We are so pleased to announce more winners in the More Time Moms Contest. Thanks to all who entered. Happy Holidays to you and yours!
Week of December 13th
Posts Tagged ‘Seasonal’
Congratulations to all our winners!
December 23rd, 2009 by admin
Daily Winners Keep Rolling In!
December 16th, 2009 by admin
If you haven’t already heard about our More Time Moms Christmas contest. It’s not too late to participate. You can win an MTM Family Organizer! One a Day, everyday! To enter, place an order or leave a comment on our blog. We are drawing a name every day for the next 30 days. You can still enter, the contest ends December 24th.
Congratulations to our daily winners so far!:
Cookie Exchanges: Tips and Tricks for Success.
December 9th, 2009 by admin
Cookie-exchange parties are the perfect way to provide Mom’s homemade variety, save yourself time in the kitchen, enjoy different types of cookies and kick off the holiday festivities. I host a “girls only” party. We don’t eat the cookies, we exchange them, eat appetizers, drink adult beverages and socialize. It’s a nice break from the stressful Christmas season. I hold this party for myself as much as for everyone else, it really gets me in the holiday spirit — and away from the malls and the hustle bustle. We have a great time. So, if you don’t already attend one or host one, I encourage you to try it! Let me know if you decide to host your own exchange.
Important Planning Tips!
1) Send the invitations out a month before the party. Everyone’s calendar fills up fast in December! I hold mine in the second weekend in December so that I have plenty of cookies for all my holiday festivities.
2) Ask guests to R.S.V.P. in advance to let you know what kind of cookie they’ll be bringing. Try to make sure there are no duplicates.
3) Tell everyone to bake their cookies at least three days in advance. The biggest reason for no-shows is that they didn’t have time to bake their cookies.
4) Invite more people than you think will come. Think outside the box. Don’t discount all the high powered business women that think you don’t have time for such domestics. It can be a great networking party and they will meet new people. Encourage people that say “I don’t bake” to attend. They’re the ones that seem to enjoy it the most!
INVITATION AND THE RULES OF THE COOKIE EXCHANGE
Preparing for the Holidays
November 25th, 2009 by admin
Don’t worry, it may be early to some of you but if you’re like me and everyday is filled to the gills, planning for Christmas couldn’t be early enough. This year I decided to get ready a little earlier. We have made the ‘what I call’ mistake in the past few years to put up the Christmas lights in minus temperatures. We pull out the ladders and I send my ‘always looking for an adventure’ husband on up in the hypothermic inducing temp to unfold the magical Christmas scene I have created in my mind. Yes, Christmas is one of my favourite times of the year. It isn’t just Christmas day, it’s the whole season. It’s the feeling I wholeheartedly embrace.
I have finally decided at my ripe age of 40 to let go of what is supposed to be the rule and just go with the flow of how everyone close to me is feeling. The last thing my husband and I wanted to do on Christmas day last year was to spend half of it in the kitchen, so we didn’t even make a Turkey. We went out for walks, dreamed, talked, and skated on the lake along with the kids tobogganing down our hill with just a few injuries. (Note for me this year, bring some helmets up to the lake) Coming in, sitting in front of the fire, watching a Christmas movie and munching on goodies made for one of the best Christmas’s I can remember. Nothing was planned, nothing was rushed, and we embraced every moment, we were so present.
My goal this year is to create a similar feeling my family enjoyed last year…….what does that mean? I NEED TO RELAX!!! I am an organizer with a self diagnosis of OCD. I like things to be just so and I will waste time getting it just so to the point where I have sincerely missed out on some special moments others have clearly enjoyed. This year the leader in me will let others lead the holiday…..to a certain point.
On a practical note, in addition to using More Time Moms Christmas Countdown checklist, I have decided to ask myself the questions I need answers to in order to have as much of a special stressed free holiday as possible.
Holiday Time Management
Before I plan the holiday activities, I need to check my Family Organizer. Are children going to be involved in exams during the season or are the exams after the holiday? How about the kids activities around Christmas i.e. parties, concerts and plays. What about their regular sport activities? Do we have to go to all the events because I would like to do what we used to do a few years ago and drive around in pyjamas, yes pyjamas drinking hot chocolate and looking at all the wonderful Christmas lights!
