Hello Miss83, Nana, Gingal, Seabreeze and Sandi,
I'm a SAHMTB too. BTW, I don't call myself a housewife. I proclaim myself a Domestic Goddess. Hahahaha
Used to be a workaholic so the initial transition period was really painful for me. Coupled with the effects of bad MS, I became very emotional, sensitive and clingy. My self-confidence was shaken also; for some reason became a bit scared of hubby straying. My poor hubby also suffered somewhat then.
I've been staying home for 3.5 mths since and have really got used to it by now.
Here's what I do with my time:
(1) HOUSEWORK - moping, tidying, laundry + clearing store room and also our downstairs "study room" (in reality my personal dumping ground) to make way for a nursery + bath my dog once a week
I NEVER USED to do ANY housework. NEVER. Hubby did everything cos he complained I was too slow or wake up too late (he's an early riser, I'm not). My retort previously was always that I rather pay someone to do it since I worked so hard to make money, my free time is worth many many times more than wasting on housework. Guess now the tables are turned. Figured I should justify my existence by keeping the house clean.
(2)COOKING
Used to love cooking until I joined my previous company. Got so busy and stressed that I stopped altogether. Hubby can cook very well too but we usually eat out. Now that I have time, and finally got over the effects of MS, I started cooking since 3 weeks ago (17-18 weeks) on Mon to Thu. Weekly & daily meal planning + daily preparation is a joyful distraction so I'm really happy that I started cooking again. Besides saving money (we used to eat alot at restaurants throughout the week), which is important now that our Household income suddenly down by 55% with me not working, we are also getting more nutritious home cooked food. I get to pass time meaningfully + leftovers for my lunch the next day. Don't need to fret over what to do for lunch.
(3) DRIVING LESSONS: I mentioned in one of my previous posts before that I am learning at Bukit Batok Driving Centre right now. Hoping to get my licence before delivery so that I can take my hubby's car and go anywhre Iwant at anytime. JUst have to send him to work and fetch him back. really really hope I can pass n my first trial.
)
(4) Play & exercise on my Nintendo Wii. I love my wii set sooooooooooo much. I have great games to help me while my time away as well, especially Wii Fit, which helps me to do low impact step aerobics and also virtual hula hoop. Because the whole wii concept requires gamers to physically move to simulate the action, the rest of the games inevitably force the gamers to exercise a little too. E.g. I used to get muscle aches on my arms after a long session.
(5) READING - LIBRARY
I'm an avid reader. Had very little time to read when I was busy working so now that I have time, I am devouring books like never before. It's a great past time. Instead of going to Borders bookstores to buy books, these days I go to our community librar to borrow. Saves a lot of money this way.
(6) Surfing net, facebook, online purchases, meet up with ex-colleagues for lunch, watch the telly (no cable)
These, I do on a daily basis.
(7) Watching FREE new movies/series on my laptop.
This is really neat. There are many websites that do this, my favs are
www.youku.com for Asian drama series (I watch Korean dramas here), and
www.watch-movies.net for western movies. You are not download/saving any movies on your computer, just streaming them so it's not P-2-P sharing which is illegal. That said, because it's streaming video, the resolution is not fantastic for the TV but it's fine on the small screen. Try it!
Sorry for the long post. Hope this helps!
Cheers
