Stretching Laundry (ode to early mom bloggers)

This morning as I was cleaning the kitchen and wiping some chocolate residue, I grabbed the dewy droplets gathered around the sink with the clean end of my cloth before running it back to the laundry area.  It took me back to my beginning blogging days, which weren't writing at all.  I read, enjoyed, literally devoured my favorites.  Blogging was a medium that spoke to me.  It hasn't held the timeless appeal that books have, but it felt social in a way reading just never had before that.

It was in one of those early blogs, Amy's Humble Musings, where she gave tips for other new moms on how to "survive."  Seriously.  At that stage of my momming game, that was what I was looking for advice on.  I happened to be pregnant with my third child and sick through much of the day.  Stealing a glance at a post written by someone in similar shoes, on the old laptop on our kitchen counter, was the highlight of my very long days.

Two of her tips I remember to this day.  One, was to buy all white socks and anyone close to the same size feet could wear them.  Also if they are all the same color and style, NO MATCHING!  Any two are a pair!  My over use of exclamation points here is to emphasize how life changing this idea was for me.  I handled socks that way for years and its only been the last couple that we've branched out to different varieties of colors and styles and certain pairs for certain individuals :).  My oldest three and I have similarly sized feet so we could totally do this again if needed.

The second tip of hers was to maximize the use of laundry.  Big families have soooo much laundry in case you haven't heard.  Especially when a new baby is in the house.  Her tip was that if the baby spit up or there was a big spill on the kitchen floor to wipe up, grab something from the dirty laundry! For example spilled milk on the kitchen floor could be sopped up with a tshirt or towel that already was headed for the wash.  It makes sense, if something is headed there already to make more use of it than dirtying a second cloth.

So as I used the last clean end of my dirty rag on some water droplets today it took me back to those days.  The memories of sharing tips with "friends" by reading early blogs were warm ones.  The desperation and loneliness of early motherhood that led me to them?  Not so much.  It wasn't a bad stage of life, it was just that, a stage.  I was young, thankfully, my body I guess had the stamina to get through what it needed to bring to life all those babies.  And the best part?  I survived.  :)

Rocks in My Dryer, Musings of a Housewife, Amy's Humble Musings....they all got me through.  I don't think any of those ladies are doing quite the same work in quite the same platform as they did then, but I sure am grateful for this medium and what those early adapters did to enhance the life of this mom.

Heidi's Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies 🙂

Ingredients
2 eggs beaten
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1 large 29 oz can (or two 15 oz cans) pure pumpkin
3 cups sugar
5 cups unbleached flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
3 tsp cinnamon
1 1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 3/4 tsp salt
1 10 oz bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, oil, applesauce, vanilla, and pumpkin.
3. In another bowl, stir together remaining dry ingredients.
4. Slowly stir the sifted dry ingredients into the bowl of wet ingredients. Mix well.
5. Drop heaping tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
6. Bake at 375 degrees for 12-13 minutes.
7. Makes about 5-6 dozen cookies.

Real books not Facebook

I'm back again where I found myself a few years ago, running from what felt like a personal friend avalanche of yuckiness.  Now, mind you, I don't think any of my associates are purposefully sending out yucky vibes.  However, some of their opinions, like implying ethnic laziness or anti-patriotism just roil me like 1000 stabbings of ignorance.  I can't face it, especially from the likes of family members I know to be kind to people's faces.

So when I'm recoiling from that type of avalanche I turn to my comfort and intellectual solace -- real books.  Are you on Goodreads?  Wanna connect with me there?  I've been keeping track of the books I want to read as well as what I'm currently on.

This last one was motivating, as well as a little funny.  Goodness, I've been making a little money here and there for 7 years for my writing, but never would dare call myself a writer or author.  Isn't that funny?  My imposter complex serves no one, especially aspiring bloggers, so it should be gone like yesterday I think.  That may be the first hurdle this book was meant to overcome.  Reading the title right there makes one ask a lot of self talk questions, it seems.

Have you read a good book lately?