Hard Working Women

Hard Working Women

It's time again for Tuesday 4 hosted by Anne from Cottage by the sea. Published each week in memory of Toni Taddeo, it's original author.We keep Toni Taddeo's original idea alive here with 4 questions each week to get you blogging, visiting and  learning about yourself and other bloggers.   The more people join in, the merrier and the better it gets. We are always looking for topics, subjects and ideas so feel free to chime in if you have idea.

Let's talk about Moms and Wives and other  unpaid domestic servants.

1. Have you ever found yourself in the same position as this lady? I'm sure there have been times I found myself in a somewhat similar position. How did you feel about it? With that said, my husband does help out, so I don't usually feel like I'm "being left to take care of the cleanup while everyone else plays". Sometimes I'd rather just do the clean up.

2.. Women do the cooking, the cleaning up and the organizing while the rest of the family reap the rewards of that.. is it fair?  I don't think that's entirely true. I think we have this "image" of the woman's role, but there are plenty of men who do a lot of these things, and sometimes the roles are reversed. If a woman is staying home, then of course she'd probably do the majority of these things. I also think it's important to teach the family to pitch in. I love taking care of my family and our home...though now that I work 3 days a week, sometimes I feel like my plate is too full and I might get irritated if no one pitches in with certain things. I sometimes joke that there are 5 adults who live in this house, everyone can do something. With that said, no one is lazy here, just sometimes, they don't see or pay attention to what needs doing.

3.  Vacations at air b&bs or rental homes often mean Mom does all the work.  What kind of holiday or vacation would be most restful for you? I actually love staying at rental homes or airbnbs. There's more room to spread out and have space if needed. We love putting together our own food. If we go with multiple people we will sometimes divvy up meals and lunch if we are at the house are kind of on your own. Sometimes breakfast too. I often do end up doing most of the cooking, but I love to cook, so as long as someone else cleans up, no problem. There have been times when my hubby and I have gone away that I've said, I don't want to cook so we eat out or we pick up simple things that don't require cooking a meal, like things for a meat and cheese board. 

4.  In Proverbs 31, the wife is married to a very prominent man in town.  She runs the house, has a cottage industry, owns vineyards on her own and buys and sells real estate.   

What kind of woman are you? Do you hold a job.. do you do the housework.. do you find rewards in service to others or do you find it can be wearing on  you or perhaps a little bit of both. For 17 years I was able to stay home with our daughters and homeschool them. I loved it. In 2014, my oldest graduated and my youngest was starting her Jr. year and doing a Running Start program at the local community college...We were in a work/life transition and realized that we were not quite adequately prepared for "retirement" (we were pastors and thought we'd be doing this for the rest of our lives), anyways, I went back to work. Part time helping an older gal, and then in 2018 I started working for my son in laws aunt, where I still work today. I would LOVE to stay home again and do more around the house and yard, but that's not the season we are in. 

I do most of the housework. My hubby does the laundry. His work schedule is very time consuming, so I try to take care of as much as I can. We kind of all pitch in with dishes. I love helping others, doing things for my family, though I'd be lying if I didn't say that sometimes I get tired and just don't want to do anything more. 

What  earthly rewards do you get out of  the life you are living? I think the rewards I get are a home where people like to hang out, a place that feels peaceful, the joy of relationship with adult children and now grandchildren. We are in a much better place financially. Still working to put money away for retirement, but we have more freedom than we've ever had.

With Joy Unquenchable,

Kirstin