Spreading the Word

I just wanted to help Beth and Boomama spread the word about Heather. Heather was diagnosed with a brain tumor last week, she is scheduled to see a neurologist at the end of April at the Mayo Clinic, the number one neurosurgery hospital in the country. The goal is to help Heather and her family with as much of the expenses as possible.

Boomama is trying to shower Heather with some love and raise some money to help offset some of the expense of the hotel and meals. You can go to Boomama's blog tomorrow and donate as little as a dollar to help Heather and her family. Beth is trying to get the word out by having a contest. All you need to do to enter is add the button "For Heather" on your blog. There are a lot of prizes listed at Beth's. Go check it out.

Organizing in Florida

Well at least I made good use of my time in FL. I organized my father in law's house a little bit.

First, I cleaned out the refrigerator and freezer. There was a lot of stuff still in there from before my mother in law died in November. I then moved to the pantry and ditched anything I could find that had an expiration date on it. I consolidated all of the plastic bags into size order and got rid of any empty containers. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of that stuff.

I also organized in the main bathroom. I refolded and organized the linen closet. It made a huge difference. (no pictures) Then I took on under the sink. I purged out a lot of stuff that wasn't needed and just organized the area better. No containers used, because I didn't have access to them at the time.

These 2 are the before.

























These are the after.

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

This is my second book from the Spring Reading Thing. I started it on a Friday in the airport and finished it by the pool on the following Wednesday afternoon. I am so happy that I finally took the time to read this. Thank you Donna for sending it to me. I will be passing it along to other who want to dive into this book.

How would I sum this book up - A moving story of complex family dynamics. The book is written from all different perspectives. You quickly learn that Anna was born to be a donor to save her sister Kate from a rare form of leukemia. But her role doesn't end there. Through her 13 years she needs to give more and more of herself so her sister can continue to live. Her parents make some difficult decisions and lose themselves along the way. A lawyer gets involved and brings a whole different perspective to the situation along with his own surprises.

Sometimes family take each other for granted and sometimes people lose there way. In this book it is about a family trying to help each other. I found myself feeling for each of these characters and what they were going through.

The ending was not what I expected, but I understood why Picoult did it. I highly recommend this book. I used to fundraiser for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I met some wonderful people who I know call my friends.

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

Disclaimer: This is a very hard review for me. I don't want to give anything away.

I started reading again because of the Spring Reading Challenge. I chose some books I know others read and put them on my list. Then I went to Barnes & Noble to find one of the books on the list. As soon as I walked in, I was greeted by the shelf of best sellers. Not something I usually pay attention to, but Jodi Picoult's last book was there. Now let me say I have never read one of her books, but I was in search of 2 of them on my list. I looked at the inside cover and started reading. At that exact moment I was hooked!

I hadn't heard anything about the book so I didn't know what to expect (which was a blessing.) As I began reading, I had no clue where this story was going and then I was shocked within the first 75 pages.

This book makes you question your parenting skills. Are you doing your best with your children? Are you teaching them to be respectful of others? Do you really have an open relationship with your children? Should children be granted ultimate privacy in their rooms? You realize that something you think is insignificant could truly impact your child for the rest of their lives.

This book has everything in it...young love, heartache, loss, friendships, teenage issues, parent guilt, finding your way through life, making decisions that you would never think you would have to make.

Two women from different lives connect through one's pregnancy. They remain friends and their children grow up together and go off to Kindergarten. Once school starts things change and lines get drawn. At the end of this book, lives cross again with outcomes you do not expect.

I highly recommend this book and would love to talk with anyone who has read it. I just don't want to give anything away in this post to people who would like to read the book. I will say that part of the book scared me and in the end I was sad at the outcome of everything. Life can be so hard for children to find their way through.

Preschool 101

Tips For Choosing A Preschool

- Academics: Never too early to learn ABC's and 123's

- Play Time: Every day, both imaginative & physical

- Independence- Children should have choice of activities.

The above I just saw on The Today Show. As a former elementary school teacher and Universal Pre-Kindergarten teacher (a NYS thing), I can say these are very good tips.

Another important thing to consider is meeting with the teacher. Talking to her about the routine of the day, how she handles certain situations, communication between parent and teacher, the goals she has for the children in the class and most importantly, do you get the feeling from her you are looking for.

In a preschool teacher, I look for that warm fuzzy feeling. I look for all of the stuff mentioned above. I look to see that parents are welcome in the classroom. I look for the teacher to have activities that are open ended with the process being more important than the finished product. I look for controlled chaos in the room.

When looking for a preschool for your children don't feel a question is too stupid to ask. Don't assume you know the answers to those unasked questions. Open your mouth and ask. Your child will be in this person's care while you are out of arm's and ear's reach.

My son will be switching nursery school next year. For one reason, the money. For the other, I need that warm fuzzy feeling and to be welcomed into the classroom. I want to be there as much as I can. Once they are in the older grades I won't have that option anymore.

Are you up for it???

This is a quote from Sanity Savers:

No Challenge, No Change.

If you don't give yourself a challenge, there can be no change, and without change, there is no growth.

The first challenge is to pick the room or one little space. Well I decided to take on both.

I am choosing our home office/junk room! It is very sad. Here are the pictures that I can not believe I am posting. So embarrassing!

