Below is a good 3-minute video for students who find it hard to figure out what homework to do first or which paper they should be researching and preparing. In this video the owner of blog http://iwanthighmarks.com/ suggests planning to do 5 items each day to stay on top of schoolwork and make better grades. Review and share the video and check out the blog for more great tips too. See also video on previous post Getting Organized with School Work.
Getting Organized with School Work
Below is a great 3-minute video for overworked moms to help their children get organized for the school year. Organized students typically make better grades because homework does not get lost and assignments are not forgotten. Check back next week for study tips video.
8 Boot Trends and How NOT to Wear Them
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| 8 pairs of ankle and mid-calf boots from my closet |
We all know boots are popular in the fall where it is cold and in the winter everywhere. Hey, I have even seen women cooking their feet in boots this summer heat. Anyway, I saw the Shine article on 8 Boot Trends for This Fall and had to check it out. I thought some of the clothes were cute but on each photo I thought “I would not wear those boots with that outfit!” Not to say I would not wear the boots because I love boots – just saying the overall look was wrong for me. After I finished looking at the 8 photos, I was thinking shame on you Shine for showing such bad examples. However, I should have thought – how ridiculous Redbook since the original article came from that magazine. I also did a “yuck” on the 4 Fall Fashion Trends the magazine had on their own site. The outfits might make you look smart but definitely not sexy as promised.
Check-out the articles via links above and let me know if there is a look you would wear. Do not worry I will not judge you because we all have our own style. A look that works for you might not be so good on me. That is why designers offer a variety of choices because each has a different client base. ”What is in is not always chic, but chic is always in” or so I always say. Feel free to quote me on that one!
Losing, Organizing, Researching, or Saving
I do not read every magazine I get cover-to-cover. Instead I review the articles touted on the cover and then check the table of contents (TOC) for other items of interest. This method saves time since I don’t spend time on things that are not of interest to me. Checking the TOC also tells me if this is a magazine worth the issue cost before I buy as covers can be enticing and deceiving. However, I occasionally flip through magazines when waiting on an appointment or if it is a style magazine which is typically more photos than content. All that said, to preface my review of the latest Family Circle (FC) as it might relate to this blog.
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Family Circle cover
September 2011 issue |
This issue offered 23 tips to help you and your family get organized around the house. Instead of buying the magazine for just this article, check out the “Organizing from A to Z” slide show on-line to get the tips. It only shows 13 slides of which some have 2 tips in the text part on the right of the slide. The final tip in the article was to get more ideas from their website, so I am encouraging this too.
The above was a cover topic under “organize your life.” Another cover item promised “lose 10 lbs. this month.” The 2 pages (1 full and 2 halves) for this article gave a few common sense tips for exercise/eat schedule and reading labels. If this is all you do, I am not sure you would drop 10 pound in only a month, but it is good advice for a long term diet improvement plan.
What made this September issue both timely and well-worth my annual subscription cost to me was the “How to Buy a Tablet” article and the related tablets reviews link from comparison chart. I have been thinking of getting a tablet verses an e-book reader but was procrastinating on doing the research. (Yes, we time management experts do procrastinate sometimes too.). Here all the information was condensed for me! Besides this article, I checked out FC’s on-line Compare E-Book Readers. Now I don’t have to do internet searches on the different products and can stop asking people I see how they like their tablet or e-book. All I have to do now is check prices and details on-line for the ones that sound like they best fits my needs. Of course I will go to the store to play with it before actually buying. Thanks FC for saving me a few hours of my time!
Are You or a Friend a Shoe-aholic?
Do you have lots of shoes or know someone who does? How can you spot a shoe-aholic? It is hard to do without asking “How many pairs of shoes are in that closet?” Check out the questions below to see if you are a shoe-aholic (ie. addicted to shoe buying).
