Thursday, September 20, 2007

"Free time?" What's that?!?!

My sister-in-law left a comment on my last post asking what I did with my "free time" while Avery was in school yesterday. This really made me laugh.

Free time? Seriously??

I don't think I've had "free time" in, ohhh, about 6 years, 7 months, and 20 days (but who's counting?).

Yesterday might have been considered "free time" if I were actually a stay-at-home mom. Although, even then, I'm sure the day would've been filled with vacuuming dog hair, washing dirty dishes, scrubbing toilets, and making sure everyone has clean underwear (we moms are sooo lucky, huh?).

But, alas! I'm NOT a stay-at-home mom. Now, pay attention, this is where it gets tricky... I'm a WORK-at-home mom. I know that everyone who knows and loves me KNOWS that I work from home. But sometimes (okay, quite often actually) I wonder if they know what that means...

Granted, I don't have a commute and I can work in my jammies (both huge benefits of working from home)... but I do have real work, real deadlines, real clients, and (thankfully) real paychecks.

What I don't have is an office to escape to (and do my work in)... away from my husband, kids, dogs, laundry, dishes, knocks on the door, etc. Until yesterday, I'd never had a block of time to devote to my work... my "9 to 5" is usually more like an "8 to midnight (or later)." Also until yesterday, I'd never had daycare or a babysitter (other than Miss Trish who was a Godsend for a couple of months!)... I've worked with one or two children underfoot, screaming, whining, crying, vomiting, or begging me to play for the past, ohhhh, 6 years, 7 months, and 20 days (but who's counting?).

So, yesterday, I didn't actually HAVE any "free time." I did have a whopping 6 hours without the loud, curious, ever-hungry 3 year old. I spent the majority of those 6 hours working, doing laundry, and missing that little person.

4 comments:

Trish said...

You work??? I never knew that...ROFLMBO I am just kidding Momma! You work real hard and hopefully you can join me for lunch one of your FREE afternoons when you get caught up;) Love ya!

Jennifer said...

AMEN!

---Your fellow WAHM who knows and can relate to every word you just said. I really don't just make "pretty pictures" all day.

Anonymous said...

I can totally relate. Somehow we manage to juggle and get it all done, but some days are better than others!

Anonymous said...

All right, I'm cutting and pasting and putting this on my blog!! You are so right...I seriously think that people feel if you work from your home it's not work, it's a hobby. And those people need to be smacked at least once a day, purely for my enjoyment.