{ ME-time }

I don't know about the rest of you but it seems as though in the summer ME-time is almost always replaced with Family-time or Keep the kids occupied-time or host visitors from out of town-time. One of the things I look forward to in the fall is a return to routine and the ability to schedule in some more pockets of self-care. We all need to create within our day time that matters to us. I try to spend 15 minutes at the start of each day prioritizing how I spend my time. What I need to get done. What matters the most. What I want the rythm of the day to bring. Its not that there aren't times I'm an over caffeinated under downward dogged kind of girl...there are. During those times, everything catches me off guard and I spend all of my time putting out fires. And I find myself saying that I have no time for what really matters to me.

Fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes is fifteen minutes. Spend that time doing something that matters. Spend that time on YOU. Spend that fifteen minutes organizing your head for the day in whatever manner you like...perhaps you are a list maker like me. Spending fifteen minutes prioritizing your time and poof, the fabric of time will abundantly provide for you and all that matters to you.

Once I am able to do this I notice immediately, that I find myself on my yoga mat more frequently, reading to my kids more often, sitting in meditation daily.

Treat yourself. Plan your day. Start now. You have fifteen minutes. Go.

{ fresh start }

I love, love the start of a new school year. And one of our favorite traditions is the end of the summer great purge. We give/throw away what we no longer need, and clean and reorganize what we do use. We spend several days over break doing this. Its so good to start the school year off with a fresh, clean slate...and creating space for new ideas & time for new activities, etc.

Anyone else love to purge at the start of a new school year?

image via peg and rail

{ organize ME }

Lots of requests for sneak peeks of my weekly planner so here it is before things are scratched OUT and filled to the brim. You can click on the images to enlarge them. I keep this on my desk on a clipboard and can cart it around with me when I have meetings or do errands.

What I typically do is keep our family schedule (trips, doctors appointments, visitors, etc) on Google Calendar. I also keep my LobotoME meetings & trips as well as our other business commitments on Google Calendar as well - typically up to a year or more out. Both my husband & I and our employees have access to this calendar. I can also access it via my phone. Then on Sunday's I will fill in a week or two of momME planner weekly sheets with our day to day stuff and transfer google calendar information in.


I am a very visual person and I need to have everything written down or it gets forgotten during the brain fog moments. I also plan out our weekly meals; schedule in what my workouts will be and when and schedule blog posts using one of the empty row's on the bottom.

I also love how my friend Maureen uses her momme planner to schedule out blocks of time during the day for work & mom stuff. And here are some more {day in the life of ME} guest posts that you might enjoy!

Let me know if you have any questions! GO!

{ organize ME }

Sneak peek at my weekly planner...more on this next week!

{ bucket list }

We've been adding lots of fun adventures & ideas to ours of late. Things like, travel around New Zealand with the kids in a VW Camper Van for 3 months. It's fun to dream, no?

We made a FREE Life List download available exclusively at See Jane Fly. Download it here.

What's on your Life List?

{ organize ME - emergencies }

One of the things that has been on my never-ending to do list forever is to have car & home emergency kits. I am generally not one to lose sleep over things such as a pandemic or other global crisis since they are out of my control but I would like to be a bit better prepared. Ya know in case the world does start to come to an end? Or in case the mother of all snow storms knocks out power to our lovely abode for days on end. My darling dad gave me a great car emergency kit for Christmas for all of our road trips & travel - with space blankets, crank cell phone charger, water, space blankets, one of those uber cool tools that breaks glass or cuts seatbelts off, etc. So I'm good there, thanks to him.

But now onto the home emergency kit. I know various people will recommend having a 3-6 month emergency supply of food, water, firewood, etc. But seriously if "S&%#" is that bad then we've got more problems than that to worry about. So, I'm aiming for a 30 day supply of food, water, firewood, etc. I started a list here of all of the things to gather and am going to set about getting the rest of them this week. It may involve me having to go to Walmart. ugh. But I bet I can find a lot of the stuff here and at the thrift store. I am thinking that to save myself some sanity I will just order up one of these 30 day emergency food supply kits (that last for 20+ years) from here. This site also offers up what looks to be everything you need to survive an apocalypse.

ps - And before you all think I've lost my mind, even the uber-cool Design Sponge recently did a post on a winter survival planning + supplies. ;)

What about all of you? Ready or not?

{ organize ME - toys }

Inspired by Jordan's post last week about toy storage, this weekend I tackled the kids play room. Henry hadn't really been able to play in there much because Sam's art supplies (glue, scissors, paints, etc.) and all of her beading supplies were out where Henry could EAT them. So, I spent some time decluttering, putting art supplies in the closet or on upper shelves where Sam can get to them and Henry can't and putting Henry's toy in reach for him. I dropped off 2 boxes of old toys to the women's shelter and tossed 2 bags of broken crap.

