House preening (continued)

I think i need to follow up on yesterdays post regarding the domestic duties that befall the stay at home parent.

After suggesting that I would try to resist the frantic pre-6pm clean up (preparing the house for the arrival of the bread-earning partner) as I was suspicious of the motivation to do this house preening, I DID end up dashing about and sort of mostly cleaned up before S came home (thinking "I said I wouldnt do this...but i cant help myself as its really ME that wants this clean, actually, HEY, GUESS WHAT, Im doing this for ME, not him" and then I did some yoga. And meditated on that thought. ANd I realised that husband's arrival is just a convenient deadline... and I do LOVE the motivation of a dealine.
BUT: The washing stayed on the line, and when S came home, i finished my yoga, chucked washing on a spare chair, gathered dinner together, asked the girls to clean their room, and S vacuumed. As he did this I realsied that S and I have the well rehearsed domestic dance that we have performed for years together when we both return from work. The 7pm shuffle? Not sure what to call it, but we get oodles done in about 90 minutes. It goes a little like this: I chop the veggies, then he cooks the dinner, I bathe the kids, he cleans the bathroom afterwards, I serve the dinner. Eating happens. He collates the plates and stacks the dishwasher while I read bedtime stories, sort through the piles of toys/washing neaten bedrooms, ready bags for the morning. Strangely, the routine remains much the same with me not working as much. Hmmmmmm...

It doesnt really seem fair anymore that Steve does all this, when I can do it during the day. I really must stop bloggin, and get the dinner on!

ITS NEARLY 6 PM!!!!!

So my thinking now, after 2 posts and much pondering on the subject:
I think I will consider my domestic daytime activities as a kind of yoga seva (a service to others that is practiced with loving kindness) rather than a self imposed patriarchal role I need to adopt.