I AM A HOMEMAKER. (A lousy one at times but...still...)

Hmmph…!

See, I’ve been struggling a lot with this. Perhaps waaaay too much thought, but I am my mother’s daughter and so the over analyzing kicks in!

I go through fits and starts with wanting to stay at home. It’s not likely to happen, though, and then I go into a funk. I hate my house and the mess. I hate the way the days are getting shorter, darker and colder. I struggle with the two parts of my world that are fighting in this great big wrestling arena in my brain. The working person is rebelling against work and wants to be a housewife…and then the housewife knows that she would suck as a housewife if she had to stay home every day….but she likes to think that she would be able to get it all together and make it work.

So, I started writing about my dilemma. And I found something interesting (to me anyway…WAKE UP!). I was using the words housewife and homemaker interchangeably.

Housewives are not all homemakers and homemakers are not all housewives. I submit to you that ANYONE can be a homemaker. There is no gender or role involved. There’s no need to you to be a wife or mother, to have a house or to work only at home. You don’t have to be an adult or young married. You don’t even have to be female. Housewives, on the other hand, are married women who stay at home. They may or may not have children and they may or may not be homemakers.

So, what exactly is a homemaker? (This is where the major analysis kicked in!) Well, it is someone who makes a house a home. HEY! I kind of do that. I don’t do the best job of it all the time….but we won’t go there right now! I have been so caught up in not being the housewife that I forgot that I am a homemaker. I have lost sight of the priority. Yes, I still work outside the home. But it is my JOB to make the home welcoming and enjoyable. Is it my job alone? Not necessarily.

It’s a mindset, though. I am convinced.

I need to stop highlighting my shortcoming s in this area and suck it up. If I want to make my house a home. If I want to make living in my home comfortable for my family and for those who visit. If I want to be a homemaker, there is absolutely nothing stopping me but my mindset.

Yes, this is a revelation for me. That I don’t have to be a housewife to be a homemaker. That I can make a house a home and still be a working woman and student and mom and wear all the other hats that I wear! I AM A HOMEMAKER…HEAR ME ROAR!!!!!

Ahem….now I need to go find the vacuum cleaner and maybe part of the kitchen table before dinner.