Workin' Nine to Five...
With all of my Daily Essential's and Daily Extra's scheduled into my day and running routinely, I still end up with about 3 to 4 hours of spare time in my "work day" schedule. I say work day, because I feel that this *is* my job. I am blessed with the great gift to be able to stay home and be "the boss" of my own doings and comings and goings, but that said, I don't want to take that for granted and I want to be a dilligent and worthy worker. So, that's going to be my theme this week before I move on to discuss Weekly Essentials next week.
Just yesterday I had two people rave publicly about me to people I don't know. This made me feel extremely awkward! They both said things along the lines of "She is amazing! She has four kids, is pregnant, homeschools, her kids are amazing, etc, etc." and then turn to me with; "I just don't know *how* you do it!!" I find this very embarassing and I think people don't realize how easy and fulfilling my "job" really is. But at the same time, I think I find it easier and more fulfilling because I *do* view it as a job. A very rewarding and even cushy job if I stay on top of things, a not so rewarding and rather draining job if I don't.
What I mean is, if I consider that Prairie Guy leaves the house at 8 am and returns at 4:30, with half hour for lunch and half hour of breaks... well, my job that starts with a quiet time at 7:30 in my pj's and a one hour time slot to eat and get washed up... well, that's cushy! If I consider 3 hours of lolling around learning with my kids WORK, well, I'll take that ANY day!!!
I just had to shake my head when these women raved about "how can you do it?" One was a doctor, the only pediatric specialist of her kind in the city. The other is a public school teacher. Well... truth be told, I look at women in the work force and it's *I* who can't fathom how *they* do it! They work full time, 3/4 of the day OUTSIDE the home, and then have to take care of all the things that I have *all* day to devote to in the short period of time available AFTER work or on weekends when I am usually kicking it back with my feet up. *If* I stay on top of my job during my "work time" that is.
That said, I don't want to make my lot out to be all peaches and cream either, there are ways that my lifestyle adds work for sure. This house is lived in by 5 people ALL day, dirtying dishes, dirtying bathrooms, using and messing rooms when many people's homes sit empty for the majority of the day and are only lived in in the evening. This does mean my floors get dirtier, I have more dishes to wash and more pick up to do... but like I said, if that's my *job*; to stay on top of those things, I'll take that any day over a work force 9-5!
My "trick" for this week, is how important I believe it is to recognize my "stay at home" status as a full time job and to do my best to organize my day in such a way that my job gets done dilligently, every day (for the most part, I'm not about to abandon all the perks and flexibility that being my own boss allows, but at the same time, I'm going to stay committed to not taking it for granted and getting my job done well in the end, even if it is on flex time!) Just like I would devote myself to staying on top of my paperwork in a work force job, I need to devote myself to staying on top of my house and parenting work at home.
Now, all that serious stuff said, like I mentioned in the beginning of this post; all this "work" still leaves me alot of cushy time in my day. On a normal day, with all of my Daily Essentials and Daily Extra's scheduled I still have about FOUR hours of cushy time. One of those hours I already devote to complete "down" time (after lunch quiet time) so that leaves me with THREE hours to do the "extra's" and *still* have time to spare.
How people can rave about "how I do it?" based on that information written down in black and white, well you can see why I "don't get" their amazement. I truly feel "work" couldn't get any better than this! Next week I'll touch on organizing weekly chores into bite sized daily chunks and start chipping away at those 3 hours plus of spare time in my day :D.
3 comments:
great perspective! Thanks for sharing!
Nichole you rock because you are a great mom! I agree with your outlook of it as a job (best job) though and think that is a good perspecive to have when investing in kids and husbands. Bless you guys!
Noticed on a mutual blogger pals blog that you have that nasty cough that has been going around our province, sorry to hear that, it is a nasty one. We just got through it... hope you get lotsa rest and it doesn't last long!
Thank you for your post. I was just thinking about this yesterday and then I stumbled upon your post through Crystal. You're right on with this one!
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