Organized at Heart

One Red Sock

2011-07-10T11:34:00.000-07:00

We're always hearing what could work if we just put our minds to it. I recently joined several of my colleagues in a game of "Time Management Tips That Don't Work." These should make you smile, laugh (or cringe).

A couple of my favorites:

Shelley Molitor says "When you are overwhelmed, just say no to everything and hibernate at home with snacks and shows. After all, everyone understands the excuse, "I'm too busy!"

Jacquie Ross says: "Schedule all of your appointments back to back to "save time". Be sure to show your disapproval while you're waiting in a line that's taking too long - don't they know you have places to be?"

So, without further ado, here are the rest:

Time Management Gone Bad

Many thanks to Stephanie Calahan for always leading the way.

Organizing Fido and Fluffy

2011-06-22T15:08:00.000-07:00

Over the years, our relationship with animals has changed. Cats and dogs, once relegated to the barn have moved indoors. We consider them family members. But when it comes to organizing the care and feeding, not to mention “toileting” of our pets, we’ve lagged far behind. Many a homeowner moves in to their new digs, then stores the family pet items as an afterthought: the dog food lives in a large bag on the kitchen floor, cat food cans are stored in a dusty garage, and kitty’s litter box is deposited in an out of the way corner without careful planning for its upkeep.

A few years back, cartoonist Scott Adams designed his new home with a cat litter alcove built into the plans. What started as Dilbert's Virtual Home became a reality. In Toru Hirose’s living room in Kobe, Japan, his basset hound, Marco, has a hidden snack bar, restroom and nap space contained within a stylish cabinet.

Stashing your pet gear doesn’t have to look like an after thought. It needn't be expensive either. We feed several cats in the morning when we are also preparing breakfast and lunch, so the cat's food, medication and pop-top can opener are all conveniently stored in a cabinet in the heart of the kitchen.


Cat Food Central

Bulk food is stored in a low pantry drawer, off the floor but accessible when needed.

Additionally, larger bags of dog food can be stored in decorative trash bins with fitted lids or in the bottom of swing out "lazy-susan" styled cabinets.


Bulk Food Storage in Lower Cabinet

Gather all your cat litter accessories in one location. We used a deep handled basket, lined it with a handled plastic bag, and stored a whisk broom, wet-wipes, small trash bags and the scooper, hanging in it's own washable container on the basket's side.

Cat Litter Station: Tools Within Reach

As cats get older, they may eschew the litter box entirely. After much trial and error, we created a kitty corner in our bedroom for our 17-year-old cat using table cloth liners and disposable puppy pads, concealed behind a screen.

What's Behind Curtain Number One?

Though I've yet to train the cats to put away their toys, I do have one, low-to-the ground basket to contain them. They scoop out a cat-nip toy when they feel like it, and I return them to the basket at the end of the day.

Kitty's Catnip Collection

If you have your own tips for organizing Fluffy or Fido, I hope you'll share them in the comments section of this blog.

Record Album Redux

2011-06-17T17:48:00.000-07:00

Are your record albums still occupying valuable storage space? Find a way to honor the musical memories before letting them go. We photographed my husband's record collection, then created this video as a Father's Day gift.

Vinyl Meets MP3

Artist: Jamie Dunlap, Julian Smith & Scott Nickoley
Song: Who's That Daddy?

Posing with the Album Covers


We Coaxed the Cat into a Few Shots

You might also want to photograph the album covers and create a collage using photo software. Here I used Google's Picasa.

Many of us are sentimental about records and often think we'll listen to them one day. Chances are we won't. So dust off those jacket covers and have fun recording new memories. Then donate them and celebrate your newly acquired storage.

Home Staging

2011-03-24T15:55:00.000-07:00

In addition to organizing, I also enjoy staging homes using items on hand.

The Organized Craft Room

2011-03-23T22:04:00.000-07:00

Please check out my Animoto video for some inspiring craft room ideas.

6-Word Novels

2011-01-04T12:59:00.000-08:00

I helped a client spirit away an unused, still-in-the-box crib to the local Salvation Army this weekend. They were expecting twins when I worked with them earlier this year, a boy and a girl.

John Lennon said, “life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans.” Their daughter was still-born at 27 weeks. I'm reminded of the famous Ernest Hemingway 6-word novel: "For sale: baby shoes, never used."

