Schoolhouse Review Crew: 7-Minute Life Daily Planner

It has been a running theme on the blog that I need to get organized and get my time in order. I had the chance to try out The 7 Minute Life Daily Planner for a review and get to put my thoughts here. This 266-page planner is published by published by The 7 Minute Life, and offers access to additional online tools and printables as well.  Let's dive right in, shall we? One of the things this book does at the beginning is to walk the user through a series of exercises designed to clear the mind of clutter, prioritize life goals/plans and desires, and create workable steps to achieve them. I wrote my feelings at the time on a blank page in the beginning of the book so that over time I would have a measure of my journey using this program. It starts out, "I feel frustrated at my own inability/unwillingness to get it all together. I am excited by and proud of a few things ... but my own failings with respect to keeping the rules set, keeping my papers and things organized and the examples I show my kids are pretty bad and very frustrating." I then listed out things that I feel pressured by, and went to work on the steps outlined in the book. 

Keeping a Stocked Larder

Christmas is here and so too are the weather reports of our first major winter storm on the way! They're currently predicting 6 to 10 inches, but last time we had one along these lines, we ended up with four feet! More predictable than the weather in this type of situation, are the long lines and the empty shelves at the grocery store. I often hear comments about people wanting milk, bread, eggs, toilet paper, paper towels, etc. Along those lines, I have seen several posts on a networking site called "CafeMom" asking what sorts of things do you like to keep handy in the event of a storm. Having answered this post a number of times now, and in much the same way, I thought I'd post my basic answers here as well; for some of the more obscure items, I'll post what I might use it to make...