Reminds me of the point in my life where I said I wanted to stay at home and be with my kid all day, because that's what great kids need. A full-time parent.

Now I know better. I'd go insane without my job.

Shhhh ... don't tell my family this, but: I totally feel you. Monday morning is a relief to me.

As a fellow work-from-home-er, I can completely relate to what you described. In fact, since we're perpetually broke, I often work on freelance web-design projects on the weekend ... and like it.

Not dumb at all. Wait till the kids start playing with each other.

Heather, I ALWAYS hated the weekends, still do. My kids are all grown up, it's never changed. I think it's the free-wheeling, no schedule, etc. part. It probably won't change for you, either.

My wee monster is communicating (2nd girl, 2.5), and I still feel this way. I've lost the ability to sit and do nothing. I had surgery four days ago and can hardly move and I feel like a caged animal. Maybe if you can find a way to accept that your "relaxing" isn't the same as the standard, read-a-magazine-hang-out-on-the-couch brand of relaxing? Mine sure isn't...

WOW. You said it. I am a total chicken and have been feeling major guilt regarding the exact same thing, but you went and said it to the whole internet. Now it's out there!! Now I have to face this, thanks. Anyway, I totally agree and can't tell you what relief I felt when I dropped the kids off at daycare this morning. Monday morning. And then I had a whole indulgent 10 minutes to sit in my car, ALONE, in silence. I took a few deep breaths and then went into work where I had a whole 8 hours of clicking and typing on my keyboard. BLISS. How has that become better than Friday happy hours and lazy Sundays? Hmm... Something about having 16-month-old twins, I suppose. God help me.

Like the great Michael Jackson once said, you are not alone. I am here with you.

My husband and I both dread the weekend occasionally. Our kids seem to wake up earlier than usual, they're cranky (because there's less of a routine, and they thrive on routine), WE'RE cranky due to this just FANTASY of getting extra sleep on the weekends which really, admit it, is just that. A wild, crazy fantasy which won't come true until the children are teenagers.

makes total sense...I have been doing VERY PART time things from home, and when I finally get out to a meeting here or there, I really wish sometimes that the meetings would go longer. I quit my job to stay at home, and I love that I can, but sometimes, I envy the women who drop their kids off at day care and go to work. They get to talk to adults about things that matter, not why eating leaves off of the plant is a bad idea. And it seems as though when they finally pick up their kids, they have missed them so much that the time is that much more enjoyable with them. The crying for no reason goes on a lot with my almost 1 year old. But then again, I guess the crying of people I used to work with was just as bad. Seems very, the grass is always greener, I guess.

Seriously?! I thought it was just me!!

I've had this problem since my daughter was born 5 years ago, and I still have no resolution.

Like others, I think my problem is lack of schedule. It's also about figuring out how to solve that problem in concert with my husband. It always seems like when the weekend roles around we both have these tacit, unspoken expectations about how the weekend is going to go. When my daughter was a baby, that seemed to always involve him expecting to spend the weekend outside/in the garage getting his stuff done. Meanwhile, I imagined blissful days of the three of us playing happily in the sun and chasing butterflies. Instead, I'd find myself "abandoned" inside to the laundry, cleaning, and, oh, screaming baby/toddler.

I finally put my foot down and insisted I needed more of him on the weekends. That resulted in weekends of us circling each other like caged animals -- each denying that we needed/wanted to do anything, and each feeling like we REALLY needed/wanted to do something.

We still haven't found that balance, but I think, *I think*, it involves this thing called communication. At least, that's what my therapist told me once. APPARENTLY, if we talk about these things ahead of time before we're angry or feeling aggressive we can PLAN a weekend where we both get to do some of what we want/need. Go figure.

But, really, sometimes I just long for those pre-children days when we would spend the weekend in bed watching M*A*S*H reruns on FX. Sigh.

Nope, you're definitely not alone in this.

Except I dread free time because it means I have more time to miss the STC (sexy-time companion, or what ordinary folk would call a boyfriend) who fairly recently moved 1000+ miles away. Last quarter, I worked full time and took 3 night classes so I didn't have a spare moment to worry about him. Now that I'm only taking two, I'm going absolutely NUTS trying to figure out what else I can do to distract from his absence. And I pride myself on being an independent, modern woman, but I'm starting to get all boo-hoo, black eyeliner emo-like!

I'm supposed to be in the prime of my life going out, hitting up bars, and getting pish drunk, but all I want to do is nuzzle into him and nest!

You might find this shocking coming from a teacher, but summer used to be my least favorite time of year. The first few days of summer freedom were always glorious, but gradually, I would wake up later, wear my pajamas longer, accomplish less, and start to feel generally crummy. It happened slowly ... so that, like a mammoth in a tar pit, I almost don't notice it until it was too late and the depression swallowed me whole.

Two nervous breakdowns later came the advent of the "summer project", and summers passed merrily along while I worked my ass off redecorating, learning new languages, writing curriculum, and fixing everybody else's problems.

Finally last year, with no project in sight for the summer, I learned to quiet the committee in my head that insisted every minute be productive, the same committee that likes to remind me that I'm always one tiny step away from losing my mind. I can't say I retired them, but I at least got them to step out of the room for a coffee break. Learning to be relaxed (aka lazy) without going insane became it's own project involving lots of breathing and a few comical stabs at meditation and yoga. I'm still not quite sure how I did it, but I did manage to enjoy the summer without really accomplishing anything significant.

Anyway, I hope you get this all figured out in time to share your wisdom before I have kids and surely fall off the relaxing-time-off wagon.

I'm with you and everyone else here - weekends are dreaded! My therapist actually called me on it, noting that I would work poorly during the week, forcing myself into overtime on the weekends so I could avoid being at home! Gah! It's better now that my kids are older (9 and 11), no doubt. I realized at some point that their age makes a difference, yes, but so does the experience of suffering through those weekends when they were bad. You learn from them. This past weekend there were tough moments, but it was very much life, and that's more than okay.

Sounds to me like you're in a groove. It's hard to stop.

You're go go go for work and 'every day' stuff during the week. Weekends? Your five-days-a-week routine is thrown off. Doesn't sound dumb to me.

It's not dumb at all. Maybe a tiny bit of routine would help you enjoy your weekends a wee bit more.

What if you did select regular things to do, such as special breakfast one or both days either at home or maybe monthly out somewhere. Then you could have time cut out for cleaning tasks for 30 mins (okay an hour if you're on a roll) here and there. Maybe special TV time for the girls while you read that magazine. Little benchmark activities throughout the day(s). And it DOES get easier as they get older!

You need a weekend home. Like a cabin. Or a timeshare condo. That takes dogs. Only with full maintenance/landscaping and housekeeping service so you can go home Sunday night and leave all the dirty towels on the floor and they'll magically get freshly laundered before you come back the next Friday (or in two weeks).

Someplace with a community pool, and a ton of kids stuff to do (and maybe, just maybe childcare services?). Preferably at the bottom of a ski lift somewhere.

If I had your moolah and access to all those fantastic resorts in driving distance that's what I'd do.