Spring

Photo courtesy of Earl53 at MorgueFile.

It wafts in through the open windows, that smell of fresh cut grass in the spring. You can't shake it. You don't want to shake it. It's calling you outside, making you ignore all there is to do inside on those hardwood floors that get so messy so fast. That stuff isn't going anywhere, though. And, that spring day, it is. If you don't act fast, it's gone.

There's a garden to be planted, grass to be mowed, flowers to be smelled. You stand back and admire it all. Watch the bees buzzing around the chives and hear the birds chirping to their babies in the nest. They're not there forever.

And, those damn dust bunnies. They are.

Organizing Tip of the Week: Cord Labels

Who hasn't looked at a surge protector full of cords from various electronics and spent the next twenty minutes trying to figure out which cord goes to which thing? For some of us, there may even be swearing involved.

Thanks to some Pinterest inspiration, the problem is now solved.

Reuse the bread fasteners you'd otherwise toss in the garbage to create mini-labels.

I need to collect a few more to finish up this row of cords, but already, I'm thinking this is brilliant!  I'll have to save my swearing for other things, like stubbed toes and cats waking me up at 3:00 in the morning.

Highlights & Lowlights

Just like that, it feels like summer. The great outdoors and, more importantly, the yard work, has been calling, hence my scarcity 'round these parts.

Here's what's been keeping me from my blogging duties:

Highlight - Our family took a weekend trip to Lake Placid last week and stayed in a lovely house courtesy of my husband's boss (Thank you, Sam!). The boys and I hiked around the Adirondacks, including a visit to High Falls Gorge, where I was irrationally afraid my four-year-old was going to tumble into the rocky falls. Fortunately, we made it through safely, possibly because I had a death grip on his arm. Though they had high barriers blocking anyone from going over the edge, you couldn't pry my hand off with a crowbar. Motherhood isn't always logical.

Adirondack Red Trillium

Lowlight - My husband had to work at a wrestling tournament for the entire weekend. That was the reason for our trip. We really didn't get to spend much time with him. Worse yet, they had a huge wireless network failure on the first day of the tournament, which wasn't a good thing for their score keeping program. While we were keeping cool on woodsy hiking trails, he was sweating and swearing in the Olympic Center.

Highlight - I've been giving my little netbook a workout by writing more for Holidays Central. It's been a good computer. I've had it for a few years, so in computer years, it's like 100. The poor thing has been through a lot. It recovered from the great toddler keyboard disaster of 2010, in which my then toddler pulled off several of the keys, leaving me to type awkwardly on little stubs. Then, we suffered together through the stomach virus of 2011, in which my then six-year-old son vomited on both of us. My handy husband thought it was time to replace the keyboard after that, so I was back in business with all the letters of the alphabet present and accounted for.

Lowlight - Yesterday, I foolishly left my netbook on the floor next to the couch. This is a bad habit I've cultivated over the years. My four year old was playing around on the arm of the couch and promptly fell off, shattering the netbook screen. Handy husband once again saved the day by hooking the netbook up to our TV so I can still have access to the hard drive. It's a temporary measure, but it's working for now.

Highlight - I ordered groceries from a local grocery store that delivers. Can you believe that? Grocery deliveries in 2012? It seems so 1950s. I don't mind this kind of jump back in time. Like I said, I had yard work to do this week and lots of it. The last thing I wanted to do was interrupt my mowing and weeding. I had a nice flow going. It's hard to get back into it once you have to stop for something as mundane as a trip to the grocery store.

Lowlight - I just can't think of one here. The yard work is done for now and my groceries are getting delivered tomorrow. It's a win-win.

Life is pretty sweet most of the time.

Summer Vacation Time

I hope you all are having a lovely weekend enjoying beautiful weather! We're having blue skies, warm days and cool nights here. I'd say that's just about perfect!

I'm busy writing like a fiend for Holidays Central, one of the best sites to mine for holiday ideas. They touch on everything holiday related. You'll find lots of great craft ideas, recipes, vacation ideas and much more! I'm partial to them because, well, I write for them.

To get you in the summer vacation planning mood, I'm linking an article about the Adirondacks in Northern NY. This is one of my favorite places. It's a great place to vacation with kids or without. If you've never been, you should really consider it for your next vacation. In the Adirondacks, you get hiking, biking, camping, museums, resort towns, swimming, history, boating and much more! If NY State had a backyard, this would be it.

I'm taking a writing break to enjoy some of our beautiful weather. Hope you get to do the same!

Life Well Lived Question of the Week: Kids & Clutter

This week, BlogHer's Life Well Lived program is tackling two questions. The topics are near and dear to my heart. They are things I deal with every day. If you've got kids, you probably do, too.

What are your best tips for keeping the clutter at bay with kids in the house?

