Housework, it's never-ending

I've got a good job. I rise when I want to, work and rest when I feel like it and every day I look after us and our home. Hanno does the same thing but generally, his work is outside; we also share a lot of tasks. Although I do the same thing every day, each day is different. I try to make as much as I can from scratch - that includes our meals, bread, biscuits, cakes and drinks as well as cleaning products such as soap, laundry liquid, cleaners for the kitchen, toilets, bathrooms, furniture, glass and floors. 

I start every day by making the bed. This is an extremely important symbolic gesture that reminds me to look after myself. Slow, simple tasks play a big part in my life.

I enjoy every day and am satisfied by the work I do, but nothing is perfect. I never expect (or want) perfection. If you're living a low impact, simple life, you know that things change all the time and sometimes we make mistakes. I think that's good, it's how we learn.  I've learnt more from my mistakes than I have from anything else.  Over the years we adapt because our tastes change, we need more of some things and less of the others as we move through the various stages of life. Now we're older and we're letting go of some of the things that were extremely important to us - like growing vegetables in the backyard.  It's a process, I tell you. Who would have thought that all the hard work of backyard growing would be so difficult to let go. 

I'm replacing our annual backyard March planting and nine months of growing, with other things that are less strenuous and don't make me dizzy. I still have the cottage garden to tend and I've been sewing and reading more. Soon I'll be resuming my family genealogy and hopefully be able to produce a book of our story to share with all our family members.  

But today I have photos taken over two days of what I do during a normal day here. It's nothing out of the ordinary, and possibly similar to your own daily routines. But I think there is a uniqueness to all of us, so here is a brief part of our unique life in pictures.

Look at the tiny egg there with six of our girls' eggs. This is a fairy egg - an egg with no yolk, I don't know which of our ladies produced it.

I made up a new batch of laundry liquid.  Recipe here. It's very effective, costs a fraction of the price of commercial laundry liquids and contains only a few ingredients that you can buy at the supermarket. It takes about 10 minutes to make and will last for months, depending on the size of your family

I'm making another bread bag, this time using recycled linen from an old skirt of mine.

And I finished off this blouse I started months ago.  It's a bought cotton top with added embroidery.

Made a new cotton sheet for Gracie's bed using an old doona/duvet cover.

I helped Hanno clip Gracie after he washed her in the laundry sink. She is a big part of our lives and we like to keep her clean and comfy.

Homemade pizza for lunch. We eat our main meal at midday now. It's easier on the digestive system and I don't have to cook a meal from scratch in the late afternoon when my energy level is on the decline.

Above a date and walnut loaf and below a small batch of orange marmalade biscuits I made yesterday for morning tea with a visitor.

Above and below are two vegetables I'll never grow again- the candy stripe capsicum/pepper and Blue Berry tomato. Both are small varieties, have average taste and are more show vegetables rather than something you'd plant in a productive garden where every plant is expected to produce good flavours in abundance. 

House maintenance continues throughout the year and two days ago I started cleaning out the pantry. This is my main shelf - a collection of goodies used often and with the potential to spill and drip. True to form, the upside-down bottle of molasses had oozed out of the closed lid and started to spread.  🙄  Above the bottles are starting to go back in, below is what it looks like now.

Some people believe the work we do in our homes is dreary and not worth the time we give it. But I think that without this work our lives would become chaotic and messy. This is very personal work, it involves our personal hygiene, the places we sleep, what we eat and how we live as a family. This is the work we do to make ourselves comfortable and to be at our best at work and school. Everyone has their own routine and some do what they can in the time they have available.  I reckon that whatever helps you get your housework done is the right way for you. Don't expect perfection, don't think you'll do your work and you'll be finished because housework never ends.   But I know this for sure, housework helps you live well and will transform you into a different person.  

Additional: Housework: the never-ending task