Frumpy Middle-Aged Mom blog has Utah roots

Most mothers are too hard on themselves. Marla Fisher aims to lower the motherhood standard.

"There is so much pressure on women to be perfect moms," Fisher said. "You have to be beautiful and thin and well-dressed and keep your home perfect and your children perfect … I wanted to show that they could be a lot worse."

The Orange County (Calif.) Register reporter does so by chronicling the everyday trials and errors of mothering a 13-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter on her blog "Frumpy Middle-aged Mom."

Tales of runaway pets, late-night trips to the emergency room and parenting gone wrong have captivated an audience of readers across the nation.

Fisher's humor column is published by more than 24 newspapers throughout the country, and the Southern California journalist said her fans range from fellow mothers to single men.

Her column, published on deseretnews .com on Fridays, appeals to Utahns in particular. Fisher lived in Utah for nine years and attended Clearfield High School and the University of Utah.

Her mother and brother live in Salt Lake City and Pleasant Grove, respectively, and though her family moved around a lot while her father was a member of the Air Force, she loves Utah and visits a few times a year.

In a Feb. 26 blog, Fisher mentioned taking her kids — whom she calls "Cheetah Boy" and "Curly Girl" on her blog — on a family skiing trip to Sundance Resort.

Cheetah Boy and Curly Girl are the focus of Fisher's blogging ventures, but the kids came into her life somewhat recently.

At age 46, Fisher adopted the kids, who had come into her home through foster care.

The single mother said she never intended to birth her own children.

Knowing the heart-wrenching experiences her own mother went through in the foster care system, Fisher always wanted to bless the lives of other foster children through adoption.

"I never was a big baby person anyway," Fisher said. "I liked kids when they got older and you could really talk to them."

And her exchanges with Cheetah Boy and Curly Girl offer plenty of comedic shtick to entertain readers.

Some conversations cause more than lighthearted discussion, however.