Categories

So how would you categorize yourself or your family life? I read a couple of blogs that really inspire me (or depress me depending on the day) and I get grand ideas of how I want our home life to be. Let me give you a sampling of categories that I wish I fit into, but don't:

• Extremely creative families - who are always working on art projects, creative food, decor, etc.
• Food families - again, amazing meals every day
• Farmhouse families - have the farmhouse of my dreams, chickens and other barnyard animals, make their own syrup, garden, can food, etc.
• Home school families - lots of happy children running around the house/city with mom, doing all sorts of amazing things
• Crafty families - this kind of goes with the creative families, but Mom is especially gifted in some sort of "craft" - whether it be photography, textiles, paper, etc.
• Natural families - eat whole food, use natural products, connected with nature
• Reading families - lots and lots of reading going on by everyone

Some other categories that I don't fit into but I see on a day to day basis around me:

• The Soccer Mom - running kids from activity to activity after school and on weekends
• Well-to-do - families that seem to "have-it-all" even if it is a facade
• Blue Collar - lower income, working parents, struggle to make ends meet some months
• Working families - both parents work many, hours usually at white color jobs, make good money, but are never around and we see a lot of their kids, but never the parents
• Lots of family - people that have a lot of family nearby - lots of cousins to play with, big family gatherings/dinners, built-in birthday party guests and babysitters.

These are just some of the types of people around me. Most families are a combination of things. I grew up with both parents working at professional, albeit low paying, jobs. We were in every activity known to man and both parents had demanding church callings.

So now, where does my family fit it? It doesn't. My kids are not in a bunch of activities mostly due to cost and frankly, we don't enjoy going to endless softball games, dance classes, etc. We aren't blue collar, Ryan and I are fairly educated. But then we're not technically a student family anymore, yet Ryan isn't into his career either - in limbo I guess. The kids go to a public school that I would rank as average. It's not some special Montessori/nature school or art magnet school or anything like that. It's safe, the kids are usually happy, the staff is pretty friendly and the kids seem to be learning the three Rs. It works. Ideal? No, but it works.

I try to cook healthy foods, but lets be honest, fresh is expensive, organic is expensive and my kids tend to be somewhat picky (there goes my dream of being a "food" family), and my kitchen is the size of a shoebox - seriously, anyone who has seen it would agree - making baking and cooking a logistical nightmare. Despite this, I cook dinner almost every single night - we don't eat out, who can afford it?

When it comes to being crafty/creative, we try our best, but it's nothing to write a book about or even a blog post in most cases.

The things our family enjoys, many people don't and many things we despise, many people are "into". So while I'll probably still try to squeeze myself into a category, I'm hoping that eventually I'll give up and be happy with where we are, wherever that is.