She Works Hard for the Money

(Man, I sat here for a good 15 minutes trying to work Jessica Simpson's flubbing of the "9 to 5" lyrics at the Kennedy Center into a pithy post title, but could not. Consider that today's comment section challenge.)

Today's post is a response to reader Muddy's request in yesterday's comments:

Can you please recommend a blog glorifying the working mother? The few, the proud, the, um, the people that I'll have to draw MY inspiration from when I try to do the dual work/mom duel?

I'm assuming Muddy means working OUTSIDE THE HOME mothers, since blah blah blah we're all working mothers, and I'm a work AT HOME mother, don't I count, blah blah blah. Picking on the syntax is boring and dumb. I know what she means, and yeah, it's a whole 'nother ballgame.

(And for that reason, dear Muddy, I implore you to NOT go read my own archives during the four-ish months when I worked outside the home. I was extremely insane. And incompetant. And long-winded.)

I'm also assuming Muddy is requesting WOHM bloggers with relatively young kids, who are maybe still working out the kinks in the daycare/commute/trying-to-not-show-up-at-work-with-spit-up-on-her-blouse grind.

Here are just a few mombloggers who work outside the home, in varying stages and stripes:

There's the awesome (omg she's my total blogcrush) Cecily at Wasted Birth Control. Her daughter Tori was born in June and recently attended her mom's company holiday party.

Whoorl's little guy Anders was born in August. She had a tough time finding a good nanny, and an even toughter time remembering to do laundry. (Update: What timing! Never mind. But y'all should still read her.)

Linda at Purple is a Fruit does the part-time thing, working at her office three days a week. She and her readers can tell you all about proper abandoned-toys-at-daycare etiquette.

There's one delicious baby girl (Sanna) and TWO working mothers (Emilin & Brooke) over at Name That Mama.

And Mary Beth at Supafine is another part-timer, but with toddler Owen and Numero Dos is due in May, I'd say she has more than enough on her plate to count as full time. Her husband is a stay-at-home dad in the summer, which meant she had to get used to the daycare thing all over again this fall.

I'm sure you'll get a heapload more (hint! hint!) from the commenters, who always leave me smacking my forehead at the blogs I boneheadedly forget to list. (So I guess there's TWO comment challenges today. Jessica Simpson and WOHM blogs. I am nothing if not a glorious hodgepodge of randomness.)

Comments

[Erica]

I read your working outside the home posts in the week before I had to go back to work, and since I was a snivilling, crying basket case anyways, it lent some structure and some "I am not alone"-ness to all the snot and shaking and weeping that I did at that time. So ... you may not want anyone to read those archives, but, thanks. They helped.

Then I read about how you were able to stay at home and I hated you.

Then I got over it and I loved you again.

Heavens. Pregnancy hormones. Will they never clear up?

[Amy]

The Washington Post online has a blog from Leslie Morgan Steiner called "On Balance". http://blog.washingtonpost.com/onbalance/ There are a number of different categories to look at. Leslie has 3 kids, the youngest of whom I think is 3 or 4, but she does tell stories of her experiences when her kids were younger. She also asks questions of readers about how they've handled certain situations. There are guest bloggers on Tuesdays and a dad's perspective on Thursdays. Steiner edited "Mommy Wars".

[CPA Mom]

Here are a few that I enjoy

Mrs. CPA.
mrscpa.typepad.com

A Family Story ashleyandaudrey.blogspot.com

This is a live report.
anchorsaway1.blogspot.com

Miss Zoot
www.misszoot.com/index.php

I Never Knew It Could Be Like This
i-never-knew-it-could-be-like-this.blogspot.com

The fabulous Moms on The Soccer Mom Vote
www.thesoccermomvote.com

[Nicole]

CPA Mom (above) was too polite to pimp herself, so I can do it for her:
http://tiggereeyore.blogspot.com/

Nancy
http://mommaamme.typepad.com/

R*Belle
http://bellechats.com

[Busy Mom]

Hey, I'm not shy. I qualify, and, so does Nicole above ^.

[Tere]

Hi, yes, I'm a WOHM and my blog is fabulous.

I don't cover the specific WOH dilemma all the time, but the struggle to balance it all is quite clearly evident if my frenetic, angsty, navel-gazing approach to things is any indication.

So, my blog is A Mom, a Blog & the Life In-Between, located at http://tere-tere.blogspot.com.

And I must say, I love Dolly Parton so much that this opportunity to pimp my blog out made me very nervous. So nervous I probably f'ed it up. I'm so sorry, Dolly, I wanted to be good for you.

[Amalah]

TERE WINS TEH INTERNET!

[laura]

i am a wohm to five kids of all ages from teens (oops #1 just turned 20!)to a preschooler with special needs).
for me it is definitely a circus life but i wouldn't want it any other way.
in fact, i can't remember it ever being any other way.
adventuresinjuggling.blogspot.com

[Jamie]

I read a lot of the fabulous working womens listed above.

