Our family thrives on routine to function, especially my son. Establishing routines and staying organized not only saves time, but it also gives my son a feeling of security. We’re still working out the kinks in our morning routine, but the key to having our day run as smoothly as possible is organization. I felt pretty sure of my organizational skills until I had the chance to participate in OfficeMax’s Back-To-School blogcast.

The blogcast can be found here and I promise it is worth your while to listen. Peter Walsh, organizational expert frequently seen on TLC’s Clean Sweep and Oprah, not only offers terrific tips on organization, but he also explains to you WHY this is so important and how staying organized helps your children be more successful in all they do. He even has some great tips for homeschoolers, too.

Courtesy of OfficeMax, I received several fantastic organizational items from their Schoolio von Hoolio Darling collection (pictured above) and instantly fell in love with the cute designs that can be found on folders, notebooks, and so much more. Even as an adult, I think staying organized is more fun when you have great products and supplies you love.

I’ve been trying to decide how I feel about turning 35 today. I couldn’t come up with a single, solid emotion about it except just being happy to be alive and well to celebrate another one until I logged into Facebook and one of my oldest and dearest friends wished me a happy birthday and then told me she hoped I was celebrating the fact that I was halfway to 70.

70.

Now there’s something to think about.

Both of my parents who are in their 60’s are now on Facebook. My mom has been on there awhile and has learned just about everything there is to know. She also regularly checks up on me there and reminds me to, “Please don’t be tellin’ your private business on there….you don’t know who all reads that….” on a regular basis. My personal philosophy on blogging and Facebooking is that if I won’t stand up in church and say it, then it’s not something I’ll be writing about. That little PSA from her always gets the big, “God, Mom, I’m 35-freakin’ years old. I think I know right from wrong by now…”

Anyway, Mom’s a pro. Dad? Not so much. My mother signed him up and suggested he add people as friends. Tonight I went over to help him figure it out since he sounded a little outdone with the whole thing. Our tutorial included the following:

Dad: “Why do people keep sending me drinks? Where’s the drink?”

Me: Dad….I can block all of that for you.

Dad: “Good! I can’t stand that. Why does Joe Blow want to be my friend? Who the hell is that?”

Me: It’s someone Mom knows….all you have to do is ignore them. You don’t have to be their friend. But let me add some people you do know. (Adds people) OK, now we just have to wait for them to accept your friend request.

Dad: “DO WHAT? So-and-So doesn’t want to be MY friend? I have to WAIT? Well you can forget that sh**….”

Me: NO DAD!! You have to wait for them to get the notification that you want to be their friend. Some people only get on Facebook once a week or every few days. Nobody stays on there all the time.

Dad: “Well, ________ and ___________ do. All I read is crap from them constantly. Who cares if they’re going to take a shower or where they ate that night? I hate that!! Why do they think people care?”

Y’all, he was fired up. Over Facebook.

Clearly, my Dad is conforming so well to social media. Twitter would absolutely blow his mind, so I won’t even go there. On second thought, maybe I will. THAT could be fun. (*cue evil laugh*)

Edited to add…no, I did not make this. This little birdbath sits outside at my son’s school. It’s gorgeous, though.

Musings of a Housewife shows you how to make a press page in 7 easy steps.

Suburban Oblivion fills you in on who owns the rights to digital content created by a group.

Amy Bayliss tells you how to take the blah out of your blog.

Velveteen Mind tells you why writing well is not enough anymore.

E.B. did fantastic on his first day of school yesterday. He ran to his classroom as soon as we arrived (can we say Eager Beaver?) and I had to interrupt him from playing (just like last year) to get my hug and kiss goodbye. I would have hated to leave him without doing the goodbye ritual because, clearly, he was beside himself with anxiety.

When I picked him up that afternoon he made it to the car and was sound asleep before we got out of the school parking lot, I kid you not. He was exhausted.

But the best part of the whole day? His uniform shorts that were actually not on backwards! Score!

After tucking E.B. into bed tonight and double checking his supplies for his first day of school tomorrow, I suddenly thought of the coolest school supply ever made, at least back when I was in elementary school in the 80’s.

I distinctly remember owning two Trapper Keepers in my life. One had kittens on it and one sported a hot pink and white geometric pattern. I’m pretty sure this was the one school supply that also crossed over into a fashion statement of sorts (at least until those darned backpacks became so popular), because how cool were you walking down the hallway with one of these tucked under your arm (guys) or hugged close to your chest (girls)?

I think I can safely sum up my move from Blogger to WordPress with these words…WordPress gave me a serious case of the dumbs. I’ve spent the better part of this past weekend in a panic because once my blog was moved I quickly figured out that WordPress was not the way I wanted to continue blogging. If I had started out at WordPress perhaps I would feel very differently and I still think design-wise that you can’t beat a WordPress layout (unless you have a really cool Blogger one like a few I have seen), but it just wasn’t for me. The end.

The really fun part was trying to get my server to point back to the Blogger blog. If you ever try what I did and decide you aren’t happy, I can definitely help you get your domain pointing back to your Blogger blog. I think I’ve got a few strands of hair left and only a few bruises from beating my head against the wall.

I’m kidding. A little.

It’s just really good to be home. Blogs should not cause that much trauma/drama. Ever. Lesson learned.

And Blogger? You complete me. I’ll never cheat on you again, pinky swear.