I held their beautiful baby boy, tiny and warm and intoxicating to smell as only newborn babies are. I marveled at their grace. Her husband met me around the side of the garage and asked if I could help him get that last big physical reminder away from the house to help ease his wife's grief. Later, alone with his wife, she told me she was worried about him and wanted to make sure he was getting the exercise he needed. What a gift for me to work with such a loving, caring, supportive couple. What a remarkable boy they are sure to raise. And what an excruciating loss for two parents that loved their baby girl, and for the rest of us that might have had the chance to love her too.

Organizing Christmas Morning

2010-12-23T22:42:00.000-08:00

Okay, okay, I'm an organizing nut. I appreciate that most of my readers may be rolling their eyes but hear me out. Putting one or two small things in place now, will ensure a little method to the paper unwrapping madness come Christmas day, especially if you stayed up too late wrapping gifts and drinking Santa's "special" eggnog.

Make a list, check it twice: Have a notepad and a fine-tipped Sharpie under the tree. Assign a scribe so you can keep track of gifts and their givers. This will help ensure that your thank you notes make it to the right generous giver.

Gift card shuffle: In this age of gift cards, more and more of them will be unwrapped under the tree. Consider writing the receiver's name on the card when unwrapped. Our boys have been lucky to receive gift cards for birthdays, Christmas, graduations and as thank yous. We write their name on the card and insist they keep track of it like cash. When working with clients, I frequently help them unearth missing gift cards. Consider storing all your gift cards in one safe but accessible place.

Paper and ribbons and bows, oh my!: I have one bag of bows that I use year after year within our family. In the age of green it seems wasteful and environmentally unsound to use them once and toss them. I collect and store them in the same bag each year, pulling them out at Christmas to be used once again. Gifts are unwrapped and the bows go back in the bag.

Reduce, reuse, recycle: You should be able to recycle any non-foil gift wrap; gift bags can be set aside for use next year. Our tissue paper goes into a bag and is used to wrap and store ornaments when the tree comes down.

Expecting to unwrap gifts in need of batteries? Have batteries and a small screwdriver on hand, along with a pair of small scissors to remove stubborn packaging. (Be sure to keep these out of reach if you have small children).

Happy holidays!

Christmas Morning Toolbox:

* Camera with fully charged batteries
* Extra batteries and a screwdriver for toys
* Bag for bows and gift bags
* Notepaper
* Sharpies
* Scissors

Macie Loved Her Gift

Ho-Ho Hum

2010-12-01T14:43:00.000-08:00

Crass commercialism got you down? Buried in debt? Swimming in stuff you don't want, need or like?

You're not alone. Year after year, consumers continue to spend, gift and re-gift merchandise out of obligation, guilt, duty or just plain habit. We receive items we can't even describe as wedding gifts, but hang on to them for years.. After all, it was a gift from Aunt Gertrude and we don't want to hurt her feelings.

One of the most appreciated aspects of my sessions with clients is "giving permission" to let things go. But how lovely if all that "stuff" didn't arrive in the first place.

This year, consider bucking the trend and starting some new traditions with your family and friends. Here are a few:

Give the Secret Santa office tradition the boot and start a charity drive instead. For years I worked in offices where we were expected to spend $20 on a gift for someone we hardly knew (and maybe even disliked). If instead, 100 employees spent the $20 on a book drive for foster children or food for the local food bank, imagine the difference that $2,000 would make in other people's lives?

Are you passionate about the environment, animals or child welfare? Ask your friends to take the money they might spend on a gift for you and ask them to donate to your favorite cause instead. Most organizations will send a card or certificate honoring the donation to the person of your choosing.

Unsure where to start? Consider Vision Literacy, Second Harvest Food Bank, your local Humane Society or Heifer International.

How about a gift of time? Our baby sitter gives us a night of free child care each year. Wow! Consider giving a friend a day of errand coupons (good for picking up dry-cleaning, returning an item to the store, mailing a package, etc.) Listen carefully to what your friends worry about and see if you can offer a solution. If your back can take it, offer to pull weeds in their garden for two hours, then plant a few annuals. Offer pet-sitting the next time they travel on business.

Perhaps you have a special skill you could share. Teach your friend how to knit, how to build a planter bed, or how to use photo software on a computer. Help someone build a web page, take a family photo or paint a room. Everyone is good at something.

