I have decided to go on strike, for one week. The rules are that I will do the cooking and the laundry, but I am doing nothing else. No vacuuming, no dishes, no dusting, no picking up toys, no taking care of the animals, etc. After 7 years of marriage, and 4 years of motherhood, it has come to this point.
Before I was a stay at home mom, I worked at the same place my husband does, for 3-1/2 years, so I know full well what his works entails. I know that there are times when working out of the home really bites. I know it can also be extremely frustrating. Sometimes, I long for those days. Wake up, go to work for 8 hours, and come home to relax and do what I want. Imagine, 16 hours a day of my own time! I don't know if I would know how to spend those hours.
For those who think that being a stay at home mom entails nothing more than sitting on your butt, popping the occassional Bon-Bon while watching Oprah...to you I say that you ought to be beaten fiercely...every hour. A stay at home mom's day is 24 hours long, 7 days a week. On most days, as soon as I wake up and have gotten my wee one breakfast, I begin cleaning and doing laundry. I then take the dog out, feed and water the dog and both cats. Clean the litter box. Wash the breakfast dishes...and there's no electric dishwasher in this house. Put laundry in the dryer, and start a new load of wash. Vacuum. Pick up toys. Pick up toys. Get wee on some lunch. Pick up toys. Make beds. Take the dog out. Swiffer the floors...only one room in my house has carpet. Feed and water the bird. Finally take a shower. Throw myself together. Get the load of laundry out of the dryer, and put another in the dryer. Fold the laundry. Wee one I babysit arrives, and her and my wee one go to play in the toy/computer room. Get second load of laundry out of the dryer, and fold it. Put laundry away. DH comes home. Break up a fight between wee one I watch, and my wee one. Start dinner. Set table. Wee one I take care of goes home. Dinner on table. Scrape plates. Wash dishes. Clean kitchen. Pick up the explosion in the toy/computer room. Clean living room...again. Get wee one showered and ready for bed. Read to wee one on some nights. Try to not fall asleep while I am waiting for my wee one to fall asleep. Back downstairs to clean up bathroom. Straighten up back porch...shoes, etc. Re-tidy living room. Occassionally get online for a bit. Go to bed usually after midnight. All starts again in the morning.
Now, while this may seem busy, add into the days that I also have to constantly pick up after dh. He takes his socks and jeans of in the living room? They remain there until I pick them up. DH gets a blanket out to use while watching tv? I fold it up. DH gets a coat out? I take it off the back of the chair where he has put it, and put it where it belongs. Etc. Etc. Etc. I have to say that the one thing that drives me absolutely insane...and I think he does this intentionally...is the newspaper. I read the newspaper maybe once a month. Maybe. DH gets the paper on the way to work. After he is done reading it, he puts it in his lunchbox. When he returns home, he takes the paper out of his lunchbox, and sets it on the counter. Or the table. I have to then pick it up...usually later in the evening when I am setting the table, or getting dinner ready, and put it into the recycling. I have asked him numerous times why he does this, and his reply is that he didn't know if I was going to read it. I have told him to just put it right in to the recycling, that I am not interested in the paper. He has yet to figure this apparently complex problem out. And this from a Marine!!! *Sigh*
I am tired. I am tired of be taken for granted. I am tired of having to babysit both my son and my husband. I am tired to the point that it has finally really pissed me off. So, I am on strike. I can only imagine what the house will look like in a week. I may even regret having done this, but damn it! It is time for someone else to carry the brunt of the household chores. It is time for someone else to understand what my "job" entails. I already know what his job is. At this point, all I can really say, is thank heavens I have already done the grocery shopping!!
