50s housewife, first and last day

I did a  lot of thinking over the weekend and devised a modified 50s housewife routine for myself, and I still didn't get everything accomplished! That being said, I feel GRRRRREAT about this. Today I managed to re-clean everything I had previously cleaned, go to the bank (where I actually went inside and waited in line), have an anti-50s lunch out with my sister, deep clean both bathrooms AND clean out under the couch cushions...all while wearing a dress and apron. Just as I was about to jump head first into my daily deep cleaning chore of cleaning the currently horrific master bedroom the 105 degree heat and my frozen air conditioner got the best of me and I bailed over to my parents house where someone else (my mom) makes me dinner in her deliciously air-conditioned house. Now tomorrow I will have to do two deep cleaning chores, re-clean everything from today, and cross my fingers and toes that the AC works all day!

In addition to shouting my daily routine to the world, I blog to reflect on my mission of becoming a better me. Today I decided to change my blog from "One Step Shy of Awesome" to "21 days to a better me". The reason behind this change is that being one step shy of awesome, sends the message that I am chasing my dreams but never really catching them. Instead today (while I was doing the dishes) it hit me, I am already awesome, I just want to reach for something a little bit brighter and better. It is for this same reason that I am abandoning the 50s housewife theme. I embrace my femininity, and will likely return to the 50s housewife event at a later day. However, at this time my being a 50s housewife is more like playing house than it is moving me towards my goals. I have yet to have a day that I actually met my goal of making the 50s housewife cut, yet I am ecstatic with my progress. I think the problem isn't my lack of success, but rather the unrealistic goal. They say that it takes 21 consecutive days to form a habit. I am going to tackle one habit at a time (without excluding others) for 21 days, hence the new name.

At my tender age of 25 (Yes, I may be 26 in a matter of weeks, but I am holding on to 25 with all my might), I can sit here and try and remember a day when I wanted something with my life that didn't include my family and my home. It may seem outdated to many, but I believe in gender roles. Now don't get me wrong, I don't believe that my husband has a right to treat my poorly, or that as a woman I am too delicate or ignorant to do anything more than be a teacher, nurse, wife, or mother. I believe that a woman can do anything a man can do, I just don't understand why we would want to. My husband and I are a team, each with different roles that embrace and benefit one another. I have a degree in Elementary Education and I LOVE to teach, yet in four years of marriage I have never held a full time job outside the home. Occasionally I do take a part time job because I want to contribute more, or because I am bored, but I believe my priority should be my family and home. To oversimplify it, My my husband works to allow me to stay home, and I stay home to make it easier for him to work outside the home.

I am one of those people who actually enjoys cooking, cleaning, any type of craft project, and taking care of others. Yet I must confess, in the past, I have been a terrible homemaker. When my husband and I were engaged and starting our lives together, I was a good homemaker. My only obligation outside our home was to go to my classes at the local community college. I used to walk the 1 mile to the grocery store EVERY DAY, not because I had to, but because I liked to. We didn't have cable and played board/card games every day. I walked the dog. I babysat all my little cousins. I even remember once when Nick came home from work and asked me not to have his dinner ready, something about how he wanted 15 minutes to take a shower. At the same time that Nick and I started seeing each other, his parents were getting divorced after 25 years of marriage. Although it is more complicated than this, one of the reasons behind the split was that his mom felt under-appreciated. Having seen this so recently, my husband actually encouraged me to stop making dinner, we got TV and Guitar Hero. It was at this point that my A's turned into B's and our relationship deteriorated.

I love my husband very much and I appreciate everything he does for me. Our relationship isn't bad, I just miss the closeness of those early days when we spent our time interacting with each other rather than being alone, together. When we decided to get married we made an actual verbal agreement that Nick would bring home the bacon, and I would cook it. Yet we go out to eat 80% of the time and he does just as much of the housecleaning as I do (which isn't very much). I vow to break this trend and get back to the way things are supposed to be.

Rather than apply for teaching jobs for the fall, I have chosen to substitute teach for one year. Being a substitute will greatly free up my time, allowing me to be both a working partner and housewife. We don't have children, and Nick works out of state for two weeks of every month, so I don't believe that once it's a habit homemaking should be the full time job that it currently is. The 21 days to a better me is about building that habit. I have so many visions of the woman I want to be that if I tackled them all at once I would surely fail. Instead, I am going to begin my amazing transformation with the one piece I believe will make the biggest difference. I am going to become the best modern housewife I can be. For the next 21 days I will clean my home every day, cook dinner every night (working towards cooking all 3 meals), work in my yard, and spend as much QUALITY time with my husband that I can.

I will update the world on my progress regularly and in 21 days we can lay it all out in black and white and decide on the success of the 21 day plan. If the plan is successful (as I believe it will be), I will launch a new 21 day plan (most likely revolving around physical activity). I hope that you stick with me for this first 21 days. I picked homemaking first because it is one of the most important goals for me, but I have a hunch that my next goal will be applicable for a larger audience.