BusyBodyBook Blog

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BusyBodyBook Organizers

Selected as 2009 top 100 Great Gifts

Hybrid Mom Magazine!

Look through the Digital Version.

Plan and coordinate your multiple and hectic schedules

with the award winning

"Side by Side" Weekly GRID format

Fundraisers Flock to BusyBodyBook

A new school year always means fundraising.

The current economy is also wreaking havoc on our school budgets creating even greater need to raise money for invaluable curriculum, activities, after school, and resources to help our children achieve, progress and enjoy.

Fundraisers and parents, fed up with the traditional fundraising products, are now turning to other and more essential products and BusyBodyBook has become a sensational, win-win for school and other organization's fundraisers.

Busy we are and busier we become.

Organizing our lives and family time, ever an issue, requires products that deliver... and without it costing an arm and a leg.

BusyBodyBook seems to be the answer to a mom's prayer - easily and efficiently organizing her multiple schedules, providing the easiest and best view of potential calendar conflicts, and helping all to remember their own important dates and obligations - also preventing overbooking - a no-no for the kids and  today, our family budgets.

And,  earning 40% of sales,  fundraisers reap the reward of offering parents, congregations, members... an item they REALLY need. Imagine that!

Any parent or organization may request our Fundraising Program info by emailing us at fundraising@busybodybook.com.

It's easy - which is what BusyBodyBook is all about!

It's About Your Time!

Back to School, Work, Dieting, Exercising, ....the Summer's going, going, gone!

Back to School - the "new" New Year

The New You?

Getting ready to kiss summer good-bye?

Resolving to do everything better? Start early but

think, then think again!

The Kids

• Get the kids on a back to school sleep schedule - earlier
• Set up a routines for homework, afterschool playtime, activities
• Lay out clothes the night before
• Establish rules for:  homework, TV, computer, texting,
• Create an age appropriate and fair chore chart
• Establish allowances
• No texting during family time

You

• Set up carpool arrangements
• Establish lunch box menus
• Cook & freeze dinners ahead
• Join (only one) PTA committee
• Say "no" lovingly
• Schedule family medical/dental appointments
• Go to bed earlier
• Wake up earlier to exercise
• No phone calls during dinner
• Clean up your office daily
• Organize and coordinate schedules (with BusyBodyBook, of course!)
• Determine who will be responsible for upcoming holidays and start thinking about arrangements

A Back to School Makeover?

The Bottom Line! Respect YOURself, YOUR priorities, needs & limitations

• Don't set yourself up by expecting and doing too much! Respect everyone's limitations
• PRIORITIZE:  Choose the most important routines to establish and make a daily/weekly todo list
• Ask for help from friends, spouse, family, neighbors
• Schedule time alone and with your spouse or friends every week. Not only do you deserve it, you need it.
• Say "No" to too much: To volunteering too much, spending too much, ...
• Organize!

Believe this!

It's up to you to establish your goals, understand your limitations & communicate.

Others, the kids, relatives, or friends, most likely do not have your same goals or your interests at heart. If saying "No" does not flow from your lips easily, simply let them know that you'll have to think about it.

The new school year brings cheers, tears, the need for more structure and all the ensuing turmoil after the loosey-goosey summer. Take a deep breath, a longer breather if necessary.

Think twice before making promises, signing up, emptying your wallet, ...  hone up your negotiating skills and compromise.

TIP: At dinnertime have everyone put their phones away in another room. Nothing is more important than the time spent with your family.

More back to school organizing tips at The Examiner and here too

3 Lucky Winners of the BBB "A Moving Experience" Contest Are...................................

Thanks to everyone who posted at our BusyBodyBook "A Moving Experience"  Contest! Your stories -  scary, pathetic, or laugh out loud, let us know that we're not alone in our misadventures. No matter how well we plan,  moving is never flawless, pretty much always eventful, sometimes ugly! Go ahead! Read some of the moving escapades of others to sigh a little, laugh a little - maybe help YOU the next time you're contemplating your next move.

From flying underwear, ants, sick kids/pets, no matter how near or far we move you can just count on something going awry.  And, in spite of our promise to NEVER move again, there's ALWAYS a next time! Oh well, life's a day after day happening, thank goodness ! And, thank goodness for the friends, family and neighbors who happen with us!

SO.... now on to our winners!

Congratulations to

Manda,

Tracee Wood, and

Chrysta

Please claim your prizes!

Email your contact info to joan at busybodybook dot com

with your choice of your ever dependable BusyBodyBook Organizer!

Won't promise that your BusyBodyBook prizes will prevent every moving debacle - but  it will definitely help you align your thoughts; list your todos, stay on top of the details, coordinate the planning!  Fingers always crossed,

Plan better with this most amazing organizing tool!

Now THIS is DEFINITELY FUN! A DIY Makeover!

Just found TAAZ.com where you give yourself a COMPLETE diy makeover - from hairstyle (and color!), eyes, lip shade, to teeth whitening, you name it!

Takes a little playing and tweeking with your uploaded photo but I just printed out my new hairstyle to show my stylist tomorrow.

How Freaky is THIS?

 

Once you've found your ideal or favorite colors you can also purchase from the selection of branded cosmetic products suggested to match your choice.

A "Virtual" one-stop-shopping experience without lifting your behind from your chair. Wish it were that easy with diet and exercise!

 

" 'It's' SO Liberating," she said.

I wish I could recount all the times in the recent past when I heard a friend, acquaintance or other exclaim  " 'It's' positively liberating!"

I'm not one to have felt the shackles that much of humanity has felt, or my peers for that matter. I spend much of my time in jeans, without makeup and, to be honest, I often walk out of the house with wet hair, the first glance at myself for the day in my rear view mirror. I do clean up rather well when need be but I dress down even better.  And so I'm finding this statement  plain humorous.

