And What Do You Do?

One of the dreaded questions for a housewife (whether by choice, or otherwise) is the question that follows the excited, and animated conversation of a husband explaining his job to a new friend. The inquisitor, satisfied with the friendly response he/she received from the husband, graciously looks over at his "second half" and asks: "And what do you do?". All they get is a quirky, uncomfortable smile, and a blank look, and then some form of "I'm working at home, and just sort of learning to be a wife, and taking things slowly, and trying not to put extra stress on the marriage, etc." Since I've yet to come up with a complete (brief) explanation (that isn't offensive) I'm hoping this blog will help me see what I do and create an answer for acquaintances (and also dear friends & family that don't quite understand my choice).


When we were engaged, I would tell people that "I was quitting my job, and wasn't going to work because we want to really focus on the marriage and get used to things". My answer seemed to be endearing and acceptable to others. After about 3 months of being married, I guess I should have figured it out already, because this response no longer receives the same amount of understanding as it did. (I can only imagine how hard it will be for people to understand if "I'm still learning" after 3 years! Yikes!)


The explanation of why my husband and I chose for me to be a housewife is simple--but loaded: we believe marriage is a reflection of the unity attained in the relationship between God and the Church. We also believe that complimentary roles of a man and woman best reflect this relationship.


I'm not going to try to defend our belief here, and today I'm not going to try to explain it (because I need to work on my brevity). I do want to say that while the above statement is something we believe, we are learning what it means. We do not have it figured out yet (at all), and it's okay if we never do. The goal is progress. I'm not going to try to erase stereotypes, nor condemn you for not living the way we are. 


I'm new at this job, so I'm not great at any of it yet. I like to add things slowly so I can become an expert at the thing I'm doing, then learn something new and become an expert at that, and so on. With this blog, I hope to document what I do, but also what I want to do. I'm hoping this blog will in a way keep me accountable to do the things I want to do. I'll use the tabs above to keep "to-do" lists for myself. Right now I've got things I want to learn/accomplish in 4 main areas: books to read, things to do (practices to get better at, or things to go out an do), things to make (or fix), and food to eat (recipes or restaurants). These will probably evolve over time. 


Things you can be certain you'll find on this blog in the future:
Food!: we're foodies, so you can bet you'll see recipes, and restaurant reviews
Crafts: I love to do things myself, so you'll see lots of crafts, from slip covers to picture books
Thoughts on being a housewife: I need a better answer to "And what do you do?"
Thoughts on God: I want to be growing in all areas of life, but particularly this one.
Nature: Real life or created, I love seeing God's handiwork!
Life's happenings: I've got a lot going on, and so I'll probably share a tid bit here and there