WWKD: What Would Kevin Do?

Just as the great (and not so great) leaders of our country and states deliver a report after their first 90 days in office, I feel compelled to deliver a report of my first 56 days as a housewife...SAHM(stay at home mom for those of you who don't "speak text")...domestic engineer or, as I prefer, freelancer. Quite honestly who knows if I can make it to 90 days. There have been many many times when I've tapped my finger on my chin and asked myself, "What would Kevin do?". Kevin, my brother-in-law, is my SAHM/D muse. He, in my humble opinion, has perfected the art of running a household. And since I am a bear of very little brain which can be very distracted I am in desperate need of direction. Now granted, I may veer off in another direction due to that pesky little thing called ADD but I give it my best effort on most days.

Kevin manages to keep his house clean, cook fabulous meals, parent my adorable nephew and niece, squeeze 100 dollars out of a dollar bill, and yet, still finds time to obsess, I mean focus, on pet projects that have varied throughout the years. Many of these projects have been home improvements, cooking/baking (he's quite the foodie), organization, and planning for the future (various aspects - financial, vacations etc). If Kevin has done it you can rest assured he has done the research. Instead of "googling" we have just called Kevin up many times! The biggest difference between him and me (despite the obvious) is that his brain has a lot of "engineer" wiring. Mine, sadly, has a lot of interesting wiring but I got shorted when God was handing out the left brain wiring.

So what have I been doing these last 56 days besides having bouts of tearfulness and great gnashing of teeth? I've been trying to find my inner homemaker. In looking for a way to be domestic and still have a signature Kelly style to it is challenging. Somehow the two words, domestic and Kelly, don't always come together in my little universe. So far, I've managed to go to the laudromat more times than I would have liked -so the laundry is getting done; I pack Gavin's lunch everyday and get him back and forth to school as well as his personal homework director (I might I say that particular job sucks the life right outa me sometimes!); I plan meals everyday and most days execute that plan - they may not be that interesting but they get done; I pay the bills and am the official landlord of St Joseph Street; I've unpacked, organized to a certain extent and tried to make our little house look like a little home. And, of course, every day is a day with Anna which creates many mama opportunities. So what am I obsessing about, I mean focused on right now? More room...a bigger house...seeing family again and planning for our visits...buying a washer and a dryer (BTW, Kevin, could you do a little research on that for me? Wink, wink)...finding a church that is right for me and the kids...finding OA meetings I can get to again...the economy...the election...oh, and finding myself in all that.

So here's to Kevin, the man who really should be blogging about his domestic prowess and writing a book to save all us right brain "freelancers" who don't have a clue how to domesticate anything! I will continue to look to him for inspiration and guidance as I trudge this road of happy destiny.