Becoming Domestic

I never really thought of myself as the domestic sort. I do like to cook, but I always hated cleaning, and I’m terrible at keeping things organized and in order. I am also terrible at decorating and have no fashion sense. I’m not crafty either. Or so I thought. Retirement has brought out a whole new, and unexpected side of me.

For the last few months I have slowly been tending to some long neglected house chores. I am slowly working through every closet in my house- sorting through trash and treasures, and organizing everything into logical categories. I am not a neat person. This is slightly strange behavior for me, but it is amazingly satisfying.

So far I have cleaned both boys’ closets, my closet, the linen closet, the guest bedroom closet, my desk, most of the kitchen, the pantry, and a sideboard full of dishes and such. When I cleaned my linen closet, I noticed it was a bit musty- and no wonder since there is no air circulation in there. I Googled it and found a suggestion to put some laundry scent booster (I hadn’t even known what that was) in a little mesh bag to keep the closet smelling fresh.

I was telling my friend J about it and she stared at me in amazement. She said that it was an amazing idea, and she was going to do it at her house immediately. She also said I was behaving completely unlike myself… For years, I have been the “good enough” mom- because that’s all I had time for. This domestic stuff is fun- who knew?

More shocking than the cleaning are my new “hobbies.” I have always enjoyed cooking, but I haven’t had much time to try time-consuming methods. I decided to make a pork roast one evening last week. It took 3.5 hours, and was, hands down, the best roast I’ve ever made. It got rave reviews in the household and a request to make it often.

I am also growing mushrooms on the counter. Before you start laughing about my house-keeping skills, its a box kit I got on clearance at Walmart. (No, not “magic” mushrooms, they are Oyster) It is already sprouting, and we are all enjoying watching it grow.

The most surprising thing (to me) I’m doing is I’m making bread- from scratch. A friend offered me a sourdough starter, and I took it. I’m mixing up my first batch tonight. Keep your fingers crossed.

Today I had seven gardening friends over for a plant swap. Since they’re all gardeners, I had to do quite a bit of yardwork. They all KNOW what weeds look like. I also had to clean up my house, the patio, grocery shop, decorate (!) and make lunch. The menu? Chicken salad on croissants, (I did not make the croissants) a green salad, fruit, and homemade Italian almond cookies. I have morphed into my mother!

The party was great fun- everybody left with a new treasure (I got 3 new cannas, a lime tree, a new daylily, and a yellow milkweed.) The food was great, and all the women were grossed out by my mushroom farm (it looks like grey mold at this stage- not too appetizing yet). There was a great deal of laughter and good conversation. They all want me to do it again next year- and I will. This is not really what I envisioned myself doing in retirement, (COVID19 has cancelled nearly all of those things) but I really enjoyed it. All of it- the planning, cooking, decorating, etc. It probably helped that I wasn’t in a rush and I didn’t have to do any part of it on my lunch hour.