An Introduction
Hi, I am Annetoinette and I am a Christian, a bisexual gothy/nerd lady, and an aspiring homemaker.
Since I've been a child, I loved crafting and homemaking despite my inability to focus long enough to be good at it; I planned to follow in my mother's footsteps by marrying young, having a bunch of kids, gardening, making my family's clothes, and writing stories between it all. But, as I've been told happens, life didn't exactly turn out that way. Which is... okay. It's fine... I'm not totally upset about it, but I'd be lying if I said I knew exactly what to do instead. Let it suffice to say that it's been a learning process.
Having now reached 30, my ideas of how to make a home has had to shift as those hours free as a stay-at-home mom just don't exist yet and neither does the attendant family (honestly they've had to shift anyway, I've spent enough time with enough moms to know that the idyllic tableau in my mind was mostly a myth). In my most recent years of singleness, I've begun to relearn the value of hospitality in an unmarried context, learning to create space for the friends turned chosen family around me.
On the journey from considering singleness an unfortunate temporary state to be endured to a rich space for development and self-care with as much meaning (and possibly as much longevity) as a life of marriage and family, I've come to re-embrace the idea of spinsterhood, especially as a queer woman. There's something about the settledness in identity and single state that has allowed me to offer myself and my home to others without the frantic worry that I'm giving too much of my time, energy, and resources away to leave room for romantic relationship. Because, funnily enough, it's not just legal and biological families that need homes.
Most of this blog is going to be a journal of my sewing, cooking, and gardening endeavors but there will be some personal reflection on the use of these skills in my life to make a home for myself, my friends and roommates, and (maybe?) even for a family even in the future. Thanks for walking, reading, and talking with me.
Since I've been a child, I loved crafting and homemaking despite my inability to focus long enough to be good at it; I planned to follow in my mother's footsteps by marrying young, having a bunch of kids, gardening, making my family's clothes, and writing stories between it all. But, as I've been told happens, life didn't exactly turn out that way. Which is... okay. It's fine... I'm not totally upset about it, but I'd be lying if I said I knew exactly what to do instead. Let it suffice to say that it's been a learning process.
Having now reached 30, my ideas of how to make a home has had to shift as those hours free as a stay-at-home mom just don't exist yet and neither does the attendant family (honestly they've had to shift anyway, I've spent enough time with enough moms to know that the idyllic tableau in my mind was mostly a myth). In my most recent years of singleness, I've begun to relearn the value of hospitality in an unmarried context, learning to create space for the friends turned chosen family around me.
On the journey from considering singleness an unfortunate temporary state to be endured to a rich space for development and self-care with as much meaning (and possibly as much longevity) as a life of marriage and family, I've come to re-embrace the idea of spinsterhood, especially as a queer woman. There's something about the settledness in identity and single state that has allowed me to offer myself and my home to others without the frantic worry that I'm giving too much of my time, energy, and resources away to leave room for romantic relationship. Because, funnily enough, it's not just legal and biological families that need homes.
Most of this blog is going to be a journal of my sewing, cooking, and gardening endeavors but there will be some personal reflection on the use of these skills in my life to make a home for myself, my friends and roommates, and (maybe?) even for a family even in the future. Thanks for walking, reading, and talking with me.
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