Leaving the house with two kids

Today I completed my first by myself out-of-house adventure with my toddler and my baby. I wanted to write it all down for myself so I can remember the steps of this quasi-routine for the future. I did not really plan ahead for today's outing, except to set my alarm, and somehow the cards fell into place.

Here's photographic evidence of our excursion:

Here, now, for your amusement, an account of my nearly two hours of preparation for a 45-minute toddler music class:

7:33 a.m. Human alarm clock (aka baby) goes off seven minutes before my iPhone is scheduled to wake me up. Oops, false alarm. Baby just let out a cry and put himself back to sleep. Still, I rush downstairs, turn on the coffee maker, get out a bottle for Natalie, fill up the diaper bag while waiting for coffee to brew. Put cereal in a snack trap for toddler, fill up a sippy cup with water and ice for toddler, grab more newborn diapers for baby, pull my wallet and keys from purse, fill up my water bottle, and add all those items to the diaper bag. Finish just in time to pour myself a cup of coffee.

7:43 a.m. Baby and toddler are still miraculously asleep, so I turn on shower and hop in. I manage to even do my hair when...

8:05 a.m. Baby is legitimately screaming now, and I'm at least partly dressed, so I go grab him.

8:10 a.m. Bring baby downstairs to nurse while I drink coffee and watch Today Show.

8:30 a.m. Baby is done and sufficiently burped and has even drifted back to sleep. Put baby in bouncer seat that is upstairs in our master bedroom. Take bottle to toddler who of course wants to read books in her crib. She reads while I put on a shirt and brush my teeth. I also lay out all needed diapers and clothes (even remember socks!) for baby in nursery and toddler in big girl room. I run downstairs, Ergo, Ergo infant insert, baby's hat, and diaper bag in tow to throw in the car during this rare moment when neither child needs me.

8:40 a.m. Time to dress toddler. She wants to take her bunny (aka her "lovie") out of her crib. Then she wants to put him back in the crib with his friends. Then she wants to analyze all the colors of all her new socks.

8:50 a.m. Baby's still sleeping, so I take toddler downstairs to put her hair in ponytails while she watches videos on her YouTube channel. I make it through "Five Little Monkeys" with her and then set up the videos on autoplay. I run downstairs to grab toddler's coat, scarf and shoes, then put them on her while she watches the "Old McDonald" video. As I rush upstairs to change the baby, I hear toddler say, "Please may I watch more videos please?" (this is a new, shocking development -- the complete sentence, polite request) and, with perfect timing, the next video in the queue comes up. Wish granted!

8:55 a.m. Baby has an especially dirty diaper and isn't pleased to be aroused from sleep. He's especially not pleased when I put his onesie over his head and cram his tiny, refusing-to-bend arms through the long sleeves. He wears a pair of socks for the first time. Those Trumpettes are amazing. They only sort of fit, but the elastic is so quality that they still don't fall off his miniature feet. I grab baby's burp cloth, and oh, yes, baby, and head downstairs.

9:07 a.m. I tell toddler it's time to leave for music class. "NO!" she whines. I say, "OK, well, then Baby Adam and I are going to music class and you can stay here." "Natalie go to music class too, please!" she whines. "Great, then follow me," I say. I open the baby gate while holding baby, toddler grabs my hand (she's finally getting the hang of going down stairs but still needs assistance at least some times). Toddler makes it down about three steps before letting go of my hand, so I go ahead and put baby in car seat. With perfect timing, by the time baby is in car seat, toddler is all the way downstairs. I get toddler into her car seat. I run back inside to get my shoes. As I'm getting into the car, I realize I'd like a scarf but decide it's too much trouble. I reach into diaper bag to hand toddler snack trap full of cereal and sippy cup right as toddler says, "Blue and red cup!" Eureka! Another wish granted. Then toddler asks for Rufus, the teddy bear who spends 90 percent of his life in our car. Rufus, though, came inside two days ago and has been residing in the living room ever since. I'm not going back inside. So, I say, "Rufus didn't make it. Sorry." Yes, I tell my toddler the teddy bear is a casualty of this morning. Ha.

9:12 a.m. I turn on the car and we're on the road, seven minutes after the arbitrary, imaginary time I gave us for leaving.

9:22 a.m. We pull into the rec center parking lot.

9:28 a.m. We have made it past the rec center front desk just in time to walk down the stairs to the music class.

Two minutes to spare! Seriously, where is my medal.

Two kids, one adult

For the past four weeks, when friends and family would ask how we were doing adjusting to life with two kids, Matt and I would respond that things were going shockingly well. Nothing has changed in that regard, except to say that life got a lot more real yesterday when Matt returned to work full time. Adam's first four weeks of life will forever be referred to as our "honeymoon" period because it really was quite easy having two adults at home managing two kids. Now that Matt's back at work and my work is picking up again, I can't say we're going to have the same easy experience.

So, I am trying to adjust to the new normal. With Natalie, the new normal came at times as a bit of a shock. I had to feed her just the same amount any newborn needs to be fed, but as a first-time mom it felt like I was just always feeding my child. Now I see breastfeeding Adam as a quiet break from the sometimes-chaos of the day. But with two kids the constant question in my mind is, "What do I do when they're both freaking out at the same time?" To this, I have no good answer, other than to say that kids are just going to cry at times, and they'll have to be patient (I know, not really something either of them understands) because one adult cannot handle two kids' every needs at every single minute of the day. I just try not to cry with them.

A particularly good moment

Of course, as I said at the beginning, the transition to two adults and two kids and now one adult and two kids has been majorly easier than I thought it would be. Here are some key points from our new life thus far:

The morning shower necessity
Somewhere between 7:30 and 8:45 a.m. Adam and I are "up for the day." The point is, newborns don't have schedules, right? And newborns sleep the majority of the day anyway, so to say that Adam will or won't be awake at any given time is a crap shoot because he's only awake for about two hours at a time max.

Although I feel about 95 percent recovered from my c-section, I am still experiencing the notorious postpartum night sweats and they absolutely suck. I am so tired of waking up (or really, being woken up) in the middle of the night in a pool of my own sweat. Add to this the fact that it's the dead of winter, so the sweats make me super cold, and I'm just unhappy in bed. The point of this is that for me right now skipping a morning shower is just not an option. As tempting as it is to get in 10 more minutes of sleep, I've been trying to orchestrate a shower for myself every morning so I can not feel disgusting.

There are mornings like yesterday when Adam wakes up at 8:25 am., does a quick feeding, and then sleeps in his crib for another hour, giving me a perfect window for taking a shower before tending to Natalie.

Then there are mornings like today when Adam wakes up at 8 a.m. just as I have started running the shower water and I have to quickly throw on a robe, change him, feed him, soothe him, and manage to get him to sit in his bouncer seat in our bathroom for 10 minutes while I get myself together.