So, this week's organize ME challenge is to go through your kids toys - put like minded stuff together in bins, donate stuff the kids no longer play with - pare the piles down, make little areas or bins for different activities (eg. art table or a bin with art supplies, a dress up station or a bin with dress up clothes). Resist the urge to go buy things - wooden toys to replace the plastic ones you are sending to a new home, new bins to store more toys, etc. Make this project about simplifying not acquiring. Here are some more great tips on how to cut the toy clutter.

{ family fun - LOVE week }

The family fun theme this week is LOVE. We started this weekend by making valentines for Sam's classmates and homemade granola for her teachers. This week we are are going to have heart shaped snacks (watermelon, cheese, sandwiches, etc.), make glitter hearts, make pink playdough, do some valentine's learning activities (counting heart shaped candies) & coloring pages and deliver some heart shaped brownies to our neighbors (spreading love). On Valentine's Day we will have heart shaped pancakes for breakfast and make heart shaped individual pizzas for dinner. The kids will get little pink & red suitcases filled with crafts & games. {ps - Love these 40 ways to show your child LOVE.}

{ organize ME - family fun }

I've written about this before....how I try to plan a fun family activity, lesson or outing once a day and schedule into my momme planner....sometimes this is as simple as a craft project after school, sometimes its an outing to the rec center and sometimes its something that requires a bit more planning, like a family olympics. We also just reinstated our family rule of no TV or computer games during the school week. So after school it has helped having something planned for in advance so Samme doesn't ask to watch a movie or play a computer game because she's "bored." {I'll post more about the no TV rule soon.} Anyway, I gather up all of the goodies on Friday and put them all in a bin on the table so we are ready to go each day.


This delightful site that I posted about last week inspired me to plan some of this family fun around a weekly {theme}. I like this idea and think it will help me plan our weeks a bit better.
For any given theme you can have the kids do crafts, read books, cook food, enjoy imaginary play, listen to and play music, sing songs, make art, go on field trips and all sorts of other activities that help them absorb and enjoy the information about the weekly theme.

So this weekend we started the {Snow} theme. Here are some ideas for building some family fun into the week around the theme of {Snow} - build a snowman, make felt snowman, create marshmallow snowman, make snowman pancakes for breakfast, make glitter snowflakes to hang from the window, read books about snow, etc.

Next week we are starting the {Love} theme and on the weekend we'll make valentines cards for classmates, valentines bracelets for grandmas, afterschool we'll make glitter hearts, have heart shaped snacks, decorate the windows with hearts, make a heart mobile, make heart pancakes for breakfast, read love books from library, learn about the heart, spread some love, etc.

The following week or two will be an {Olympics} theme to coincide with the start of the winter Olympics - we'll have a family olympics (sledding competition, go skiing together, snowshoeing, swimming, etc.), make olympic ceremonial torches and paint olympic flags, mark on a map where the different countries are, watch olympics competitions together at night, etc.

{ organize ME }

This weeks goal is to organize your health stuff! Medical records, insurance papers, doctors numbers - this information should always be easily accessible.

1) Put all of your doctors numbers into your cell phone and post on a bulletin board at home for caregivers. Also enter in an ICE (In case of Emergency) contact info into your cell phone.

2) Schedule annual appointments - One of the things I do each January is schedule all of my annual appointments for April (my birthday month) - I get them all out of the way in one month - eye exam, annual pelvic exam, mammogram, dentist, skin cancer screening, bloodwork, oncologist visit, etc.)

3) Create a filing system - I have a folder on my desk for each family member that has medical records, bloodwork results (to keep track of how they've changed over time), the kids immunization records and our immunizations for international travel. And then I have a folder for our family health insurance plan, bills, policy notifications, etc.

Here are some recommended tests and the ages for which they are recommended for found via WebMD. (note - other than for all of my annual screenings, I aim to NOT go to the doctors office by staying healthy! We do have a family doctor and a naturopath doc we see if we get sick. We also have a family eye doctor and a family dentist. I get colon cleanses done once every few months and Will sees an accupuncturist when needed. Staying healthy is the key. Preventative care is the key.)

Blood pressure Measurement (at least once every 2 years): _______
Cholesterol Test (starting at age 20, at least every 5 years): _______
Blood Glucose Test (starting at age 45, then every 3 years): _______
Thyroid Test (starting at age 35, then every 5 years): _______
Eye Exam (every 2 years or as needed): _______
Skin exam (every years. also do a monthly self-exam for any changes to moles, etc.): ______
Dental Exam & Cleaning (once a year): _______
Colonoscopy: (starting at age 50, every 5-10 years): _____
Breast Exam: (at annual exam in addition to monthly self exams): ______
Pap Test & Pelvic Exam (starting when sexually action, annually): _______
Mammogram (starting at ach 40 or sooner if at elevated risk): _______
STD Screening (starting when sexually active, annually): _______

Image via Flickr

{ where work happens }

My home office is the workspace of the week on Unclutterer today!

