"I Just Stay Home."

How many times have I said that, in response to insurance forms or acquaintances asking if I work?  "I just stay home."
Because I don't do anything for income.  I don't babysit or do cleaning like I used to.  I don't do bookkeeping or sales.  No part-time job.

I do just stay home.

But I had the realization today, "just" staying home is the hardest work I've ever done.

I have no down time, all day long.  I mean, I do take sanity breaks (and lately, naps).  But it's at the expense of not getting something else done.  I get to the end of the day, and there are things looming over me, reminding me that I chose to take a break rather than push on.  (I'm looking at the laundry piles that need to be folded, while I sit here blogging.)
I don't know if it's because I make my work harder than I need to by not being organized.  If we're a messier-than-normal family.  If I'm a bad mother because my kids don't know how to clean up after themselves.  Maybe we're home more than most, so as a result the house is in a constant state of being destroyed.  (It's like bailing water on the Titanic with a teacup.)
They say to save yourself time by doing that two-minute job now, rather than put it off til later.  My problem is, I find fifty thousand two-minute jobs every day.  My one-year-old scattered the bath toys all over the bathroom.  We had an exceptionally crumb-y lunch and the floor needs swept.  The 3-year-old spilled the dog food when we was feeding the dog.  The DVDs have piled up on top of the TV cabinet and need put away.  The blankets in the living room need folded.  The mail needs sorted.  That shelf needs dusted.  The kids' books need straightened.  Here's a piece from Uno Moo that got left out when we put it away.  
All of those little two-minute jobs.  All of the other more-than-two-minute jobs, like cooking (3 times a day) and laundry and scrubbing the tub.
Then add in the time it takes being a mother to my kids.  They say at this age, parenting is 90 percent teaching and discipline.  I definitely feel that.  Which makes me feel like I need to spend even more time on good parenting like reading, talking, and playing.
Not to mention, we homeschool.
And I teach violin to my boys, 5 or 6 days a week.
Oh, and I give piano lessons to my nieces.
And occasionally, I'm a good wife and pay attention to my husband, and help him out.

But, nope.  I don't work.  "I just stay home."