Peace of Mind Organizing

Extra three days for taxes!

11 April 2016

Have you finished your taxes yet? If not, the government has a happy surprise: You have an extra weekend to get them done.

The deadline for federal taxes this year is April 18, rather than the usual date of April 15. That’s because this year, Emancipation Day in the District of Columbia is celebrated on April 15 and all Federal offices are closed. Emancipation Day is usually celebrated April 16, but that’s a Saturday this year, so it’s observed on the 15th.

Emancipation Day commemorates the April 16, 1862 signing by Abraham Lincoln of the Compensated Emancipation Act, which freed 3100 slaves in the District of Columbia, almost nine months before the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.

If you live in Massachusetts or Maine, you get one more extra day because April 18 is Patriots’ Day, celebrated in those two states. So federal taxes in Massachusetts and Maine are due on Tuesday, April 19. (Please note that estimated taxes, which are mailed, are due on the 18th, even for residents of Massachusetts and Maine.)

I’d suggest checking your own state and local deadlines, however. Here in St. Louis, we have until the 18th to file state taxes, but city earnings taxes are due on the 15th as usual, as far as I can tell from the city’s website.

Procrastinators, rejoice!

What a difference three months make!

4 April 2016

Our standard poodle puppy, Bix, was eight weeks old when we brought him home from the breeder. My camera is chock full of photos of adorableness. Back in January, I posted a cute pair of photos of Bix on the couch looking out the window.

Bix enjoys looking out the window from the couch and does it frequently. The other day I snapped a photo to send to my husband, who wasn’t home.

Looking back at that January blog post I was amazed at how much Bix has grown in just three months. So I thought I’d put the two pictures together here (the app Pic Stitch makes it easy).

The lefthand picture was taken January 3. The righthand one was taken April 2. It’s amazing how much a puppy can grow in three months!

Bix weighed about 15 pounds at the beginning of January and is 45 pounds now. He’s ten pounds heavier than his predecessor, Kirby, was at Bix’s age. Kirby grew up to be 70 pounds. So we may have a giant on our hands here!

Sometimes it’s hard to remember that such a big boy is really a puppy. Well, Bix reminds us daily, of course, but I think we place some unfair expectations on him at times. He’s really a very good boy.

What have you been putting off?

31 March 2016

I had a colonoscopy this week. I’m 53 (and a half) years old and for the past 3.5 years I’ve been putting off getting the screening colonoscopy—a procedure that can catch deadly colon cancer while it’s still treatable—that’s recommended for everyone at 50 years old.

I’m a smart woman. I know it’s a good idea to get a colonoscopy and that sooner is better than later. But I couldn’t get myself to do it. My college buddies encouraged me to schedule it (they’d done theirs). But I resisted. Finally, I got a new primary care physician and she basically made the appointment for me.

Why was I dragging my feet? Partly because of the horrible things you hear about the prep (the bowel has to be cleaned prior to the scope). But, in truth, there was also a certain amount of fear that there would be bad news. Irrational, but true. Because of course, if I did have colon cancer, it was better to know than not know. But not knowing bad news can feel safer than knowing it.

Well, it turned out that the prep wasn’t all that bad. Not fun, but not tortuous. And the procedure itself was nothing, because I slept through the whole thing. When it was over the news was good—and immediate. Everything normal. Come back in ten years.

I can’t tell you how good it feels to have that behind me. I didn’t realize the psychic energy I was expending avoiding it. It makes me want to find something else I’m afraid of and just do it.

How about you? Is there something you’ve been putting off? Could you take a tiny step today toward doing it? Trust me, you’ll feel better when it’s done!

My favorite new iPhone accessory

28 March 2016

I bought an iPhone 6S on February 26. I love it of course. I’ve never been shy about expressing my love for my iPhone. And that love has not diminished an iota since my first iPhone, the 4S I bought in 2012. This new phone replaced my nearly two-year-old iPhone 5S whose storage had filled up. I blame my puppy, Bix, who’s outrageously photogenic, for that.

In any case, I bought an iPhone 6S (not Plus) with 128 gigabytes of storage. I went with gold again. I love that I have a ton of storage space. I love that’s a little bigger than the 5S, which my aging eyes appreciate. I love Apple Pay and I love the Live Photo feature, which displays the little bit of video that took place before I take a still picture. (And with the free Lively app I can now easily make gifs from still photos.)

I bought the Apple leather case in red (which matches my Kindle case, which makes me unduly happy). I love it too.

But you know what I love the most? I’m absolutely delighted with an accessory recommended to me by my friend Shannon Wilkinson. Shannon was visiting from Portland in February and was kind enough to go with me to the Apple store and help me navigate the sea of purchase options. (Thank you, Shannon!)

She told me about the Bracketron Si Dash Mount. This smartphone dashboard mount is magnetic. It comes with a little piece of metal that you put inside your phone case. You mount the Bracketron to your dashboard or windshield and you can just rest your phone on the it without fiddling with brackets or clamps. One simple motion and it’s on. And it stays on.

It’s such a simple thing but it makes a huge difference. Mine is mounted to the dashboard and it holds my phone at eye level. Before my put my phone in the center console cup holder, which made using it for navigation a little tricky. I could hear the navigation easily, but if I wanted to glance at the map, I’d have to take my eyes off the road and look down. (Or look at my Apple Watch on my wrist.)

