Project Motherhood

Don't you all just wish that this reality we're in called Project Motherhood had a fantabulous host like Tim Gunn? It is inexplicable the crush I have on this man!

This week has been the week of the project. We FINALLY finished our bathroom painting "remodel." Talk about another wake-up call to how life is different with a child. Our bathroom is tiny weeny (no exaggeration) and it literally took a month to finish this project. Between the scraping of the bad paint, the wall patching, the sanding, the priming and the four coats of paint that all had to be done during a two-hour nap time window or on the weekend when there are about 10,000 other things we'd like to do as a family. I'm happy to report that new paint, a new light, a new shower curtain and a spray painted mirror frame have breathed some serious new life into that little room. It almost makes cleaning the bathroom an enjoyable...oh, who am I kidding? Cleaning it still stinks.

On top of all that, I've been filling my plate with a little PR work for this blogger's pop. Somehow, the peanut knows just when I've finished polishing a press release or researching party locations/photographers/invitations for his biz's 20th anniversary celebration and wakes from his nap leaving me no time for anything else. Even now I have a side-line craft project beckoning from the other room (and because this one pays, it seems more urgent). By the time evening rolls around, I'm so pooped from dealing with our burgeoning mountain climber/major league pitcher/comedian/professional wrestler that I just collapse on the couch with the hubby and American Idol (thank goodness tonight's happy hour night).

Why is it that since I've become a stay at home mama I feel the need to constantly volunteer for things? It's like I have this compulsion to be busy or be "more" or constantly combat the stereotype that SAHMs sit around eating bon bons and watching daytime TV singlehandedly. And really, I am so not qualified to defeat stereotypes since I'm typing this while eating Girl Scout cookies and watching All My Children (but my AMC obsession is probably fodder for another post on another day - like the day we find out who faked Jesse Hubbard's death 20 years ago!).

I think part of it is the constant struggle to prove I'm not "just" a mom; to have something to talk about with my awesome, driven, professional, moving and shaking High Heeled Sis; to find the right creative outlet for keeping my sanity; maybe to find something to write about here. I don't know. The thing is, I like all my little projects. Sometimes I wish I had more than two hours to do them in, but each little "challenge" is part of my new life as mommy (which, by the way, is peanut's favorite new word. And even though I've heard it a thousand times an hour, I still can't get enough!).

Sorry for the rant. Maybe one of these days I'll figure it out or have the confidence to not care if I haven't. Until then, I'll take a bit of Tim's advice and "make it work."

Plus, I've got a picture frame to decoupage.