On Sunday, as I wiped the sweat from my brow, a thought occurred to me. What is the meaning of a day off?
Always curious, I looked up "day off" on the internet and this is what it said: A day's vacation from work or school on what would normally be a working day. Well I disagree...maybe the definition should be revisited because there is no vacation or lack of work on a day off. Work starts as soon as you rise, cooking breakfast, doing the dishes. Generally, Sunday is the only day to do the laundry and house work that piles up throughout the week. To me, a day off implies putting up ones feet to take a load off, watching a bit of TV, read a book or nap!
So whoever came up with this ridiculous noun had it all wrong. A day off is really only a day off the clock, not off the work. To prove my point it isn’t called houseplay is it? Housework implies work! And being a female, women’s work is never done is it? We don’t even get a day off on Mother’s day or our birthday or even Valentine’s Day. When do we get a day off???? How many women get a day to do absolutely nothing but play...have someone wait on them hand and foot, cook and serve the meals, and clean up the mess?
"After work", is another misnomer? "I'm going home after work". As soon as you reach the house you don the housewife hat, but even if you're single there's no shortage of work to be done after the job work. We all have to eat and we all dirty our houses. It's our day to day living that forces us to clean it often, forces us to be slaves to maintenance or we have to live in squalor. I’m far more relaxed about cleaning house when hubby is away but try to make an effort when he’s home to preserve the illusion that I’m still the younger, energetic, woman he married.
Every day we cook, clean and do maintenance things, maybe scour a toilet, fill up the wood box, a bit of this and that. No matter how good your hubby might be in the chore department, the onus is usually on the woman to do the bulk of it or at least organize the work schedule. My hubby is great and as long as the dishes are done and the bed looks neat he isn’t overly concerned about the stuff under the rug. Fortunately for me, he does take orders well and was right alongside me sweating; stripped down to his T-shirt as if being caressed by a summer breeze. I complain my house is small until we have to clean it and then I curse the miserable 1500 square feet. Anything bigger and I’d cry so why I moan about an extension I'll never know, it'll be more space to clean!
So, Sunday was wasted on work. No fun, no drive in the country, no restaurant meal out, just work cleaning stuff. We cleaned right up until we stopped to make dinner which is really just another form of work and then did the dishes. It was dark before there was time to relax. Finally we could move into “after work”.
And while I'm doing this rant, what’s up with “time off”. Time off from what? Work? Time’s been on since the beginning of…..stopping for nothing and no one. So why is it time off? Time off the clock? A time that you don’t get paid? Work still remains. Work never ends and time never stops. Stupid things to say. Find new words, something more literal to describe not being at a paying job. That’s another bone of contention, all the shit you do at home might be an unpaid job but a job nonetheless. Ask a stay at home mom or dad.
My day off was anything but. There was bathroom detail, dusting, vacuuming and sheet washing, laundry to minimize, cooking, dishes, wood piling, reducing the clutter. There was so much work there were hot flashes and sweat. Windows had to be opened and ceiling fans turned on. All this to reach the part where I could relax “after-the-work" on my “day off”.
I finished my “L” pillow. I’m happy with it. I’ll sew it up at some point but right now I’d like to move to the letter “C”, maybe in reds, blues, greens and gold this time. I’ll do the M next for my son but I really want to hit the C.
I used our new dyed wool called Paradise for the background. Lime Green and Royal Blue, Turquoise, Orange and Lavender for the accents and flowers. The vines were all done in Lime Herringbone. It was fun and fast, hooked in #8 cut. Tonight, after work I'll start it.....
Always curious, I looked up "day off" on the internet and this is what it said: A day's vacation from work or school on what would normally be a working day. Well I disagree...maybe the definition should be revisited because there is no vacation or lack of work on a day off. Work starts as soon as you rise, cooking breakfast, doing the dishes. Generally, Sunday is the only day to do the laundry and house work that piles up throughout the week. To me, a day off implies putting up ones feet to take a load off, watching a bit of TV, read a book or nap!
So whoever came up with this ridiculous noun had it all wrong. A day off is really only a day off the clock, not off the work. To prove my point it isn’t called houseplay is it? Housework implies work! And being a female, women’s work is never done is it? We don’t even get a day off on Mother’s day or our birthday or even Valentine’s Day. When do we get a day off???? How many women get a day to do absolutely nothing but play...have someone wait on them hand and foot, cook and serve the meals, and clean up the mess?
"After work", is another misnomer? "I'm going home after work". As soon as you reach the house you don the housewife hat, but even if you're single there's no shortage of work to be done after the job work. We all have to eat and we all dirty our houses. It's our day to day living that forces us to clean it often, forces us to be slaves to maintenance or we have to live in squalor. I’m far more relaxed about cleaning house when hubby is away but try to make an effort when he’s home to preserve the illusion that I’m still the younger, energetic, woman he married.
Every day we cook, clean and do maintenance things, maybe scour a toilet, fill up the wood box, a bit of this and that. No matter how good your hubby might be in the chore department, the onus is usually on the woman to do the bulk of it or at least organize the work schedule. My hubby is great and as long as the dishes are done and the bed looks neat he isn’t overly concerned about the stuff under the rug. Fortunately for me, he does take orders well and was right alongside me sweating; stripped down to his T-shirt as if being caressed by a summer breeze. I complain my house is small until we have to clean it and then I curse the miserable 1500 square feet. Anything bigger and I’d cry so why I moan about an extension I'll never know, it'll be more space to clean!
So, Sunday was wasted on work. No fun, no drive in the country, no restaurant meal out, just work cleaning stuff. We cleaned right up until we stopped to make dinner which is really just another form of work and then did the dishes. It was dark before there was time to relax. Finally we could move into “after work”.
And while I'm doing this rant, what’s up with “time off”. Time off from what? Work? Time’s been on since the beginning of…..stopping for nothing and no one. So why is it time off? Time off the clock? A time that you don’t get paid? Work still remains. Work never ends and time never stops. Stupid things to say. Find new words, something more literal to describe not being at a paying job. That’s another bone of contention, all the shit you do at home might be an unpaid job but a job nonetheless. Ask a stay at home mom or dad.
My day off was anything but. There was bathroom detail, dusting, vacuuming and sheet washing, laundry to minimize, cooking, dishes, wood piling, reducing the clutter. There was so much work there were hot flashes and sweat. Windows had to be opened and ceiling fans turned on. All this to reach the part where I could relax “after-the-work" on my “day off”.
I finished my “L” pillow. I’m happy with it. I’ll sew it up at some point but right now I’d like to move to the letter “C”, maybe in reds, blues, greens and gold this time. I’ll do the M next for my son but I really want to hit the C.
I used our new dyed wool called Paradise for the background. Lime Green and Royal Blue, Turquoise, Orange and Lavender for the accents and flowers. The vines were all done in Lime Herringbone. It was fun and fast, hooked in #8 cut. Tonight, after work I'll start it.....
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