We all know that kids in the house means clutter in the form of toys, craft supplies, school papers, sports equipment, clothes and many other odds and ends that seem to appear out of nowhere. These things can take over your life if you aren't proactive about keeping them in some kind of order.

My best tips for keeping all the kid-related clutter at bay is to sort through everything on a regular basis. About twice a year, I go through all the boys' clothing and sort out what's been outgrown. Clothes I'm saving for my little guy get put away in his closet. Clothes he's outgrown get donated or sold in a consignment sale. Toys and sports equipment get sorted a month or two before the holidays with the same method. I clean out our craft cupboard about once a year to get rid of the all the dried up markers, broken crayons and used up coloring books.

Keeping the amount of clutter a kid has in his room under control goes along way toward whether or not he can keep that room tidy. Too much stuff and he'll be overwhelmed.

How do you help your kids develop good organizing skills?

Teaching kids to develop good organizing skills is a bit more challenging. I tend to believe we're either born with a desire to be organized or not. My kids were not. Despite this, I think organization can be taught and I'm working on this with my oldest. By middle school age, kids really need a basic set of organizational skills. Things get really confusing and hard to manage if they don't.

Helping your child create a system he can manage with his school work and schedule is important. Remember, it's got to be something he can maintain, not you, so his input should hold more weight than yours.

An all-inclusive binder with a folder for each class seems to be my son's preferred method. Every week, we go through things together to remind him that he needs to periodically sort and organize to stay on top of due dates for assignments. I'm hoping the routine will eventually turn into a habit for him.


How do you teach kids to organize? Please join in the discussion on the main BlogHer Life Well Lived page.

Don't forget to enter the current Life Well Lived sweepstakes! Please note the sweepstakes ends tomorrow, May 16th, 2012, so you won't want to procrastinate!

Surprise, You've Been Featured!

Late at night, one day last week, I wrote a post on BlogHer called Judgment: Maybe It's Not So Bad. It was kind of a venting post about some things I'd been reading on-line that week. I had been thinking about the topic a lot. I needed to write it to clear out the clutter that was swirling around in my noggin so I could get to sleep.

Once it was out there, I forgot about it and moved on.

Yesterday, I came home from running errands to find it had been featured at BlogHer. That's the kind of surprise I like!

Still, I was a bit nervous to have it noticed by the thoughtful, albeit judgmental, people of the on-line world. I didn't know how the topic would go over because, well, we all like to think we aren't judgmental. But, I think we are. The Internet wouldn't have been on fire with comments about a certain Time magazine cover last week if we weren't.

Sometimes, despite our best efforts, we still judge each other. Is it really such a bad thing?

Let me know what you think by commenting either here or there. I promise I won't judge.

Cat Odors & Other Smells We Don't Like to Talk About

Our cat, Petey, has a bad habit.

Petey - Guilty of Bad Bathroom Habits

He prefers to poop on the floor of our basement rather than in the litter box, which is just about three feet away from his chosen spot. It's embarrassing to admit, but it happens.

The covered litter box is stinky enough on its own. We manage it by keeping it out of the way in the utility room and changing the litter frequently. Because we take such good care of the litter box, we've had a pretty high level of frustration over Petey's bathroom habits.

When Clean + Green contacted me to see if I'd write a blog post featuring their products, I jumped at the chance. I wanted to try their Litter Box Odor Eliminator and Cleaner.

Clean + Green Products

We've always done our best to clean up Petey's messes, wash and sanitize the area, but the odor can linger. If you've got cats, you know how bad that can be. I refused to try a standard chemical cleaner because I don't like the thought of risking my family's long-term health with the use of toxic cleaners.

Clean + Green's offer seemed ideal. Their e-mail said, "Clean+Green natural pet stain and odor removers are safe for people, pets and the planet! Using a patented formula, Clean+Green encapsulates and eliminates stain and odor on contact - even skunk odor! - by naturally biodegrading the stain or odor source. The all-natural formula delivers instant results in a safe, non-toxic, eco-friendly solution. Ingredients include cane sugar derivatives, a proprietary blend of botanical extracts, hydrated cellulose, purified water, and a natural aerosol propellant (nitrogen). " How could I not try it? 


We've really put the product to the test in the past couple of weeks. I'm pretty impressed with it. As soon as we clean Petey's mess up, we spray the area. The odor stops. I also spray the litter box, which Petey still uses to urinate and our other cat uses for everything. It's nice to walk into the utility room and not smell cat smells. 


The folks at Clean + Green also sent a sample of Carpet & Upholstery cleaner. With 3 boys, 2 cats and a dog, there are lots of deodorizing opportunities in our home. I've successfully put that to good use to remove the dog smells from our living room furniture. (Maggie is not supposed to be on the couch, but we all know how that goes when we're not home.)


Thanks again to Clean + Green for letting me try their products! 

For more information, please visit the Clean + Green website. 


Disclosure - I was compensated for this blog post in the form of free products from Clean + Green.