5 Things I Love But Will Never Do

In my mind, I am a much better mother, wife, and home decorator than I am in real life. In real life,I have three kids, a company, a house full of mice (don't ask!), and bookshelves of books that seem to exert some sort of unavoidable pull on me.

So, that leaves me in quite a predicament. I see hundreds of ideas on the Internet that I would love to implement, but realistically are never going to see the light of day in my house. Here they are, my top five things I love but will never do:

1. Create Adorable Bento Boxes for my Children's Lunches

I don't know how she does it, but Wendolonia is pretty amazing. She packs these adorable lunches for her preschooler. I wish she would adopt me -- or at least adopt my kids at lunchtime! ;) Look at this one for her son's Halloween lunch:

 
(It also kills me that she does such a fab job of photographing the boxes. Look at the cute background patterns!)

Are you intrigued? Check out her how-to here.

2. Arrange my books by color.

 
Photo by chotda via Craft Magazine.

I love how it looks. But how impractical for a big reader like me? I think in categories, not color. I'd never find the book I was looking for.

There's a whole flickr group of rainbow of books here if you're interested in more photos.

3. Label my cords.

 

I saved this post from the darling Tia Bennett over a year ago, hoping someday I'd have the time to do this - isn't it cute? But I still haven't labeled my cords, and I doubt I'll ever get to it. But I can appreciate her efforts!

 
Check out the rest of her photos here.

4. Send my kids to Waldorf School.

 
There is so much to love about the Waldorf philosophy. A lot of it resonates with me -- the emphasis on discovery, on natural materials, on progressional learning, on respect, on the integration of arts and crafts. Just look at this journal all students keep:

But it's just not going to happen. My two older kids are pretty much set on their current path (plus my son would just laugh at me if I told him he was going to school where they teach cooking and knitting), and to be quite honest, I'm not willing (or able!) to pay $16K for my little one's kindergarten tuition. It's too bad. Maybe in my next life (because in this life, I'd probably get thrown out of the parents' organization, once they saw me show up with my Diet Coke in hand at 7 in the morning...)

5. Have another baby.

My dad holding Cal. Look how little she is! 

This one is hard to even write. I have been in denial for some time that we would have another baby. As Cal gets older, I miss those baby days so much. But at (almost) 41 I'd better admit that my child-bearing days are over.

I could probably talk John into another, but I have to balance what another baby would take from my current kids versus my own desire for that baby smell. It's hard. One of the hardest things I've ever done. I've never been good at saying "Enough!" But I think now is the time to admit. Enough. Three is enough.

What about you? What do you love but you know you'll never do?

Comments

[Lee]

Those bento boxes are AMAZING, my kids wouldn't know what to do with them! They're too pretty to eat :) As for the cords the labelmaker works fine and you don't feel guilty when the cute tags get ruined and dusty. Oh, maybe just dusty in my house ;)

[Abbie]

OK, Lain, you totally made me cry. I am with you on the baby thing. I want another one but I think it's just for the baby smell and the cuddling. Purely selfish. Truthfully, I probably couldn't mentally or physically handle another kid. I have accepted that. Sadly. However... the funny thing about all my pathetic feelings: the decicion has already been made. I'd...er... have to, uh, have an affair in order to conceive again. LOL!!!

[Wendy]

Those books are awesome! I would love to do that, but with a toddler in the house it would be a wasted effort so huge as to be ridiculous. See for me the categorization wouldn't matter because he's mixed all our books together anyway.

And thank you so much for all the nice things you said about my son's lunches. Very kind of you!

[kate]

What a great post today! Very thought provoking. I might just post my five on the blog later....

[Cara]

Thanks for making me think today...sometimes that just doesn't happen. hmmm my five things are ....

[Dana]

I loved this post, Lain. I actually do label my cords but not as cute as those. And as much as I like the look of the books by color, I don't think that I would do it either. Neat ideas though.

[Laura T.]

Love those books arranged by color .... if you want to get your fix on baby smells, you can always stop by my house around the end of January ... we have a sweet baby girl that is due to arrive then.

[Lain]



Now Im rethinking my Never list!!!! Congrats, you
lucky thing. :)

Lain Ehmann

CEO, Ella Publishing Co.

