Desperate Housewife

December 17, 2008

I am not an avid fan of the series.  I only watch it during Holy Week episode marathons.  I never could relate to any of them…before.  I see so much of myself in them…now.

A desperate housewife… it is something I never dreamed I would be.  I’ve always envisioned myself to become the company’s most important associate or avp or whatever important sounding 2nd in line title is available.  I’ve always been in the race.  The race to get the highest grade, the highest salary, the best project, the highest position.  After getting married, I unwillingly decided to get out of the race.  Trading my corporate suit to my domestic apron has its ups and downs.  On good days, I can not 100% say that I made the wrong decision in leaving the firm.  The time, which I desperately longed for during my employee days, has paved way for the much needed adjustment period for newlyweds.  On bad days, I can not help but blame myself for giving everything up…career wise.  Well, today is a bad day.  And I am feeling very much like a desperate housewife.  Before I turn this to a pity party, let me list the pros and cons of being a housewife (argh…I still hate the word!), ok let’s use the term - work at home wife…

PROS:

1) TIME IN YOUR HANDS.  You get to do whatever you want in your own pace.  You don’t have to wake up very early to report to work.  You also don’t have to rush back home at the end of the day.  Simply put, you could be relaxed in doing whatever you want.

2) NO O.T.’s.  These dreaded two words are forever banished from your vocabulary.  No more late nights at the office.  No more over time work or more often “over tawad” work.  No more sleepless nights.  No more blah mornings.  You wake up when the rest of the world is rushing.  You look relaxed and fresh.

3) MARTHA STEWART TIME.  You could be one.  You could do all the home improvement projects you have been putting off for so long.  You could even do a scrapbook, craft work.  You could cook and bake the real thing.

4) PART TIME WORK.  You could finally do all the projects which you can not accept when you were still an employee.  The pay is good too.  Once you accomplished the task, submit then you get paid.  Plain and simple, no frills, no fuss and most of all no more b.s. from the power tripping “superiors”.

CONS: (Well, this is a bad day…so expect this list to be filled with rants…)

1) TOO MUCH TIME.  You will get bored.  You have more time than you can ever imagine.  You will perfect all the home projects, crafts, cooking and baking.  You will look for something else to do.  Too much time will eventually lead to boredom.

2) LESS SELF FULFILLMENT.  Nothing beats the high of getting the project done on time, even if it meant losing your precious sleeping time.  I admit it, I miss the rush, the adrenaline rush.  Even if I hated doing O.T. work, I enjoy the fruits of my labor.  I always work best under pressure.  It really is a culture shock for me.  After spending sleepless nights on college and work, I definitely miss the challenge full time work brings.

3) MARTHA STEWART TIME.  I admit it, only the real homemakers and husbands appreciate Martha Stewart.  It is a thankless job.  You spend half of the day doing patterns, not even a single word of thanks.  They assume that you had too much time anyway.  You slave away in front of the oven, even if the pie tastes great, the light color of the crust will be noticed.  It really is a thankless job.  Damn it if you do, damn it if you don’t.  Better pay somebody to do all the Martha Stewartish stuff for you…Really…

4) PART TIME WORK. As the phrase denotes, part time.  You are lucky if you get the project.  You are luckier if you get it in your own terms.  You can not really choose your project.  As the work is part time, so is the pay.

I tried to put the pros and cons against each other.  At the present mood I am in, maybe being a work at home wife is not for me.  But, as each day passes, I see myself in the show’s characters. I am a desperate housewife.

Like Bree, I try to perfect every cake as if my life depended on it.

Like Lynette, I try to impress my part time clients, I am still one hell of an executive that I used to be.

Like Edie, I try to get my way to “society” with my husband’s stature.

Like Gabrielle, I try to hold on to, whatever is left of the former fame and name. 

It is now clear, I am not cut out to be one desperate housewife, getting a permanent job should be part of my 2009 plans.

Pedometer 2

I am literally watching every step I make.  Yes, you read it right…I am using my trusty pedometer.  With a reasonable price of P910, I purchased a pedometer from Toby’s.  Reasonable I say because the others cost around P1500 to P2100.  I just do hope I will use this for a very long time.  Since I’m hopelessly not a techie, I coerced my hubby to do the settings in my pedometer.

The step watching begins today.  If I follow the rules to the dot, I should do 10,00 steps.  As I am writing this piece, my pedometer pathetically registers the 692 steps I took.  I burned only 24 kilo calories.  This only means I really have to walk around the block before the day ends.  I desperately need to catch up with the remaining 9,308 steps.

I am seriously following the 10,000 steps rule to see if it really works.  Experts say, though it is still much argued about, 10,000 is the way to keep one fit and healthy.  Of course, this has to be done gradually.  3,000 steps a day for the first week; 6,000 steps a day for the second week; 9,000 steps for the 3rd week; And so forth and so on.  I will try to do this pedometer thing for a month.  If I lose weight, then my search for the right regimen is over….