Homemaking

From Carolyn Mahane's blog Girl Talk, G.K. Chesterton on Homemaking:

"[Woman is surrounded] with very young children, who require to be taught not so much anything as everything. Babies need not to be taught a trade, but to be introduced to a world. To put the matter shortly, woman is generally shut up in a house with a human being at the time when he asks all the questions that there are, and some that there aren't...."

"[W]hen people begin to talk about this domestic duty as not merely difficult but trivial and dreary, I simply give up the question. For I cannot with the utmost energy of imagination conceive what they mean. When domesticity, for instance, is called drudgery, all the difficulty arises from a double meaning in the word. If drudgery only means dreadfully hard work, I admit the woman drudges in the home, as a man might drudge [at his work]. But if it means that the hard work is more heavy because it is trifling, colorless and of small import to the soul, then as I say, I give it up; I do not know what the words mean…. I can understand how this might exhaust the mind, but I cannot imagine how it could narrow it. How can it be a large career to tell other people's children [arithmetic], and a small career to tell one's own children about the universe? How can it be broad to be the same thing to everyone, and narrow to be everything to someone? No; a woman's function is laborious, but because it is gigantic, not because it is minute. I will pity Mrs. Jones for the hugeness of her task; I will never pity her for its smallness."

Semi-crunch?

So, I guess I have some confessions regarding the crunchiness of my mominess so far...

Crunch, crunch, crunch (Kashi style):
1. I am cloth diapering.
2. I am a SAHM.
3. I make my own house cleaning solutions.
4. I make my own diaper wipe solution and use it until I run out of cloth wipes.
5. I don't know if I exactly AP (attachment parenting), but we co-slept out of sheer necessity for the first two months. Then we moved her to a cradle in our room, then a crib. So be it. Don't we have to have more kids?? That said, I NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER let Abby CIO. Never. Not on my life. And I rock her to sleep for naps. I love it. I only let her feed herself her own bottle because she took it from me. Yes, TOOK it from me.
6. I make my own babyfood when Abby will eat it.
7. I wash in cold water only.
8. I only use California baby and Aveno.

The non-crunch, soft side:
1. I do not recycle because the city I live in doesn't make it easy to do so. Yes, I am lazy. If they picked up for recycling, I would completely separate!
2. Sometimes, I let Abby watch T.V. just because it will calm her down...she has something else to focus on besides being pissed at me taking the newspaper out of her mouth. Sue me.
3. I buy things, lots of things, TONS of things, that aren't biodegradable. Oh well.

I dunno, I might add onto this later if I think of more. Seems like I'm a semi, because when I make choices, my primary concern is Abby, not our planet. If something is safer for her or allows me to have more time with her, I'll do it. I love her to pieces. Chubby, sweet-smelling, dramatic, actress-worthy, gorgeous smile, babbling, wanting-to-crawl-but-can't-because-her-butt-is-too-big, trying-to-walk, kissing only mommy, squeeling pieces.