December PunkWife of the Month: Veronica

What makes you your own little version of Punk?

I’ve always bucked the system in little rebellious ways, asserting my independence and adding my own flair to any project. I tend to use directions as more guidelines than strict steps to be followed, and becoming a wife and mother did not change this. If anything I’ve become more devil-may-care about things, diving into projects with my kids and trying recipes that turn out way differently than they started out. I like learning new things, and trying new things.

What was your one biggest PUNK move this year?

I love looking at those magazine homes where they are sterilized of all the signs of real living, but somehow are set up to give the impression that actual people live there, and maybe they do. But come on. If there are kids in the home then there are toys in places other than the toy box. For me there are two kinds of mess: clutter caused by items out of place and filth caused by left out food, spilled drinks, dirty dishes, dirty laundry, or pet accidents. Clean the filth and allow for the clutter that is life.

Also I’ve put more into creativity, making things with my kids and saying to heck with adult art. My walls at home are now covered with art projects done by my kids, in the living room, kitchen, and library. It’s like some crazy art-time-all-the-time display of fun. We don’t even bother with trying to frame pictures and make it look all professional because we change it up so frequently. What makes this work is the fact that my living room walls are periwinkle blue, my kitchen is yellow, and my library is corn husk green.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

The best advice I ever got came from my mom who said I had to find what worked for me, and not to worry so much about whether or not it was right or wrong. I think too often we cheat ourselves out of truly beneficial experiences by getting hung up on whether or not we’re doing it the right way. Unless you’re packing a parachute for a skydiving adventure, which needs to be done precisely right, most things in life have a variation of techniques that will work; some just get the job done while others do it superbly. Right, wrong, normal, abnormal…these are words that limit us from the creative solutions that make our lives more enjoyable.

Describe yourself in 3 words.

Inquisitive. Creative. Intuitive.

Tell us your favorite go-to recipe and/or decor trick.

One of my favorite go-to recipes is my homemade pasta sauce. It involves five large tomatoes pureed, a tablespoon of minced garlic, and a tablespoon of basil. From there I add onion and green bell pepper, and maybe some mushrooms. Salt and pepper to desired taste. If I can’t find decent tomatoes I’ll buy diced tomatoes in a can and puree them. With ground turkey meat or just with the vegetables this stuff is a staple in my home served over any kind of pasta. I make it at least once a month.

Adding vegetable broth and changing up the vegetables turns it into soup or stew with chunks of beef. I have cookbooks and I look up recipes on-line, but like with anything I treat recipes like guidelines and change them up depending on how I feel and what ingredients I find in the kitchen.

Best home tip (decor, recipe, etc)?

Unless you have some strange and dedicated love to monochromatic decorating, put some color on your walls. Plain white walls are just that, plain. Pick a color you can live with and paint. Whether you put up pictures or not the room will look and feel homier.

Bio: Veronica Ibarra is a freelance writer/blogger, wife of twelve years, mother of two, and servant of three cats. She shares her mothering and general life experiences at Veronica Monique: Word Warrior, her creative writing at Blood & Candlelight, and her crazy Janeite reading love at Dark Jane Austen Book Club. One day she hopes to be a published author.