Posts Tagged ‘ balancing work and family ’

Pneumonia, flu, and possible food poisoning and why working from home makes life easier

March 1, 2011

Since January my family and I have had our run of illnesses. This is just the immediate family, not counting the extended family who have also had some illnesses, some very serious. My husband and my step daughter work “outside” the home at their jobs and fortunately I don’t because if I did I am not sure how we could have survived the last few weeks. While it’s true I have had to burn the midnight oil on many occasions due to needing to take care of my sick family, and yes, I had to just give up one day and devote myself to rest while I had the flu, guess what: I did not miss even one deadline! Meanwhile my husband had to miss a few days of work, which required a doctor’s note. My step daughter also had to get notes for work and for school. I didn’t need a note because I’m my own boss. I make the rules, so therefore if I am sick, I get to be sick without worrying about someone else. Yes, I have deadlines, but no, I don’t keep specific hours for my clients. I do the tasks on my time, by

Juggling or balancing?

January 11, 2010

Do you juggle work and family, or do you seek more of a balance? When I started Virtual Assistant Moms I thought of myself as a juggler, juggling all the different hats that I wear: The Mom Hat The Wife Hat The Student Hat The VA Hat I’m sure you can add some Hats into that mix.We all have them, and we all wear them, sometimes two at once. Then all the header/logo nonsense happened and my husband said: “Why do you have a woman juggling anyway? I’ve never seen you juggle, but you do balance quite well.” Until then I had not thought of it that way. But do we juggle, or do we balance? And what’s the difference? Juggling implies tossing a bunch of stuff up in the air and hopefully catching it before it hits the ground. Balancing implies giving equal consideration to each part of your life as needed to keep you on your path without falling off. I invite you to look up the definitions on dictionary.com as well, because you may be as surprised as I was that the definitions for juggling and balancing have a lot of other implications as well. To me,

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas too

December 24, 2009

I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday. We Virtual Assistants often find ourselves packed with work right before a holiday so I am sure it has been a stressful time leading up to this day. But, I am sure you will feel that it is all worth it once you get a real break. I have decided to make it a rule to take off from Dec 20th (approximately) until January 2nd of each year. I have a family to care for, cook for, visitors to entertain and an entire life outside of my business. That is what is fabulous about having your own business, you are NOT an employee, you have a right to take time off and “close your doors” just like anyone else with their own business does. So, take some time off, and enjoy your holidays Mom!

The Value of Daily Goals

August 11, 2009

Do your kids or husband think you’re a control freak? I hate the term control freak but sometimes it just fits. I fall into that category many days. I don’t often do well with change. I am a big schedule person, and I like to do things on that schedule, and I never miss a deadline – until I had kids! When you’re trying to raise a family and work from home, having the control freak personality can work against you. The stress you cause yourself and your family can become unbearable. Working from home is supposed to be less stress. The entire point in working from home for most moms is to be able to be here for our children, our spouses, and our family. Maybe if you’re a control freak you need to learn to let go, and let others do things for you. And let them do it in their own way. If their way works fine, why does it have to be exactly your way? So what if the towels are folded vertical instead of horizontal? Do the towels fit in the cabinet? Are they clean? What difference does it really make in the scheme of