I have to say, the EVO Conference was just amazing! Talk about a class act. I don't think there was a hitch throughout the whole weekend (other than the ones I managed to create myself!). Everything ran just like clockwork, the speakers were amazing, the entertainment was fun and fabulous, the sponsors were generous, the food was awesome, and the networking was out of this world! The Canyons Resort could not have been better hosts - everything was spotless and gorgeous and the staff was just terrific.

Thanks to the fabulous organizers - two very cool ladies - Jyl Pattee of MomItForward and Rachael Herrscher of Today's Mama, plus a mob of volunteers, sponsors, and other helpers!

My favorite part about the conference was that it gave you ample and I do mean ample time to just hang with your favorite peeps (or Tweeps as the case may be). Every couple of hours there was a meal break, a snack break, or a party where you could hang out and get to know your fellow conference goers. And to me, that is just the perfect arrangement. I love the speakers and all the other great stuff, but my main focus is people, people, people!

I did mention that I had a few hitches along the way, but they were kind of silly things and I think they were good life lessons. Coming up on the very first day for registration, I decided to save a few bucks on parking down the hill a ways. I saw someone taking a little shortcut and I thought I could take the "easy" way up - in 3" stacked heels. Yeah, not so much. Turns out there was a huge mud puddle in the middle of the trail. Yep, you guessed it. Fortunately, I didn't fall into the mud, but I did end up with one shoe completely stuck in three inches of solid mud. So, there I am balancing on one heel with one rather muddy sock trying to pull my poor shoe (my favorite pair!) out of the mud.

Now I know a lot of people would have been freaked out at that point knowing they were going to meet a whole room full of new people (mostly women!), and I have to admit, I was a little bummed out, but I thought what the heck, I'm not going to let this ruin my day. I'm came here to have a good time and I'm going to have a good time, mud or not. So I went into the bathroom and used a boatload of paper towels to clean up the worst of it, and then I went on my merry way!

Lesson one - be a good sport! PS: My only regret is that I didn't think to take a pic of the damned muddy shoe!

My next issue concerned a tough decision. My niece had originally schedule a family party for the previous weekend. But when our poor cousin, SuperClark passed away the previous week, she had to reschedule it due to his funeral - that put it smack in the middle of the Saturday workshops. So, even though I had paid a bunch of money for the conference and I desperately wanted to hang with all my great blog friends, I knew this was one of the few times this year that I would get to see my family, so I made the decision to take a break from the conference and drive nearly 60 miles to spend the time with my family. I had a great time, though I missed some workshops I really wanted to experience.

Lesson two - family comes first, even when that's hard to do.

My third issue I had was when I lost my bag. When I was headed out to the family party, I was in a hurry and I think I left my bag in the ladies room. Not a huge problem as I mostly had a bunch of sponsor freebies like OPI nail polish and Pepperidge Farm snacks in it, but then I realized that the tickets for the closing party were in it, for my whole family of four! Yikes! They had specially warned us not to lose them as they likely couldn't be replaced. So I got on Twitter and on the phone and trying like crazy to locate the bag. No luck. But I'm a positive thinker, so we got everyone all dressed up and headed back up to The Canyons for the closing party. Sure enough, our lovely ladies managed to make it work for us and we had a wonderful time at the party and on the rides.

Lesson three - Have faith in people and give them a chance to amaze and delight you.

My next problem was just my own vanity. When they said the closing party was a western party by Bush's Beans, I decided to go all out and wear my best western duds, even though they were totally uncomfortable and impractical. I had boots with 3 inch heels (and cute silver toe tabs), and a flippy, flimsy western skirt with a lovely Southwestern jacket. Problem was, I couldn't dance in the boots - I could hardly walk in them, I couldn't be outside in the skirt because the wind was blowing and it kept flipping up on me, and I couldn't possibly go any rides in it and stay even reasonably decent! Plus I was roasting to death in the jacket.

But get this, I had brought a pair of jeans and shoes to change into in case the outfit got too uncomfortable! But I was too concerned with looking "cute" so I didn't want to change into them, so instead I missed out on all the fun everyone else was having on the ziplines, and the alpine slide, and the zip coaster and instead spent most of my time sitting like a bump on a log waiting for my family to have their fun without me.

Lesson four - pride is a bad thing. You'll have more fun if you just let your hair down and let the flab fly and jump in there for the fun!

