This month, Jody has been sharing 'secrets' with readers around the blogosphere. Today she is sharing one here on my page! This post counts in my contest for the book give-away, so don't forget to leave a comment.
P.S. Jody will be popping in today! Leave a question for her to answer.
Secret #13: The house
chore I like to do the least.
By Jody Hedlund
As you can imagine, there are a lot of chores that come with
having a large family. With seven people using bathrooms, dirtying laundry, and
needing meals every day, managing all the work is almost a full time job.
Over the years, I've developed the motto, "Whoever
lives in the house, helps with the work of keeping up the house." I've
wanted to instill into my family that we're working as a team to maintain our
house, that Mom isn't the live-in maid (or household slave).
So, to that end, I've always assigned chores to everyone. We
all have certain jobs and responsibilities.
For example, my oldest son has the job of mowing the yard
once a week, and he's also in charge of taking care of the dog on a daily
basis. My 13 year old twin daughters take care of folding and putting away the
laundry every day. My younger son unloads the dishwasher. And my six year old
takes care of the many, many socks that have to be matched and put away.
I haven't given them work to do because I hate doing it
myself. Because in reality, some days it would be easier and quicker to just
take care of things myself. Instead, I relinquish my need to control everything
and have it perfect so that I can intentionally train my children in the value
of hard work, orderliness, and personal responsibility. I do it so that
someday, when they leave home, they'll be well prepared for managing their own
homes.
All that to say, the one chore that I like the least, that I
wish I could delegate to someone else is cooking.
I realize some people love to cook and wouldn't even put it
on the to-do list as a chore next to cleaning toilets. But I'm not one of those
people who browse cookbooks for fun, try new exotic recipes, or have a cupboard
full of unique spices.
No, I cook to feed my hungry family. I cook in large
quantities (doubling most recipes). And I make staple, fairly inexpensive meals
that are mostly kid-pleasing.
Fortunately, one of my daughters really enjoys cooking. And
as she's getting older, she's been able to help out more in that area. And my
mom also really likes to cook. She invites us over to her house a couple of
times a week for wonderful meals that she prepares.
So maybe someday, I'll be able to completely hand over the
cooking to others. But for now I pitch in and do my part to make the house run
smoothly.
What about you? What
chore do you like the least?
Thank you, Jody, for sharing with us today. And thank you for promising to answer my reader's questions for the contest.
Readers, don't forget about the contest. Next week I will be posting the other questions you have left for Jody with her answers. AND I will be announcing the WINNER of the book give-away! Don't forget to leave some way for me to contact you!
14 comments:
I love to cook! I also like doing laundry and vacuuming. Most definitely my least favorite chore is cleaning the bathroom.
shellclem@hotmail.com
I love to cook! And like Jody, with a large family (8 in all), I do a lot of doubling and tripling recipes. But even then, my 15yo son still gets up from the table and looks in the pantry!!!
But I have to say that my least favorite chore is putting away laundry. I don't mind loading the washer or putting clothes in the dryer. I don't even really mind folding, but the 'putting away' is my downfall.
Enjoying the blog tour and each 'secret.' Thanks to Lily for hosting.
Blessings,
Amy O'Quinn
oquinn1(at)windstream(dot)net
Thanks for sharing, Jody! I'm really slow at cooking/baking, so that may be my least favorite chore as well.
Lily, are there any bonus entries for this post?
jennyjenjen92[at]gmail[dot]com
Ditto on the cooking! I absolutely loathe it, but I also don't enjoy eating, so that's a no-brainer. And ditto on the kid-friendly, doubled food--I have 4 children, so I make big pots of pinto beans, which kids seem to love more than anything else.
My worst chore is dusting! Absolutely hate it and put it off as long as possible! Not a good thing, since I am allergic to dust-mites!
Cheryl
dcsonn1983@att.net
Hi Jody!
SO nice to see you again.
I have to also admit that cooking is not on my top priority but it's sometimes interesting. Especially if at the end I can manage to put together a good meal.. um, yes please!
Thanks for the opportunity to win this book!
g.gclermont AT gmail DOT com
Hi Jody!
Nice to see you again! :-)
I do admit that cooking is not usually on my top favorites. But, well, if I can make the effort to cook a good meal at the end of the day: that idea looks good from where I'm standing.
Always enjoy hearing about this author. Thank you Lily and Jody. ¸
g.gclermont AT gmail DOT com
I would never have guessed it, Jody, but like it or not you're obviously faced with cooking a lot of food. It's nice to have a daughter who doesn't mind stepping into your chef shoes occasionally.
I didn't mind cooking when my family was young. I wasn't an inventive cook, but I tackled a variety of things. It was when our children had left home and I went to work that my DH began making a lot of our meals. I lost interest in doing much cooking, and now that we're both retired, he still seems to enjoy it, which is a bonus for me when I'm engrossed in writing or some other project. Cooking isn't my least favourite chore, however. I'd say ironing is. Happily, most of our fabrics are 'wash and wear', so my ironing is kept to a minimum.
Hello ladies!
Thanks for sharing your least favorite chores! It's fun to hear the differences in what we like and don't like doing!
And Amy, isn't that the truth about 15 year old sons. One of my husband and my most common sayings these days is, "Why are you eating again? You just ate." :-)
Another lover of cooking. So, I can't relate to your there, Jodi, but good for supporting your daughter's interest. My family just doesn't "Get it." I've had more drama from family about teaching myself to cook than anything else non-academic related.
As I say often lately, while some parents and kids fight about grades, cell phones, jobs and the like, I'm defending why I love using real dairy based cheese verses that whiz-can stuff that's anything BUT real cheese, despite that it costs considerably more.
But I digress: What I HATE the most in terms of house chores is washing the dishes. It takes me SO LONG...
I wish I had a dishwasher.
A close second, is the laundry, because it means a three hour stint at the coin-op launderette, because we apparently can't afford to have a washer/dryer in our house, and the idea of doing the laundry once every over week to keep the pile of clothes needing cleaned is still in the realm of fantasy.
If it helps any, Jody, one of the reasons I love cooking so much is because it's something I feel the most in control over, one of the few, and it's what I do most of when I can't write fiction, which as you may remember, has stationed my blog in negelctsville, among other things.
Jenny A, yes--the usual bonuses. Follow the link. If you are not already a follower, there is a bonus entry. If you leave a question, post a link, etc.
Thanks all for the comments. Good luck! If you've been a follower, you know that I 'met' Jody by winning a copy of her first book. I was an instant fan!
I have two questions for Jody:
1. Did you come up with the title "Unending Devotion"? If not, what was the title you had in mind while writing the novel?
2. In what era is your next book set?
jennyjenjen92[at]gmail[dot]com
The chore I dislike the most is cleaning the bathroom. =)
Thanks for the chance to win!
jafuchi7[at]hawaii[dot]edu
Just posted...my least favorite chore is cleaning toilets! Forgot to leave a contact: narrowpathpilgrim(at)gmail(dot)com
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