Job hunting and the stay at home mother

Being a stay at home mother has been both the hardest and most frustrating jobs of my career. It sounds wonderful the full one on one time with the children but ... yes there is a whole big line of buts.

But 1. People who ask "What do you do everyday" and "How come the house isn't clean". Everyday I handle the day to day operations of the house. That means everything from getting the teenager out the door to school (on time, in clean clothing, wearing deodorant, with breakfast in his belly, and his hair brushed), toddler wrangling, laundry, dishes, clean the bathrooms, buy the groceries, figure out the household finances, fret about the household finances, and anything else that might be an incidental along the way.

But 2. "How many resumes are you sending every week". Since I had the audacity to state us living on one income isn't working people tend to ask me that question. Well that depends on how many positions I find that work around my availability. I can't just jump on every opening and interview willy nilly because going to an interview means I have to have child care. So if it's not a position that is going to work for us long term it is kind of ridiculous for me to take the time, money, and drama of packing up a toddler to the sitter's in hopes that I will be able to bring home a short term paycheck.

But 3. "Why don't you do something for yourself". Things like going out to coffee, drinks, or dinner with friends cost money. Which means as I presently don't bring in money I am spending my husband's money for my leisure. While I know he doesn't begrudge me it's awful hard to justify spending a 1/3 of an hour of his work on a cup of coffee when I know there are other places it could be going. Like the never ending bills and cost of groceries.

So in short I really am doing my best. If you are coming over to see my house please book your visit weeks in advance so I can attempt to guarantee a level of cleanliness equal to your expectations. If you ask me what I did all day when you see me post about making my family a home cooked meal, going to a job interview, and managing to wrangle groceries expect the look of death and maybe some profanity slung your way.  I know society expects it to be a breeze based on what we see on the television, or those cute optimistic blog posts from mommy's in higher income brackets, and as much as I wish it was all television and bonbons sometimes it's catching toddler barf in one hand while saving the email to recruiter in the other.