Blog #3 - Stay at home...

... Mom, Wife, Dog Breeder, Business Owner, Student, Cook, Maid, Nurse, Taxi, Accountant, Artist and so much more!  

Typically when someone asks about my schedule I respond “I’m home most of the week”.  So most people assume I’m a stay at home mom; in a sense I am.  Unfortunately most people think housewives or stay at home moms don't do much. 

Every day I get up early and go to bed late, first one up and last one down!  I essentially do everything, not saying my husband and children don’t help – because they do, but still.  My job as a mother never ends, especially for mom who works from home, because there is no reprieve; and I actually enjoy that.  Breakfast, getting ready for school, bringing them to school, picking them up, dinner, showers, bed, and all the other things in between.  When my kids grow up they will want to go off and do their own thing and I am lucky to have so much time with them. 

I also breed Great Danes, I am currently caring for a litter of 6.  So much goes into breeding it would take forever for me to list it all, but I will say it is a very rewarding, tiring adventure.  We have 3 Great Danes of our own, and a Shar-Pei rescue; to say the very least my house is never quiet or boring.  

I am fortunate to own my own business, which allows me to work from home; but I still work.  When I first opened my business I was offering website and logo design, after about a year I decided it just wasn’t for me.  I loved owning my own business, I loved designing and I loved coding; but I wasn’t a fan of dealing with certain types of people.  I started to scale back and one day shared a couple face paintings I had done on my children for fun; my Facebook starting dinging with messages from friends asking if I could paint at their kid’s parties.  I agreed to do a couple and when I was there the guests loved my work and I was being asked for business cards – which I didn’t have.  So I decided to take a chance and run with it. Three years later I have expanded my business to offer more services and had to hire people to help me. People always look at me confused, like oh I didn’t know that was a real business – it is. I make good money, only have to work a few hours a week, and most importantly I enjoy it!  

I enjoy school too, I love to learn, but I am looking forward to completing my degree and having a little less to do during the week.  I love everything about my crazy days and I wouldn’t change it for anything.  Being a “stay at home mom” is not easy, not that being a working mom is either (I have done that too); they both have pros and cons.  

Yes, I am home with my kids... Yes, I work…  Yes, Face Painting is a real job… Yes, I spend most of my days in yoga pants… and that’s just fine with me.