Role Mommy: What did you do before you became a mom?
Terri: Was I ever not a mom? It was so long ago, it’s the only thing I remember. Okay, 22 years ago I was an airman in the Air Force, but then I became a mommy. I was a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom for 22 years.
Role Mommy: When did you decide to reinvent your life?
Terri: My life changed dramatically when I discovered my husband had molested a couple of our children. It was a sudden reinvention. I had always been home with the kids, never worked outside of the home. I had written books and traveled around speaking, but that was it. Suddenly I was the sole provider for the remaining children.
Role Mommy: How have your children influenced your career path? How many do you have?
Terri: I have eight children, seven who are still living at home. The biggest influence is that they have always been homeschooled and have always had a full time mommy. I didn’t want to give that up. I did go to work for 18 months as the manager of a homeschool bookstore. The children were able to take classes there, so I felt like I was still a huge part of their lives. The oldest child who moved with me said to me, “The kids have always been homeschooled, so I will stay home with them while you work.” Even working more than 40 hours a week, I didn’t make enough to pay my rent living in an apartment. The desire to work from home was huge for me.
I took the classes required and passed the state licensing exam to become a real estate agent. I’ve been able to continue homeschooling the children, and selling real estate. Unfortunately the market has been horrible the last several months, so I’m finding myself once again struggling with the decision to work outside of the home.
Mommy ministry has always been a huge part of my life, so ideally I would like to be able to make money at home, and minister to Moms in a very tangible way.
Role Mommy: What’s your favorite “Time Out” tip for moms (taking time for yourself)
Terri: I wish someone had told me a long time ago that taking time for me was vital. But instead I always felt guilty for taking a leisurely bath or reading a book or magazine. Not anymore! It’s VITAL for our survival and well being to take time for ourselves. I like to go out to eat – soup is inexpensive and gives a lovely feeling of warmth and comfort.
Role Mommy: What does your website offer moms or kids?
Terri: My current website offers moms encouragement and support for where they are. The website I’m working on will be more of a site where Moms can go to learn to be better moms. It will offer a place to unwind, a place to take a little time out, and also a section where they can grow as moms and as women. It’s going to be a phenomenal place on the web for Mommies. It is more of a coaching site for moms, to encourage them to take the steps that are required of them. A lot of times we don’t take care of ourselves, and it shows in all aspects of our lives. My goal is to help women to see that they are important and that they deserve kudos, so they can pass that on to their children. Ta-Dah! Mom!
Role Mommy: What do you hope for your own kids?
Terri: For one I want my kids to feel safe and secure in their own home. I want them to know without a doubt that I will move mountains to keep them safe. It’s not about how much we have, but that we have each other. I want them to grow up knowing that they are dearly loved and that I will encourage them to be whatever God has called them to be!
Role Mommy: Who is your Role Mommy?
Terri: Sarah Palin is my role mommy. I first read about her over a year ago. Something about her resonated with me. When she was nominated, I cried. I felt like I was up there on the podium with her, with arms locked, telling the world, Moms can do anything!
Sarah Palin on SNL
In case you missed Sarah Palin on SNL yestereday, have no fear. We tracked this down on the L.A. Times which even give the lyrics to the rap song those hilarious writers came up with for Palin which Amy Poehler performed. Plus, we’ve got the opening monologue too so check it out and enjoy!
Opening sketch with Sarah Palin, Mark Wahlberg, Alec Baldwin and of course, Tina Fey!
Things Barack Obama Can Do to Save Money on the Campaign Trail
If you read my post yesterday, you will know that I am not too pleased about the fact that I’ve been hit up for donations one too many times by our Democratic candidate. I do want to support him in his efforts to land the hot seat in the White House, and so, I’ve come up with the following cost cutting measures that might save him some $$$ and enable him to not hit the rest of us up for cash from now until November 4.
#1 – Find out who bought the airplane that Sarah Palin auctioned off on Ebay and see if you can buy it from the owner. Then use that plane to fly to your various campaign locations.
#2 – Rent a tricked out tour bus from a country music artist who may be taking a breather between now and their next road tour. Trust me, I’ve seen Reba McEntire’s bus and it is pretty fancy!
#3 – Make a deal with an airline like American, or Jet Blue or Trans Air and board a few of their empty flights that take you to key campaign locations. Plus, Jet Blue is offering $50 off for air travel from now until November 15 – you could probably save lots of cash for you and your secret service detail and give the airlines a boost in the process.
#4 – Hitchhike. I know it’s dangerous but if you get in touch with all the people who donated money to your campaign and then asked them to give you a lift from city to city, I’d bet they’d oblige. Call it the Obama hitch a ride to the White House tour.
