A step too far?

I subscribe to a newsletter called Executive Momorandum from www.executivemoms.com. It based in New York and therefore has limited relevance to me but I love reading about what they are getting up to across the pond and it gives me loads of ideas for balancing the demands of working and being a mother. I wish somebody would start one over here in the UK based in London. I suspect though that the Brits would not see the advantage in the networking and support opportunities. (tell me if I am wrong about this and I will go and start one up right now!) I had a hard enough time keeping a mom's support group going at my workplace.

Recently I got an email advertising a service for helping mothers: www.momcierge.com.

Let me get this straight: we all are working very hard to make more money to pay people to do things for us which we don't have time to do because we are all working so hard to make more money to pay other people to do things for us......vicious circle!

But is this a step too far? I can see the value in the "phone book", ie the contacts and numbers of all the people and places (check out the services page) but I just don't get the end-to-end service (check out the prices page). I would really miss out if I didn't arrange my daughter's birthday party or plan our own holidays. Isn't this absconding all parenting responsibilities?

Although $150 for a yearly rate, they do everything for you......hmmmmm, the temptation! Right now this is only available for New Yorkers. If anyone thinks there is a market for this in the UK (London area), let me know. Another smashing business idea although not sure how profitable this would be! I feel a business plan coming on.

Quickly, yesterday went just as planned: R & R. I even took a nap! I added loads of information to my family tree on www.geni.com and still have loads of info pouring in to add. Let's hope they get some of the bugs worked out and improve the performance. Right now I'm spending lots of time waiting for the tree to come back to me!

Plan & God Laughs

I've always got a plan. Things go according to plan: all is good. Things go not according to plan: mental meltdown is imminent. I guess that is why I ended up with the type of job I've got. Let's just say this week's plan isn't going so well.

Sebastian is still out with a bit of a temperature. Seb doesn't typically sit still for long and he must be not feeling a bit down because he just won't move. Or I could be a cynic and decide this is all a ploy to get to watch unlimited television. I remember being a kid once. Ah, but how is he faking the 102 temperature? Maybe he's not faking it just to scupper my plans. Basically, I've done no groceries shopping so we may be having porridge for Christmas dinner. And I've got three (count them 3) presents (all for Seb) that I still have to buy and I can't take him with me and I can't leave him at home and I can't shoot him.....oh, wait that's women.......

Last night was another company Christmas doo. This one was with all the people in my new group (all those that work for my new boss). When I turned up for the presentations during the day I was informed I would be doing the presentation....I had never seen the presentation. Thankfully, one of my team leaders did it for me and he did a great job. All the presentations were interesting and funny. It was great to see so much passion and enthusiasm from the people you work with! I came home and quickly changed into party clothes and went back out for an evening of dining, drinking and dancing. I got to know quite a few colleagues I didn't know before or know so well. It was good fun......right up until the point I fell out of my stupid party shoes, ended up on the floor with my dress up around my waist and banged my knee hard on a metal bar. What most disturbed me was that no one came to help me up for quite some time. When I did manage to get up I limped away, called a cab and went straight home. My knee is swollen this morning and looking like a huge bruise will be developing. Well, there goes my exercise regime I had planned.....or that might just be a convenient excuse!

Abigail went off to Jackie's (her childminder) this morning all dress up in her party clothes. Jackie is having a Christmas party for children she looks after now and in previous years. She loves the faux fur coat which was a hand-me-down from her cousin Audrey. She wants to wear it all the time. She is very excited about this whole present thingy and was very proud of the gift for Jackie. Also, Father Christmas is an excellent stick to beat them with.....I mean encourage good behaviour! Nothing like the threat of calling Santa just 5 days before the big night!

Bailey is growing up fast. He has more than doubled in size in the four weeks (or so) that we've had him. He has destroyed one corner of my wall in the kitchen and a basket with my tea towels in it. Dog owners assure me this is a phase and will only last a few months. I hope so or we are back to the whole shooting theme again.

This time of year is always very busy for Marc's business. Loads of people buy computers for gifts and he is busy every evening setting them up and then delivering them the next day. He also has a number of corporate clients and all of them it seems has got email problems this week. He's already got some appointments scheduled for next week which he is supposed to have off. Let's face it: this is one of the greatest challenges when you own your own business. No work means no money. And the key differentiator of Marc's service is his responsiveness and personality. Basically, if we want to keep our corporate clients happy (which we do) he must work!