Picture to the left is a self-portrait of my son Evan.  I told him I would share it with the world.  We think it is really funny.

My last newsletter got so much reaction- (so many of you relate to the idea of running around doing too much-not doing anything well) I just wanted to take it one step further.  Have you ever caught yourself not being totally honest?   Let me caveat that with:  I am totally honest when it comes to important issues; but, there times when I am not quite honest.  The other day my friend and I took our kids to the Mummy Exhibit at the California Science Center.  We bought a combo pack to watch the movie at the IMAX then reserved our time to walk through the Mummy Exhibit.  Lots of preparation.  Shortly after our return, another friend called me and asked, “How was it”?  ”Amazing”, I gushed.  But, after I hung up, I thought about what an exhausting day it had been.  It was 100 degrees in L.A., my youngest son who struggles with eczema, spent most of our visit itching and asking me to carry him.   The movie was sort of “cheesey” trying to emulate ancient egyptian times with scantily clad women.  My boys begged for gummy treats the first 20 minutes- making me crazy (I gave in of course).   I laughed out loud, called my friend back and said, “The Mummy’s were sort of cool, but the rest of the adventure was not that enjoyable”.

I think my first answer: “amazing” was the answer that was expected.  Right?  It sounds great.  Makes me sound like an incredible mom:  alway positive and nothing too overwhelming for me to handle. Continue reading →

I can’t think of a more appropriate quote to summarize how I have been feeling lately.  Everything from the household, to parenting my kids, to my fitness routine (or lack thereof) to staying organized has deteriorated.   When coming to grips with the truth, I have to say, that I like to look like I have it all together.   But the “myth” of having it all or doing it all- is just that….a myth.

Overall, things look pretty good over here on Walnut Avenue, but god forbid you open a closet, peak in the laundry room, or ask the kids how many hours of video games they REALLY play during some weeks. (Thankfully, the kids have no concept of time- or they might embarrass me in public!)

I wonder if anyone else out there, reading this newsletter, has felt this way before- doing a whole lot of everything, but not excelling at anything.  What I am working on now is choosing a couple of goals to focus on and finding the courage to say NO to the things that don’t rank as high on goal list.  Now that the school year is starting, I am going to have to take a close look at how much time I can volunteer to my kid’s classrooms considering I have just launched a new business- I can’t always be the room mom.  I might have to cut back on signing up for 10K’s and triathlons, so I can focus on getting my house organized (this doesn’t mean giving up running or biking- just giving up the pressure to train for a certain event).  I don’t have to be the gal who plans the girl’s trips, or the kid’s tennis lessons, or takes charge of the group gift for the party (whatever party it may be).

One of my more recent goals was to overcome my fear of swimming in the ocean.  While I still do have a healthy fear of the great pacific, I have managed to get myself into the ocean on at least six occasions for a swim.  Visit TheInpiredMom.com to read about my recent ocean swims.

Also new on TheInspiredmom.com is an interview with someone I like to call IronMama- Jennifer Temperley.  She is an amazing athlete who focuses on Triathlons.  I tried a new question and answer format for our interview.  I am interested to hear your feedback on the format.  There are a few other posts to read; and, now that the kids are getting back to school, I hope to get back to a weekly posting for TheInspiredMom.  Stay tuned.

See this picture?  Yesterday, my kids helped me out by putting together marketing materials for my business: MyOwnLittleStory.com.   Sometimes I wonder if I am pretending to be teaching them something so that I can selfishly get my work done without having to break up a fight!  Call it what you want, I will call it a good lesson in launching a business.

Thus far I have spent countless hours designing, printing, and cutting marketing materials.  I don’t have the money or the time to hire someone to do this.   Every step of the way, my kids have been helping me.  They pull stuff off the printer, stack pages in order, punch holes and help me clean up the paper scraps.  They see how hard I am working to spread the word on my business.  Today I sat at the Manhattan Beach Farmer’s Market handing out fliers and promotional materials.  I was there for 6 hours and 15 minutes.  One of my sweet friends stopped by to ask,” Have you made any money yet?”  The answer: “No, but I am not deterred”.  People have bought gift vouchers, but considering I paid my babysitter $100 bucks and $25 to the Farmer’s Market for my booth, and $50 for ink and paper to print all this stuff- I haven’t made any profit…yet.

In order for me to just break even for all I have spent- I need to sell 1,000 books.  Yep, you read right: ONE THOUSAND books.  Some of you might think I should throw in the towel right now.  But dreams are priceless and so is the lesson I am teaching my kids!

This ocean swim goal is testing me mentally.  In almost any sport, I see myself as having some sort of dignity.  I get out there, work hard and regardless of how tired or sick I feel I rarely quit or complain.  But ocean swimming is a slightly different deal.

The other day I met my friend (Robin), who is an amazing swimmer, and a swim coach (Eric) to get in the ocean and swim for a bit.  The thing is, I sort of cheated.  I wore a pair of swim fins.  Not only that, but from the get go, I said I wouldn’t swim around the pier, and warned that I would get out of the water after a short while (all of this before even getting in).  But, I did get in and swim- I managed to swim a half a mile.  I started feeling sea sick from the rolling swells and called it quits. Continue reading →

Susan’s story begins on a beautiful, clear-blue day in a suburb outside of Boston.  Her 4-year old son’s first day at his new pre-school and her 2-year old daughter’s first day at hers.  Her husband, David, had left each child a note on the kitchen table as he left on a business trip to Los Angeles.   Susan, seven months pregnant with her third child, gradually got her day started as each child was dropped off in their respective school.  While the day seemed routine on so many levels, it turned out to be quite the contrary.  This wasn’t just any beautiful day in September, this was the 11th of September, 2001. Continue reading →