My last problem wasn't really my problem, it was someone else's problem. Bobbi from KidtoGrownUp sent out a tweet that her flight to Dallas had been canceled. Well, I was checking tweets from work (a big no-no, but I was having EVO withdrawals), and my office is about 5 minutes from the airport. So, even though I hadn't even met her, I offered her a ride somewhere if she needed one. She confessed that she didn't have anywhere to stay until her early morning flight and couldn't afford a hotel, so without even thinking about it, I invited her home with me. Yeah, it's kind of an odd thing to do, but it's exactly what my mother would have done - she was known for that sort of thing, and actually, we had a great time with her. I made some spaghetti while she visited with my kids and my kitties, and we watched a chick flick together, and then my husband dropped her off at the airport on his way to work. Hey, what's the good of having a six bedroom house if you don't have an occasional houseguest?

Final lesson - do a good turn daily. Why the heck not?

Now, you can take a look at my little photo show from my weekend at EVO. The pics didn't come out fabulous, but it's worth a peek anyway!

By TwitterButtons.com

This is my bookshelf. Well, one of my bookshelves. I'm quite the book lover, so I have a couple of them. But this is where I keep my most favorite books. It looks a little nicer than usual because we're painting the basement and we just repainted this from yucky yellow-y off-white to a plain white. But this is basically how my bookshelf looks most of the time.

Because I love my books, I love an organized bookshelf. I have my books very carefully organized by type, by author, and even by size. The middle section is all books by my favorite Science Fiction author Anne McCaffrey, so that's why the shelves are double stacked, to fit them all in this section together. Up top are is Time-Life book collection and some of my mother's books.

The bottom shelves are my other Science Fiction paperbacks, all organized by size and by author. Yes, I know it's a little overkill, but it's worth it when I reach over and find exactly the book I want. And I get a big charge from seeing them all lined up and looking pretty. Yes, I know there's a bit of a gap there - my son's girlfriend and I are re-reading the Twilight series (again!), so there are a couple of books out there.


From an organizational point of view, I did make one mistake. I didn't leave any room for expansion. You always want to leave a little extra space for the new books you know you are going to buy. When I rearrange my other shelf, I'm hoping I'll have some more room on that one and I can shift a few over.

Yes I know I could declutter some of them, but I got rid of two big boxes just before we moved last year, so I'm mostly down to the ones I really love. If worse comes to worst and I don't find any extra room in the other shelf, I might be inclined to prune my movie shelf and put a category of books over there.

That's one solution when you're really stuck in the decluttering system. If you really can't prune in one particular category, you can always cut back in a different category to make the extra space.

So, here's your challenge - take a look at your bookshelf (or bookshelves) and see what you need to do with it. Do you need to add more shelves? Weed out some books? Do you have your books organized in some kind of system that makes sense to you or are they just piled in there in every which way? If not, now would be a good time to add some organization to your bookshelf.

Now, here's how you DON'T organize your bookshelf. For the love of little kittens, DO NOT take everything out of the bookshelf and dump it all on the floor!

I know I did, but that was only because we were painting the shelves. Your best bet is to start by clearing out just ONE shelf. Now pick a category such as business or self-help books. Comb through the rest of the shelves and find any and all books in this category and shift them all to the clear shelf. While you are sorting, weed out any books that can be decluttered - of course you have a box or two handy to deal with them. Now smoosh the remaining books around to fill up the empty gaps, which will create some space for the next category.

By doing it this way, you can do the change in small increments, a little bit at a time if need be. Even if you need to set it aside for a day or even a week, you can do so without having a huge mess to make you feel terrible about your area. And when you complete the task, take a picture so you will remember exactly how it looks and feels when it is organized.

Be sure and come back every Monday for my Clutterbugs series. If you'd like to read some of the previous posts, just click on the Clutterbugs tag at the bottom of this post and it will bring up a complete list.



By TwitterButtons.com

Yay me, I finally got a little time to play along with the Writer's Workshop again! The prompt I liked the best was "How do your kids remind you of yourself". I just had to laugh because my kids are so much like me that I don't think a day goes by without me having that feeling. I mean look at these guys.


Obviously they love their Dad, but they definitely take after my outgoing, people-loving side of the family. My favorite hobbies are reading, talking to my friends on my computer, listening to movies, crafting (before I discovered the Internet), napping, listening to or playing music, and watching TV. Both my boys - ditto on all counts.

We hate being outside, are not very fond of any kind of work, unless it's something fun, and we love to be around people! Be it friends or family or a whole room full of strangers, we LOVE people. There is no such thing as a shy kid in this house! I've always said that you could drop Blake down in the middle of China one day, and in 5 minutes, he would be playing with some little Chinese boy. And we've all got that same basic personality. Just laid back, outgoing, and very friendly. Nothing gets us down for very long, and we generally look at the sunny side of life.

