N.C. Transportation Museum Spring Kick Off Event

If you're one of my local readers, you may be interested in this event!  My family and I are hoping to attend!

Here's the official invitation:

Join the N.C. Transportation Museum for a Spring Kick Off on March 15, 2014! This event is a way of welcoming back warmer weather and gearing up for our busiest seasons of the year. Two trains will be available, including the steam powered caboose train.

NCTM Passenger Train: The N.C. Transportation Museum's passenger train is pulled by a vintage diesel engine, with visitors riding in 1950s-era passenger cars. The newly restored Clinchfield 100 will be in the consist for visitors to ride. About 25 minutes long, the ride provides a “from the tracks” view of the town of Spencer and the N.C. Transportation Museum's historic buildings.

Steam Engine Caboose Train: A special offering for this event, the Lehigh Valley #126 will be pulling five of the museum's colorful cabooses for a different view from the rails. The Lehigh Valley #126 is an authentic steam engine, built in 1931. After a long career of working in the coal industry, primarily in Pennsylvania, the engine was nearly lost to a scrap yard. It was purchased by the Gramling Locomotive Works, restored and now tours the country appearing at events like the Spring Kick Off. There is nothing like the sound of a steam engine chugging down the tracks. And since everyone's favorite rail car is the caboose, we give you a train full of them. Ride along in the cupola for an “above the rails” view of the N.C. Transportation Museum.

Clinchfield 100 Passenger Car and Activities: Those on the museum's Passenger Train will be able to ride along in the Clinchfield 100. This newly restored rail car represents the history of the Clinchfield Railroad. Started in 1902, the passenger and freight train line ran from Virginia to South Carolina, with a popular stop at the Little Switzerland resort in the North Carolina Mountains. The railroad is also remembered for it's “Santa Clause Special” that started in 1943 and ran the lenth of the railroad's main line, from Elkhorn City to Spartanburg, handing out gifts for children along the way.

Watauga Valley Railroad Historical Society Whistle Machine The Whistle Machine is a self-contained trailer featuring a collection of unique, historically significant whistles from the steam locomotive era and the means to blow them. Steam locomotive train whistles were the sound of an era, more musical than modern horns. Engineers also often had a distinctive way they would sound their whistles as the steam engine moved down the track. The Whistle Machine offers an opportunity for all ages to hear to distinctive sound and to create their own signature whistle sound.

NASCAR Field of Honor Race Car: This NASCAR car, decked out in red, white and blue, serves as an attention getting and fund-raiser for the Carolina Field of Honor at Triad Park. A joint venture of Forsyth and Guilford Counties, the park will commemorate and honor those who fought in the nation's battles, creating a timeline from Iwo Jima and Germany to Iraq and Afghanistan. A project of the War Memorial Foundation, more information on the construction plans for the park can be found at www.ncwmf.org.

History In Person: Across the museum grounds, visitors will find figures from the past. Figures include the hobos at the box car telling their tales, the milk man and his Divco milk truck in the Bumper to Bumper exhibit (with milk and cookies for guests!), the railroad shop worker in the Roundhouse, Wright Brothers' sister Kate Wright at the Wright Brothers Flyer, and the soldier in the Back Shop near by the Deuce and a half army truck. All will provide visitors a unique look at transportation history, from their perspective.

Piedmont Airlines DC-3 Restoration: Special tours will be available as part of your ticket price, including a walk through the Back Shop to get an up close look at the Piedmont Airlines DC-3. The airplane is undergoing a restoration. Former Piedmont and US Air pilot Captain Bill Wilkerson will provide his expertise. Tours happen at 11 a.m., 1 and 3 p.m. Visitors will gather at the Master Mechanic's Office (near the caboose train boarding) at the appointed times to take advantage of these tours.

Kids Crafts, Storytelling: In the Wagon's, Wheels & Wings exhibit area, crafts will be available (at no extra fee) while Barbie LeBrun will tell children's stories to the gathered kids.

Gold Panning: Our Historic Site partners at Reed Gold Mine will provide their gold panning activity. See how gold was found in the days of the first gold rush and pan for gold yourself! NOTE: Gold panning requires an additional $2 fee.

