What SAHM Means to this SAHM

I started to comment on one of my newest additions to my blog roll this evening. The post concluded with this question: "What do you do to prevent Mommy burnout?"

I started to list just one of my attempts to stay sane in the SAHM world, but the list just kept growing until I realized that there is really no excuse for finding myself on the brink of insanity save pure selfishness. Here's what I wrote...

When I can, I do my essential housework either in the morning while my little ones are eating breakfast, during nap time or just after bedtime. I do very little during the days, and what I have to do, I have the kids help with- it keeps them from escaping out the front door or flushing toys down the toilet while I'm occupied! I also make it a point to have a mommies' night out once in a while- it's usually after our kids are in bed, and we just meet for coffee or dessert. We usually end up staying out until 11 or 12, but I'm energized for a good two weeks afterward! Play Dates are my favorite, no guilt way of getting some adult interaction- nothing beats letting your kid get some socialization while you chat/vent to the mommies!

And most importantly, knowing that I'm doing the best thing I can for my kids and playing the role that God called me to play makes a world of difference. There are days (sometimes weeks) when I start to loose sight of that call, and I have to remind myself that I'm fulfilling my responsibility to my KIDS and my GOD.

Stay-at-home-mommying isn't always fun. Sometimes it's flat out miserable... for weeks on end. While it's rewarding, I don't always enjoy it, and it doesn't always make me happy. I don't do it for me. Sometimes I find myself itching for the days when I'll be able to have my hair done, clean up the house without a munchkin following behind me to mess again, sit in a silent car, and perhaps even start a career. For me, being a SAHM is an obligation, a job just like any other out there. It has it's ups and downs. Some days I feel under-appreciated. Others I love it and look forward to spending another 16 years in the field as I've committed to do. I chose this job because it was the best thing for my kids, because no one can make them feel loved like their parents, because I felt it vitally important that I be there to answer the big life questions that pop up along the way.

My nine-year-old asked me tonight if I knew what God's call for me was. I told her, "I sure do. He dropped all three of you right on my lap!"

The Simple Woman's Daybook: September 28th

For Today... September 28, 2009

Outside my window... The sun is just starting to rise. When did the days start getting so short again? It promises to be a cheerful day full of sun and with little threat of rain. Perhaps the soccer fields will be dry enough for a game this evening.

I am thinking... about the unachievable to-do list I have for today. Time to prioritize!

From the kitchen... Leftover pizza for breakfast, salads for lunch, and tortellini this evening for dinner.

I am wearing... pink boxer shorts with girls in yoga poses printed across them and a dark pink short sleeve top. I really should have something warmer on this morning. It's FREEZING in our house!

From the Learning Rooms... Little Mister is working on penmanship, simple reading, number recognition, counting to 20 and simple addition this week. Last weeks celebration of Autumn and Johnny Appleseed distracted us a bit, but he did wow me with some beautiful B's!

I am creating... Halloween costumes. Or at least trying to. I finished the basics of Little Miss' mermaid tail but still have to add some sea worthy trim. Her seashell top is going to be an experiment- one that I'm not really looking forward to. As for Little Mister's Popeye costume, the fabric remains neatly stacked in the JoAnn's bag. I'm still shocked that I wasn't able to find a sailor suit pattern! I'm sailing uncharted waters with this on. Big Sister wants to be a jockey, but I haven't even started the research process for that one. Ugh... :-)

I am praying... for a fantastic week of school for Big Sister, one that keeps the pining away for friends from her old school at bay. And a prayer of thanks for the continued signs that we made the right decision in transferring schools. She is soaring through the curriculum, basking in the praise she's being offered, and even claims to be keeping her chattiness at bay.

I am reading... The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather. She is without a doubt my favorite classic American author. I haven't visited her since college, and oh, I've missed her writing!

Around the house... Tons of laundry to do. It's funny how that snuck up on me. Friday I was half a load from finished!

One of my favorite things... Folgers simple smooth coffee varieties. And chilly mornings that make the sipping experience that much more enjoyable.

A few plans for the rest of the week... A soccer game, coffee date, ti kwon do, gymnastics, pre-school, soccer practice, sorting through kids' clothes in storage, and working on those stinkin' costumes.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...

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Down and Dirty: Barnyard Cake

Did I ever feel like I was on a Food Network cake challenge last night! This cake was probably one of my most disappointing projects, not because it looks bad but because I had so many more plans for it.

Details that didn't become reality:

A silo (which toppled over in the midst of my decorating)

A fondant fence around the edge of the cake

Hay Bales

Feed Bags

The process of this cake was actually fairly smooth with one tiny exception. Three days beforehand, I sculpted my farm animals from fondant. 2 pigs, 2 ducks, 1 cow, 1 horse head, and 1 rooster. Growing up, I was never able to sculpt clay or play-do well, so I was surprised and satisfied with my work.

My yard was made from a sheet cake pan. For my barn, I baked a ten inch square cake. I cut the square into fourths and stacked two of the small squares to make the base of the barn. I cut the remaining 2 squares in half and stacked the triangles together to make the peak. All of this was "glued" together with buttercream icing.

A layer of green over the sheet cake, red covering the barn, fondant shingles and trim, and the animals were ready to move in.

What you can't see is the super cute silo that I constructed using an invisible pillar and three 3-inch round cake pans. It would have been an adorable addition to the scene, but at three minutes till midnight, it toppled along with my spirits, missing a collision with the barn by an inch. As I wasn't about to start over so late, I filled in the destroyed area with grass icing and transformed the silo's foundation into a pasture for my cow to graze. By the time I was finished with the recover process, it was nearly 2AM, so I aborted my fencing and other details and called it a night. Perhaps I bit off more than I could chew with this project, or I might just need to do a bit of structural research next time around. In any case, THIS was a cake I was more than happy to get off my hands.