Radiohead

I have an exciting announcement coming soon!

Here is a hint!

Organizational Specialist?

This week a local group invited me to attend their organizational seminar. A real, live organizational specialist was going to speak. Having a good friend in this group, I thought that I would go to do a little socializing and maybe pick-up a tip or two.

I enjoy organizing closets, drawers and the such. Do not confuse organizing with cleaning. Cleaning is not my thing. My home is pretty well organized except for occasional spruce-ups. I enjoy organizing so much that I have offered, even pleaded, for the chance to help a friend who is planning on organizing her basement. I hope she takes me seriously.

This organizational expert displayed all of the wonderful things that we could buy to organize our homes. Plastic buns, plastic totes, plastic envelopes. Plastic, plastic, plastic crap! The entire seminar seemed like a big infomercial. "Buy this and you too can be organized." The women attending furiously scribbled notes looking for a way to simplify their busy lives.

After the seminar I raised my hand to suggest that maybe people should stop bringing more stuff into their homes as a way to get organized and make life easier. I even suggested ways to cut back on catalogs and financial offers. The pens were flying. The speaker was scowling. The idea of making our lives more simple could put her out of business.

If you too are interested in cutting down on the stuff that comes into your home, check out these two great website. Visit Catalog Choice and those unwanted catalogs will stop arriving in your mailbox ASAP. OptOut Prescreen is another free website. Just register all of the adults in your home and kiss those annoying mortgage and credit card approvals goodbye.

For anyone out there looking to get and stay organized, my not-so-expert advice would be to keep it simple. Your clutter will expand to your area. So lots of bookshelves or plastic totes may not be the answer.

In my house we have a few organizational tricks that are working great!

• Keep a few vertical folders in the kitchen for all of those papers that come into the house. Each person/action gets their own color.
• We have four small drawers near the back door where each person can fill their own drawer up with all of the mittens and hats that will fit.
• In the basement each person gets two memory totes for yearbooks, baby shoes, report cards, art, etc. When your totes are full then it's time to purge.
• There is a donation bin in the basement. Just one bin. When you outgrow something, toss it in. When the tote is full it's time to take a trip to the Salvation Army.

So, we're not perfect. Things get cluttered and messy. For the most part I'm happy when we can all get out the door remembering backpacks, mitten, dance shoes and coupons. Every day remind me self to KISS. Keep It Simple Stupid!

Little Gruppies

As a New Englander, I realize that change can be tough. Personally, I like my historic buildings and blue laws. I wonder if that same love for all things familiar is the reason why so many people are resistant to making changes to their environmental footprint?

The kids of today are different. So many of them have grown-up learning about ways to save the earth as part of their school's curriculum. Their morning cartoons present ways for kids to make a difference environmentally. Even the kid's menus at certain chain restaurants have an earth theme. Showing respect for the earth is simply how kids of today are growing up.


Litter rates could be proof that kids are making a difference. The Hartford Courant recently ran an article about America's dwindling litter rates. Two percent a year since 1970. Does anyone else remember the segment on Sesame Street back in the late 1970's/early1980's where a little cartoon boy talked about what would happen if everyone littered? For me, as a child, that short segment was powerful. Today's kids see those type of images and messages constantly.

One example of a kid who automatically thinks about his impact is my Little Guy with his Halloween candy. After he ate a box of Dots, he broke down the tiny box and placed it in our paper recycling bag. Little Guy thought that everyone automatically recycled their tiny boxes.


My Girlie once went diving into the trash during a play date to recover a diaper that another mummy was throwing out. She had never seen a disposable diaper and thought that a cloth diaper was being mistakenly trashed.

Another example is my son's friend, Laura. The two met back when Little Guy was two and Laura was eight. Laura was so sweet with Little Guy and would play endless games of cars and piggyback while waiting for their sisters in dance class.




This year Laura entered a new elementary school. This school has a ton of great after school activities like ropes course, violin and basketball. The school also offers a club called The Green Team.

Laura signed-up for the Green Team and luckily snagged a spot in the popular club. Now Laura and her friends are busy meeting once a week to devise ways to become little environmental activists! Their first goal is the school and then they want to move on to the community. Lofty goals for a group of ten and eleven year-olds.

