Have You Read Any Good Books Lately?

I love attending book chat. Each month, a group of women in my neighborhood read the same book and then meet to discuss that book. One of us volunteers to host the chat in our home. We enjoy good conversation, laughter, snacks and wine. It's such a wonderful activity and is very interesting to hear many different perspectives and opinions on the same subject.

It didn't start out this way though.

During the first few months I began attending, a designated person in the group would search the web for pre-made discussion questions for that particular book. For instance, during the discussion of the book Cane River the following question was asked:

_______________________
Cane River was a community with both rigid hierarchies and notable exceptions to these hierarchies. Do you think that Cane River's historical divisions of class, race and gender have contemporary parallels?
_______________________

What???!!!

Very often, as with this one, these questions produced blank stares from everyone present. It was really a struggle to get a good conversation going, and I could immediately tell that more than half of the people involved were very intimidated by the level of these questions. After all, we were attending the book chat to have fun. We didn't want to feel like we were all taking the SAT!

After a few months, we decided to forego searching the web for these difficult questions that nobody could answer and just wing it. We all came to the chat and each person would try to think of something interesting about the book and just blurt out her opinion if she had one.

We soon discovered that it's very difficult for most people to come up with thoughts off the top of their heads, so there were a lot of uncomfortable silences. It really didn't work to not have any guidance at all.

After thinking about this, I decided to come up with a standard form including a list of questions that anyone at the chat could easily answer.

1) I really liked/didn't like this book because

2) My favorite part of this book was (and why)

3) My least favorite part of this book was (and why)

4) My favorite character in this book was (and why)

5) My least favorite character in this book was (and why)

6) One question I had about this book was

7) I feel the author who wrote this book was trying to get this message across

8) This book affected me on a personal level because

9) Did this book change your opinion of a certain person or topic? If so, in what way?

10) On a scale of 1-10, 1 being low and 10 being high, I rate this book a

We all have this form as we're reading the book, so we can easily jot down any notes pertaining to the questions ahead of time. It gives us a guide so that we can all think for a few minutes before the actual event.

Nowadays, the chats are just wonderful. One person reads the first question, and everyone answers going clockwise around the room.

The result: No more blank stares and lots of sharing from everyone. It's amazing what a difference one little form has done to make our monthly book chat an event that each member looks forward to attending.

This is definitely a more organized, fun way, to hold a book chat.

By the way, since the book chats started, I've read the following books. The numbers proceeding each title are my personal ratings on a scale of 1-10 (1 being low and 10 being high):

The Good Earth by Pearl Buck (10)
Stolen Lives by Malika Oufkir (8)
Vinegar Hill by A Manette Ansay (4)
A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines (6)
Cane River by Lalita Tademy (7)
My Point, and I Do Have One by Ellen Degeneres (1)
Love, Lucy by Lucille Ball (8)
The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks (8)
Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes (5)
The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus (9)
Ice Bound by Jerri Nielsen (9)

If you currently attend a book chat or are thinking of starting one, feel free to use my questions for your discussion if you like.


For hundreds of free organizing tips,
visit Get Organized Now!

My Stupid Trash Can

(Click photo to enlarge.)
For the past few years, I've had a
stainless steel, cylindrical trash
can in the kitchen, Originally, I
really thought I liked it. But after
using it for awhile, I discovered I
really hated it.

First of all, it was a bit too small for our needs.

Second, the full bag of garbage would be so tight against the sides of the can, that it caused a vacuum effect, making it difficult to pull the bag of garbage out. You had to pull the bag with all your might and risk ripping the handle ties while doing so.

Third, since my toddler loved to look at her reflection in the stainless steel surface, it constantly attracted her attention. That meant her fingerprints were easily seen all over it.

Three strikes, you're out.

I've been on the lookout for a better solution for awhile now, and just found one in a JC Penney catalog. I ordered it, it arrived today, and my husband already put it together.

It's a very nice piece of furniture--yes, my trash container is actually a piece of furniture! You pull the door forward to reveal the trash bag inside. Plus, it has a few cubbyholes and racks for storage.

I'm glad I took my own advice--never keep anything that truly annoys you. Replace it, and your day will be a whole lot more pleasant!


For hundreds of free organizing tips,
visit Get Organized Now!

