The Blog

School’s Almost Out For Summer! Can You Feel the Shift?

05/30/2012 By Nancy Borg With 2 comments

The school year’s end punctuates the end of another academic year.  For some, it is just a transitioning from one year to the next, and for others it could mean a more finite ending. Whether it’s moving up day or graduation, for everybody, this time of year means change.

  • If you have young children in Pre-K through middle school, it could mean packing your kid’s school papers, projects, and memorabilia from this past year to save as a keepsake.
  • If you have a High School student, they might be preparing to register for summer courses for college prep exams.
  • If you have a child first attending college this coming Fall, you will be probably be shopping, organizing and helping them prepare for their new dorm life.
  • If you have children already in college, you might be suggesting they store next semester’s essentials in a nearby facility. Thinking smart, economical, and efficient.  Always planning.

And if you have a High School Graduate, they might be coming home and staying home for good! Moving back home after 4 years can be daunting for both the student and the parents.  Everyone’s thinking the same…  There’s a lot of stuff.  Where is it all going?

In any of these scenarios, organizing and packing are the obvious, but decision-making and purging are really the first essential pieces to this process.

Decide on what is really important to you and let the rest go.  Find ways to preserve the sentimental treasures so you can reflect back on them with appreciation.  Avoid filling up endless boxes of unread papers and forgettable souvenirs that will find its way to a dusty attic or hidden spaces in a basement.  Discriminate now.  This way you won’t be burdened with overwhelming clutter years from now.

It’s always a good idea to do all this organizing while it’s fresh in your mind.  When you delay, you are more apt to continue to postpone, and eventually it becomes increasingly overwhelming to want to deal with it at all.

So commit to at least 1-2 days to organize this year’s school “stuff” and organize what’s significant. You will be so happy that you got it over with before the next school year approaches.  Sort it, trash it, pack it, label it, and store it. After that, there’s nothing else to do but enjoy the summer!

Unless of course, you LOVE to organize and prepare (you know who you are)…and you want to get a jump on the next school year.  You can always start purchasing new school supplies tomorrow.  Staples is awaiting.

 

 

 

 

 

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Just Counting Down for Summer? Or Will You Make Summer Count?

05/24/2012 By Nancy Borg With 2 comments

Is Summer your favorite time of year?  It is definitely mine and I’m so elated that Memorial Day is finally here. This weekend always seems to usher in the splendor of summer.  We wait so long for its arrival and at this point in time, we are encouraged that there are far more summer days ahead of us than there are behind us. Summer is fun… it’s happy.  Azure blue skies and the sparkle of sunshine can make an ordinary day, a spectacular one.  Even after a long day’s work, just a walk outside into a summer’s night can turn a stressful day into a calming night.  With the longer days, I think we all are delighted to run the extra errand, take a drive, walk, or do just about anything, because it’s still light outside.

We wait 9 months for summer, best not to waste it.  Let us make every day count.  So perhaps before the weeks slip away from us, we should think about how we are going to use our time.  Are we going to merely frolic in the lazy days of summer? Or are we compelled to accomplish something significant on our summer bucket list?

I read this book “168 hours: You Have More Time Than You Think,” and it changed how I look at time forever.  It was eye-opening to realize how many people do not utilize the extra hours of their days in a week.   Yes, everybody has extra hours of down time when they are not sleeping or not working.  Nobody works 24/7 (168 hours), it would be physically impossible. Too many of us are unaware that there are so many valuable hours that can easily slip by.

Here’s how this thinking can change your life too.  Back to our summer plans.  Crunch the numbers; From Memorial Day to Labor Day there are 14 weeks.  If you do the simple math and multiply that by 168 hours (24 hours in a week),  you get 2352 hours.  Now that’s some big chunk of change, don’t you think?  If you are lucky and get 8 hours a night sleep, then deduct another 784 hours.  And  if you work 12 of those 14 weeks, subtract roughly about 480 hours, which leaves you well over 1000 glorious extra hours of  leisure time!!  OMG, you’ve hit the lottery.

Summertime is precious.  Organize it.  Make smart choices.  Manage your time because you own it , it’s yours.  Plan your bucket list and aspire to satisfy it.  Spend your hours doing anything you enjoy doing;

    • Make more time for your family and friends.
    • Ride a bike.
    • Take a hike.
    • Read the book you’ve never have the time to.
    • Create a new hobby.
    • Rise early before the dawn.
    • Bask in the sunshine of a summer day.
    • Catch the beauty of a brilliant sunset.
    • Plant, grow a garden,
    • Paint a room.
    • Be ambitious and clean out the garage, basement or attic.
    • And yes, maybe even take a delicious nap on a hammock.

Enjoy the priceless summer hours, you cannot take them back in winter.  Make them count now and optimize your time.

For me, summer energies me…the days are longer, the sun is brighter, and I want to get out and do something.  This is Your  time, Your summer.  Ask yourself this… what will you be doing with all your hours?

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Photos Are Our Life Stories…Do You “Show and Tell” Yours?

