Today is gonna be the day...

A month has passed & Mak's coming back this afternoon!

But I've not swept or mopped the floor, the kitchen hasn't been cleaned & I don't seem to be cooking anything at all to welcome her back. But thankfully, the home is still in a recognizable state.

If we get hungry, I'll just pop by hjhmaimunah or sinarpagi for some nasi bungkus....being the good daughter that I am.

Anyway insya-Allah in a few hours' time, I'll be able to dispense my duties as a "mother" or "homemaker". Duties as a wife still continue though (for obvious reasons, duh) :p

For the past month, I've realised that being a homemaker ain't easy at all. For the following reasons:

i) Every night you think about what your family, which consists of 4 grown men & a teenage girl, will be eating for lunch.

ii) You decide that you have to cook, or take out Mak's frozen food from the freezer. You *must* not forget to thaw it the night before, if not, food will still be frozen by lunch time & won't heat up as easily.

iii) You can't go back to bed after subuh coz you'll need to cook some vegetables to ensure the family has a balanced diet.

iv) Ensure there's enough food for dinner too. If not, make a detour & buy some food after work.

v)You have to ensure the youngest person in the house goes to bed, latest at 10 pm, so that she won't have difficulty waking up for school the next morning. If she refuses to do so, you give her another 15 to 30 mins grace before really yelling for her to go to bed (despite protests from her). For greater effectiveness,
get Bapak to help in the yelling.

vi) You have to entertain yr siblings by listening to their stories in school or about their friends. You listen as they air their opinions or simply recall a funny incident that happened in the day. All this while you're either watching tv, or doing the dishes.

vii) Give yr sister the mandatory hugs she needs in a day, that Mak gives if she's around. But personally, this is easy, because I always hug my sister anyway.

viii) Ensure the house is in a livable state. But thank goodness Mak hasn't been too particular about cleanliness in the house too. As long as takde najis (lizards' droppings), as long as dust isn't an inch thick, we'll live quite comfortably.

Although I do perform some of the duties above when I'm not in the role of a "homemaker", it's really different when you do it full time. When you're a mother, your time is not your own; you share it with yr family, you share it with the kids. You listen to them even if you're not in the mood, because which kind of mother shuts her kids off from talking about their daly experiences, no matter how mundane they seem to you?

It has been a good experience, though. And Alhamdulillah, nasib baik the men in my house are not the choosy, cerewet type. Anything goes punya. Boleh panaskan lauk sendiri. And Bapak even responded to my sms request to buy cooked vege yesterday when I simply have no time (mood, actually) to cook vege in the morning before I went to work.

But for now, I'll check what time the Saudi flight touches down in S'pore, then get on with the household chores before I get ready to pick Nana up from school. It's gonna be a lovely day :)