We Interrupt this Festive Season

For an important announcement!!!! 

I have found a calendar / planner that I love! 

Now this may not sound like a big deal to some, but it’s huge for me.  I am a bit obsessive about my choice of calendars. 

For years I did the Franklin planner thing…. the whole priortize 1, 2. 3 and the dot for in-progress.  Well, I just stuck a 1 and a dot by everything — so that means everything is of the highest priority and in progress.    I assume writing on my list puts anything in progress — if I’m thinking about it, it’s in progress, right?   I don’t think that’s how it’s supposed to work.

I gave up the Frankling planner thing when I left the corporate world like a hundred years ago….I just wrote notes on the hangy calendar in the kitchen.  I didn’t have to priortize — I just did it. 

 When  my writing / speaking picked up and I started working with a non-profit, I had to go back to using a planner.  I tried not using one, but people get really peeved about missing deadlines — geez.  Anyway, back to the point….. which is planners or calendars.  Planners make me nervous, just the word is uncomfortable.  When someone says,  “let me check  my  planner”  I  almost expect some little leprachuan to pop up with a pen and a notepad and reel off a list of things to do.  

So, I’ve struggled for years trying to find the right planner.  I stuck with the little binder style for a while — but who needs two pages for one day?  Seriously, if I’m that busy I need a personal assistant, not some little binder.  I went to the two pages per week and that was pretty good — but I don’t like bulky binder. 

I went to the month at a glance calendar, because I found myself using only that part of the high-dollar binder refills.  That worked okay, but that’s not quite enough room. 

I tried Time Mine Calendars and these are really nice.  I tried the Life_time.mine and the time.mine calendars — I like them, but they weren’t perfect.  But I definitely recommend you checking these out if you love a paper calendar / planner. 

I was test-driving the two time.mine planners (and yes, I do test drive my calendars / planners — it’s a commitment of a whole year, I have to know we’ll work well together) when I stumbled across my new FAVORITE calendar (okay, planner). 

Blue Sky Imagination –  this one has it all.  Two page month spread, followed by two page per week spread and tabs for the months!  So perfect for me!  I was so jazzed that I wrote the company a thank you note. 

So,  it’s December 22nd and I finally have my 2009 planner!!  I’m so thrilled.  I was starting to think I would have to settle or possibly go to a Palm Pilot or something like that.  I love techy stuff, but not my planner.  I want it to be on paper so I can touch it and scribble all over it. 

Announcement is now complete — go back to your Christmas shopping, wrapping, and party going.  Have a wonderful today! 

And I hope that you, too, find the planner of your dreams! 

 

December 22, 2008 | Filed Under fun stuff, organizing stuff | 2 Comments 

The Joy of a New Purse

Don’t you just love a new purse?  I just got a new one.

It’s not just a great new accessory, although that is a nice part, it’s the possibilities that it symbolizes.   Not that I’m all into symbolism, but you get my meaning, right?

  I just love it when I pull out all the tissue paper and look inside.  It’s clean, neat, and ready to help me be that organized, together kind of girl I really want to be.  The pockets are flat, zipped up and ready to serve.  The more pockets the better.  I love that the newer bags have a zippered pocket on one side, the non-zipper pockets on the other.  I think these are for a PDA and a cell phone.  I have a cell, but not a PDA.  I use the PDA pocket for flat stuff (business cards, etc), at least in the beginning. 

The first few days of that new purse is so wonderful and light weight.  I’ve streamed lined all the junk  garbage non-essential items from my old bag.  Over the course of time, I accumulated 12 ink pens in all shapes and sizes, 5 high lighters in various colors, several mechanical pencils, and an assortment of post it notes (need all colors, you never know when you may need to post it in a specific color).  That’s just the writing stuff.

Then there’s the other junk , stuff, oh, it’s just junk.  The receipts that seem to accumulate in the darkest corners of my purse.  I’m just sure that I’ll never need the receipt for a Diet Sunkist and a Snickers (and before you ask, I save calories with the Diet Sunkist that I quickly consume in the Snickers. It’s a good trade in my opinion.)  Then there’s the other receipts, like the ones for mustard, a bag of ice, pasta, and grapes.  Why did I keep that one?  Another one of those “Who Knows?”  questions.  I don’t remember what this list was about, and I’m almost afraid to find out.

There’s also the strange items that take up residence in your purse.  Why do I have bottle caps?  Not the “Look you’ve won” caps, just caps.  No bottle. 

What’s with the spool of thread?  Trust me, if I have a hem come out, I’ll tape it up, staple it up, or create a new look with paper clips, but I’m not likely to stitch that baby up if there’s an easier way to go.

Then there’s the stuff that I need:

reading glasses (much needed on those low light days, which have nothing to do with the light level and everything to do with me),

travel toothpicks — who knows when the mood to pick your teeth just might strke

Lighter — I don’t smoke, but I may need to light a candle … I guess . . .

Phone headset — never used it but you never know when the mood just might strike and I need to listen to my phone music via headset immediately.

Tide to Go pen and Shout wipes — I’m messy, what can I say.  But I always forget I have these and have to live with the stains, but I’ll keep hauling this stuff around.

Change — I keep enough change to buy groceries for a week and pay entirely in coins.  Never know when you may need $12 in change, right?

Hand sanitizer — I have the mini bottle, maxi bottle and the spray, now of which I can ever find in my purse.

Powder – I need to look good, enough said?