#5 – Take Amtrak. I don’t know about you, but when I was working in the entertainment world, I once sent an actor all the way from New York City to Los Angeles by train because he was afraid to fly. You can pretty much pick up a train in every city and again, I’m sure the PR department at Amtrak would gladly give up a few Business Class seats free of charge.
#6 – Rent a Zip Car or a Hybrid like a Prius, cram your staff inside and drive cross country. Sure it might be a tight squeeze, but what a road trip that would be!
#7 – Borrow celebrity planes. I’m sure that plenty of celebrity pilots would gladly hand over the keys to their planes to get you from Mississippi to Milwaukee. Is John Travolta a Democrat? He is a F.O.O. (friend of Oprah) so I’m sure he’d be happy to lend you his private plane.
#10 – Walk. I know it’s insane – but didn’t you love the part in “Forrest Gump” where he walks across the United States over the course of one year. Sure it took him longer than 6 weeks and yes, it was a movie, but wouldn’t it be cool to use the ankle express and get Americans to join your foot patrol?
#11 – Skype Me or do a Webcast. If you really want to reach millions of people fast, then tell us your skype address and give us a jingle. Or, you can host a webinar like Ekhart Toile or however you spell his name. A bazillion people logged onto that one and even after I bought his book, I still don’t know what he wants me to do with my life to make it better.
#12 – Appear on Saturday Night Live. I know Hurricane Ike prevented you from making it to New York, but trust me, appear on the show this weekend, have a kick ass sense of humor and you’ll get 7 million more eyeballs and possibly millions more votes. I mean McCain can’t crack a joke – you’ve at least got a leg up in that area.
#13 – Travel with a baseball team to all their games leading up to the World Series and throw out the first pitch at every single game. Mets would be preferable but I’ll understand if you choose the Cubs.
#14 – Board a cruise ship that travels to several key cities in the U.S. and help the ice sculptor for the midnight buffet create a bust in your image. Obama on ice…now that’s something I’d pay money to see.
#15 – Tour with the your favorite rock group or with another performer who happens to be hitting the cities you need to visit in order to win votes. By the way, can you sing? I mean Clinton and the saxophone went a long way. If you’re holding out on us and can actually play an instrument or sing a tune, now is your chance to win over some music lovers.
I’m sure there are plenty more suggestions but these are just a few that I think will save you millions! If anyone has any more bright ideas for Barack, please let me know. And please know – I am not singling him out – the Republicans know better not to send me Donate Now emails – I’ve already showed my cards with my posts on Sarah Palin – incidentally – favorite Facebook Group of the day which everyone should join: This Group has a larger population than Wasilla, Alaska.
I Am Officially a Soccer Mom
You heard it hear first Role Mommies. I never thought I’d see the day when I would succumb to the one sport that I have sworn off for years. I’ve argued with men who labeled my stay at home and work at home brethren as “soccer moms” and today, everything changed.
It’s all because of my son. You see, my six year old decided a few weeks back that he wanted to play soccer this year. In fact, he begged us every day to sign up to play and my husband dutifully registered and then took him to buy shin guards, cleats, and knee socks for the big day. He even bought him a spiffy black and red ball to kick around and my son was thrilled.
Today, he woke up extra early and was dressed before everyone else, counting the minutes before he could leave for soccer. And then he and my husband hit the field. I followed about a half hour later with Dunkin Donuts coffee in tow and as I looked around to see if I recognized any of the parents, I stopped dead in my tracks when I noticed the parents who had changed their baby on a table at my son’s birthday party earlier this year. Eew. I made sure not to make eye contact with Mr. and Mrs. Rude and luckily, I glanced over and saw one of my closest friends hauling her beach chair over so she could get a good spot for her daughter’s game. After we chatted for a few minutes (we just joined Weight Watchers together so we caught up on what we ate in the last 24 hours), it was time for me to follow my son’s team – game time!
As the players attempted to come up with a name for their team of first graders – I think they either decided to call themselves the Purple Goblins or the Purple Dragons, it was time for some action. And surprisingly, these little first graders could really play! I was amazed at the fancy footwork of a little boy named Joshua and my son, who just revealed how much he wanted to play soccer, is actually a superstar in the making. He’s fast, he can kick and he even scored a goal. Not to mention he’s the cutest kid on the field – okay that’s just me being his mom but he does look adorable in that outfit and cleats.
And so, mark this day in the history books as the day I officially became a soccer mom. I have to admit, it’s actually not so bad. You get to kibbitz (chat) with friends, watch your kid run around for about an hour and enjoy a nice cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee. Ah the joys of parenthood. It doesn’t get any better than this. Then again, according to Sarah Palin, soccer moms are passe – we’re now in the era of the hockey mom. Funny how when I finally succumb to a trend, moms are onto something new. Oh well – you won’t catch me on the ice at 5 am so it looks like I’ll never achieve Hockey Mom status…then again, never say never!