A Little Bit of Information Can Go a Long Way

My husband, Joe, and I were invited to attend a wedding this past weekend. The invitation read:

With joyous hearts we invite you to attend our wedding on Saturday, the twentieth of August Two thousand and five at five o'clock in the afternoon
Zion Episcopal Church
135 Rockwell Street
Oconomowoc WI

(Names have been excluded to protect the guilty.)

The reception invitation read . . .

Reception
Fairview Sports Bar
711 W Racine Street
Jefferson WI 53549

Many of the guests, including us, assumed the reception would directly follow the church ceremony. You know what the old saying is about why you should never assume, right?

Anyway, we hired a babysitter for the evening and attended the church ceremony which was just beautiful. After the ceremony, we drove to the sports bar for the reception.

Upon our arrival, the reception room was strangely empty.

After a few moments, we met up with the DJ who was setting up. He informed us, to our surprise, that the reception was not due to start until 8:00PM -- nearly two hours from our arrival time.

This tiny bit of information would have been most helpful if it had been included on the reception invitation.

Since we were nearly two hours early for the reception, we decided to drive somewhere for a light bite since we ASSUMED that dinner would also be served at the reception.

We pulled up to Andy's Diner, just a few blocks away from the sports bar. Lo and behold, we met up with some neighbors of ours who moved away a few months ago, so it was great fun to catch up with them, and we had plenty of time to do so.

While we were looking over our menu, another couple walked in. They recognized us from the church ceremony and sat right behind us. Like us, they were also unaware that the reception was going to be at 8:00 and they decided to have a bite to eat also.

Joe and I were planning to just order coffee and pie, so as not to spoil our appetites.

Luckily, the woman from the church sitting behind us just happened to say, "I was just talking to someone in the wedding party, and he told me they would just be serving appetizers at the reception, not a full dinner."

Another bit of information that would have been good to know from the start.

Soooooo, Joe ordered the turkey dinner and I ordered the fish dinner. We both enjoyed our meals and relaxed. The time went by fairly quick and we were soon on our way to the reception.

When we arrived, everybody was there, except for the bride, the groom and the bridal party, who just happened to be enjoying their limousine and some champagne before the party (we later learned). They arrived around 9:00 or so.

Needless to say, we had to call our babysitter and make arrangements for her to stay later--much later than we originally intended. She was understanding and we ended up enjoying the rest of the evening. Many of the guests we spoke to said they were also misinformed about the late start time and were unaware what would be served at the reception. So, it wasn't only us.

Which leads me to my point, which is that sometimes just a tiny bit of missing information can cause a great deal of confusion.

If the reception invitation would have read something like this . . .

Reception
Fairview Sports Bar
711 W Racine Street
Jefferson WI 53549
8:00PM
Appetizers and Drinks will be served.

. . . it would have been perfectly clear and there would have been no confusion at all.


For hundreds of free organizing tips,
visit Get Organized Now!

Christmas in August

People often ask me how I could be so relaxed and stress- free during the month of December, while others are frantically trying to get all of their Christmas tasks done at the last minute.

My secret is simple. I get many of my holiday tasks started in August, and work on them up until the end of November. Basically, except for holiday food preparations, I'm done with my Christmas tasks by Thanksgiving.

This includes buying and addressing our holiday cards, gift shopping, gift wrapping, writing our annual family newsletter and decorating.

As a matter of fact, I received my Current Catalog the other day. After flipping through it, I chose our Christmas cards and ordered them. Being that I wanted them personalized with a short holiday message and our names, they're going to take 4 weeks to arrive. But that's OK. In the meantime, I can print up the address labels and work on some early gift shopping while I await their arrival.

Whether you participate in Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, the Winter Solstice, or another event, the basic rules apply no matter what holiday you're celebrating.

I'll probaby get notes from some of you who will tell me you can't possibly get into the holiday spirit this early. Others will say it's fun being in crowded malls in December or Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve.

That's OK. To each his own.

But once Thanksgiving is here, I'll be spending the frantic, last minute holiday rush at home with my family, doing things like sitting in front of the fireplace, sipping hot chocolate, reading 'The Night Before Christmas', enjoying our decorated tree, roasting chestnuts and watching 'It's a Wonderful Life.'
For hundreds of free organizing tips,
visit Get Organized Now!

