From Working Mom to WORKING Mom!

Domestication is just not my "thing." As I have said before I have fought it tooth and nail. Cooking was one of the tasks I found myself to be domestically challenged. When I was in college I did as little as possible to cook, cereal was my favorite meal for breakfast, lunch and dinner. If I could pour it out of a box to make it that was great. If I just had to open and eat, even better.  Preparing uncooked food was disgusting to me...especially meat. In short...I detested cooking, not to mention I was a disaster in the kitchen.  Have you ever ruined Kraft Macaroni and Cheese? I have.  After college, it didn't change much (or at all really). I got married and my new husband soon realized that if he didn't want to starve he would have to learn to cook!!  Being a career woman and then eventually becoming a Mom didn't help matters. I had no idea how people worked full-time AND provided home cooked meals while maintaining a household and keeping their children in one piece. So, my husband continued his role as "Head Cook" and this was more than fine by me. During this time, our oldest son would ask his Dad what was for dinner and would be surprised if I actually made dinner.  I know there were people that wondered how in the world I got by without cooking and pitied him for having to cook. We made it work and it worked for us - he is a phenomenal cook by the way. 

As we entered 2011, like so many households with kids, we had new toys to contend with. Before Christmas, Noah (my 5 year-old) and I went through all our toys and decided which ones we could donate.  I thought I was getting the toy room ready for new toys.  I knew the toy room (which is really a storage room turned into a toy room) was in desperate need of a makeover.

But I wasn't prepared for the insane overflow of toys that ensued after Christmas. We didn't go overboard with gifts for the kids and neither did other family but just the addition of a few toys for both kids made our entire toy room and family room explode with toys. With the exception of having the "baby toys" separate from the toy room, there was NO organization to them at all. The kids didn't even really play with anything because they could hardly walk much less play!!

When I get an idea in my head I just go for it. My nature is to just jump in feet first without much thought or planning. And that is exactly what I did with the toy room, on super bowl Sunday no less (my husband thought I had gone nuts, but he is used to my spontaneous, spur of the moment projects by now).... I decided to paint the toy room. It was nap time and I had finally hit my breaking point with the toys. I began to gut the toy room by putting all the toys in huge storage bins. Then the room was empty. Now what?!  I had no plan, no shelves, bins or anything to organize the toys any differently. But I was going to paint. After the toy room was gutted I went to our paint supplies and found about a quarter of a gallon of two colors that I thought would work together (blue and green). And I painted....and Noah came in while I was painting and said, "wow Mom what else can you do?!"  Not sure if I should find this laughable or insulting, my kid obviously think I could do much of anything :)

The next day....I walked down to the toy room and thought oh no, what did I get myself into?! I have nothing to put the toys in to make it any better than before!  It is not as if the paint was going to organize the toys.  So it was off to Ikea I went, in my small Toyota Corolla, by myself (While the kids were at a friends house and my hubby was at work). I came home with my car stuffed to the gills with two Trofast Shelves and an Expedit shelf. Then onto Menards I had no carpet in the toy room (we had used the foam letters for flooring) and wanted a cheap way of putting in carpet. I had heard of carpet tiles and found them at Menards. They were VERY easy to lay down.

After the carpet was laid and the shelves were put together we sorted the toys into three piles:

1. Give Away
2. Throw Away (criteria being if it is broken or missing pieces it is to be thrown away).
3. Keep

This process was not as painstaking as I expected. It was very invigorating. I felt like all the "junk" toys were gone. I can't stand clutter and I love DECLUTTERING.  I then sorted all the toys that we were keeping into the bins (I did this myself so I had them exactly how I wanted them organized).  Now instead of having the "baby toys" and the bigger kid toys separate they are all in one room. If there are toys that are not appropriate for the younger one, they put up higher, out of his reach. So far this has worked. And the end result......I think turned out great.