Finally, if you still feel the need to give something tangible, consider a consumable gift, keeping in mind special diets, allergies and health issues. Remember, boxed chocolates to a Diabetic does not a gift make! Try home-made soups made from dry ingredients, seasoned olive-oils or your grandmother's old fashioned tomato sauce.

Your wallet and your closet will thank you.

http://www.shfb.org/

http://www.heifer.org/#

http://hssv.convio.net/site/PageServer?pagename=updated_home

http://www.visionliteracy.org/

http://www.charitywater.org/shop/

This year, consider a gift to the Heifer Project (Heifer International)

Sorting it Out

2010-07-17T17:35:00.000-07:00

The End: the part of a story when all the loose ends are tied up neatly and succinctly, bringing the tale to a satisfying conclusion. Anyone remotely familiar with special education knows that ‘the end’ is only as good as your next IEP (Individualized Education Plan), not the escapist novel you longed for but a series of required readings whose endings leave you feeling flat and defeated.

Our oldest son Chris has Asperger Syndrome, an Autism Spectrum Disorder. It took an ever-increasing series of professionals’ years to define the perplexing symptoms. It was a long, painful and emotional journey for us all.

The Flashback is the chapter where we learn a little about our protagonist. My husband and I purchased our home as a happy, childless couple, but with a good school district figuring prominently on our list of general requirements. We planned to start a family and we wanted to stay put while we raised them. Life rarely plays out like the careful plot you’ve been thickening, and the first draft was no exception. Our precious first born was strong but fussy. He struggled to nurse and wore a serious expression much of the time. He cried upon waking and in the early months of toddler-hood, he could tantrum for an hour without stopping. It was disheartening and exhausting and frightening too, but the pediatrician and well-meaning in-laws assured us this was all perfectly ‘normal.’ He walked at a year, spoke at two, and generally hit the typical milestones on schedule. When he turned 3, we enrolled him in preschool for a few hours a day at a warm and loving Montessori school. Separation was painful for him every single day; it never seemed to improve as all the experts predicted. He cried when we got there and refused to get out of the car. I would finally get him out of the car and settled, but he would panic when it was time for me to leave. If I arrived back at 12:03 he would point out that I was late. It was as if he was waiting for me the entire time, never fully settling in to his day. The director assured me it would just take some time. By six weeks I could expect him to be fully acclimated. His intense behavior continued, but now he had a young brother at home, so everyone assumed that was the source of his displeasure. He would hide all his underwear and socks in a drawer, assuming we wouldn’t take him to school without them. After a two week holiday break, returning to school was like starting over. We eventually sought the help of a pediatric psychologist to help us understand his intensity. His first diagnosis was Oppositional Defiance Disorder or ODD, coupled with sensory integration dysfunction, defined as an inability or deficiency in processing sensory input. He wasn't able to pedal a bike, his pencil grip was awkward and his sense of balance off-kilter. We were referred to an education specialist who diagnosed his suspected auditory processing disorder with intense hyperacusis along with the sensory issues and possibly neurological tics. I would soon be hauling out my dictionary in the hopes of understanding such terms as vestibular system and proprioception. I have a three-inch binder, plump with reports from specialists of every stripe: psychologists, neurologists, neuro-psychologists and psychiatrists; pediatric occupational therapists, a speech pathologist, an audiologist and a doctor specializing in neurofeedback. It was first suggested that Chris suffered from ADHD, and then depression coupled with anxiety. Neurological tics were initially ruled out; later ruled back in. The audiologist discovered that our precious boy fell into the abnormal range in four areas of auditory processing. He sailed through his Kindergarten hearing test, which we later learned simply proved he could hear. He couldn’t process the auditory input, but his ears worked fine!

Pre-school and Kindergarten are combined in Montessori schools, so Chris completed his three years at One World Montessori before moving on to the first grade. He was furious about 'graduating' to the next level and made sure everyone knew it. He sat slumped in his chair at the ceremony, got up and grudgingly read parts of his poem, then returned to his seat and eventually started crying. I remember the day so clearly. I arranged babysitting for my little one, so we could attend as a couple, knowing it wouldn't be easy. I was in pain from an accident, wearing a cervical collar in the stifling heat and counting the minutes till the ceremony was over. I couldn't take it any longer and finally went back stage and took my boy into my arms. "This is the worst day of my life!" he said. It was agonizing for me to see all those five and six-year-old children happily showing off talents and singing proudly as my son sat slumped and miserable amidst their joy. I held him and wept.

