First the article I am commenting on is posted in the post below this one.

Now my comments. First off I see nothing wrong with the fact that these woman plan to graduate and become Stay at Home Moms. Honestly to me this is part of what the whole Feminine revolution was about, the right to be equal to men, and to make our own choices. Not the requirement that all woman have to work.

It is rather annoying to me however, to read other comments on this post as if these woman are destroying all that woman have worked for in equality. So what if they want to stay home, that is their choice and right. They have the right to do whatever they want with their education.

Honestly, I plan to be a Stay at Home Mom as well, once I have kids. I would like to get my PHD yes, but I will be quite happy staying at home with my children and hopefully homeschooling them as well.

Economically it also makes sense for one parent to stay home with the children. Child care can be expensive. Looking at childcare in the area where I live it would cost about $210 a week for daycare for one child. So around $10,000. Now let’s assume I have two kids. That is $20,000 a year. Assuming I get a job that pays $60,000 a year I lose $20,000 of that to childcare. Now let’s assume I am paying 40% on my taxes because my husband is also working and I’m in the top tax bracket (numbers maybe a bit off here but hey it is estimation). On my $60,000 I am paying $24,000 in taxes. So I am losing a total off $44,000 to childcare and taxes. Which means yearly off my $60,000 salary I will be seeing $16,000. Plus with both me and my husband working most likely we will be eating out a lot more then if one of us is home to make dinner. A homemade meal costs around $5 or less per person, where as a restaraunt costs around $12 minimum per person. Which will take off more of the money I am earning.

Using my basic estimation, yes if we are in a lot of debt that $16,000 will be useful from a job. However, in general I know I personally would not want to work 40+ hours a week for a net gain of $16,000 a year. So yes staying at home would not harm me financially since to even make it worthwhile I would have to get a job at $60,000 a year, which is above the average wage.

I understand people who may be upset by the idea that people are getting degrees and hope to stay home with their kids rather then work . However, education is important for everyone, and it is nice to have that backup if it is needed. People do have the right to feel as they do and financially it often is actually not a bad thing for one parent to stay home with the children especially before they enter school.

So honestly I applaud the woman who want a college degree and still want to be stay at home mothers for their children. It is good to have the choice to do so and hopefully they will be able to follow their dreams and do as they wish with their lives. And if they don’t well they will have their college degree to fall back on if something happens and they do need to find a job.

Article from the New York Times, I posted it in whole here because you have to be a member to see it on the site plus I don’t think they keep them in archive that long for free members. I will post my comments about said article in the post above this to keep the length of this post down.

September 20, 2005
Many Women at Elite Colleges Set Career Path to Motherhood
By LOUISE STORY

Cynthia Liu is precisely the kind of high achiever Yale wants: smart (1510 SAT), disciplined (4.0 grade point average), competitive (finalist in Texas oratory competition), musical (pianist), athletic (runner) and altruistic (hospital volunteer). And at the start of her sophomore year at Yale, Ms. Liu is full of ambition, planning to go to law school.

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A friend was noting how soccer/football players like to pat each other on the ass before going out and playing the game. So we came up with a new holiday. Happy Ass Grab Day! With the motto ‘show a little love, pet a butt.’

Harry Potter Personality Quiz by Pirate Monkeys Inc.

I’m actually more J then P I think, if I remember other personality tests I’ve taken, but hey who doesn’t want to be the BAD GUY!

Arrgghhh me mateys. So I was talking with my mom on the phone and called today International drink like a pirate day. It might make an interesting holiday, don’t ye think me mateys.

Arrgh ye landlubers, today is talk like a pirate day. So all ye scurvy rats better remember. Or it is off to walk the plank with you while I drink rum!

So I found a link to the Grocery Game from somewhere. What it is, is you clip coupons (blegh but okay) and then use a list provided (that you do have to pay for) to get the best deal on various groceries and such. Thus cutting your bill in half or more. So we decided to try it out for the first month and see if it actually works. Figure cutting the grocery bill would be nice since we tend to spend about $600 a month on groceries which is pretty high for just two people.

Here are two pictures of the kitchen I’ve put up. We’re almost done except for the countertop. So here is a preview of the new kitchen. If you click on the links it will show you the full pictures of the the kitchens rather then the cut verision on the site.

First a picture of the old kitchen:

And now the new kitchen:

As you can see we’re still missing the countertops. We also need to do some touchup painting when everything is done and we are planning on putting a stampped border of butterflies along the top area as well. However it is a decent look at the kitchen.

Picked up the EQ2 expansion today, not sure it was worth it since I haven’t played in over a month and with school and all probably won’t have a ton of time to play now. We’ll see how it plays.

Sims 2 Nightlife comes out tomorrow, it looks interesting, too bad I can’t play it on the laptop, oh well guess I’ll hang out downstairs to play it. Which is good, spend time with Dan that way.

Been sick the last two days with a cold and it hasn’t been fun at all.

Reading Gilgemesh for history it is really good actually. Impressive what people wrote 3000+ years ago. They were quite good at getting their ideas across through a story.

Ordered new glasses today, my vision got worse, blegh, well my astigmatism in my right eye did anyways. The new glasses are hot. They are black frames with colours around the inside. Which I really like. I’m getting them with a new thing so that the lens change color in the sun, so I won’t have to carry around my sunglasses. The glasses cost a fair ammount, but much cheaper then getting them without insurance, yay for vision coverage when your eyes suck.

On that note the eyedoctor has this new vision test thing. Rather then putting drops in your eyes and diluting the pupil to scan the retna. They have a nifty machine that gets a much better view and no drops that screw up your eyes for hours, bonus! It cost a bit more then the other way, seeing as the other way was free, but it is a better option overall, so it was worth it. Nice east and quick. My eyes looks good, which at least means I’m not likely to go blind anytime soon yay!

My foot still hurts, but it is much better then Sunday, which is good, was just a muscle bruise I guess, which I’m glad of broken bones would not be fun. Especially not in the foot, well let’s be honest it won’t be fun anywhere.

I’m somewhat off my diet because of the sick thing and the whole no kitchen thing. I need to get back on it, it was working well, though the counting calories thing is a pain. Maybe I’ll use a spread sheet to do it rather then on paper.

Oh on that note, we now have a stove! They came yesterday and installed the stove and microwave, so of course we ordered in last night and tonight for dinner. Mainly because there are no dishes in the kitchen since we still don’t have the countertop, so it is hard to cook still, but at least we can now if we want too.

Other then that not much else has gone on in the past 2 days or so. Such is the exciting life I lead. Of school and home with the puppy and hubby.

Katharine Hepburn You scored 28% grit, 23% wit, 47% flair, and 19% class!

You are the fabulously quirky and independent woman of character. You go your own way, follow your own drummer, take your own lead. You stand head and shoulders next to your partner, but you are perfectly willing and able to stand alone. Others might be more classically beautiful or conventionally woman-like, but you possess a more fundamental common sense and off-kilter charm, making interesting men fall at your feet. You can pick them up or leave them there as you see fit. You share the screen with the likes of Spencer Tracy and Cary Grant, thinking men who like strong women. Find out what kind of classic leading man you’d make by taking the Classic Leading Man Test.

Works for me Katherine Hepburn was my favorite actress for years, actually she still is.