"I can do the laundry and make dinner while I'm on the phone. Look at me I'm sexy as the devil when I mow the lawn. God bless the American housewife."

I am a housewife again, except for my occasional work as a doula or a baby nurse. For the past two weeks I have been caring for a baby all night long, which has been good work for me. The only thing better than rocking a baby into the wee hours of the morning is getting paid to rock a baby into the wee hours of the morning.

For six months I went back to work outside the home, running the office in a retail establishment. I am glad that is over. Our family has dinner together again, and my husband and I no longer pass each other coming and going. We actually see each other a little every day.

During those six months, my children became a bit more independent, but taught me how far I have to go in getting them where they need to be. My husband lost weight because I was not home feeding him every day. The kids never did actually start to do their own laundry, and I learned that sometimes it is OK to overlook dust bunnies. If you overlook them long enough, they grow to the size of small bears and crawl out from under the beds on their own. This makes clean up much easier.

Eden is out of school already, and we are working to schedule some order into our lives. Harrison's school year ends this week and I can begin the never ending battle of prying him off the computer and forcing him into the yard. Ahhhh, summer.

Our summer projects include a lot of sewing and a lot of swimming if the sun ever comes out. We have had rain 19 out of the past 22 days, and although I love rainy days it is beginning to get to me. Will this rain ever end?

I look outside and watch my garden drown. Inside, I am trying to find a place to create my new office. I start classes in the fall and will need a place to work. I have huge anxiety about going back to school. I worry that my brain is too old and tired to comprehend the material. When I tire of worrying about whether I can handle the work, I worry about where I will handle the work.

My intention is to transform a small corner that is in our kitchen/dining area. We are building window seats around the table that will function as both seating and file storage. The table itself will be my desk, and I will be disciplined enough to have it clear by 5:30 every day.

It is hard for me to believe I am going back to school. I was actually shocked that they even accepted me. Thank you, SUNY admissions, for overlooking the early 80s. I pray to the god of transfer students that they accept all my credits from the early 90s. Now I begin the work of being a student, but most of all, I just continue the work of being a housewife.

I visualize the coming school year - my children will enjoy their bus rides home. Now that mom is in school, she won't be driving them back and forth each day. They will come home and romp with their dog in the yard. They no longer whine and bicker. We all sit down for dinner together, and they cheerfully clear the table and do the dishes. Then we all gather round the table again to study together. We earn high marks and bring great pride to Dennis, who can't believe how we manage to keep such a clean house and still volunteer at church and in with our various organizations. Yes, I can enjoy the summer visualizing what autumn will bring.

It is healthy to have a vivid fantasy life, right?

"God bless the American housewife,
How she does it all, I'll never know
God bless the American house wife,
She could use a miracle for sure
God bless the American housewife,
Cleaning up the world for you and me" SHeDaisy