Why this isn't a normal Mormon Housewife Blog (but somehow still is)

I keep seeing this link to "Why I can't stop reading Mormon Housewife Blogs" popping up on facebook. It took until I'd seen it about 20 times before I decided I'd read it. And when I did, I went "hmm".

I am one of those young, married, women who grew up in Utah and is a devout Mormon. I run 2 blogs. One on books. And this one--all about the uplifting search for joy.

Oh, and I made a tie skirt.

So, that all seems to fit in her paradigm of the blogs she reads right? Maybe. But I don't think so.

First off--the only way in hell I'll have 4 kids by the time I'm 29 is if I have triplets or my birth control stops working completely. I'm 22 and not planning on having kids for a couple years. Maybe when I'm 25 ish? Maybe.

Second, I don't sit at home. I work. No, I don't work all day, every day, but I work. Every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. My Tuesday is spent away from the house too. That leaves Thursday and Friday to get my weekend AND make sure the apartment isn't a disaster zone.

That leads me to number 3. My apartment is normally a disaster zone. If my mother were alive and she were to walk in my door, I can bet within 15 minutes, she'd be cleaning in my kitchen or bathroom and putting me to work in my bedroom or the office. I'd be really embarrassed too. I get it cleaned up decently for company, but since I rarely have company, it doesn't happen that often.

Number 4. I sure am not a "trendy" woman with vintage dresses in my closet. Unless you count the dress my mom made in the 60's--but it's not something anyone would call vintage. I love it, but it's not quite "vintage".

Oh, and dinner? Who cooks that? I love eating well and I love cooking. But who has time to cook? I eat way more fast food than I would like to admit. At work, it's been frozen dinners for lunch.

I cut coupons once. I've used 0 of them.

Besides that, my blog is rarely about my home life. How can this be a typical Mormon housewife blog? I blame the fact I work and don't have children for the lack of "housewife"-ness. I'm gone so much, that home really isn't the "highlight" of my life. (Besides my husband. He's the most amazing man ever--even if he doesn't look like he walked out of a designer magazine. He's the only reason I go home some days.)

To top it off, there's no ignoring the fact this blog is based off the fact I'm not shiny all the time. I'm depressed way too often. This blog is about those struggles and getting over them.

Based off of those factors I'd like to deny any resemblance my blog or I have to the typical Mormon Housewife (or her blog). The fact is, I hold the same values. Home and family are important. The day I have kids, you better believe I will stop working so much and start being home more. Maybe I'll even cook dinner.

And if I had my way, I'd be making a heck of a lot more crafts. Yesterday I turned 2 Walmart 200 count twin flat sheets into curtains for my bedroom. I have a bajillion more ties and want to make another skirt--with a different pattern. I have pillows I plan on covering with better material. I'm in the process of crocheting a blanket. I really want to shop yard sales and discount stores to find cool things I can turn into decorations.

So I can't deny my connection to the normal Mormon Housewives. If I were a real house wife, I would be a lot like them. But I'm carried away in the day to day life of being a working woman in the 21st century. And I think that's where most women who are addicted to Mormon Housewife blogs are. They're women who want to be able to have time for family and to make cool things; to not have to depend on other people; to express their own sense of style. They're women who feel like their lives are caught up in rushing from here to there and they really want to have the fresh feeling of doing something different--of not having another appointment in 15 minutes and eating a frozen dinner in 10 minutes in between one meeting and the next. Yup. I can see the appeal, and I was raised in the culture of Mormon Housewives.