Comments for AlphaWAHM.com

Comment on Michael Jackson Died and It Hurts. Here’s Why. by Diana

Diana — Tue, 10 May 2011 06:39:30 +0000

Someone said it perfectly. His energy was so contagious, he inspired so very many of us to be more of ourselves. Now, who does that? It doesn’t matter what country or nationality you are from or are, when you experienced Michael Jackson, you got inspired to the point of being a better person, you just lived more fully, you know? Who does that? Michael, we miss you and thank you so much for so generously giving us such wonderful music and delightful performances. He truly enriched our lives all over this sorry planet. A true gift to us from God and I am eternally grateful to have lived in the time of Michael Jackson. Today is May 10, 2011, I am 41 years old and can hardly believe how moved I still am by his passing. It hurts.

Comment on Attention WAHMs: Gain Some Sanity, Meet New Peeps and Network Offline by Cheryl

Cheryl — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 17:50:02 +0000

Great advice! I am finding it overwhelming trying to learn about social media online…at every corner there seems to be a hundred different roads to walk down. All the hours in the day are not enough to explore everything that “needs” to be checked out.

Looking for some local #yyj opportunities to network and learn from people in “real-life” would probably be much healthier. For me and my Littlest Helper!

Thanks for the reminder!

Comment on Mompreneurship Ain’t New (And Could We Cut With the Kumbaya Please?) by Kathleen

Kathleen — Sat, 01 May 2010 00:00:20 +0000

I wasn’t yawning but I was a little sad. On some levels, I think women are self-deprecated if our biology dictates our self-directed accolades. I mean, we agree men are debased if they’re self-congratulatory over their biological prowess so I see momdom as the flipside of the same expression. It’s just so much splintering; first we are human. Then we are daughters. After that we are wives, then mothers (caveats noted). It just seems so transitory …temporal. We don’t celebrate daughter-dom or wife-dom. This is what it boils down to in a business context; many of the moms I know will have to change their business names/marketing as they age because they’ll outgrow the label. Later will they become grampreneurs? It just strikes me that the human condition is about more than defining ourselves according to a transitional phase of life’s passage. If one’s enterprise is of long term value, then we shouldn’t label ourselves in such a limited fashion. And then, it’s trendy.

Comment on WAHM at the Office: What Do You Do With Gifts from the Kids? by Candy

Candy — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 14:56:36 +0000

Hmmm… I like the toybox idea… I might just try it! I have a pixo (those are the little round things that you stick together with water) flower and 12 million other crap things just laying around. It’s driving me complete mad. I’ll have to find me a toybox! Duh!

Comment on WAHM at the Office: What Do You Do With Gifts from the Kids? by Hampers

Hampers — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 04:55:00 +0000

Nice blog. It was nice watching the video on your blog. keep on posting.

Comment on WAHM at the Office: What Do You Do With Gifts from the Kids? by Justin Ryan

Justin Ryan — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 00:05:04 +0000

I don’t have kids, but I do have a similar problem: I love toys. I buy them for myself all the time, and I have to keep myself on a short leash or my home office does become overrun.

I dream of one day redoing my office with short bookshelves all the way around the room, just to display all my toys – they won’t be clutter, they’ll be décor. Until then, though, I use a rotation system.

Some of my toys are favorites, and they stay all the time – like Daniel the penguin on his skateboard in-between my monitors, my little blue duck, and the lobster that lives in my inbox.

Then there are the toys of the moment – whatever are the newest things I’ve bought. I have a toybox – my toybox – here in the office, and as I buy new things, I move the older ones to the toybox. They don’t go anywhere – they’re always here for me to play with (and I do, especially if I’m stressed – also when I’m on the phone) just not out on the desk. I’ve set aside a certain amount of space for them, and when it’s full, it’s full.

Maybe something similar would work for you. Get yourself a toybox – Mommy’s special toybox – and maybe let them decorate it for you. Decide how much space you’ll dedicate to gifts, and divide it between your “permanent” items (whether they’re permanent because you want them to be, or because someone else insists that they be) and to the transient ones.

If you’re anything like my mom, when you get a new gift from one of the kids, there is an obligatory “Oh my, I just love it!” dance. You know what kind of psychology works on your kids. If “Oh, I have to have it on my desk, but what will I move to the toybox? What do you think?” would work, go that route – if not, just move whatever the oldest item is to the toybox and replace it with the new. (Whether that happens dramatically in front of them as the new item takes its place of honor, or quietly when they’ve gone.)

A nice touch, if it would work, might be to let them “catch” you “enjoying” one of the old gifts from the toybox every so often – put a reminder on your Google Calendar or something. That way, they’re reassured you really do appreciate their gifts, and aren’t just tossing them in a box in the corner.

Whatever it turns out to be, I hope you find something that works for you.

Comment on Attention WAHMs: Gain Some Sanity, Meet New Peeps and Network Offline by Val

Val — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 05:50:26 +0000

Well gosh darn, I need to figure out how to find out about the tweet ups more. I’m just south of Seattle and travel to visit family in Tsawwassen, I know many in Vancouver that I’ve never “met”. With it only being a couple of hours drive it frustrates me not to meet so many I chat with online.

It is very easy to hole-up and not talk face-to-face. I wouldn’t trade my online connections and friends for the world, but it’s also very healthy to get out there and connect with more than a user name or email addy Thanks for the post!

Comment on Sleepless in WAHM Land: How to Deal With a Baby That Won’t Sleep by Laurie Cantus

Laurie Cantus — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 19:21:06 +0000

Great topic! I have a 10-month old and toddler, almost 3 years old. My oldest didn’t start sleeping through the night until about 18 months (around the time he weened from nursing). That was great, except that I was 5 months pregnant with #2. The baby PRETTY MUCH sleeps most of the way through the night. I’ve basically been walking around like a zombie for about 3 years now. My secret for the CONSTANT wakings in the middle of the night was to stop feeding him when he woke up before 5am. To make it through those first few nights, we instituted “baby sleep bootcamp” one weekend. I slept in my office for three nights (which is detached from the house), while my husband (who obviously couldn’t be tempted to nurse the baby) dealt with it all. Worked for us…mostly. He still “checks on us” every once in a while at about 3am.

Comment on A Pre-40 WAHM Takes Stock as Another Year Passes by Tracy Clements

Tracy Clements — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 01:21:34 +0000

I too just celebrated my birthday; and I too have not hit 40 yet. This birthday made me take stock in what I have and I am a pretty lucky gal. I am darn lucky to be a WAHM so that I can be home when my family needs me especially when my child is sick; that happened just this week and I was so happy to be able to just let him sleep the morning away and not cart him to a neighbour’s house so I could make a commute to work; plus I like being nurse Mommy and tending to him – that’s my job.

In general I am very grateful for all that I have. Life has never been sweeter.

Comment on Does Your Childhood Affect Your Choice Of Entrepreneurship? by JudyAnn Lorenz

JudyAnn Lorenz — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 21:36:12 +0000

I didn’t grow up in a fine large family like yours, but only had one bathroom. We learned patience and consideration. (Civility) We were painfully FAIR. No entitlements; no matter what your make-up status, when someone needed the bathroom and you weren’t naked, you were politely asked to step out for a bit. And if I wasn’t naked, I was willing to do that. Sometime later in life, I was at a home where one person was tying up the bathroom, primping while the rest of the family griped. I asked, “Why don’t you just politely and quietly ask her to step out? I think you like to complain.” Neither patience nor consideration were being practiced.