Monday, February 27, 2012

Half Dutch

The other day I was baking boterkoek for the very first time. Emily asked me what I was baking and I explained to her that I was making a type of cake for dad.
We've never formally told Emily that Justin is Dutch. It just hasn't really come up! So I explained to her that Opa and Oma Pennings and Papa and Gramma Haveman came to Canada from Holland and they had children who had children... so and so forth....
She then said to me "so then I am Dutch, too".
I told her "Well, you are half Dutch. I am not Dutch and so you are only half Dutch."
She paused a moment, furrowed her brow and said "Mom, that is NOT fair. I want to be WHOLE Dutch."
We then had another simple and brief explanation concerning genetics - which she understood surprisingly well - and she paused again.
"Okay, fine. I'm half Dutch. But is Jacob half Dutch too?" she asked.
"Yes" I said "He is half Dutch".
"Good. If I am only half Dutch he better be only half Dutch, too."

Then she walked away.

Apparently being Dutch is better than being English. However.... a few days ago I made boterkoek, yesterday we had nasi for lunch, and tonight we are having boerenkool for supper. Maybe I can be an honourary Dutchie ;)

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Can you relax in a messy house?

After putting a first coat of paint on the bathroom today I decided to sit and have a coffee and just relax before I started cleaning the rest of the house. *I always find that when I work on one specific project (like re-organizing a room, doing a seasonal clothing switch etc) the rest of my house ends up in chaos. When I stop the unconscious picking up/tidying up of toys, dishes, garbage I really notice just how much of a difference it makes! * Anyway, once all my painting supplies were stashed away until tomorrow I was tired and a bit sore. I put the coffee maker on in my messy kitchen and went to the messy living room to flip on HGTV. (Watching other people paint their entire house in half an hour always gives me motivation!)

But once the coffee had perked and I had a DIY show picked out I just couldn't sit in the mess. The crumbs on the counters..... The trains, planes, and automobiles scattered on the living room rug.... The plate with sandwich crusts left on the table. Ahhh!!! It was driving me insane.

So I set my oven timer for 10 minutes and got to work. It's amazing what you can accomplish in 10 minutes when you set your mind to it. I was even finished before the timer went off!

And then I could relax - truly relax..........

I always hear people say (and I've said it myself to new moms especially) "the mess will wait". And it's true. It will wait. But how do you feel while it's waiting for you??