Posted on

Keeping it All Together (more or less)

I was going through some old information this morning on the GTD system (Getting Things Done if you are not familiar with this). This is an interesting system and I like and use parts of it and dislike and eschew other parts of it but like all things organizing it does interest me. It struck me in reading this material how much things have changed in just the past 5 years (the material was from a conference I went to when I was pregnant with Tabby). The systems and tools I used “way back” then are so different from what I use now. Anyhow, like I said, this sort of stuff always intrigues me and I thought I’d share some of my organizational tools, rules and resources and see what you all use.

  • GOOGLE CALENDAR Pictured above, Google Calendar is my favorite org tool. I use it all the time. I have a calendar for the kids, one for the whole family, Matt keeps his own, the menu is on there as well as my training calendar, my freelance hours for billing and a separate schedule for my work commitments (that don’t directly affect the family). The fact that it syncs with my Android phone is perhaps its greatest advantage and I use it daily … hourly some days!
  • ANDROID 5 years ago, I was rocking a state of the art HTC with Windows Mobile. It got my email but since it wasn’t corporately sanctioned it didn’t connect to our Exchange server and I entered all my appointments, contacts, etc. manually which was a huge pain in the butt. Switching to an Android has been incredible! Having all my data in Google Calendar and Contacts is such a time saver and the synchronization is flawless.
  • OUR GROCERIES APP This is another of my favorite tools. It holds all of our lists. Everything from grocery lists (one for Target, one for our organic market, one for Costco) to family to-do lists to packing lists and it syncs together Matt’s phone and mine so if he adds something to the list in the morning and I go by the store on my way home, I know what to get.
  • PHOTOS As far as photos go, I’m pretty strict with myself. I won’t let a week elapse before downloading photos off the camera. I delete the duds (immediately), edit what I want (keeping the originals) and upload the best to Flickr. At some point in time, some munificent being (Matt) backs them up to our file server. If I ever get behind, it is so hard to get on top of it again that I dread it. Keeping on top of things is vitally important to my organization.
  • BACKUP Speaking of backup, I LOVE Carbonite. For $55/yr you get your computer backed up to the cloud in your network down time. No fuss no muss nothing to remember. It is as easy as backup gets.
  • SCAN SNAP I hate paper, so we have all of our personal files on our fileserver scanned via a system called Scan Snap. It’s just a nice little desktop scanner that digitizes what you still get in paper and sends it straight to PDF.
  • PAPER When I do have to use paper, I’m pretty particular about it. At the office, I file everything in 3-ring notebooks as opposed to file folders. Those things drive me NUTS. Notebooks = tidy. Tidy=happy. And I also scan anything I don’t need to keep a hard copy of (meeting notes, invoices, etc.)
  • TO DO LIST The other paper thing I won’t get rid of (at least not yet) is my work to-do list. I have a narrow notebook where I keep the to-dos going on a daily basis, copying over what remains for tomorrow (or Monday). I would probably keep this on my computer, but the computer I have at work is so slow that it is just more efficient to keep paper. Plus, I do like to doodle in the margins.
  • PINTEREST More and more, Pinterest is one of my go-to sources for organizing. I keep lots of recipes there, clipped from all over the web as well as project boards and crafts I want to attempt. Sometimes this probably creates more distractions for me, but they’re distractions I love.

For the many things I’m good at with organization like menu planning and making it to appointments and getting things done at home and work, I’m terrible with many others. I find myself constantly fighting clutter within our home. Too many toys, clothes, DVDs (though we’ve started rectifying this with Amazon Instant Video and Netflix), pieces of kiddo artwork, books (Kindle is helping here again), craft supplies, holiday decorations, kitchen what-nots. I always have a Goodwill basket going and we make regular trips, but it’s hard at the best of times. I currently need to make clean sweeps on just about every room in the house. We talk frequently about buying/building a bigger home. And while certain aspects of that greatly appeal to me, I don’t want to have space for more STUFF. Bigger closets are not likely to be on the agenda.

