Do I have a crafty or domestic side?

If you know me well you know that sadly I'm not all that crafty or domestic. It's one of the many things I'm working on since I've been here. I just gave Braden his report card so now I'm giving myself a performance evaluation on cooking and cleaning.

COOKING - despite my best efforts I'm just not that good - I guess I don't have a natural knack for it. Lucky for me my husband thinks food tastes good as long as 1) he didn't cook it 2) it doesn't involved peanut butter or scalloped potatoes. I'm not sure why a lot of things I cook aren't amazing... I really try... I follow the directions, it's a mystery. But I can say now that I have to cook EVERY night... I have gotten better, but I have a long way to go! Grade: C. Satisfactory, but needs improvement.

CLEANING - Area Most Improved. Since I've been "on my own" and left for college I've lived in a dorm room, sorority house, apartments with girlfriends and our 1400 sq ft apartment in Chicago... any of those roommates know I wasn't a slob, but I wasn't the first one to jump up and keep things tidy. Living with Chad when we moved into our condo I got much better... until out place got so cluttered with baby gear and wedding gifts - we simply ran out of space. Chad has always been a fair help with the household chores. I cooked... he did the dishes... I grocery shopped.. he did the laundry and so on. With the move to Canada and now that I'm home with Braden and Chad is working or gone a lot the shift has happened where I naturally absorb most of the responsibilities, most of the time. (Chad still does chip in and does his fair share on weekends and in the lawn- and dinner dishes are still his #1 duty). With all that said - it's amazing what more space (2900 sq ft) will give you and everything has its place. Things in the house look pretty good day to day. Now I could always wash the hardwood floor upstairs more often or dust more consistently - but I've got a toddler that keeps me busy so I'm not losing sleep over it. Grade: B. A higher grade is not granted since I could still do more and the "office" downstairs is more like a miscellaneous, not-really-put-together space... but there is a door so I just close it. :)

EXTRA CREDIT - I mentioned something about being sort of crafty earlier (and crafty I am not). Well... I have been thinking about redoing the dining room chairs for a long time now, but I just kept putting it off since it's not really my thing. Today I bought the fabric and did it... it's a big deal for me, I used a staple gun and everything! Here are some before and after pictures, I don't think the lighting is all that great, but I'm pretty satisfied with how it turned out. I'd be willing to give more projects a try.

Overall, I may not be super crafty or domestic, but I'm making an effort. And as long as my two men are cared for and happy then it's enough.

Before - a multi color... tweed maybe?

After - soft green. I picked two patterns and they match opposite each other.

I think the lighting isn't that good, but hopefully you can kind of see how it looks together.