Magazines and the Inevitable Onslaught of Renewal Notices

When my mail arrived yesterday, I received renewal notices for three of my magazine subscriptions, each giving me a special offer if I renewed my subscription for another year or two.

One offered two years for the price of one, one proposed a special discount, and the third offered a free gift subscription for a friend, all with my paid subscription renewals.

While I read and enjoy the magazines I'm currently receiving, my interests do tend to change over the years. For instance, when my husband and I first built our home, I was really into home decorating magazines. My interest has lightened up a bit in that area now that we're done decorating our home for awhile, and now I'm very interested in scrapbooking and card making.

Therefore, I'm hesitant to renew my subscriptions too far in advance. I don't want to end up paying for and receiving a magazine in the future that I will rarely or never read.

Actually, magazines know that people's interests change. That's one of the reasons why they send out their renewal notices early in the first place--to get you to renew while you're still interested.

Magazines Are Smart, But Tricky
When most people receive a renewal notice, they understandably assume that their subscription is about to run out, and that they must renew now if they want to continue receiving it.

But actually, most magazines send out renewal notices very early, often YEARS before your subscription is actually due to expire. That is tricky, isn't it?

As a matter of fact, one of my associates unknowingly renewed her business magazine subscription all the way up to 2009!

Did you know, however, that you can tell when your subscription really runs out by looking at the area of your magazine where your name and address information is printed? It's usually on the cover and is either a stuck-on label, or is printed right on the magazine in a white box.

Sometimes the information is cleverly hidden, but if you take a good look, you're almost certain to find this information.

For instance, on my Real Simple Magazine label, there is an area that reads

401WI00 A JUL 06 0019# 129946-06

Do you see the JUL 06 in there? That means I'm paid up until July 2006. And they're asking me to renew today.

On my Newsweek Magazine, it reads

#NWM0114063001/9#76 14AUG06 N1 R

If you look closely, you'll see I'm paid up until August 14, 2006 (14AUG06). And they're asking me to renew today.

On my Woman's Day Magazine, it reads

#6AC0611A095 1#750328 4Y AP1 07

Can you guess what the AP1 07 means? That code signifies that I'm paid up through April 1, 2007. And did you guess? They're asking me to renew today too. That's clearly two long years before my current subscription ends.

Therefore, whenever I receive a renewal notice, I always take a look at the latest magazine to determine if my subscription is actually coming to an end, or if the magazine is just trying to get me to renew years earlier than I want to.

If it's the latter, I just recycle the renewal notice. I don't renew unless I'm a few months away from expiration. In waiting, I can decide if I'm still interested in reading that magazine and if so, I can just send in my renewal notice then. Otherwise, I can just allow the subscription to run out.

Also, I want to mention that some magazines are even trickier. For instance, Better Homes and Gardens sends my magazine in a plastic sleeve. The address and subscription information is on the plastic sleeve which promptly gets tossed in the trash--which means I don't have access to the information I need. What I do in this situation is write the expiration date on the back cover of my magazine before I throw the sleeve away, so if I do get a renewal notice in the mail, I will know when the subscription is actually coming to an end.

With this information, you'll have the knowledge you need to renew when you want to.


For hundreds of free organizing tips,
visit Get Organized Now!

Something is Fishy Around Here

Mike, a neighbor of ours, went on a smelt fishing trip with his friends in Northern Wisconsin. The guys all stayed in a cabin together and had to fend for themselves for their meals.

Tom, one of the men on the trip, volunteered to prepare the smelt for dinner. Everyone agreed. Later that evening, a big, deep bowl of smelt was brought to the table for everyone to enjoy.

When Mike took his first bite he thought it tasted strange. When he looked around the table he could see that everyone else was thinking the same thing. Not wanting to insult their friend and his cooking, and seeing that the beer was flowing pretty freely, they shrugged their shoulders and finished off the whole bowl.

Tom, glad to see that the first round of smelt was gone, proceeded to bring another full bowl to the table.

A few of the guys exchanged glances and finally Mike, who couldn't contain himself any longer, said, "Tom, I appreciate you making this meal. But I have to tell you-- this is the WORST tasting smelt I've ever eaten!" All the others around the table agreed.

Perplexed, Tom said, "I can't understand it. I used to watch my mom make this all the time when I was growing up. I'm sure I did what she always does. First I rinsed the smelt, then I dipped them in the buttermilk. I then coated them in the flour. And finally, I fried them up."

