How Much Are You Worth?

Recently Mark and I were discussing our family costs and how we can lower them (ironically enough we were on our way to Capitol Reef for a vacation...hello! But it was MUCH needed - we hadn't been on one since I was 4 months preggo). Anyhow, Mark said, "It takes me a whole day to work for that (referring to something I had deemed worthy to purchase)."

Now, I'm a shopper, but I'm not a spender. I buy everything on sale, use coupons, find deals, etc. I am a fairly cheap wife to have. I'm not super romantic and do not desire frilly things to keep me contented. I am very happy being a stay-at-home wife and do not need fabulous vacations or costly outings to keep me sane. I highly value putting money away for retirement, emergencies, and saving for household goods we'd like to someday own. What I find almost the most attractive about my husband is that he's a planner! He has goals, ambitions, and plans for just about every facet of his life / our lives. He works incredibly hard and puts so much work and thought into everything he does. So I do not take lightly the money he earns - on the other hand I feel he often forgets that while I am not bringing in income- that I am worth A LOT.

I took this opportunity to remind him of all that I do at home with cleaning, cooking, caring for our child (most importantly). I then decided that I needed to 'break down' my stay-at-home salary to Mark. It went something like this -

For the excellent one-on-one childcare that I provide to our son 24/7:

During peak hours (7am-9pm, his waking hours): $100/day is very reasonable for one-on-one care and (remember this includes weekends - NO DAYS OFF :-) Since I nurse our son I have saved us at least $2000 this year in formula and untold amounts in protection from potential sickness and/or recovery time. As Mark often works late, has scouts, is away from home 24/7 as he travels for work - I am often the sole caregiver for our son throughout the duration of these hours. = $3000/month

During off-peak hours (9pm-7am): $25/day is very reasonable as I am the one who gets up with him at night if he awakens due to sickness, teething, or whatever. When Slade was first born and I was up multiple times a night to nurse I would have 'charged' much more than this, but now he rarely wakens...knock on wood. = $750/month

For my mediocre cooking skills (guaranteed to continue improving): For shopping (planning the deals, cutting and using coupons, not buying extraneous goods), preparing, storing, and cooking $500/mo. This includes packing daily lunches & nightly cooking.

For my mediocre cleaning skills (also guaranteed to continue to improve): I'll only ask for $300/month. I am always on time with clothes and dishes- but everything thereafter is done at my leisure (often behind schedule).

So I am worth at a minimum $4500/month. That's a decent job I've got right here - a good $50k.

And this is just for 1 child, as we keep piling them on I'm only going to increase in value!

Of course Mark had something to say about my Math between peals of manly laughter (my original calculation was somewhere closer to $20k/mo.) - he was truly amused.

Mark responded, "Okay, well in that case we need to re-evaluate my worth as well. We'll say that in addition to the salary I bring home from work, we need to figure out how much I'm worth for my general contractor duties (referring to all of the projects always going on around our home, most recently the beautiful awning he built). Then there's my landscaping and lawncare duties...."

Okay, so maybe he does make a little more than me going by this line of reasoning - but come on, stay-at-home moms are not really thought of in terms of monetary worth or what WE are giving up in order to give OUR children good lives. Mothers are the MOST important figures in their children's lives- they have such influence over their children and how their children eventually come to contribute to society. There's NO way a monetary value can be placed on this noble and blessed calling. Unlike a job, you HAVE TO care about those you are around daily. You cannot call in sick. You cannot be raunchy to them just because you're having a bad day. You run an entire household 24/7 FOREVER! It is really the coolest job around and that's why I'm so proud and feel so lucky to be able to stay at home - to have a husband who insists on it and works so hard to enable me to do so.

And yet still, when Mark refers to how many hours it took for him to earn something, I just tell him to put it on my tab!

Ode to Daddy

I can't put into words how grateful I am to have such an amazingly WONDERFUL husband and father as Mark is. He goes out every day and works so hard for our family and we are so blessed in return for his efforts. He lets me, nay insists, that I be a stay at home mom so our child can have the best - his mommy's attention for as long as he needs it. He is the smartest man I know. He is the most talented man I know (you should hear his songs and his oh-so-laudable guitar skills....make a heart melt!). He is the cutest daddy I know. He is the most honest man I know. He is dedicated to making me happy and improving our family and life always. He is a great scoutmaster and sacrifices much to do his calling to the best of his ability. He is my very best friend in the whole world and can make me and Slade laugh like no one else. His mind works everything out so quickly with so many facets of life, but for the life of him he cannot multi-task. He cannot match an outfit together for Slade to save his life (whether it's matching colors or matching seasons to clothing) - but he loves his family! Lately he has had NO free time for himself, none, nada, zip, ZERO b/c of all the To Do's that keep piling up with his work, scouts, and housing projects. This very moment as I write he is up re-roofing our garage (doesn't seem fair does it?) with his brother. Instead of rocking a guitar he has been rockin up new roof and awning for our garage - he is fantabulous!!

It seems like all the world shows these days are absentee or stupid dads (dare I mention a few: Brittney Spears man, that Baldwin brother, Bill Clinton, etc.. ) and that's the reality of life. I dare to say there are many many a father who goes unrecognized (cause that's just how guys are) for the wonderful persons that they are and that we should put more of these guys in the limelight! For all their hard work and effort in the ho hum day to day of life, at least once in awhile we should put them up on a pedastal. And let's be honest, Father's Day just doesn't cut it, it's very nill in comparison to Mother's Day.