It was our intent all along to enroll him at our public school, but his immaturity gave us pause. We decided instead to keep him at the smaller school. He remained a loner, preferring to sit in a corner with a book or spending time with the classroom animals. Any activity out of the norm of the day left him anxious, angry or tearful. At the Mother’s Day tea, everyone got up and presented an art piece to their mom except Chris. They were asked to serve us dessert which he did with a grimace. They sent home a photo of him with a forced smile and sad eyes. I could hardly bare to look at the sorrow looking out at me.

Second grade loomed and we continued to look at different options. Chris' doctor suggested a handful of schools, and we previewed a few on our own. We were hopeful about a school called Mulberry and arranged for Chris to “shadow” for a morning. Shadowing allows the student to attend for part of a school day, to see how they fit with the structure and to give the school a chance to observe the student. The director called me a noon that day to say she was sorry but that Chris was not a good fit for their school. I was so distraught with the rejection that day I thought I would never stop crying. I sat alone in the car, gasping for air and just let the sorrow pour out of me. We finally settled on our own public school. We had come full circle.

We started third grade at Bagby Elementary School. Chris was finally enrolled in our public school! His brilliant and dedicated young teacher actually came to our home to meet us to help with our son’s difficult transition. We were hopeful and grateful but filled with trepidation all the same. Districts have 56 days to complete an evaluation and to offer an IEP. Although we approached the district in late spring, we were told nothing would happen until at least October when reports were completed. So he spent nearly two months in a new school before services could be offered. And after all was said and done, they only offered him speech. He had a successful third grade year, but paced alone on the pavement during lunch and recess for both semesters, ending the year as he started it without a single friend. Fourth grade was harder as we continued to seek solutions to make his world work a little better and by fifth grade it was nearly impossible to get him into the car to go to school. Fifth grade was also the start of the bullying. One boy in particular had it in for Chris and made it his daily quest to torment him. I didn’t know anything about it at first. The first time I saw Chris say hello to the boy who clearly and plainly ignored him I got a foreshadowing of things to come. One Friday afternoon Chris got into the car and said, “Mom, I got bullied!” He went on to explain that he was pushed on the playground, then blamed for the incident and sent to the principal’s office. No one from the school had bothered to call me!

We eventually pieced together the details. At lunch a couple of boys threw ketchup packets at him, hoping to get him to sit on them. One of the more enlightened girls ratted the boys out. Then on the playground (my son finally on the playground!) two boys trapped him between them, then one pushed Chris, called foul, then told the yard duty parent it was Chris’ fault. Incredibly, she believed the bullies. Chris ran to the office crying and in the end all four boys were forced to apologize to his face and two wrote notes. The yard duty parent was admonished as well. It was handled well, but small comfort to the boy whose life was miserable and to the family that loved him.

I poured over a resource book of schools in our area and we interviewed and observed at several private ones. It was clear none of them would work. His doctor kept experimenting with various anti-anxiety medications, including one that elevated his triglycerides and brought about an 18 pound weight gain in four short months. We started him on neuro-feedback, revisited the neurologist at the request of his doctor and agonized over the misery that was his day to day life. I was now carrying my cell phone wherever I went, anticipating the dreaded calls from the principal. Chris had started to run out of the classroom and hide. He ran onto the playground one day and told her he would have run home if his conscious had let him. He later told her he wished he was dead. At last, we found the Newton Program at Pine Hill. Although his doctor still didn’t think Chris was on the spectrum, he suggested we take a look. We loved what we saw and were anxious to have Chris ‘shadow’ for a few hours to see how it would go. The director of the program said ‘bring him to me; I’ll be able to tell you in five minutes if he’ll be successful here.’ So we did. We were both nervous but Chris really wanted to try it out. We were there for two hours; within the first twenty minutes he came up to me and said “Mom, I want to go to school here.” I smiled and wept and exhaled a giddy laugh. We found a home!

It's not a good story without conflict, right? We called an emergency IEP and requested placement in the Newton Program, naively assuming the district would be happy to have us off their hands and safely in a program that could adequately meet his needs. We were told, disparagingly, that they would never place a child in ‘that program’ and that if all we wanted was for our son to come out ‘knowing how to make sandwiches’ then we could go right ahead. We were absolutely stunned! They refused placement, other than conditional, and continued to research their own options. My nerves were so frazzled at this point that I started crying and couldn’t stop. I asked Mike to step out of the room with me and we convened in a supply closet to regroup. I told him I was mad, not sad, but the tears were a physical reaction to what felt like a slap in the face. But I was also acutely aware that a woman crying at a meeting is viewed in the one down position and I had really had enough. We went home and hired an advocate.

