My name is Deborah.  I’m the mother of two children & I’ve started an internet company called TOTEFISH (which is short for “Totally Efficient Shopping”).  This was supposed to be a blog about that.  It turned out to be a blog about me.  I live in a canyon in Los Angeles.  I’m juggling the demands of career & family.  I’m learning how to build a company by the trial-and-error method.  I occasionally get sappy.   I have a terrible sassy streak.  My husband thinks I share too much.  And yes, this photo was taken by a professional.

The Long-Winded Version:

I’m born, raised & schooled in Massachusetts (Harvard class of ’94) but I’ve lived in Los Angeles for 14+ years.  My husband and I moved to the canyon when our first child was 6 months old.  We wanted a grassy backyard.  We raised our two children in the country quiet of a canyon in the middle of a busy metropolis.

As soon as my youngest child was ready to join my oldest child in elementary school, I begin plotting my return to the outside workforce.  This was after a eight-year hiatus of being a full-time, stay-at-home mother.  (When I use the word hiatus, I mean “the most unrelenting, unglamorous, exhausting work years” of my life).

I had a career before I got pregnant and after nearly a decade of child-rearing trench-warfare, I was anxious to get back to the reasonableness of an adult workplace.  But a traditional 9-5 job wasn’t conducive to my temperament or my expectations.  I was used to my high-level management title (being a “Mom” has corner-office cache especially with the 54″-and-under crowd), I don’t take direction well from others and I wanted to be available for my children during the hours of 3:30 – 6 pm.  Plus, I had some seriously big plans for how I wanted to influence the world.  Yes.  I am one of those women who want it all.

In the spring of 2011, I came up with an idea on how to improve my own experience shopping on the internet (Yes, I shop A LOT on the internet).   It was an idea on how to better use online coupons (Yes, I’m obsessed with saving money.  Almost nearly as much as I’m obsessed with being organized.)  But who among us doesn’t have an idea for a business?  As I considered all my options for work, I began to think about my idea the most.  Maybe it would make a good business?  Maybe I could build it myself?

I spent three months researching and shaping my idea into a business plan.  Then, in September 2011, I did it.  I bought the URL, www.totefish.com.  My idea was no longer a nagging chant in my head.  It is in its nascent, start-up phase.

I am now a “Working Mom.”

And yes, I am overwhelmed and stressed and drinking too much coffee (and when I say coffee, I mean coffee and wine).  I am constantly searching for the right balance between work and family, parenting and woman’ing, life and the stuff in between.  I started this blog in October, 2011.  It used to be called “TOTEFISH: A Working Woman’s Adventure.”  I started it as a marketing tool for the business (you know, using it as a social media strategy to talk about business stuff) but after working all day on the business, I didn’t want to write about it at night.  By 10 pm, all I really wanted to do talk about my day.  But my husband goes to sleep early.

So, I’ve taken to the blogosphere to fulfill my needs.  That’s what this blog does now.  Maybe it’s fun to read.  Maybe you’re just bored.  Or maybe, you ‘d like to know that you’re not alone with your struggles.  Whatever it is, I hope you it brings you some pleasure.  Writing it certainly is fun for me.

(January, 2012)