Fear in Writing: Domestic

Today in Literary History

Today in Literary History...December 14, 1907: Rudyard Kipling receives the Nobel prize for literature, the first English-language writer to do so.ud

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Domestic

I was supposed to make eight dozen cookies for my husband's work cookie exchange.

I don't do cookie exchanges. I'm not exactly what one would call "domestic."

I don't clean, either. I don't own an apron. I cook very well, but that's because I enjoy eating, not to fulfill some role.

Cookie exchange? It didn't happen. Domestic exchange? My husband thinks about it, I'm sure.

11 comments:

  1. I totally understand! One of my biggest problems before I got published was the dichotomy between my label (homemaker) and the fact that I had little interest in it! I'm better at the mommy side of it. :)

    Elizabeth
    Mystery Writing is Murder

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  2. The cooking & baking stuff my husband and I split, because he's just as good at it. Of course, sometimes we both feel store-bought stuff was made for a reason!

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  3. I enjoy both baking & cooking when I have time. Can't say the same about cleaning & laundry!! I'm with Diane - there are definitely times when store-bought is the way to go :)

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  4. Elizabeth- I love being a Mommy! You have me there! If that is domestic, I embrace it.

    Diane- This morning we awoke at 5:30 and made them together. It was actually very fun. But I agree with you that bakeries and stores are often several-ups on us. (However, my grandmother swares Mrs. Smith bakes a better apple pie than her 5-type, 5-star one, and Grandma is wrong!)

    Jemi- I enjoy eating the baked goods!

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  5. you should have baked some cookies together - nothing more sensual than two partners doing kitchen magic together :))
    I think you've missed one "small wonder" ;)

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  6. Eight dozen!? I love cookies and baking but not that much. I would have mutinied.

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  7. Dezmond- We DID make them together. It was loving and fun, but not sensual. :( I'm afraid we missed that this time around. Great suggestion, though!

    Lorel- Yes, eight dozen...Need I say more? I got 84 cookies back.

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  8. play with chocolate next time :) and use your hubby as the playground ;)

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  9. Hon, I'm with you on this. Definitely not my identity, although I won't lie and say it never was. Once upon a time, I think I wore the soccer mom hat in lieu of a writing hat--a sort of creative substitute, I guess. I wasn't able to create masterpieces of literature, so I built monuments to the goddess of domesticity. Now...well, let's just say it's a good thing my oldest has learned how to cook. And the hubby has learned the art of toilet bowl cleaning. However, I prefer my Victoria's Secret underwear intact, so I have still do the laundry.

    I'm digging your attitude, though. I think there should be a bumper sticker made up: "I don't do cookie exchanges." Most excellent.

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  10. John was very disappointed that I didn't make the gingerbread cookie trees to give to his co-workers this year. I may have a BS with the word "Food" in it and an AS with the words "Baking and Pastry" but that doesn't mean that I jump when someone says "cream the butter...". Sometimes when people want foodstuffs from me and I'm not in the mood I just think of the times when I wished dinner was on the table when I got home (and wasn't) and how they have just as many fingers and toes and access to my recipes as I do. But I must say, you know my upbringing more than most. You were the first "outsider" wholly accepted into it from the second Russ brought you home. I don't follow completely in my mother's footsteps, and I hope I have made a positive impact on my brothers when it comes to the "roles" of the male(s) and female(s) in the house. I guess it just saddens me because I know Russell knows damn well how to make cookies just based on the fact that he knows how to follow instructions (like the ones written on a recipe card). Yet again, I absolutely love baking... be it for profit or for free. Love it.

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