I am very curious to know what your favorite organizational tricks are!

Posted on

Gone Camping

Before I say anything else, I just want to point out the amazing image on the right. I bought it from a very talented artist on Etsy and it now hangs in my powder room along with the print my mom got me on my last b’day – there’s a theme, in case you were wondering.

Anyhoo, we are heading off on our first camping trip of the year so I have been going all manic on my packing list and Matt’s been getting our pop-up ready. Our water pump is busted and we (Matt) have to replace it. The first camping trip is all about getting things ready and the last is all about putting them away. The ones in the middle are the easiest, but I will consider us lucky if we get four (five?) trips in this year so it’s a kind of labor-intensive proposition. Totally worth it though!!

Tonight we are doing the final packing (a bag per person, all the food, etc.) and then tomorrow after ballet, we are heading out. SQUEE!! We are going back to the Sand Dunes with some good friends and I cannot wait. We are hoping the little river in front of the dunes will be running. It turns the dunes into a fun beachy sort of experience. And we’re also hoping some of the back-country 4×4 trails will be open. They had a big forest fire last year and were filled with impassable ashes. But they are supposed to be amazing and scenic and I’d love to check them out.

Best of all, we found out last year that Loki is welcome at the park, so he will be joining us. That is going to be one happy dog.

Posted on

Knock Out Weekend

We had a nice weekend. It was short like all the rest. I have no idea what we did Friday. I know I passed out in the middle of the day for a couple of hours. There was a trip to Target in there somewhere. Friday night we had the family over. Downton Abbey was watched. Tasty things were eaten.

Saturday was the day we ran. And ran. We started out with an 11 mi run with some friends. It was a SLOG. Seriously, one of my hardest long runs in recent memory. All day I felt a little off and overheated and thirsty. Drank tons and tons of water. But there’s no rest for the wicked. We took the kids to IKEA to get some storage furniture for Tabby’s room. My sister ordered a bridesmaid dress. Matt ordered a router (the woodworking tool, not the computer hardware). We looked at land (nothing good). We had Middle Eastern food.

Continue reading “Knock Out Weekend”

Posted on

Accentuate the Positive

I don’t know if it’s hyper-sensitivity, but it seems like everywhere I look these days, I’m seeing comments about how people, specifically mommy bloggers are skewing their lives purposefully to make it look as though everything is perfect – that their kids never have tantrums and eat only organic locally sourced food and their houses are always spotless and their Christmas gifts nothing but homemade. I know these comments aren’t directed at me – I fly so far under the blogging radar with popularity they can’t be (and don’t get me wrong – I LIKE THIS) but these comments rub me the wrong way. Because, duh, if you look around my archives you will rarely find me saying a negative word about much of anything. My complaints are mainly about being busy/tired are about as deep as it gets. But there are some very good reasons why:

  1. I TRULY believe in the power of positive thinking, being, existing. I find that when I focus on the negative by writing about it, talking about it, dwelling on it, I get immersed in the negative and then it’s a positive feedback loop where I stay there. That doesn’t mean I gloss over or hide the bad stuff, but I deal with it and move on. This is the same reason why I don’t watch the news. It depresses me and I can’t really do much about it, so I focus on what I can control and do good in my own life.
  2. Complaining about the bad stuff just seems … petty. I have a damn good life. I am incredibly lucky and I know it. I have an wonderful circle of family and friends, a roof over my head, food to eat and even a job I like! Complaining about the small “first world problems” I have just seems petty. I’d rather celebrate the good stuff and be grateful for it instead of whining about the bad.
  3. This blog is not anonymous. I know probably 60% of my readers in real life, from family to friends to coworkers to clients to online friends who have become real-life friends. It’s great, but that being said, it doesn’t give you a ton of freedom to vent. And I’m not talking about inter-personal problems, necessarily. My kids and husband deserve some privacy and when everyone knows you and your family personally I’m not about to share private details of our lives that they’d rather I keep to myself. It’s not fair.

