I aspire to be my grandma. No, I don't aspire to be a 70 year old woman, that would be weird; but, I do aspire to be like her. In a lot of ways I'm already like her.
My grandma was only 47 when I was born, so she's relatively young for the "typical" grandma and we have always been close. (In fact, I really need to give her a call.) When I was in preschool my mom went back to work and every day after preschool my grandma would pick me up and I would spend the afternoon at her house. Whenever my parents went out of town, I would stay at Grandma's house. Whenever my parents went out of town, Grandma would buy me presents too!
Even into my teens my grandma and I would still go to the movie together. For example, my grandma and I saw Step Up together and it was her choice. And, as I've gotten older I've slowly started to see all of the ways that she rubbed off on me during those formative years. These include:
* A love of dance movies
* A love of classic movies
* A fascination with model homes and houses in general. (Grandma and I would always stake out the model homes in the area when I was little. I would inspect the structural integrity of the under stair cubby holes).
* A need to never leave the house without make-up on
* A love of thrift stores and antique stores
* And of course, general awesomeness
That's a lot of stuff; but, in a lot of ways I'm still trying to be like her.
My grandma had four kids by the time she was 27. She had all of those kids in less than five years. Still more amazing, the fact that when she first started having babies, she didn't have a drivers license, so she was stuck at home. All of her children have turned out to be normal people, they all have jobs, all of them have some sort of post-high school education. These are all good things.
I've also always been in awe of my grandmas house. When I describe it, I always tell people that it looks like a model home and I swear I'm not exaggerating. Her house is immaculate. That includes the white carpet and numerous antiques. That house is almost 20 years old, and the inside still looks brand new. And the backyard...you would take pictures of it.
When I was little and I'd spend the night with my grandma, her morning routine was always the same. She'd get up, have her coffee, we'd eat breakfast and watch some TV. Then it was time for makeup and cleaning the house. I never felt like she had a lot of cleaning to do, but it's probably just because she did a little bit everyday.
Now, since I don't have any kids to tend, I'm working on the household cleanliness thing my grandma had going. The best thing I've found so far, and it's made a major difference is an app called Motivated Moms (there is also a website where you can buy the materials if you don't have a smart phone). Basically, it gives you a checklist of things to do around the house for the day. Some of the things are things you are supposed to do everyday, some are things that ones that you just do on the specific day. I notice such a big difference around the house when I follow the little planner. I love it because it even reminds me to do things like check my credit score, make doctor appointments, or clean parts of the house I would NEVER think of doing on my own.
And don't assume I'm affiliated with them because I know I sound like I have an inanimate object crush right now. This is just my personal opinion. It really has made such a difference.
Anyway, that's the way I'm trying to be like my grandma right now. Her clean house has made me aspire to have one too. She's also probably one of the big influences behind my wanting to a housewife for as long as I can remember.
In closing, reasons my grandma is not your average grandma:
* She never sews, knits, crochets etc.
* She doesn't like to cook (but she's good at it) and she can't bake
* She danced with my gay best friend at my wedding
* She knows my friends
* She said this direct quote at my wedding "Uncle Joe won't let me dance on the table" -- With a sad face
* She drives an SUV
I want to be like my grandma, and if you knew her, you'd want to be like her too!
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