On being a housewife
I’ve been at home full-time now for almost 7 months. In that time it hasn’t felt like my life has changed all that much as I was working at home for the better part of the last two years. Now, as the designated full-time house-person I am responsible for all things to do with the house with a few exceptions (cat litter and taking out the garbage). This isn’t really new to me, previously I did it all anyway because I worked full-time at home. I was here and it was easy enough to empty the dishwasher as I made myself lunch or clean the bathroom as I was having my morning shower. Besides, Steve and I have very different ideas of how clean a house should be and my version is significantly cleaner. Not that I’m ultra-clean (I’m not) its just my tolerance for clutter and dirt is less than Steve’s.
Yet, now that this is my job I hate it. My job, for the most part, is easily the most boring job on the planet. It never changes, it never wavers, it never miraculously stays clean. Laundry needs to be done every Sunday (because I do not have enough underwear to last any longer than a week), the dishwasher needs to be empty and refilled EVERY DAY, and the dog continuously sheds. Asking the dog to stop the shedding is ineffective. I’ve tried it, it doesn’t work. You can’t even bribe him with the good treats, he still sheds.
If I could put blame firmly on Steve, trust me, I would, but I can’t. When it comes to live-in companions I have a pretty sweet deal and I know it. If I ask him to consistently put his dishes in the dishwasher, he does. If I ask him to bring down the laundry, he does. If I don’t vacuum or clean the bathroom for a month, he says nothing, not even a snide under-his-breath comment. The absolute worse thing he ever did was comment that his pants were wrinkled and I should iron them. I didn’t let that go because even though it might be my job, it takes a very brave man to ask a woman to iron his pants when said woman hasn’t ironed a pair of her own pants in YEARS. For the record, it took close to two hours and I informed him all future pant purchases will be of the wrinkle-free variety. Do I have a right to make that request? Not really. I did anyway.
The guy, for the most part, hardly makes a mess. His worse offense is the car but neither of us is going to take home an award for tidiest car which numerous friends will attest to. Frequently.
Yet I’ve mentioned nothing that I didn’t do before. I have been doing our laundry every Sunday for the last three years. I have been emptying the dishwasher and washing the dinner pots every night for that same amount of time. I vacuumed as regularly with a full-time job as I do now. The only reason I can think of why it suddenly sucks is that before I wasn’t doing it out of a sense that it was my job, I just did it because it needed to be done. Now I have to do it and that bugs the crap out of me.
I’m off to vacuum the downstairs and wash the kitchen floor now. You’re jealous, aren’t you?
Tired. So very, very tired.
Another thing to add to the list of why it completely sucks to be pregnant – you can’t sleep. You can’t sleep on your back after a certan point because it cuts off blood flow to all the important things plus it reduces blood flow to the spawn and I’m going on the assumption that that’s bad. You can’t sleep on your stomach – self explanatory. You can’t sleep on your side because everything starts to fall asleep within about a half second and if its not falling asleep and getting tingly, it aches. Personally I’m a big fan of sleep and would like to have some again. And if one more person tells me that its just something I’ll have to get used you – JUST SHUT UP ALREADY, I KNOW. I’d like to point out that the baby crying all the time is still months away and I see no good reason to suffer now. Besides, I intend to give birth to an easy-going child. Yes, that’s right, I am planning for an easy-going child. I have three neurotic pets, Steve and I have decided we’re due for an easy-going child, *I* was easy-going, Steve is the definition of easy-going so really there’s no reason for God to punish me or for the words “Revenge is sweet” to ever leave my mother’s lips. I’m just sayin’.
Also, the glowing? Load of crap. I have some funny skin thing going on that is red and blotchy and there is certainly no glow.
To be honest, it appears that as far as pregnancy goes I’m one of those stupid lucky people who is getting off remarkably easy. There’s still time, though, for those who hope to really see me suffer 
.