Lipstick — stops me from looking like I died last week

Hairspray (mini can) — need to tame the beast — often.

Notebook – need this for writing down all those incredibly creative ideas that hit me at odd moments

Post it notes — of course!  You never know when you might need to post a post it note

But I streamline as I load up the new purse.  I only want a few things, but what can I leave out? 

Hand santizer — I’ll just stop touching people and stuff, maybe I’ll take up wearing gloves.

Stain remover stuff — seriously, do you think I use this stuff.  I just stain my clothes and put a pin over it (decorative, safety, whatever works). 

Reading glasses — okay, I don’t really need to read stuff that much.  All I’m usually reading is a menu or the back of a food package.  I don’t need to know that there are 14 grams of fat in a half cup of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and when I’m at a restaurant, I can  just point at the pretty pictures.

 Hairspray — I’ll just spray the heck out of it and be done with it.  Can we say helmet hair?

Change — drink machines take bills and almost everyone takes my debit card (daughter included)

Toothpicks — a business card works in a pinch

Ligther — gone, if I need fire that bad I’ll call up a boy scout

Headset — gone

Notebook — I’ll just hold those creative thoughts or write them on the post its

Now, I have it the new streamlined purse.  It’s light weight, it’s without all the junk that bogs it down.  All that non essential stuff.  It’s easy to carry, easy to find stuff in and I feel so organized. 

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could do this with our lives?  Just cut out all the junk that weights us down and keep only the essential stuff.  We could hold on to our life in Christ, focus on our faith, leave in the Bible study, drop off the ball park concession stand committee (how’d I get on that one anyway), dump the stuff that bogs us down. 

 When you pick  up your purse next time think about your life — is your walk with the Lord what it should be?  Are you spending time with Him each day? Are you seeking His face?  Calling out His name? 

Or are you bogged down — like an over weighted purse.  Is your life full of receipts, bottle caps, safety pins, and paper clips — all that nonessential junk that keeps you busy digging through your life for the good stuff.

 Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.  Colossians 2:6

 Make room for the Lord — overflow with thankfulness, not stuff. 

November 2, 2008 | Filed Under Uncategorized, organizing stuff, random ramblings | 4 Comments 

Praise for the Post-it ® Note

How do you stay organized?  Do you have a great planner that keeps you in line?  Or something more detailed?  Me?  I’m organizationally challenged  and I believe that  Post-it® notes are the only thing between me and complete organizational doom.

 Post-it ® notes are a personal favorite of mine.  I have so much respect for the Post it ® that I’m even putting the little trademark r beside it.  I’m also doing this because I don’t want a letter from the 3M people telling me to take down my Post it ® blog.  Companies with trademarks get really persnickety when you mention there product in a generic fashion and without the trademark thingie and since the Post-it® is truly an original unlike the Kleenex ® tissue (which is the way it must be written according to the brand police, but that’s another post for another day).

 First, let me lead off by stating – I do not like the imitation sticky notes, like I said the Post-it®  is an original.  Those sticky notes are just not the  the same.  Now, I have quite a few and I do enjoy them on ocassion,  but I can’t depend on them the way I depend on a Post-it ® note. 

 Here’s a sampling of my current stock – I also have the full-size magnetic list which is a personal favorite, but not in the picture..

 These little notes are my answer to keeping order in my life. I keep notes to myself stuck to my computer, to do list stuck to my desk, nail appointment info stuck in my calendar, addresses stuck in my purse, and just general things stuck around the office (home and work).

 The official 3M history of the Post-it® notes attributes the idea of using sticky glue on strips of paper to Art Fry – Art was singing in the church choir when the idea came to him.   I love that this is the official 3M story and they use the words ‘church choir.’  Not something you hear much in this politically correct world we live in.  Go 3M! 

These little notes help me out in so many ways. The color and the shapes bring a little fun into my life and onto my desk.  It makes my to-do list more fun to write, not that I’m going to actually do all the stuff on the list, but  it’s much more fun to not do the stuff on a  hot pink note.  

Post-it® notes end up on my steering wheel with cryptic messages like:

cof crm (buy coffee creamer)

tx! (pay taxes)

dntl appt (make a dentist appointment)

 These little notes are a dream comes true for the organizationally challenged.  There’s so much you can do with them:

  •  Identify desk piles by color coded  Post-it® notes.  Pink -  file. Orange – read later. Yellow – pass it on. Purple – working on. 
  •  Keep important phone numbers handy – Post-it® note on the computer screen.
  •  Reminders to yourself – Post it® stuck on your collar and you’ll notice it when you look in the mirror or someone in the grocery line asks “what’s that for?” Either way works.

 Post-it® notes are also a part of my spiritual life — yes, you read that right — my spiritual life. I use them in my Bible and I write verses on Post-it® notes and I stick them where I need them.  Some are stuck inside my desk drawer – open it and find:

These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. (John 15:11)  

Look above my keyboard:

So then neither he who plants anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.  (1 Corinth. 3:7)

 Look on the desk:

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. (2 Corinth 4:7)

 Here’s a favorite that is posted by my monitor:

Humble yourself before the Lord and He will lift you up.  (James 4:10)

Post-it® notes keep me organized and God-focused – that’s a whole lot  of work for some little scraps of paper with a bit of sticky.

 So, I want to hear your ideas for staying organized and God – focused – how do you do it?  What works for you? 

 Click that comment button and start sharing!

July 29, 2008 | Filed Under busy, organizing stuff, random ramblings | 5 Comments