But just to make you feel better, some (negative) truths:

  1. I have been fighting to lose the same 10 lbs for what seems like years now. Really it’s months. Up 5 lbs, down 7 lbs, up 4 lbs, down 2 lbs. Over and over. It’s maddening and I am the only person to blame for it as I really like food way too much.
  2. My house is never clean. Ever. It is not filthy – we have someone come clean it every other week and I clean our kitchen every night, but I wage a constant battle on most other fronts. There is always too much clutter. The laundry is never done and I don’t just mean in the way that we’re wearing clothes that are currently getting dirty. I mean I usually have a load in the dryer that needs folded and a couple hanging around that are folded but haven’t been put away and frankly may never be put away. I don’t iron ANYTHING. My windows have been washed only once in the almost 8 years we’ve lived in the house and it was only the first floor ones when we painted and I didn’t even do it, my dad did.
  3. I yell at my kids. I try not to, but sometimes I do. I get impatient with them when they take too long to do things sometimes. I know it isn’t fair and I try hard to curb my reactions, but I do not always succeed. I am also LOUSY at playing make believe with them. Games? Cooking? Crafting? Yes. Playing pretend? Absolute crap. Bores me to tears. I also hate singing the same song 50 thousand times in a row. I will also occasionally put them to bed early because I am tired myself and/or I have something to do that they cannot interrupt.
  4. Loki is neglected. He gets fed, he has a small yard to play in, but he rarely goes on walks and the only time he gets bathed is when he goes to the vet to be boarded when we’re out of town. I try to make up for it with  snuggles and hiking and camping trips, but honestly, he is farther down on my priority list than I want him to be.
  5. My personal grooming is limited to clean clothes, neat hair, tinted moisturizer and lip gloss. That is all. Sometimes I feel like I should change this, but once again with the priority list.
Posted on

Paradise Falls

One time my dad made the comment that Matt and I reminded him of Carl and Elle trying to save for their trip to Paradise Falls. We are very good about putting away money, but something always seems to come up and we have to smash the jar.

I know I’ve mentioned our ING accounts more than once. We tuck away a lot of money every month for retirement and college savings, but also for a host of other things including, but not limited to: car-related expenses, insurance premiums, home improvement, Christmas and Loki.

Many months in a row, the money goes in and we just leave it there and let it accumulate. But eventually, we have to smash the jar. This month, the money in our home improvement fund which I had sort of ear-marked for work on Tabby’s room or our master bath (still has the dreaded carpet) went to buying a new fridge. It didn’t cover it all the way and we’ll have to take the balance from the small cushion in our budget. And we haven’t even priced the fix on the floors yet. We also had to smash the car-expense fund. Matt’s car needed new brakes. And we have plate renewals for both as well.

I know it’s not unique to us and I’m realistic enough to know that we’re very lucky to have money to tuck away for these eventualities and I even feel somewhat victorious when we use these funds and our budget doesn’t have to take a hit. But I also do not like seeing two of our most often-used funds almost at $0.00. Ick.

Posted on

Weeeeekend!

You’ll hardly ever hear me complain about a weekend. I love my job but man, I’m always so glad for a weekend. This one was particularly CHILL. Friday we didn’t leave the house at all (so so rare). We watched the snow. We took naps. I finished up a freelance project (and yelled at the kids because they were disturbing me). My family came over.

Saturday we had great plans to take the kids to the Zoo (the big reason I finished up my freelance work on Friday), but on the way to the car dealership to drop off Matt’s car for service, Ben screamed the whole way there, saying he had a stomach ache. Tabby was tired too and the weather was less than stellar, so we headed back home. The kids had naps and lunch and quiet time. I worked on my site (like the new look?) and we attempted to go to dinner (Ben’s stomachache had disappeared) which was thwarted by a 40 minute wait (at 5:30!!). After a tossed together homemade dinner the kids went to bed, Matt and I tore apart the kitchen and reorganized it and got rid of a bunch of junk. We finished off the evening watching old eps of How I Met Your Mother.