Fire Truck Displays: See a great display of antique fire trucks on the museum grounds from a private collection. Plus, the museum's own 1929 Ford Model AA Fire Truck will also be displayed.

Rowan Areo Modelers: The Rowan Areo Modelers will be flying their ultra-cool model airplanes from the museum's lower parking lot. See the models on the ground and in flight and talk with the model pilots. Find more at www.rams-fly.com.

MORE!: Events and activities are still being added for what promises to be a huge day of fun at the N.C. Transportation Museum. Purchase tickets now online!

Help for Disorganized People (Part 2)

As we continue our series on Time Management and Organization for the Disorganized Procrastinator (read part 1 here), let's take a look at some common reasons for procrastination.

Pretty much everyone suffers from procrastination tendencies in at least one aspect of their lives, whether it's getting work done, doing household chores, or exercising.  (Wouldn't it be great if we procrastinated about eating that delicious chocolate brownie as much as we do about exercising?)

When you procrastinate on certain things, you're getting some sort of payoff for the behavior. You're avoiding the pain of doing the task right now. Maybe you realize that it may cause you pain later, but you put that out of your mind. What you're concerned with right now is avoiding the pain now. Pain felt later is not real yet.

So what are some of the reasons we procrastinate?

1. Fear of Failure

This is the most obvious reason people procrastinate. The fear that you won't succeed is so strong that you'd rather not try at all. Your mind tells you that you're not a failure because you didn't do it yet. Many people who fear failure have perfectionist tendencies. Perfectionism is really just a cover and an excuse for not ever finishing anything due to the fear of failure.

2. Fear of Success

Believe it or not, some people procrastinate due to a fear of success, the inverse of fear of failure. If you have an innate feeling that you don't deserve success and lack confidence in your ability to continue being successful, you will procrastinate. Once you are on top, it's harder to stay on top, so why get to the top at all? Fear of being able to repeat success can block you from ever experiencing success in the first place.

3. Addiction to the Rush

This is something that often happens to college students or people who work with deadlines. They wait until the last minute and the extra adrenaline that is produced makes them feel good. They get addicted to the adrenaline and seek reasons to flood their body with it again, and again. Adrenaline junkies often believe they do better work at the last minute, which could not be further from the truth. If you perform at a high level at the last minute, imagine how well you would do with a real plan of action?

4. Lack of Interest

Some things you put off because you simply don't like to do them.  That could be cleaning out the oven or the fridge, matching socks, or working on a report for work or school. Those things are boring, so you procrastinate because you simply do not want to do it to start with. You wait until the very last moment to do it.  Maybe you're even late with it or don't do it at all.

5. You Need Training

Some people procrastinate because they really aren't sure how to do something. They need someone to train them how to do it right. It doesn't matter if it's household organizing, work related tasks, or something else entirely — if you tend to procrastinate about something, ask yourself if you are procrastinating because you don't know how to do it.

6. You Don't Like to Say No

By putting off doing things you've committed to do, it's your way of saying no without saying no. If you're a person who doesn't like to say no just because you're trying to be nice, but then you put off doing what you've agreed to do — I hate to tell you, but you're not being nice!  Just be honest and don't commit to things with which you cannot follow through.

7. You're Overwhelmed

It's not uncommon to start putting things off when you simply get in over your head. Due to poor organizational ability, you simply bit off more than you could chew. Plus, you lack the training to chunk together actionable steps to beat the feeling of overwhelm. When you're overwhelmed, it seems easier to just ignore anything that needs to be done.

8. You're a Dreamer & a Talker

Many people who are otherwise great people tend to love to talk about doing, rather than actually doing. The problem with this is that if you never follow up with doing what you're talking about, you'll never achieve success. You'll always just be a talker and a dreamer. Spending time making vision boards on Pinterest feels productive, but if you don't back that up with some action, you're not productive. You're all talk and no action.

9.Inability to Visualize Success

Some procrastinators have serious problems with creating a picture in their minds of future success. You let your past inform your future too much. You just cannot see yourself being successful at anything, so you put off trying and put off doing your best because you just can't see yourself beyond where you are right now.

