Get Up and Go

Last weekend we were visiting with family and I was asked by a few people what I was doing since becoming a stay-at-home mom. After giving my response, I was told that I apparently have gotten my "get up and go," which I have been told, can take some time for many new moms. I admit I did have a week or two where I just wanted to sit on the couch all day long and watch t.v., but it soon passed. What have I been up to, you might ask? I have since been filled with an urge to improve my homemaking skills.
I checked out a book at the public library called Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver. (If you love food, cooking, gardening, or just want a fascinating read, I highly recommend this book.) It has been very inspiring and has motivated me to learn more about eating foods in season and possibly growing some vegetables this coming Spring. I love the idea of gardening, but I often fail at carrying out all the work needed in a well maintained garden and that's sad considering how small of a garden patch I had to maintain. I hope to change that this coming year. I do a pretty decent job at growing my own herbs, which I still have growing in my windowsill (I almost brought them in too late, but they are holding on). I have ordered some seed catalogs and I hope to inch my way toward being a more skilled gardener.
I have also been learning about composting which I plan to start doing in the very near future. I am also in the process of improving my sewing skills and I hope to learn how to crochet and knit. I have been practicing my baking skills and trying to perfect a chocolate chip cookie recipe. For some strange reason I feel the need to know how to make bread, and I am going out on a limb here, but making my own cheese. I think those sound like very good homemaking skills. Weird, huh?
I am not sure how to explain it but all of these plans, tasks, and the experiences of motherhood have just about put me in a state of elation. I feel so happy. I feel so comforted by being at home. Sure I like to get out, but I also feel so happy just being at home with my sweet family. I am almost giddy at the thought of all that I want to learn to improve my role as a wife, mother, and homemaker.