(Actually, 'holiday' is NOT a word that I would use myself, more like 'same shit, different place', because contrary to popular belief there isn't an industrious horde of keen little fairies who skip blithely at the chance to load the washing machine, empty the washing machine, hang up the laundry, fold the laundry, put the laundry away, sweep the floors, mop the floors, make the beds, make the breakfast, lunch, tea and supper, and provide non-judgemental, unconditional, instantaneous affection and approval at the drop of a mob-cap... no fairies, just ME. You will notice that the list of chores is dramatically reduced because I was 'on holiday'...
Now before I get emails telling me to pull myself together and stop whinging, the lack of house fairies is not the bit I mind. Really. It is the next bit that makes me want to skewer someone's eyeball through with a blunt knitting needle.
'Whose eyeball would that be?' I hear you ask. Take a wild guess...)
- we were having dinner with a friend when the conversation turned to the credit crunch.
"Women just have to accept..." said The Husband, "that they will have to go out to work now."
Because obviously the whole damn lot of us girls have been malingering at home for the last sixty thousand years, lolling about on chaises longues while scoffing chocolate and gin by the bucketload and having a kip.And now the world has been forced to its knees in an economic recession because of our lazy, slothful, idle ways...
Welcome back - and with a vengeance!
ReplyDeleteWelcome back Happy H!
ReplyDeleteYikes. That statement is so... clueless. We would actually LOSE money if I put my (soon-to-be) four kids in daycare and went back to work. Me as stay-at-home childcare provider and frugal budget manager saves us more money than I would earn after daycare costs.
ReplyDeleteAh yes. Todd said something like, "I think women take a break when their kids enter school. Then they get into this honeymoon phase and don't want to ever go back to work".
ReplyDeleteAfter I beat him I explained that cleaning piss off the bathroom floor will never ever be a "honeymoon phase".
There was a 'joke' doing the rounds a few years back where a guy comes home from work one day to find the house a mess, wet towels all over the floor, kids beating each other up and covered in jam and biscuit crumbs, no clean clothes, no dinner, dirty house, etc. When he asked his wife what happened she said 'well, you know you say you don't know what I do all day? well today I didn't do it.' Seeems to me that would be a good thing to happen to any fool who spouts such nonsense.
ReplyDeletevery true. couldn't agree more..
ReplyDeleteI'll admit that I have my lazy days, but only when the weather's bad-- and it's not entirely my fault that we live in Washington state, which is the definition of bad weather 9 months out of the year...
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I like to idle in my art room and office-- but only because it has the best ambiance!
But I've certainly not been slothful! I wax regularly and move far faster than those beasts!
LOL! J/K... I Stumbled onto your blog and was delighted! Lots of fun to read, and I was hoping to secure your consent in adding you to the blogroll... *Bats lashes*
THIS IS A GOOD POINT. i KNOW ONE WOMAN WHO WAS INTIMIDATED ENOUGH BY SUCH A REMARK, THAT SHE WENT TO WORK. nOW HER HUSBAND CRITICISES HER HOUSEKEEPING AND SAYS SHE IS NOT A GOOD WIFE. SHE RESISTED THE PRESSURE TO GO TO WORK BECAUSE SHE KNEW IT WAS FROM HER HUSBANDS WORK PLACE THAT THEY DO SO MUCH TALKING ABOUT WHOSE WIFE IS STILL HOME. hE THREATENED TO MAKE TROUBLE, SO SHE WENT TO WORK.. NOW HE THREATENS TO LEAVE, SO SHE NMIGHT AS WELL HAVE STAYED HOME AND KEPT HER FLOORS CLEAN AND HER BATHROOM SANTITIZED...HE IS GOING TO BE DIFFICULT NO MATTER WHAT SO SHE MIGHT AS WELL RULE THE HOUSE LIKE SHE IS SUPPOSED TO. MOST MEN TRY THIS AND IF THE WOMEN DO NOT GIVE IN, THEY WILL SHUT UP AFTER AWHILE AND ENJOY THE SAVINGS.I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY WOMEN AT HOME ARE SO INTIMIDATED BY THESE PRESSURES TO ENTER THE WORKFORCE. DO THEY THINK THE HUSBAND IS GOING TO FORCE THEM INTO A CAR THE NEXT MORNING AND FORCIBLY FORCE THEM TO FIND A JOB AND THEN CALL THE POLICE IF THEY REFUSE TO GO OUT TO WORK? i MEAN, WHAT DO THEY THINK IS GOING TO HAPPEN. iN MY OPINION IT IS BETTER TO ACT WISE AND SIGH AND SAY SOMETHING LIKE, "THERE YOU GO AGAIN" OR "SOMEONE HAS BEEN MESSING WITH YOUR MIND. yOU SHOULD TELL THEM WHAT IT IS LIKE TO COME HOME TO FRESH CINNAMON ROLLS."
