Mommy Guilt...Movie Guilt.

My husband would be the first to assert that the stay-at-home-mommy job is one of the toughest in the world. Sure, I don't have to DRIVE for 3-4 hours each day to go to a job that SUCKS! I don't have to deal with incompetent people who ask stupid questions and don't know their asses from their elbows (well, sometimes I do, but they have the handy excuse of being 6 and 9).

Getting the kids up, dressed, fed, backpacked and out the door is an exhausting challenge. True, I have several hours to clean, do laundry, food shop, run errands, catch up on bills and emails, work my part-time Pampered Chef business and a thousand other things before the little rugrats run OFF the bus, grab a snack and head off to Lego Robotics, TaeKwonDo, Soccer or just sit and do homework. Then it's dinner on the table (predictably there are only 4 dinners that everyone eats: Steak, Roast Chicken, Spaghetti and Sausage Soup) Even bedtime, the light at the end of the tunnel, brings challenges with getting teeth brushed, medicine administered, stories read, homework finished and lights out. (Inevitably, someone wants a "snuggle" which means I'll accidentally fall asleep in a twin sized bed and wake up completely disoriented only to find that...its time to go to bed.)

So yes, being a suburban hausfrau is not the easiest job in the world, though some might argue. So why is it that I feel guilty when once in a while I choose to forgo the laundry and bills and food shopping in favor of...a MOVIE???!!??

The first time I did this, I felt positively DECADENT. A movie??? In the middle of the day??? In the middle of the WEEK???? How could I possibly even think about it? Luckily, Fitfreak came with me and helped alleviate the guilt. Nothin' like another hausfrau to help justify your decisions.

Now to give some backstory, movies used to be my life! My husband and I would go to the movies every weekend, sometimes even 2 or 3 times a weekend. Once the kids came along, movies in the theater were a luxury we could only infrequently afford (let's see, babysitter $40, movie $20, Movie snacks $10, Post/pre movie dinner $50 = ONE HELL OF AN EXPENSIVE MOVIE!)

Going to the movies during the week costs me $7.50 (bargain matinee!). I sneak in my own popcorn and diet soda, so there's no fee for food. And it's definitely a cheaper option than spending $$$$ at Target, or joining the Ladies Who Lunch for a weekly lunch complete with a bottle of wine (or two).

It connects me to my pre-child past in a way that not much else can. But Mr. Flossy loves movies as much as I do, so I hesitated to tell him that occasionally I indulged in a little cinematherapy.

He found out last night, though, when I let it slip that I had seen 4 of the 5 Best Picture nominees. This sad/angry look flashed across his face, and that's when the mommy/movie guilt kicked in. He doesn't begrudge me my movies, he just envies me. And knowing that his job is no picnic drives that guilt home even more.

So will I forgo future mommy-movie dates? I can't say that I will. I'll just keep my big fat YAP shut about it.