homemaking – scrunchymomz

(Blog note: Please know that I’m not trying to seem ungrateful in this post. I realize I am so very blessed to have a home and any appliances at all! I am just trying to make a light-hearted post to guide those getting ready for the next level in their life 😘)

Hello my Gals!

This one goes out to any engaged readers wondering what they actually need on their registry. And a big congrats to those preparing to tie the knot! Marriage is an adventure.

Take it from me, a registry is super helpful, especially if you’re a young couple still living at home and not moving in with your fiancée until you get married, like my husband and I were.

But even if you lived together before, it can still be super helpful! Because as we all know, Millenials are irresponsible and don’t know what appliances are and only Postmates their food.

I got engaged fairly young, at 22. I got married when I was freshly 24. So I did most of my wedding planning at 23.

And at the time, I was a young 23, with most of my interests outside of trying to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up consisting of parties, staying up late playing video games, and having combos and wine for dinner.

Marriage and family life was always something I’d had cognitive dissonance about. I definitely entertained the idea of diving right into the family and housewife life after marriage.

But when it came time to complete my registry, I was more concerned with how I would entertain an apartment full of 30+ friends every other Friday night than I was with meal prepping and maintaining a household.

Which is exactly how we ended up with a whole cabinet full of wine glasses, whiskey tumblers and margarita glasses and no measuring cups or cheese graters. And how to this day we still have to make salad from bagged lettuce (personally though I find this super convenient as a Mom).

Image result for parks and rec april and andy eating off of frisbee — Literally me and my husband the first year or two of marriage

With that said, here’s a list of items that I personally have come to find would have been great to register for instead of all the gimmicky “as seen on tv” stuff they had littering Bed Bath and Beyond back in 2014.

Because if I had seen a marshmallow gun at the time, you’d better believe my immature self would have put that first on the list.

Toaster

I’m pretty sure this thing has crumb residue from the 1970’s, and it tries to thundershock me at least once a week.

If you don’t register for a toaster, your husband might take the one his parents (maybe even grandparents) had, and it will nearly catch fire or short circuit every other time you use it.

Salad Spinner

If you don’t register for a salad spinner, whenever you try to make a salad that hasn’t come from a bag, you will have to individually wash and dry each leaf and it will take way too long.

The husband bought the wrong kind of bagged lettuce, and I didn’t want feel like returning it. It was a soggy salad.

Mortar And Pestle

If you don’t register for a mortar and pestle, you’ll have to crumble the nasty keto crackers you accidentally put half a cup of salt in instead of half a teaspoon in by hand to make your keto meatloaf. It will be messy and annoying.

I’ve been trying to get rid of these disgusting things since May. At least they have enough sodium in them to sustain their shelf life…

Coffee Maker

I need a prayer of encouragement multiple times a day. Moms, who can relate?

If you don’t register for a coffee maker, your husband will again take the geriatric model from either his parents or more likely his grandparents and you will get coffee grounds in every cup of joe you make.

So of course when I took this picture it was the one time it didn’t actually have coffee grounds in it so I improvised, but I promise you this is how it looks every other time I make coffee in this thing.

Food Processor/Blender

If you don’t register for a food processor, you will have to try to blend things you need finely ground. If you never end up investing in a good blender, you’ll probably end up trying to use the baby bullet you bought off of OfferUp and you will always overestimate what you can fit into it without the thing making a huge science fair volcano mess.

I don’t have a specific photo example for my plight with trying to process food with this thing, but suffice it to say that this item was only meant to make pureed fruit and veggies for infants.

These are just a few of the items I’m kicking myself as an actual sort of adult for having not registered for as a just out of college “I know what I’m doing, I’m getting married!” big kid. I’m positive I will continue to run into more issues in the kitchen as I continue my journey towards full domesticity and as I mature in my SAHM experience. I may have a follow up to this entry at some point.

Are there any veteran Homemakers out there who have pearls of wisdom for us newbies/late bloomers? What appliances or gadgets did I miss? Let us know in the comments!

Thanks for reading, my gals! 😘😘

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📋 Upcoming Content: My 7-Month-Old Got Kicked Out Of His New Bedroom, Battling Body Dysmorphia As A Mom, and Getting Ready For The Holidays, Two 2 And Under.

Hello, my Gals!

