I don't mean to sound judgmental, but I know there are people who are always late with presents. I am not [usually] one of them. As I mentioned in my Time Management post, I am all over birthdays and have many ways of organizing myself into a corner.

But this year, my Aunt Heidi - yes, Accordion Heidi - asked for a Bubble Bowl. Simple enough since I made one before, right?

Wrong.

It's taken me SEVEN MONTHS to finish the damn thing - so I am officially declaring it a 4th of July present.



Happy 4th of July, Aunt Heidi! Sorry about the lateness!

Or maybe we should consider my tardiness as retaliation for flaunting Maryland crabs in my face, hrrrmmm?



Paybacks are hell.

A new lunch chat video, with my iPhone, in the car, with music, and driving, and my face, while I'm driving. Not sure I will do that again, but I am having fun playing around with these video things. And driving.



How are you feeling about the country as we head into 4th of July? [AND BE NICE.]

How do you do it all? People ask me that a lot.

Because I am an over-extender. Not an over-achiever mind you, an over-extender. I do too much, put too much in my calendar. I juggle too many balls and drop some occasionally. OK, more than occasionally. And it's proceeded to get worse every year.

I have a full-time job (Klein Buendel), full-time husband (Bugfrog), and full-time kid (Declan). Not to mention friends, family, PTA, blog, twitter, photography, pottery, and the million other things I cram into our days. Because make no mistake, it's ME doing the cramming. Bryan just tries to keep up, while his head spins and spins.

So. How do I do it?

Not to sound all braggity-brag - but I am tech-savvy and I use techy tools heavily - and quickly. I know this doesn't work for everyone, but this is, literally, how I manage it all.

Chris Brogan wrote yesterday about his tricks for keeping in touch online. And he has A LOT of people to keep in touch with. Of course, he meant more in reference to building your "brand," but a lot of his tips fall in line with what I do every day to keep up with life.

Here are my tricks.

1. iCal
I have multiple calendars. One for work, one for family, one for blog stuff, one for birthdays, one for household stuff. All color-coded and separate. It is easy to see what I need to, and it is easy for Bryan to subscribe to Family and only get the things he needs to know about. And I have my work Mac, my home Mac, my laptop and iPhone all synced to these calendars through Mobile Me, so I can see what is going on at any location.

2. Morning & Evening Email Cleanse
I have 3 main email accounts. One for work, one for home and one for my blog. The first thing I do every morning is go through all three and make sure there is nothing urgent that needs attention. I answer what I can, flag the stuff I need to come back to, delete what is unnecessary. I like to get emails out of my inbox, so to archive a message, I save a text file into that project's "Memos" folder on my hard drive to get it out of my way. I do the same cleanse at the end of the day when I am fried and don't feel like doing anything else. I try not to go back to email as much as possible (ha ha ha) during the day if I can. For me personally, I know I have my email under control if I have roughly 100 emails in my inbox (again, ha ha ha!).

3. Music
I absolutely, positively have to have music running at all times. I get twitchy if iTunes is not rolling in the background. I have many playlists. Some smartlists by ratings or playcounts (4+ stars, 200+ plays), some by genre (high energy, mellow), some by artist. They are all there and ready for my mood.

4. iPhone
Make no mistake. This phone is the best thing since sliced bread. It will soon be soldered to my hand. I read through a few emails in the check-out line. I see some tweets while waiting for my doctor. I fill in time that I might have been reading People magazine with things that are worthwhile. To me, at least. Bryan has been iPhone deprived the past few years and said to me the other day, "I finally get it." Uh-huh. There are SO MANY THINGS I get done on this thing that sames me time. Lists, emails, maps, notes, memos, etc etc.

5. Twitter Tools
I like Tweet Deck a lot, but THERE IS NO WAY I can have Tweet Deck continuously up on my second monitor like so many people do. I would just stare at it all day long, or until my API ran out. So, when I need a 5 minute break, I will pull Tweet Deck up and check in. Or I'll even go straight to the web site. But here is the deal. I have given myself the permission to NOT read every tweet that every friend sends out. I only have a few people with devices turned on and coming to my phone. I catch what I can, and you should too. There are so many interesting people and while I would love to catch every interesting thing said on Twitter, THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH HOURS IN A DAY. I look at it like going to the pool. You dive in and enjoy it, but you can't stay at the pool all day long.

