Stay at Home Moms Amaze Me

I am about to admit to being a horrible daughter. Whenever my mom and I had a fight I would ask her two questions. 1) "What the hell do you do AT HOME all day?" and 2) "Why do you spend so much on groceries?" Moms, you are all laughing at me right now, I can hear it!

Answer to Question #1: PPpppfffffffffsplat!!!!!! Ok, sorry, this is gross... but Bunny has an ulcer and I often wake up to this sound and a giant pile of runny poo. Thank goodness we have Pergo. Before we had carpet, and now I know why my mom wanted to strangle Bunny sometimes. I also know why she wished we weren't absolutely in love with all 5 of our dogs. Because they have to eat, twice a day! Now there's an ordeal. Bunny barks at my heels all the way through the house, Cosmo trips me, Bud is scared of the chaos and has to be comforted before he will eat, Lucy growls at everyone, and puppy cuts circles around the rest of the crew until finally skidding to a halt at her feeding spot in the kitchen. Sigh.

Then we have dishes. Lots of dishes. I had forgotten that until my adult years I (like Quinn) would leave my water glass next to my bed and go get a new one when I went to the couch. Laundry. Loads and loads of laundry. All over the house. In places you wouldn't expect. You have to collect it AND remember to wash it! Seriously, up until last year I would wear my jeans up to 5 times and sniff the armpits of my shirts to make sure I was in the clear (I marvel at the fact that I have a boyfriend). Next, cleaning. Makeup crusted on the bathroom counter, hair in the sink, grease build up in the kitchen, please... don't get me started on the toilets... and the floors! Does anybody know how much my beloved Corgis shed? Cosmo "puppies" are all over the house. I swept today and got a pile the same size as him. He should be bald by now. Oh yes, and cooking. My favorite is cooking, because I do it often and completely suck at it. Seriously, when my mom was around the house was clean, we always had a healthy meal, and we always had clean underwear... and I always took that for granted. Now our house is a total sty. I come home from work, clean and cook until bed time, and we live in a sty. It amazes me. If I stayed at home all day, I could do nothing but chores and it would still never all be done.

Answer to question #2: Kids eat. A LOT. Dog food costs at least $60 a month. The dirty house (see above) requires cleaning supplies. People... buy stock in paper towels and lysol because I buy a lot of it. My mom would take out $150 a week at the grocery store, and every once in a while she would take an extra $20 to get clothes or whatever. And with her weekly budget she would always manage to save out enough each week to start a nice savings towards Cristmas gifts and extras. I've come to the conclusion that the woman was a budgeting goddess. Last week alone I spent $80 on clothes. Teenagers grow out of clothes at light speed! $40 at Target on dog food, cleaning supplies, plastic food baggies. $50 at to grocery store (and will have to go back because I don't think I got enough to last the week). Total= $170.

No, this is not complaining. It's just giving credit where credit is due, because staying at home is not all about taking jogs so you have a toned ass and watching the Tyra show (though I do try to sneak that in when I am around!) while someone else is out earning a living. I appreciate my easy days at the office now! She told me one day I would understand. I knew she always felt underappreciated. And now I get it!