Mama needed help; mama got a wife. Not a husband, mind you, but a wife. Wives generally are the ones who take care of hearth and home. Typically, but not always, it is the wife who is the stay-at-home parent while the husband is out earning the family's keep. Well since I am the one earning my family's keep here, I needed to get a "wife". Other Westerners here have solved this dilemma by sponsoring nannies. This is done by both married couples with families and single parents. (Sponsoring nannies is de rigueur for Emiratis. In fact it is not unusual to see an Emirati family with two nannies in tow.) I too could sponsor a nanny and solve all of my domestic needs in one fell swoop but I have passed that point in my life where I'd like someone other than my children living in my home with me. Maybe if I lived in a villa, it would be different but as I do not, I am crafting a solution which is the sum of its parts.

You know how it is said that it takes a village to raise a child? Well, for me it takes more than one woman to make a wife. I'm in the process of creating a Frakenwife, if you will. After a long and HARD day at work (LTs, I know you "feel" me on this point), I am in no condition to come home to cook, clean, iron, and attend to my children too. Sure, there's the weekend but who wants to spend down time chained to household chores. I sure as H don't! Therefore, the first organ that was crafted, the foundation, so to speak, was the maid. I observed the meticulous nature of one of the cleaners at my school and as they could always benefit from additional income, I approached her with the offer to clean my home. Best decision. Now every two weeks I come home to clean serenity. Remember I live in a desert. A home here gets mighty dusty, mighty fast. Knowing that it's not me who has to sweep that sand off the balcony or dust the furniture always makes me smile.

Then there was the ironing. My work clothes, the girls' uniforms all have to be ironed. I did not purchase a dryer because who needs one when you live in a desert climate? (I could say it was because I was being green and conserving electricity, but the only thing I was conserving were my dirhams.) Anyone who has hung clothes to dry knows that they dry stiff and extremely wrinkled. Thus the need to iron. I hate ironing! After several months of that torture, I came to my senses and decided to take my cleaned clothes to the launderers to iron. They're male so I guess technically they could be considered part husband, but I'm not going to quibble about gender as long as the job gets done. And this part of my Frankenwife does great work and is very accomodating: they pick up and deliver my laundry. Hey! I don't have cash on me now. No problem, just drop it off at the store later.

The third piece to my wifey puzzle was put in place today. Mama was in no shape to wear the Mama/Teacher hat after teaching all day. I felt soooo guilty not assisting my own girls with their studies. I was inconsistent. Some days I had the energy to do it; others it just wasn't there. The irony. I'm a teacher working to help other parents' children achieve and here I am neglecting my own children's academic needs. My solution, a tutor. Now my girls will have someone to assist them twice a week with academic skills for which they need support. No more guilt. . . well, at least not about that. As a mother, there's always SOMETHING to feel guilty about. :)

The last part that remains to be put into place is the prep cook. I don't need the cook as much as I need the individual who will prepare the raw materials for me to cook the meal. It looks like it will be some time before that happens, but my solution so far has been to prepare two meals at once twice a week. I do it when my energy level is high and can accomplish more in the kitchen. Makes it easy for me on the days I come home and do not want to make a meal from scratch. I'll let you know if that piece to my wifey puzzle ever falls into place. But for now, "It's aliiive!"