6. Flickr Management
Same thing with Flickr. I could stare at pretty pictures all day. But over lunch, when I have a good 1/2 hour chunk of time, I will cycle through the following: Bookmarked Flickrstreams of 10 or so favorite Flickrfriends, first 5 or so pages of my contact photos, last 7 days of Explore (and refresh about 10 times). I try to go comment and fave because I like comments and faves and I like karma and I like spreading the love - especially for all those talented people putting their work out there like that.

7. Blog Reading
I am sad to say that blog reading has fallen well below what it used to for me. I still try to, at least twice a week, catch up with my favorites through Google Reader. I have about 100 feeds in there, so obviously that takes some time. I have them organized by category, so that if I am in the mood to read about tech, I do. If I am in the mood to read about parenting, I do. If I am not, I give myself permission to "mark as read" for the whole category and move on. I hope everyone else feels the same about me - we all have lives and stopping by sometimes is better than never coming at all. But when I do read, same as with Flickr, I try to comment as much as possible to make sure they know I read their words, and heard what they were putting out there.

8. Phone Calls
I hate the phone. I don't call anyone unless I absolutely have to. Not that I don't love hearing from people. Just the phone is weird. I buy time back from not being on the phone.

9. TV
And I totally don't watch TV. Literally not ever. Except American Idol. I swear. NEVER. This is where we gain the most time back of anything. I still have no clue who Jon and Kate are.

10. Services
I admit, I am very lucky and we are able to hire services to help with things like cleaning the house and mowing the lawn. But! Before you think me back to being all braggity brag, we canceled cable to afford that cleaning service and it was worth every single penny! My point being, we sat down and looked at priorities and made it work for us.

OK. That's how *I* do it.

What are *your* tips for making life a little bit easier to manage?

P.S. This was not a sponsored post in any way.

We met Jeff almost exactly one month after our wedding. I remember it, because it was a concert put on by local indie station 93.3 and there was band after band playing at Fiddler's Green as we sat and baked in the hot sun all day. We were married 13 years ago, so Jeff has been integral in our lives for over a dozen years, while Fiddler's Green has gone through several name changes till it finally came back around to, you guessed it, Fiddler's Green.

Enter Danielle. We all met her through the same set of mutual friends although not at the same time. Jeff and Danielle were friends first, and then more, and then married. Married, in fact, almost exactly two weeks before Declan's birth. I remember it, because I waddled around during their reception at the Botanic Gardens in a bright purple dress - the only thing I could find to cover my huge stomach - and the photos from that day are the last ones from me being pregnant, since Declan surprised us by coming 8 weeks early in mid-September.

Since then, Jeff and Danielle have been family. They are guardians to Declan if anything ever befalls us. But more important than the big stuff, there is the little stuff.

They put band-aids on boo boos. The fed him. They changed diapers. They babysat and babysat and BABYSAT. We spend holidays together. We take vacations together. [And regarding the later, let me tell you - 4 on 1 defense is an EXCELLENT way to go.] We have all told Declan that if there is something he can't talk to Bryan or me about, clearly Jeff and Danielle are his shoulders to cry on.

And while I know they love their relationship with Declan, it's not the same as having your own child. Which can sometimes be a hard road. A road that takes unexpected turns, has hills and bumps, and is LONG.

Enter Grayson.


This is the 15 month old little boy that Jeff and Danielle are in the process of adopting. He will officially be their son on July 1st. They have been doing visitation as a transition, and they had him overnight for the first time this past weekend. Everyone involved agreed it would be good for him to come with them to our summer party, and see how things go. Because some parts of the journey with Grayson won't be easy. But, what I could see, as I kneeled down in the grass next to him for the first time and looked at a smile that lit up my whole backyard, was a whole lot of AWESOME. My eyes filled with tears for the effort and pain that lead to this moment. And they spilled over thinking about the amazing adventure our best friends were embarking on. And how wonderful it will be to put band-aids on this child's boo-boos. And to feed him. And change his diapers. And babysit and babysit and babysit.

