I could never be a stay at home mom. Now, I do not state this to start a blog war, to denigrate stay at home wives/moms or to criticize anyone’s choices for their family. I’m just saying that I, Nerd Girl, couldn’t do it. I could work from home – because I’d have something constructive to do for a majority of the day – but staying at home? Nope.
And yes, Lovegirl’s flu quarantine is behind this post 🙂
This day, much like yesterday, is dragging. There’s nothing I’m interested in on television. In the day and half that I’ve been home I’ve cleaned out my kitchen cabinets – including the removal of three cans of in-case-of-emergency fruit that had expanded almost to the point of explosion. Yuck. I’ve cleaned my bathroom, organized the junk drawer, mopped the kitchen floor and cleaned the guest bathroom. I’ve made a list of errands to run on Friday, washed and put away three loads of clothes, and considered cleaning the baseboards in the kitchen. A pot of chili and a pot of chicken noodle soup have been made.
Tonight, once she’s sleep, I’m tackling Lovegirl’s room with a discerning eye and a garbage bag.
Tomorrow I’m going to clean out the cabinet beneath the kitchen sink, bag up Lovegirl’s outgrown clothes, clean up my room, and maybe make a loaf of bread or some rolls. After that, I’ve got nothing.
Everybody that I know in real life works, so it’s not like I can call one of my girlfriends or get together for a leisurely lunch. Our budget doesn’t allow for mini-vacations (this is if Lovegirl wasn’t sick), and while I love to read, I have no desire to do so for 16 hours a day.
So, as much as there are days when I really don’t feel like going to work, I think that I can safely say I am not cut out to be at home all day every day. Now, if we were wealthy, that might be another story, but within the confines of our current income, nerp. I go to work!
Do you stay at home? What do you do to fill your days? If you don’t stay at home – whether or not you have children – what do you think you would do to keep you occupied if you did stay home? Do you feel the way I do when you’re home for more than a few days (vacations don’t count) or do you love it?
Nerd Girl 
Preach Sista! I thought I wanted to be a stay at home mom until the summer I was laid off. I didn’t enjoy it. That summer made me re-think a lot of things about how I wanted to live the rest of my life. LOL Did I mention that even had a part time job? Like you, if I was wealthy, my story might change. But in my current financial situation…I go to work too!
The summer I was fired was when I first realized staying at home probably wasn’t for me. I was like, okay, it’s been two weeks, I think we’ve done everything available…what next?
You’ll get no flack from me. As Lisa said, Preach on!! I’ll sing in the choir! I realized when snowed in for 8 days last year that I wasn’t cut out to be a SAHM. **shrugs** Everyone is different, so for those that love it, great. When I was home over this past summer with a bum wrist, I became bored outta my head. If I was able to still send my son to daycare and $$ was not an issue, I could see not working and being a full time writer. Other than that, nope, I gotta work too!
I asked my Mom – who stayed home for a couple of years with me and my first brother – if she liked it. She didn’t – admitted she was bored and felt like there was no way she wanted to stay home with all four of us – and my Dad told her she could. Hey wait, I think I’m supposed to have hurt feelings or something 🙂
Different strokes, different folks…
I mean, you could always travel to NYC and help me organize my apartment. I’m just sayin’. Right now, I’v cut my hours so I stay home on Mondays and Fridays. It’s hard to get things done, even when I have a set plan for what I should be doing that day. There are too many distractions.
Girl, I love to organize – don’t play! That’s a nice deal you’ve got. 2 days off, 3 on – I could probably handle that.
At the age I am now, I could do it. But that’s easy for me to say now because my son is 20, I’ve hired a cleaning crew, I now have a hobby that I love, I don’t love my job, and I’m running my own charitable fund and co-managing a charitble Foundation which IS work that I love .
But 20 years ago I could not have done it. I’m not really a kid person, I don’t like to cook, I had no hobbies, I’m impatient, and I was working in a field that I loved.
This has helped me realize that I definitely need to cultivate some more hobbies and get involved in something service-oriented.
I have no desire to be a stay at home mom/wife. Right now, with no kids, I do housework between naps! LOL!!! There is only so much internets and TV and e-reading one can do. And plus I’m active with my sorority, if they found out I stayed home, they be trying to worry the dog shit out of me! They get enough of my time already..so I’ll pass..
Housework between naps…I remember those days fondly! Now it just doesn’t get done the way it should. I think I may have surfed to the end of the internet!!
I would freaking love to be a stay at home mom! I can hardly wait for when I am one. There’s meal planning and grocery shopping and cooking and housework and CRAFTS and perusing the stores when they aren’t crowded! Oh and going to the library for story hour and going to church for midday prayer and play dates and $1 midday movies and museums and going to the park and hanging with my momma and I also plan on befriending an old lady in my neighborhood and making her my grandma so I can hang with her too. And going for walks with the kids and teaching the kids things and teaching myself things (like grammar) and joining mocha moms and going to meet daddy for lunch.
