What better way to start off the week than with a confession of some of the things I’m not good at?
1. Making dinner. This includes planning it ahead, sometimes making it at all, or making a full dinner. I usually just don’t think about what we’re going to have for dinner until the end of the day when it’s time to have dinner. Being a mostly vegetarian family, it’s difficult to pull together a well-balanced meal in a short amount of time because most vegetarian dishes take a couple of hours to cook.
So, we end up having a one dish meal that does not include enough food groups to call it balanced. Luckily, my crazy children eat plenty of fruit and vegetables during the day, so it’s not like they’re missing some important nutrients. They’re just missing the experience of having a mom that makes a full, well-balanced meal each night. :-)
2. Writing Reviews. Is it terrible that I ask for readers and book bloggers to review my book, and yet I don’t leave reviews? I have listed 78 books as “read” on Goodreads since I became a member in June, and only one of those has a written review. (And I can’t tell you which one, because I have no idea.)
Why? Because I suck at writing reviews, and I just don’t like to do things that I can’t do well. (That doesn’t include learning to do something—I love learning to do something and don’t worry that I’m not any good at it to begin with. But if it turns out I’m not any good at it after the learning period, then I don’t tend to continue doing it.)
3. Asking for help. I’m just not comfortable with it most of the time. Every so often I am forced to step out of my comfort zone and ask, and it stresses me out each time. Yet when I do, there are always friends and family more than happy to help. You’d think I’d be better at it with the positive response I get each time, but no. (Maybe someday.) (Yeah . . . probably not.)
4. Staying away from sugar. I should. I know I should. But I *love* it sooooooooooo much. Maybe I can get better at this one. (Hmm. But maybe I don’t want to.) :-)
5. Keeping my house neat and organized. I have four kids. Need I say more? Okay. I’m sure there are plenty of people with lots of kids who have an immaculate house, so I can’t really blame this on the kids. It’s not them, it’s me. I’m not organized enough to put things in their rightful place all the time. And we have too much stuff, so not everything has a rightful place. I am hoping to get better at this because I pine for a neat, clean, organized house and a massive purging of all of our extra stuff. One of these days, right?
This list could go on, but I’m going to stop there. :-) There are always things we’d like to do better, right? But honestly, though I would like to be better at all these things, I don’t really worry about it. I do a lot of things well—some very well—so why should I sweat the small stuff? My family is happy, I’m happy . . . I must be doing most things right. :-)
What about you?
Happy Monday, everyone! Hope your week is starting out well.
I’m right there with you on #4 – it’s so hard to stay away from something so sweet ;)
It is *so* hard! I’ve had times of not eating sugary things, and I felt great. But I somehow always get sweet-talked back into indulging again . . . :-)
I’m right there with you on, err, mostly all of them. I’m finally getting a little better at the dinner thing (out of dietary necessity… y’know, hubby with weird eating habits/restrictions). I can’t write a good book review to save my life… “It was GOOD! I liked it! Funny and suspenseful and GOOD!” It blows my mind that there are peeps who blog about nothing other than book reviews. It’s a skill I’ll just never have. :(
I know! I marvel at people who write reviews with flair. I just do not possess that skill. Not even a little. No matter how much I love books and love to gush about the ones I think are amazing, I would make a terrible book blogger. I have to say I admire their skills greatly.
I’m there with you on most of these. Especially asking for help. It’s a truly difficult thing for me, and unless I really need help immediately I will struggle with doing something that should take someone else a few minutes and ends up taking me a half hour or more.
Ohh and sugar…it’s my biggest vice. Since I don’t drink coffee, I drink soda (or pop if you prefer, hehe) and I don’t like the diet versions. Plus growing up with my dad I developed quite the sweet tooth, and I’ve recently learned to bake and love it, so all of those are factors working against me!
Yeah, sugar is my biggest as well. I do not drink soda–gave it up probably 10 years ago–but I’m a fantastic baker and love to do it. So when I get a craving, I end up with a whole pan full or dozens of sweets to go in the freezer. (They keep better longer, and they don’t get eaten as quickly since they are out of sight.Win!)
I also tend to add nutritional goodness to all my baking so we’re at least getting some good things mixed in with all the bad. (I use whole wheat flour as much as possible, and will add in ground flax seeds for an omega-3 boost, sometimes finely chopped walnuts for more omega-3 goodness, and wheat germ for extra iron. So, really, my cookies and brownies are almost good for you!)
But still, it’s sugar laden. Sigh…
Just came up for air from my WIP and want to join in the fun!
#3 – big time on that one – I have an unbelievably hard time asking other people for help, #4 – when it is brownies, man, can’t resist the brownies :) thank goodness I don’t like to bake, #5 – I am a pile maker. They are neat piles, but gradually, they start to take over my life until I can’t stand it. Then I clean them up – and the process begins again. But I really enjoy those piles at the same time, and I can always find what I need. So I am a compulsive neat pile maker. Hmmm. . . .
~Cate
Oh, the piles! The piles! I have piles, too–some neat, some not so much–and they do take over the place. Every once in a while I get to the point where I can’t stand it, and we do an overhaul of *most* of the house, but it never lasts very long. It feel so good when the place is neat, but we simply slip back into piling. It’s a battle, I have to say.
(Hope the WIP is going great!)
So far, so good! Of course, my piles are growing by the minute because of it. . . .