Simply Not Domesticated

Hello and welcome to "Simply Not Domesticated." For those of you who are not familiar with who I am, my name is Brenda Greenwalt and I'm the proud owner of Lillie Mae's Crafts and it's corresponding blog, Crafting With Lillie Mae's. Lillie Mae was my grandmother, and if you visit my store and click on the "About Me" page, you will see a picture of my grandmother and read about how much she meant to me and why I named my store after her.

As such, when choosing a name for this blog I decided to give it the same thought and consideration. This blog, unlike the other which centers mainly around my craft design patterns, will center more on myself, my husband, Bob, and our life here in Indiana. I wanted to give this blog a name which represents my life and beliefs. Therefore, “Simply Not Domesticated” was created.

Let me explain…

I was born in 1954 which puts me directly in the middle of the baby boomer generation. My mother, like most others of her generation, was a “stay at home” mom. There were no strangers in our neighborhood, everyone knew everyone else; my mother loved having so many friends. Many, like my mom, belonged to the PTA and were Girl Scout leaders.

Baby boomers; the “Hippy Generation;” grew our hair long, wore nothing but jeans and t-shirts, and spouted such sayings as “Make Love, Not War.”

As female “Baby Boomers’ we watched and were in awe of such strong female television characters as The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Murphy Brown, as they ushered us into the work force.

My first apartment was simply two rooms; kitchen and living room. The kitchen proudly held a painted patio and chair set while the living room held an old patched up hide-a-bed, given to me by a friend. That was my bedroom and I loved it. Proud of the fact that I could pay my own way, I exchanged my jeans and t-shirts for dress pants and off to work I went.

I was 26 years old when I met Bob, my husband. I actually had a steady boyfriend at the time, which I had dated on and off for several years. Unfortunately though he had a wondering eye and it was during one of those times that friends introduced me to their next door neighbor, Bob. I had swore off blind dates after several catastrophes so I was not informed, while out that evening with friends, that they had invited a friend to join us.

I never really believed in “love at first sight” but that was the case with Bob and me. We were instantly drawn to each other, never dated anyone else after that first date, and in fact we married only 3 months later. We’ve been married now for 31 years.

Oh…I’m sorry….I digress. This whole story was to tell you why I named by blog “Simply Not Domesticated.” Well….I wasn’t domesticated. I was 27 when we married, very independent, and use to working 40 hours a week. Although my apartment was clean, it was not “eat off the floor” clean. I didn’t cook, and in fact reading Betty Crocker was like reading a foreign language for me. So to be fair, I made a point of telling my soon-to-be-husband that I was “Simply Not Domesticated.”

But that was 31 years ago and I have, since retiring, decided that I rather enjoy a bit of baking when company comes…so you never know. But….I’m not promising anything so…mum’s the word.