Now I can see the navigation on the phone easily while driving. And it makes it very easy to enter my mileage at the beginning of the trip, or to take a call while driving or place a call at a light. (My 2008 Honda CR-V doesn’t have built-in bluetooth.) It also frees up a cup holder.

The combination of a new phone and this dashboard mount has put a little skip in my step!

Falling back into a habit

23 March 2016

It always amazes me how even the most engrained habits can fall by the wayside through a shift of routine. The silver lining is that once we’ve created a good habit it’s easier to get back into it than starting from scratch.

Case in point: Blogging. I’ve been blogging on this blog for seven-and-a-half years, since 2008. In recent years I’ve fallen into a fairly steady habit of blogging twice a week, usually on Mondays and Thursdays. In 2012, I added another blog, Organize Your Family History. I try to blog there on Tuesdays and Fridays.

So for the past couple of years, I’ve blogged four days a week. I don’t plan my blog posts (or write them) ahead of time. As you might be able to tell from reading the blogs, I write about whatever is on my mind that day, which usually works well for me.

But my five-month-old standard poodle puppy, Bix, has thrown my blogging routine into flux. It’s easier to keep an eye on him in our living area, rather than my office, so I’ve been bringing my laptop to the dining room in the evening. That’s actually closer to our bedroom than my office, so I’ve started doing my morning work at the dining room table. I get up before Bix and my husband, Barry, so being in the dining room makes it easier for me to get Bix out of his crate if he starts stirring.

There’s something about the change in location that is disrupting my blogging schedule. I used to wake up and think about what I would blog about that day. And then I’d blog when I reached my office a short time later. Now that I’m not necessarily going to my office until after I walk Bix, I’m not remembering to blog. It’s the strangest thing.

But I know the value of blogging and I don’t want to disappoint my readers, so here’s how I’m going to get back into my blogging groove:

• I’m going to create a list of posts for the next two weeks so I don’t have to come up with a post each day.
• I’m going to set a reminder on my phone about 8 a.m. when I’m most likely to be available to blog.
• After I have my blog calendar set up I’m going to try to take or find photos for the posts so that it’s easier to actually create the post.
• I’ll try to pre-write a couple of posts for some upcoming days where I know it would be challenging to blog.

For me, putting these intentions here provides needed accountability and also helps bring my blogging habit top of mine. I enjoy blogging. And I know it doesn’t have to difficult. Today, while I have a little time, I’m going to take some steps to make it even easier to get back into my blogging habit.

Photo by Christophe Benoit via Flickr. Used under Creative Commons License

Worth repeating: Putting yourself first

14 March 2016

I wrote this post in November 2014 and stumbled upon it today. It echoed words I’d relayed to a speaking audience this weekend. I think it’s really important to block time out for your self-care on your calendar. I thought these sentiments were worth repeating today.

Many of us in helping professions have a tendency to put the needs of those we help before our own. It’s so easy to do.

But, as I’ve discovered recently (yet again), it’s really important to make sure that you are taking care of yourself, so that you can, in fact, take care of others.

I absolutely love the work I do leading organizing teams to create fast, significant change for my clients. I love it, but it drains me. By the end of a session, I am physically and mentally exhausted.

I learned earlier this year that two successive days of leading organizing teams is my healthy maximum. Yesterday, I completed a third day in a row of team organizing. (It was the fourth team job I’d led in five days.)

When I got home, I sat in my recliner with my laptop and finished writing the number of the words I needed to meet my daily quota for my novel. My husband was making a delicious dinner and by the time it was ready I’d rested enough to be able to get out of the recliner and come to the table. During my resting time, I renewed my resolve to not work more than two days in a row leading teams.

The trouble, of course, is that people want help and there are only so many days in a week. But I reminded myself that good self care means putting myself first on my schedule. I have marked days on my calendar with the label “No clients” so that I don’t try to please someone by making an appointment at the expense of my own physical and mental health.

What about you? Are you putting yourself first in your schedule? If not, perhaps you can mark out days on your calendar for yourself or let go of some volunteer commitments. Maybe you can delegate some responsibilities. Whatever you need to do, please take care of yourself first so that you have the energy and resiliency to help others.

Peaceful photo by Hilary Perkins via Flickr. Used under Creative Commons License

This website is now mobile responsive!

9 March 2016

When I started Peace of Mind Organizing® in 2005, the first thing I did was join NAPO. The second thing I did was start working on my website. I found an amazing designer, Nora Brown, who is the niece of my BFF, Sally Brown. Nora was just starting her web-design business back then so her rates were quite affordable.

The design she created for Peace of Mind Organizing was fabulous then and it’s still fabulous. I have never been tempted to change it, not even once. A ten-year-old website is ancient, of course. (It’s like a 20-year-old dog!) As good as it was, one thing that the original design didn’t include, of course, was mobile responsiveness. Before now, if you wanted to read my website on your smartphone, you just had to zoom in.

So I asked Nora—who retired her web-design business in favor of a full-time job—if she would help make the site mobile responsive. My website holds a special place in her heart, so she said yes. This week we premiered the new design.

If you’re viewing the website and blog on your computer, you might notice slight changes in typography and sidebar placement. But if you’re looking at it on a smartphone or tablet, you’ll notice a huge change. I think she did an amazing job with it. I’m just thrilled that my site viewed on a mobile device is as good as the desktop version.

The next step in the site’s transformation is to move it from the Textpattern platform to Wordpress. Then, I hope, I’ll be done fiddling with it for awhile.

Thank you, Nora!