And watch Declan grow up with him.

We won't have any more children, and chances are Jeff and Danielle won't either. For lack of a better term, Grayson is Declan's little brother.

When I asked Declan yesterday what his favorite part of the party was, he immediately answered, "playing with Grayson."

They're already on their way.

Yesterday was a weird day. Weird weird weird.

First Farrah Fawcett died, and I was all caught up in memories of playing Charlie's Angels in the backyard, going back and forth over which Angel I liked best... and then BAM! Twitter fucking exploded with the news that Michael Jackson had a heart attack, then was in a coma, and then died. DIED.

And the rest of the day was a mass online funeral service where everyone was tweeting their favorite MJ songs and talking about how much they loved him.

Loved him?

That fucking freak?

OK. Part of me was sad. I'll admit it. The part that bought Thriller when I was 12 years old and loved the Billie Jean video and even listens to Man In The Mirror once in a while. But part of me was glad that a pedophile who purchased bones and Beatles songs and invited children to his ranch for no other purpose than to terrorize them is gone from this earth.

Derek had it right when he said this:


But then we broke the news to Declan last night. Declan, who performed Thriller at summer camp last year. Declan, who loved that song so much, he swallowed his sensitive tears and watched that creepy-as-shit video and stayed glued to YouTube for all 13 minutes of the extended version. Declan, who still sings that song to himself when he thinks no one is listening.

Oh lord. What a complicated world we live in. When super talented people are also super freaks.

Rest in peace, Michael Jackson. I hope you find peace wherever the fuck you are right now.

It was pretty late last night. We had attended a Rapids soccer game, and waited in the parking lot for all the cars to clear. Waited quite a while in fact. Waited so long, that Bryan and I got to being silly on our iPhones and Bryan almost tweeted something that crossed a boundary for me. Which lead to a discussion about boundaries online. Which lead to a heated discussion about boundaries online. Which lead to a heated discussion about a plethora other things. All while we inched our way out of the stadium in gridlock traffic.

And while we're on that topic, when Denver was building Dick's Sporting Goods Park, an otherwise excellent stadium, could they NOT have thought about traffic patterns a little bit? Maybe put in some room for people to get out? Yes, this also led to a heated discussion about patience and how the soccer game was worth 30 minutes of inconvenience once in a while. Whatever.

Let me be clear. These heated discussions were just that - heated. We never yelled, and in fact - I don't think Bryan and I have actually yelled at each other in years.

But, when we were approximately 3 minutes from finally being home, Declan firmly interrupted us from the back seat.

"Mama. Dada. I have three things to tell you.

One. Can you please stop talking about this? Because you are going to make me cry.

Two. Can I have your iPhone to play with?

Three. When we get home, can you give me my asthma medicine, because my throat is itchy."

I swear to god, that is exactly what he said, because I wrote it down last night. And Bryan and I both had to turn our faces into the windows, trying to not laugh in his face.

BECAUSE. HELLO. How awesome and sensitive and hilarious is my kid? He must have been rehearsing that speech for at least 10 minutes.

For the record, the answers were: Yes, No, Yes.

And we also went on to tell him that sometimes grown-ups don't agree on everything and it's healthy for us to work out our problems. That we were respectfully discussing our issues, and while it may not be the playful banter he was used to, it was good for him to see us working through our problems just like it was good for him to see us getting along. [Within reason, of course.]

This made him feel better... and by then, we were in the driveway having a family hug.

Whew.

First, I finally got myself in gear, got EventBrite together, awarded the Mile High Mama's winner (Mamabird, if you are wondering), and am totally ready to go for our first PhotoPlayDate here in Denver!


DATE: July 12, 2009
TIME: 5:00pm - 7:30pm (I know that is a bit late for some wee ones, but it's the best time for golden light)
PLACE: Washington Park, at the playground near Smith Lake
COST: $20.99

THE DEAL: Aimee (and possible other Denver photogs) will give an intro talk and then let everyone loose on the playground and near the flowers to start taking photos. Plan on a casual playdate with your kids of all ages.

