Who Do You Follow?

Sometimes I feel like the only person on the planet who doesn't "tweet." From the very beginning of Twitter, I thought "that sounds like a crazy HUGE waste of time." I also thought it could be dangerous or just plain weird to tell the world where you are and what you are doing every minute of every day. I also think if you do multiple things per day, you may feel obligated to tweet about each of those things, and then come on - you'd essentially spend more time tweeting about your life as you would spend actually living it.

Now, I have to be honest - when Facebook was the new kid on the block back in college, I rolled my eyes at that, too. And now I absolutely adore it. Probably more than I should! I love being able to post pictures of my son, see other people's photos in one easy stop and just feel like I'm still a part of people's lives who live far away from me. It's so easy and convenient to go to one place and see EVERYONE. Especially because my sister recently moved away, leaving me the only family member in Connecticut; the rest of our family resides in Ohio. I miss them terribly.

As of now, I'm standing my ground on not starting a Twitter - but I have a confession to make. Though I don't have a Twitter account of my own, I do follow someone on Twitter. And this is the weirdest part - it's not even a person I know! Let me explain before you cast me off as a psycho stalker.

A while back, I was introduced to this website called Flylady.net, which helps people "get control" of their house - with easy routines, organizational help, and goal-setting. I liked the idea of this site and have even put many of the routines to use in my own home. It's noticeably cleaner and easy to keep on top of, I must say! Flylady also has links on the page to Facebook and Twitter so you can "keep up with flylady." Curious (more about Twitter than anything else), I clicked on the Twitter link one day. I saw women posting left and right about their accomplishments in their home - be it a completed load of laundry, a shiny sink, or a P90-x workout achievement.

One "tweeter" in particular seemed super busy - and super accomplished. I felt a twinge of guilt as I realized she had done more before noon than I had all day! I decided to turn my guilt into something productive and take a closer look. Her profile indicated she was a stay at home mom of three school aged kids - and a Christian as well, something else I could identify with.

It happened slowly at first - I would peek at the Flylady page here and there, checking for her updates and being inspired to do what she was doing. If she was swiffering her floor, I would think "hey, that's a novel idea!" and do the same to mine. Before I knew it, I was receiving daily text updates from this woman's Twitter and adding so many things to my to-do list. She's like my housekeeping mentor. Without knowing it. Weird? Maybe. Honestly, it's just inspiring me to get off my butt and make good use of my time at home to make my home a little, well homier.

Ok, that's my confession but now I want to know - who do you follow? Am I the only crazy one who follows people they don't know? Make me feel better about my life! At the very least, I already feel much better about my home!

When the Cat's Away...

I cry. Hi, I'm Cathleen the soon-to-be 29 year old who cries when her husband leaves for the weekend. As a social worker, I'm inclined to ask: is there a support group for this?

My husband left early this morning to go to a wedding in Shreveport, Louisiana. All of his college buddies will be there and I know he's going to have a great time. And I'm happy for him that he gets to catch up with his best friends and reminisce about old times. I just hate that he's gone.

Honestly, last night I was kind of snippy with him - for no apparent reason. Then I did social work on myself and realized I felt like he was abandoning me in some weird way. Which is the complete opposite of the truth. I am so blessed to have a husband who is as devoted, loyal, and loving as mine. Maybe that's the problem - if he was a worse husband, I wouldn't mind that he was leaving!

I know I actually have it very easy compared to some women. My mom often tells me about the early years of her marriage when my dad would leave Monday morning and not return until Friday night. I seriously can't imagine such a thing! And she had small kids at home - kudos, mom but I think you're a stronger woman than I! My sister's husband also travels fairly often for his job. But I think she's more like me - now that she lives close to my parents, she takes her one year old son and spends the night there when her hubby is gone. If I could, believe me I would be doing that very same thing this weekend!

My husband is a teacher - he goes to work early each morning and gets home around 5:30 each night. While he puts in a long day, he's always home for dinner and never has to travel for his job. I think God knew that I wouldn't be able to handle a husband who is gone more than that. Seriously.

Well, don't feel too bad for me - I've got fun things to look forward to this weekend myself. Aside from hanging out with my little boy, I'm having a friend over for Chinese food and a chick flick tonight. And pino grigio! Tomorrow afternoon, I'm taking my son to a girls JV soccer game (a few of the girls I volunteer with are on the team). And tomorrow night, I'll be taking some other girls I volunteer with to see a movie while my friend stays with my son. And soon enough (or not!) it will be Sunday night and my best friend in the world will be home at last.

Here's to a weekend that will make me stronger and the heart grow fonder!

First Post

Here I am with a brand new blog...it's like a clean slate or the start of the new school year. Anything can happen...and it probably will! I started a blog called Move Over, June! back in February in which I chronicled my attempt to be a 1950's housewife. Boy, was that exhausting!

I finally cried "uncle" and decided I would blog about what it's like to be a housewife in this day and age. I am blessed to be a stay at home mom (most of the time - I do per diem social work in a hospital on the weekends). Although I am not the best at domestic duties (please never watch me iron...it takes me 20 minutes to do one shirt!!!), I love my job and I love that my husband is so supportive of me being home with our 15 month old son.

On this blog, I will post about our life - and my attempts to juggle baby, hubby, blog, work, house, family, and friends...oh yeah, and volunteering! This may be less interesting to some than my screwy attempts to make things in a ring mold, but I'm sure my mom and mother-in-law will stick around to read. Thanks, guys! I will also try to post some pictures of our life here - it will pretty much be whatever I feel like writing. Because, well...I just really like to write.