Yay! I'm Not Alone!

Well, given the emails I've received regarding this morning's post about cleaning and housewifery, I am not alone. Thank God. I was beginning to feel like I truly was a freak for not being able to hold it together. I think things are very different now than they were when we were kids. Many of our mom's actually were "housewives". "Housewife" implies that you are actually in your house for more than 15 minutes at a time. I feel more like a "running-in-and-out-of-house-wife". I think more is expected of the "stay-at-home-mom" these days, maybe because we're smaller in number. Being able to "stay-at-home" (again, a total misnomer if ever there was one) is considered a luxury and therefore you had damn well have a pretty freakin' perfect looking life because it is assumed that you have nothing but time on your hands. If you're not punching the clock at work you had better be producing at home. I've written about this before in this space.......the expectations are almost impossible to live up to. You can't be fat as you have time to exercise, your house should be perfect, your kids well mannered and destined for greatness, etc., etc. I call bullshit. As my sister-in-law pointed out, because you don't have a "job" you're also expected to pick up a lot of slack at school. And as we've learned in this space, that can be like hand to hand combat in a war zone. Those other mommies are fierce. It's only Thursday and I feel like I've been put through one of those hand-cranked clothes ringers due to a spirited attempt at all of the above. And as has been established, my house isn't even clean. I have NO idea what we're having for dinner. Oh, 'cause you're supposed to have nutritious and meticulously planned meals as well. June Cleaver I am not. Shit, she had time to wear a perfectly pressed dress, heels and freakin' LIPSTICK. Of COURSE she had time to make dinner. In a cute little apron! At present I have a pair of sweatpants that my close friend made me promise I'd burn due to their bag-lady like condition (I couldn't find any other clean pants), a shirt I've worn for two days (and slept in once) and a floppy knit hat that has some random crap hanging off it 'cause I walked under a tree earlier this morning. Needless to say, I don't have lipstick on. I don't really get the impression that June every had more to do during the day than lean across the fence to talk to her neighbors and entertain the milkman. It's just not that simple these days. And lest I get hate-mail, I know that we stay-at-home mom's are a fortunate lot. I know there are MANY out there that would trade places with us in an instant. I am just pointing out that it is not as easy at it looks. Don't judge until you've walked in another's stained and ripped up sweatpants. I'll forage through that laundry basket to try to find some without holes in them before I head back out again but from the looks of it, I'm not holding out much hope.

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Copyright (c) by Mollie Christie, 2010 all rights reserved.