Either way, it's not bad, and I'm not complaining. There's just no sure-fire way for me to get in a shower unless I'm ready at a second's notice when there's a moment of peace.

The obliging toddler
Of all the things in my current bag of tricks, here's the best one: my two-year old happily hangs out in her crib until 9 a.m. I know. This is insane and absolutely not normal, but I am hoping to ride this wave as long as possible. Because Natalie is so obliging, on mornings like this one I was able to feed Adam a second time while Natalie played with her (now eight) stuffed animals who have taken up residence in her crib in her new room. I handed her five books from her bookcase, and while I was in the nursery adjacent to her room I enjoyed eavesdropping on her reading Peter Rabbit and Llama Llama to herself. There's something about hearing her say "Floppsy, Mopsy and Cottontail" that makes me smile.

After Natalie's officially done with her books in her crib for the morning, I get her dressed and then bring her downstairs for a morning bottle (yes, she is still drinking milk three times a day out of a bottle -- it continues to be her final vestige of babyhood). We sit and watch a few videos from her YouTube channel while I put her hair in ponytails (still haven't gotten her a first haircut...probably should). Adam may or may not be with us during this time.

She is still a horribly picky eater, so breakfast may or may not happen, with cereal or berries or a bagel. If I suggest cream cheese on her bagel, she says "no cream cheese." If I assume that she does not want cream cheese on her bagel, based on her track record for the past two weeks, she'll of course insist that I get out that cream cheese and slather it all over her bagel. Such is life with a toddler.

Natalie oversees Baby Adam's activity gym time

In addition to showing a positive interest in what Adam's doing for at least a portion of each day, Natalie has been totally into using her art supplies, which is amazing. I just strap that child into her amazing high chair and let her go to town. I have a whole bin of art supplies stationed above our fridge since Nat's art happens exclusively in the kitchen. That bin and its contents will have to be the subject of its own blog post. What I can say now is that art supplies can keep this child happy for up to an hour at a time, and it is glorious.

Breastfeeding 2.0
Although I could probably also write a whole post about breastfeeding Adam, I'll give you a quick update.

I briefly alluded in Adam's birth story to the fact that I have such better supply this time around. This is definitely thanks to him being with me since birth. This is also likely attributed to the fact that apparently in subsequent pregnancies many women have increased breast tissue. Whatever got me to this point, I am grateful. At Adam's two-week appointment he was already a full pound over his birth weight, which means we are not concerned about growth charts the way we were forced to be when Natalie wasn't up to her birth weight after three weeks of life.

Part of my routine each day is to meet my goal of pumping twice. Some days this happens, some days this doesn't. If both kids oblige me with a mid-day nap, then pumping is something I'm able to do fairly easily after putting Adam down (he's almost always asleep after Natalie gets down for her nap and rarely before she goes down). I had to relearn the fact that I should pump after feeding Adam, not before, and not an hour or two between feedings. This is one of those facts I forgot in the span of the last two years. I also pump at night while Matt is giving Adam a bottle. We've been successfully meeting our goal of having Matt give Adam one bottle a day, right now at night, so he gets accustomed to being fed by someone besides me. Of course, this means that I had to disregard the admonition of the lactation consultant at the hospital, who cautioned me against pumping or bottle feeding before Adam hit the one-month mark. He's still a couple days shy of one month, and I've been pumping practically since the day I returned home from the hospital, and he's been getting a bottle a day since he was about a week old. Breastfeeding has not suffered as a result -- no nipple confusion here. My philosophy with pumping and bottles is definitely to start as early as possible. That means that I now have in our freezer after about four weeks of pumping as much as I ever had in the freezer throughout Natalie's entire life. This will come in handy in the next couple weeks as I resume my work schedule.

As a quick sidenote, the pump itself has turned into a symbol of the latest healthcare legislation. When Natalie was born I rented a hospital-grade pump -- the Ameda Elite -- from where I delivered and kept extending the rental until Natalie was over 10 months old. I planned to do the same thing this time around, but then I discovered that the hospital I delivered at with Natalie no longer carries that pump for rental, and the prices for Ameda pump rentals from there have increased dramatically. Remembering too that under the Affordable Care Act legislation women are able to get coverage for breast pumps, I looked into what my insurance offers. After getting conflicting information from six sources -- the HR person at my husband's work, the head nurse at my practice, two customer service reps through our insurance (whose statements contradicted what our statement of benefits says), our insurance's lactation consultant, and finally my own doctor -- I realized that because our insurance plan was "grandfathered in" and because the employer mandate does not kick in until 2015 (though the individual coverage mandate kicked in this year) I was going to get zilch in the way of breast pump coverage.

Wanting to have a breast pump at our house the moment I got home from the hospital, I researched online breast pump rental options. The best deal I could find came from the AmedaDirect website, which allows users to rent an Ameda Elite pump for 6 months at $240. This offer also includes free shipping (normally $15) and a free accessory kit (normally $50). This is the best deal, as monthly rentals run $50 and do not cover shipping or the accessory kit. So, we're paying for my pump rental out-of-pocket with no hope of reimbursement, but in the grand scheme this is fairly cheap. I know I could buy a single-user pump for the same cost (or even less) but I just love this breast pump. Yes, loving a breast pump is an oxymoron I suppose, but hey, it's super-duper efficient so it takes me just minutes to pump a lot of milk. Renting from the AmedaDirect site has been really easy -- I did not, as the site suggests, have to send in the rental agreement via snail mail but instead scanned and emailed the completed form, and then the pump shipped out the same day I sent the email, arriving at our house within three days of placing the order.

The dual nap
Natalie has been taking one nap per day since right around the time she turned one year old. She goes down for this nap sometime between 12:30 and 1 on a typical day. I've been trying to get Adam to oblige me with a solid mid-day nap at the same time. Yesterday he did not, so I held him for the two and a half hours Natalie was sleeping. Not bad, but not productive. Today, though, he's contentedly snoozing in his room while Natalie tries to fall asleep. Whether Natalie really falls asleep or not during her nap is a little up in the air lately. She used to religiously sleep for about two and a half hours for her nap, falling asleep within moments of me leaving her room, but now she seems to be entertaining herself and taking an hour or more to fall asleep. She's clearly tired when I leave her, but she's no doubt experiencing a little sleep interference thanks to her brother's arrival (they do share a wall, after all). Whether she sleeps or not, though, Natalie is quiet and content in her crib, and she needs this quiet time in order to make it happily to bed time.

When the dual nap occurs, I can eat lunch using both my hands. If there's no dual nap then I need to figure out what I can easily eat in stages, often while standing. Thankfully, the dual nap occurs more often than not.

Because Natalie stays in her crib until at least 3 p.m., and because Matt is usually able to be home from work between 3 and 3:30, the afternoon is pretty manageable. It will not be as easy in a couple weeks when I resume my afternoon and evening work schedule, as Matt will have to rush home, walk the dogs and be ready for a dual-baby hand off within a matter of minutes before I have to get to work, but he will figure out a way to make it work just as I'm learning to care for two kids during the first half of the day.

