Here Lately

One month ago, I left my job to stay at home with my girls.  People keep asking me how I'm liking life these days.  Honestly, it doesn't feel terribly different.  Right now it just feels like the two days a week I was home anyway while working part-time.  Plus, summer is not reality.  There's no end to the things to do.  I will say, though, that it took me a few days to get into the swing of things.

I've mentioned before that I was fearful of staying at home because I'm such an inherently lazy person.  Here's how I thought my blog would look in the days following my unemployment:

Day One


Things are going smoothly so far.  I've gotten out of bed.  I've showered.  Maybe tomorrow I'll apply make-up.


Day Three


Finally have my pajamas right as I want them - well worn.  They are very "lived in" so they are really soft.  I probably should do something about the hole wearing in the crotch.


Day Five


Haven't heard from the girls.  I know they're around here somewhere.  Remind me to check under the pile of dishes in the kitchen.  I'll do it at the commercial break from Family Feud.


Day Eight


Food becoming scarce.  I think we still have some dog food.  I'll check it out in my now crotchless pajamas later this afternoon.  Right now there's a Dharma and Greg marathon I'd be crazy to miss.


Okay, so it didn't exactly go like that.  My first week at home, I was determined to not become a total sloth.  I actually set my alarm every day* so I would get out of bed before 8:00.  I settled into a nice morning routine where I would watch the first 30 minutes of the Today show while I drank my coffee.  I would eat breakfast while the girls played in the den and then we'd either go downstairs so I could get on the treadmill or we'd go to the pool for swim lessons.  Okay, that was the first two days*.  Day three - a Wednesday - my lone accomplishment was creating a to-do list.  Of course, I didn't actually mark anything off of it.  Just making the list was achievement enough. And really, I cheated.  I put two things on it that I was already in the process of doing.  Pretty sad.

But, I have fallen into a routine that I like and sure beats the crap out of having a stressful job.  Of course, because it's summertime, I have constant entertainment.  We can go to the pool with neighborhood friends.  We can go to the lake house.  There are plenty of kid-friendly offerings at the movies since this is peak movie-going season.  And since the kids aren't in school, we can jet (okay, drive) off on an adventure any time we want.  I've had my college reunion already and have hosted several people at the lake house.  We've had a dream summer.  Plenty of fun in the sun and plenty of time with our friends.

It's too early to tell how things will go once the kids are in school an we have a real, actual routine.  And fall will be here before you know it.  Yesterday, the girls and I went and bought Kate her school uniforms which she will be required to wear now that she's a first grader.  (I cannot believe how grown up she looks in them!) So once school starts and I am truly a "stay at home mom", I wonder how I'll like it.  I wonder what the house will look like once I have nothing but time to clean it.  I wonder what sorts of fabulous meals I'll prepare now that I won't have my 45 minute commute to make it inconvenient.  I wonder if any of this will change now that I'll be at home.  Or, will life be the same except that I'm not working?

I'm afraid that all of the things I vowed to personally vowed to improve once I was no longer working will not change at all due to my aforementioned penchant for laziness and slovenliness.  Tonight, for example, I went to the store but forgot two crucial ingredients for my dinner and dinner for the kids.  Pretty hard to make salad with no lettuce.  Also difficult to make pizza with no cheese.  So, I loaded everyone up and we went and got McDonalds.  (Okay, I lied.  The kids got McDonalds.  I made a special trip to Taco Bell for some big, nasty Nachos Bell Grande.  I'm so ashamed.)  How will I be able to get it together once I have school and extra-curricular schedules back in the mix?  I suppose it remains to be seen.

The good news is that I've showered more than I've not showered.  Worn make-up more than I've not worn make-up.  Changed pajamas (and done laundry) an acceptable amount of times.  My television is often off and my children aren't buried under any filth in my house.  So far, so good I'd say.