05/17/2012 By Nancy Borg With 1 comment
Pictured: My son standing by a WWII photo of my Dad (3rd from left) displayed at Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.

Photographs are the footprints of our lives.  It shows us where we’ve been and who we used to be.  It is a huge part of our  legacy that we leave behind for our children and loved ones.

Every photo has a back story.  Sharing the stories bring special meaning to each of them and so shouldn’t we feel obliged to tell, and retell, our stories so they will endure through the generations?

I want to share with you how my personal family history has been perpetuated in a very unique way because of photo organizing and storytelling.

In recounting my Dad’s World War II stories, it occurred to me that without my Mom’s organized photo albums, we could not have made this special discovery. But it was not merely about the organizing of the photos, it was the significant storytelling that helped us make the connection.

As children, we grew up with wondrous tales of Dad’s World War II adventures. He was a radio gunner, flying on a B-17 in the 8th Army Air Force. Every mission was a dangerous one.  I never really understood that as a young child, but the framed shadow box that hung on our den wall,  preserving his Purple Heart,  Distinguished Flying Cross, Good Conduct, Air Medal, and Bronze Medal Star let me know that it was something special.  It was a permanent commemoration of his heroic achievements, and that would later set the stage for the endless storytelling he would eventually share with his grandchildren.

There was one particular photo (pictured) that my Mom had in her organized photo albums, that depicted one of my Dad’s last missions. It was significant because this particular mission, nose-arted with “Angel in DeSkies” was not his regular crew.  In fact, he barely knew them.  His previous crew on “Idiot’s Delight” crashed and burned, leaving no survivors. For reasons unknown,  he fortunately never flew that mission. Nonetheless, this photo became a “classic” in our family history.  We also looked at it often because of its nostalgia and the fact that family resemblance was uncanny to that of my maturing brother at the same age.

When my children were able to understand, they appreciated their Grandpa’s history, loved and admired him as he often wore his notorious B-17 baseball hat with such pride.  They loved playing with his army gear and canteen since they were actually authentic souvenirs of war, a foreign concept back then.

Years later, we visited Washington D.C. and while at the Air and Space Museum, we meandered around the different exhibits and froze when we noticed an enormous mural on the wall.  It was the very same picture of my Dad and crew standing in front of the B-17.  Because it was such a familiar and noteworthy photo, we were able to recognize it immediately.  Most importantly, if this original photo was never shared or spoken of, we would never have even known my Dad was even in the photograph.  Like other vistors, we would have just passed it by.  A story never told.

Before my Dad passed away, he had the opportunity to take us all to a WWII Plane Exhibition in Florida at a local Boca Raton airport, where an original B-17 was displayed for all to view.  Volunteers permitted interactive tours and so my Dad was only too happy to have his grandchildren climb into the very tight quarters of his simulated radio gunner seat and re-enact history.  A  day for my children to cherish, always…and yes, of course, we have the photographs!

Two years ago, my son returned to Washington D.C. with friends and was eager to revisit the museum to look for his grandpa’s photo.  It was still there. 🙂 We will continue to tell his stories, and we are honored that these memories are captured on display in such a prestigious museum, to be visited for generations to come.

I now realize that when I was a young Mom, I was so caught up in the moments, I was too busy to realize how significant they actually were, until they passed.  So now when our family makes the time to revisit the good old days through my photos, I’m so grateful to have them. We can trace our lives through these photos.  It is our timeline.  They rekindle the memories and compel us to retell the stories.

No doubt there is great value in photo-organizing but suffice it to say, it can be as simple as a labelled shoebox. How you organize and preserve your family heirlooms is discretionary.  Understand that they are invaluable treasures.

Find the old special photos, label them, and share their stories with your family. Take new photos and don’t bury them in virtual folders.  Be creative with your storytelling.

The great thing about a good photo is that it speaks a thousand words.   It’s a great opportunity for show and tell, don’t you think?

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What Happened to Dinnertime?

05/10/2012 By Nancy Borg With no comments yet

When I was a young girl, I remember every day culminating with my family sitting around the dinner table. I was lucky enough to have my Dad home every night for dinner, 6:30 p.m sharp. The table was always pre-set, then upon my Dad’s arrival, we all sat down together with no interruptions.  It was dinnertime. That simple.

Television and phone calls were not allowed (obviously, cell phones did not exist then so “texting” wasn’t even a forbidden consideration).  Nothing fancy, no special holiday, just family dinner.  Cross- talk conversation, playful sibling banter, and repetitive prodding from Mom to clean our plates, were all common backdrops for our typical family meal.

I’m not suggesting that life was as perfect as the truly idealized families portrayed in Father Knows Best or Leave it to Beaver, but just that this setting was a big part of the American pop culture in the late 50’s. Dinnertime seemed somewhat sacred in all our homes.