[email protected]

408.348-2156

[kyla]

WOW! Totally amazing Bento boxes! And I couldn't do the book thing either. I'd never be able to find anything (alphabetical order by author is more my thing) . . . and if I could get Tia to come over and label my cords, that would be AWESOME. And since I've just started my Fall cleaning, I may even try to tackle this one. ;)

[Sandra]

I also love the rainbow books, but could never do that! Too unpracticable...
The baby thing..oh my...you see, I don't even have one, but I really can understand your point.. But if you think about it...it's only a few years and you'll probably be a Grandma ;) which is best because you still have your private time *gg*

I guess there unfortunately are quite some things I'll never do, mostly because I'm a coward and don't think I can make it...like writing a book (that people would like to read, of course), photographing people for money and so on..

[Kathy F]

Lain- Oh my, you are way too hard on yourself. I would like to see what these women's whole homes look like and they probably don't work like you do. I am a stay-at-home mom...so I have A LOT of time, but I choose to read, clean, scrap, whatever.

I may have never met you, but I really respect you and think very highly of you. :)

I will say that I do share the baby thing with you. I probably could have one of two more, but the two we have "feel" perfect for us....but Oh, HOW I MISS that baby smell. :)

Hugs-Kathy

[Michelle Moore]

Now, Lain, We've decided we're done with the babies, and I'm WAY cool with it. If I need a baby fix, My nephew is 1, a cousin just had a little boy two weeks ago, and the teachers at my daughter's school are having babies all the time. So I just go visit the cuties, and leave when they cry. Works great. I really don;t think I could handle another one, but they are SO CUTE.

I love the tags on cords, but writing on masking tape works for me. :-) And while the rainbow books look neat, I'm like you, I couldn't find anything. My books are for reading, not for looking at.

Something I would like to do, but may not get to, is travel. I would LOVE to see Australia and Europe, but so far, no luck. It seems like everyone else is going to Mexico, Russia, England, and I get excited if I get to go to a friend's house for a scrap weekend!

[Carmel Keane]

The books in rainbow colours are amazing - where did they find them all?? I would be afraid the books are bought just for the colour of the spine and that wouldn't do!!

Sadly I only have one child - and would dearly have loved more (for her sake as much as my own) but I am grateful for the wonderful child I do have.

[Diane]

I love it all and love knowing that I'm not the only one!

[Kari D.]

I've said "enough" so many times when it comes to another baby and.... 9 children later I now just say "Never say never." You never know what life will bring you!

I have arranged my kid's books by color and it works! Kids are so visual! They know just where to look for the book they want and can put them back too! Try it!

I will never have labeled cords (or even cords that are plugged in all the time) and I will probably never have a house that is decorated professionally. I admire those picture perfect homes in magazines so much! I could go on and on... ha! Couldn't we all??

[Dalon]

what a great post - thanks for sharing! now I'm thinking ... will probably have to blog about my own "5 things" after I contemplate for a bit ...

one thing I know for sure that I would love is to have a well-maintained house ... one with little on the "honey do" list ... we just do too much with family and friends and outdoors to keep up, so I guess when we try to sell this place, we'll fix it up, and I'll want to keep it, but only after we've committed to buy the next one :-(

[Deanna - Fun Mama]

I too love the Waldorf philosophy, but there is just no way we could afford it, and I can't convince my husband homeschooling is the way to go. And I'm hoping for another one, and fear that it won't happen. I'm still at one right now, so not quite the same, but I understand the want-to so much.

[Jill Sporleder Gilbert]

My little guy, Drew (3 in December), and I are in a Waldorf class together! It's a bean sprouts class that meets one morning a week at a gal's house. It's a very peaceful and loving atmosphere. The other mamas and I made our own knitting needles and will soon start a knitting project. What, me knit? The craftiness of it all is the hardest part for me. But I find it all soothing, and Drew seems to really enjoy it. And it's only $10 a class (gotta love Iowa!).

I have to admit, 4 kids was enough for me. I have no baby longings or baby desires. Maybe having 10.5 straight years of diapers in our house is enough?