{It is certainly not lacking "color!" But I spend a lot of time in here at night (after the kids are in bed) so I like it to be bright & cheerful looking!}

{ organize ME }

Check out Karen of Karina Ink's weekly organize ME planner (don't you just love her handwriting)? Get your own organize ME planner here.

{ top 5 organizational products }

I'm over at Kotori today guest posting about my Top 5 organizational products! Come visit ~

{ hoME office }

I do most of my work/work out of my home office...Shipping happens partly from here and partly from our warehouse down the road. I love my workspace - lots of great light, right off the kitchen/dining room area, etc. Samme has a chair and space to do art projects, homework, etc. although we tend to do most of that in her playroom or in the kitchen.


and in the interest of keeping it REAL around here (a picture of my non-domain...the garage).... YIKES. I need the garage to be more like my office above - clean and organized. So this is the project I'm working on this week (in my free time)....what are you working on this week?

{ organize ME - the fall routine edition }

You've heard me moan about how crazy busy my life is. That I can't seem to get ahead of myself...ever. There's a whole lot of fun, stress, joy, overwhelm, adventures, and very little control. I've been trying to figure out this past year what can I let go of? What can I turn over to someone else? What can I change? How can I do this better? How can I be a better mom? How can I find more simplicity? How can I be more in the now? How can I get more joy and less stress from this crazy non-structured life of ours? And how can I find acres of grace amidst chaos?

As much as I love my life, as much as I wouldn't change a thing, as much as I am thankful for all of it, I still have this very urgent sense that I need to somehow find a successful way to insert more structure into my everyday life and find a way to take something OFF of my plate. I want to have loads of time to volunteer at sam's new school; I want to be the one picking her up everyday afterschool with homemade snacks just like my mom did. I don't want to send henry to daycare. I need to be here...I need to be the anchor point of our home. We've been discussing all sorts of ideas - from part-time in home nanny for henry (decided i couldn't part with the little guy); to hiring a part-time personal assistant to help with shipping, errands, mailings, customer service, etc.; to selling one of the businesses. We've been throwing all options out there. We have hired a General Manager for our Boat business which we are really excited about. And that definitely frees up a chunk of time for Will (and a little bit of mine) but we still have more to LET.GO.OF.

I was reading Simple Mom's blog a few weeks ago and she posted about her daily routine...with certain time frames designated for homeschooling, house duties, writing, work, etc. I was partly envious and partly entertained. Clearly something like that would not work for ME, right? With 3 businesses and 2 kids, there is not a whole lot of consistency on any given day not to mention over the course of a week. But, could I implement a more detailed routine into my day that would help control the chaos more? And with Sam now in Kindergarten, this seemed to be a good time to attempt to.

I KNOW I'm not the only person working from home who struggles with schedules and creating structure (especially with all of the distractions so readily available to us) or asking for help, so I thought I would share what I've been doing lately to get my life organized, structured, simplified, efficient. We are taking baby steps in making things a little less crazy. The last thing I want to do is miss out on life by working all the time.

Anyway, I've created a super realistic daily schedule....I'm going to be more productive (and less distracted) during work hours (about 8hrs/day, 3 days a week) - these hours come in from various times (before the kids wake up, while henry naps during the day and during the evening)...and not blow off my most important tasks. {The most important items of the day are in boxes on my weekly momME planner.} A fun family/kid thing is planned for each day (eg. playdate, trip to the pool, family walk after dinner, time on the trampoline, etc.) But not too much activity just a splash of fun into the day. And we eat dinner together EVERYnight. And I'm going to continue to be balanced with self-care and play during non-work hours. Work hours are broken down to specific days/times for marketing, to-do lists, shipping, running errands and so on. I've made a list of must do daily tasks, weekly tasks, and monthly tasks (related to personal and biz) and I've written them all out accordingly on my Bite ME edward notepad (and then transfer daily & weekly ones to accomplish onto my momME weekly planner). Friday night is Family Movie Night, Saturday's are for getting together with friends potluck style and Sunday's are chili, family hike & football days.