Bring your camera(s) and Aimee will do her best to help you figure out those little techie things you never know how to do mechanically. At the very least, she will help you compose better shots, look for interesting light, and get more FUN photos with your kids.

Try to eat dinner beforehand, but water and snacks will be provided. If your child is old enough to be interested in photography, encourage them to bring their camera too!

After the PhotoPlayDate, all attendees will be encouraged to share their results on the PhotoPlayDate Flickr pool!

Visit Eventbrite to get your ticket. You only need one ticket per family!

=========================

And while we're talking cool awesomeness, did you know that WeTV has a volunteer program called WEVolunteer? It's about connecting people in their local communities to do good. When I searched for 5 miles within my zip code, nearly 450 listings came up! That might be overwhelming at first but you can fine-tune what you are interested in and really get down to brass tax.



Right now WEVolunteer is running a contest called WE Do Good in partnership with Ladies' Home Journal that seeks an outstanding female volunteer that has given a lot of time, effort and dedication to a non-profit organization in her community. The winner will receive a $5,000 donation to the charity of her choice and be featured in an upcoming issue of Ladies' Home Journal as well as at WEVolunteer.tv and LHJ.com. WE Do Good is accepting nominations until July 22nd, 2009.

I know you know SOMEONE to nominate in your community that deserves this, right? I am putting my thinking cap on right now for who I am going to nominate.

Go for it!

What does my son ask for when he's had a week of acceptable behavior and it's reward time?

Not candy.

Not a toy.

My son? He wants bright yellow latex dishwasher gloves so he can perform science experiments.



P.S. I promise he's never seen the very funny Neil Patrick Harris webshow Dr. Horrible. I pinky swear. Clearly it's just genetic. From Bryan. Not me. All Bryan.

I am sorry that this is going up so late in the day! I have been literally running from one thing to the other ALL DAY LONG. Dentist, work, Apple Store (cough cough, iPhone 3GS for Bryan), Whole Foods, Summer Camp, Doggie Day Care, Momslant's house for dinner... home... bed... HOLY CRAP I FORGOT TO POST THE WINNER!

And here she is!


Toni's crazy sky photo taken through the windshield of a moving car. Talk about in the moment! And I think Toni wouldn't mind me telling you that Jeremie and Waynette were inches away from a three-way tie this month - so thank you all for contributing again to this great contest and voting away like crazy. I also love how everyone has been visiting and commenting on each other's photos - what a nice sense of collaboration!

Toni will receive a $250 camera equipment rental from Pro Photo Rental. Be sure to check out these guys for Canon, Nikon and Olympus equipment. I love them. They are from Boulder, but ship all over the country. Awesome.


Toni, email me at [aimee at greeblemonkey dot com] to start the process.

See you all next month! Remember, Greeblemix (music) is 1st Monday of every month and Greeblepix (photos) is the 3rd Monday. Happy weekend!

[Whew! 45 minutes to spare!]

When the guys at work forwarded this news article around, I thought it was a joke. I thought it was The Onion. Then I thought PETA was high on mice formaldehyde.



Seriously? PETA is MAD at the president for swatting a FLY? I am ALL about protecting animals from cruelty, but all this does is discredit their other good work. Making them look like idiots. Freaky, freaky, idiotic idiots.

And all it does it make Obama look more presidential. I mean, come on. He gave the fly a warning. And then he took serious, decisive action. Himself. He didn't send in troops to do his dirty work. He killed that damn fly himself. With his own hands.

When diplomacy fails, our president is not afraid to use his might.

Take that, PETA.

I loved this month. Seriously. All the stories that went along with the fun cell phone and "in the moment" photos were amazing. We're going to have to do this again.

Now it's time for you to vote, and help one of these peeps win a $250 rental from ProPhotoRental.

Here we go!

==================

Gcmandrake - Littleton Storm


Jeremie - Untitled


Jeremy Tanner - Micah & Cupcakes


Kerri Anne - Cutest Ever


Midget Invasion - NYC Rain


Moosh In Indy - Bug Love


Patti - Sam's Skateboard


Ray Page - Dinner Is Served


Toni - Look Up


Waynette Traub - He Searches For A New Job



Vote. Spread the word. Come back Friday to see the winner.