Sunday we started off the morning with a run on N Table Mesa with some friends. It wasn’t long, but it was a good tough run and we both enjoyed it. Then we took the kiddos to the zoo – everyone had a wonderful time, even though it wasn’t really warm. After a stop by Starbucks for tea for me and a donut for the kids, we grabbed a few groceries and headed home. The kids settled in for quiet time while Matt and I FINALLY took down Christmas. I made some Crack Broccoli and Quinoa Mac ‘n’ Cheese for dinner – both winners, I HIGHLY recommend!! While the mac was cooking, we installed Ben’s new tree decal on his wall. I wasn’t sure about it before we put it up, but I love love it!

Now the kids are in bed and so are we … dueling laptops, getting this and that done before a busy week starts. Can you believe it’s almost February???

Posted on

The C Word

<whisper>Pssst. Guys … 51 days until … Christmas</whisper>. I know. It seems sacrilegious to me still to be thinking about Christmas this early. I even bought a couple of Christmas gifts LAST MONTH. Like BEFORE HALLOWEEN. I know. *shame*

But. You should see our December calendar. Yes, ALREADY. It’s quite full … and messy! We have a ski weekend, several parties, a turkey-fry with our crazy friends, and even an informational meeting on kindergarten. And of course there’s all the un-scheduled things we need to fit in, like Zoo Lights and gift-wrapping and tree trimming and cookie-baking and mass-attending and caroling and wassailing and one-horse-open-sleigh riding and so on.  So I am already making the list and checking it twice and trying to get as much shopping and crafting done before Thanksgiving as I can. Because come Dec 1, I want to be kicking up my feet and taking it easy.

So. Things I have to do :

1. Christmas shop. This is hard … I will probably place a giant Amazon order, but it’s all the rest that get tricky. Bugging people for lists, running around town. And with the kids it’s the constant battle between having a fun Christmas for them and buying crap they don’t need. Plus I have to help Santa out and keeping that straight in my mind is always tricky.

2. Ornaments. Since Tabby was a year or so, we have been assisting her to make hand-crafted ornaments for the family. And we also do an ornament with the kids’ Christmas photo (sometimes we combine them) too. Last year it was glass ornaments with paint markers. The year before that, teeny tiny canvases with Tabby originals painted onto them. This year something new and I think Ben is ready to get in on the act. Not sure if we’ll do one for each to decorate or what. Should be fun … ish.

3. Other craftiness. I have a few projects I would like to complete as Christmas gifts for some people … some pajama bottoms for the kids, and maybe a few other bits and bobbles here and there. I need to figure out what I’ll realistically have time for and make it happen.

4. Calendars. Another tradition since Tabby was a little one is a photo calendar for all of the grandparents and aunts and uncles. It is not hard, but it’s time consuming to do photo selection. Part of me would also like to do some sort of photo book, but as that makes my head hurt, it probably will not happen.

5. Christmas cards!! Part of me says I should just give it up and let Shutterfly or some other service design our cards, but I really like doing it myself. Plus, when I use Premium Postcard, they send them for me. Cheers!

Lots to do … good thing it’s all fun!

Posted on

Routines and Such

I have another craft that we did over the past couple of weeks to share with you all, but right now I just want to take a minute to reflect on how nice it’s been to just be home with my family. Matt snapped this picture on Saturday morning (my expression reflects my general 7 AM stupor and has nothing to do with my mood as I was super-elated to be snuggling my kiddos). The kids had just gotten up and they were thrilled to be able to hang around the house with us. We made breakfast and just hung out together.

I love all of our travels. We made amazing memories in NYC and Nashville (and definitely on the way HOME from Nashville) and on our camping trips, but they are no less wonderful than the ones we make at home over Saturday morning cartoons and pancakes. Or listening to music in the evenings while we make dinner and eat pickles (the designated pre-dinner snack at my house).

