Welcome to Professional Mom!

It’s always exciting to start something new. But Professional Mom is not new. This blog is not new, but the excitement of a “new-old” or an “old-new,” nevertheless, is present right now for me as I pen this at 4:30AM (because I know, when the inspiration hits you, it hits you!)

So often over the last years, I have written things down, saved them (in a box) and never used them on my book or my site. I had direction, didn’t have direction, talked myself out of it, listened to the voices, “Why would anyone be interested?” “You need this, or that to start.” “What is it you want to deliver?” “How do you think you can do this with all you have to do; roll over and go back to sleep!” Yes, that’s my life and I’m sticking to it.

Actually, when my 6^th child was born in 1980, Professional Mom was born. I remember telling my sister that I was going to write a book called “Professional Mom.” She sent me a journal to start my project. I think I still have it and it is empty (oh, did I tell you that I keep everything also?) Such is my life…I digress…fast forward to 1999, I couldn’t sleep, from so many nights nursing babies and by then, I use to get up in the night, the children were older, and I would watch TV. And I would buy stuff.

I was watching Richard Karn (Al) from ToolTime sell websites that you could administrate yourself. At that time, I purchased a website, and professionamom.net was born. I wanted the .com, but it was taken. Over the next few years, up to 2003 or so, even though I had taken my first full-time job since having children, I was in college, well, what else, oh, did I mention I have been married all of those years with 6 children and by that year I had my first 5 grandchildren? Well, as things go, I didn’t need voices in my head. I was selling a few products and administering my website, in my “spare” time. Life was good.

Now during the .com boom, many, many site administrators disappeared in the night and like the real estate crash of this decade, people were left high and dry…mine did…I was.

I am condensing this story, really!

I didn’t give up, as you might suppose, my site didn’t “go dark” as I assumed it would, but I knew it would not stay up forever with a phantom server so I got a friend who had his own server to host my site for a couple of years. He did it for nothing but eventually referred me to GoDaddy.com to host it. By this time I was just hanging on…more grandchildren, more job, more, more, more. I wasn’t selling anything, just hanging. And then, the .com came on the market. Another long story, but I eventually got it from a domain seller for about a third less than the ridiculous price they were selling it for, with my absurd selling skills. Still, I was just hanging on, you know, “You don’t have a definite purpose with this,” “It takes too much time,” “You don’t have anything to sell.” Blah, blah…

I had the .com…I was there! Where? By this time I still had the full-time job, Joe was a full-time missionary, I had 11 grands and we were taking care of Joe’s elderly mother. I still didn’t have a plan, except, to help moms and caregivers with inspiration and advice. I went ahead in 2014 and got a business license, still determined that professionalmom.com would go somewhere. I now have 14 grands and a great-grand, and at 64 years old, my project of 36 years has finally come true. My Professional Mom blog is a reality!

As if all the stars had to align, think about it…a 36 year project…wow. Over the years, I have been amazed at the technology that has allowed this to happen. Back with my first computer, I was captured by the speed with which I could put my thoughts down, and then press delete if I wanted to change something. I was further amazed that I could publish something on the internet with the press of a button. You have to know that I was the generation that started out with black and white TV, and no computers and no DVR! All in all, it’s been an awesome adventure.

Now, I want to hear your thoughts and projects, hopes and dreams, problems and solutions! Professional Mom is here for you now, with all of this amazing technology!

I give inspiration to mommies, caregivers, even dads! How do I do this? Because of my experience, of course, but more than that, because of my relationship with the Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior. You remember all of those notes I’ve saved? Most of them were taken at church! Remember those nights I stayed up? Most of those nights I was having prayer time (or nursing a baby.)

Enjoy my first ever video blog, “Four Minute Make-Over!” My granddaughter Kathleen was my videographer and my grandson Ryan did the editing! Share your story, ask a question or get some much-needed coaching or encouragement. I look forward to blogging with you!

Patti McDonald, Owner & Administrator, Patrice McDonald Enterprises LLC