One of my biggest disappointments last year with the scouting group in our area was the lack of organization.  It seemed like the leader just decided what they were going to do minutes before the meeting and the kids didn’t seem to have a good time.  Since last year was his last, I decided to step up and become a scout leader so that my son could have a good experience.

In order to make the experience a good one I knew that I had to make some changes.  The biggest change was going to be more structure to the meetings.  The other leaders and I discussed ways that we could do that and we decided that we were going to try out some scouting software.

Even though I had never used the software before, it was very similar to the team management software that I had used during the summer when I was coaching the ladies softball team.  It was going to allow us to have a bird’s eye view of the whole year, the badges we were going to work on, and all of the activities that we have planned.

I just hope that the parents like the new format as well: I think that we will ask their feedback later on this year to see if they think that we have a more effective scouting organization and what we can do to make it better.

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Many of our parents retire to Florida. They are usually able to make the move on their own. However, there are some things that we can help them to do to ease the move for them. Those things include:

• Transfer of health insurance. We can help our parents research affordable health insurance in Florida such as Florida Medicare and Florida Medigap.
• Setting up housing and utilities. Your parents can find their new home on their own but ask if they want any help. At the very least, you might be able to set up utilities and cable for them.
• Help with planning. A move is a big process. You can help create a plan to make the move go smoothly. This will also help you to figure out what other things need to be done for the move that you can help with.
• Assist with the moving process. Finally, we can get our hands dirty and actually assist with the process of moving. We can help pack and transport Mom’s belongings to her new Florida home.
• Visit. Even if you don’t do anything else, you should visit after your parents are settled.

It’s important that we support our parents in moves like these. We can do that best simply by being helpful.

Technorati Tags: affordable health insurance Florida, Florida Medigap

One of the keys to happiness in my life has been that I have learned how to recreate my big dreams in smaller ways. I believe that any dream can be broken down to its basics and lived out in this lifetime.

For example, let’s say that you really wish that you could go on vacation to a Fiji island resort spa. You may not be able to afford to go to a Fiji spa right now. However, you can probably afford to create a vacation spa day in your own home.

To do this, you would learn what you can about Fiji. It’s a beach destination where scuba diving is popular. You could recreate this by buying a painting of Fiji and hanging it in your home. Alternatively, you could put a Fiji scene on your computer’s screensaver. Then, take a day off of work to have a spa day. Get a massage therapist to come to your home to provide a treatment for you in front of your new painting. Relax. Indulge. It’s almost like a vacation.

I’m not saying that you should give up on your big dreams. If you get the chance to go to Fiji, definitely go. I’m just saying that you can get to the core of your dreams and bring the essence of them into your daily life. It makes life happier.

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When my daughter moved to Allen storage of her belongings became a huge issue.  My husband and I were buying a smaller home and Katie just had a small apartment she was renting with a friend.  My daughter had accumulated a lot of possessions in her 23 years from stuffed animals to sports trophies.  While she didn’t want to take everything with her, she wasn’t quite ready to throw away any of her belongings, either.  And my husband and I seriously doubted that we would have room for everything in our new house.

I told my daughter to look into self storage facilities in Allen so she could store her stuff near by.  That way she could slowly go through it and decide what she wanted to keep.  We held on to her trophies and awards, but everything else would have to go into self storage. 

She found a place near by and we rented a truck to move all of her stuff down.  Amazingly, once we got there, she immediately started figuring out what she wanted to keep and what could be donated.   And it’s a good thing, too:  she had so much stuff she would have needed to rent two storage units!

Technorati Tags: Allen storage, self storage, self storage facilities

My sister just bought a puppy and a kitten on the same day.  Along with the assorted dogs toys and cat toys, she also bought things essential to the running of the house.  That is they are things to keep her pets occupied.  They include a scratching post and a cat tree.  Because the dog is a smaller breed, the puppy has claimed the lower part of the cat tree as his, while the kitten seems to enjoy being further up the tree.  It is really a cute thing to see them in the cat tree together.  I hope as the puppy gets older it will still fit in there.

Though the scratching post is not for the puppy, he still gets a kick out of scratching on it.  The vet has told me this is something he will grow out of.  The kitten picked up right away on how to use the scratching post.  I hope that is something that she will do as she continues to grow, because it is much better to have a scratched up post than a scratched up couch.  Which is why scratching posts were invented in the first place I guess.

Technorati Tags: cat tree, dog toys, Puppy and a kitten, scratching post