Thursday, September 4, 2008

Working and Homing

For lack of a better term, I'll call it homing. Obviously staying home has its perks, but work does too. Or at least, those of us who receive paychecks for our work have perks. Me? I have to find satisfaction in the job alone. And some days that's difficult. I'm sure that if you look at your job - whatever it is - there are days when, for want of a paycheck, you'd leave. And for me, that's what my job is like. Finding the satisfaction in what's been done, accomplished, and finished.

Today? Today was a good day. A fantastic day! Nope, not everything went right. Yes, I did get a bit of a wake up call when I got a quote from Business A for 4x the amount Business B did. Ouch, and I thought Business B was expensive. Wow! But I accomplished something today.

Somedays I come home from work and think, "Seriously, did I accomplish a single thing today?" Those are the days I spend (literally) hours searching for a photo that "I saw once..." because it's absolutely necessary for the piece I'm doing. Grrr.

But today was good. And then I came home and realized that Matt had cleaned the lounge - and it became obvious how bad it had gotten. That's the difficultly I have with cleaning, parenting, toilet-training, working from home, working out of the home, and volunteering at church. Balance. I know it's possible. I know it probably requires that I don't sit down and blog during the day. But I need my sanity, thank you very much.

Thank you for sanitizing me. Ahahahaa. Ok. I thought it was funny.

Does anyone else do the SAHM, WAHM, WAWM thing? And sometimes, I throw in WAWWC (Work at work with child). Those days are bad though. Bad bad. Haha. 2 year in a office? Think about it. It doesn't go well.

11 comments:

  1. I have had the privilege of being a sahm-wahm mom. I keep books for our company. I can certainly understand your frustration. Our office is in our living room. There are days I barely leave my desk and watch the house fall apart around me! It always helps when I ask the Lord to order my day. Funny thing...he does it! Antoher funny thing...there are many days I don't ask! I don't know why :) Hang in there!

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  2. I am a WAHM, I have a 16 month old daughter, I work full time from home and run a business full time from home. So, I know about a lack of balance. My house is awful, I don't let people come over. But, my daughter is fed, clean and happy and my boss thinks I do a good job and our business is doing well. So, that's what I focus on when I see the dirt and dirty laundry piling up! I just pray a lot to remain sane.

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  3. Susie...I work at home now. I have my days...like when Ben is teething and I have phone calls to make. That's always fun. Essentially, i love my business though.

    Blessings,

    Debbie

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  4. I started out as a SAHM. Now hubbie and I are resident managers for an apartment building. This mostly means answering calls and handling paperwork, but from time to time, I do have to show apartments to prospective residents, as well as move residents in and out. When hubbie is at work, I have to bring our son along. It can make things interesting, especially when Josh (who's 3) decides to act up. I do find it hard to keep up at home when things are busy. This last weekend, we had 5 apartments turning over, which equals meeting with 10 people averaging 45 minutes each. Needless to say, the house didn't look the greatest by the end of it.
    I hope you can continue to find balance. I don't think I would have if my hubbie hadn't started pitching in a lot!

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  5. I work at home - 2 business: 1, my pattern busines, New Conceptions, and 2, my daycare business. Can you imagine 6 kids 3 and under in a 700 square foot two-bedroom apartment without a yard?

    One bedroom is the playroom and my complex of 5 units has a patch of grass in front. I keep play structures on huge garden wagons in back and wheel them out front and set them up on the grass so the kids can play. I also have a 4-seat stroller and have used it nearly to death.

    Potty training isn't hard for me. I usually start aroung 10-12 months old with what westerners call elimination communication, and by about 20 months, the kids are in underwear full-time.

    I'm in the process of trying to buy a house so I can become sane again.

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  6. mostly I go by the title - NEVER at home mum!

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  7. Susie,

    I totally sympathize with finding your sanity at times like this! I am a housewife, stay at home mom, homeschool mom to a 9 yr old, 6 yr old and have a 3 year old running around making life "fun"!!! I also run a business from home that takes a bit of time each week - every other week it takes me almost a whole day to accept the order, sort it and prepare it for delivery. I am also extremely involved in our church - part time children's ministry and missions and elders, etc. My husband and I have a part time cleaning our church each week as well. There are also women in the church and other friends that call on me to counsel them or talk them through situations or most often just listen!!! Today I ended up talking with a friend this morning for about an hour listening to her breaking heart! Some days I really want to throw in the towel and the Lord and I have had some serious talks the last few days. BUT, you know what, when we are doing what God wants there is a strange sort of peace in the midst of it! I really would rather be head over heels in the Lord's business than sitting on my butt doing what "I" want to do! Even on bad days there is a satisfaction that I am doing what God has called me to do - even if I didn't do it in the best of attitudes!!! Like today - it was NOT a good day!!! So, I hope you don't mind me giving both of us a pep talk at the same time!

    Love ya, PAM IN PA

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  8. Hi Susie,
    I am a full-time work-at-home Mom. My job requires me to spend a lot of time on the computer, and active my daughter (who is 15-months) has me running after her all over the house.

    Finding balance is very difficult.

    Some days, she is content to play with toys in my office. Other days she wants to only play with Mommy! Some days, I am very productive at work. Other days, I play catch up after she has gone to sleep.

    My house is not always clean; and very recently, I gently nudged my dear husband, and he has started helping out a lot more with the housework.

    I am currently looking into a Mother's Day Out program, where I can take my daughter one day a week. Playtime with friends for her- productive days for me. A few of the churches around here offer them...dont know if they do that in NZ.

    It is tough work. Just remember you cant be superman all the time- some days are rougher than others. Keep your chin up, and know that you are serving your family in love! (At least that is what I tell myself...)

    Good luck!

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  9. I just do the SAHM thing... that's hard enough as it is. My hat (if I was wearing one, of course) is off to you and the others that can add in more of the acronymy things...

    Hooray for fantastic days!!

    -Andrea

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  10. I am a WAWM of 4 children (3 boys and a little girl)and there are days when I get home and am ready to pull my hair out... days when I am tired from working 8 hours, then picking the kids up,homework, extra-curricular activities,dinner, baths & try to have quality family time that's not rushed; however I just don't think I could be a SAHM. I think that is a huge job that I don't think I can handle because there are times when I just like to get out of the house and have "adult" interactions.

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  11. I do both the WAWM and WAWWC. It is not pretty when they have to go with me to work! I would stay home all the time if we could afford it, or if our foster care placement would come through. If that happern I would be a WAHM and loving every minute of it.

    Please stop by and check on Paul Green as well, tests came back that 10% of his cele was actually a malignant tumor. They are going in for more tests.

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