crazedparent

Things I love: Techie tools that simplify the tough stuff...

As a small business owner, two things bring me down: 1.Tax Preparation Work and 2. Having More Ideas Than I Can Handle. The former is obviously more painful than the latter. And the latter only brings me down only because I cannot follow through with all the ideas.

But when it comes to things I love about being self employed, the list is endless. And one of my favorite "things" is finding geeky stuff that makes my "job" so much easier (which is also in line with my mantra to keep things simple).

Three of those things:

• MockFlow online wireframing software. I kid thee not. For the non-techie folks, a wireframe is basically a design blueprint for all parts of a website. It tells the designer what the components they need to include in their design efforts. As I build out a new website/company that is self funded, I need to keep a tight rein on our budget. This means that instead of having someone else building the wireframes for our site, I needed to learn how to create those wireframes. Serious design folks usually do this wireframe stuff in PhotoShop or other super expensive programs that require different skill sets. I needed a program that is easy to use and a inexpensive. After trying out a few, I landed on MockFlow. It's very intuitive and took me minimal time to learn. Also? The tech support crew (Hi Jerry!) is quick to address problems/questions. I played with the free version for a few weeks and upgraded to the premium service for $60/year. A steal and well worth it if you are looking to create wireframes on your own.

• Skitch image/screen capture software. I really dislike using the Grab application on Macs for screen/image captures. It's the equivalent of nails on the chalkboard. My husband turned me on to Skitch when he overheard me complaining about it during one of our Laptop Battleship at the Dining Room Table (hat tip: PetCobra) moments. I adore Skitch. I can edit screen/image captures (watermark, arrows, etc.) AND I can easily drag that image to the desktop to save it. So, so easy. And free.

• OmmWriter. Again, something else my husband told me about. Building this new site of ours takes up a good portion of my workday. But at heart, I'm a writer. Sometimes that gets put on the back burner because I've got other stuff to do. Enter OmmWriter. I call it a little piece of writing bliss because that's all OmmWriter let's you do. It blocks out all the distractions and lets you write...on a serene screen with magically peaceful music to help the words flow out of your fingertips. Also free. And remember: Little Piece of Writing Bliss.

Your turn. What techie things make your job/life easier?

Why I love working from home...

Oh I know. You don't want to hear it. You're stuck in your office, why should you care why I love working from home?  Because remember, if you follow your heart and pursue a dream with a fiery passion, you can do what you want, too. Okay, I'll stop.

Working from home can get lonely. A year ago, when my husband and I decided to get a puppy to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary, one of my reasons for wanting this over, say, a shiny, new bauble, was simple. My kids would both be in school in the fall. I'd hate being alone in the house, however small it is.  A dog, I knew, would keep me company and force me to take breaks when she needed breaks. And she'd be cute and furry and never say "You're mean, Mommy."

My vision of having a puppy that follows me around the house everyday has pretty much come true. Except when she's sleeping on our bed in the middle of the day, taunting me because I can't take a nap. But most of the time, she's right next to me on the floor. Wherever I'm working or hanging out. She looks up at me every so often to check in. And it's pretty cute.

Every day I tell myself I should go work at a coffee house just for a new vibe. And I'm also trying to figure out if I need to hire a babysitter on the days that Q. is home from school so I can get more shiz done. This would require me not to be in the house because it's just too small for that much noise and a working mama. And truth be told, I like working at home. Not because I can work in my jammies. (I don't.) Not because I can multi-task with laundry and dishes (cool, but distracting sometimes). And not just because I am more productive than at the office yet still get to participate in all things kid related (way true).

I dig working from home because I get to hang out with little Luna Lovegood. Wouldn't you?

Busy much?...

After three days away from my illin' wee one, his big brother and the hubs, the crazedparent fam has been back in full swing...with sickness for all. We've all had, some worse than others, the hellacious cold/flu that hit the Q. last week. And he is still sporting the runny nose, seal cough and puffy eyes after seven days. From what I've read around the blog hood and what I've heard from friends and family, it's everywhere. And if it hasn't hit you yet, just run for cover until June.

But life does go on. And so does work.

This afternoon I was sitting at my laptop tappity-tapping away while Six was using his little Vtech Nitro Notebook from the grandparents. He was writing a story. But it turned into a note...think he's trying to tell me something? 

Slash/Mom: new beginnings...

Today marked the the start of a new job. A new chapter in my slash/mom life. I can't dish details (yet), but it has me in a tailspin of excitement. (And Maya's Mom peeps, no worries. I'll still be conjuring up wicked featured journal topics and challenges for you.)

