All About Kimberly

Sailing Along the Life of Single Parenthood

Tag Archives: review

Organizational Idea for Your Purses

CONTEST ENDED

Are you a purse collector? I’ve never though of myself as one, but it seems over the years, I have collected a lot of purses. As a teacher though, I’ve found what has really accumulated are my “teacher bags.”  I’ m not sure what non teachers call these (tote bags?), but I have my bag for bringing student papers back and forth, and then there’s my Saturday debate bag. Of course I also have a current reads bag where I store books I’ m wanting to read and consider adding to my curriulum.  Then there’s the softball mom bag, and I’ve got a Friday Night Football bag too. Seriously teachers have a tote for EVERYTHING, and I can’t seem to get enough. Every time I go shopping, I check out the tote bags if there are any in sight at all.  And if that’s not enough, every conference we teachers go to gives us what? A tote bag, of course.

I’ve transferred this appreciation on to my daughter, Cameron, it seems.  She might have more purses than I do and almost as many bagts too.  Yes, I’ve bought several of them, but not all by any means. When she goes out shopping with a grandmother, it is not uncommon for her to come home with a bag or two. 

There’s only one problem with our collection obsession – storage!  What do you do when you have 20 bags and another 10 purses? Oh and don’t forget your daughter’s similar collection? For us all but the newest ones are stored in suitcases (yes, we have a lot of these too) under our beds.  This means they are out of sight, anhd you know that old saying – “Out of Sight, Out of Mind.” Once we have them shoved under our bed, we forget they exist.  While it’s always fun to “rediscover” them, I’d rather that our purses and bags get more use.

Now thanks to the ingenious design of the Closet Purse Hanger, all of Cameron’s purses and bags are now hanging nice and neat on a closet rod in her room (I have to get rid of some clothes or buy a new closet rod before taking advantage of this with my bags). I was curious to see if my theory of more use would prove to be true, and it has. Since pulling out all of her purses and bags from the suitcases and hanging them in her room on a mobile closet rod, she’s been switching bags every day or two.  They are getting lots of use, and she knows exactly how to put them all up once she’s done. It’s nice with Cameron’s bags too because many of them are small enough that we’ve been able to store 2 or 3 purses on one hook.

I’ve tried my tote bags on the few extra hooks that were left after hanging up Cameron’s bags, and I can’t wait to have room for them in my closet.  We are working on Spring cleaning now, and I hope to have room to start hanging my bags and purses soon because this is such a creative way and organized way to switch out purses and bags to match your mood or clothes.

Would you like to win your own set of Closet Purse Hangers?  Then today could be your lucky day because Shawane, creator of the Closet Purse Hanger, has generously offered a set of hangers for one reader, and this is one prize I can promise you’ll be putting to use as soon as it arrives.

Required Entry:

Head over and tell me one thing about Shawane or the Closet Purse Hanger that you did not find out reading this post.

Extra Entries (required entry must be completed first):

  1. Place my button in your sidebar (Grab it on the right sidebar) or add a text link
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  5. Blog about this contest (WORTH 3 ENTRIES – LEAVE 3 COMMENTS) linking to this post and Closet Purse Hanger.
  6. Enter my grand opening contests over at A Novel Mind. (One entry for every contest entered)

The Fine Print

  • Must be a US Citizen
  • Contest ends Tuesday, March 31 at Midnight CST.
  • You do not need to be a blogger to enter, but you must have a valid email address.
  • All entries will be verified before naming the winner.
  • Winner has 72 hours to claim prize and then a new winner will be selected

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Looking for Some Music For the Family?

I recently received a copy of In The Nick of Time: Coconut Groove by Nicholas Deysher, and I have to say that I have a love/hate relationship with this CD.  Why? Because it’s so much fun my daughter wants to listen to it ALL THE TIME!  We really only have a CD player and that’s in the car so every trip we’ve taken since this CD came in the mail, I’ve heard, “Can I listen to Hang with Me?” “Mom, how does The Autumn Song start? Can I hear it?”  Not only do I know all the words by heart, but many people that just ride with us from time to time also know the songs.  :)  I have to admit that I enjoy the songs every time we hear them (though I do miss my country music station from time to time).  They are such catchy tunes that everyone in the car is singing along before they even realize it.

