Saving Children's Artwork

What is more precious then your children's artwork? They bring it home for you to admire, and admire you do. I've had many clients that have decision making problems and one problematic area is what to do with all of their children's artwork. What to keep, what to toss? Well, that decision is a pretty personal and difficult thing for some parents.

There has been many a time I suggest that my clients choose a number that they are comfortable with, and keep a certain amount of artwork per month. Let's say you like the number 5. You keep 5 items per month and at the end of the year, you and your children sit down and pick one or two from each month. If you have limited space, you limit the number of artwork keeps to suit your storage needs. Decide what will make the cut and what won't. Will you involve your child in the decision making or make the decisions yourself or on your own?

If you have a problem making a decision about what to keep, think about how helpful it will be if you limit what you choose to display and what you choose to archive. You'll be sending a message to your children that we make choices and don't keep everything. Not everything is worth keeping. When we make choices, we help ourselves and our children to understand that decision making is an important process. We also want to honor the artwork our children have created by making sure that these treasures are preserved and stored safely.

There are some really cute ways of displaying children's artwork. Pottery Barn kids has these cute butterfly clips that work as a way to display and string their artwork on a wall. (http://tinyurl.com/7k52a3h) Works of art can be rotated in and out with this idea. Another cute site is Land of Nod. They also offer these cute art clips in different styles. (http://tinyurl.com/3ucnd6o).

Improvements offers a "Dynamic Artwork Frame' that displays one work of art at a time, but holds 50 works of art. You'll always have a new masterpiece to look at with that frame. (http://www.dynamicframes.com)

One last important place for wonderful archive boxes is Container Store. They have them in all different sizes for your needs. Let's celebrate your budding Monet's with some creative displays and storage.

Grown-Up Approach To Our Finances

Well I did it! I've been thinking about putting together a family budget. Along with talking about this subject a lot with clients, I propelled myself forward & set-up an account on https://www.mint.com/.

It was really easy to do & I feel like a real grown-up and don't ask me why I feel this way.

I've always kept up with my financial information, but with Mint, it's different. Everything we need to know about our true financial picture is available at the touch of our keyboard.

Mint.com is a read-only program, so you don't have to fear that the universe will have access to your financial information. Mint was created by the folks at Intuit who has given us QuickBooks, Quicken, TurboTax & many other smart business & personal financial accounting programs.

One of the many things I really like about mint.com is that all of my financial information is connected to real financial institutions. My financial information is in real time, with real figures. I know my net worth in a blink of an eye. I also know what my budget looks like all the time, so I can adjust it as needed. So, if you want to feel like a financial grown-up too, check out mint.com and discover what it can do for you.

Getting Started w/MacBook Pro

I've been waiting awhile to purchase a new MacBook Pro laptop. The time & opportunity presented themselves a few weeks ago. Since I've recently had a serious auto accident a few months ago, I've had to scale back just a bit on client work, to give my injuries time to heal. Now that I have additional injuries, I even have more time to devote to learning all about my new laptop.

Purchasing a new computer means that I had to update all software on my Mac OS X, desktop computer. This was a good & easy thing to do. I upgraded from Tiger 10.4.11 to Leopard 10.5.8. This is the highest upgrade for my G5, pre-Intel processor. Now I also have to change a number of my Word docs in my G5 to be compatible with my new laptops' Microsoft Office 2011. It's really cool to have updated into the new decade with a more powerful laptop. This laptop was a long time coming, but as I keep saying, I'm glad that I took my time with this important purchase.

My next mission is to create some new and very interesting PowerPoint presentations on working with hoarders & how the collaborative process works for long term clutter management.

Again, as I recover from my injuries, it's great to use this time to revitalize my research. I comfortably come back to knowing that I experience so much joy in the work I do with my clients. I'll incorporate my new laptop into all this joy! My next mission is to determine the most appropriate, ergonomically correct laptop stand. I'll check out http://www.laptopstand.org first to see what products make sense & go from there. http://www.amazon.com has some really cool computer laptop stands also. The research will continue tomorrow.

WatchMinder2 for ADHD Time Management

I have suggested using the WatchMinder2 (www.watchminder.com) to a number of my clients with ADD and have challenges from ABI's (Acquired Brain Injury) & TBI's (Traumatic Brain Injury) to name a few of their time management and life management issues. For more info on ABI's or TBI's check out: http://www.biatx.org. More to be written about ABI's & TBI's in future blogs.

One client in particular has a number of cognitive challenges from an illness that left her with short term memory loss. She wants to use the WatchMinder for herself before she buys additional ones for family members that have ADD. She is trying to figure out whether the WatchMinder would be more helpful on her wrist or hanging around her neck. Around the wrist might be uncomfortable for her. I look forward to finding out how this tool will work best for her and why. I'll be sure to add her input into this blog.

If you are currently using a helpful tool like the WatchMinder or any other device to help you with focus, attention, positive reinforcement or anything else, I'd appreciate it if you would share that info with me. Thanks.

iPad & Beyond

So, I didn't end up buying an iPad for my brother for his birthday. He would have gotten the iPad way after his birthday, which wouldn't have worked at all. But what I did find out was the usefulness of the iPad for one of my clients. This client has cognitive and memory issues. So, how does the iPad help her.

Well, she wanted to use the iPad like she used her iPhone, with the all important alarms that are built into the iPhone. She came to find out that the iPad didn't have alarms as part of the operating system. Instead, she had to find an app of an alarm, which didn't work for her. The app alarm wouldn't always work. So, she had to contact the programmer that designed the alarm to find out if the alarm could work independently, when the phone was on or off. This didn't work, so she now has to program the app to make sure it is on all the time. She is talking to the designer of the app to find out if there is a way that the app could work better for her needs. She is also contacting Apple to request that the alarm/timer app be included as a part of the operating system of the iPad, to make the alarm useability seamless.

Besides that, she loves the iPad for all the wonderful things that it can do for her. Have you had any experiences with the iPad that you would like to share. Thanks!!!

An iPad as a gift.

I've been a Mac user since the 80's, so I have been sold on Apple products for a very long time. As a rule, I'm not a person that purchases the latest tech product. I have to research it, review how it does in the marketplace, understand the advantages or disadvantages of a product. Essentially, I take my time before making such a purchase.

This is not the case with the iPad, since I'm purchasing one as a gift for a family member. Apple calls it "A magical & revolutionary product" & I can understand why after visiting the Apple Store. It's personal & business functions are exceptional. Very impressed by it's ease & comfort of use, especially the touch screen functionality. I'd recommend this product to high & low-tech users.

http://www.apple.com/ipad