Oh, The Joys is a brand spankin' new find for me at http://othejoys.blogspot.com. She is hilarious!

And, uh, I help bring home the bacon, too. ;)

[CharmingDriver]

I can't work 9-to-5 or Jessica Simpson into the mix but my husband and I kareoked the hell out of ''Islands in the Stream'' at our reception and surely that kind of DollyDevotion counts for something, right? Riiiiiiight, heh.

My suggestion for a WOHM (gosh I hate when the internets get so sensitive it reduces us all to a bunch of initialed, categorized boxes) blog is http://jodifur.blogspot.com/ She's the tops.

[Kristen]

How did I miss the Jessica Simpson flub?

Well -- mom-101.blogspot.com is a wahm/wohm combo and I love Nancy (already mentioned) mommaamme.typepad.com

Also, Melissa from issasworld.blogspot.com and hello JENNSTER! jennster.blogspot.com

[Kristen]

damn.

issa is

issasworld.typepad.com

[Melissa]

I'm glad someone asked this because I've been wondering the same thing. I work full time outside the home (with a 45ish minute commute to boot) but I think I may be the only Clubmom blogger in this situation. (I haven't read everyone extensively--maybe some of the moms of older kids?). I assumed it was because it's HARD to find the line and post anything at all about work given Dooce. If you read my blog I'm not certain you'd even know I have a full time job except for the crappiness of the posts due to lack of time ;) Anyway, it was great to see some other WOHM bloggers listed here. There sure are a load of working moms out there.

[Tere]

Melissa, you bring up a good point. In the past, I've handled the issue by writing about my challenges and stresses from a personal, trying-to-juggle-it-all perspective, but without directly bitching about my job. I have one or two posts where I basically say that I'm unhappy with my job, but at that time, I couldn't be fired for that because I worked at a public, gov-type agency, and the rules are different there. Namely, employees can do whatever they please outside work, without repercussions, if there's no direct link to or conflict with their job. So as long as I didn't say where I worked and as long as I didn't talk badly about people at work or revealing sensitive information, I was "safe."

Now, though, it's a little different. I just started a new job with some cool folks (all right, my best friend's husband owns the company, and he's my son's Godfather) who created my position specifically for me, and it was my blog(s) that prompted him to do so. That's incredibly rare, I know, and I'm very happy with this new development. But even so, I expect the challenges and frustrations to be the same - so thankfully, I'll still have plenty of blog fodder!

Wow, now I'm all inspired to go post about this on my own spot o' internet...

[Kaleigh]

Um, we didn't know each other before, but Pam over at http://musingsofaworkingmom.blogspot.com and I (http://anotherworkingmom.blogspot.com) have really similar URLs and have a lot in common, but a different take on the working thing. But neither of us really blogs about the work part of work very much.

[Not so Pregnant in Texas]

I'm with Melissa. I will soon have a 45 minute commute each way to work when I move down to the town that my parents live in so I can get some more help raising my son.

Being a working, single, desperate, trying-to-lose-weight-and-date-while-horny Mom is draining.

I would like to go take a nap.

[Caroline]

Sucking 9-to-5.

[MK]

Thanks for the post Amy! I am always up for blogs of Mom's that are dealing with the same thing I am!

[Kristen]

Here's more...

Jamie:

http://supermom04.blogspot.com/

Joy:

http://gingajoy.blogspot.com

Wood at Sweet Juniper:

http://sweetjuniper.blogspot.com

[HollowSquirrel]

My best blogging buddy, Isabel (http://www.holaisabel.com), works full time while raising the Sweet Babboo.

[Robbin]

I am a working mom - and the wife to a mostly-stay-at-home-dad (he's working part time now:

http://www.mylevelofawareness.com

And I sympathize with Jodifur frequently:

http://jodifur.blogspot.com/

[Brandi]

Thank you so much for posting these different blogs! I returned to work recently after having my daughter in April and have been looking for WOHM blogs. Thanks again!

[Liz]

When I think of Jessica, the line from the song 9-5 plays over and over...

"it's enough to drive you crazy if you let it"

I just don't get her appeal. But I don't have a penis.

[tracey]

I'm a photographer (who goes out on location to shoot) and an author and a blogger...all for professions which means I'm depended on and in turn, money comes. All of my jobs I do partly at home and partly away from my home, all the while raising the kids and making the meals, etc. Does that count? Although I often curse having a gazillion work fires burning and sometimes I wish I had a "normal 9-5er" to go to, I know my freelance and home based businesses are a good fit for me, regarldess the sheer and utter chaos I feel like I'm drowning in sometimes. So here's the the working mom and being creative and stretched past any sane limits and everything else that comes along with it. I'll not only drink to that but I'll make it a double.

[Girl con Queso]

Love Mom101. Love Wood at Sweet Juniper. Both already mentioned. And this looks like a great list. I'm looking forward to looking into each of them. As a WOTH mom who completely digs being a WOTH mom, I likey hearing from others skiing behind the same lifeboat. Thanks.