After a brief pause, Jack, the owner of the cabin said, "Wait a minute! We don't have any flour!"

Tom said, "Sure you do. It's in the cabinet above the kitchen sink."

Jack said, "Show me."

All the guys followed Tom into the kitchen. He opened the kitchen cabinet door and said, "Look, it's right there in that white bag."

Jack, suddenly getting a sickening look on his face, exclaimed "Tom, that's NOT flour -- that's TILE GROUT!"

Mike related this true story to us one night at a neighborhood party. As you can imagine, everyone in the room nearly fell off their chairs laughing. Thank goodness, nobody got sick and Mike now has a very funny story to tell.

Now, as you know, I have to relate everything back to organizing, because it's just in my nature.

First, I wondered why the tile grout was being stored in a kitchen cabinet in the first place. It should have been stored with other household repair items.

Second, because the tile grout was not properly labeled, it was mistaken for flour. Thank goodness this story didn't end tragically with someone getting seriously ill.

Household compounds, when taken out of their original packaging and put into canisters, containers or bags, could easily be mistaken for something else--like food.

When storing something, always keep safety in mind. For instance, you may have to store something you would normally keep in a lower cabinet such as detergent, a bit higher when you have young children in the house. Be wary of storing very heavy items on top shelves. If they fall off the shelf, they may injure someone. Take the time to think of the best place to store.

And most important -- CLEARLY LABEL anything that may be mistaken for something else, or just so you know what it is in the future. It's always better to be safe, than sorry.


For hundreds of free organizing tips,
visit Get Organized Now!

Hot Dogs, Cream Puffs and Herman's Hermits

(Click photo to enlarge.)
Riverfest is a big, annual festival in
Watertown, WI. There are bands, rides,
carnival games and food to entertain the
crowd.

Last night while at Riverfest, my family and I went to see
Herman's Hermits, a group popular back in the mid 60's.
The crowd at the outdoor concert couldn't resist singing
along to Mrs Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter, I'm Into
Something Good, Henry VIII and other tunes too numerous to
mention. If you're interested in learning more about
Herman's Hermits, here is their web site:
http://www.hermanshermits.com

Although I was born slightly late to see this group in
their heyday, I remember their songs well from the radio
station my dad would play in the car as I was growing up.

Joe and I really enjoyed the concert and we both think it's
amazing that our 18-month-old daughter not only enjoyed
this performance immensely--she danced and clapped for the
entire hour and a half show--but she'll know these same
songs well as she grows up. Some music can be so timeless
that it spans the decades.

Of course, all of this excitement really worked up our
appetites. The way it works at Riverfest is you purchase
food and beverage tickets in advance from one ticket
seller, and then you pay for your food and drinks at all
the individual eateries with tickets.

In doing so, the individual vendors don't have to worry
about handling cash and giving out change, the lines move
quicker and the customers don't have to pull out their
wallets every time they want a cream puff or a soda.

Unfortunately, as a customer, you never really know how
many tickets to buy, and you never want to end up with
stray tickets when you're ready to leave, because you can't
be reimbursed for those tickets not used.

One thing you could do is walk around with a pad of paper
and a pen to figure out what you and your family plans to
eat and drink--or try to calculate in your head--and how
many tickets that's going to cost. But that's a bit of a
pain, because each vendor is spread out all over the
festival grounds and who really wants to comb the entire
place just to figure out how many tickets they should
get?

Joe and I kind of looked around a bit and figured out the
approximate number of tickets we would need, and we only
ended up with one stray that we ended up giving away at the
end of the night to another festival-goer.

Anyway, I was thinking that it would be such a nice service
if the festival organizers would have put together a simple
one sheet list--an index--of all the food vendors, the
names of the four or five food or beverage items that each
of them were selling, and the number of tickets required to
purchase each.

In doing so, each and every person would be able to see all
the goodies available at a glance and everyone would have a
tool to tally up exactly how many tickets should be
purchased so no money would be wasted.

This concept can actually carry over to your everyday life.
For instance, you can make an index for all of the files
stored on your computer or you may keep a running list of
the food that's currently in your basement freezer.

Why waste time searching, when you could simply glance at a
written index and find what you're looking for immediately?

Everything else at the festival was very organized, and
this one extra step would have made it perfect.