We all can talk a mile a minute and we're all very picky about manners and grammar. Lord help the person who mispronounces a word around this house! Even my 12 year old will correct someone's grammar or table manners.

My Dad had a great gift for remembering trivia. He had a head full of useless knowledge and he has passed that on to his whole gene pool. If we ever went on Jeopardy or some other game show, we would KILL the competition. The problem is that they want to share this trivia with me at the worst moments - like when I'm running late for something and scrambling to get out of the house. Or when I'm asleep. Or when I'm trying to write an Email or a blog post. Drives.me.nuts!

One thing I do like is that they are smart about money. I'm a real fanatic about being smart with money and saving money. That is one gift my parents gave to me and I'm proud that I've been able to pass that on to my sons. They know that I'm going to make them pay their own way and that I'm not going to bail them out like a lot of parents do, unless it's a situation that is out of their control, like a layoff or a medical emergency.

Now when Matt goes shopping, he looks for the deals and comes home to brag about how much he has saved. Blake is now learning how to save up for his video games and the things that he wants. Even my stepson Ryan has gotten on the band wagon and is setting aside money for their vacations and other big purchases. Makes a thrifty Mama so proud!






By TwitterButtons.com

Here is a great analogy I found. We all start out as acorns, so we all have the potential to be mighty oak trees. Some of us just think we can only be better and shinier acorns, but that is only of interest to the pigs who are going to eat them.

If we want to fulfill our potential and grow to be the oak trees we are capable of, what do we need to do?

Well, we need to be patient; we need to work hard to fulfill our potential to become what we are capable of. And we also need to take care of ourselves. To enjoy the good soil, sunlight, and fresh clean water to enable us to grow strong and healthy.

And above all, we need to let go of our indulgent acorn-like behavior. To avoid the overeating, overspending, and the time spent indulging our bad habits and hobbies at the expense of progress towards our goals. These are things that bring us momentary pleasure, but cost us more than they are worth in terms of progress towards our goals and keep us buried in the ground instead of reaching for the sky.

Please stop by every Monday morning for your weekly dose of Clutterbugs. If you'd like to see some of the previous posts, just click on the Clutterbugs tag at the bottom of this post and it will pull up a complete listing.


By TwitterButtons.com

Well, the Grandkid Plan was an unqualified success. (If you haven't been reading along, we had our three grandkids from California for a whole week for the first time ever!).

We put them on their plane a couple of hours ago - tired but happy and that's about how we feel - broke but happy! (We very nearly missed the plane - between a computer problem at the gate, and going to the wrong gate, it was a wild airport dash!)

We had an insanely busy week - having Vacation Bible School from 3 to 6 every day was both a blessing and a curse. The kids enjoyed it so much and honestly, I did too, but having that daily commitment smack in the middle of the day, was a bit of a challenge, especially with two kids who still needed naps.

The kids loved the songs, the crafts, and all the new friends they made at our church. It's a lot of fun for kids this age, and they learn stuff too. I was in the kitchen the whole time, making & serving the snacks for the kids, and I had a great time also. The women I was working with were just lovely and we all worked beautifully together, so it was a nice experience for me too.

We had a different morning or evening activity planned every day - bowling, library, farm town, a baseball game, swimming, riding the train, a movie, etc. and that was a lot of fun for the kids and also kept them busy enough to get along pretty well (most of the time!). I noticed that they got along a lot better when we were out and about than when we were home, which was a little different than I expected. I thought once the cartoons and video games were on, they would settle down, but apparently those were the items they wanted to fuss over the most.







One nice thing we did during the week was a photo shoot with a professional photographer. We went to a beautiful amphitheater in American Fork and had a whole series of pictures done of me and all the kids. I haven't gotten the edited pictures back yet, but here is a sample:


Isn't that gorgeous???

Behavior-wise, the kids were pretty good. We had a little bit of the normal bickering, and in-fighting. Surprisingly, my son, the oldest of the kids, was the problem in a lot of the cases - his older brothers have always done a lot of horseplay and wrestling around with him, so apparently, he thought it was just fine to do the same with the little kids. We had a couple of stern talks with the middle boy when he was being a bit of a pill, but on the whole, the kids were surprisingly cooperative and well-behaved.

The point program I set up was an absolute life saver! I was a little shocked that the kids took it so seriously. Those points were just about life & death to them. I had them offering to pull weeds, pick up dog poop, and take out the trash for extra points. And on the few times I had to take points away for misbehavior, they were devastated. Usually just a threat of taking points away was sufficient for immediate compliance!

