On my own again

I'm on my own again today. My husband has headed back to work for another shift of a month or so. This is always the hardest day(besides the day we wait around for him to come home) for us because we have to try and get back to 'normal'. Its pretty bad that I refer to it as normal, I suppose, but he is away more than he's home. The kids are always hyped up when he's on days-off and we do extra fun things that we wait for him to be home for. The housework, especially laundry, seems to suffer when we're on 'days-off' and so in getting back to normal all these things need to be caught up on. It doesn't help that today is one of those grey dreary days(a day I refer to as a BC day) so we're cooped up in the house. We're all still in our jammies and the kids are watching movies. I, on the other hand, have been playing catch up- laundry, vacuuming, washing the floor, dusting, unloading/loading the dishwasher, making granola and talking to my dear friend on the phone.

Many people ask me how I do it. How I run a house, raise my kids and look after animals while my husband works away. Obviously it isn't the ideal situation. But truly what is the ideal situation? Having a husband who works 9-5 at a job he hates? Or having to get a job myself because we can't make ends meet on one salary? While this may not be the ideal situation I am very lucky to be able to stay at home and raise my children rather than have them raised by a daycare or a babysitter. So how do I do it? I just do. Sure, I'm tired at the end of the day(who isn't?) and there are days I just wish someone could spell me off so I could go grocery shopping by myself but we all have to make sacrifices in life and this just happens to be one of them. I am thankful for a husband who is willing to live away from home to make sure that our family is properly provided for because if it wasn't for his drive and determination to provide for his family, I would probably be working too and watching someone else raise my daughter and son and that thought makes me ill.