Dorothy and the Tin Man
So I decided to be open minded and watch Sarah Palin’s speech last night. And here is my take. She’s a bull dog, she takes no prisoners, it’s her way or the highway. And her youngest daughter will be babysitting her four month old.
I’m busy watching blogs and media coverage go back and forth over whether a mom of five young children can handle the 2nd toughest job in our country and still be there for her kids when they need her and here’s what my girlfriends on the 8:48 responded this morning. “If she gets the job, she’ll be a bad mother but we’re not voting for her as mother of the year. We’re voting to elect her as vice president.”
Point well taken. No, we are not voting for her as mother of the year. We are voting on whether or not she can take on Washington with military maverick man John McCain and judging from her speech last night, yes she totally can. Will the job affect her relationship with her husband and her kids? Absolutely – but it’s their life, not ours to worry about. If her marriage falls apart and her kids suffer because they don’t have their mom’s full attention because she’s on a business trip to Iraq, such is life. They will have to deal and I guess in school, their friends will have to admit that their mom totally has the coolest job than anyone else’s parents in their class.
Should we judge the way a person can lead if their kids turn out to be screw ups because they didn’t get their undivided attention? At least if she does get the job, her fisherman husband will be the one to focus on the kids since there’s no big snow machine races in D.C.
The one thing I did like about Palin was her tenacity about helping to solve the energy crisis by offering a solution from her own home state. It would be great to not have to depend on foreign oil and Palin does offer a sound solution to the current crisis we’re in. And while her oratory skills aren’t as strong as Barack Obama’s, it’s as if Norma Rae is running for the 2nd highest post in our country and that alone is going to earn her several million votes. Not to mention that Elizabeth from “The View” will probably build a shrine in her honor. I can’t say I’d ever relate to her stance on issues relating to women and families so I guess I’ll reserve my decision on who I’m going to vote for after I watch John McCain give his speech tonight. And is it just me, or does the poor guy have a back problem? Hope the guy does a little yoga before his big night tonight or else he’ll resemble the tin man from the Wizard of Oz. At least for McCain, he now has Dorothy by his side leading him to the Emerald City.
Britney Spears’ Mom for Vice President
I have officially heard everything. Just when I was dumbfounded by the fact that John McCain selected an NRA card carrying, anti-abortion, moose and wild sheep hunting salmon fisherwoman to be his running mate this November, comes news that the mom of five’s 17 year old daughter is pregnant.
Now is it just me, or does this mean that as governor of Alaska Mrs. Palin was too busy to stay on top of the fact that her teenage daughter was already getting busy while her mom was busy attempting to get her brother in law kicked off the police force?
I may be sounding incredibly judgemental considering this site is all about celebrating women who balance work and family without ever missing a beat. But something tells me that Palin might be in a bit of denial that she’s going to be able to be John McCain’s VP and have kids who aren’t affected by the fact that she’d have to uproot their lives in order to fulfill the #2 slot in America. Is her fisherman husband going to quit his job and raise their kids full time? And D.C. is way more problematic than Alaska – it’s teeming with bars and college kids – a veritable oasis for her troubled teenage daughter. Will her daughter marry the kid who got her pregnant in the first place? This and many more questions have me concluding that I’d rather see Palin as the star of a reality show than as John McCain’s pick for the vice presidency. While she’s earned the reputation for being a whistleblower and a barracuda on the job, her #1 role as a mom is suffering in the process.
Again, I know it seems like I’m jettisoning the female gender back to the 1950’s but trust me, that’s not my intention. Hillary Clinton pursued the presidency the right way. She encouraged her daughter to achieve her true potential by being there for her every step of the way and once Chelsea entered adulthood, Hillary went for the brass ring with her daughter at her side. As working moms, we are constantly struggling to decide whether our kids will be scarred for life if we work non stop. Perhaps as governor, Palin wasn’t readily available for a heart to heart talk about the importance of protecting oneself from an unwanted pregnancy. According to the Republican spin masters, they knew about Palin’s daughter’s pregnancy and didn’t hold it against her. Nor do they hold against her the fact that her husband was caught driving drunk more than 24 years ago. Well at least Sarah never cheated on anyone – how could she? She’s too damn busy trying to keep everybody else in her family in line.
I wonder what Karl Rove is thinking right about now since he would instinctually use this kind of dirt to bring a Democratic candidate to their knees. I guess the Republicans thought that in Sarah Palin, they had the perfect American story of a mom who has managed to do it all while raising a family. Sure she’s doing it all, but doing it well is a whole different story.
The McCain Touche
Don’t count women out of the election just yet. John McCain has just mixed things up big
time by selecting Sarah Palin, the Governor of Alaska, a mom of five and a former beauty queen as his running mate. Take a look and let us know what you think!