Decades later, as I grew my own family, I wanted to implement these similar values into my own life.  Like my Dad, my husband was able to be home for dinner every single night, and it’s something my adult children still remember.  But let’s morph to the 80’s and the new world of Technology.  Its impact impeded a great deal on my family dinner.  For starters, there were more interruptions and distractions.  Televisions were glaring at high volume, cordless phones were ringing every 10 minutes, and my kid’s obsession with hand held video games delayed them from sitting down at the dinner table on time. Eventually, we all gathered and happy chatter ensued.  Family dinner was very important to me and I cherished it.  It was a time that the whole family would congregate and catch up.  It was a place for intimate conversation in the natural setting of our home. I can remember gazing around the table, taking it all in and knowing very well, that it was indeed a precious time; a special time that I would never get back.

And then it happened. My children got older and they were smitten by organized sports. The grueling schedules ruled us.  If that weren’t enough, my husband decided to enlist as the Basketball Coach throughout both of my children’s athletic careers.  Needless to say, you see where this is going.  My family dinner was crumbling before me.  Gone were the days of relaxing dinners, and instantly replaced with quick snacks or a slices of pizza, all in attempt to make it to early practices before the games.

So that was then, and now I fear that it is far worse today.

Busy households are a juggling act; balancing dinner meals, homework, tutors,and carpools, with too many extra-curricular activities.  As a result, a “balanced” meal, albeit a sit-down family dinner, are no longer an option.  It’s more like a sandwich on the go, a fast food stop. or sometimes just a protein bar or shake! Factor in the more advanced technology and the rise in social media mania, and you’re dealing with a whole other level of detachment.  Now we have iPhones, iPads, texting, Facebook and Twitter. Most importantly, it’s encroaching on the privacy of family home life 24/7 .

So what has happened to the nuclear family? Is it breaking down?  Are we over- scheduled or disconnected?, or both? The problem is of course, it’s not that we don’t want to…but because there’s no time to.  Does it come down to a time-management issue?

Clearly the busy family of today is struggling with optimal quality time. This might suggest that we are changing priorities in our family culture. Overwhelming schedules push out valuable time to connect.  Shouldn’t we carve out the time to chow down with the family like we used to?

Now that my children are grown, I yearn for those table conversations; a cacophony of yelling, whining, teasing, story telling, and belly laughing til it hurt.  I recall it all with a sense of completeness, sweet and utter joy.  True gems came out of those family meals that I will never forget.

Children need both relationships and routines they can depend on.  Dinnertime is a great time to check in, connect, and share with your family. Dining in the privacy of your home can be intimate, even it’s noisy and chaotic. It’s a place where the family dynamics engage naturally, without outside distractions.  No television, no video games.  Just eating and talking.  Family in the raw.  Its value is truly under-rated.

Think about how often you have family dinner. Do you make the time? Is it on the schedule?

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Shhh…Mum’s the Word: Everyday is Mother’s Day!

05/02/2012 By Nancy Borg With 1 comment

Don’t beat yourself for not being Martha Stewart.  So what if your condiments and spices aren’t alphabetized and arranged in size order. Big deal if you don’t excel in cooking, baking, crafting, planting, and redecorating?

If a hectic day encumbers you from cooking a hearty family dinner, order in the pizza (but without the guilt!) The kids will be just as happy, if not happier. It doesn’t make you a bad Mom if you’re not greeting the kids after school, adorned with a Betty Crocker apron, and a batch of freshly baked cookies.

But the one thing that these revered women have mastered and you might want to emulate is, being more organized.   Motherhood demands it, and not just in the kitchen.

Being a Mom is both the hardest and most rewarding job you will ever have.   It’s also a job that is never done.  The schedule of a busy Mom can be grueling.  It’s so hard to balance motherhood with the daily stresses, being attentive to every one’s needs and keeping the house organized too.

Initially, you probably have all good intentions to be the quintessential Mom but your chaotic schedule, all too often, gets in the way and wears you down.  A busy household has a myriad of activities going on simultaneously, and it’s understandable when things spin out of control. It doesn’t seem to matter how old the kids are; a busy house is still a busy house.  The chaos can create messy piles ranging from diapers and toys, to video games and sneaker piles.

Being able to find what you need when you need to, is the essence of being organized.  Use it as a vital tool to manage your busy household.  Warning: Don’t go for perfect, it’s far too an ideal to strive for and don’t beat yourself up for never getting there.  Be who you are, don’t change you.  Just modify those habits that are tripping you up and causing you anxiety. Sometimes it’s about changing the little things that reduce a lot of the stress.

Here’s a helpful tip:

Before bed, think about what the next day looks like and jot down the logistics and time frames of the day’s schedule.  Evaluate where you have to be and when.  Is it your turn to carpool? Do you need to pack snacks to go because you will be on the run all day? Make a list of phone calls that you will need to make and prepare a doable to do list. Organize your day before you begin the day.

Try changing one routinely task that takes up more time than you’d like, and implement a way to do it faster.  Cut out a step.  It might be making the kid’s lunch, preparing the school knapsack, or planning their outfit the night before.  Eliminate the morning battles.

Think more efficient with less effort. Streamlining the daily process will save you time and give you more time to breathe. And while you’re at it, give yourself a well-deserved hug! Happy Mother’s Day to all 🙂

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