Juggling

So I'm trying to make wholesome, nourishing food for my family, homeschool, make some of our clothing, keep the house reasonably clean, and I'm wondering how the heck did Ma Ingalls juggle all of this stuff?

Like, right now I've got more bone broth started, which I did in between lessons this morning. I want to start some lacto-ferment ginger ale but need time to chop up the ginger, except we need to leave to take Kid1 to a Valentine's party for her Scout troop, at which time the leader will probably try to flag me down to ask what exactly we're doing for the theatre badge I'm supposed to lead in March. And I still haven't finished that sweater (although every night at dance I knit on the button band, then unravel it again when I decide I don't like it -- I'm getting really, really good at knitting buttonholes, by the way, having done 21 of them in the past 2 days). And sewing? Umm, no, not lately. Same with cleaning the bathrooms.

Of course, part of it is that Ma Ingalls wasn't hauling kids to dance and Scouts and piano and choir and the library.

Also, it occurs to me that Ma Ingalls life really sucked, when you get down to it. I mean, we've read these books over and over, and a lot of it is pretty bleak. (Side note: today we were in Silver Lake, and read the part where the moved into the surveyor's house, and Pa got out his fiddle to play jigs and reels and hornpipes, and we were all impressed that we know exactly what is meant by each of those terms ... except then we had an argument break out about the time signature for a hornpipe, which I suspect wasn't really the point of that passage.).

(By the way, don't be thinking that the problem with making a lot of your own clothes is that we expect to own a larger wardrobe these days. You're talking to a woman who can (and has) gone months at a time owning only 3 pairs of pants, 1 of which wasn't fit to wear out of the house. That was back in 2007, of course, and I have 2 more pairs now. And in 2006 I wore the same skirt to church pretty much every week -- as opposed to the 3 years before when I'd alternate between 2. Overall, I have a smaller than average wardrobe, it seems. I probably have fewer yards of fabric in my total wardrobe than did Ma Ingalls.)

Must go do something or other....