And the prizes were just little silly things - like getting to play a board game, or a few extra minutes before bedtime. The biggest one was getting to go to the bookstore with their Uncle Matt and getting to buy a book. I think that plan was definitely a stroke of genius!

Sounds like our son and daughter-in-law are on board with the plan for next year. I think they enjoyed the break and now that they've gotten their kids back happy and in one piece, they are already talking about doing something similar next year. Now that Nana and Grandpa have a whole year to rest up (and save up!) for next time, we'll probably do that.


By TwitterButtons.com

Still having fun with the kids. This is an article I wrote waaay back when. Then I added some of my more recent "Disneyland Solutions".

There's a joke that's been sticking in my mind for days now and I think there's a good reason. An elementary school was having some difficulty with their older girls. Some of them had recently started using lipstick and they liked to show off by leaving kiss prints on the bathroom mirror.

This caught on and pretty soon the mirror was nearly covered with lip prints every day. The principal made several efforts to make them stop, but nothing she did helped. The janitor told her he had an idea and to bring the whole group of girls into the bathroom. They get everyone in there and of course the mirror is all covered with lip prints.

The principal says "Girls, I just want you to see how much extra work you are creating for Mr. Johnson, the janitor. This is what he has to do to clean all this mess off the mirror." Then the janitor takes a long handled brush, calmly dips it in the nearest toilet and begins scrubbing the mirror. They never had a single lip print on the mirror again.

This story, in it's own yucky way is a very elegant solution to a problem. It creates a permanent solution to a long-standing problem with a minimum of effort. I call it the "Disneyland Solution". At Disneyland, they don't post signs saying "don't walk on the grass" or "don't sit on the railings" - instead they simply make it inconvenient or uncomfortable to do so by cleverly designed layouts and railings.

I'll share with you a couple of elegant solutions I have come up with in in my own life. When our middle son, Matt was a baby, he had a pacifier in his mouth ALL the time and it was driving my husband crazy, so we came up with our own "Disneyland Solution". We gradually narrowed it down to just one pacifier. Then we took that last pacifier and used a little piece of yarn to fasten it around the neck of the biggest, bulkiest stuffed animal we could find. Then we just waited for him to get tired of lugging it around. In less than a week - problem solved!

Then, a few years later, we were worried about this same kid because he was having problems with his reading. Disneyland Solution: I went to the library, picked up a bunch of books I thought he would like and then casually dumped them in the backseat of the car with the following pronouncement "Don't touch them, they're your brother's". Problem solved! He nearly ripped the covers off in his haste to see what they were all about. The Disneyland Solution!

Think about all the pesky little problems we have in our lives. How can we come up with some "Disneyland Solutions" to solve some of these these problems? As Earl Nightingale says, "Ideas are our most valuable resource. They're free, everyone has them and some of them are excellent."

One of my big problems is running late in the morning, mainly because I like to get into the shower and veg out, or dork around on the computer in the mornings. So I came up with a Disneyland solution. A couple of them actually. To shorten my showers, I set a timer for 15 minutes (yes, that's a SHORT shower for me!), then I set out a load of laundry. When the time goes off, one of the kids puts the laundry in the washer, which makes me want to get out of the shower FAST as the water turns really cold. I've been on time for work every day for about two weeks!

The other thing I do is tell Blake I'll pay him a dollar if he catches me on the computer in the morning. I got that idea from our pastor. He was tired of yelling at his four kids, so he told them that every time he yelled at them, they got to fine him a dollar. It's silly, but it really works. It's just a trigger to make you more aware of your daily behavior.

I actually use that one a lot. If the kids don't make their bed, they have to pay a dollar - to their brother who has made it for them. Try it, it works!

Let's hear some of your Disneyland Solutions!

Still off hanging with the kids - whew! Halfway through the week and Nana is getting worn out! I've never heard so many instances of "That's not fair" and "Why does he get to...." and "I want a (fill in the blank)." Yikes! Sometimes I'm really glad had my kids 10 years apart!

On Saturday night we went to a party. When we got there, Blake had two shoes. When we left, he only had one. One shoe. And one sock. And it wasn't even an especially wild party. It was actually a church party, the kind that you usually start and end with all of your clothing intact.

(Pretend there is a picture of a solitary shoe here - mainly because it's midnight and I'm too tired to go and get it out of my car, take a picture and then upload the picture.)

