A Confession

Source

I have a confession to make:   I am a homebody.  

It's true!  I know you are SO shocked...I love being home.  I love cleaning my house, or baking something yummy.  I even love doing laundry.  I love the smell of the fresh clean clothes and the warmth of the soft garments as my hands fold them.  The allure of being home and creating seems to supersede all other needs.

In fact, as I write this I should be going to the grocery store.  I have my list all made out, but the drive to go just isn't' there.  Sometimes my family has to suck on dried beans just to get the nourishment they need.  Well, okay, that's an exaggeration, but I can get creative with food.  

I saw a quote the other day by Jane Austen, "Ah! There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort."  I found a pretty cool free printable the other day at Becky Higgin's blog.  (the cute one at the top of this post) You can down load it here.  You are welcome.  ;)

A Kept Woman

1995

Several years ago, like too many to count, I was watching a talk show...I used to watch them while folding laundry or making cookies or any number of mundane home jobs that sometimes seem boring in and of themselves. The talk shows helped keep me entertained. But, this one day, I saw the mother of all talk shows, and I have never watched one again. The people on the show were totally dogging on the stay at home mom. Saying how they didn't carry their weight in a marriage, we were lazy and someone even had the audacity to compare a stay at home mom to a "kept woman". Are you kidding me? Isn't a kept woman someone who doesn't do a dang thing? Someone who lays around eating bonbons and is there for her husbands every sexual whim? Like I need to be paid for sex! Not me! Nope...This show was totally demeaning, and I actually let it get to me for a while. But, then I remembered my job as a stay at home mom was akin to a sacred calling.

I LOVED being a stay at home mom. I worked hard, too! My home was always clean, the kids were happy and KT always had a dinner to come home to even if at times it was mac n cheese from a box. I felt good about my accomplishments throughout the day. KT used to have people ask him what his wife did, after he told them I was a stay at home mom, it was like I was suddenly not interesting anymore. "Oh," they would say. Bless his heart, I love him for this, he would tell them "Well, she probably works harder than me most days." Fo sho!

Five years ago I went back to work. The kids were all going to be in school, and I was just darn afraid of being home by myself after all those years. I think I was afraid I would become that bonbon eating kept woman. But you know what? I now long for the days of staying home. Even if I only work part time, they were days of far less stress and a far less stressed wife makes for a happier husband. I'm just sayin'. But it's not so easy to just stay home anymore. We've become accustomed to the extra money. I have a son in college right now and another who is a senior in high school. So, really, staying home again is not in the near future. I guess I just long for the days of being a "kept woman" again...Those days of more simplicity...