Work-At-Home-Moms group featured "above the fold"

I'm quoted in a front-page, above-the-fold article in today's Peninsula Daily News about my participation in a Work-At-Home-Moms group that started up in January.

Life coach (and my good friend) Heather Flanagan leads the group, but in the article she kindly gives me credit for the idea of starting it. The way I remember it, over the course of our Friday morning stroller walks around town last summer, we jointly conceived of a forum of other work-at-home moms--we wanted to find them all and drag them out of their home offices!--where we could share challenges and advice and build camaraderie.

I like to say that being a work-at-home mom puts you in a halfway place: you're not a stay-at-home mom because you're always sneaking away to the computer during naptimes instead of taking a nap yourself or tidying up the house, and you just don't get to take your babe to the beach as much as you'd like, or attend every library storytime; and you're not a working mom who lines up day-long childcare and leaves the house to go earn a living. You're a bit of both, and really only other work-at-home moms understand that.

In just a few weeks, the group has helped me get focused on my long-term business goals--something I'd set aside for the first year and a half of having Soren in my life. And Heather has coached me through raising my fees as well, which means I'm working less (and more efficiently) and earning more (and striving to give my clients more value).

Ah, it's an ongoing process of adjustment, but I wouldn't go back to being an employee for anything!

Read the article here.

Closing the door

Well, we can close the door on one project around here: The Nest and attached two-car garage passed its final inspection with the city building department this week. Hooray!

Sort of apropos, here's Soren playing in a kitchen cabinet at the family reunion rental house at Fort Worden in December. (Honestly, none of our kitchen cabinets are that uncluttered!)




Spoken language is arriving in dribs and drabs. Soren's newest phrase is a very cute and clear "Uh-oh!" He continues to sign a whole bunch, with a recent addition being the word "dirty" (waggling fingers under chin). I find this useful for pointing out dirty dishes (NOT to be unloaded from the dishwasher), dirty shoes (NOT to be worn into the house), and dirty trash (no, that cigarette butt on the ground is NOT to be touched).

OK, this anecdote is rambling along, but the other day Soren stepped in duck poop at our neighbor's house and I used the sign "dirty" as well as the same sign for "poop" that we use for his potty training. This made a big impression on him. Now when I sign "dirty," he worriedly signs "poop?" I can't explain how he signs a question, but he does. No, the dirty dishes are not poopy!

To all of you in houses where potty talk is not a daily occurrence, count your blessings.