Nighttime "routine"
Although we're raising Adam in almost an identical way to how we raised Natalie as a newborn, here's something that's different: Natalie stayed in her bassinet next to our bed for about six weeks, whereas Adam spent a little more than two weeks next to our bed before we decided it was time to make the switch. I am way less concerned about whether or not he's breathing (I watched Natalie in the middle of the night like a hawk) because I know that worrying isn't going to change anything. That helped making his transition to his bassinet in his nursery less difficult for me. Adam? He did not notice the change at all. I'm glad we did this as early as we did. I'm sleeping better, Matt's sleeping better, and Adam wasn't affected positively or negatively -- he's just a typical newborn.

One aspect of newborn life that Matt and I kind of forgot is that newborns don't have much of a routine when it comes to sleep and "bedtime" (what is bedtime to a newborn? Isn't their life one perpetual bedtime?). So, we tried a couple weeks ago to get Adam to go to sleep for the night starting around 8 p.m. so we could enjoy some evening adult time. After a few nights of doing what Matt correctly dubbed "chasing our own tails" as it would take a couple hours to get Adam to go to sleep, we finally realized we needed to accept the fact that for at least the next few months we don't get an evening break. We have to trade off who's eating dinner when and live with the fact that one, if not both, of us will be eating cold food.

With Matt back at work, though, we have been trying to change Adam for bed and give Adam a bottle sometime between 9:30 and 10. Ideally, Adam would fall asleep after having a 3-ounce bottle, and then he'd stay asleep for at least a few hours. But, nights like last night remind me that Adam is most content breastfeeding. So, he took the bottle, but then he fussed, and fussed, and fussed. Traditional soothing methods did not calm him down, so I resorted to doing what I do not like to do and breastfed him for comfort rather than nutrition. He barely fed -- because of course he was totally full -- but he did fall asleep within a matter of minutes.

So last night Adam slept for 3.5 hours, then woke up at 2 a.m., breastfed for 15 minutes, and immediately fell back asleep in his bassinet for another two hours. He woke up at 4:30 a.m., breastfed again for another 15 minutes, but wouldn't fall back asleep in his bassinet. Not wanting to experience what we did a couple weeks ago when it would take him at least two hours at a time to fall asleep each time he'd wake up in the middle of the night, I resorted to putting him to sleep in his swing. He slept contentedly in there for another 3.5 hours. This is, for the record, one of his best nights of sleep. Although I don't like to put him anywhere but his bassinet at night, I need to remember -- as my current rereading of my favorite baby book, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, reminds me -- that there's really no such thing as establishing bad habits for a baby under four months old. A line I reread last night said to "do whatever is necessary to get your baby to sleep." Duly noted!

Sometimes I wonder if Adam is going to be a good sleeper or not. It's way too early to tell. But I am meticulously tracking his eating and sleeping habits on my iBaby Log app just as I did with Natalie. I can still see all of Natalie's data from two years ago. It's reassuring to see that Adam and Natalie are so far practically identical in their newborn sleep habits. In fact, Adam wins bonus points for the fact that he's willing to take at least one nap a day in his bassinet in the nursery, whereas Natalie basically never did that for the first six weeks of her life, and rarely even took naps in her crib before she was four months old.

Seeing the world through rose-colored glasses?
I'm writing this blog post on a good day after a really good night, so I know it sounds like my life is easy and everything is perfect. And my life is pretty easy and I am pretty lucky as well. But I've also just spared you from another post I drafted on a really crappy day. It sounded really complain-y, so I'm happy to have something real but less annoying to share.

Also, I have yet to venture out of the house with the two kids by myself. That experiment will take place later this week when we (attempt to) attend Natalie's music class. We have done plenty of family-of-four outings, and Matt is getting the hang of the Baby Bjorn carrier we borrowed from our friends (I'm still rocking the Ergo, but Matt's not comfortable getting that on by himself, hence the Bjorn loan). So, for now, while I contentedly hang out at home with two kids, I feel like I have things somewhat under control and will wait to tackle the next challenge of the outside the house adventure in a couple days.

New cloth diaper routine

When I first started cloth diapering I wasn't sure if the probable increase in our utilities bills (electric and water) would still make cloth diapering more financially frugal than using disposables.

I now have close to a year's worth of utilities bills to compare the befores and afters, and though I ultimately conclude that cloth diapering is more frugal, I can also say that our bills are up.

Water in particular has gone up significantly. Of course, water is the cheapest utility out there, at least in our neck of the woods. We pay our bill quarterly, so when I consider how much we pay for water each month (divide each bill by 3) it pales in comparison to the typical energy bills we get each month.

Here's the water bill breakdown:
January -- $111.99 (This bill is dated January 19, 2012, and it was sent while Natalie was still in the hospital, so it's a good baseline for our bills pre-baby.)
April -- $117.87 (We started using cloth diapers in early March, so here you can see the impact on our bill with about 6 weeks of cloth diapering.)
July -- $140.22
October -- $148.82

There's clearly a big increase in our water bill in the billing period covering the last six months, aka the time since we really started using cloth diapers.

So it seems that cloth diapers are causing our water bill to rise a good amount, right?

I assume so, but I also realize that there are other ways caring for Natalie has contributed to an increasingly large water bill. Specifically, we run the dishwasher more often now that her plates, bowls, utensils, bottles and cups are getting used multiple times per day. Also, we bathe her, and now that she's older we bathe her move often than we did when she was a newborn. And we have to wash her clothes, but I've managed to only run a load of her laundry about once every two weeks.

Other forms of baby water consumption aside, I have to believe that running a load of her diapers every other day is the greatest contributing factor to our increasing water bill. So, I've decided to change that routine ever so slightly and wash the diapers once every three days as opposed to every two days. I tried this method out a few times with our stash of 20 diapers and I found that the diapers were barely drying in enough time before I completely ran out of diapers. (In fairness, one diaper is always in our diaper bag, and one diaper is now a dedicated swimming diaper, so it's more accurate to say we were working with 18 diapers.) I ordered 4 more diapers in fun colors that weren't available when we were building our stash this time last year. Now I think we have the perfect amount of diapers for this new cleaning schedule.

Those of you using cloth diapers, have you modified your cloth diaper washing routines? Do you think you're ultimately saving money through cloth diapers over disposables? How many cloth diapers do you have? Anyone given up on cloth diapering?

The anatomy of: bath time

I want to do a series of posts about baby routines we've developed around here. Though "routine" must be a more flexible term in regard to babies, because they grow so quickly and their needs grow and change with them, I will nevertheless share what we've been doing for these last several months.

Bath time is probably the easiest routine to describe, so I thought I'd start there. Out of everything I want to write about, it seems to be the one that requires the least individual tailoring. Here's what I'e learned.

