I am

not a stay-at-home mom. I wish I were but, alas, our situation does not, at this time, allow for me to fullfill that desire. I don't wish to be because I think that stay-at-home moms have it easy. That is far from it. I think they work just as hard as working moms, if not harder at times.  My desire is to be that mom that can have homemade cookies made for her children when they come home from school, to have the laundry washed, dried, folded and put away (in the same week {grin}), etc.

When Jellybean was young I was able to stay home during the day and then work a few hours during the evening so I did get to do a lot of those things and it did my heart good to feel like I was caring for my family the way I felt I needed to be.

I miss that.

But I can not change what my life is now or what our life requires of me and I will not begrudge it either.  I do love my life and all that it entails; I would just prefer things slightly adapted if I were given my choice.

So... since I have one evening and one weekend day a week to prepare, plan and do "deep" cleaning, I have to make sure to keep myself organized because family time is first and foremost on those days! 2011 marks the beginning of me re-structuring my household management skills. As I go through trial-and-error, looking for things that work for a busy family of 4 home of 4 (we are a bigger family than that only 4 live here now), I will share with you what has worked and not worked for us and, being teachable and ready to learn would love to hear from you what has worked and hasn't worked for your family.

Why re-invent the wheel right?