Salute to stay-at-home moms

I stole this from a friend's facebook because it made me laugh. I'm sure I know some other people who will enjoy it as well.
If you can't read it because of the size, I put the full text here also:

TELL ME ABOUT IT ®
By Carolyn HaxWednesday, May 23, 2007; Page C10
Carolyn:
Best friend has child. Her: exhausted, busy, no time for self, no time for me, etc. Me (no kids): Wow. Sorry. What'd you do today? Her: Park, play group . . .

Carolyn:
Best friend has child. Her: exhausted, busy, no time for self, no time for me, etc.
Me (no kids): Wow. Sorry. What'd you do today?
Her: Park, play group . . .

Okay. I've done Internet searches, I've talked to parents. I don't get it. What do stay-at-home moms do all day? Please no lists of library, grocery store, dry cleaners . . . I do all those things, too, and I don't do them EVERY DAY. I guess what I'm asking is: What is a typical day and why don't moms have time for a call or e-mail? I work and am away from home nine hours a day (plus a few late work events) and I manage to get it all done. I'm feeling like the kid is an excuse to relax and enjoy -- not a bad thing at all -- but if so, why won't my friend tell me the truth? Is this a peeing contest ("My life is so much harder than yours")? What's the deal? I've got friends with and without kids and all us child-free folks get the same story and have the same questions.
Tacoma, Wash.

Relax and enjoy. You're funny.
Or you're lying about having friends with kids.
Or you're taking them at their word that they actually have kids, because you haven't personally been in the same room with them.
Internet searches?
I keep wavering between giving you a straight answer and giving my forehead some keyboard. To claim you want to understand, while in the same breath implying that the only logical conclusions are that your mom-friends are either lying or competing with you, is disingenuous indeed.
So, since it's validation you seem to want, the real answer is what you get. In list form. When you have young kids, your typical day is: constant attention, from getting them out of bed, fed, clean, dressed; to keeping them out of harm's way; to answering their coos, cries, questions; to having two arms and carrying one kid, one set of car keys, and supplies for even the quickest trips, including the latest-to-be-declared-essential piece of molded plastic gear; to keeping them from unshelving books at the library; to enforcing rest times; to staying one step ahead of them lest they get too hungry, tired or bored, any one of which produces the kind of checkout-line screaming that gets the checkout line shaking its head.
It's needing 45 minutes to do what takes others 15.
It's constant vigilance, constant touch, constant use of your voice, constant relegation of your needs to the second tier.
It's constant scrutiny and second-guessing from family and friends, well-meaning and otherwise. It's resisting constant temptation to seek short-term relief at everyone's long-term expense.
It's doing all this while concurrently teaching virtually everything -- language, manners, safety, resourcefulness, discipline, curiosity, creativity. Empathy. Everything.
It's also a choice, yes. And a joy. But if you spent all day, every day, with this brand of joy, and then, when you got your first 10 minutes to yourself, wanted to be alone with your thoughts instead of calling a good friend, a good friend wouldn't judge you, complain about you to mutual friends, or marvel how much more productively she uses her time. Either make a sincere effort to understand or keep your snit to yourself.


So this is why somedays I feel like I worked all day and got nothing done?
Oh and lest anybody think to themselves (or dare say out loud), "You say you're so busy, but obviously you have time to sit down and mess around on the internet and blog and stuff", I'm feeding the baby while I blog about this. Have a great day! :-)

P.S. I feel like I can't get anything done sometimes and so far I only have one. I know many other incredible ladies who do seem to manage to get everything done and they have more than one (some of them MUCH more than one).

The Neighborhood Handyman

Once again, I find myself thinking about blogging regularly, but my mind does not stay on one pursuit for very long (Matt says that if I had gone to public school they would have decided that I was ADD and put me on Ritalin.) so I may post this one entry and then forget about it for several months again, but it's possible that this time I could just stick with it. Seventeenth times a charm, right?

Today is Matt's last day at Handyman Matters. For several months now, he has only worked at Handyman Matters a couple of days a week because they just have not had enough work for him. The other days he has been doing side jobs and working on building a business of his own that would keep him busy full-time. In the past month, his side jobs have really picked up and Handyman Matters jobs have really slowed down, and it became clear to us that now was the time to take that big, scary (but exciting) leap of faith into being totally self-employed. We are so excited about the new business. Matt is officially The Neighborhood Handyman. For the summer, I am working in "the office" (a.k.a the corner of our living room) as the phone answerer, job scheduler, paperwork doer, etc. Our hope is that eventually the business will be thriving enough that I will be able to work from home year round as the office worker, but that's a little ways down the road. For now we are simply praying that the jobs keep coming in. Please keep us in your prayers as we work to get the business off the ground. Also, if you need any work done around your house call (or email) The Neighborhood Handyman. He really is amazing and can do pretty much anything. :-) Below is a copy of his ad that appeared this month in the local Home Improvement Guide.

Have a great day!