Rule 1: Be prepared.
My most important rule for bathing a baby: Have all your supplies out before you get started. This piece of advice was related to us during our infant care class, and that advice definitely rings true. There are too many separate items that need to be located or prepared, and you don't want to do it with a (naked) baby in your arms. That's why we like to get every last item out and ready before undressing Natalie.

Preparing for a bath means doing prep work in both the bathroom and nursery.

Because we give Natalie her bath at night, we get all her nighttime items out in the nursery. This includes:

• a double-stuffed diaper for nighttime
• infant gown or other PJs
• swaddle/wearable blanket (lately she's been rocking the Aden + Anais muslin sleep sacks)

We also unfold a hooded towel and lay it on her changing pad so we can immediately and safely wrap her up when she gets out of the bath. (Her bedroom is just steps away from her bathroom.)

In the bathroom while her infant bathtub is filling up with water, we open the cabinet containing her bath items and get out washcloths and toiletries, specifically shampoo and body wash. I also grab the kneeling pad while I'm in there so Matt and I can have a more comfortable place to crouch.

We used to get out the bath frog (aka a giant sponge for the baby to rest against), but in the last month Natalie has already outgrown the bath frog and now just rests against the back of the infant bathtub.

Rule 2: Washcloths, washcloths, washcloths
I've learned that having three washcloths at bath time is ideal. This means one washcloth for the nether regions, one for the rest of the body, and one to drape across the baby's torso to keep her warm. I came across this idea when a former student of mine gave us this little contraption called a Tummy Towel, which is meant to cover a baby's stomach. The Tummy Towel is a great concept, but its job can also be accomplished by any large washcloth. When the Tummy Towel is in the dirty clothes, I particularly like the Aden + Anais washcloths because they come in sets of 3 and they are the size of a baby's torso.

Rule 3: Order of operations
Remember when you learned how to FOIL in algebra? Washing a baby is kind of like that, except you start at the center of the baby's face and then work your way out and down. The nurses in the hospital demonstrated this technique, running the washcloth under Natalie's eyes starting at the middle of her face and then moving toward her ears. Places that are easy to forget to wash: behind the ears, between fingers and toes (where an unbelievable amount of lint gets lodged), and the lower back.

Something the nurse at my New Moms group through the hospital told us this week that we have yet to try (because I keep forgetting): Run a clean washcloth along the baby's gums and lips. This not only helps prevent thrush, a painful condition for a nursing mom, but it also gets the baby used to the experience of having her mouth touched, which will be helpful for detecting tooth buds and later for brushing teeth.

For the first couple of baths it definitely felt like bathing a baby would always be a two-person operation. But once we got the hang of it, we found that one of us can easily carry out the entire process, though ideally it's still best to have one person do all the prep work while the other entertains the baby, and then one person ultimately does the bathing, drying and changing for bed. I also thought that the sponge baths you're supposed to give babies before their umbilical stump falls off would be a lot different from full-fledged baths, but the only noteworthy difference is less water and generally less caution a parent must exercise.

Speaking of, the topic of umbilical stumps came up on a recent episode of Pregnant in Heels (guilty pleasure of mine), and Rosie Pope asked a soon-to-be mom when the stump falls off, and the mom said three weeks and Rosie told her she was wrong; the correct answer is 10 days. I wanted to say, "Actually, Rosie, based on my experience that mom is right because our baby's fell off at three weeks," but I resisted the urge to talk to the TV.

Tip 68: HVAC servicing

Today's tip actually comes to us from Matt's parents, who initially recommended we investigate this service after we moved into our home.

Tip 68: If you're a homeowner, sign up for a heating and air conditioning service agreement with a local company. It will give you frequent inspections and peace of mind as a type of insurance policy for your HVAC unit.

The reason I knew we had been using the incorrect air filter size is thanks to our HVAC servicer who told us so when he visited for his winter inspection last Tuesday. About two and a half years ago we finally signed up for this service. It took us over two years of living in our home before we got around to it, but I'm still glad we did it late rather than never.

What are the benefits of this service agreement?
Under our agreement we get a winter and a summer service visit, where the representative performs a thorough inspection and cleaning of our HVAC unit. I know it's thorough because the rep always stays longer than I think he should (which I take as a good sign) and we get the most thorough notes we've ever received from a maintenance person at the end of each visit.

Perhaps more importantly, though, we pay a flat rate each year for not only the two scheduled maintenance visits, but also, as the contract points out, "Emergency service will be available during weekends and holidays at an additional cost of $0 per hour." Our house and HVAC unit are only about nine years old, so we haven't needed to take them up on this offer yet, but it's good to know we can and we've already paid for it.

Additionally, our net sum payment also covers the cost of replacement parts. There is a catch here -- replacing the entire expensive HVAC system does not count as a "replacement part," but at this stage in our home's history one would hope we wouldn't need to replace the entire system anyway.

Perhaps most importantly, should we get to the point that we have to replace big-ticket items not covered under the "replacement parts" category, we would receive them at a discounted rate thanks to our contract and good faith effort in keeping our HVAC in working order. (Part of this agreement, of course, involves changing our air filter frequently!)

The company we use here in Northern Virginia is A Advantage, and we are locked into a yearly fee of $279.95 for this service agreement. If we use them for life and never break our contract, we'll pay this fee every year until we go to the grave. I appreciate the nod to customer loyalty. We have been totally satisfied with A Advantage.

Do you have an HVAC service agreement or another home maintenance service you'd recommend?

Air filter day!

It's the one year anniversary of the first time I encouraged you to change your air filter. How's that for a moment to commemorate?

Well, in commemoration, I will not be changing our air filter, and it's not because I don't want to. Instead, I found out this week that we have been using the wrong size air filter the entire time we've been living in our house. That's four plus years of breathing poorly filtered air. How's that for an anniversary?

Tomorrow I'll run by Costco and see if they carry the filters we actually need, and I'll also fill (ha!) you in on how we came to this little discovery.

But for now I need to speed read my way through the rest of Superfreakonomics, a book I have on 14-day loan with no renewal option from the library. The book I began leisurely reading on the beach in Mexico is good enough that I want to finish reading it in time to meet this deadline!

Morning blues

Getting myself organized and out the door by 6:40 on school mornings is a constant battle for me. This is one area of my life where I am not particularly strong and I'm always trying to find ways to get better. Well, now that we're officially at the halfway point in the school year, I can say that I'm making progress. Specifically:

1) Thanks to a tip from my friend Cara I am now no longer sitting in traffic for an extra 20 minutes each morning. Just a quick change of driving route has made me so much happier each morning. (Managing my response to frustrating traffic is one of those items in the category of "accept the things I cannot change," but turns out I CAN change it!)

2) Thanks to the clock gods, someone finally changed the clocks at my school so that they're no longer an extra five minutes fast. Now our school clocks are actually in sync with my cell phone's time -- praise the lord. This, coupled with my new morning driving route, gives me an extra 25 minutes each morning.