Here's what happened. Our former neighbors invited us to a party. Their entire church (which is called a neighborhood Ward) gets together every year at this house with a wonderful, enormous yard that is just gorgeously landscaped. The set up tables all over the yard and they have bouncy things and fun stuff for the kids, plus a wonderful dinner. We've gone the last couple of years, even though we aren't part of their church and we were pleasantly surprised to be invited this year, since we now live clear across town. But we wanted to see all our old friends and neighbors so we decided to go.

The theme this year was a beach/luau theme and they had all these blow up toys tied to the trees (are you seeing where I'm going with this?). They had some beach balls, some blow-up dolphins, and a couple of blow-up sharks. Well, the party hadn't been going for 5 minutes before one of the kids (thankfully not mine!) pulled one of the decorations out of the trees to play with. Well, sure enough, Blake wasn't about to go home without one of those blow-up sharks (he loves sharks!). But it was way too high for him to reach, so he decided to throw his shoe up to knock it down.

Well, that's the last we'll ever see of that shoe, I guess. The bushes were really thick and there were a lot of them and a lot of ivy on the ground. Also, it was just about dusk, so the light wasn't very good. And of course it was a CAMOUFLAGE shoe, so we really didn't have much of a chance of seeing it in that thick foliage. And naturally, it was the only decent pair of tennis shoes he owned. And naturally, it was the pair he needed to wear to school on Monday. Kids!

I suppose we could ask the people who owned the house if we can come back and look for it in the daylight, but since we were kind of party-crashers anyway, I think it would just be TOO embarrassing! Of course one day, they're going to be pruning all those lovely bushes and they're going to find a very wet and smelly shoe with one sock inside it and wonder where the heck it came from.....

Fortunately, Target was on the way home and they didn't notice when a boy with very dirty bare feet walked in with his parents to buy a new pair of shoes for school.

I'm out having fun with the grandkids, so I'm digging up some of my old post for your reading enjoyment.

I'm off playing with the grandkids today, so here is a blast from the past. Update: Almost a year later, still haven't been sick once, except for some slight food poisoning on Mother's Day.

Now that everyone is going into panic mode about the Swine Flu and all the other superbugs that are going around, I thought I'd share my big health secret with you. This is a big deal because I am the healthiest person I know - for reals! The last time I remember being sick was Christmas Day of 2007 and that was just a bad cold from pushing too hard to get all the presents bought and wrapped. Since then, nothing. No colds, no stomach flu, no anything. Even if half my family was sick with whatever crud was going around, I never catch it. The worst thing I've had is the occasional sinus infection.

Doctors say that you can expect to get 2-3 colds a year and the flu every 3-5 years, so I'm definitely ahead of the statistics. I get that many colds in a decade and I've never actually had the flu. Maybe a little 24 hour stomach bug once every few years, but that's never an actual fever and chills type flu.

I even managed to go through my whole pregnancy without taking a single sick day except for the last two weeks when they made me stay home and rest because I wasn't sleeping. I really dodged the bullet there because my poor sister was sick all nine months with all three kids. She was even still hurling in the delivery room - I would have been so miserable, I doubt if I would have had kids #2 & #3! I never even threw up once through either one of my pregnancies. I guess she got my share!

So what are all the things you're supposed to do to ward off illness - get lots of sleep, evercise, eat right, take vitamins, spray Lysol and Purell all over everything you touch, and wash your hands dozens of times a day. Oh and drink at least 8 glasses of water and drink lots of Orange Juice and take antioxidants, etc. Naaaah! I don't do any of those things, or at least not often enough to do any good.

You know what my real secret is? I just don't believe in getting sick. Yep, that's it. My big secret. I just don't buy into it. Whenever people around me are hacking and coughing and and fussing about passing around all their nasty germs, I just say no. Whatever they're selling, I am not buying and for some amazing reason, it works for me. I know people talk about the power of Positive Thinking, but I really believe in it, and I guess it works pretty well for me.

Of course, now that I'm bragging about all this stuff, I'll probably come down with all kinds of crud, but hopefully not. Anyway, you might give it a try. Just pretend that germs don't even exist and if they do, they're too darn puny to bother you in the slightest and see if it works for you. What the heck - can't hurt, can it? And it's a whole lot easier than taking all those vitamins and dousing everything with antibacterial goop!



By TwitterButtons.com

One of the things that is very important to me is charity. I feel like it is so important for those of us who are the "haves" in this world to share what we can with the "have nots". There are so many people in this world who are good, hard-working people who are just trying to provide a bare, basic living for themselves and their children.

I know that sometimes we fuss and fret because we can't afford the latest do-dad or can't pay off the credit card bills for all the "gar-bage" we've indulged ourselves with, but really, if you have plenty to eat, healthy children, and even a little change in a piggy bank somewhere, you are better off than about half of the people in this world. Seriously.