I deleted the blogs I follow from 100+ to ~20. Harsh but a lot less distraction. I deactivated/deleted my facebook account...again. I only ship orders 3 days a week. I increased the inventory I have available so I have to deal with press runs/press checks less. I am waking up earlier to continue to have some quiet yoga & meditation time and 30 minutes to get my daily internet fix (news, blogs, personal emails, etc.) before the kiddos are up. I am going to kickboxing 2x a week and one yoga class per week (more if possible). When the kids are home and awake being a mom is what I am doing. I fit in my exercise (either kickboxing, yoga, TA workout video, bike ride or run) smack mid-morning when Henry is napping and when I have the most energy. I meal plan and grocery shop once a week. I divide my household duties into one big item a day. I organized my shipping area so all of the supplies are readily and easily available. I am saying no to more things. I am only scheduling one play date for the kids per week. I am volunteering one set morning a week at sam's new school. I am only allowed to read twilight books after everyone is in bed (and some other "bed" related things have been taken care of...TMI? ;-)

I've also got Sam on before school/morning & afterschool routines using these FREE cute printable charts for kids from Living Locurto.


Also, we've been dreaming big and planning big over at our house. Sometimes that helps make all of the work appear worthwhile, right? I'll share more on this later. We decided we needed to shake ourselves out of the end of summer doldrums - something big to look forward to. Will & I sat down and listed out some grand adventures we'd like to have in the next few years (with & without the kiddos, but mostly with) & some grand goals to accomplish (and of course our upcoming Mexico jaunt sans kiddos!)

Anyway, sorry for this jumbled, rambled post... what are your fall routines? What works for you & your family?

{ fall purge }

Out of clutter, find simplicity.
- Albert Einstein

Won't you join ME this fall season, in getting rid of STUFF?

I really find that Fall & Spring are good times to sort through the endless amount of STUFF we have and get rid of it (either via ebay, craigslist, freecycle or donating it). It's a good time for a fresh start and the weather is still good enough to open up the windows and air out the house. Clearing space makes room for new (new simplicity, new peace, new routines, etc.)

It’s time to declutter our home + my life...again... what about you?

Turn on some music. Make your family help. Get 3 large boxes (sell, donate, recycle). Hit your closets. Yank out all kinds of old clothes that don’t fit or are out of date. Get ready to donate or sell. Go through your bookshelf and DVDs to do the same. Clean out under the beds and inside the drawers. Clean out the inside of your refrigerator and pantry and get rid of the crap (and the mold). Go grocery shopping for healthy items to re-fill it with. Clear out a corner of a room for space to put down a yoga mat. Clean out a spare bedroom to turn into a playroom for the kids. Rearrange your desk and bookshelves to make it feel like you have more space.

It sounds kind of silly but I always feel that if everything around me is more organized, other things will start falling into place.

image via potterybarn

{ organize ME }

A great article in the Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal this weekend entitled "To mesh paper, digital calendars, moms get creative" by Kathy Flanagan who interviewed me last week about LobotoME goods.

{ organize ME - the back to school edition }

How are school mornings in your home? Crazed and chaotic, or calm and cheerful? Plan ahead to send your {rested} schoolchildren out the door in a happy mood with a healthy breakfast.

I've been talking to my friends recently about how we have been trying to get our kids on a {school-time} bedtime & wakeup routine. This summer Sam's sleep time has been 9:30 or later until 7:30+am. But now she needs to be at school at 7:40AM and rested...so we've been gradually putting her into bed earlier & earlier and waking her earlier. The first day of school is no time for a drastic adjustment of household sleep schedules. Instead, ease children back into a school year routine gradually. During the last two weeks of summer, re-introduce a school year bedtime. Begin waking late sleepers earlier and earlier, closer to the hour they'll need to rise when school begins.

Here are some things I do to help tame the morning madness:

Each evening, I think ahead to the following morning. I set the breakfast table and get a healthy school lunch & snack packed. I set Sam's alarm, we pick out an outfit together and lay it out. I put school stuff and after-school gear in a bag by the front door.

Cut time in the kitchen: create a menu plan and never again wonder "What's for lunch or dinner?"

We set up 2 schoolwork stations (one in the kitchen and one on her desk in my office with extra supplies).

Limit after-school activities....kids need time to be at home and have free play and downtime.

Plan a special back to school dinner or breakfast (or both) and spend time talking about the new school year and what your expectations are {kindness to others, respecting & listening to the teachers, etc.}

What do you do to make the school morning routines go smoothly at your house?

{ organize ME }

Here is a great pic of some LobotoME goods in use in Denise's home office. Thanks for sharing Denise!

{ organize ME }

One of the projects that I've been working on from my to do list is to purge & organize our master bedroom closet. I set up a shoe rack (and am donating any shoes that don't fit on it - it holds ~ 25) in order to par down the # of shoes in there. And I bought 120 wood hangers...so once they are all used up, the rest of the clothes have to go. I figured that was a good way to limit down the amount of clothes I have in there. I found a great deal on wooden hangers on ebay...

I'm inspired by Nicole's bright & cheerful closet (see pic above) over at Making it Lovely...aren't you? I will have to do before & after photos of mine, which won't be as lovely but WILL be less cluttered and disorganized. Not to mention most of my clothes are jeans and black dresses! :)