It’s been hard to write lately because Gina is on an absolutely perfect sleep schedule and sleeping in her own bed. HURRAY. Except her own bed is next to the computer and so I can’t come in and write while she’s snoozing and when she’s not, I rarely can write. So I have a backlog of things to rant about but I think that the fact my dishwasher broke down is a sign I’m supposed to pick this one: Labour Saving Devices. Yes, labour with a u people. (Side note: My new calendar for the school room is for use in either Canada or the US and therefore has a Labour Day and a Labor Day sticker to choose from…. soooo excited for a little subversion) Anyway moving right along: Labour Saving Devices. Things like dishwashers and laundry machines and even electric mixers. They do save labour, but I think there is a sort of price. I think housekeeping used to be much more of an art form. It took real skills, developed over a lifetime to be a succesful home economist. Aside from doing dishes and mixing things smooth with only a wooden spoon and getting the stains out of your whites you could throw in making clothes and household furnishings. Come to think of it, they aren’t devices but modern cleaning supplies make a big difference too. I just scrubbed my bathtub clean with a pumice stone and I tell you what I learned all about the value of elbow grease. All these ways to save labour are really about saving time, and saving time is great if you’re working at a job and trying to come home and get your home in order before you go back to work again. There are days though when I really do wish that my labours took up more time. Staying at home just to babysit machines which need buttons pressed and knobs turned once an hour is not very fulfilling. When I do have a project like the tub that requires some serious time and effort I emerge feeling victorious in a job well done and also I have a lot less day to fill. Also, I think machines can make it easier to do a poor job. While I’ve been doing the dishes old school I notice that my dishes are sparkly clean in a way they aren’t coming out of the machine. I do not possess the magical skills for getting stains out of babyclothes either, but so long as there’s a machine that’s going to make things passable rather than perfect, I’m going to use it. So the downside of less work for me is threefold: 1) Less pride in a job well done 2) Less incentive to work to GET a job well done 3) Way more time on my hands than previous homemakers must have had, which translates to: lots of Boredom. What’s my point with all this? Well, I’m not a Luddite. I shared these thoughts with my husband about 24 hours before my dishwasher quit, but you can bet I want to get that dishwasher up and running again, or retire it for a new one. I guess it’s just part of a list I’m building. One day, my pie in the sky dream is to write a little book for women like myself who are trying to juggle some old values with a new era. Just to sound deep and intellectual I’m calling us “neotraditional” women. Thing is, you can’t put us in boxes very well because part of the new era is that there’s a lot less commonality. Every family runs quite differently because there aren’t as many societal rules about how things should go. Still I would say this is one thing we have in common, at least my point number three. There are definitely women who don’t have 1&2 because I’ve seen their immaculate houses and they should be proud. Still, boredom seems to be a real curse of the stay at homes and then the question is what to do to about it. I wonder if this is part of why women obsess so much over their children. Hover parents. There is a lot more attention available for them when you don’t have to say,” Bobby go play with Susie mommy has to hang out the laundry”. I wonder if it’s part of why kids are over-scheduled with extracurriculars; I know I prefer days where we have to run around doing errands because we aren’t stuck staring at the same four walls all day. I wonder if this is part of why many women aren’t interested in staying home, because they want fulfilling work for themselves and don’t see any of that at home. I wonder if it’s why some women spend too much time on facebook or start navel gazing blogs….hmmmmmm actually there’s no wonder about that last one.
The Unrepeatables 