Tuesday 17 August 2010

Abundance


Sorry for the lack of posts. I've been alternating between making preparations and resting up ready for the arrival of Squiggles. In fact yesterday was my due date, so clearly Squiggles plans to be fashionably late. Aside from that, I've also been trying to help my mum to stay on top of the vegetable garden in all of its abundance! For the first time in my life, I'm in a position of having too many courgettes, and feeling the pressure of seeing them turn into marrows virtually overnight... This could become stressful! Even more than the marrows, we have a glut of cucumbers - especially the round Crystal Lemons - it's making me think 'if only we lived closer to the road, then maybe we could set up a roadside stall...' Perhaps it's time to approach one or two of the little vegetable shops in town to see if they'd like to offer them up for sale?


A couple of days ago, we found ourselves making an assessment of what needed to be done in the garden, with the results showing that every bed needs something doing, whether it be weeding between the sprouting broccoli, digging up the potatoes or harvesting the runner beans. I took it upon myself to gather all of the ripe tomatoes, cucumbers (both Crystal Lemons and the long green Marketmores), as well as the runner beans and French beans. Yesterday I finally made use of a recipe for Runner Bean Chutney which was given to me by a friend who couldn't over-emphasise how good it tasted, but the mixture turned out quite runny so we'll see whether or not it was worth it when it's reached the three-month maturity stage.


I've been feeling quite frustrated with my suddenly slumping energy levels, especially when it comes to keeping the house clean (which I feel is important, as we are planning on having a homebirth!) - it seems like every day I only manage the washing up and maybe a small area of hoovering before I'm worn out, which means I'm only succeeding in staying still, despite all the effort. The kitchen and living room floors are covered in bits which have somehow come in from outside, and the cats are trying to gradually dye the stairs carpet a deep, rusty red (adding a little more colour with each new catch), and the bathroom is somehow coated in dust... Maybe it's always been this way, but the 'nesting' instinct has suddenly brought it into sharp focus? Also I'm afraid that I'm somehow on the way to becoming a housewife (albeit not a very good one) and that Phil will assume more and more that his input is no longer necessary... Hmm, it's not all good in my world right now, I might as well admit it.

4 comments:

  1. Lovely lady, if everything felt gleefully perfect at this point in time I'd be extremely surprised. It sounds to me like you're doing an awful lot for an any-day-now pregnant woman. The midwife won't be expecting the house to be spotless, and she certainly won't be expecting you to be using your precious energy to make it perfect for her. Have a rest!

    I'll be thinking of you muchly and hoping that Squiggles puts in appearance soon. You must be really keen to meet them! xxxxxxxxxxxx

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  2. i completely agree with hannah! sit down and give ya feet a rest, trust me....no one cares about the dust and im quite sure the mid wife will have other things to worry about once squiggles starts to make an appearance! Whats the recipe for the chutney? coz iv got a small glut of things and im eager to knw a bit more about pickling etc etc :D good luck over the next few days and i presume if we dont hear from you, squiggles is on the way! Love to the family and all best wishes caroline xxxx

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  3. Hey Emily, I was wondering whether you'd had squiggles yet. I agree with the other posters - put your feet up!!! And I made a delicious chocolate and courgette cake on the weekend. Something to make with your glut. Hope you are feeling well and sending you good vibes and love xxx

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  4. Ah Emily, what the others have said! I agree. My house is now always a mess, to me at least. Other people think it's quite tidy, but it's never good enough for me. I've been told many times, since I had my children, that you can expect to live in some kind of messiness until they leave home, and I am finding that to be true. So that leaves us with two options: 1) run ourselves ragged (mums and/or dads - doesn't HAVE to be just the mummies who do the cleaning!) trying to keep it clean and tidy, and thus missing out on the good stuff in life (the good stuff being our family); 2) do what we can to keep it from running into squalor, but otherwise not worrying about it too much, because worrying about a tidy house eventually leads to a poisoning of the mind!

    We all have to learn balance when babies arrive, but don't feel the need to be perfect from day one - you'll make mistakes, we ALL do: the trick is not to beat yourself up about them.

    Linda.
    Xx.

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