Very Important Stuff Friday: things that make MY life better

Today was one of those days where I cracked open a nice pinot at four thirty and met Wade at the door announcing "I COULD NEVER HOLD DOWN A JOB." No, not because I'm an irresponsible slob (although if you've been in my house lately you know that yes! I am an irresponsible slob!). Because we had SO DAMN MANY things to do today.

The short list of Things to Do included Meet Your Teacher day at Charlie's school, lunch with Wade, and an echocardiogram for Henry. Add to that a babysitter with car trouble, a phone that wouldn't work, and a fridge that had only chocolate bars and the aforementioned bottle of wine in it and voila! One of THOSE days.

And before I go on, let me say this: Henry is fine! FINE! He apparently has a functional heart murmur, which I also have, but because he's been on a variety of ADHD meds (we're on our FOURTH medication now, feel free to e-mail me if you have questions or any words of support or suggestions about what I might do with all the leftover medication I am stockpiling), his doctors thought we should have it checked out, just in case. It's such a small deal that not only did I spend an ENTIRE week with my parents and NEVER ONCE think to tell them about it, but when the woman from my pediatrician's office called to tell me when and where the appointment was, I said to her, "He has an appointment for WHAT? Oh, yes, I FORGOT." So don't worry--he's FINE. Really.

Okay, where was I? Oh, yes, free stuff that made my day easier.

So this morning, after I got back from the grocery (because I didn't seriously think that the babysitter was going to have a Hershey bar and some pinot for lunch, as yummy as that might be), I realized that my house was a DISASTER. I was on vacation last week, and my housekeeper is on vacation THIS week, so it has been THREE WEEKS since my house was cleaned. And while I have wiped up the bathrooms, in the interest of avoiding a hazmat situation, everything else is . . . sad.

Fortunately, the lovely people at Clorox sent me a bottle of Anywhere Hard Surface Daily Sanitizing Spray. The principle: spray any nonporous surface and walk away; when the spray dries, voila! Complete disinfection.

I took it to Albuquerque with me and my mother and I road tested it (literally!) on her lovely granite counters. She told me that she typically uses 409 but likes the Clorox spray better because it doesn't leave a film. Of course, she was spraying and wiping. Just so you know.

Today, though, there was NO TIME for wiping (okay, after I wiped up the breakfast crumbs. Whatever). So I sprayed and loaded everyone in the car and . . . loved it. No film, no residue, and (I assume) no germs. Also no smell. Way to go, Clorox. At least my sitter would be eating her Hershey's in a clean kitchen. (I found her some appropriate lunch, don't worry. Sheesh.) I don't think this particular spray is available in stores JUST yet, but watch for it; it really is one more nice way to keep the counters sanitized, and it certainly is easy. Spray! And go! Whoo hoo!

Of course, killing the germs was only a small part of the battle. After I sanitized, I had to LEAVE THE HOUSE and BE PLACES. Preferably ON TIME. Which meant that I needed some system for keeping track of where I was going and when I had to be there.

I needed a planner.

I love planners, because I love the IDEA of being totally organized and on time. But recently, because of the heat and the attention issues (mine, not Henry's) I have surrendered to the piles (piles! of stuff! everywhere!) and I'm having a hard time keeping it together.

This is my planner; I bought it over ten years ago. I love it. I carry it EVERYWHERE. Isn't it pretty?


Look! Pictures of my family! Yes, I know it's an antique; I know I'm the last person in America NOT using a Blackberry but I really like the paper planner. And I like that I can carry funny pictures of my family in this one.


I also like the cute pages, although it's a good thing I have such tiny handwriting.


I have to admit that the Filofax planner worked MUCH better when I was only planning for me. The little spaces were PERFECT for noting when my various seminar papers were due and when I was meeting my girlfriends for coffee or lunch. Then I had these KIDS and suddenly I had to keep track of playdates and doctors appointments and who was taking what antibiotic and . . .

Those little boxes are really small.

Fortunately, a few weeks ago, the magnificent people at BusyBodyBook sent me one of their planners to road test. I opened it up and thought, okay, perhaps not a chic as my leather planner, but not bad. The green is nice; pretty and not too fussy.


Then I saw the pages and I knew I was going to love this planner. OH MY GOD! Look at that COOL grid system! There's a column for EACH of us! Plus an extra! And off on the left there? A THREE MONTH CALENDAR!


Alternately, there is a blank page on the left with a little place to keep lists. And a photo of someone else's kids, which I'm not really grooving on. But there is a SEPARATE COLUMN FOR EACH OF US. I spent an hour one afternoon with the boys' school calendars writing in every conference day and early dismissal and vacation; I transferred all of our upcoming doctors appointments. It's so neat and organized and easy to read.


Wade is constantly looking for the Perfect Office Planner (our love of planners is a cornerstone of our marriage). He was flipping through the BusyBodyBook the other night and he said, "This thing is great. Do they make a professional planner like this? Because if they do, I want one."

I e-mailed the nice people at BusyBodyBook, who said yes! there is a professional planner in the works. I will absolutely be getting one for Wade, and probably for me (I'm not a big fan of the Hallmark card photos; I would rather have the space to write on).


A column for EACH OF US! I have died and gone to Planner Heaven. Today those columns probably saved my life, because I had ONE TOO MANY things to keep track of. But thanks to the planner, we didn't miss a single appointment. Hooray!

The ONLY thing that could have made today any better would have been if I were sporting THIS t-shirt (which I would love to see arriving in my mail, hint hint):

"Republican Housewife From Hell Martini: Ever wonder what it would be like to have a neocon wife?"



"When she's not out politicking against women's rights, she's home in the kitchen doing what she does best."

Every time I look at it I laugh. You can get yours here. Because you KNOW you want one.