Home Based Business Mom

I feel like a loser.
Here I sit, trying to watch shows I’ve taped all week while I work on my laptop as well.
Yes….that’s a loser thing to do. I am not just surfing or checking family email. I am actually trying to work.
Working while you’re trying to chill and watch your favorite shows….not cool.
Therefore….this post will be short and sweet.
My fellow ‘work at homers’ — take a break. Don’t feel guilty just laying down on the couch and watching American Idol or Desperate Housewives or whatever….
Everybody else clocked out for the day….you can too.
It’s a hard thing to do…”walk away from work” when it’s right there IN your house – but ya gotta!
Otherwise you’ll get crabby and crusty and grouchy and fussy…
You don’t want that in your house, do ya??
No way!
So come on….lets go watch ‘Modern Family’ and have some ice cream!

OK….
I’m not going to name names, but my friend (Dana) thinks that by getting to work at home…..
::rolls eyes::
I have it…“easy”!

No….I am not mad at my friend (Dana) – because she’s a school teacher.
A SCHOOL TEACHER.
Now I could….go on and on about how she gets summers off, holidays off, short work days, benefits….blah blah blah.
BUT – if I do that….I bet I’d get hate mail from lots of school teachers that profess to me the long hours, snippy parents, absent parents, bratty kids, snotty sick kids, late hours grading papers and planning, volunteering to
run after school programs and activities, school events…..and on and on and on.

I get it.
I do. I get it.
My kids, of course – perfect.
They never cause their teachers issues….so I don’t contribute to their woes.

But just like moms that work outside the home – working at home is TOUGH. I’m not crying in my 5th cup of coffee here – I’m just being honest. And after 9 years of doing this – I think I can make a comment. I think I can offer up some insight. (Whether you want it or not!) And you’d think my friend (Dana), would have listened to all my bitching over the years to conclude that working at home is NOT easy. Pick your ears instead of your nose Dana! I say that with LOVE. Really….I do. I will stand in front of your house in Iowa with a boom box over my head that plays, “In Your Eyes” and yell…“I love you Dana!!” if you need me to!

Working at home comes with a special array of issues and frustrations. First of all….you’ve got friends that don’t believe you’re “really” working. They think you’re playing office or some weird crap. Like we used to play cash register girl when we were little! I don’t sit here with post-it notes, a calculator and a phone  pretending to work.
Hell no.
I am WORKING.
I’m not playing online mahjong, I’m not staring at Facebook playing Farmville or taking quizzes, I’m not Twittering that I’m on Facebook playing Farmville, I’m not making cutsie little web cam videos, I’m not talking on the phone with girlfriends, my husband or my Mom.
I am W O R K I N G.
I am writing, researching, dealing with advertisers, studying SEO, implementing SEO, maintaining and updating nine websites, bookkeeping….blah blah blah….
On top of that…for years I had kids under my feet while I was doing it. While I was trying to learn HTML, SEO, and everything else. You have no idea the HELL that this is. You are torn, tired and teary.
But once your kids get in school….it almost gets worse. For one….you’re older….and you’re more tired. You’re dealing with your body and face not being so “perky” anymore. You can lose days of work just pondering how much older you’re going to look and how fast that is happening. DAYS!!!

Then there’s all the activities that school age kids are in. School events, homework, sports, dance, girl scouts, boy scouts….you find yourself in the car A LOT. The car has become my sanctuary at times. I read when I’m waiting. It’s the only time I really get to read something that I want to read. I poop at the speed of light…so bathroom reading time….ummm….not really a perk for me. I’m a “poop and run” person.

You also still have laundry, cleaning, cooking, pets, doctor visits…and all that other good stuff that all moms have to do.

Working at home means….never having a real solid block of time to get anything done. You multi-task EVERYTHING. You don’t get to “go to work” and focus on “work”. That just doesn’t happen. I don’t remember when I worked full time in radio anyone ever needing me to change their diaper or crying because someone
hit them in the face with a toy. Yes….we had our fair share of weirdos there….but really…no one crapped their
pants and asked for help. At least….they never asked me….because I would have gone on the air and told everyone about it.

Working at home has it’s pitfalls. Just like any other job. And I don’t get health insuarance or 401K. I don’t get PAID holidays….I don’t get summer’s off like SOME jobs. I do get the perk of flexibilty, not paying daycare and being here if my kids need me. That might just be worth more than health insurance or 401K. Yes…I think it is worth it – at least to me. (My kids will support me in my old age, right??)

It’s tit for tat.
It’s just not easy being a working mom. But thank God it’s women doing the working and momming for the most part. We are fabulous multi-taskers.

But it’s never easy. Not for any of us.
Well…..except for school teachers.

Just teasing (Dana).

You can tell me…
Because you can trust me.

It’s just you and I talking here – one on one.

Do you take your Blackberry to bed with you? Your iPhone? Your laptop?
Do you have to give it a couple of update checks just one more time before you actually go to bed?

Maybe you plan to go to bed, and then two hours later you find you’re still doing Twitter updates and answering emails?

What happened to actually going to bed?

And as my husband rolls his eyes while I type this post on my laptop IN bed – what happened to sex? “You’re all ‘a twitter for Twitter more than for my hot manhood!”

OK….he didn’t say that. My husband would never say “manhood”. I just took that straight out of cornball romance novels.

But he DID roll his eyes.

According to an article published on ZDNet this week:

“More than 1 in 4 employees are so tethered to laptops and smartphones that they can’t    resist taking them to bed with them before sleeping, according to a small survey released today.”

You’d think because I work at home – I wouldn’t feel the need to bring my laptop up to bed, or carry my iPhone with me like it’s some type of device that keeps my heart working. But I do.

I wonder….for those of you like me….are we waiting for some kind of ULTIMATE EMAIL?
ULTIMATE TEXT MESSAGE? FACEBOOK POST? TWITTER RESPONSE?

Is there an invitation to the White House, maybe even better… to Madonna’s house we’re waiting on? Do we think we’re going to be asked to host the Oscars? Is Oprah right now posting something on our Facebook page?  An invite to help host her Fridays Live show maybe?

What is it that compels us to carry that little smartphone around? Or to bring a laptop to bed when we already have a home office??

I honestly don’t know?

I mean – I could be sleeping right now – letting my body rest and rejuvenate itself. Give my brain some much needed down time. I could be having awesome sex right now with a man I love. A man I chose to spend the rest of my life with that is – totally sexy and a fabulous lover. (He will blush when he reads this tomorrow – but he knows that he’s awesome!)

Oh but nooooooo….
I gotta check my iPhone for any new tweets. I mean….My GOD, how can I sleep if I don’t know what John Mayer and Kirstie Ally are doing right THIS minute. How?? I ask you, how??

And hey….not get a post out on my blog? I gotta get that done. So let me fire up that laptop as I plop into my bed.

My sleepless, sexless bed.