inauguration

This weekend is one of my favorite kinds of weekends. I've got a 72 hour reprieve from grading before a stack of research projects come in on Monday. That means, right now, all I have to do is read entertaining novels (In Hovering Flight by Joyce Hinnefeld) and clean the house.  Mr. Beeton and I may watch a movie later (The Happening), and we will surely walk Ella, even though it's bitter cold.

I have to admit. This is not my first attempt at blogging. I'm very good at starting blogs and never following through. But, I feel differently about this one. To start, I've created a very nice alias for myself, so that I don't have to worry about losing my job because I've complained about a demanding student. Two, I've got a focus. The stories of my life, while entertaining, are really all over the place. A friend once compared me to Bridget Jones because, while I don't really look for mischief and disaster, they find me nevertheless. In centering my blog around the domestic, though, I can avoid all those haphazard stories about people behind me on the bus throwing up; I can ignore the tales of our neighbor's dog, running wild through our house, breaking a vase. Instead, I can concentrate on what really matters to me these days - my home.

Okay, so home may be a bit of a misnomer.  Mr. Beeton and I live in a two bedroom, railroad apartment in Glover Park, Washington, DC.  I moved her four years ago, fresh out of graduate school to take on a job at a pretty fancy, urban institution in downtown DC.  Last year, Mr. Beeton, who was working on his own graduate degree in Austin, Texas, moved back as well, and in November of last year, we got married. Since then (well, really always... I drew houses and was obsessed with Country Living as a child), I've grown obsessed with my living space and with food... it's what makes me most happy.  I agree with Nigella Lawson, who, in How To Be a Domestic Goddess, states, "I do think that many of use have become alienated from the domestic sphere, and that it can actually make us feel better to claim back some of that space, make it comforting rather than frightening" (vii).  In fact, right now, my home is the only place where I do feel better.

So... in an effort to put some positivity back into my life, carve out a space where I can be creative and excited, rather than burnt out and bitter, I've created The Happy Homekeeper. Hopefully, I'll have many more weekends just like this... a round of blogging followed by a session with the dirty dishes.

Keep sweeping, Martha