What would our plant look like if say, my mummy had a Green Team at her school? What about if I had a Green team.

Best of luck to all of the little Gruppies out there! The rest of us are counting on you.

Get With Green Review

A few days ago the friendly guys at Get With Green asked me if I would review a zero VOC paint for their review blog. Since I recently repainted my bathroom a shade of friendly yellow, this was an easy one for me.

Get With Green is a great resource if you are planning on remodeling or building a home. Please take a minute to check out the blog and as a bonus you can see photographic evidence of just how messy of a painter I really am. Thank goodness that blogging doesn't require fine motor skills.

Today I Almost Saw Hilary Clinton

No matter where your political views lie you have to agree that Hilary Rodham Clinton is an extremely intelligent and well-spoken woman. That is the big reason that Girlie and I trucked into Hartford to attend Clinton's town meeting this morning. I want her to grow-up to be a strong woman who relies on her brain.

Girlie skipped school this morning to travel with me to the town meeting. As soon as we got off at the Capitol exit in Hartford the police presence was apparent. We slowly snaked though Hartford until we found a parking spot about a block away from the town meeting. Girlie and I hopped out of the car at just 9:30, when the doors were slated to open. I don't think that anyone in Clinton's camp expected the turnout that she got.

The line was thousands of people deep and moved ever so slowly. We, of course, stood in a cold shadow. After waiting forty-five minutes or so we were all told that the venue was at capacity. Girlie and I bucked the trend and got up as close to the doors as possible. Long story short, we waited in the overflow room for some time and eventually left.

My Girlie had a question to ask Hilary Clinton. Girlie wanted to know how Ms. Clinton was going to clean-up the earth. She was a little sad that she never got her chance to ask her question. Two nice college-aged women helped Girlie feel a little better when they offered her a Clinton sticker.

Today Girlie got to see politics in action. We chatted with others in line around us. Some Clinton supporters, some not, some one the fence. We saw a few protesters. Got interviewed by a Yale student and even saw someone in handcuffs. Girlie learned more this morning than she would have at second grade this morning.

Lick Your Lips

I am a gruppie. That means that I like to look cute and wear lipstick while keeping my body and the earth healthy and safe.

Over the years I have worn tubes and tubes of lipstick. Finally it dawned on me this summer that I had no idea where the lipstick went went it disappeared. Does the worn lipstick fly in the air back to some unknown lipstick factory in the sky? I must have been eating all of my lipstick! Seriously gross.

So, I smartened up and tossed all of my fancy smanshy lipstick tubes and compacts. I performed my usual Google search and found the Skin Deep: Cosmetic Safety Database. Basically you can type in any brand, name or category of a health or beauty product and they will rate it on a scale of 0 to 10. Then, Skin Deep will tell you about all of the horrible diseases and reactions that your product can cause.

WARNING: This site is addicting. You will put in every health and beauty product that you or anyone in your family has ever used. You will be horrified. You will call your Mummy and beg her to toss her bar of Lever 2000 soap. It has a seven rating and can cause endocrine disruption and cancer. My new soap, made by Kiss My Face has a zero rating. Beautiful.

After the soap, I started by looking for a lipstick with the lowest possible number I could find. Most of the lipsticks with ratings of one were only available in the UK and Australia. Damn you UK and all of your wonderful products!

Finally, I found a company out of California. Afterglow Cosmetics lipstick rates a measly one. A huge improvement. The brand I was using before has a sky high rating. I was practically insured that it will cause some horrible disease in my future.

Remember when we used to chose makeup brands because they didn't test on animals? Then it we had to worry about foreskin testing? Now it is dangerous chemicals and additives. What is a busy gruppie to do?

Verbose Giveaway

Dolphyngyrl over at Verbose Means I Ramble is giving away two sets of wonderful, handmade beauty products. Take a second to check out Dolphyn's funny and edgy blog and maybe you will win some carrot cake soap for yourself.

Black honey soap, peppermint foot cream, carrot cake soap....Is it lunch time yet? I'm getting hungry.