Someone.. maybe Undomestic Diva? .. twittered about this story in the Washington Post, and since I was waiting in a doctor’s office at the time, I had some free time to read it.

You should go read it.  If you read this blog, you’re obviously someone it’s talking to.

The whole premise of the article is fascinating and infuriating: a sociologist makes the most infuriating and diabolical claim I’ve read in a long, long time, and I quote:

“Wrong,” Robinson interrupted. “Women have time. Women have at least 30 hours of leisure every week. In fact, women have more leisure now than they did in the 1960s, even though more women are working outside the home.”

Um, I call (much like the author of the article) a big ole BULLSHIT on that one.

Of course, I won’t pull the rug out from under the article, because it really was worth reading.. but I will say that what he calls “leisure” is probably not what the rest of us would define as such.

For instance, time spent in waiting rooms?  Car-rider lanes?  Dance class lobbies?  Leisure.

Um, no.

But the author’s use of a time journal highlights what has been plaguing me for a long time now: it’s the quality of our leisure time, not the abundance of it.  The fact that we, as mothers/parents, will spend every waking moment multi-tasking and worrying and fretting and planning means that we don’t understand leisure time.  We don’t know how to turn off, to unplug, to just be.

I know I don’t.  I KNOW I DON’T.

I don’t know how to be in the room with my child and not devote 100% of my attention to him.  I don’t know how to have my work laptop at home and not be perched at it, checking work email.  I don’t know how to stop obsessively cleaning, picking up, straightening, grocey planning. 

I’m going to learn.

Because there may just be 30 hours of leisure time in there somewhere.

I’m just going to have to find it.

I really don’t talk about my job on here, except when it frustrates me.  Which is not fair.

I’d like to talk about it now.

Huntsville, Alabama is my hometown.  You’ve probably not ever heard of it before, because.. well.. it’s in Alabama.  But in reality?  We have a very large piece of the nation’s space program centered here.  The Saturn V vehicle was designed here.  We’re known as The Rocket City.

So I grew up with space.  Space Camp was a field trip for us, being in our backyard and all.  It wasn’t Christmas until the lights were up on the model rockets at the museum.  Every piece of the International Space Station (also primarily designed here) was huge news and a cause for celebration.

The FY2011 budget that was just released .. well .. a nice way to put it is that it redirects NASA’s vision.  My program, the program I and thousands of other people have been busting our ass for for the last three to five years, was cut entirely from the budget.  I wouldn’t mind that so much, honestly, if there was an obvious alternative. 

But one isn’t obvious yet.  And I’m insanely concerned with the nation’s space exploration now.

This GREAT video details the work we’ve done.  Primarily it details WHY we’ve done it.

I’m not naive enough to think that a video can stop Congress from passing this budget as it’s written right now.  I sincerely doubt Constellation will ever see the light of day again.  But?  This is a great reminder for us to show our kids when they look up and wonder why we stopped looking.

Reasons to do this meme:

1) It’s Monday.

2) We get our program’s budget news today, so I imagine I’ll be weeping in a fetal position for most of the afternoon.

3) It’s from Miss Zoot, and I was TOTALLY talking about her last night. (I’m totally emailing you, Kim!)

4) Because I want to.

1. Which expensive electronic device do you most often let your older children abuse or your baby drool on?
   IPHONE.  My child has an entire page of apps entirely for him on my phone, and he can operate most of them without any assistance from me.  And before you judge me.. or, really, even after you do because I don’t care.. that page of apps has gotten me through many meals and rehearsals. 
2. How many take-out restaurant numbers do you have programmed into your phone?
   I had to check because I wasn’t sure, but only three: Steak-Out, Another Broken Egg, and Thai Garden. 
3. How many hours of television do you so totally not let your kids watch a week?
   When Tony’s home, the tv’s usually on, but he rarely sits and focuses or really watches it.  So a week’s average would be around an hour a day.  Jack watches a little more, but he also plays Wii.. do we count that as tv? 
4. Do you think people who say “we don’t watch television” at play dates but really mean “we just watch DVDs” are lying liars from Liarville?
   I think the only people who can truly say “we don’t watch television” are the ones who do not physically own a tv in their house.  And there are people like that.  I don’t know about the lying or whatnot, but I know that I tend to kind of snort when parents say that. 
5. How many miles have you driven with your child and not one device of electronic entertainment in a single car trip?
   Jack typically plays a handheld Nintendo of some type when we go somewhere, but he only does so for maybe half an hour before he gets bored.  Tony never does anything other than sing and chat.  We don’t have a DVD player in the car. 
6. What’s your record for calls to the pediatrician or Ask-a-Nurse in a single day?
   One.  I hate the phone more than anything else in the entire world so I’d rather just visit a doc-in-the-box if I was worried about the health of my b aby. 
7. What’s the sexiest thing your partner could text you after a hard day?
   “I’ve arranged for a sitter.. let’s go eat and relax.” 
8. What’s your favorite iPad joke?
   Really, is there anything more fubared than the actual gadget? 
9. What’s the dumbest parenting tool, gear, gadget or device you ever bought?
   I love her and it was really a cool thing, but my mother bought this pacifier sanitizer thing for me that sprayed the pacifier with Listerine and then collected the spray into a resevoir.  I mean, sure, it’s cleaner than me cleaning it off in my own mouth (as I tended to do), but I never had it on me and it was kind of big and .. I’m just too lazy. 
10. How many years will it take for your child to become more tech-savvy than you?
    Jack constantly amazes me with this.  We don’t have long before he outsmarts us.. if he doesn’t already.  And Tony figured out the TiVo remote about three months ago.. he can actually find the right Blue’s Clues episodes without any assistance from us (he’s solely in the Joe camp).  I imagine we’ll be locked in our house before too long.