3) I'm sticking to my morning non-negotiables so that I can come home to a clean house each evening.

4) I am eating a full breakfast every morning at home as opposed to eating my breakfast out of a Ziploc bag while I drive to work.

In the last couple weeks, thanks to a sign at Trader Joe's, I've even changed up my early morning breakfast routine. While scanning the produce section, a little sign underneath the blueberries said, "Throw some blueberries in your cereal each morning for more antioxidants!" I actually said out loud, "Add blueberries to my cereal? I think I will, thanks!" The woman next to me started laughing, but then she too picked up a pint.

This is such a simple way to add more fruit to my diet, I can't believe I hadn't thought of it on my own. Now you can envision me every Monday through Friday at 5:30 a.m., sitting down to my bowl of Kashi cereal with blueberries, along with some orange juice, a banana, and some tea or coffee. The best way to enjoy this meal is while watching last night's Conan monologue and cackling (this is the term Matt uses to describe my laughter while Conan is on). In case you missed it, I particularly recommend this clip.

Have you made any simple adjustments to your life and thought, "I should have come up with that?!"

Just dance

I am not an athlete, and I've never claimed to be one. That's why I was so proud of myself over the summer when I had worked my way up to running several 5Ks a week (on a treadmill) along with other cardio and (minimal) strength training. But once the school year returned in full force and going to the gym became a once-a-week trip at best, I decided to give up the pricey gym membership. This also meant I wasn't working out for several months.

Lately, though, I've found a few at-home workouts to get me back in my groove. The most fun, by far, is this little gem: Just Dance 2 for Wii. Over New Year's at the beach my friend Susannah introduced me to this game that her sister had introduced her to just days earlier. Right after we returned from the beach, Matt snagged me a copy on Amazon, and I have to say, I am hooked.

Move over, basement furniture, there's a new workout in town.

If you're not familiar with the game, Just Dance 2 (I can't comment on the original Just Dance, though I'm guessing it's similar) requires the player to copy the dance moves demonstrated on the screen, and players earn points for synchronizing arm movements with the computer. This does, of course, mean that a player could win without technically moving her feet (and I know this from experience), but that would be cheating and it would defeat the whole purpose of exercising. Players can compete against the computer or against friends; there's even a duet option for teams to compete against other teams. This also means next time you come to my house I will probably force you to play this with me.

The game includes music and accompanying dances from diverse genres and ranks each song in two categories: level of difficulty and level of sweat. A song rated one difficulty star and three sweat drops means the choreography is relatively easy, but following the moves will still get your heart rate up.

Just Dance 2 has a system that allows you to track your workout routine. I know it may sound silly -- and maybe I'm just horribly out of shape -- but doing several of these more cardio-intense dances in a row really is a workout. I've programmed my game to follow the "intense" workout (I use that term loosely, even though that's its technical name). This means I need to do six high-intensity dances in a row each day to meet my weekly goal. The best part of all this is that there's a little graph that pops up after each dance to show you how much progress you've made toward your goal. Each dance allows you to score several hundred "sweat points." I have to say, that graph provides me with some serious positive reinforcement.

Promptly after meeting my daily objective I may have cracked open a Woodchuck Raspberry Cider, but at least I earned it.

Tip 67: Slow and steady

All in all, I really like my job. But the worst thing about being an English teacher is grading essays (coming in at a close second: writing college letters of recommendation). Every year I try to come up with a way to make the task more manageable. So far, the best solution I have for this conundrum applies to many other areas of life as well...

Tip 67: When faced with a seemingly monumental task, try tackling a little every day for a week. If you set unrealistic expectations for yourself, you'll wind up feeling disappointed.

Right before my students left for winter break, I collected 72 3-page essays. Each essay takes me between 10 and 20 minutes to grade -- the worse the essay, the longer it takes. If you do the math, you'll realize that by assigning this work to my students and grading it thoroughly, I lose a solid 18 hours off my life. With only one and a half hours each work day devoted to planning rather than teaching, it's clear that this task isn't getting done in a timely fashion during the work day.

So, over winter break, I sucked it up and graded 26 of the essays (while also writing a couple college recommendations, creating the English teacher's double-whammy). I did between 5 and 10 per day for a few days. Between Monday and Tuesday this week I got another 18 done, and today at work I got through another stack. I'm down to 12 essays, or three more hours of work. Between tonight and tomorrow during the day I want to finish this work.

A true sign of accomplishment: Today I can fit all my remaining essays to be graded inside my fabulous new bag. Victory!

The point of all this is, in the past I've found myself staring dumbfounded at a seemingly endless pile of essays. But today I've moved beyond that attitude. Now I simply tell myself to do a little work each day. It really does make it much less painful.

Apparently there are some English teachers out there who can grade any essay in under five minutes. I've never actually met such a person, and if I did I'd have to question how thoroughly she critiques her students' work. To me, this is one task where there aren't many shortcuts, but at least I have a coping mechanism.

Pimp My Lunch

Is "Pimp My Ride" even a show anymore? This is how out of touch I am with the current MTV lineup. Anyway, today I come to you seeking advice, and I could really use your help. See, I am the ultimate creature of habit, and I am trying to do something crazy and break a couple habits. Lunch is one of them -- I eat the same thing every lunch.

Last spring I bought myself a new lunch bag to inspire me to be generally happier when packing my lunch every morning before the sun rises. It worked. I still get a little nerdy feeling of excitement out of my lunch bag, but the same cannot be said for my lunch.

When it comes to my lunch, I am horribly predictable:

• Yogurt (Wegman's low-fat variety in any flavor except raspberry)
• Fruit (usually an apple; sometimes I get crazy and have grapes or melon depending on the season)
• Cracker-like snack (often Cheez-Its, sometimes Utz Honeywheat twists, occasionally a granola bar)
• String cheese
• Sigg bottle filled with water

It is time to bring some variety to my life. I'm in my eighth year of teaching and my eighth year of eating this way. I feel like I eat the lunch of a kindergartner. I probably should eat more, or if not more per se, at least something more substantial.

I will make your task a little more difficult, though, and present this reality check:

• I need food that can be made/arranged quickly. My current lunch-packing routine involves throwing these items into my lunch bag approximately two minutes before walking out the door. I can try making something (incredibly simple) at night, but there's a chance that routine will go out the window once it's dark at 5 p.m. and I become dead to the world at night.
• Matt eats our dinner leftovers for his lunch. Matt does a great job preparing weekday dinners for us, and then those turn into his lunches. On some rare occasions, I'm inspired to take leftovers, but as a general rule I do not eat leftovers.
• My issue with sandwiches is that they require lots of ingredients than can spoil quickly if not used up. I'm open to sandwich suggestions, though, especially fun ideas that do not involve too many perishable ingredients.

Good news: I eat all kinds of food and I have no food allergies. Also, I have a small fridge in my classroom as well as a microwave.