Next week, we'll talk about how to overcome these roadblocks.

But for this week's challenge, I want you to identify:

1. One thing that you've been putting off.
2. The reason you've been procrastinating.

Leave a comment and let me know what you determined!

Gluten Free Pancakes

Sometimes running out of your normal ingredients provides the opportunity to create new recipes.  That's what happened the other night when I came up with these gluten free and protein-packed pancakes.

I've posted the recipe for these gluten free pancakes over at the Grain Mill Wagon.

What You Need to Know about Oral Health

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Waterpik.

If you've been reading here for any length of time, you know that I am interested in healthy living.  I am always reading, and always trying to learn how to help myself and my family be more healthy.

This is the only body I'll ever have, so I'd better take good care of it. (Click here to tweet this!)

Some of the most recent reading I've been doing is on the topic of oral health.  Up until now I have been focusing mainly on diet, sleep, and stress management to strengthen my health.  I know I need to exercise more, and I am slowly working on that and getting better little by little.

But a topic that I have not paid much attention to is my oral health.

(If you can't read the infographic, you can click to enlarge.)

I could spend quite a while writing about how oral health affects the health of the entire body, but I'll try to condense it way down into a nutshell version.

When your gums become infested with bacteria due to improper brushing, poor diet, and failure to floss, the bacteria can then move into the bloodstream.  These bacteria destroy tissue and white blood cells, dump toxins into the bloodstream, and create inflammation as the body tries to resist.  However, this chronic inflammation sets the stage for much worse disease such as heart disease and cancer.

Now, I don't believe that oral health is the only thing that causes disease, but since it can play such a big part I think it's important that it be addressed!

How do you know if you have gum disease?

• Your gums are swollen, puffy, or tender
• Your gums bleed when you brush or floss
• You have receding gums
• Your gums are separating from your teeth, creating pockets
• You have constant bad breath or a bad taste in your mouth

How can you take care of your teeth and gums?

Brush and floss regularly to remove the bacteria from your teeth and gums.

I'll be honest.  I have always hated to floss.  And sadly, I have not taken very good care of my gums.

My gums are sensitive, and they bleed when I floss.

When I was asked if I wanted to try out a Waterpik Aquarius Professional Water Flosser, I was more than happy to do so.  I know I need to take better care of my gums, and I wanted to see if using the Waterpik would be easier than flossing.

The Waterpik Aquarius Professional Water Flosser is clinically proven to improve gum health vs. string floss.

I liked that it didn't hurt my gums or make them bleed like floss does.

It has 7 different tips that you can use based on your personal needs, and you can set it to a higher or lower setting depending on what is comfortable for you.

It also switches between “floss” mode, where the water pulsates, and “massage” mode, to help stimulate circulation.

The switch is right on the handle, making it easy to turn on and off.

So far I have been happy with flossing this way, and I think it's great that the Waterpik gets down underneath the gumline where traditional brushing and flossing cannot reach.

Waterpik is offering free shipping on any product through March 31st with the coupon code FREESHIPWP660. 

The Waterpik Aquarius Professional Water Flosser comes with a money-back guarantee as well as a 3 year warranty.

How is your oral health?  Do you need to work on keeping those bacteria at bay so they cannot move on to other parts of your body?  Do you think a Waterpik would make it easier for you to floss regularly?

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Waterpik.

Help for Disorganized People

If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm not the world's most organized person.  (Someone recently suggested I might truly have ADD.  Who knows?  But hey, maybe I can use that as an excuse, right?)

My super-organized (and extremely patient) husband has taught me a thing or two about how to keep things organized.  I'm sure I would be 10 times worse without his help.

So for the next few weeks, I'll be running a series on Time Management and Organization for the Disorganized Procrastinator.  I'll be sharing some of the things I have learned from my husband as well as personal obstacles that I have overcome.

