Diane

My entire life can be summed up in one word: passion.

I am passionate about everything I do. Being a mother. Being a wife. Being a journalist.

I believe that you live life once. Never settle. No regrets.

What you can expect from me:

• Provacative posts
• Total, brutal honesty
• Open to ideas

What else am I passionate about? Women. I have always tried to support the women around me. Quite frankly, I can't understand why more women don't feel that way. I think it's because many women are jealous by nature. We hate it when other women succeed. Not because we don't want them to succeed, but because we think their success, means we are failures.

If you're curious about the mundane details of my existence, here they are: I spend most of my waking hours in a TV newsroom. I have a 3-year-old daughter and a baby on the way. I'm a stepmom to an 18-year-old boy who lives in Florida. I've been married nearly 8 years.

Say anything you want to me. I am not easily offended. If you can carry on a rational conversation without calling me names, chances are, I'll enjoy it (what fun is it if we agree all the time, anyway?)

One final thought on passion. It's from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (which should also give you another clue to my personality).

"Passion. It lies in all of us. Sleeping, waiting and though unwanted, unbidden, it will stir, open its jaws, and howl. It speaks to us, guides us. Passion rules us all, and we obey. What other choice do we have? Passion is the source of our finest moments. The joy of love, the clarity of hatred, the ecstasy of grief. It hurts sometimes more than we can bear. If we could live without passion, maybe we'd know some kind of peace. But we would be hollow, empty rooms, shuttered and dank. Without passion, we'd truly be dead."

Therese

Hi Everyone! It's Therese from The Musings of a Mom. Wednesday is my day, and so it is my turn to introduce myself.



Over on the sidebar, I said that I am passionate about my family and my faith. This is very true. I have been married to my wonderful husband, Andy, for 12 years, and we have 3 beautiful sons, ages 8, 5, and 3. We hope for more children, but we will see what God has in his plans for us. I also come from a large extended family. I am the youngest of 5 children, and between all of us, there are 25 grandchildren. My boys, and my nieces and nephews were my parents' greatest joy while they were alive (I often think they are smiling down on us from heaven, too!).

As far as my faith, I am a practicing Roman Catholic. We belong to a pretty orthodox parish, and absolutely love it! We moved back to our parish where we were married at so our sons could attend school there. So far, we haven't been disappointed.

I have a background in special education (Master's degree, actually). I taught Deaf and Hard of Hearing students before we started our family. I really never thought that I would teach again. Then this great opportunity came along! I found a program teaching remedial reading and math, online. When I was in grad school, had someone told me I would teach online I would never have believed it (particularly because the Internet had barely taken off at that point!). What I love is that I get to stay home with my boys, my hubby comes home for dinner, and I go teach! it really works perfectly for our family!

In my free time, I love to cook and bake. I also have taken up loom knitting which is quickly becoming an addiction! I share progress on these project on my personal blog on Mondays if you want to check it out!

I want to take a moment to re-iterate what Brenda said yesterday about each of us following different paths. The five of us have been friends for what seems like an eternity, and we are as alike AND different as any group of women can be. Hopefully, this place can become one of support.

Brenda

Greetings! I am delighted to be one of the five contributors to "At Work, At Play or At Home All Day," a blog which I hope will become a forum for women to discuss our life experiences. Whether you are a single working woman or a stay-at-home mom, we aspire to create here a network of support and fellowship among us all.

That said, please allow me to introduce myself... After living for 27 years as a true blue midwestern girl, I flew the coop and now embrace the southern lifestyle in Texas where I've been for the last 10 years. Marrying my husband, Kurt, is what brought me here (along with a healthy dose of German Wanderlust), and we are the (usually) proud parents of a four year old son. Kurt (who lived in Houston at the time) and I met in grad school while we were enrolled in an overseas German degree program in Austria. (Let me tell you, when one falls in love in Austria, those hills truly ARE alive with the sound of music, honey!) After tying the knot, I joined him in Houston where we both continued our careers as high school German teachers. Fast forward 7 years and our son is born. I took one look at his teeny tiny, defenseless face and decided to resign and stay at home with him. That decision might have been a bit hasty. Although I know I made the right choice for me and my family, I missed work terribly back then...the social interaction, the intellectual stimulus, the ownership of a classroom, and the control (as a first time mom, I felt really out of control...what a wake up call having a baby is and finding out that the universe does NOT in fact revolve around you). So, needless to say, I struggled a bit the first couple of years with my son and had to find my way. It turns out, after dedicating myself solely to my child for the first several years of his life, my way involved working part time. I am currently entering my second year as an adjunct instructor of German at a local community college. I teach one evening class per semester while my son whoops it up at home with Daddy.

The female experience takes us all down so many roads in this life. Sharing our experiences, knowledge, successes, and, yes, those ever frequent failures with one another allows us the inspiration and hope we all need to continue on this journey. I look forward to sharing it with you!

Susie

Welcome to At Work, At Play or At Home All Day: A Blog for and About Women. This blog is brought to you by five women who have know each other for half of our lives. Since our friendships started we have spread out over three states. Some of us are SAHMs and some work outside the home. Some of us have kids and some are still growing their families. We literally are everyone woman and here we want to explore that great feminine that is in all of us, no matter how she chose's to manifest herself. I hope you enjoy the journey.

I decided that my first post would be dedicated to introducing myself as a woman to our readers. So, this is me: Susie the complete woman.

Just like my bio states, I have been happily married to my husband Jeff for 5 and a half years. (Wow!! Has it been that long already?) I stay at home with my almost 5-year old daughter and I love every minute of it. I didn't get to do that with my 18-year-old who is a Sophmore in college. It's her second semester but credit-wise, she is already a Sophmore and I couldn't be prouder. I also take care of my almost 67-year-old mother which is a full time job all on its own. She is a diabetic breast-cancer-survivor who has a weak heart. Keeping track of her medication and doctor's appointments are challenging but I have it down to a science now. And that is the family side of me as a woman.


Personally, I am budding blogger and entrepreneur. You may know me from my blog Susie's Homemade or my chocolate shop on Etsy. I started the former to support the latter but I have received so much fullfillment from both. Over the last year, I have explored my creative side and I really feel like this is what I am meant to do.

So that's me in a nutshell but I am more than just who I belong with or what I do. I am excited to explore all that is me without all that.