This is the question that I am asked every day.
The Man-of-My-Dreams is working out of the country again, and even from half way across the world, this is the question he asks me every night.
He means no harm, he genuinely wants to know, but it just drives me bonkers.
Why?
Well... because my standard answer is usually, "nothin".
Even though there really is no day where a mother of 5 does "nothin".
I usually have nothing of importance to report either.
I usually plop my weary head onto my pillow each night and wonder the same thing.
What did I actually "DO" today?
I didn't get dressed and go to "work".
I didn't save anyone's life.
I didn't change anyone's life.
I didn't do anything important in the grand scheme of things.
If I was brutally honest my answer, even to myself, is still a resounding "nothin".
Take today, for instance...
- made coffee
- chatted with the Man-of-My-Dreams online for a bit
- got kids up
- made breakfast
- got them busy on their chores
- ran to the gas station to fill gas cans
- aired up the lawnmower tires
- jumped the lawnmower battery to get it to start
- mowed the lawn
- sprayed a giant wasp nest w/ bee killer
- took a shower
- cleaned the bathroom
- made an emergency trip to the vet with a bleeding bulldog.
- hit Sonic for Happy-Hour and a Rt. 44 Diet Cherry Coke
- made lunch
- cleaned off the coffee table
- found the missing blue bank bag full of crayons
- made some phone calls
- praised the Little-Foreman-in-Pink on her stellar artwork
- tweeted
- put up the laundry
- removed a giant hair ball from the bathtub drain
- scraped dog poop off of the porch
- tried to keep myself and the kids cool when the power went out while it was 102 degrees outside.
- tried to teach my son how to use a neti-pot
- reminded the boys to take out the trash
- helped the Little-Foreman-in-Pink clean her bedroom
- chased a rooster around the yard to remove a string from around his leg
- folded laundry
- helped 11yr old set up a new I-Tunes account.
- paid some bills
- dug a crayon out of Guss the Pug's mouth 4 times
- Gave Brutus the Bulldog his medicated bath that the vet sent home with us
- cleaned the living room
- edited some pictures
- searched for a lost flip-flop (found it!)
- gave sick son cold medicine
- swept maggots off of the porch (shudder) from the nasty trash can
- helped the little boys get the nasty trash cans out to the curb
- un-clogged the sink drain
- emptied, rinsed out and re-filled the dog's swimming pools
- took headache medicine
- rubbed sunburn ointment on a little back
- remembered that I forgot to get something out of the freezer for dinner
- sent the Little-Foreman-in-Pink next door for a play-date
- defrosted 4lbs hamburger
- made spaghetti sauce
- dropped 11yr old off at his Baseball practice
- wrote this blog post
Mowing the lawn made this a pretty productive day!
But usually, there isn't anything like that that I can point at and say.. I did "THAT" today!
I feel like I have been running full-speed all day, but I look around and see that there is nothing (except for the lawn) that is actually done, or accomplished.
So... when asked tonight that dreaded question....
What Did You Do Today?
My answer will probably be "Nothing, except mow the lawn".
What did YOU do today?
Do you feel like you accomplished anything?
Or do you, like me, feel like you are running yourself ragged while just chasing your tail?
7 amazing comments. Talk To Me!!:
You did something wonderful. You were a mom to your kids and a loving wife to the man-of-your-dreams. You saved lives (that's what being a mom means, saving a kid's life everyday by making it better), you changed lives (that's what being a mom means, changing your kids life for the better because imagine if you'd dropped them off at daycare [shudders at thought], you accomplished the world around you (that's what it means to be a mom and taking care of kids and house) AND you mowed the lawn. You can tell the man-of-your-dreams that you kept the world a better place by being a mom AND you mowed the lawn. Pat yourself on the back. You're a woman to look up to. :)
I feel the same way. i spent the whole day in the kitchen making meals, baking bread and making jelly. the first time i sat down today was to eat dinner. now i'm exhausted and the house is a disaster. my husband comes home and looks around and says "what did you do today?"
Back when my first was a baby, my husband would sometimes subtly ask that question. When the baby was 15 months old, I left him with his daddy and went shopping out of town with my mom for most of the day (first time I'd left him). When I got home, my husband was still in his bathrobe, the house was a disaster and he was exhausted. He never asked that question again.
I LOVE this post. I have been struggling with this same issue. My husband will ask me "so what did you do today" and he doesn't mean anything condescending by it, but I look at the day, and like you, think "Really, what DID I do?" Although I think most of us could make a list much like the one you did. We look so busy, but when asked about what we did, its always "nothin." He wants to make conversation with me, but I can't think of anything I did that is worth repeating. Its' all just "stuff", right? My husband is a cop so I just say "Well, I wasn't a superhero like you!" and I think he almost takes offense to it. Its so hard to remember that in the monotony of the day in day out of being mom and wife and keeper of the house and everything else, that we ARE doing something. We ARE making a difference. We ARE saving and changing lives. And maybe the reason we can't remember half of what we did is because we're never not doing something. It all runs together and we can't pick out the details. I think the first comment above is amazing and we should all be repeating those things to ourselves everyday!!
I'm a SAHM of 4. Hubby makes fun because I have it "so easy" because I get to stay home and "don't have to work". I used to get mad now I just agree and when he asks what have you done all day I respond with "I ate bon bons and watched soaps all day." He gets the point and sometimes suggests that I save him some bon bons because he would like to try them.
No one thinks that housewives and stay at home moms DO anything but...when I got sick and couldn't do any of those things any more, they quickly learned different. The hard part has been convincing myself that even though I don't go to work, I do most certainly work and it's a worthwhile job with the greatest benefits even though there's no pay that the government can tax.
HOMESTEADING FOR BEGINNERS: A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE ON HOW TO START YOUR OWN HOMESTEAD
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