A week trial as a housewife

Photo by Angelina

Shifted in officially last Wednesday 23rd of Dec. And it was also the first day of my week trial as a housewife. I think it must be the third day, I slumped myself over my Mum's kitchen top and exclaimed that it is definitely harder to be a housewife than a career woman. Cos being a housewife is HARD WORK! I have read such exclamation on the net from new homemakers before but how difficult it is to do house chores? Oh no.... I was sooo wrong.

If you break up the house chores to individual task, they are not rocket science. Vacuum, mop the floor, wash the dishes, wipe the stove, clean the toilet bowl, make the bed... try doing them every day and you will realised it will eat up all your available time and is Never Ever Ending. There is always hairs on the floor no matter how many times you sweep it, dishes in the sink, dirty laundry to wash....

When I responded enthusiastically about finally having a house of my own to my secondary school friend, she shook her head cynically and said "talk to me in 3 months". Hey, I don't need 3 months. It took me only 3 days to wave the white flag. Yet..

Another been there done that friend advised me to skip the trying part and just get the express card to the weekend cleaner club. "The quality of life is sooo much better.. look, when you are looking forward to get away from work in the weekends, you don't want to spend all those precious time mopping the floor". Very valid point. Check out how I look now. An oily faced and hair, T-shirt and shorts, birkenstocked walking figure every time of the day since a week ago. Not a pretty sight.

But stubbornly, not really sure what I want to prove, I still want to give it a go. It is not all about the money (by the way it is rather reasonable to hire weekend cleaner, market rate is going at $50/day) but more liked something I always wanted to do. Be able to juggle both work and home well.

I remembered what my Bazi Teacher Master Chew told me. He said that whenever he does reading for career women who have problems with their spouse and family, he always asked if they ever do up a home cooked meal for them before. I guess it is chauvinistic for him to say that but his point is really about how a family is not just built on money and material comfort but love and warmth. So the Martha Steward in me came out of the closet (Okie, fine, not really a hidden fact.:P) and I just want to try my hands in juggling these two very challenging roles.

And I only dare to think of this option as I am blessed with a participative husband to be.We kind of took on our roles naturally; he doing the technical (TV, internet, washing machine, basically anything with a manual) and labor intensive stuff and me the cooking, washing, kitcheny stuff. And the rest, we do them together. I am crossing my fingers that both of us have the stamina to last.

On a festive note, tt has been really fun throwing the Xmas even party last Thursday with Yong's friends and I am so looking forward for tomorrow's. We decided throw Pajamas theme party and everyone has to be wearing one before they step into the house. Hee.. Can't wait...

It has been an interesting year jam packed with happenings. First the proposal, the house buying, the renovation, shifting of house... Phew.. Throw in my unusually frequent melancholy moments.. this is one heck of a year.

It is indeed a poignant moment, sitting in my new living room, typing away on my work laptop (yes I had to work during my leave) reflecting on the year.

And I can't wait for the new year to come.. :)