself from tiny little speck-sized seeds ... well, it was one of those warm fuzzy moments that make you sigh deeply and give thanks for the abundance of good that finds its way to your table.

And finally, as my day began to wind down, I sat with my daughter and sewed a sweet, simple A-line skirt for her. Working together on little projects is one of my favorite ways to pass unremarkable--yet memorable--time with Jo. As we sat at the table, sliding pins into the fabric and talking about the happenings in our little brood, I realized that the few years I have left with my girl under my roof will be rich with evenings like this. All of a sudden, the things she has left behind didn't seem quite so worthy of mourning. Instead, there was a sense of anticipation for what the future holds.

And now, I'm going to climb into my bed and spend a little time perusing one of my new favorite books: The Gentle Art of Domesticity. This book is colorful, inspiring and fun--just what I need in my life right now. An excerpt from the introduction that I found myself nodding along with:

...I never classed myself as a budding domestic diva. Instead, I fell in with the expectations of my fiercely academic girls' school and went along with wanting, and preparing for, some brilliant career. I was banned from the art room, even though I argued that some downtime from Russian irregular verbs could only be good for a girl. The few who did dare to follow their artistic bent were seen as rebels and likely to come to no good. And this, my I remind you, was the 1970s, not the 1870s, but I cannot recall a single mention of the three Ms: Men, Marriage and Motherhood. No heed was paid to the fact that we were all women, most of us likely to have relationships with the opposite sex and make babies, and inhabit a domestic space of some sort. And yet there we were, educated at the height of the second wave of the feminist movement, in collective denial about one immensely significant aspect of our future lives.

((For more, check out the author's blog. ))

So that was my day. How was yours? :-)