OK, loyal readers, please share with me your brown-bag lunch routines and your suggestions for what I should be packing in my bag. Thanks!

Morning routine: My non-negotiables

Back in the late winter, I wrote about some baby steps you can take if you're feeling overwhelmed and don't know where to begin when it comes to cleaning/organizing your home/life. I'm happy to say that I've been great at sticking to that routine, and I've met my goals of sitting down to eat an actual breakfast each morning as well as establishing and maintaining more of a night time routine.

But it's time to revisit these ideas, because I always feel a little overwhelmed at the start of the school year. Although I would never describe myself as a "morning person," I would say that many mornings I wake up with more energy (and a desire to straighten) than I do when I return home from work in the late afternoon/early evening, ready to wear PJs and eat Cheez-Itz.

It may sound kind of crazy, but I sort of can't start my day off on the right foot if I haven't left my home in some sort of order. So, here's what I do to keep my sanity:

5:10 -- alarm goes off (Matt's goes off earlier, but I manage to never hear it...)
5:20 -- OK, Stephanie, put the Droid down and get out of bed.
5:20-5:35 -- three straightening tasks
5:35-6 -- make coffee, lunch, breakfast and sit down to eat
6 -- must be in the shower!
6:15 -- must be out of the shower!
6:30 -- must be out the door to avoid a huge line of traffic outside my school!

Yes, 6-6:30 contains many exclamation points because the traffic surrounding my school stresses me out so much that I freak out if I'm not in my car by 6:30, even though my commute is 10 minutes and school doesn't start until 7:20.

What are those three straightening tasks I must accomplish each morning?
(Please excuse the slightly blurry photos. I took them at 5:30 this morning. This is real life, people!)
1. Make the bed. The world could possibly end the day I don't make my bed.

2. Put away last night's not-for-the-dishwasher dishes.

3. Hang up or fold any of yesterday's clothing that's still out. (This includes items I pull out from my closet and then decide not to wear.)

Do you have any daily non-negotiables?

Air filters and label makers

So, three months goes by pretty quickly, and if you're taking me up on my every-three-month reminders, that means it's time to change your air filter! Haven't changed yours in forever and want to start now? Great! I'll remind you December 1.

And, on a totally unrelated note, today I made a big organizational purchase.

I know, you're thinking, "How has this girl gotten through 29 years of existence without a label maker?" I know, for someone who claims to be super organized, it is kind of funny that up until today I missed out on this product that is designed for me. Or, as my high school buddies would say, it's shocking that I don't already have five of these.

I went with this Dymo Personal Label Marker LT-100T. I picked it up in the Target office supply section for $24.99. I chose it over its slightly smaller (and slightly cheaper) brother because I preferred the QWERTY keyboard over the ABC keyboard.

So far I would say it's easy to hold this label maker and type like you would when texting.

So far I have labeled one thing in my home: my husband.

Tomorrow I'll get some mega use out of this when I take it to school to label like nobody's business. My returning journalism students will no doubt be further shocked by the enhanced organization (seeing as I plan to label lots of their newspaper equipment). Once I get some more use out of this I'll give you an update and let you know if I'd recommend this product.

Now, off to label the dogs.

Tip 64: Electronic lists

What is the hardest part of doing any job? If you said starting, this tip might be for you...

Tip 64: Keeping electronic to-do lists on file is a great way to help you feel focused and less overwhelmed when faced with seemingly daunting tasks. Most importantly, it keeps you from reinventing the wheel.

Today's tip is inspired by the start of the school year, as any teacher might guess. Every year we have to do what seems like 10,000 small and large tasks before the students walk in the doors. The longer I do this job, the better I get at estimating what I need to do and when, but this year I'm in the best spot I've ever been thanks to some smart work I did early last year. A year ago as I was preparing my classroom and my curriculum, I made a Word document of every little task I did. The 10 minutes of extra time it took me to translate all my hand-written lists into one simple file was definitely worth it. When I walked into school yesterday I printed out my to-do list and got to work.

 Confession: Sometimes when I get super busy I forget to eat lunch, so yes, I actually sometimes have to remind myself.

What are some of the things I have to do every year? I won't overwhelm you, but here's a quick peak:

• Set up technology cart (VCR, DVD, LCD projector, speaker, computer)
• Hang posters
• Gather and organize office supplies
• Get parking pass
• Renew my membership in scholastic journalism organizations
• Revise syllabus for four different classes
• Request IT team to grant my journalism students access to shared server space
• Make photocopies of all papers for first week
• Set up class websites
• Set up electronic gradebook

And that's just the beginning. Take the list above, multiply it by 6, and that's the work I need to accomplish the week before students arrive, in between hours of meetings that take up a decent chunk of the week.

This list has kept me sane. It has kept me from staring at a wall, or hitting my head on a desk, or hiding behind a pile of boxes, afraid to start.

My friend and colleague Cara likes to say that one of the things she loves about teaching is that it's different every year. Different students, different class schedule, sometimes different subjects, and a changing group of colleagues every year. I agree. But, at the same time, this means that every first week back is almost like going through new employee orientation every year. It can be a lot. The one constant? My list!

This organizational strategy can be easily adapted: electronic holiday card lists; electronic back-to-school supply lists; electronic packing lists for college students heading back to campus; electronic shopping lists with weekly menus.

How do you prepare to tackle complex organizational tasks?

Teachers: Stay tuned this week as I share some more teacher-friendly organizational strategies (that can also be adapted for other purposes as well!).

Tip 60: The up and down rule

We live in a very vertical house with three levels and high ceilings. I love the look, but I also know that not everyone loves stairs, and even someone like me who appreciates the free exercise some everyday stair walking can provide can still find stairs...well, a bit of a chore when handling your chores. Solution?

Tip 60: If you live in a house with multiple levels, help keep it tidy by getting into a habit of putting something back where it belongs each time you ascend or descend the stairs. Try not to move between levels without carrying something with you.

I really don't find stairs bothersome, but I do believe in efficiency ("kill two birds with one stone" being a cliche I can stand behind even though I teach my students to avoid cliches like the plague...ha). So, I try to put cleaning supplies that belong on the second floor under the kitchen sink away when I am heading downstairs to refill my water, or I take out the recycling bin on the second floor to the garage when I'm getting ready to leave the house. It may not be much, but for someone who likes everything in its place, these little straightening strategies can make a serious dent.

Even if you live in a house that's all one level, you can still apply this strategy when moving between different zones in your house.

I know of some people, moms in particular, who have baskets labeled for each level of their house, which helps teach their children to put things back in the right places. This sounds like a good idea, I would just have to think through the logistics on that one. My concern is that my house would get covered in baskets...wouldn't you need a set of baskets on each level of your house? In my case, I would need three baskets upstairs, three in the middle, and three in the basement, and then I'd need to make sure I put the baskets back after each use, essentially negating the purpose of the baskets. Or maybe I am just missing something.

Time to change your air filter!