I think what brought this into reality for me is my penpal in Kenya. Our church has partnered with a church in Kenya for many years and at one point, some of us were matched up with penpals in the church. My penpal is a woman named Edith. She is in her mid-30's and she is a recent widow with 7 children. She is the sweetest person and has very strong faith, despite her difficulties and struggles. They literally live in a mud hut with a tin roof, along with her grandmother or mother-in-law (I'm not quite sure). We've been penpals for about 2 years and it's been an amazing relationship.

When you hear stories like that, it's easy to feel sorry for them and feel helpless about ways to help them, but it doesn't have to be like that. Some of the people in our church went over there for a visit last year and it was surprising. These people are joyful and happy. They have great relationships with their families, and great faith in God, despite their daily challenges. They love to sing and dance and their church services are almost rowdy compared to ours. They love a good joke and they enjoy their children tremendously and they are SO grateful for the slightest kindness. Their children are also amazingly well behaved. Some of the people from the trip suggested we send a few of our kids over there for a couple of months! (Hey, I'm game!)

With the power of the Internet, there have been some great ways to help people like this without a lot of hassle and red tape. I've been a long-time supporter of a charity called the Heifer Project. They have a way to buy farm animals for poor families. The thing I think is awesome is that they give each family the dignity of giving the first female offspring to another family as a way to perpetuate the project. So the gift of one animal can end up helping a whole village worth of people over the space of a decade or so. They start with baby chicks at about $15 and go up to a cow for $500. Heifer.org is their website.

Kiva is another very cool website. There's been a lot of buzz about microloans and this is an easy way to get involved with them. People in poor countries can post an application for a loan for anywhere from $50 to $1500, usually for business improvements. You can read all about the individuals and the businesses and choose the ones you want to give the loan to starting in increments of $25 or more. They have a surprising 97% or something percent payback rate. I think that's amazing! I'll bet no American bank has ever had a payback rate like that. The nice thing is that at the end of the payback period - usually 6 to 12 months, you get your money back. Then you can either decide to lend it to someone else, or you can take it back for yourself. I've got a couple of loans going now and I just made another one today to a mother in Ecuador who wants to expand her dress shop. Their website is Kiva.org.

If you're looking for something a bit closer to home, I found a website where you can help local teachers. Very cool! If a teacher has a special project she wants to do with her class, she can go to this website and post a funding request. Then people donate the money and the kids get the stuff. A lot of them are for musical programs, or special ways to teach math or english skills. You can select by age range, geography, or type of program. Try DonorChoose.org.

So, I hope you'll give it a try. Just think of how well you'll sleep tonight by putting some positive action into the world.

I have to admit that I've never been a fan of coupon clipping. I like saving money as much as the next person, but it seems like every time I've ever used them, I've ended up spending an extra hour and about $50 more than I normally spend. But I know that a lot of people are anxious to save money these days and coupons really are a great method to do that.

But (and this is a big but) in order to use coupons effectively, you have to be dedicated and organized about it. I found a fabulous tip today from Mary Hunt at Everyday Cheapskate. I get her newsletter and she always has some great tips to share.

She has a client who uses those plastic sleeves that are designed to hold baseball cards. She has one page for each category of coupons - frozen foods, baby items, etc. And then she just tucks her coupons into the little pockets and carries it in a slim notebook that fits perfectly into her grocery basket. Then when she gets to the appropriate section, she can just flip open her notebook and easily see what coupons she has. Then it's just a matter of selecting the ones she wants to use and transferring them to an envelope in the front of the notebook. Then at the cash register, there's no fumbling or confusion, she just opens the envelopes and hands the coupons to the cashier. Very clever idea, I think.

Be sure and come back every Monday to view my Clutterbugs posts. If you'd like to see the previous posts, click the Clutterbugs tag at the bottom of this post for a full list.

By TwitterButtons.com

My grandkids are coming next week - for the whole week. I am excited, but also terrified! I realized about a month ago that first of all, I've never had to deal with more than two kids at a time, and also, I've never had even watched my grandkids for a full hour without one of their parents present.



I know that sounds kind of funny, but they live out of state and we don't get to see them very often. When we do, my daughter-in-law is a very hands-on parent, especially when they are babies, so usually we are visiting with the whole family instead of just the kids. Actually, I'm a little surprised that she was willing to send them for a whole week, but I think it's a good thing. She hasn't had a break in a lot of years and I think she deserves one. She is an excellent mother to the point where she rarely takes enough time for herself.