Here's a picture Ode to the father of my children.. Slade & I love you sooo much Mark Taylor!!!

Tagged- My husband & I

Tagged by Christie about my favorite person - also my hubby!

1. What's his name? Mark Taylor (just like 5 other of his graduating class classmates!!)
2. How long have you been together? married 2 years yesterday! whoo hoo baby!
3. How long did you date? 1.5 years
4. Who eats more? Have you ever seen a Wilkinson woman eat?
5. Who said "I love you" first? Don't know that either of us have ever said that...j/k, I actually can't remember but it was probably me - Mark was too busy trying to discern the spirit about me...guess we see how that turned out though..haha
6. Who is taller? Mark by a few inches...okay maybe half a foot
7. Who sings better? I'd say it's a toss up as well, but Mark would say definitely him
8. Who is smarter? Mark's book smarter, but I'm street smarter (yikes, what does that say about us?
9. Who does the laundry? Me, but Mark'll 'help' out sometimes if he's tired of waiting for me to do it.
10. Who does the dishes? Both. see above about laundry.
11. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Mark, though I'd prefer it
12. Who pays the bills? Me, with Mark's money, only fitting since I make the bills...haha, j/k
13. Who mows the lawn? Mark, I'm allergic to anything that grows outside and the skeeters love my blood! I was literally outside in the backyard with Mark last night for 5 mins. and got a bite for each minute- it's no wonder I"m not an outdoorsy girl, sorry mark!
14. Who cooks dinner? Usually me...sometimes General Mills- nothing like cereal for every meal.
15. Who drives when you are together? I offer to drive for Mark b/c he drives so much for work already, but he usually drives.
16. Who is more stubborn? Mark's in denial that he's not the perfect human specimen, but he'd say that I'm more stubborn, of course.
17. Who kissed who first? Mark says he made a move to give me a peck and I gave him a downpour of sloppiness....then as he is not as experienced as I what kind of judge is he! Don't ask what # it was for me, I lost count in my early 20's...ewwwe.
18. Who asked who out first? I will admit to being the 'aggressor' here, he was my roommates hometeacher and a roommate and I dabbled over who'd go after him. We both knew a good thing when we saw one. I'm pretty competitve anyway, at least I used to be. Slade's not up much for competition yet.
19. Who proposed? Mark played my favorite song on his guitar (he had to start over 3 times b/c he was so nervous, we'd already talked about it, so he knew I was a sure thing) and then came over to me and kneeled down, then had to stand back up to get the ring out of his pocket, then kneeled down again and asked.
20. Who is more sensitive? Mark would say I'm overly sensitive...then again he recognizes it's a gender thing so he's ok with it.
21. Who has more friends? I'd say me but it's hard to tell who Mark is friends with. I picture friends as laughing, talking, sharing nonstop...but after observing Mark and his guy pals for awhile - I realize it's usually the opposite for guys- lots of silence interspersed with dudes and factual talk.
22. Who has more siblings? Me - by 2 3-girls, 3 boys vs. Mark's 4 boys (he thinks we don't have much of a chance at having a girl)
23. Who wears the pants in the family? I don't really think of it that way. We both have our roles where we take charge (amen Christie).
There you have it. I tag Claudia, Teresa, Katie, Amberlyn, Candice, & Kari - and anyone else who has something to say on this one!

The only times I get mad at Mark...

Are when Mark is mad at me...usually. Mark rarely gets mad at anyone, especially me, so when he does it's interesting. It's interesting b/c I would never guess what he would get mad at...usually.

Slade, our 7.5 mo. old, has had a slight cold this past week and his nose has been a little runny off and on. One day it happened to be quite runny (despite my best efforts with those darned bulb syringe thingys) and it was almost trailing into his mouth so I wiped it off with my finger and wiped it on his onesie. Mark witnessed this and was completely disgusted to say the least. He was so disgusted he was MAD! When asked why I had wiped it ON him I didn't really have a valid reason...hmm. I don't do that with myself and I don't see other people doing that...why did I? Dunno. I speculated that if I saw someone else doing that I might be disgusted as well...motherhood is wearing down my germ phobias I suppose..that can't be good.

He also gets mad at me when I happen to walk around in my undies - thinking the neighbors are squatting beneath our windowframes just waiting for that moment. I told him people aren't generally peepers and it would serve someone right if they did catch a glimpse of me. His remark was, "Guys are totally peepers" ..ah the things I wouldn't have guessed Mark participated in before we were married.

He also gets mad at me when I threaten him. I tell him if he ever tries to leave me or hurt me or my children he won't live to see another day. Now I make these comments usually after I've been revved up after a cozy episode of 'America's Most Wanted', so it's not like I have psychotic thoughts out of the blue generally. But regardless he views these comments as very disturbing and that makes him angry. What can I say...don't do the crime if you ...don't want to part with your manhood. (BTW, that is a HUGE peeve of mine - for those of you who've been tagging about peeves - if a man EVER leaves his wife and children to search for happiness elsewhere...he deserves whatever's comin to him). There's a nice Christlike thought for the day.