I took these pictures before I finished labeling and I plan to put some cute things on the walls to make it even more "kid-ish" Other than that, here are the before and after pictures:
                                                                                

I am reading a book called Calm My Anxious Heart: A Woman's Guide to True Contentment by Linda Dillow. I was able to download it for FREE on my Amazon Kindle 3 the other day and am SO glad I did!! This book seriously had me captivated within the first two sentences. I thought I would share with you a few excerpts that caught my eye.

• Never allow yourself to complain about anything - not even the weather.
• Never picture yourself in any other circumstances or someplace else.
• Never compare your lot with another's.
• Never allow yourself to wish this or that had been otherwise.
• Never dwell on tomorrow - remember that [tomorrow] is God's, not ours.

So, I am finally coming to terms and accepting this whole stay-at-home Mom gig and then God throws another curve ball. Really? He sure likes to keep me on my toes!  I received a phone call from a legal staffing firm that I signed up with right before I was booted from my last job.

Wait....let me back up. I know I said I have a degree in Early Childhood Education, and I do! But I never actually formally worked in the field. Two weeks before graduation (while student teaching) it hit me like a Mach truck. What was I doing? I never wanted to be a teacher, I couldn't see myself doing this for the rest of my life!....I know, you are thinking well that would have been helpful to figure out WAY before graduation! Believe me, I know. Plus, I tend to look to the future not the present. I envisioned myself correcting papers and cutting out the next days project for the preschoolers at 50 years-old when I was only 24 years-old. Nothing like not living in the present.

So, I received my diploma, got a random job working for a health insurance company. Then a few years later I decided I needed a career direction and went back to school to be a paralegal. So, that is what I did for five years before I ended up where I am now.

Back to the curve ball.  This staffing firm called me today to tell me about a fantastic temporary (3 month contract) position doing pretty much the exact same thing I did at my previous job (which I loved).  My thought is, maybe this opportunity would give me a boost to experience the career world again just long enough for me to appreciate what I have at home...to help me to realize what I have is GOOD! God sure does work in mysterious ways!! I am just rolling with it. I will keep you posted as to what I decide....

So, today I am trying to figure out this whole thing about living frugally. I have been reading other peoples blogs and although they all have offered a ton of great information about couponing, getting free stuff, making a "workable budget" Frankly, I am overwhelmed. I need a step by step map. Videos are great and webinars are great, but I don't have time for that. I need to read a step by step process and be able to apply it. As I sit here and read, I have children interrupting me and wanting to play. As I am sure many others can agree, we don't have time to sit for long periods to figure it out.

As I was typing, this I thought, stop your belly-aching and search for it! I am SURE there is stuff on the internet to figure it out. So I jumped on over to Moneysavingmom.com where I have been reading many of her posts. She has a series called 31 Days To A Better Grocery Budget. I read Day 1 of the series about stop making excuses and just do it! So, that is what I am going to do.... My thought, if I put it in writing, I am obligating myself to do it. And when I do it, my husband will love me more than ever for saving money. So, GAME ON!

Okay, so I am a stay-at-home mom (SAHM). I admit it.  I feel as though I am admitting to being an addict of some sort. The first stage is acceptance.  I recently had a friend tell me that she thinks I am fighting against what is to be. Instead of saying I am a stay-at-home mom with shame, I need to be proud of it. When somebody asks, I need to say, (with smile on face) I am at home raising my children.

The epiphany (if you want to call it that) I had a few days ago is actually probably God finally getting it through my thick skull what He has been trying to tell me all along. I belong at home. For the last year and a half I have been kicking and screaming my way out of the house. But each time I think I have finally made it to the door, I get pulled back in and yes....I am not ashamed to say it...it has been against my will. There I said it. Being a SAHM was never my first choice and is probably not my second or third choice either. Acceptance is the first step to recovery right?

So, as I try to manage myself, my children and my household on a daily basis I may have to institute a few new rules. The first that comes to mind that when the laundry room is finally void of all dirty laundry, all parties who live in the home MUST not soil another article of clothing for at least a week....that will work right?