Just tonight Judy, having decided to spend a "oneymoon" (my coined term for time alone) weekend and forgo the college visit with her teenager and husband exclaimed how liberating it was to be dining alone on China Cola and pretzels by herself - no cooking, order-in, dishes... - my friend who I rely on for her astute movie and theater reviews was home watching reruns of CSI.

Jen felt free to announce to an office full of us just how liberated she felt going barefoot in her winter boots every day.

"Rain. Lost the third umbrella this week. Who cares anyway - I have a hooded sweatshirt," Julie said last week.

Maybe it's a 50-something phenomena. All the more surprising since we  grew up in the mid to late 60's rebelling against everything!

Maybe we all could use seats to the revival of "Hair" to help remember and  forever peel off our Spanx, breathe better, and "Get over 'IT' !", once and for all. That's liberation.

A Mom Forever!

From the moment we think of becoming a parent  the inherent joy we feel at the prospect, the process (what fun!), the months of waiting for his/her/their arrival, their birth, - and every minute after, there are countless, sleepless nights.

I smirk when moms of newborns relate their one wish for one full night of slumber - when the baby finally sleeps through the night and the dark circles under their own eyes have the chance to fade.  

The other day as I followed Jake home after purchasing his first car, I remembered those first nights when Jake, finally sleeping through, found me hovering over his crib listening for his breath. I will attest to the fact that it does get better...

But now, this child of mine, who I taught  to stay on the sidewalk when his ball rolled into the street, whose scheduled playdates became driving lessons in my BusyBodyBook, is now behind the wheel of a car - and  so we continue to teach him the little, but hopefully indelible lessons that I know only experience can now offer.

As I drove behind him my only, lifelong prayer was that he would be kept safe.

I'm up at night again - a few (or more) gray hairs later. We are parents forever - teaching thoughtfully, applauding their triumphs but ever-concerned about our children's welfare. Our work may diminish as the kids navigate adulthood - our joy still boundless. Forever worried, we are forever parents. It 's part of the job.

Seventeen years later I'm back to napping!

Our Moving Mishaps - Best Laid Planning

Thanks for all the great moving in/moving out posts!

I feel a LOT better. After reading so many posts, I get it -  that no matter how organized we try to be there is truly no way to insure that there are no moving day mishaps. Kind of like any life experience... we vow to "NEVER make THAT mistake again," but invariably some other lesson is bound to crop up or, like child birth, we forget the pain for the pleasure of another!

But... perhaps there's something that we can learn from anothers' mishaps -  stories that will stand out and help us all the next time. Even more than the great BusyBodyBook prize that three of our readers will win, there's a lot of humor, insight, and aha! moments that have been shared.

Thanks again for helping us all laugh a little, learn a little (a lot), and feel better about ourselves!

Come back for the BusyBodyBook Moving  Story Contest winner announcements on July 1st!

Movin' In: First Day Confessions & CONTEST!

 

Wish I had packed myself in a carton, taped and labeled it
to ship off to some exotic island.

I did start off organizing everything, room by room, carton by carton but  the day before the van pulled up (and same day) the last of the last kind of got thrown in to the remaining cartons, the trunk and back seat of our car. Everything made it over to our new home - almost everything.

Since we've downsized some had to go to a storage unit - that's where the chaos began. Some cartons ended up in the wrong place - I'm not sure how  the carton labeled "Jake's Computer - OPEN" got buried behind the furniture in our storage unit but two days and several $$$ later the movers had to unpack the unit in order to find it. BIG UGH!

As a parent  the very last thing you want to lose, even temporarily, is your kid's computer.  I did manage to keep this a secret until we found it - couldn't handle the inevitable outcries and additional stress.

More to come:
 The "still missing",
We're still disoriented,
And I'm still fantasizing living with Jake, the two cats, and a laptop in Bali. Think I can find a "hot spot" on the beach?

BusyBodyBook's "A Moving Experience" CONTEST

Three readers can win a new 09/10 or 2010 BusyBodyBook with a post of
"A Moving Experience" (funny or nightmare) story here. Winners chosen June 30th!

We're on our way to a beautiful spring.

It's been a VERY long winter! And while March can be an unpredictable month we've weathered and survived some pretty tough storms; the days are already noticeably longer, and springtime is a budding tribute to what I most earnestly believe - simply that
"Nothing EVER stays the same - everything changes."

   Even tempestuous March brings hope for kinder and gentler times. On March 8th we can delight in even more light thanks to Daylight Savings. We'll lose a precious hour of sleep but with the promise of the coming of spring on March 20th, I say, "SO WHAT?!" It seems that's what nature is saying too. I'm noticing some daffodil heads already poking through the ground and it's not even March!

   Of course, there's always St. Patrick's Day on the 17th. You don't have to be Irish to celebrate the green!

   Have you noticed yet that the racks of snow shovels, piles of ice melt, and rows of snow blowers are giving way to garden tools, mulch and barbeques? It's my favorite transition!

   While you're pining away for warm breezes start thinking about the colors that you can bring into your home - bright, cut or potted flowers and plants will inspire the gardener in all of us - so, take out your BusyBodyBook or download our March Weekly GRIDs to begin planning your garden. Take the kids to the garden center to choose seedlings to nurture and grow in a pot - or, help them pick out their own and sunny (or shady) spot to plant a perennial later in the spring that will forever bloom and be their own.

   We have a lot to look forward to. Don't wish the last of winter away quite yet - let these last weeks help you prepare for the best to come. Smile. Beautiful days are on the way!

  And don't forget to but new batteries for your smoke detectors!