While I will continue to work from home, I had to attend a new employee orientation this morning -- something I haven't done in nearly seven years. In my pre-kid days. Back then, I arrived to a new employee orientation in a newly purchased red leather jacket from Florence, new shoes from Siena, and fresh off the plane from a two-week romantic vacation in Tuscany.

This time, I still had the digme attire. That casual-writer-style look with my geeked out glasses. I was trying to play it cool. Polished, professional yet my independent, freelance self. But I had a diaper in my purse. Q. crumbs on my sweater that remained unnoticed until mid-way through the morning. And dog drool on my pant leg.

I stood in line waiting to get the employee badge I will rarely have to use. About 15 people stood behind me. I checked my email on my iPhone and dropped it back in my purse. And then I heard the faint sound of music. A ringtone? No.

Andy Z.

I pulled out my iPhone and realized that somehow I accidentally brushed the screen and turned on the iPod component. I frantically tried to turn off the sound as Andy Z's voice boomed: "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands!"

"It's for my sons," I explained with my embarrassed giggle. "Andy Z....kid's  tunes."

Everyone laughed and we continued our wait. A few minutes later, the young, 20-something gentleman behind me began whistling. The tune? Uh huh. You guessed right.

"I'm so sorry. You're going to have that song stuck in your head all day."

"It could be worse," he answered and continued to whistle.

He was right. It could have been the Wonderpets.

Sick kids and working moms...

What's a working mom to do when her kid gets sick? I'm the wrong gal to ask. I just stay home. But Working Mother magazine just released data from a survey asking moms that very question...

Check out the results...

Letting go of mom guilt, one balloon at a time...

"In the recent issue of O Magazine, Kristin Armstrong writes about how she survived the end of her marriage to Lance Armstrong. In the article Leave Strong, the mom to a son and twin daughters details the difficulty she had letting go of her relationship. Even though it was long since over.

For some reason, the story made me think about mom guilt. All moms experience it, but working moms seem to have it thrown in their faces all the time..."

Read the rest of "Letting Go of Mom Guilt, One Balloon At at Time..."

Slash/mom...

Since I quit my former day job a few months back, I've been having trouble with this whole labeling thing that comes with being home with your kids. I stay at home, but I also work from home. I work from home alot - basically any moment the kids are asleep. And then I do everything else associated with being a stay at home mom, except cleaning bathrooms. I leave that for Noah Drake (even doctors have to clean bathrooms).

If I were a true "stay at home" mom, let's face it - it's still work: taking care of your kids and running a household is a shitload of chaos.

I get irritated when people need to classify moms - and dads for that matter - into one bucket. You're either one or the other. How could you possibly be more? You're either a stay at home mom/dad, a work from home mom/dad, a stay at work mom/dad. But what if you're like me - an insane mix of all of the above. Just because I work from home it doesn't mean I have a nanny taking care of my kids. I just work around their nap schedules. And late at night. I have employers, I have clients. I still have a foot in the door in the corporate realm. And I know I'm not the only mom who's doing this.

I've decided to come up with my own label for what I am: a slash/mom. It covers stay at home/work from home/stay at work MOM. Everything is a slash. It's the only way you can capture what you do.

But in the end it doesn't really matter what's in between the slashes. They all add up to the same thing.

I'm a mom...and then some.

Are you happy?...

"Are you happy when you're not with me?"

That's the question author Wendy Sachs had to answer when asked her four-year-old son, Jonah. In her blog post she writes that she initially responded the way a parent typically would..."No honey I'm not happy when I can't be with you, I always want to be with you." But as he continued to ask the same question, she decided she needed to change her response.

"...I decided to re-jigger my answer by turning the question around. "Are you happy when you go to school and have playdates," I asked Jonah. "Yes," he answered. "Are you happy when you go to karate?" "Yes," he said. "Well, I'm happy when I play with my friends and I go to work and I get to exercise my brain. That makes me happy. But it doesn't mean I don't love you."

She goes on to question whether or not she took the right approach. Take a read. Like her book, it's an honest look at the internal mind games of a working mom.

WFH...

I love love love working from home. Got that? A trifecta of love. It gets hard to do with little ones running around. But I dig challenges and they're worth it when I can spend extra time with my boys.

Startup Journal from The Wall Street Journal just introduced a new series..."Working from Home." The first column ran today and features some tips from Gina Seamans who works from home as president of Accent Public Relations...she writes:

"The benefits far outweigh any obstacles or challenges, or I wouldn't continue to work this way. I can hear the boys play and learn and fight and then apologize. I can share lunch with them. I can get excited when they find a snake or make a snowman. While most people who work in an office spend time at the water cooler, I spend time soaking up these nuggets of joy."

I'm really looking forward to this series...very motivational stuff.