Family life. What does it look like? Well, I assume that it looks different for everyone. In fact, even just for me it looks different most days. Blogging about “family life” is something that lots of people are doing at the moment and I am finding it fascinating to have little insights into how other families live. It makes me think about my reasons for doing things a certain way, and gives me inspiration to change it up a bit sometimes and try things differently. Sometimes it is just comforting to know that you’re not alone in having struggles, or celebrating things that seem small. So here’s my input, my little insight into our family life. It doesn’t always look like this, but today it looks like… slipping standards. Let me explain.
I work part time, doing a couple of night shifts a week. Work nights are a rush (much like I assume mornings are for those who work days) and today was no exception. Tonight I was rushing out to work after tea, and just as I was leaving I noticed a red pesto stain on my white top (ok a few stains. Not quite sure how I managed it, but that is beside the point). I had two options, go and change or just give it a wipe with a wet wipe and hope for the best. You can see where this is going, right?! Yes, I grabbed a wet wipe, gave a halfhearted few dabs at the stains then rushed out the door.
There are two things you main things you can see from my decision here. Firstly that my self-presentation skills are at an all time low. I’ve never been one of those “on-trend” individuals, mainly because I’m not very good at putting outfits together or dressing my shape. I give it a go, and sometimes feel like I’ve done a good job…Sometimes not. But since having my wee one I’ve definitely let standards slip. I used to hear about women that this happened to and get my judgemental hat on, wondering why they would leave the house with baby sick on their jeans or their hair unbrushed. Then I had a baby myself, and I considered it a good day if I managed out of the house- never mind checking for baby vomit or wasting precious minutes of sleep on brushing my hair. Secondly, that my cooking lacks imagination. This one has no defense. I don’t enjoy cooking, not in the day to day sense. I love finding special recipes for a nice occasion, cooking something yummy and special when I have time to look through my recipe books and work around the recipe adding something that I know Abe, or whoever is coming, will enjoy. I am a BBC Good Food magazine subscriber and my favourite bit of “me time” is the day it arrives. I put the wee man goes down for his nap and instead of doing something productive like actually cooking or doing some tidying I make a coffee and have a read through, folding corners on pages I fancy trying and highlighting different foods to shop for. I try to make sure I do one of these recipes a month, but the rest of the time I tend to stick with my reasonably simple, unimaginative cooking repertoire. Pesto pasta with a bit of bacon and some peas is a personal fave. Despite not actually liking pesto very much myself, it is a hit with husband and baby, easy to spice up (for the Nigerian tastebuds) and add veggies to, and takes very little effort.
My family life looks like poor presentation and a minimum effort tea today. I will still call this slipping of standards a success, however, because my boys are both fed and happy and I was on time to work. I don’t condone poor presentation and unimaginitive cooking, but sometimes the little victories are enough.
*Note: I had thought that no-one would even notice my pesto stains. I was wrong. I got comments from 3 separate people. Must try to up my work attire game.
myafrocelticclan 