The Things I Don't Do

In my Small Group we are reading the book Bittersweet by Shawna Niequist. In the book is a chapter called “Things I Don’t Do.” The chapter has good humor sprinkled in it but the overall point is the author set out with a goal to ‘Do Everything Better,’ in which she found that doing everything better is not really a fulfilling goal to strive for, there are things that we need to accept aren’t our strong suits so we can focus on the things we are really good at/enjoy. No one is ‘super human’, which is a great reminder for me as I tend to fall victim to this idea of having to do it all and be perfect at it. So she made a list of things she has accepted she just doesn’t do. Our group decided to make similar lists, so here is mine; let’s start with the things I do ‘do’:


• Being my profession is Financial Analyst/Accountant, I’m very good at keeping our family’s finances in line. I’m probably one of the few people in this world that calculates my revolving debt ratio every 2 weeks to make sure we aren’t overextending ourselves since I have a tendency to go on shopping binges. Give me a budget and you bet I’ll stick to it! My personal financial spreadsheets are quite impressive.

• I love to do laundry, I find it therapeutic. Apparently I’m a loner in this area. I could do laundry all day long. I just love it! Ironing… I hate with a passion but I’m a washing, clothes folding fool! It blows my mind that people only have on average 2/3 loads of laundry every week: darks and whites. That is just SO wrong in my world of doing things! I have casuals, whites, dress clothes, blacks, annie’s clothes, towels and bedding. That’s 7 loads of glorious laundry I do with pleasure every single week. Love, love, love laundry.

• My party throwing skills have dramatically improved over the years; I can thank Pinterest mostly for that. I am all about having great food, a great set up, and making sure people have fun. I can certainly throw a good party.

• Research. This is a catch all for planning vacations, researching products, broadening my knowledge in all areas. What did people seriously do before Google? Without Google, I doubt I would be half the parent I am today.

• Organizer. I am very neat and clean, give me a mess and I can attack and organize in amazing ways.

• Finding a good deal. I hate paying full price for anything but have a liking to brands that tend to be pricey. I can finagle my way into finding a deal and I have no problem calling up a retail customer service line to obtain a promo code or free shipping. I can sweet talk my way into some killer deals. I like feeling as if I’m ‘beating’ the system when I know I’m getting a good deal.

Now to the more important list… The Things I Don’t Do… a reminder that it’s okay for me NOT to do these things:

• Everyone talks about how great their garden is and what is popping up in theirs. You know what is popping up in ours? Nothing. Because I deeply despise gardening/yard work. I just can’t get myself excited about the idea. At all. I have a fresh basil plant inside that I bought already grown, I can handle watering that every other day, it’s practically zero work. I usually can sucker my mom into planting my spring flowers every year, that’s the only reason I have pretty flowers in my front yard.

• I don’t DIY/arts & crafts. Am I jealous of those who can, sure but I accept that it’s not my forte. I had this absolutely crazy idea a few years ago that I was going to make a coffee table. Yes a coffee table! What was I thinking?! Every DIY project I attempt ends up being a total disaster! 99% of the time it’s nothing more than a big mess, numerous trips to the store, stress/frustration, lots of research and then it ends up in the garbage. Why put myself thru that?! Luckily Aaron talked me off the ‘ledge’ when I went all cray cray talking about making my own coffee table and we ended up finding a perfectly good one to purchase at the furniture store.

• I don’t food decorate. This goes somewhat with the whole ‘don’t arts/crafts’. I took a cake decorating course a year ago thinking it would solve all my first world problems and it so didn’t. In fact, if anything it really drove the point home for me that I cannot make my food look beautiful, even when I try. Cook/bake delicious food I can do, but I’m not one to have a beautifully plated meal or cake worthy of photographing. If you see me with a piping bag in my hand, ask me to calmly set it down and step away from it.

• Beautiful gift wrapping. Man, am I envious of those who say they turn on Christmas music, pour themselves a glass of wine and get totally engrossed in beautifully wrapping gifts with all the pretty trimmings. I try every single year to try to replicate this glorious sounding experience and every single year it turns into a disaster where I end up drinking a lot of wine and having gifts where the underside shows that I ran out of paper, the ribbon isn’t centered, and there is a wrapping tear in the side of a gift totally revealing what it is. This is why I always shoot to try to buy my gifts at places where gift wrapping is free. Thank you Von Maur and Pottery Barn.

• Things I don’t do as a mother that is baby-related is cloth diapering and making baby food. I know people who cloth diaper and maybe it’s not as bad as I envision it to be but I’ve had my fair share of diaper blow outs where I’m scrubbing poop off of clothes. Now with baby food, that’s a little different, I have considered going down that road and dabbling in making Annie’s pureed veggies. But then again, I barely find time to make Aaron and myself meals and I know I have 17+ years of having the responsibility of making Annie wholesome, nutritious meals that I think I will enjoy this year of popping the lid off a jar of baby food and serving. No hassle, no work, no pressure, now that’s my kinda meal prep.

• I’m just not a morning person. Being married to someone who is a morning person, it can be depressing waking up to learn he’s already completed what sounds like a days’ worth of activities all before 7 am, leaving me feeling pretty worthless. I’d love to be in a deep yoga pose while watching the sun rise, scamper around in my slippers drinking my coffee all before 7 am but I just can’t make it happen. I’m content with waking up at 8/8:30 am, then having the need of 30 min of ‘me time’ to officially wake up before I can even consider doing anything or have meaningful conversations. By 10 am, I’m ready to get my day started.

There you have it! Things I do and the things I’ve accepted that I’m just not cut out for, God didn’t gift me with a crafty bone in my body and that is something I’ve come to accept.