It just goes to show that you can always learn something
new or find room for improvement, even at an local
festival.

P.S. For you Herman's Hermits fans, Peter Noone was
excellent!


For hundreds of free organizing tips,
visit Get Organized Now!

Keep a Traveling Journal

On the drive home from a friend's house a few month's ago,
my husband, Joe, spotted a restaurant that looked
intriguing. At a glance, we both thought it might be a nice
place to dine at sometime.

I immediately pulled out a small journal we store in the
passenger side pocket and jotted down the establishment's
name, location and some general notes about why it looked
interesting.

The entry looked like this:

----------------
Blew Inn Restaurant
Hwy 60, approximately 1 mile west of Hwy 26
Chinese and American Cuisine
Looks Kid-Friendly
----------------

This journal is a helpful travel companion that's always on
board, ready to give us restaurant suggestions whenever
we're in the mood to eat out.

We also use our journal to help us remember details about
parks, stores and attractions we want to visit, or that we
may visit again in the future.

In the past, we used to see someplace that we thought would
be fun to visit. We'd say, "The next time we're in this
town, we'll have to come here." But without writing it
down, we rarely remembered to go back.

Now, Joe and I refer to our journal often on the weekends.
Instead of wasting time trying to remember, we just open
our traveling journal and skim through possible options.

Because we wrote about it in our journal, we did end up
trying out the Blew Inn Restaurant. We enjoyed it and added
additional information to our original entry after the
evening was over.

----------------
Enjoyed the Shrimp Fried Rice and Chicken Kow.
Very casual atmosphere and dress.
----------------

What a handy reference, and a great way to remember to get
to all those interesting places!


For hundreds of free organizing tips,
visit Get Organized Now!

Be the Ruler of Your Phone

Here we were, just sitting down to dinner, and our phone
started ringing.

My 18-month-old started tapping me on my arm as if to say,
"What's wrong with you mommy? Don't you hear the phone
ringing? Why don't you pick it up?"

I glanced at the phone and decided to just let our
answering machine field the call.

When I was young and the phone rang, I was taught to pick
it up, say hello, ask who the caller was, ask the caller's
reason for the call, and pass the phone on to the
appropriate family member.

On the contrary, when my daughter is old enough, I'll be
instructing her NOT to pick up the phone when it rings.

My husband and I used to pick up the phone every time it
beckoned. Some calls were family and friends who just
wanted to chat. Sometimes this was fine and other times we
would have preferred to finish what we were doing first
before these conversations took place.

Other times, the calls were from companies trying to sell
us something we didn't want, organizations asking for
donations, companies that wanted to survey us, political
solicitations, and other such calls that neither of us
had the time or the desire to answer.

Quite some time ago, my husband and I agreed not to answer
the phone every time it rang.

First, we ordered Caller ID from our phone company. Now,
when someone calls, their name and/or number pops up on our
Caller ID display right on our telephone. We can quickly
identify who's calling and decide if we want to answer the
call right now, or not.

Second, we signed up for our state's 'No Call List.'

Third, when a call comes in that we don't recognize on our
Caller ID, we let the call go into our answering machine.

Most calls that are unsolicited, hang up when our machine
kicks in--which is fine with us. If the caller didn't feel
leaving a message was important enough, it was obviously
not important for us to pick up the phone in the first
place. If the caller leaves a message, we then have the
opportunity to call back later if we choose.

Even if we recognize the number, we don't necessarily pick
up the phone. For instance, if we're in the middle of
dinner and my mom calls, she leaves me a message. I can
then call her back later and still eat dinner while it's
hot. She now uses the same system.

We can hear the person's voice as he or she leaves a
message on our machine, so if we do detect an urgency for
us to pick up the phone, we can do so in the middle of the
message.

This system has totally eliminated any disturbances during
dinner, important projects or even those times when we
just want to watch a movie without being interrupted.

We live in a culture that has ingrained in us that every
call, every email, every tap on the shoulder, every
interruption must be attended to--and attended to
immediately.

In most cases it just isn't true.

This is why so many people feel like they are being pulled
in a hundred different directions each day, and have
difficulty staying focused on the important things in their
lives.

That's why I say, "'Be the ruler of your phone. Not
the other way around."

For hundreds of free organizing tips,
visit Get Organized Now!