Ready for part 1?  Let's dig in…

Do you have piles of paper surrounding your desk? Do you have boxes of paperwork to go through in the attic, inside closets, or in the corner of your office that need to be organized? Are your computer files a disorganized jumble of text files and Word documents full of ideas that you will never find again? Do you have many plans and ideas that you just never get to? Does the idea of getting organized make you uncomfortable and a little bit nervous? If so, then this guide is for you!

Week One:

Identifying Your Organizing Style

The first thing you need to do is figure out your organizational style. Even as a disorganized person you have an organizational style. Trust me. Knowing your own personal organizational style will help you avoid choosing methods that won't work for you.

• Neat Nelly — She puts everything away out of sight; however, the term neat can be questioned. She feels neat because it's all out of sight and out of mind.
• Piles Polly — She puts everything out where everyone can see it, usually in piles all over the place. She cannot find anything when she needs it.
• Basket Betty — She puts everything into baskets so that they look neat and out of sight, but they are anything but neat (and maybe not even out of sight).

Understanding your organizational style will help you move forward with creating a system of organization that works for you. Working with your personality, instead of against it, will make becoming more organized a lot simpler. So, it doesn't matter whether or not you pile everything up, stuff everything out of sight, or have lots of baskets and bins with all your work in them. You can work with your natural inclinations to create a plan and develop a system that works for you.

If you're still not sure about your organizational style, think for a moment about what you do when you receive a monthly bill. Do you throw it on a “bill pile”, file it away, or throw it in a basket (or drawer)? Some people just prefer to be able to see everything because they're afraid they'll forget something. Other people feel more accomplished if it's all out of sight (and out of mind), while others do a mixture of the two. Which one are you?

Week one challenge:  Identify your organizational style and tell me in the comments.

(If you're the organized type, none of us naturally disorganized people will mind a bit if you chime in with your helpful suggestions during this series!)

Printable Daily Planner for Disorganized People

Organized bloggers talk about their tried-and-true methods for keeping your house clean and being productive.  Most of them center on the concept of routine.  But what if you're like me and routine makes you bored?  Chances are you jump in to this system that is “guaranteed to work”, and it works great…for a few weeks.  Then you get tired of being locked in to vacuuming on Monday, cleaning the bathroom on Tuesday, etc.  You want to do what you want, when you feel like it — all without your house falling apart.  Me too!
I am not naturally organized, and I hate routine.  But instead of letting that defeat me, I have tried to find ways to work with my personality to create a system that works for me.

I noticed that the days I was most productive were the days when I was scribbling down everything I needed to do in a notebook.

Over time I noticed that without thinking I would always list “like” items together – for example, anything I had to do on the computer, any phone calls I needed to make, etc.  I had unintentionally created a system that was working pretty well for my personality.

I made a printable version to make my method look a little prettier.

How to use this printable:

Although this planner is intended to be used daily, you only need to print one copy.

Attach 6 standard sized sticky notes to the squares (I prefer Post-it Brand since they stick the best.)  Then label each section whatever you want it to be.

My labels are:

1. Basics – I write down everything that I have to do, even no-brainer stuff like “make supper”, “make the bed”, etc.  With a personality like mine, I really do forget if I don't write it down!

2. Extra – this is extra housework that does not get done every day, like mopping or cleaning the bathroom.

3. Shopping list – self-explanatory

4. Computer – this is anything I need to do on the computer, such as working on my blog or ordering grocery items from Amazon. (aff. link.)  That way when the kids are napping I can quickly work through what needs to be done, and I can easily see it on my list.

5. Projects – This area is for things like crafts that I want to make or fun activities I want to do with my kids.

6. Notes – I use this for stuff that's not necessarily to-do but that I still need to remember.  For example – “Tell hubby he has an email he needs to check.”

I love this system!  I can switch around what housework I do on what days, without forgetting about it altogether.  I make my schedule be a slave to me, instead of being a slave to a schedule.

I like using the Post-it notes because I don't have to print a new to-do list every day.  If I've completed the stuff on one square, I can remove just that sticky note and replace it.  If I still need to work on some of the stuff, I can leave that list right where it is.

Are you the “creative” type who gets too bored with a routine, but forgets to do things otherwise?  I'd love for you to try out this daily planner and let me know if it helps!