She'll still have the baby - we really weren't equipped to handle an almost two year old for a week, but her Mom is going to take her for a few days too. I'll miss not seeing our darling little baby Ella, but I'm just not that brave. We'll try it with her when she's a few years older. We're taking the whole top row - 8 year old Evan, 10 year old Anika, 12 year old Blake (he's my youngest son and their uncle, oddly enough!), and 6 year old Noah.

So I've been planning this for months and probably overthinking it the whole way. But better too much planning than too little in my opinion! So I've got meals all planned out and my grocery list all prepared (the kids are a bit lactose intolerant, so what was a challenge in our cheese-loving household!). The boys will all bunk downstairs in Blake's room and Kika will have the upstairs guest room all to herself - lucky girl!

Plus I managed to scare up enough bikes & scooters for them to all have something to ride, and we totally rebuilt our wooden playhouse/swingset combo so they could play in the backyard safely. We have a playground and a park neaby, so I'm hoping their Uncle Matt will take them for bike rides to the playground and park to give me a bit of a break.

I have a whole schedule of fun things to do with them. Fortunately, our church is having Vacation Bible School all week from 3 to 6 with a picnic/swimming activity on Friday, so that should be a lot of fun for them (again a bit of a break for me!). In the mornings before naptime, we are planning trips to some of the following places:

- Our beautiful downtown library

- The Olympic Fountain (my big & little kids LOVE to go there & play in the water)

- Either the Planetarium or the Discovery Museum

- The little farm/petting zoo at Thanksgiving Point

- A picnic at a very cool park over in West Jordan

- A family get together with some of their cousins

- Maybe a dollar movie or a trip to an indoor pool if the weather turns yucky

If you think of anything else really fun (and hopefully inexpensive) that would be good for kids this age, let me know. I'm also looking for any good deals or discount coupons. With this many kids, I'll need all the help I can get!

To ensure good behavior, I am dusting off one of the techniques I used for my kids when they were younger. I'm going to have a point system - 5 points for chores or doing other things they are asked to do, like getting ready in the morning. And points lost for any time they misbehave or get sassy with me. Whoever has the most points at the end of each day gets to pick a bonus slip out of a jar. The bonus slips are easy things kids like to do, like stay up a few minutes late, have donuts for breakfast, or go for a flashlight walk after dark. Hopefully that will be a good motivator for them.

Anything else???

PS: Sorry about the clumped up formatting. I've fixed it three times, but Blogger insists on eating all my nice paragraph breaks - erk!


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My husband and I joined a bowling league. I'm thinking this was an enormous mistake because I had forgotten how much I stink at bowling! As I've been sitting there in between my turns, I've been putting together this list.

You know the old saying "You never have a second chance to make a first impression". This is an undeniable fact. In the book Blink, Malcolm Gladwell did some tests and determined that people make up their minds about a new person in one fifth of a second and typically it takes a lot to change that initial impression.

The tough thing about that is that you can't control much about what happens in such a brief time frame. If it happens that quickly, it isn't about the things you say or do particularly. It's entirely based upon your physical appearance - not just your your clothing, your hairstyle and your makeup, but also about your confidence, your general bearing, and your overall attitude.

These are pretty much all things you can control to some degree, which means you can have a lot of influence over the way you are perceived and the way people are going to treat you.

I think it's the same with your house. Your yard, your front door and your entryway are all part of that first impression someone gets when someone comes to your home.

Why not go out and look at your house the way a Real Estate agent would look at it? Is there trash in your yard? Do your flower beds need weeding, or your snow and ice need to be removed? Are there kids toys, shoes, or garden tools by your front door? How long has it been since you swept your front porch?

There are a number of quick and easy fixes you can do to make that first impression a good one, both for your house and for yourself. We just don't think to do them, or we think somehow that people just "won't notice". But I think that's just something we tell ourselves. I think a lot of people do notice, but they are too kind and polite to want to hurt our feelings by telling us.

Sometimes just a few simple changes like a touch of makeup, some inexpensive jewelry, and maybe a slightly dressy top can not only make a difference in the way we look, but also in our attitude and the way we feel about ourselves. Same thing with your house - a few new pictures or decorations can make you feel a lot better about your home.

I can just hear you now, "but I LOVE my comfy sweats, my broken-in jeans and my old worn out shoes". "I'm just going to be with the kids all day, why should I bother to put on makeup or jewelry"? I know exactly how you feel. I work from home one or two days a week and I know that on those days, I tend to "dress down" a bit from what I would wear into the office.

