My Addiction to Google Calendar

Happy Tipsy Tuesday!  Ok, so MAYBE I like electronic calendaring too much...  I admit that I am a teensy bit of a geek and as such really like electronic gadgetry.  And I am the complete polar opposite of go-with-the-flow.  I've been a scheduler for as long as I can remember (really, I am a geek) but writing in a planner didn't allow me to categorize without either highlighting or writing in different colors.  It also prevented me from really focusing on one category at a time.  Just like everyone else I have about 20 different schedules to keep track of and it was all starting to become a jumbled to-do list.  Then a few years ago, I found my calendar soul mate - Google Calendar.  Soooo, what makes it so awesome?

• You can create as many seperate calendars as you need (I have 15 right now...I know, control issues)
• You can pull in common calendars like US Holidays (there are 38 different holiday calendars), Day of the Year, Phases of the Moon, professional sport team schedules, Sunrise & Suset times, etc  (sadly, there is not a Candy of the Day Calendar)
• You could pull in (with permissions) the calendars of friends & family
• Everything is color coded (oh how I love color coding), although there are currently only 21 different colors)
• You can look at any single calendar (or combination of calendars) at a time...you could also look at all calendars at once if you want to feel overwhelmed ;)
• You can set it to email your daily agenda (note: I do not do this, I am not this obsessive)
• You can sync it with your phone (ok, maybe I do this...fine, I am obsessive)
• You can copy a single event to multiple calendars and set up repeating entries (like linky party reminders, for example)
• As with most all things Google, it's FREE :)

And what, you ask, do I schedule?  Apart from the obvious work meetings/reminders, family events and doctor visits, I also set reminders for everything from requesting library books to taking my vitamin...plans for blog entries & reminders for link parties...meal plans for the month...activity plans for the snuggle bug...sale reminders...and practically every other possible thing under the sun.  I realize that I might take it to the extreme (extreme calendaring, lol!) but it really is a super helpful tool to have in the Mommy toolbox.

Here's a shot of my calendar for next week with most of my categories selected for viewing. The burgundish-pink is my general calendar that I want to sync with my BlackBerry. It's hard to tell, but there are two shades of purple, one is blog related stuff and the other is cleaning stuff (seriously, if I don't remind myself it really won't get done). The blue calendar and orange calendars are two of the common holiday calendars that I've pulled in. And pink is for birthdays and anniversaries (hmmm, looks like I have some shopping to do)

And, just for fun (because really, who doesn't love a serious little fella shuffling papers)...

I'm pretty sure munchkin butt is working on his next week's schedule ;)

Ok, I'm done rambling.  Sure, I might have a slight calendar addiction, but man-oh-man it makes my life (and my family's life) so much more organized. 

And, I am in no way paid to spread love for Google Calendar, I just really really love it.

It's Raining, it's Pouring...

The weather this week is predicted to bring us a mixed bag of rain, clouds, sun and maybe even snow.  What a perfect week for our weather Munchkin Theme!  So long as the temperature doesn't dip too low, I plan to let the little guy play out in the rain this week (up to this point we haven't ventured out for rainy day fun).  Here's the full line up of our weather activities:

Letter of the Week: U
Crafty Creative and Sensory Fun:

• Rainy Day Rainbow Collage
• Weather Chart
• Cloud Collage
• Playing in Puddles (aka, Rainy Day Fun)

Books:

• Un-brella by Scott E Franson
• Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett
• Oh Say, Can You Say, What's the Weather Today? by Tish Rabe
• In the Rain with Baby Duck by Amy Hest
• One Rainy Day by M. Christina Butler

Songs/Rhymes:

• Oh Mr Sun
• Rain Rain Go Away
• Five Little Raindrops

Here's my soon-to-be Meoterologist enjoying some of last week's sunshine (I swear I do not pose him - this is just him being silly)

Dollar Store Doll-up

Ahhhh - another Saturday, another trip to the Dollar Store :)  Today, the little muffin man was unusually well behaved, so we really got to browse around.  We come home with lots of ingredients for crafty goodies, or at least enough to keep us busy this week ;)  At the top of my list of crafting to-dos is a knock off of a sweet little tray that I saw in a recent Starbucks add:

I saw this little tin tray at the Dollar Store and knew I had the makings of a lovely knock-off:

I used cream colored Valspar spray paint (Satin finish) to paint a few light coats for the base.  I let that dry for a few minutes an hour or so (I'm terribly impatient!) and then I mixed some dark brown paint craft paint with a little white craft paint and water.  I used a dry brush to highlight the details in the tray and viola...my lovely knock off:

Hmmm, something is still missing.  Oh right - I need to whip up some delicious scones...right after my nap ;)

And while I was working on this lovely little tray - the guys were tackling the much larger project of fencing in the backyard.  They were much too busy to be bothered to look at the camera, but aren't they still so darn cute :)