I got a press release today about an interesting contest (grant) for innovative moms. Here’s the official release:

This Mother’s Day, May 11, Whirlpool brand will kick-off the fourth annual Mother of Invention Grant Program – just in time for the 100th anniversary of Mother’s Day. In the past three years, Whirlpool brand has recognized and helped more than 15 moms turn their innovative ideas into reality.

The Whirlpool brand Mother of Invention Grant Program provides seed money and expert guidance to moms to turn their invention, business or service ideas into full-fledged businesses. Contest winners receive:

• A $20,000 grant for the grand prize winner
• $24,000 in grant money for the four runners-up
• Appliance prizes
• Invitation to business boot camp where winners will receive guidance from Whirlpool and industry experts

This year, we are greening the program by adding a new category focused on moms who create an environmentally friendly product/service or use natural/recycled materials to create their invention.

More information and entry forms can be found at www.whirlpool.com/moms, May 11. Entries are accepted through July 31, 2008.

Last year’s grand prize winner “created the Quick Change Crib, which gives parents direct access to the crib’s mattress so that sheets can be changed simply by sliding the mattress out and back into the crib.” Sounds pretty cool.

Maybe the invention you keep telling your husband about could be next.

Related:

• Read about the grant here.
• See the list of past winners.

“Good Morning America’s” workplace contributor Tory Johnson is also CEO of Women for Hire, a network for women. Over the last couple of years I’ve seen Women for Hire expand, its Web site improve and now it even offers a free magazine.

Tory is chock full of advice for all types of working women: moms, older women, work from home moms, moms who’ve been out of the biz for a while … you name it. Tory has advice for every situation. She’s been there too …

From her Web site:

Women For Hire founded in a small corner of CEO Tory Johnson’s New York City apartment, where she’d spend her days (and nights) researching and cold-calling employers—with toddler twins in tow—to convince them to participate in her career expo.”

I got my first issue of the magazine this week and it’s pretty good. I learned that WFH has a facebook group that I can join and it’s full of stories about women who’ve figured things out when it comes to their jobs.

Check out the Web site, womenforhire.com and see for yourself.

Related:

• Subscribe to “Women for Hire” magazine for free
• Read Balancing Motherhood’s post about GMA’s series on helping people work from home.

I don’t have a post prepared for today so I’ll just write about a few things I’ve found lately:

• “Friends” star Courtney Cox is said to be under stress for trying to balance life, work, motherhood and marriage. She’s reportedly shrank two dress sizes — down to a size 2. Now, she was skinny enough before loosing weight, but wouldn’t it be great if some weight loss came naturally for the rest of the world’s moms since we deal with this same stress. Just goes to show you that money doesn’t buy everything. Read the story here.
• There is a lunar eclipse tonight. It’s the last one until 2010, people. The news makes is sound like this is ages away, a millennium away. It’s only two more years.
• I stumbled upon a Web site for Work at Home Moms, www.buzymoms.com. It’s a professional looking site that seems to have lots of detailed information, tips and resources to help you find that business where you can work from home.
• New family rule: the fist person home has to give a warm greeting to the second person home. Read how Steve tells of this family ritual at TheSneeze.com. Fair warning: if you read any of his other posts, I’m won’t be held responsible for the amount of tears that will be streaming down your face because you’ll be laughing so hard it will hurt.
• Lately I haven’t had time to make family meals so I’m on the hunt for quick and easy dinners for a family. I did a quick search and found some interesting recipes here. Send me your links if you know of some great places to get inspired.

Owning and building your own blog is harder than I thought. I have years of experience managing Web sites, driving traffic to sites, building relevant content that a team of advertising executives can sell so the company can make money — yet I’m having a hard time setting up this blog just the way I want it.

I am learning what it means to work for yourself. Not only is there no paycheck for “trying,” no “A for effort,” I also don’t have a coworker sitting next to me in a cubbie that I can tap on the shoulder for help.

I have a lot more respect for those women who have figured out how to start and own a business (or “just a blog”) in order to make more time with family. I’ll keep trying and maybe I’ll post what I’ve learned so that I can help out the next Mom who is walking the same path I am.

I was watching Good Morning America (GMA) today and they had a segment about working from home. Diane Sawyer said they started their series, Take Control of Your Life, one year ago and have heard of 5,000 people who started working from home. And there are still more work from home jobs available, they say. Read the full story here.

You can also ask GMA’s workplace contributor, Tory Johnson, a question about working from home and it may get on the air. From ABC’s Web site:

“Having trouble balancing your career and home life? Do you want more information on how YOU can work from home? Or do you have other career questions? Ask “Good Morning America” workplace contributor Tory Johnson and she may offer you on-air solutions on ABC News Now.”

Get information here.