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Fashionable pair of shoes. |
Do you have more than three pairs of black shoes? Since black is the universal go-with-everything color, most everyone understands that it is acceptable for both men and women to have up to three pairs of black shoes. For women, we must have a pair each of flats and low heels for work, and of course a pair of high heels for dressy occasions. Men may have dress shoes, loafers or sandals, and sneakers or work shoes. Some women justify more than 3 pairs in black because we need closed toes for fall/winter and open-toed shoes for spring/summer. We can accept that as reasonable, so let’s agree women can have up to 6 pairs. Now check your closet, how many pairs of black shoes do you own and how often do you wear each pair? Are you a shoe-aholic and should you considering reducing the number of black shoes?
So you have a few more pairs of black shoes than what may be considered the norm, are you really a shoe-aholic or just an impulse buyer? Let’s check another shoe-aholic indicator – Do you buy metallic shoes because you like the glitter or because they might go with more than one outfit you own? How many metallic options do you possess in your shoe closet? Are they all dressy shoes or are some more casual in style? Silver and gold are basics for dressy shoes so we won’t count those in the too many indicators for shoe-aholics. However, do you also posses the newer versions of metallic shoes in bronze, copper, chrome, gunmetal, pewter, platinum, or zinc. What about the faked metallic in variations of red, blue, or other somewhat gaudy colors? If you do, you might be a shoe-aholic or just have a slightly abnormal love for shiny stuff to be on your feet.
Another indicator of shoe-aholic syndrome is color in the shoe wardrobe. How many colored shoes do you have? Shoes in standard shades of black, brown, gray, cream, and white don’t count as colors – since they go with most everything they are safety nets for the shoe-aholic. How many colors of the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple) do you have in your closet? If you have one pair of each, then you are definitely a shoe-aholic, but it is not a severe case. However, if you have more than one pair in most colors then you may have a bad case of shoe love. The most severe shoe-aholic will buy shoes in any variation of a color they do not feel already exists in their closet, even if they have to buy a new outfit in order to have something to go with the newer shoes.
A final indicator for the obsessed shoe-aholic is how many boots you own. Do you have more than one pair in basic black or brown boots? Do you buy boots in multiple colors and styles? A shoe-aholic will argue boots don’t count because they are not shoes. So what is a boot anyway? Boots are shoes with ankle or leg covers sewn on! So they must count in the shoe-aholic evaluation – right?
Now you have decided you or your best friend is a shoe-aholic. What should you do about it? Being addicted to buying shoes is not a bad thing as long as you can still pay your bills and feed your family. So maybe you don’t need to do anything but watch yourself and perhaps set restrictions for purchasing new shoes. Restrictions you could consider might be: you only buy 1 pair a month (that’s a dozen per year total), you only buy from the clearance rack (this allows you to save more and limits your options so you save space too), or you only buy to replace shoes you get rid of (then you don’t have to find additional storage space). However if the shoes are taking over the house, perhaps it is time to think about better storage options for the shoes or reducing the volume by donating those you don’t wear very often.
Balloon Dresses Burst My Fashion Bubble
Yesterday the YAHOO News banner showed an item from last week on Shine. In it Shine featured a slide show of 13 bridal gowns and bridesmaid dresses made from balloons! This is truly a bubble dress irregardless of puffiness or length of the hemline. These dresses might be light due to the helium but wouldn’t that rubber be hot to wear? For sure this would be one bridesmaid dress you could never wear again as you would probably have to pop it to get it off! The short Shine article mentions the craze started years before the 2009 Las Vegas Balloon Fashion Show (see video below) with different dates that dresses were featured in Japan
If you love the idea of one of these bubble dresses, you can find a different video demonstrating how to make one at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ab_oqbu6aUM – remember not to use pins for fitting it to you or whomever you are making it for!
Pleasant Peridot in Lime Green for August
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| Loose Peridot Gemstones |
The Peridot comes from many places including Arizona USA. The Manchurian seeming the best to me and to JTV hosts. It also comes in various cuts and even in triplets. A triplet is made from putting 3 stones together to create a new stone or as a way of protecting a delicate stone. The top layer is Quartz on higher quality triplets and may be glass on lower quality. The backing stone may be dark or light depending on desired look for the middle stone. Most commercially sold Opals are triplets or doublets. This stone layering methodology is becoming more popular in order to create lower-cost or different coloring in stones for fashion trends.
