Being Organized & My Favorite Technology

I am convinced that being organized is one of the most important things I can do for myself and the girls. I am less stressed and irritable when things are not so chaotic. I’m not too overly concerned with the house being perfect, I just want things to be easy to find when we need them. I don’t want to promise things that I will not be able to do by overscheduling us, and I want to make sure Eva has all the tools necessary to do her homework and not have to rush. I am amazed at how much homework she has this year! It’s not easy making sure she has her library book on the right day, her popcorn money, her snack, her field trip slips, etc. So, I think being organized is the key to my success as a single working mom. I have a few tools that I use to help me stay organized that I would like to share:

www.rememberthemilk.com

This is the best site I’ve found to manage my to do lists. The site allows me to add tags to my tasks for more sorting, and I’ve added home and work tasks so I have everything in one place. I even added a birthdays list and a grocery list, and Eva’s spelling lists and homework due dates. Everyday, I receive an email reminder containing all of my tasks that are due for that particular day. I can even add an app to my cell phone which will sync with this site. I haven’t done that yet, but I’m going to very soon. Which brings me to my next tool……



I LOVE my new phone. I have an iPod Touch and loved it so much that I’ve been waiting for my contract to expire with Sprint so I could get an iPhone. But someone at work told me about this little beauty, and I’ve never been so in love with a phone as I am with this one. Plus, Sprint lets me call any mobile # for free, so I’m on a plan that costs me less than $70 per month and that makes me love it even more. It connects Bluetooth to my car, it has all of the apps that Apple has, unlimited text & data, plus it has the girls TV shows on-demand, so we plug it into the car speakers and they both can listen to it while they watch, and (my favorite) it never drops calls. I just absolutely love it. I can’t wait to put the Remember The Milk app on it.

I also use Google Reader to combine my favorite websites into a one-stop to catch up on all of my news and blogs. I usually sign-in right after I check my email in the morning. I also love Facebook for one thing, and one thing only: I can catch up on my family’s whereabouts, injuries, travels, etc. without having to call everyone all the time. Don’t get me wrong, I love talking on the phone, but I have very limited time after work to spend with the girls, so FB is a great way for me to feel connected and not spend too much time on the phone.

YouTube – I love YouTube because I created a playlist of all my favorite praise & worship songs. Many of them are PPT presentations set to the songs that have the lyrics play while the song plays. We have a laptop on the kitchen counter and Eva loves to watch while I make dinner and we dance around the kitchen.

There is one thing that I learned when we drove to Tennessee for our white water rafting trip, and that is I need a GPS. It’s one of those devices, like a cell phone, that you just can’t live without once you’ve had one. Well, I don’t have one….yet. My car came with one year of On-Star, so when that’s up, I’m getting one. I just found out the other day that if I spend a little more, I can get a GPS that you can use for hiking, and your car too. Well, we’re addicted to letterboxing (www.letterboxing.org) and I get nervous walking around in the woods with the girls, so I think we may get one of those.

Good to the Core - By John Blumberg

I was in Honolulu to speak at a large national conference. I scheduled an extra day onto the trip since I had never been to Honolulu and because a few great friends were also at the conference. The day after the conference, we awoke at the crack of dawn to visit Pearl Harbor. As we stood above and looked down upon the sunken USS Arizona, the depth of our experience came to life. It was moving and humbling.

Upon our return to the hotel, I had some time to spare before departing to the airport. A couple of my friends and I decided to rent a raft large enough to hold three adults. We targeted the white-capped waves, out in the distance, as our destination. With the incoming waves, we had a hard time getting away from the shore. At first, there seemed to be enormous momentum keeping us "grounded." Slowly, but surely, we began to make progress. It seemed to get easier. We eventually got within a few feet of the whitecaps and decided to board our raft and relax as a celebration of our efforts. It was in our moment of pause that we felt the reality of our situation. Drifting two feet out and one foot in. Again, two feet out and one foot in. We all felt the unsettling formula of our ever-so-gentle drift out to sea. We immediately abandoned the raft and grasped for safety, with one arm holding the raft and the other arm aggressively swimming. I have never scissor-kicked so hard in my life.

Twenty minutes later we had made minimal progress. Out of nowhere, a lifeguard on a kayak appeared on the scene asking why we were so far out. Feeling the comfort of his presence, we laughed for a moment, lightly commenting about our distance from the shore. He wasn't laughing.

The orange balls had warned us, and we unknowingly ignored them. Infrequently placed across the ocean's surface, they created an invisible line on the ocean's floor. They silently warned us not to drift beyond them regardless of our vision or mission. "You see those big orange balls on top of the water?" the lifeguard inquired. We could see them, but they didn't look very big from where we were still struggling in the water. They did, however, give us the insight that we were basically five times farther out than we should be. I think the lifeguard was trying to teach us a lesson. He didn't leave us, but he didn't assist us either. Forty-five minutes later we walked up on the shore. I was shaking from exhaustion. I began, for the first time, to feel the numerous cuts on my legs and feet from the sharp coral rocks lining the ocean floor.

We had briefly noticed the orange balls on our way out. We had paid little attention to them and certainly had not given any thought to their significance. We had been too focused on our mission to get to the white-capped waves in the distance!

We don't go running away from our values. We go drifting away, and one day wake-up in a place we never meant to be, drifting in a direction we would have never chosen.
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Eva & Kayla - I thought this story was a good example of how we as people tend to ignore boundaries that we should not cross. Without settting boundaries and goals for ourselves, we will find ourself stuck far out somewhere that is hard to come back from. Little choices we make each day can inch us closer to our goals, or farther away from them. Always focus on your goals, and be strong!!

xoxo,
Mom

Happy 4th Birthday Kayla!!

I cannot believe my little Kayla, my baby, my tiny toddler, is now four years old! Happy Birthday, my sweet little K, I hope you have the best day today. Since you have been born, you have brought nothing but fun, joy and laughter to us. I love the way your eyes sparkle when you smile, and how you are always in a good mood, I love our dance parties, and how brutally honest you are (like the time you asked me really loud why a girl's hair was so crazy, or point out different races & body types of people very, very loud!) :) Kayla, today you are 29.4 pounds and 38 inches tall, you're still so tiny! I love you and your sister more than I could ever explain, happy, happy, happy birthday!!

And Happy Half Birthday to Eva! Today, Eva is 9 1/2 years old. It's fun that they can both feel special on each other's birthday. And that means Eva will be 10 before we know it, which is really crazy!! Eva D, you are amazing. You are turning into this wonderful young lady who is so fun to be with and talk to. You are wise beyond your years, that's for sure. It has been so fun watching you play basketball, that's been the highlight of the past couple weeks, and I'm really proud of you for trying it and sticking with it. I have a feeling we found a passion of yours :) I love you so very much and wish you both would stop growing up so fast!

Happy Birthday, girls!
Love,
Mom

xoxoxoxoxo