I'm a housewife, not a bum.

What makes a housewife? A wife that stays at home while her husband works. What does a housewife do all day? I think that depends on the individual person. When I tell people that I work from home, I swear they equate that as being unemployed. They look at me with what I call the "slanty face." You know the slanty face when you see it. It's a sad attempt at an understanding smile with a recognizable covering of disbelief. 

I've seen that look enough times to know that what it means. It means the person doesn't really think I do anything. Try to see if you can guess where the slanty face would go in this example (but typical) conversation:

Person: Where do you work?

Me: I work from home.

Person: Oh, so what do you do all day?

In case you couldn't guess, the slanty face goes after the "oh." This usually strikes up a curse that I have to fight to keep inside. There are lots of better responses-"What kind of work does that involve?" "What does that entail?" "What types of things do you do?"

It's the "oh" that gets me. I swear it's a shortened version of "Oh, you bum." All I'm saying is let's not make assumptions, and more importantly, don't underestimate my hustle.

Home Economics-an oldie but goodie

I took many random classes as a college undergraduate. My classes ranged from Alfred Hitchcock to a gods and goddesses course. Were these classes practical? No. Were they interesting? You bet! But as my years outside of the college classroom increase, I have come to realize that I may have made a mistake.

I went to Albright College. Their motto is something like "a different way of thinking." Well, they succeeded at that. The array of miscellaneous classes I took provided me with an arsenal of different thoughts. As a result, I tend to be halfway decent at random trivia games.

What class did I need? Home Economics. I see no reason why colleges don't offer home economics as an elective. I had home economics in middle school. We sewed a few things by hand and made a couple of meals. If the ability to sew on a button, repair a small hole or tear and keep from starving isn't invaluable, I don't know what is.

No matter what path you take in life, a solid home economics course could do nothing but help. You wouldn't even have to call it home economics. You could call it basic life skills. The final exam could be seeing if you can fix an entire Thanksgiving meal by yourself. Again, it's practical.

I don't proclaim to be a cook. I can, however, keep from starving. I can sew on a button or fix a small hole on an article of clothing. Now, as I was looking through the supermarket circular I was honest with myself. I have no idea how to fix a whole chicken or turkey. I know how it's done in theory, but a theory is far from a fact and nothing more than a strong maybe.

Crock pot success and a gravy miracle

Once again, I decided to break out the trusty crock pot. Seriously, how many mishaps can you possibly have with one appliance? And with the toaster oven out of the way, I was sure to get it going without a hitch this time.

I didn't make chicken this time. I made a roast. I've seen my mom make roast beef hundreds of times. I figured it couldn't be that hard. She seasoned it, tossed in onions and peppers, and let it do it's thing. That's just my style! The roast turned went over without a hitch. But, of course you know there was a slight issue. I only had one jar of gravy.

What on earth do you do with an entire roast,a tiny jar of gravy, and your spouse coming home in 15 minutes? Well, here's what I did: I pouted. After that, I did the thing I know how to do best. I called my mom. She laughed and told me good luck because she only uses gravy from a jar. I obviously phoned the wrong lifeline. I called my grandmother. Of course mom-mom, as I call her, knew how to make gravy. Her explanation of how to make it was so long that by the time she got to the end I was at more of a loss than when I started. My aunt laughing in the background and yelling out "You better dig up another jar!" wasn't exactly helpful either.

With that, I went to old reliable: Google. I knew I had to use the essence from the roast, so I'd dumped that into a pan. That, however, is all I knew. A quick Google search told me the easiest possible way to make gravy:

1. Bring the essence from the meat to a boil.
2. Find a container (like a small Tupperware bowl) with a lid.
3. Put super cold water into the container.
4. Add flour.
5. Shake. Cover. Pray. (Well, the pray part is mine. I always think a dash of prayer is needed when cooking something for the first time, but it's completely optional.)

Keep in mind, I'd never made gravy before, but this seemed doable even for me. What do you think?