My Child is Sick: Does He Have H1N1?
October 28th, 2009 by admin
The other day my youngest came home from school with cold-like symptoms. Of course, I instantly wondered was this the beginning of the H1N1 attack on my home turf or was this just a common cold. I haven’t even had the chance to take a stand on whether or not, I should vaccinate my kids. I kept him home from school for a few days. After wading through a pile of information on the H1N1, I was able to conclude that he didn’t have H1N1 based on the following information published from the University of Calgary. It is the clearest explanation of exactly what constitutes symptoms of H1N1.
Halloween: Be Creative and Resourceful!
October 14th, 2009 by admin
It’s that time of year again, where the kids are planning their costumes and already making requests to have friends accompany us on our Trick or Treating adventures. I have developed a love/hate relationship with this holiday that is so beloved by the kids.
When our oldest son Jacob was one, my husband came home from work on Halloween night to proclaim that he was ready to partake in the festivities and bring Jake around the neighborhood to visit and enjoy his first foray into Trick or Treating. Secretly, I was horrified that my baby, who was still breast-feeding and just precariously walking, would be exposed to the Halloween horrors of candy. “Where’s his costume?” he said.
Supporting Your Kids In Sports
October 2nd, 2009 by admin
Sports teams and other activity groups depend largely on the support of parent volunteers. Besides acting as instructors and supervisors, parents can be team managers, coordinators, fundraisers, registration, event, promotion and communications volunteers. In our 14 years of parenting of 3 kids in a multitude of sports, my husband and I have filled many of these roles at various times. Most of these functions require little if any expertise in the sport or activity itself. Unfortunately, parents can get caught up in trying to help and end up doing more harm than good. The following may help:
Supporting Your Child
Don’t hate me because I’m ready for Back-to-School: Confessions of a professional organizer.
August 7th, 2009 by admin
It is now the 1st week of August and I am sort of gloating when I write; I have most of my ‘Back-To-School’ shopping done! Please don’t hate me, I did say most of it, not all! Let’s not forget I still have to label everything and move on to the children’s possible clothing needs. I have to evaluate what the children will be doing as far as extracurricular activities, sports, music and plan the driving schedule, possible car pool scenarios, etc. What about doctors appointments, dental, eye appointments and whatever else I’ll try and cram in before school starts back up again.
I am a mom of 4 kids, Jonathan 19, Gregory 16, Rachelle 9 and Max 8. My husband François is on the road quite often for work leaving me to manage the household. A lot of pressure is on me not just because I have 4 children, husband, work in and out of the home, but because by trade I am a professional organizer! I am expected to be perfect! Guess what?….far from it. I have finally come to accept that it is ok to not be perfect….well sort of. Can any mom, whether you are at home or at the office relate? We are expected to be extraordinary multi-taskers and we try and keep trying until we find ourselves worn out, exhausted and forgetting to even look after ourselves. We beg for maids and nannies to drop out of the sky and save us. Not going to happen! So now we have to come up with some ideas to make life a little simpler, drop half of our to do lists (I’ll have a hard time with that one) and focus on enjoying time with our families more (that will be an easy thing to do).
Now that you know a little bit about me and my imperfections, here are a few tips to help us all get ready for the onslaught of September.
Back-To-School Tips From A Professional Organizer:
It’s a Staycation for us this year!
July 8th, 2009 by Trish
The home-based vacation — aka “staycation” — can be a great alternative to an expensive trip, assuming you plan it well and really treat it as a true vacation. This is our year for it with impending braces for our oldest, gas prices increasing and air travel costs rising. The falling dollar makes even cross-border travel less appealing.
The big savings from a Staycation are transportation costs and lodging, but there are others.
Even if you want to eat out every day, you can limit that to one meal and still save lots on the food budget. We like to eat out for brunch, it is often great value at many good restaurants and you usually eat so much that it carries you through to dinner.
The real obstacle is psychological. We have been conditioned to think a vacation means travel and expensive vacations help us keep up with the neighbors. Don’t get caught up in that and finish this summer without a pile of vacation debt, you’ll have peace of mind and a head start on great trip — next year.
The following staycation strategies can help make your Staycation a truly relaxing break rather than a wasted week. (more…)