After waiting eight days for answers from the district we sent a formal notification of our intent to place Chris at Pine Hill. We said that through our own investigations, we had discovered the Newton Program, had met their team, observed their classes and had successfully had our son “shadow” with a class for two hours during a regular school day. The director of the program concurs that this would be an appropriate placement for Chris. In light of the current situation at our district school (continued meltdowns, inability to focus and complete class work, threats of running away to name a few) and a lack of other options, we believe this placement to be the most appropriate for our son at this time.

They countered with a recommended placement at an ED (Emotional Disturbed) program for students with emotional disorders which we rejected. Based on that, they agreed to a three month placement “so long as parents waive stay put under California Ed Code 56505(d).” What this means is that we would waive our parental rights to keep him in place before a future hearing or IEP could be signed. They fought with us to the bitter end, but finally conceded knowing our next step would be a legal one. One month later, the woman that made our lives so difficult resigned from the district.

Chris is finishing his 7th grade year at Pine Hill next month. Within a short time, he was able to completely eliminate the powerful drugs. He lost weight, his blood sugar returned to normal, and within one week of attending Pine Hill, his EEG neurofeedback showed a drop in his measurable level of anxiety from 49 to 5%! He has made friends, is invited to birthday parties and now enjoys playing on the playground at his school. Once bullied, both physically and emotionally, he is now looked up to and admired by his peers. He attends daily social thinking classes and self-evaluates his own behavior several times throughout his school day to reinforce the social skills he’s acquired. His growth has been phenomenal.

This year, our district started a program for students on the Autism Spectrum. We observed the program for an hour earlier this year. We applaud their progress and admire their efforts. But Chris has only one more year of middle school before making the transition to a sheltered high school program. We wouldn’t move a typically developed child to a new school for 8th grade, only to transition them again the following year. It makes little sense to us that we would do so for Chris, knowing how difficult transitions are.

He was a trooper today, and stoically visited the program for an hour and 15 minutes. He was nervous when I dropped him off and equally nervous when I picked him up, tired and ready to go home.

I asked him to write a letter tonight to explain how he was feeling and to thank the director:

(Names changed for privacy)
Dear Mr. Frederick,

While I really enjoyed the tour I am afraid I must decline your offer.
It is nothing personal I simply am better suited at Pine Hill.
Please send my regards to Amy and Dave. I hope we will meet again.

Sincerely Chris

The Beginning…

Creative Memories Croptoberfest

2009-10-21T18:15:00.000-07:00

I recently presented the following mini-workshop at a Creative Memories scrap-booking "Croptoberfest."

The key to maximizing your time scrap-booking and minimizing your time searching for things is organization. Creative Memories has some amazing tools to help you do just that, but first I want to talk about the basics.

Sort: Know what you have, then you’ll know what you need.

Gather all your materials into one place if possible. Not everyone has the same amount of space in which to work. Some of us are minimalists, while others have a collection of every available tool. It is important to chronicle what you have, then find storage systems to accommodate and in some cases grow your tool collection.

Once you’ve gathered your tools, you’ll want to do the same with paper. When I first started my albums, I would buy things I liked, accept freebies that came my way and save all my scraps. Before I knew it I was overwhelmed with paper I didn’t necessarily like, product I would never use and scraps that took up too much space. So I…

Purged:

Yes, purge. Go through every sheet of paper you have and be honest with yourself. If you’ve had it for a year, two years or more, chances are you’ll never use it. It might be leftover from another page layout and you just couldn’t stand to throw it away. Or it was a freebie that seemed like a good idea at the time.

Your paper supply or tote should contain full-sized sheets or “scraps” that are at least 4 x 6 or larger. Anything smaller is most likely going to be damaged over time. Small scraps take up a lot of room and are only occasionally used.

One caveat to this is if you are working on a themed album. You’ll want to keep coordinating supplies till that baby or wedding album is complete. Consider keeping all the pieces together in the Power Pallette™ Organizer Folders or the 12 inch Deco File Folders.

Containerize/Organize:Daisy Collection

Creative Memories recently rolled out the Daisy Collection. They’ve improved on all of the storage options, incorporating a beautiful design as well.

