I used to love Fridays. It meant Friday night was here. That meant going out. Dates. Lots of dates. Spending time with friends. Movies. Oh, yes, Friday was for movies. And martinis. Movies and martinis. It was a glorious evening that started a weekend of sleeping in until 10 a.m. (or later sometimes!), naps and just being lazy. Weekends were for reading, going to the beach, sleeping and going out. Did I mention movies and martinis?

Now, Fridays mean crash day; the night the weekend is here. But I’m too tired to do much. If we do decide to go out it means shelling out at least $50 extra dollars for a sitter. What happened to TGIF?

However nostalgic I am for my traditional happy hour Friday’s, don’t mistake that for lack of love for being a mom. It’s just different. Now I just have to get creative with how I’m going to get out for some fun. Maybe it’s a martini in the backyard after work and a DVD that I’ve been dying to see. Yeah, that sounds good.

It is a busy morning, I’m a bit rushed. My husband has to leave early, which throws off our routine but I make it out the door on time. I drop off my son at school for the day. Make my way, coffee in hand, to the office and get my day started.

I attend the daily 9:30 a.m. meeting and go about the rest of my morning. Must be around 10:00 when I go to the ladies room from all that coffee. I look down at the slate tile and stare at my shoes. That’s when I realize what I’ve done: Two different black shoes are on my feet.

Panic sets in: I’m mortified. Did anyone notice? My first thought is to go home and change, but I quickly dismiss this idea because it would take an hour to get home and back — the simple economics of gas cancels out this idea.

Luckily, the shoes are both black and the same height so I decide to just wing it the rest of the day. I don’t care if anyone notices. It’s just a fact of life. I get through the day without humiliation.

I wasn’t going to blog about this, but think that I should share this misery in hopes that I will make some other Mom out there feel better. And, “Moms At Work” recently posted on their Twitter page about another common embarrassment, “Classic. My zipper’s been down for two hours. Luckily, my job keeps me tied to my desk.” That made me feel better. Perhaps you’ve done this yourself or you just feel better knowing that it WASN’T you. Either way, I’m sure you can relate — we’re all doing so much. If the only thing I screw up this week is wearing two different shoes then I’ll consider myself lucky.

I’m taking a Master’s class about Executive Leadership and my assignment last week was to put together a presentation about an executive leader in the entertainment business. Lots of names came to mind, but I chose Paula Deen because she represents what I call an “overnight entrepreneur.” And, she’s a mom.

Paula Deen is an original mompreneuer. She’s enjoying success today because of a lot of hard work in order to take care of her sons. Here’s why Paula is an inspiration to women and moms.

• Devastation Leads to Action
  After 20 years of marriage, Paula Deen was faced with a devastating divorce, and the need to find a way to make a living to support her two young sons and teenage brother. All she’d know to this point in her life is how to cook and care for people, but she needed skills — and fast. Money was tight; she only had $200 and no business skills. This didn’t stop Paula from digging down deep to survive with the only thing she knew; cooking. (source: Paula’s Story.)
• Overcoming Obstacles
  She had no money, no formal education, and a disease that kept her indoors. (source: Paula’s Story.) A New York Times article quotes Paula on her agoraphobia:

  Some days I could get to the supermarket, but I could never go too far inside,” Ms. Deen said. “I learned to cook with the ingredients they kept close to the door.”

• Believing In Herself
  Paula believed in herself and self-published her first cookbook. Since that time she has had multiple cookbooks published along with a new memoir and is the Editor-in-Chief of a magazine.
• Taking the Good With the Bad
• Take Control of Your Life
• Do What You Love

Paula sums it up great on her Web site:

But, you know what, none of this would have happened if I hadn’t of taken the good with the bad, embraced both the heartache and joy, and taken control of my life when I thought it could not have gotten worse.”

Related:

• PaulaDeen.com
• NY Times article about Deen.
• Cooking With Paula Deen magazine.
• Top 5 recipes from Paula’s magazine.
• Paula’s The Lady and Son’s restaurant.
• Paula on Food Network.

A friend of mine gave my son a “Little People” house as a hand-me-over. It’s in great shape so I can’t really call it a hand-me-down. She got it from a friend and her daughter already had one so she gave it to us. Well, my son loves this new toy. Daily we have to “play house” together.

We’ve brought all of the Little People that live with us into this new house, but the dining room table that it comes with only has chairs for the Mommy and Daddy of the house. Poor baby has nowhere to sit. And, the guests that come over have nowhere to sit.

So, genius that I am, I decide to go on eBay to look for an extra dining room table and the high chair for the baby because “nobody puts Baby in a corner!”

Well, as I’m searching though all of these stranger’s listings, I am hit with a wave of nostalgia. Most of the entries on eBay are for vintage sets.

Vintage= old

Old= the houses I used to play with as a kid.

I’m looking at the lime green ’70s chairs, the patio loungers and the black and white dog with freckles on his snout. I remember the people too, they didn’t have arms back then. I played with these toys. Suddenly I am transported to a small child, playing with my favorite toys.

And, here I thought that Little People was a new concept.

Related:

• Find out what’s changed in “Sesame Street” since the ’70s.
• Fisher-Price’s Little People Web site.

I found an excellent article called “The Guilty Mom Entrepreneur,”on the struggles that entrepreneur moms face (or any working mother) with trying to balance work, life and some type of career or job. The article mentnons the book: Mommy Guilt: Learn to Worry Less, Focus on What Matters Most and Raise Happier Kids, which highlights seven points for “guilt-free mommy-living”:

1. You must be willing to let some things go.
2. Parenting is not a competitive sport.
3. Look toward the future and at the big picture.
4. Learn when and how to live in the moment.
5. Get used to saying “yes” more often and being able to defend your “no.”
6. Laugh a lot, especially with your children.
7. Set aside a specific time to have fun as a family.

Kind of matches a post I read the other day, “Live Like a Toddler: Six Ways to Change Your Life,” from the “Catch Your Breath Blog.” Karen Murphy outlines six key concepts that toddlers do instinctively that we can all do in our daily lives to make things a bit easier. One of my favorite pieces of toddler advice is number 5 on her list: “let someone help you.” Most Moms I know try to do it all and we need to stop and ask for help when we need it. Read all of Karen’s post here.