Nesting, Nesting, Nesting

Since the floor has been mopped, the pot-pie (to be frozen, of course) is cooling and my men are watching some "Tay-Tay" and football, I thought I might relax a moment and enjoy this small slice of domestic bliss.

Ahhhh.

Nesting hormones are really a wonderful thing - nothing else could have motivated me to do as much cooking and baking (and freezing!) as I've been doing this past week. I would like to take credit for the cleaning that has been pretty steadily happening since the beginning of August, but, alas, I can't. It is entirely due to my Chore List from Motivated Moms that I copy into each day of my Catholic Mama Day Planner. It is immensely satisfying for this Type-A Mama to have a tidy, daily list (that I didn't have to come up with myself) and super fun for this lover-of-all-things-school-supply to have a reason to have an "agenda" again (and use fun colored pens!). I really can't say enough good things about this product! Well, except that its only available in PDF form and I'm not all about printing loose pages. But, really, its all good, because [see above] I have a pretty Angelus covered Catholic day planner full of feast days (and O Antiphons come Advent!) to write the chores in!

The point of my longwinded elegy was simply - my house is clean now, and its not hormonal. Hopefully, I can continue at least SOME of this housekeeping motivation postpartum. I am actually optimistic, simply because my daily "list" is usually pretty short - just a couple of things on top of the basics of wiping the counter, throwing in laundry and cooking.

[Cooking, however. Oh cooking. The bane of my housewifery. Actually, the cooking part is fine, its the meal planning and coordinating the shopping with the meals at which I fail so miserably. My poor husband has to eat the same things so many, many times. In fact, based on the meal freezing I've been doing (and the amazing out of this world freezer meal from Omaha Steaks from my very good internet friend), and visit from my mom, we will most likely be eating much better AFTER Pumpkin arrives, at least for a few weeks.]

And, I'll tell you a little secret. Apart from the black hole of meal planning, it makes me really and truly happy - like the quiet joy that is a fruit of the Holy Spirit - to be able to accomplish my "job" every day and in a fairly decent manner.

Pumpkin's Chicken Pot Pie. Its all festive!
And, wave hello to St. Elizabeth up there in the corner- she's my spoon rest!

I enjoy the vacuuming, the diaper changes, the laundry and the Memory games that make up the minutia of my vocation because that is what they are - my vocation. It can be easy to dismiss them as trivialities or drudgery and do not mistake me, I often do. But when I can remember, with God's grace, that these seemingly insignificant tasks are actually how I am "work[ing] out my salvation in fear and trembling."

However.... I don't enjoy the mopping. I mean, I try and all. But, come on, I'm not a saint or anything! My soul is still in need of much work!