A family of 5 living on one income, the income of a chef . . . I would guess you’re either thinking, “How in the world do you do that? You must be crazy!” Or ,“We’re doing that too and I know you’re crazy!” (Or I guess you could be thinking, “Wow! Her chef/husband must be a Food Network star.” He’s not.)
I say that jokingly, but really, I do feel like we are a bit crazy.
In the series, A Chef, a Wife and a Child, one of the questions I asked was, “What has been the hardest part for you and your chef/husband with the addition of a little one to your family?”
The #1 thing for us, without a doubt, was adjusting to living on one income. This is by far too big of an issue to get buried in another post. So here we are! (more…)
Tonight, we’ve come to the end of the series, A Chef, a Wife and a Child. Thank you for all the emails and comments as you’ve shared with me and my readers your joys and struggles about raising a family with a chef.
Tonight, it’s my turn to answer the 5 questions. . .
Tell me a little about yourself and your spouse.
My name is Jennifer and I’ve been married to my chef/husband for 19 years. My husband started working in a professional kitchen about 6 months after we got married. He is now an Executive Chef/Culinary Directory for a restaurant group in Seattle and I stay home full time with our girls. I do a little website development and blogging from home as I have the time.
Things going through the mind of a 39 year old chef’s wife on a Saturday night . . .
It’s Saturday night and my husband is home (asleep on the couch across the room from me.) Having him home on a Saturday makes me question what day it is as it rarely happens. I just looked at the calendar. Yes. It’s Saturday.
Why is it raining on the last weekend of summer vacation?
How is it that my chef/husband can fall asleep in the living room with the chaos of 3 children all around him? Oh right, he worked about 60 hours in the past 4 days.
I wish it would stop raining.
It looks like we will be able to go to church as a family tomorrow morning. I hope no one wakes up sick in the morning . . .
I turn 40 in 4 days. How is that possible?
I wonder what I should make for breakfast tomorrow morning.
What will it be like to have all 3 girls in school for at least part of the day? Will I cry when I put our youngest on the bus on Friday?
Why is it still raining . . . seriously?
I probably should try to wake my chef/husband up sometime soon and have him move into the bedroom to sleep.
If you are like me, you enjoy reading what other chef wives/significant others write about their lives because it makes you feel like you are not alone.
After the kids go to bed and my chef/husband is still at work, it’s really quiet in the house. Sometimes I really like it and enjoy the time by myself. Other times I really wish he was home so we could spend more time together. At that time of night, I’m usually in front of the computer, reading blogs in Bloglovin‘, browsing through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest, or searching the internet for some random question I had during the day.
When I see a new post about being married to a chef in my Bloglivin’ feed, I get so excited. I love reading what others are writing, even if I don’t agree with it. I even love reading those ridiculous articles about how glamorous our lives must be because we are married to a chef. (After I’m done laughing at those I usually comment on them to try and set the record straight!!)(more…)
While my chef/husband and I have struggled with miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy, we have never dealt with infertility. Knowing how much I struggle with loneliness because of the hours my chef/husband works, I can’t even begin to imagine how hard this must be for many chefs and their wives. I often wonder if I’m hurting someone when I write posts about my children and the struggles of raising children with a chef. I know that my struggles could be someone else’s dream.
I could write a post on a subject I really know nothing about, or I could ask someone for help . . . someone who has lived it. I’ve asked my sweet cousin Leanne if she would let me ask her a few questions about her and her husband’s struggle with infertility. While her husband is not a chef, she knows me well enough and has been to enough family functions over the years that my husband has missed because of work, that she has a pretty good idea of what our lives are like as chef wives. I am so grateful for her willingness to share with us today!
A family of 5 living on one income, the income of a chef . . . I would guess you’re either thinking, “How in the world do you do that? You must be crazy!” Or ,“We’re doing that too and I know you’re crazy!” (Or I guess you could be thinking, “Wow! Her chef/husband must be a Food Network star.” He’s not.)