ReplyDeleteBUT, REALLY WHAT IS THE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN IF THE WIFE REFUSES TO LEAVE HER HOME AND JOIN THE WORKFORCE? SHE SHOULD ONLY WORK IN A REAL EMERGENCY SUCH AS THE DEATH OF HER HUSBAND.
THIS IS A GOOD POINT. i KNOW ONE WOMAN WHO WAS INTIMIDATED ENOUGH BY SUCH A REMARK, THAT SHE WENT TO WORK.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, I almost choked on my wine and pretzels - you are so funny! So, did you hurt him?
ReplyDeletewow, at least I am safe and snug here in 1955 where a woman is often encouraged to stay home. I have to say I am loving women's work.
ReplyDeleteHi!
ReplyDeleteI just found your blog... oh how much I love it! I hope you don't mind but I am going to link to you. And possibily visit far too often. I so enjoy finding blogs like this... housewives that are sassy, smart and proud!
Thank you!
Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!
ReplyDeleteGreat blog you got here. It would be great to read a bit more about that matter. Thanks for giving this information.
ReplyDeleteJoan Stepsen
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I'm about 2 years late to this party, but I just stumbled upon this blog, and just had to put in my two sense, in case anyone is still listening.
ReplyDeleteI'm actually a working woman at the moment. Me and my husband don't have children yet, so it makes sense for me to work and save some extra money in this early stage in our lives, so obviously I'm not against just all women working.
But I have a theory that it's women in the workplace that are accounting for the current economic crisis. Here's my nutshell explaination.
Many many women are not working for a season, or because they need to save money, or to put their husband through graduate school, or many other reasons that are necessary. Many women are doing this for simply selfish reasons. As a child who grew up with a stay at home mother for most of my life, but who had to work for just a few years, I can tell you I could tell a difference in our lives when mom was at home versus working. All our lives ran smoother, calmer with someone at home, looking after our well-being. It was very unselfish of her to give up "herself" and perhaps to have a little older cars than our friends, but I can tell you, all my friends were always jealous that my mom was the one on the field trips, that she was always at home when I arrived, or should I become sick, or need something at school, that or to bring the cupcakes to the Christmas party.
I am an educator, and I can tell instantly which children have a stay at home parent, and which don't. They inevidably interact better with both adults and their peers, they can almost always read better, speak better, perform better. In part because of the extra time a mom has to give towards these pursuits, in part because of the extra confidence provided by just knowing they're not on their own in their little worlds, looking out for themselves.
A mother whose child was not performing well told me not too long ago, "I have to work so I can send her to this good private school." She said this as she pulled her Coach bag out of her BMW. I doubt that she was solely working just for her daughter's educational benefit, if she was being totally honest. I somehow believe that she enjoyed being able to afford that $400 bag and her $40,000 car. But even if she genuinely thought it was for her daughter, private schools are wonderful. Obviously I believe in them, but it would have been better for her to be home with her children, to be able to work with them after school on homework, than to send them off to the best schools, only to be ignored by busy and tired parents at home.
My theory is that the women in the workplace are taking jobs from men who need them. We have another friend who has been out of work for almost a year now. He's depressed, has a hard time not providing for his family, and their family is struggling. Yet I know of many women who are in jobs this gentleman could easily do well at. So the women can have their well-deserved careers and Coach purses, but aren't at home with their children, and there are men who need to provide for their families are out of work.
If you are a woman who needs to work, or who doesn't have children at home, or who has genuinely considered the costs, and believes it is best for your family, it is a free country. Please just don't waste those few, precious years deluding yourself into thinking you're doing this for your children. I assume, even if they couldn't, or wouldn't express it, they would rather have the off-brand sneakers, and a mom to open the door when they arrive home from school.
thank you
ReplyDeleteMen say the damndest things, don't they? And THEY think WE are the mindless twits............
ReplyDelete