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| Rainbow Peridot pendant |
When I was looking for something to celebrate the publication of my 2nd book (TAPP Steps in Time Management) last year, I decided to get something in my birthstone since the book would be coming out in August. I discovered an Artisan-crafted Rainbow Peridot pendant on an internet auction site, which was created using triplet methodology. The stone is really neat depending on how the light hits it and the angle in which you see it. It can be a typical Peridot color or a Swiss Blue Topaz color. We have even noticed purple and pink flashes upon occasion. Since I won the bid on just a pendant, I can wear it multiple ways – on chains, wire collars, beads, or cords. Liquidation Channel was asking for people to send in photos of them wearing the jewelry they bought from them, so I sent in some variations of me wearing the pendant. They ran my photos and others on their TV show during different times on a particular day celebrating their customers.
I recently found out I have a red birthstone as my alternate or traditiona, Sardonyx. This used to be popular for carving cameos (a favorite type of jewelry for me because I admire artist who can carve these tiny sculptures in stone or shell). I have yet to find this stone in a setting and style I like or in a cameo I can afford. I will keep looking. Let me know if you see something I might like! If you would like to find out your birthstone and the different alternatives, see by birthstone chart post that includes all 12 months.
NEW IN 2016, due to its growing popularity spinel was added as the 3rd alternative birthstone for August. This stone comes in multiple colors, but the most popular color is black since it looks even better than black diamonds! Red spinel has been mistaken for rubies in the past..
NEW IN 2016, due to its growing popularity spinel was added as the 3rd alternative birthstone for August. This stone comes in multiple colors, but the most popular color is black since it looks even better than black diamonds! Red spinel has been mistaken for rubies in the past..
Getting Fashionable for Under a Hundred Dollars
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MORE magazine cover
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After reading the July/August issue of MORE (magazine for women of style and substance), I went back to the 10 picture pages of “Hot Clothes, Cool Prices: Everything Under $100” to review the options again. I like Destination Turkey mainly because yellow is my favorite color and almost everything was some shade of yellow. I found Alaska to be drab, Capri to be fun and colorful (I would wear most of it), Nantucket was standard summer wear in reads and blues, and about half of Paris collection was worth considering. If you go to their website this month, you may be able to see slideshows in links above from the travel section. I loved the floral and coral dresses on pages 32 -33! If you have not checked out this magazine yet, you may want to give it a look – but remember it is for the mature woman so nothing for the tweens/teens and very little for the 20-30 something. The advertisers are high-end retailers so don’t expect many of the items other than those in the article to actually be under $100.
Low Cost Earring and Jewelry Organizers
If your share your space with others, then everything in the accessory closet video in previous post may not work for you. Below is an interesting video that has a clever idea for organizing jewelry on a common clothes hanger in a way they will not get tangled. Idea includes hanging a scarf or shawl and then putting earrings through the netting. If you have your grandma’s old lace dresser scarf (or found a cheap one at the dollar store) it might make a great replacement for the shawl!
I found one side of a plastic hanging shelf unit for closets and thought it might work for hanging bead necklaces in my closet. I just loop the beads through the square if they have no clasp or clasp them over the top of a square. You can get up to 2 beaded necklaces per square to eliminate tangling. They are in color groups with long ones in the top squares and shorter ones near the bottom so they do not hang down to long and possibly tangle on other items in the closet. If you do not have a lot of necklaces, you can do the same thing with a belt/tie hanger that has hooks on each end to keep them from sliding off. Be sure to balance the hanger by putting items on every side – left/right and front/back.
If you want to invest in a hanger (without paying too much) you can use on the wall or in your closet that is specifically for jewelry, check out Bling Hangit (see commercial) or Bling EEZ (see commercial).
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