What DO stay-at-home moms do all day?

In hindsight, I had a somewhat ridiculously productive day.

1. I cleaned up the toys at least 12 times.  Or three.
2. I finally cleaned my sink/counter/second counter filled with dirty dishes and pots and pans.  They had been sitting there since Tuesday night. 
3. I came up with some new homeschool work to do with Alex.  We started using glass beads (like the kind you put at the bottom of a vase) to do math.  I can now give him a more complicated page of questions (10 + 13, etc) and he counts out and then adds up all the beads and writes down his answers.  After trying to draw some things myself, I finally admitted that the art gene skipped my generation and cut out a bunch of cartoon figures like a cat, dog, hat, frog, star, cup, etc, and we pasted them onto half sheets of paper, which Alex then labeled himself.  In English.  Like a real person.  Reading is awesome!
4. We made a quilt square for a school project his teacher sent home.  Unfortunately, while he was busy upstairs pouting about something or another, his sister got a hold of the piece of card stock and scribbled all over it, rendering it useless.  I don't have any card stock on hand (and I'm not buying stuff this month), so we improvised.  His assignment was to color/illustrate/collage the quiltsquare with whatever he is most thankful for.  He picked DOGS and we ended up printing out and pasting and cutting photos of Carol's new puppy onto the square.  It quite adorably covered his sister's scribbles and he was proud to bring it to school.
5. I fixed our printer, which hasn't worked in almost a year.
6. I took Alex to school and then put Genoa down for a nap thus using my two+ hour break to study (I'm working on the final class toward getting my Certified Financial Planner credential) while watching Private Practice.  (During which time I ate a funsize package of twizzlers, a kit-kat and a second bowl of chili, but that doesn't exactly count towards productivity).
7. When Genoa woke up, we picked up Alex and headed straight for the pool where Genoa and I splashed along to Wheels on the Bus and Alex showed off his newly acquired underwater swimming skills.  Afterwards we all showered before leaving the pool.
8. On our way home from swimming, we stopped off at Fred Meyer to pick up a few things for Carol.  (And I stepped in a puddle wearing my Ugg(ly) boots, which felt oddly as if I'd strapped a wet diaper to my leg).
9. Then I made a quick dinner of penne with cream sauce for the kids (leftover chili yet again for me and Dave).  (I can't seem to get enough chili).
10. I wrote a Naked Ledger post about some little changes I've made to save us money.
11. Dave got home (from an after-work trip to the gun shop) at around 7:00.
12. We put Alex to bed.
13. Here I am.

Feels like I got a lot done.  Tomorrow I think I might take the kids to OMSI.  Either that or it's finally time for me to attack the moutain of laundry I need to fold and put away upstairs.  We'll see.

Comments

[kendall's mom]

answer: they don't. stay. home. I don't know why they even call it that. Some of the things I did today "staying home?" Attempted to scrub black sharpie (permanent) marker off my kitchen counters (Kendall's now writing a really good "m" tho,) and dug up the stuffed animal my dumbass dog burried in the yard (it didn't look THAT much like a real monkey, dumbass,) dishes, laundry, and let's not forget, soap operas and bon-bons...

[Annagrace]

i was thinking about OMSI, too...we miss the playground and and nicer weather...

[Zoe]

OMSI is so much fun, especially their Mindbender Mansion exhibit right now!

[astarte]

AMEN. I bust my ass every freakin' day with cleaning and errands and pets and kids. Even with both kids in school, now I'm busy being *in* the school, plus all the house stuff, plus all the errands, etc. I'm pooped at the end of the day. You go girl!!!! That list rocks!

[kj @ Where my boys at?]

Your Naked Ledger link takes me to a Flickr photo!
oops?

[kheatherg]

I work outside of the house full time and still have to do those damn dishes in the sink.

Life isnt fair!

[Laura Meaux]

I think I have found something worse than being a stay at home mom with a non-useful hubby. Working 40 hours a week and still having to do all of the stay at home mom stuff. And I have never wanted to be a stay at home mom - it is a hard job. And not one that I am up to. I like my career. I love that I work 3 nights a week - long hours but then I am off all week.

Does that mean that I should have to do all of the home chores too?

Oh, and when I got my current job, my husband told me that I should go and look for a part time job to make more money since (and I quote) "(I) am only working 3 days a week and you have so many days off." (Did I mention that I make twice what he makes a year? Hmm...the irony.....