New:

Daisy Tools Caddy: This is a versatile tools caddy. The top portion zips off, and can be placed on your work table with the cover tucked neatly below. The bottom portion has Velcro dividers, allowing you to create different configurations (one large compartment, the large compartment divided in half, two small and one medium compartment or four small compartments) to house punches and other small tools.

Daisy Case: They’ve improved on this case by lining the interior in a bright, contrasting color so you can see what is inside. They’ve also added an attached pouch on the outside to accommodate pens or additional tools.

Daisy Racking System: This racking system serves a dual purpose; it keeps your paper organized and contained in your rolling cart *and* it can be removed and set up on your work table. No more bending over your cart looking for paper. It can be viewed from eye-level.

Time Honored:

Power Pallette™ Organizer Folders: These are a fabulous way to organize your Power Pallettes. You can sort all the coordinating papers and stickers in these folders. Stickers stay intact and you can view the product front and back.

12 inch Deco File Folders: I love these! I have “running” albums of the cats, the garden, vacations, etc. I use these to keep materials together for those specific albums.

Leftovers:

Now that your tools and paper supplies are sorted and organized and accessible whenever you need them, you’ll want to find a home for those leftovers. Here are a few ideas:

Scrapbook Island holds a flea market once or twice a year. Why not set aside the tools you’ve outgrown and consider selling them there.

Others put surplus items on Craig’s List or eBay.

Ask a teacher if they might like your unused tools. Art teachers, especially, may be interested in your items.

Paper scraps. You can save these in a separate bag or bin and pass them on to a pre-school or Kindergarten teacher. I keep a pile of paper strips in my nightstand to use as book marks. I recycle the rest.

The Organized Gardener: Pumpkin Demise

2009-07-09T20:40:00.000-07:00

I was hoping to be posting some chipper news and charming photographs right about now (mid-July) but mother nature had other plans. Our hoped-for pumpkins, pictured earlier in my blog with much hope and fanfare have dwindled to one or two "survivor" plants.

The culprit: our community of squirrels. Our neighbor tosses out fistfuls of high quality peanuts in the shell for them every day.They pilfer from our bird feeders and grow nice and plump. It seems so unjust that given their gourmet and readily available diet they would see fit to dine on the stems of our pumpkin plants. I can appreciate the disappointment our ancestors felt when they made offerings to their gods and still saw their crops fail.

What gives? We've grown pumpkins for many years with nary a problem. We live peacefully among the squirrels and in fact enjoy their daily antics. Interestingly, our first pumpkin crop came from buried squirrel food, by the very same critters that are now the crops undoing. It feels as if we've invited a guest for dinner and they emptied out our fridge as they headed for the door.

Lessons learned? I'm still working on that. Perhaps I'll have some answers by my next post.

The Organized Mom

2009-06-12T20:34:00.000-07:00

It's official: school is out. I made it through a late-night PTA meeting, an awards ceremony, one classroom party, a scavenger hunt design, erratic schedules and "show week" at The Little Gym. Whew! I wrote thank you notes, decorated goody bags, purchased supplies and moved things from home to car to school.

Staying organized made it possible. I can't seem to live any other way so I'm grateful for the gift!

My favorite tools continue to be my calendar and email. They help me stay in touch with teachers, administrators, fellow moms/volunteers and my supportive husband.

Writing it down is key: if it's not on my planner, it may as well not exist.
The joys of email: It is often midnight before I can get back to someone with details. It is great to email important info after hours knowing it will be waiting for the right person the following day. I blind-copy myself and then file it into relevant folders. This helped me track my son's IEP, a classroom party, PTA meetings and agendas without cluttering my in-box.

Yes, school is out. Now on to the challenge of two young boys home for the summer!

MOChAA

2009-05-31T10:53:00.000-07:00

We're an organized group of a different sort, recently dubbed MOChAA by my good friend and fellow "Aspie" mom Jennifer. Jenn boarded a bus for the California State Senate last week and bravely spoke up against the proposed budget cuts that will effect funding to the programs that need it the most. Before speaking she was asked for the name of her group. From there MOChAA was born: Mothers of Children with Asperger's or Autism.

We got together recently, sans kids, to trade stories, resources, laughs and fears. As special needs moms staying organized is key, and that includes maintaining these special friendships born of a shared experience.