I think that it appeals to everyone because of the wide variety of musical styles that his music covers – from modern day (“Sippin on Juicy Juice, laid back with my mind on my tummy and my tummy on my mind”) to a more jazzy style beat when we meet the Old Orangutan.  If you are looking for a great find at a reasonable rate to keep the kids involved and not with a case of the “I’m bored”s then check out In The Nick of Time: Coconut Groove for the low price of $14.97 for the CD or have instant access for 9.99 to the MP3 downloads of the album.

Want to hear excerpts of the songs? You can do that here.

Below you’ll hear one of the songs on the album, “The Dinosaur Song.” Enjoy!

A New CD I Love

corneillealbumartwork

Ok..I should start this by saying that I’m a country music fan and that tends to be about all, but I’ve recently been sent 3 new CD’s to try out and tell you about, and I’ve been surprised that I actually liked each one.  One that you’ll hear about in a couple days quickly became a favorite to Cameron, and the one that I’m going to share with you today has become one of my favorites (and I really expected it to be my least favorite to be honest) – Corneille: The Birth of Cornelius.

Obviously being a country music fan, I’d never even heard of Corneille.  I popped it into my computer to listen to whiel blogging one day and have kept it in there every day since.  It’s such a nice light almost jazzy music that I find it very relaxing as I sit here and blog.

While Corneille is new to us in the United States, he’s not new to the music scene. He has sold out arenas in other parts of the world.   He was born in Germany but moved to Rwanda.  He lived there until the assasination of Rwandan President Habyarimana.  At this time Rwanda was chaotic and his entire family was killed. He was the only member of his family to survive as he was able to escape back to Germany.

When asked how surviving such an incomprehensible tragedy has shaped his outlook, and his music, Corneille is strikingly calm. “For a good ten years after the genocide,” he says, “I lived in a great deal of denial. But I managed not to get too bitter because I had parents who always made me feel special. It’s a sort of pain that you can have closure with. I know I’m not going to be able to talk to my family ever again, but they left me with memories filled with such love that I don’t have that much anger.”


When asked about beginning musical interests, he names Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke, and Prince.  When listening to his music, you can definitly hear the emotion of his life and the influence of these great artists. It also helps that he wrote every song on the album.

My favorite songs are Liberation and Foolish Heart. Below you’ll hear a video of one of the other songs, Too Much of Everything:

If Mama Don’t Laugh, It Ain’t Funny

I was recently given the chance to read a very unique and entertaining book, If Mama Don’t Laugh, It Ain’t Funny.  This is a book collection of tales from a Southern Mom, Lucy Adams, about life as a mom, wife, and overall community member that will make you laugh so hard, you’ll have tears in your eyes. I’m not sure I’ve ever laughed so hard while reading a book.

Want to read more about my feelings about If Mama Don’t Laugh, It Ain’t Funny and enter for a  chance to win a hat from Lucy Adams?  Check out my Grand Opening post at A Novel Mind.

I Don’t Want to Miss

To teenagers missing those important moments – prom, homecoming, that big game, or that special party – is a crisis.  While maybe being sick and missing a day of school is ok, they simply can not fathom the idea of missing those major social aspects of their life.  However, we are remind each year around this time of just how easy it is to get sick and miss out on these moments that they will remember forever (or at least they think they will).

Brooke White, Clorox, and Dr. Harley Rotbart have all joined together to launch “I Don’t Want to Miss.”  This a a contest to raise awareness of flu education and prevention.  Why is this necessary? This year the Center for Disease Control (CDC) expanded flu vaccination guidelines to include all children six months through 18 years old.  However, a new national survey shows that only 16% of parents with teens are aware of this new recommendation.

To encourage this awareness and education, the “I Don’t Want To Miss” campaign is hosting a contest where one grand prize winner will win a trip by Brooke White (American Idol finalist) to perform an acoustic concert at their school.  The second place winner will receive a guitar autographed by Brooke White herself, and three runners-up will win autographed photos.

So how do you win this contest? Well to begin with, you have to create a 45-60 second video PSA. The video must be related to cold and flu education and prevention and why it is important. The judges will expect contestants to relate the video to their school experiences that they do not want to miss out on with a good amount of humor.  The judges will pick their top five picks and from there videos will be voted on at schooltube.com.  The deadline to enter is coming up quickly (March 11) so if you are interested (or know someone who might be), start preparing your videos and get them submitted.  (I’d love for you to come back here and let me know if you do enter.)