In other news, spring is blooming in this part of the world and its pretty nice. Spring is fickle of course, so it could all suck tomorrow. Daffedils are out, crocuses are out, and the tulips are coming up too. The eagles are EVERYWHERE and even though I’ve lived here a year and a half they are still a remarkable bird to watch. The cherry and plum trees are in full bloom, and the bugs are zipping around like nothing else. Summer is soooo close. I can’t wait!
It’s been a crazy, busy week. I had a tonne of projects and reports due this week, another final coming up this weekend that I have to cram for and I have been volunteering with my streamkeepers group just about every Saturday. I still found time on Monday to do a 6 km walk with a friend and our puppies so I feel mighty good about that, it makes up for all the sitting around and studying I’ve been doing lately.
When things calm down I’m sure I’ll think of something for more interesting than this to rant about!
And the ants came back, the very next year
Tis the season of the ant. In my kitchen. There’s nothing like killing 20 odd ants and disinfecting the counter before you fry up your morning eggs. Fun, fun.
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I feel sad that my cute, tormented Leprechaun dog didn’t get more comments. Thanks for sending my pooch love, Cori . (ps where’s your website these days, girl?)
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Every Tuesday for the next couple of weeks (I guess its during the weeks of Lent) my Grandma and I have been attending a luncheon series at her church. It’s actually been really interesting as the topics are on sustainability, biodiversity and ecology and cover a range of areas from food to peak oil. All the topics fit in with the diploma I’ve been doing this past year, and for $6 you get a lecture and a really, really good lunch.
Last week a gentleman from the Qualicum Institute (they don’t appear to have a website, unfortunately) came and spoke about biodiversity and sustainability and what local communities can do. He was really engaging and we left feeling more knowledgeable. Did you know that Cuba has a sustainable food industry? It’s incredible. This week’s topic was on Food Security and …meh. It was interesting and it made you think about a few things but I didn’t leave the lunch today feeling energized. It did sort of make me want to do some more vegetable gardening, and maybe buy a cow (ha! just kidding). One of the biggest issues I had with today’s talk is that she kept using the word Christian. The minute you bring religion into the equation of something I consider to be science, it gets under my skin. This is completely unreasonable as numerous religious organizations do a lot of good, but I tend to start shutting down anyway. I had to keep reminding myself that a church was putting on the series and she meant no harm in it and that its my own hang up.
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We started our tomato seeds and other assorted early vegetables this weekend. We have regrouped and have decided to go a different route with our tomatos and keep them in pots so we can prevent the Tomato Plague of 2005 from repeating itself. This year, I hope to fulfill my dreams of making fresh tomato sauce. Mmmmm….pasta….
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Six eagles were soaring above our yard this weekend at one time. This, my friends, is why we live here. Beautiful.
Happy St. Paddy’s Day
From Vegas!
For some reason, he won’t do the cute, floppy ears when he’s being tortured with Leprechaun paraphernalia. hmph.
Estrogen or Ignorant People Deserving of my Rage?
I was regaling an emotional story the other day at Grandma’s house that Steve and Grandma were patiently listening through and at the conclusion Grandma very calmly asked me if I thought the hormomes of pregnancy were getting to me a little. hehehehehe. Maybe.
My story was about this jerk at the grocery store. I was unloading my cart and was in this unusual position of trying to unload my cart over the cart itself (some chain of events led to this that I can’t recall) and was sort of wedged between this guy on the til behind me and the til I was at. Something fell out of the back of the cart that I couldn’t reach without doing a lot of shuffling and just being a plain nuisance. The dude in the other line (who was maybe 40 years old) looks at me and announces “something fell out of your cart”. Gee, thanks. I just looked at him and then after rearranging myself and cart and trying to squeeze back there past HIS cart to pick up said item the dude says “I guess I could have picked that up if I was a gentleman” and I said, rather snarkily “yeah, if you were gentleman you would have picked it up” but would like to note that I politely left off the “stupid asshole” that was on the tip of my tongue.
Maybe its the estrogen pumping through my body, or maybe people just suck.
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