I was recently contacted by the Daily Mail with regards to an article that had recently appeared in their paper about Tandridge Housewives and also later appeared in The Telegraph, it was all about Tandridge being the number one Housewife Hotspot in the country, it was a nice enough article and I commented on Twitter and Facebook that I found it rather amusing to be a statistic!

Now back to why they contacted me, they are now doing a follow up piece, they wanted to know would I be interested in doing a glamorous photo shoot, in a Desperate Housewives sort of style and did I know any other Mums that would be interested. I contacted a couple of gorgeous glamorous Mums that I thought it would be fun to do this with and passed on their details (I feel guilty about asking them now).

Now, I did have a funny niggle about it all and I did voice these to Hubby and the journalist involved, that if in anyway it was going to portray housewives in a dim light or as lazy money grabbing women who just lived off their Husbands, there was no way I was going to be involved!

Anyone who knows me, knows how strongly I feel about this subject, not all of us stay at home Mums spend our days in the beauty salon, at the gym or lunching with the girlies while our Nanny does the school run and the cleaner cleans the house.

Some of us have very old fashioned ideals !

I work damn hard at home, making sure the house is spotless, the dinner is cooked and everything runs like clock work, to the point that I wash and iron Hubbys clothes, placing his work shirts with an accompanying white tshirt ready for him to grab out of his wardrobe in the morning. I even get up on days that I don’t have to, to make him a fresh espresso in a take away cup to have on his walk to the station.

Now before everyone says that I am sad, that I have set woman’s rights back by decades, I don’t care, I am proud of myself for doing a good job. I have dedicated the same amount of strenght and hardwork to being a housewife like other men and woman do to their career. My rewards may not be a fantastic income and promotions, but the rewards are having gorgeous well rounded children, a Husband who says he would of been nothing with out all my hard work and the love and respect of my family. No amount of money or promotion in the World could be better than that. Rewards come in many forms and my 10 year old Son saying that I may not earn lots of money but that I am paid in love for what I do is priceless.

I have been doing this job since I was 19, thats 24 years at the same job and its been tough and its been amazing, but I know this, I wouldn’t change any of it. Horses for courses, it may not suit every woman but it suits me and I am proud of my working title of Mother, Wife and Housewife.

My Husband works bloody hard for us and if he can come home and relax, then I am doing a good job, I would feel guilty knowing that while he is working I was sat with my feet up watching brain dead daytime TV!

And why not a positive spin for a change, I have a lot of political beliefs to why I think more Mums should stay home, but thats my personal thoughts and I know I will get slated from some people for them, but why not an article on how much we give back to the community by doing such a great job, reward Mums that stay at home, would a return to the ideals and morals of our Grandparents be so bad???

We are not all brain dead or given up on ourselves or life, I know many stay at home Mums who are super intelligent, have degrees, have had amazing success in their careers, but see the role as Mother, Wife and Housewife as just as important and probably far more important.

I never rant on my blog, its all about recipes for my Children but when the journalist contacted me today to say that the article was going down the high maintenance route, I knew that I couldn’t be apart of it, but that I would have my say anyway. High-maintenance, me ? I haven’t been to the hairdressers in years and my nails are trashed from housework, decorating and gardening, so thanks for asking but no thanks.

I am now stepping off my soap box before I fall off.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/9465535/Housewife-capital-of-Britain-revealed.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2186045/Want-Betty-Draper-Move-Surrey-The-housewife-capital-Britain-revealed.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2192258/Desperate-housewives-UK-Leafy-heeled-Tandridge-Surrey-revealed-town-stay-home-mothers-Britain-But-lives-residents-perfect-seem.html