But wouldn't you know it, those grungy days when you are walking around with unwashed hair, or your husband's old T-shirt on, or pants with a big stain on them, those are the days that you are going to sneak out to the grocery store or the post office and run into someone you weren't expecting to see. Your child's principal, your minister, or someone from your husband's office.

Do you remember Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman? She went into those fancy shops and because she was dressed so poorly, the women felt perfectly entitled to be horribly rude to her. I mean, this is Julia Roberts. Even dressed so poorly, she was a complete knockout with a gorgeous smile and a killer bod, but in the wrong clothes, no one could see her beauty. Her clothes were sending a message she didn't intend and that's the same message a neglected, messy house sends to people.

You just never know. So, even on those stay-at-home days, I still have some minimum standards. I wear a little bit of makeup - at least some mascara and eyeshadow. I may wear my comfy, casual clothes, but everything is clean and fits properly. If I notice something is getting too tight, or is too baggy, or needs repairs beyond a safety pin or two out they go. I have a special give-away box in my guest room and they go right in there. Someone else will give them a good home and enjoy them.

So, your challenge today is to take a moment and give a bit of thought to the first impression you would give someone if you just met them today, both for yourself and for your house. Is this an impression you would want to live with, or would you rather make a few quick changes to start off on the right foot?

Come back every Monday to see my Clutterbugs posts. If you'd like to see some of the past posts, just click on the Clutterbugs tag at the bottom of this post

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For Blake's birthday last week, we took him out to dinner. We asked him what his favorite restaurant was and after a little thought, he decided he wanted to go to the Golden Corral. For those of you out-of-state - it is an inexpensive, all-you-can-eat buffet, which means it has a pretty specific clientele. I go for the people watching more than the food.

I think it's funny that Blake wanted to go there because he is the most "petite" eater ever. I think he had a slice of pizza, three mini corn dogs, two helpings of salad with the little ham cubes he loves, and a dish of ice cream - with gummy bears.

The gummy bears are the key. Our older son Matt got bored and snitched a couple of his gummy bears - not to eat, but to play with. He started by doing a brain transplant on two of them with a butter knife. Then he did a leg transplant. And a heart transplant. Then he got fancy. He did a multiple personalilty transplant (that's the tri-colored one on the right side). Then he started grafting them onto other types of candy. That's how he came up with the gummy bear unicorn and the hammerhead shark gummy (at the bottom).

I'll tell ya, with an imagination like that, this kid will never be bored! But honestly, can you see the resemblance? He's obviously MY son, isn't he? Adorable weird, that's my boy!



They are quite a pair - these boys of mine!

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When we were at Bloggy Boot Camp, one of the gifts we were given was an iGo Charger. They said to take it home and try it out to see if we liked it and if you like it, to consider doing a product review on it. Well, the bottom line is - I like it a LOT, so even though I don't often do product reviews, I wanted to do this one.


To start off, I wasn't even the first to get to use it. You know how it is when you have teenagers in the house - they can't keep their cotton-pickin' hands off any new piece of technology. I hadn't even left the airport from my Phoenix trip before my son asked to borrow it. I hadn't even had a chance to take it out of the box. Darn kids!


Although he had a good reason. The following weekend, he was going with our church on a Habitat for Humanity trip down to New Orleans to help with some post-Katrina rebuilding. Since he didn't know exactly what the accommodations were going to be, he wanted to be sure he had a reliable charger for his iPod and cell phone. For a guy his age, his cell phone and iPod are the stuff of life and you can't take a chance on getting caught with a dead battery.




The nice thing is that the iGo Charger can charge multiple devices at the same time without an outlet. It has two USB ports and you can charge a variety of devices including iPods, phones, video games, and even my Kindle. You can purchase individual tips that attach to the end of the cord, so it will fit whatever configuration of plugs you need. It comes with one 6' cord, but you can add a second if you like to charge two devices simultaneously.

What I do is plug my iGo Charger into a wall outlet for an hour or so and then I just toss it into my purse. Then when I get to a point where the battery on my phone, DS2, or Kindle is getting a little bit low, I just plug it into my iGo and hit the power button - voila! My battery starts charging up. Depending on the device, I can get a couple of different charges out of the iGo before I have to plug it into the wall again.



If you want to reduce your carbon footprint, this is a painless and easy way to do it. These iGo Chargers reduce standby or "vampire" power by up to 85%. Plus it comes in so handy in situations like this weekend's Casual Blogger's Conference when I was in the middle of an auditorium and didn't have access to an outlet for my regular charger.

Check out the iGo website for a variety of travel chargers and ones you can use in your home as well. They have some good options for a reasonable price.

Disclosure: I was provided with an iGo travel charger to review.

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