So it’s been my goal this week to have a nice normal, routine sort of week. We’ve planned nice healthy at-home dinners for each evening. We’re doing laundry and small projects. Last night I purged a ton of Tabby’s size 3T (and some lingering 2T) clothes with her help. We spent some time contemplating the evolution of Ben’s room – he can now climb INTO his crib, but uncharacteristically refuses to climb OUT (yay!). It was definitely nice.

But of course, we’ve been at home two weekends in a row now, so I’m pretty sure we’re going camping this weekend.  You know … one last hurrah. Seriously. We can’t help ourselves.

Posted on

Powder Room

Remember when we repainted our bathroom? It used to look like this. But when we had hardwood floors installed to replace the nas-asty carpet, the wallpaper in the powder room had to go because the sink moved down a bit and there would have been a less-than-attractive strip of plain drywall above it. So we stripped the wallpaper (yay for wall-paper steamers!) and Matt textured it and we did that accent wall. I was a bit hesitant on the color (a bit darker than the photo shows) but love it now. BTW, if you love it too, give me a call because we WAAAY overbought on paint and you can have a whole (unopened) gallon of the stuff FREE OF CHARGE. We even have half a gallon more than that.

Anyhow that was like 18 months ago. Ever since then it’s been sitting there just quietly doing its bathroom thing. For my b’day I put this cute print on my wishlist. I don’t think I specified a color but my mom bought it for me and chose blue. I didn’t have a spot in mind for it when I put it on my wishlist but after it arrived all blue and cute, I knew where it had to go … my blue bathroom!! So last weekend I finally got around to getting a frame for it ($6 IKEA special) and there it is.

Makes me happy every time I look at it. Now all I need to do is replace the old black hand towels with some new ones … raspberry red maybe?

Posted on

A Day in the Life

Fridays are my “day off” … day off from office work that is. I had an extremely busy yet pretty typical day on Friday and I wanted to write it down for posterity’s sake something, perhaps, to show the kids when they are parents of young children.

6 AM – Wake up and hop right on the treadmill. Hopping “right on” actually involves about 15-20 minutes of eye-rubbing, yawning, stretching, dressing and setup (fans, TV). Make it a paltry 5 of the 12K I have on the schedule.

6:45 AM – Hop off the treadmill and drag Matt out of bed, dress the kids, hand them some toast and hit the road. While on the road, I make a doctor’s appt for Ben since he STILL has the darn cough. That pretty much eliminates all possibility of going to the gym with Matt as planned.

7:30 AM – Drop Matt’s car off at the dealership for floor-mat recall and oil change.

8:10 AM – Check in at the clinic for Ben’s appointment. Children persist in touching everything in site and I imagine germs crawling all over them.

8:20 AM – Appointment begins with weigh-in. He has finally gained a teeny bit of weight (1 lb). Kids drive us nuts in the exam room. They have chosen to store the IV poles in the corner (who thought THAT was a good idea?).

8:30 AM NP arrives. I’m pretty sure she thinks our kids are out of control. Tabby won’t stop talking and Ben won’t stop climbing. After all the cursory exams, we leave about 20 min later with a script for amoxycillin and a diagnosis of sinusitis.

8:50 AM I send Ben and Matt to the car to wait while Tabby and I wait on Ben’s script at the clinic pharmacy. We pass the time by playing word and math games. “What letter does Amoxycillin start with? Which is a better deal – 100 claratin for $15 or 50 Claratin for $10?”

9:00 AM We exit the clinic with Ben’s bottle o’ pink in hand.

9:10 AM Arrive at the nearby Target and QUICKLY execute my shopping list for our weekend away.

9:50 AM Arrive home and see that Loki has dispatched the remainder of our almost new loaf of bread. Curse under my breath and then hop on the treadmill again while the kids destroy the playroom. I execute another 5K, bringing my total for the day to 10/12K. Good enough!

Continue reading “A Day in the Life”