With all we have going on in our lives. Keeping one kid alive and well is a full time job in and of itself, never mind two or more.

And keeping the house clean on top of that just seems like a lot of extra work.

I’m not supposed to be on social media as much these days, so I’ve been on Pinterest a bit to save recipes I’ll definitely make and DIY’s I will absolutely get to, and also to just find some information to accompany the tumbleweeds that now occupy my Mom-brain.

And through my scrolling my Pinterest page has decided I need to see a bunch of perfectly pretty magazine homes because I needed something else to feel inadequate about.

As I was scrolling my feed one day, making sure to keep perfectly still within visual range of the Tyrannosaurus Mess that was my kitchen (it can’t see you if you don’t move…), I found myself wondering how these people do it. Take all these candid pictures of their multiple young kids without even a crumb on the floor or a smudge on the wall.

And then it hit me. I’d found the secret to keeping the house looking Pinter-istine while at the same time keeping two or more kids alive and in line!

Keep reading to find out!

Wait for it…

🙂

wAaAaAaAaAaAaAiIiIiIiIiiIt for it…

🙂

Wait fOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOor it…

🙂

❤

lol CLICKBAIT! There is no secret. The reality is, those posts most likely are not reality. Just like many Instagram Models, those house pictures are likely photoshopped and staged.

Unless you have an Au Pair or live-in maid, chances are your house is more likely than not doomed to be somewhat of a hot mess for the foreseeable future.

But hear me out!

No matter how much you clean up around the house, if you spend any quality time with them at all, aside from feeding them, bathing them, keeping them clothed, and putting your oxygen mask on in between, chances are your living room looks like this, too:

Now I do try to keep things looking somewhat kempt around here. But I’m sure you all know most of the time cleaning up is like shoveling against the tide, especially the younger your kids are.

Of course I make sure the basics are done, dishes, kitchen and bathrooms sanitary, and living room free of trip hazards. But beyond that is beyond me the majority of the time.

Making my bed, organizing the mail, having closets without junk piled up to the ceiling…all those bells and whistles? You most likely won’t find it at Casa Ruiz.

If I think about it, technically I could keep up with the house. Technically, I could find the time. Technically, I could get more than one load of laundry done (and only washed once because I would remember to switch it over…unlike the musty load that’s currently in my washer from yesterday…).

But if I took all the time I have between feedings, changings, potty trips (attempts), and all that extra stuff, I’d never be able to get any writing done, for myself and for “work.” Not only that, but I’d miss out on all of the book readings, all of the smiles, all of the first time displays of new skills, and just generally time with my babies that I will never, ever, ever get back…we all know babies don’t keep.

F38C18F3-67FF-407D-8901-2A4D2676D27C — This little bean is going to be T W O in a month!! It happens so, so fast, you guys…

Here’s what I think.

IMHO, as long as the house is free of food filth and generally hygienic, pee is cleaned up off the living room floor, and there’s a clear path towards the door in case of emergency, you’re doing just fine.

You might be like me and not be too bothered by clutter, or you might be my Bizzaro and have to have things spotless at all times.

Either way, you got to admit, it takes energy to keep it clean the more kids you have. Energy that can be really hard to come by. Energy that could be better used towards other things.

It might be rough right now, but the house won’t be messy forever. Sooner (much sooner) than you think, those little heckians running around making a pig sty of your home will actually be your little assistants and will be able to help you clean up around the house.

Although, if you start them early enough, you might get a little help around the house sooner than later 😉

One day you’re going to look around at your pristine home and feel your eyes sting with tears, wishing you could look at your living room floor and see a wrinkled tummy time blanket, a million blocks, and yes, even crumbs across it again.

Because that meant your babies were still babies. And you’re going to miss that.

So yes, please do your best to keep it clean. But don’t stress about it being perfect.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it now, because the adage is too, too true: The days are long, but the years are short…

What do you gals think? Am I way wrong and it’s totally possible to keep a museum-level cleanliness of the home, while taking care of the little ones? Or are you with me on this one? What are some hacks you might have to keep things a little less chaotic in the cleaning department? Don’t pull a Gandalf and “Keep your secrets!”

Thanks for reading, my gals! 😘😘

📋 Upcoming Content: Battling Body Dysmorphia As A Mom and The Boys Finally Share A Room!

Tag: homemaking