I promised you on March 1 that I would remind you on June 1 when it was time to change your air filter, and that time has officially arrived. In case you missed it, here are some tips from the air filter world. I can tell you that a pack of three of these 3M air filters currently costs $39.99 at Costco (and I used my $19 Costco rebate coupon I'd had stored in my coupon file for the past six months, so I finally reaped that little price reduction).

I've already marked my Google calendar for the next September 1 air filter change, so stay with me and I'll help you keep your air clean :)

Tip 58: Clean before your trip

With visions of myself relaxing during Memorial Day dancing in my head, I prepare to trudge through my final day of work and SOL tests (ridiculous acronym, I know -- welcome to government-mandated testing). Before we can head to freedom and the beach, Matt and I are doing a little tidying up around the house, following this advice...

Tip 58: Clean before you go on a trip out of town so that when you return to your home you'll get to feel relaxed for longer and have one less annoying thing staring you in the face.

I am not talking about any serious cleaning here. Let's face it, you're busy packing and running errands and taking care of things at work. In the middle of this, though, find about one hour you can spend tackling those unclean items you can't overlook.

Here's what Matt and I are doing:

• Cursory vacuuming -- We're at the peak of shedding season in our house, to the point that I was so disgusted Saturday morning that Matt vacuumed a day ahead of schedule. So, by vacuuming today, it didn't take long, and we are making it so that we won't have to come home and immediately vacuum.
• Mop hardwood floors -- It had been too long, and we tried something new. More on that later.
• Wipe the dog wet-nose smudges from the front windows and door -- Notice I didn't say wash the windows, just eliminate the obvious offending marks.
• Clean the bathroom counters -- For some reason, they seem really dirty.
• Quick clean of the interior of my car -- We always take my humble 2003 Mazda Protege on our road trips because of its automatic transmission and extra space in the back for the dogs (this is compared to Matt's 2003 Volkswagen GTi, which is both smaller and has a manual transmission).

And here are a few other chores we always handle before running away:

• Unplug all appliances, within reason (most are already unplugged, but I like to do a final check)
• Empty trash and recycling, so as not to come home to anything smelly
• Clear the sink 
  
• Refill dog food container, if someone else is taking care of the dogs
• Water plants inside and outside

Speaking of watering plants, it's come up in a number of conversations lately that many of my friends feel they can't keep a plant alive. I don't know if this is late-20s hyperbole or what, but if you honestly feel like you kill a lot of plants, maybe you should try a peace lily.

I got this one about eight years ago during college, and I've somehow managed to keep it alive. Yes, there have been times when it wilted and I felt like a bad mother, but it's always forgiving and it bounces back to life. 

But, I digress...

What are your get-out-of-town rituals?

Worst customer service ever: gas bill

I had a comical customer service experience this afternoon. I had contacted our gas company, Washington Gas, 12 days ago (and I know because I kept the email, of course) regarding an exceptionally high gas bill issued in mid-April for the month of March. I knew it was high because it was almost $100 higher than our bill that covered the month of February, and I knew that right on March 15 we turned off our heat, therefore thinking we'd save some money (and be green) because our heat is gas-powered.

Twelve days later, I hadn't heard back from the gas people (shocking, I know), so I made today my time to call.

I reach this lady, after having already entered my account number into the phone:

Incompetent lady: Washington Gas, how may I help you?

Me: Hi, I was calling because I entered a request on your website 12 days ago regarding an exceptionally high bill, and I never received a response, and I was hoping you could help me out.

Incompetent lady: Could you give me your full name?

Me: [name]

Incompetent lady: [silence, for more than a minute, to the point that I say...]

Me: Hello?

Incompetent lady: Yes. [more silence for another minute] What was your question?

Me: My bill was really high for the month of March, especially as compared to the month of February, and I don't know how that's possible because had our heat on for all of February but we only had the heat on for half of March.

Incompetent lady: [more silence, another minute]

Me: Hello?

Incompetent lady: Could you give me your full name?

Me: [this time I spell it, realllly slooooowwwly]

Incompetent lady: It shows you owe $218.07. Will that be all?

Me: I'm sorry, did you not hear me before? I'm calling because I want to dispute this high bill.

Incompetent lady: Could you give me your full name?

Me: You know what, can I please speak to a manager?

Incompetent lady: One moment please, I will see if anyone is available. [comes back a minute later] I'm sorry, no one is available. Can I have your phone number and someone will call you?

Me: I don't believe that anyone's going to call me, but here's my number anyway...

I wish I was making this up, but I think Washington Gas just won a special award for the worst customer service I've ever experienced.

So, of course, I waited a few minutes and called back again. I work by the philosophy that in the world of customer service, after you deal with incompetence, you must be blessed with someone who has some idea what he or she is doing. Fortunately, that happened, and the new guy said to me, "Yeah, apparently your January and February bills were estimates, but your March bill is supposed to be an actual reading. But I have a hard time believing that actual reading actually happened, so I am going to send someone over tomorrow to do a real reading of your meter, and then we'll adjust your bill accordingly." I found his honesty and problem-solving ability a breath of fresh air.

Then, I was probably pressing my luck, but I asked if Washington Gas could send me those old-fashioned meter-reading cards so I could do the meter reading myself every month (here's some info on reading your own meter from the Ohio Public Utilities Commission if you have no idea what I'm talking about). I remember when I was a kid my mom would do a meter reading every month, probably because she wanted to save money and she has trust issues when it comes to people who take her money, so that's something we have in common. The Washington Gas guy said no, they don't do this anyone. Personally, I find this hard to believe, so I will ask again when I call again.

After tomorrow's reading I have to call back on Friday to find out the results and get a readjusted bill issued. Wish me luck!

In the meantime, do any of you read your own meters?

Spring clean yourself 6: Scar reduction

I realize the subject "Scar reduction" might seem more roller-derby chick than organizing-girly-girl chick, but I suppose this is where those two worlds meet.

I don't have many scars. I guess I have lived a pretty careful life, in case you can't tell from this blog. I  have one on my knee from when I was in second grade, jumped down a flight of stairs and landed on a vacuum cleaner. But other than that, I'm good...until this summer when I met the only animal that has not liked me.

Enter little devil dog. I met her on the Fourth of July at a cookout. She literally attacked my leg -- ran across the kitchen and latched on with her tiny, ferocious teeth. In retrospect I should have kicked her off me, but being a friend to animals I looked down in shock and then watched as the owner quickly pulled her away. In just a second the damage was done. I had a bleeding, swelling gash in my right leg, and all the ice packs in the world couldn't keep a two-inch scar from developing soon after.

With cautious optimism I tried this product in the fall after I noticed that the scar was not going away on its own.