This is supposed to be my husband's desk. Would you believe he tries to look at house plans on this desk?!
This is my section. I had already started moving my stuff out of it. So it is messier than it was because I was going through stuff.




This is a picture of where the wall shifted and we need to fix it.
Here is another part of the shifted wall.
1. What do I want the purpose of my room or area to be?
I would like it to be my husband's office and also hold our extra chairs for the kitchen. It will also house the cushions for the chairs on the back porch.

2. What do I need in or near the room to serve that purpose?
I need a new desk, filing cabinet, and bookshelves.

3. What can I remove from the room?
All of my craft stuff that remains in there. All of the toys that have found their way into the room along with children's clothes. The white wall cabinet and floor cabinet will also be removed with the white shelving.

4. What problems do I see with the room?
It is a collect all for everything on the main floor of the house.

5. What organizational tools might solve those problems?
We will be buying new furniture for the office. Bookshelves will help with the amount of books in the room. We will also have a bigger garbage can located in there so stuff doesn't collect on the floor. Some baskets will help to organize outgoing work and work in progress. Along with a basket for the mail!

6. What habits need to change to solve the organizational problems?
We need to get into a routine of putting things in their place. We will need to do a weekly check of the room to make sure nothing has found it's way into the room.

7. What kind of a budget do I have to create the organized room of my dreams?
We have a very big budget for this room. We are looking at about $1000 for the room. Besides furniture, we will be fixing the wall and repainting the room. It used to be the playroom. It will take primer and a dark paint color to go over that red, along with the ceiling. We will also need a few baskets.

8. What kind of a timeline is necessary to organize the room?
The full 30 days!!! Unfortunately, I can't start on this until I return from vacation. So it will be crunch time to get all of this done and the furniture delivered in time.

9. What is my plan of action?
1. Empty the room of all my craft supplies.
2. Remove all of the children's toys.
3. Remove misc. stuff that is not related to my husband's work.
4. Remove white cabinets and desk from the room.
5. Remove all of hubby's work materials.
6. Fix the walls, prime and paint ceilings and walls.
7. Add new furniture.
8. Add all of hubby's supplies and organize in a matter that will make his work space more efficient.
9. Bring extra chairs and cushions into the room.

10. Who can I ask to help me with this?
My husband will be helping me with this HUGE task. I am hoping we make the deadline!

The Mini Organizing Space:

I am choosing my junk drawer in the kitchen or make that 2 junk drawers because my 1st one was way too messy.

Take a look:


Can you see how I truly could use this drawer anymore. It is horrible!!

Here is the 2nd junk drawer:

1. What do I want the purpose of my room or area to be?
This area will hold keys, pens, pads, rubber bands, address labels, stamps, black sharpies, charger and 1 cord for the camera.

2. What do I need in or near the room to serve that purpose?
Nothing

3. What can I remove from the room?
Everything that doesn't belong. I need to find homes or get rid of the clutter.

4. What problems do I see with the room?
I see it being a trap for shoving all kinds of little things that we don't know where to put them.

5. What organizational tools might solve those problems?
Possibly some little pencil bins to keep things in place. A little tray to hold the pad of paper and one for the address labels and stamps.

6. What habits need to change to solve the organizational problems?
We need to stop throwing everything in the drawer.

7. What kind of a budget do I have to create the organized room of my dreams?
$5 at the most on some little bins to keep things separated.

8. What kind of a timeline is necessary to organize the room?
It should only take me an hour to accomlish if I have the little bins.

9. What is my plan of action?
To dump the drawer and go thing everything. To through away what we don't need or use and put the other stuff in it's home.

10. Who can I ask to help me with this?
No one to fix it, but my husband to keep it clean!

Birthday Meme

Beth over at I Should Be Folding My Laundry tagged me.

1. Go to Wikipedia and type in your Birthday Month and day only.
2. List 3 Events that occurred that day.
3. List 2 important Birth days.
4. List 1 Death.
5. List a Holiday or Observance. (if any)
6. Tag 5 other bloggers.

3 Events

1. 1965 - Hindi becomes the official language of India.
2. 2001 - A 50-year-old Douglas DC-3 crashes near Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela killing 24.
3. 2004 - A whale explodes in the town of Tainan, Taiwan. A build-up of gas in the decomposing 56-foot long Sperm whale is suspected of causing the explosion.

2 Important Birthdays
1. 1497 - Emperor Go-Nara of Japan (d. 1557)
2. 1958 - Ellen DeGeneres, American actress, comedian, and talk show host

1 Death
1. 1979 - Nelson Rockefeller, 41st Vice President of the United States (b. 1908)

1 Holiday
1. Australia - Australia Day

5 Tagged Bloggers
1. Tracey
2. Christy
3. Penny
4. Lara
5. Jenn B.

Update on the reading and a contest!

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to update you on my Spring Reading Thing! I am reading Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. I am halfway through it. So far, I am really enjoying it. I will keep you posted.

Now on to the contest! You know how I love a Dyson! Well there is a contest over at 5 Minutes for Mom. Would you believe they are giving away a Dyson!! You read that right! A DYSON! What are y'all waiting for...get over there and enter yourself in the contest!!

Thanks to BooMama for alerting me to this awsome contest!

Be back soon!