Last August, she launched a website, EssentialMom.com, aimed at compiling resources exclusively for Westchester parents.

EssentialMom.com is designed to provide area parents with a range of information-- from the best pediatricians, to birthday party sites, to spur-of-the-moment family activities-- and to serve as a network for parents who are all in the same boat when it comes to caring for children.

Part of EssentialMom.com is a database that lists resources for children, such as schools, doctors and classes, and for adults seeking courses or volunteer opportunities. The site is growing in popularity, receiving about 2,000 hits a month.

Through a weekly newsletter, that already has 450 subscribers, EssentialMom.com also provides up-to-date information on children's activities, thoughts on parenting, and tips for simply getting through the day. A recent newsletter suggesting spray-painting snow with food coloring as a snow day activity got a particularly positive reception, Menzies said.

The goal, she continues, is to give parents information they can use in ways they can use it. Most of this information is targeted for children up to age 9. And while the site originally concentrated on upper Westchester communities, it has since expanded to include information relevant to parents throughout the county.

"We all kind of live the same life. We are all looking for the same things to do," says Menzies, who has two children, ages 2 and 5.

Having spent her 10-year social services career working with teenagers and with no previous web experience, Essential.Mom.com is a labor of love for Menzies. The endeavor started as a rudimentary website designed for novices, until a mom in Katonah saw it and suggested her husband help out with a new design. Enrique Dura volunteered to pitch in.

Since then, EssentialMom.com has become a user-friendly site that Menzies keeps current with continuous updates -- a small but growing business that she says meshes perfectly with her primary job of being Mom.

"I love the social part of it; I love talking to other parents through it," she comments. "But I also love that I completely control it so that I still go about my day with my kids."

Menzies also has designed the site to incorporate two groups for whom she has soft spots-- other women with home-based businesses, and non-profit organizations. The non-profits are incorporated as part of EssentialMom.com's database. And Menzies has reached out to other working moms by offering advertising on the site at a nominal rate.

"This is a community service," she says.

Lynn Siegel, a Katonah real estate agent with three children ages 5 and under, agrees it's a community service that has kept her connected to the community when she might otherwise lag behind.

"I love it," Siegel says. "It's about the issues that are relevant to all moms. And I feel that when I'm out of touch with what's going on, it's a way to get connected."

That's just what Menzies is trying to accomplish-- though she adds that she has had personal rewards, too. For one, she says, her own parenting has improved, thanks to the information and interaction she gets by overseeing the site. And there is satisfaction knowing that she is making other mothers' lives a little easier.

That became particularly evident one day this winter when Menzies toyed with the idea of not writing a newsletter after a trying time caring for her sick kids. On the verge of making that decision, she received an email from a mother saying how much she appreciated and used the weekly newsletter-- which was enough to inspire Menzies to forge ahead with that week's edition.

"I really find that moms use it and thank me for it," Menzies acknowledges. "And that feels good."