What a group of organized moms we are. Jennifer created a Yahoo group, sent out invitations, organized an affordable restaurant and then printed two-for-one coupons so that we could get our meals for half price. Once there, another mom paired us off into cash/no cash so we could go through the line together, utilize our coupon and make sure things evened out.

We ended the evening like a group of silly "tweeners", slapping hands together and reciting our new "secret password" (born of a derogatory comment by a misplaced teaching "professional" during a mom's guided program tour)! When life gives you lemons, you squeeze them. MOChAA moms want to be sure we get every last drop.

Finding Time

2009-05-22T21:01:00.000-07:00

We all get 24 hours in a day, seven days in a week yet somehow we never seem to have time for it all. With the upcoming three-day weekend (for most of us) think about what you could do with that "extra" day.

You could sleep in and still have hours to spare. Go to a movie, play in the garden, visit with friends. Or...maybe this is just the time you've been looking for to finally clean out your in-box, purge your kitchen drawers or haul that broken computer equipment to the recycling center. Lynnea Hagen, the Abundance Coaching Co. counsels to "think about the things that are bugging you the most and then do that thing.

The sense of accomplishment and relief that floods over you will be a thing to behold. How will you spend your "extra" day?

End of School-year Purge

2009-05-21T21:27:00.000-07:00

As the school year draws to a close, it is a good time to reflect on the growth of your child, both physically and academically. With that in mind, I pull out last years pants and outgrown T-shirts and donate them to our school's front office. They are always in need of extra clothing for children who slip in the mud, fall in a puddle or tear their clothing during recess. In the same vein we enjoy looking at our collection of books, then setting aside books our boys have read and outgrown and donating them to their classroom teacher's library.

Their teachers are thrilled to get the books and my boys feel proud to be making a contribution. The front office appreciates the extra clothing, as many items are borrowed but not returned. We start the summer with a "clean slate" so to speak, with drawer space for next year's larger sizes and shelf space for books as yet to be discovered.

Regular and meaningful purges allow you to put items back into your community at a time when there is so much need. The rewards are many as you live a life less cluttered while making a difference in other people's lives.

What would you save first if your house caught fire?

2009-05-20T16:52:00.000-07:00

The answer for most people is photographs (assuming loved ones, including pets, are safely out of the house)! The reality for many of us, however, is that photographs are everywhere. A few have made it into albums, but many reside in coffee tins, shoe boxes, garages and drawers. This leaves your precious memories vulnerable to the elements with the lurking dangers of heat and moisture and in some cases outdated albums from the seventies, quietly turning your photographs orange.

An excellent project for the summer months is to gather all those photos in one location and then commit to sorting and organizing them once and for all. I hold a photo organizing workshop a few times a year with my colleague Pam Peters, Creative Memories Unit Leader. Together we educate clients on photo storage safety and help them physically implement storage solutions. I've also worked with clients one on one to bring their photo-sorting project to fruition.

One client wrote: "I spent yesterday afternoon showing Charlotte many pictures of her when she was a baby. She said, "I'm so cute!! Those pictures are fun!" So, many thanks to you and Pam! You have helped me get on the road to organization with my pictures, and have answered a little girls long awaited request to see what she looked like when she was a baby!! All good things."

Don't wait for tragedy to strike (a house fire, a laundry room flood or a broken pipe) destroying your precious memories. Make a date with your photographs this summer. You'll be glad you did.

Big Bubble Planner

2009-05-19T13:01:00.000-07:00

The process of getting and staying organized is different for everyone. People learn and respond to their environment in different ways. Some are visual learners; they need to see things for them to be realized. Others learn kinesthetically, needing to touch and feel things in the environment.

I recently discovered this unusual "day planner" which uses the techniques of mapping, much the way children are currently learning to write in school.

According to the product description, "the "bubble map" pages allow you to release your creativity and regain control of your future using mind-mapping -- laying out your thoughts and intentions visually, in a truly intuitive way. These methods are then combined with the best time management techniques for organizing projects, long-term goals, your calendar, and daily to-do's."

It is available in e-book or traditional paper format. Big Bubble Planner

If you've tried the more traditional approach to planners and find yourself coming up short, this might just be the planner for you.

Born to Organize

2009-05-18T19:56:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling positively giddy! The talented Barbara Oertli and the inspiring Sue Elliott have schooled me in the joys of blogging. I've loved organizing my entire life and still can't get over the fact that I now help organize others for a living.

I also enjoy writing and photo sharing so this is the spot for me.