Thursday, March 8, 2018

{6} Things at Which I Wish I Was Better

Blogging can often feel like very braggy.  I write about things I've done or all the books I've read, generally things I am good at.  This may come as a shock, but there are a lot of things I don't feel very good at.  Which are primarily things I don't write about.  Because who wants to read about how I don't know how to do things?  It might be interesting for awhile but I'm assuming you read this because you want to learn/improve your life in some way (or you know me in real-life and feel obligated).

This is why I've posted 33 dessert recipes, 43 for ice cream and 75 drinks, but only 19 main course recipes.  I feel much more confident in my ability to make the things we don't need to eat than the things we should.

So, today, talking about skills I wish I was better at and therefore, you probably won't see much on the blog:

1) Landscaping
We lived without much landscaping for...4 years?  I got all inspired and tore out some 40 plants...and then took a bunch of years to finally decide what to plant in those spots (and really, we just covered a lot of it with mulch.)  Gardening and growing things, or even deciding what to grow, are not our strong suits.  Our garden isn't very productive, I never fertilize anything, rarely trim bushes... I wish I cared more to actually figure these things out...but I don't. We have some bare spots in the flower beds that have lasted for...18 months now.  I'd like our yard to at least look passable, it's never going to look great.

And that goes along with...


2) Keeping Plants Alive

I've maybe killed more plants than I've kept alive, even my beloved and long-lived hibiscus biting the dust this winter (although, that was more my husband mercy killing them (ala Angela's cat on The Office) rather than having to carry two 5 foot plants to the basement...I haven't gotten over it yet, also haven't completely given up hopes that they are fully dead even though all the signs point to yes.).   If sunshine and (occasional) water doesn't keep them alive then they just shouldn't be on our property.  I have done slightly better with house plants, but I've also killed a lot of those too.  A LOT.  (Which explains all the fakes we have.)

3) Kid Art Projects
Last fall Luke and I were in a good routine of making an art project every Friday.  I think we did 5-6.  Which makes about a total of 10 in his almost 5 years of life.  See, part of the problem was that I never know what to do with all these projects.  It felt like we were just making more clutter.  And I realize they would probably help teach him skills like following directions and hand-eye coordination and all that...but I just am not real motivated in searching out projects on Pinterest, finding supplies, and then corralling Luke long enough to do them.  AND then still having to find a place for them.  He was really proud back when we did them so maybe we need to try once a month or something?  But I also know he's going to be bringing home all sorts of art from school next year AND he still is coloring almost daily.  It's not like we have a shortage of his art around here.  (This one did have a blog post here.)

4) My Hair
I can either wear my hair down and straight or down and curly.  I do basic ponytails to run or at the lake (or most of the summer) but that's pretty much it on my hair knowledge.  You'd think growing up with all sisters we would have practiced doing each other's hair...but nope, not really.  I can braid, but not french braid (and my braiding was mostly limited to Barbies).  I don't own a curling iron/wand and my hair dryer is literally over 20 years old.  I keep telling myself I just need to figure out a few basic styles, besides just down, and then be set.  But that hasn't happened yet.  (That picture is from, what I consider, a SUPER rare good curly hair day.  They happen about once a year.)

5) Cooking
As stated above, I'm not a great cook.  I make most of our suppers but you can tell from the recipes I've posted that they are all pretty basic, and those make up the majority of the suppers we have, besides summertime grilling (which I also can't do).  I'm not an adventurous eater and so my cooking is also not adventurous.  I love reading books about food but also know I'm probably not ever going to cook like that and I don't even like most of the ingredients if I did.  I'm fine with the basics but whenever I read those books or see people who can really cook...I think "I'd really like to be better at that...".  (Also, here we are making truffles, I'm pretty sure no pictures exist of me making main courses.)

6) Playing Piano
I took piano lessons through most of grade school but quit to join the high school marching band.  I did another semester in college but that was still ~15 years ago and have hardly played since.  This is largely due to not owning a piano (a dream for our next house!).  I've tried playing at my parents' a little bit over the years but found I can barely read music anymore!  It's something I really do hope to get back into some day, even just a little bit.  I was never super good but I could play a little.

Plenty of things I don't feel good at and, therefore, will probably never be writing about.  Who will share what they wish they could do better??

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