I could probably go on, but I won’t! Working has never been a desire of mine, I’ve always said I’ll stay home when I have kids.
I’m sure you’ll be great at home with yours!
I’ve often wondered if I’d have a different opinion if I were in a more metropolitan area and there were more activities to keep me busy during the day.
Now I think I could definitely mess with staying at home. But I want to be home ALONE. I dont want to keep my kids at home all day or homeschool or anything like that. I would still make those buggers go to afterschool care! I don’t have any free time so the thought of it is making me drool a little. I am trying to at least work from home a couple of days a weeks do I can go out shopping for lunch or something. I’m drowning over here!
Oh yeah, I could definitely see doing a few days from home, but not day in and day out. I hope your situation works out and that you are thrown a rope soon. Hang in there!
I never planned on being a mom so to consider being a stay-at-home mom didn’t cross my mind. Now that I have Buddha, there ain’t no way on this green Earth that we can stay home together all day, everyday. I’d jump from the garage roof.
I could work from home sans kid though. But to not have a job to do and be chilling in the house, nah, that’s not for me.
Yep. I’m on her nerves, she’s on mine…I guess it’s different when you/they don’t know any different, but this girl of mine is so ready to get back to school and her friends it’s not funny. And I’m ready to do something besides clean and watch Nick Jr.
This time last year the DC/MD/VA area was hit with a bunch of snow which had me home for just about two weeks straight. And man was that hard to handle, so no I dont think I’d be able to cop with being a stay at home mother. I’m sure I’d have countless activities/chores to handle but I almost hate to admit that going to work is abit easier.
Oh, I totally agree. Staying at home takes more out of me than going to work ever has.
I had a ball during that snow! I learned how to make bread, how to make ice cream cones, donuts, and we were having a ball! I was not ready to go back to work.
This reminds me of something I told my mom when I was like 5 or 6 – Mommies go to work , kids go to school. LOL . As for me , I could not be a stay at home mom. Going to work is a better option and a way to keep my mind exercised
I have no real interest in being a SAHM. The days were just so monotonous to me during my short 6-week maternity leave. I loved bonding with my baby but the routine… Maybe it depends on the age of the child.
I could get with being a SAHW though (although it is too late). I would attend all kinds of fitness classes for sure and maybe have time to do some more difficult physical challenges.
I don’t have kids or a husband, but I have been thinking about ways to be a stay at home single person. No ideas good enough to date. LOL! I love being at home all day though when I take off. My friends say it’s mostly because I know I have to go back to work. This is probably true.
The fact that you organized your junk drawer really shows that you mean business. I only do that when I’m moving apartments. LOL!
I did a media fast last week while I was on vacation from work and here’s what I did to pass the time: Cooked three meals a day, went to the gym daily, read a book, spent time at the bookstore, spent time at coffee/tea shops, prayed, watched DVDs, laundry, spent more time than usual on my hair, went to all the things friends invited me to in the evening except I wasn’t tired after work, I was refreshed after being home all day. It wasn’t so bad.
Well, I’m at home today. Snow day baby!!! *pumps fist in the air*
That wasn’t your question though now was it? LOL While I love lounging around the house, I’m pretty sure it would get old at some point. The closest I’ve ever come to having that much “free” time is when I was doing contract work for some telecom companies in the area. One gig ended and it took about four months for me to find to find another. I really didn’t enjoy it much after the first month. I started freaking out about not being able to find work and was job hunting practically from sun up to sun down.
Now on the other hand, if were loaded? Shooooooooooooooooot………….
I usually work from home 3 days a week. On the other days we visit Children’s museums, art class, kids club at the nearby mall, music class, the park where they play with their friends and I talk to moms and nannies, we take walks, baby gym, gymnastics, have lunch and play. Today we went to the California Science Center. There are an endless number of activities and I’d love
to be able to do them all. We’ve been to Disney a bunch of times.
Since my kids are young we just do a few
exhibits/rides/attractions each visit.
My list of places to take the kids is lengthy.
When they start school I intend to be the mom who volunteers at the school a few times each week.
I did SAHW for ~ 1 year. I did not like it because I was away from family/friends and my husband worked 12 hours each day. If I was a SAHW now that I have a better social life I could enjoy
it.
I wouldn’t mind being a stay at home mom. It kills me to wake up each morning and drop my girl off at daycare. Plus, I have about 2 crates of recipes I want to try out. I would be a cooking fool!!!!
I would love to be a stay at home mom. But I also want to homeschool and live on a self-sustaining farm. I’m sure I could find more than enough things to keep me busy….but for now I teach, and pretend to be those things for a few months out of the year 🙂
It takes me more than a few days but I’m not stuck inside with a sick child! Giiiiirl! I feel for ya! Summer break around the one month mark I get itchy.