I coined a new word. This is my official claiming!!

I went to a party last night and met some new people. When asked what I was up to lately, I felt the need to preface my list of things I was "up" to with this simple phrase.

"I am a domestinerd."

Thus, a new word (and identity for myself) was born. What is a domestinerd, you may be asking yourself? Let me give you a list of activities in which a domestinerd would find hours of enjoyment and a great deal of gratification and self-enlightenment. This list defines it better than I could ever put into Webster's form.

- Knitting various clothing or household items. My most recent endeavor is a series of hats that will become Christmas 2008 gifts.

- Sewing clothing. I am sewing myself a couple of aprons to wear while cooking. I have ruined way too many good t-shirts with grease splatters recently. When I finish my own aprons, I have a couple ideas for gifts as well (matching mom & daughter aprons, for one).

- Quilting. I just started my first quilt. I cut all my blocks from 12 fat quarters and didn't want the extra to go to waste, so I cut a series of mini-blocks and sewed them into quilt blocks that will become pillows to match the quilt.

- Cooking. As previously mentioned, I cook. Not because I have to, but because I want to. I decided that since Patrick and I will be out of town for a few days, I will make up recipes from items we have around the house this entire week. That should be interesting...

- Gardening and yard work. There is no better way to kick off a weekend than with a 3-4 hour stint in the yard on a Saturday morning. This weekend, for example, I woke up at 8 on Saturday and sprayed the weeds in the front yard, then fertilized the lawn in the back yard, then blocked out and paved in my strawberry patch, watered my new trees, and weeded the front flower bed. Today, Patrick's dad helped us finish up the bed for our grapes, which we should plant this week. I will finish up the raspberry bed tomorrow. I also started an herb garden and the vegetable garden will start in mid-May.

- Canning. My intention is to grow a shload of fruits and veggies and then can them for winter food storage.

- Decorating. I consider myself to be a fairly decent interior decorator. I'm pretty right-brain enabled. I also love to paint walls and put together color palates for rooms.

There you have it. Domestinerd. It's a perfect description of what I am. Good thing I find balance through reading, playing Nintendo, and working.

I am such a nerd. *tear*