Product 10: Bio-Oil (scar-reduction product)

I picked this up at Wegmans, our local grocery store, and started applying it once a day in the fall, even though the directions recommend using it at least twice daily. As I began to notice results a month or so later, I started getting more serious and began following through with the twice-a-day application. Tip: If you have trouble remembering when to take a medication or follow another personal routine, consider putting your supplies next to your toothbrush; that way each time you brush your teeth you'll be able to more easily incorporate your new routine.

A little of this product goes a long way. The bottle I purchased only contains 2 ounces (here at Amazon for $9.87, though you can likely find it at local drug stores or groceries). If you look closely at the photo you might see how it looks like I've barely made a dent in this bottle in over seven months of use.

This product has been recommended to not only reduce the appearance of scars, but to also even out skin tone and reduce stretch marks. I can't speak to anything but its ability to reduce scars, and for that it has done its job well for me. My once-red line on my leg has been reduced to a smaller, tan mark that continues to fade. Now from a slight distance it's almost invisible.

Maybe nature could have run its course without the aid of this product, but if nothing else I have been pleased to speed that process along.

Coming tomorrow...final spring clean yourself post...best and worst drug store purchases.

Tip 50: Why you should start a blog

I'll view this 50th tip (and 87th post) as a certain milestone and share with you what I've learned about blogging since I began this project a little over two months ago.

Tip 50: If there is anything you want to accomplish that you're not already accomplishing, you should start a blog and tell all your friends about it because that will help motivate you to achieve your goals.

My goals are to have a clean and organized house, so through this blog I have started to share some of what I have learned and some of what I am learning along the way. While I've been keeping this blog updated daily, I have been accomplishing more small and large projects at our house than I have ever accomplished in the span of two months.

But that's not all. Here are some more reasons to keep a blog:

1) You can positively influence other people through your blog. I hate unsolicited advice, and I try not to give out such advice (except to my students, because handing out unsolicited advice to teenagers is literally my job). But my blog is a place where I can share what I know to anyone who cares, and I don't have to worry about stepping on toes. If you don't like what someone has to say on a blog, you don't have to read it. Many of my friends have reported how they've made small changes to their lives through my blog. They've invested in large jugs of vinegar, bought coupon organizers, signed up for Mint.com and created budgets, bought Droids, come up with better ways to divide chores between husband and wife, purged their closets, started making sweet potato fries and/or popcorn on the stove (but usually not together), hung up their necklaces, subscribed to recipe magazines and started their own recipe notebooks, Furminated their pets, and started flossing in the shower.

2) You can learn through others by keeping a blog. Suddenly your real-life friends and the strangers who read your blog and become familiar faces start telling you their discoveries. And then your friends' parents start reading your blog and sharing more ideas as well. It's like a little knowledge tree, and you planted the roots.

3) You hear from your friends more often when you keep a blog. Before I started keeping a blog I thought people would stop emailing or calling me because they could easily find out about my life through my blog. But actually the opposite has happened. Some of my faraway friends in New York and Colorado have reported feeling more connected to me because of the blog, and we're in better contact, too. Now I am waiting for all my friends to start blogs so I can know all about their lives.

4) You get to chronicle and therefore make better sense of your own life. I love keeping track of my life through calendars and photos, but breaking out an old-fashioned journal seems like a chore. This blog remedied that problem I had with paper and pencil.

5) You get to write for a reason. In high school and college writing was one of my main activities, mostly thanks to my dedicated involvement in scholastic journalism and my time as an English major. Now as an English teacher, most of my writing takes the form of writing on my students' papers. The blog, though, is for me, and it's a chance to actually keep up with my writing and be a better teacher of writing the more I practice on my own.

All these benefits aside, I'm still convinced that the best way to motivate yourself to do anything -- buy a house, be more financially responsible, renovate a house, plan a wedding, become a better cook, get ready for a baby, start a new business venture, train a puppy, travel the globe -- is to blog about it. Your friends will want to know about your progress, and that will motivate you to keep moving forward.

And when you start your blog, send me the link!

My husband, the champion

Last night Matt enjoyed a dinner with a bunch of girls (and one other guy) and listened politely as conversations turned to topics such as bridesmaid dress colors or nursing babies (or at one moment the subject of nursing babies while wearing bridesmaids dresses emerged), as they inevitably will. These conversations reveal our collective stages of life and my husband's high tolerance for feminine topics.

Which got me thinking.

Matt is pretty great. He does a lot around the house, and he's the reason why I am able to stay so organized (and write a blog about it!). So, if you live with a loved one who doesn't believe that he or she should carry an equal part of the load, maybe you can share this little list of duties divided between Matt and me when you'd like to broach the subject of household chores and equity.

My friend Lindsay calls these items pink tasks and blue tasks, but I will just call them Matt's responsibilities, my responsibilities, and our collective responsibilities.

Matt's responsibilities:

• Feed the dogs in the morning and take them out (in the dark) for the morning walk
• Take the dogs out right before going to bed
• Vacuum the house every Sunday and clean the bathroom floors
• Cook dinner almost all of the time (though I usually help as sous chef and on rare occasion take it all on by myself)
• Wash and fold his own laundry
• Cut the grass
• Investigate all electronic purchases
• Research all major financial decisions
• Communicate with service people, including auto mechanics and home repair/improvement people
• Manage our Blockbuster queue

Steph's responsibilities:

• Make the bed each morning
• Clean up after dinner (load dishwasher, do dishes, wipe counters)
• Perform about 5-10 minutes of general straightening around the house each day
• Dust (before Matt vacuums on Sundays, but I probably dust about once every three weeks)
• Clean bathrooms (except floors)
• Wash and fold my own laundry
• Wash collective items, such as sheets, towels, rugs, napkins, tablecloths and stuff for the dogs
• Water the plants/flowers/herb garden, both inside and outside
• Clean windows
• Pay bills
• Make all decorating decisions
• Buy presents, send cards, remember things for other people, etc.
• Manage our library holds, renewals and returns

Collective responsibilities:

• Feed dogs in the afternoon and take them on a walk together (if it's nice; if it's crappy weather, Matt does the walking alone)
• Empty the dishwasher, a task usually done together
• Make a menu for the week, a grocery list and go grocery shopping together
• Keep our Google calendars updated so we can both be social planners (which is a nice change from me being the keeper of the calendar)
• Wash the dogs and dry the dogs (though I usually wash and Matt usually dries)
• Wash our cars together
• Clean the hardwood floors -- sometimes Matt will do this or I will do this

We also have a little morning and night time ritual where one of us will put toothpaste on both of our toothbrushes, rather than each of us individually applying toothpaste to our own toothbrushes. Matt will say, "Would you paste me?" or "Thanks for pasting me." Then we have guests over, who hear this interchange and immediately make fun of us. This time, I beat you to it.

We have pretty evenly split our household duties between the two of us, and I wouldn't have it any other way. When two people have full-time jobs, it seems unfair for one person to do all or almost all the work at home, too. So take a moment to think it over this weekend, and see if you could be productive if your partner did more to help out.

And if you have any other ideas for sharing the workload, please leave a comment!