Working with Tweetie

It’s 9 a.m., the children have gone to school, my husband has gone to work and I am in my blue Twitty Bird pajamas, a diet cherry Pepsi by my side, settling down to earn myself a few dollars.
I am a work-at-home mother, one of legions of women who have found a way to use their skills to bring home the bacon without leaving the house.
As I write women in my neighborhood are babysitting children or operating preschools, baking cakes and slicing fruit, teaching piano lessons and cutting hair. They are all earning money from home.
What are the advantages? Well, I mentioned one. I get to work in my blue Twitty bird pajamas. There’s nothing quite as nice as rolling out of bed, grabbing a slice of toast, turning on the computer and getting down to work. I save so much time when I don’t have to bother with niceties like showers and make up.
Today, as one of my children is sick, I am free to let him stay home, wrapped in a blanket, while I go about my business. I don’t face the dilemma of rather I should send him to school sick, scramble for a sitter, leave him home alone or call my boss and explain why I won’t be getting today’s assignment finished.
Working from home offers flexibility un-heard of in the nine to five world. I can throw in a load of wash, make a phone call, write for a little bit, and then unload the dishwasher
It adds another level of efficiency to the multi-tasking for which mothers are famous.
This summer while repairmen were fixing our roof, I found myself helping one man plug in his electric saw while I used the other hand to answer the phone and ask questions about an automobile accident.
As any work-at-home mother can tell your, the lines between paid employment and household tasks get blurred. Generally this is a good thing, but it can also present problems.
Women who leave home to go to work don’t usually have to figure out when their job is done at the end of the day.
Not I. For me work happens when the phone rings. Which, as everyone know, is during dinner. Sometimes I find myself shushing my children so I can complete a phone call. It’s hard to come off as a professional if you have to excuse yourself during an interview to rescue the cat or pour a glass of milk for your six-year-old son.
Working from home is not for everyone. It a bad career choice for people who are not self motivated, and it is usually not as lucrative as more traditional career paths.
But I feel blessed to have found a work-from-home job that is a perfect fit for my skills and training. I’d love to say and write some more, but the buzzer on the dryer just rang, and I need to hang up the shirts before they wrinkle.