r u l y

It’s the last day of April and time to check in on my weight maintenance progress as well as recap the last two-months of posts focused on diet and nutrition.

You may recall that my theme word for the year is “routine.” Without intending to figure out a diet and exercise routine that works for me, that is exactly what happened over the last two months. You may have noticed that I didn’t post a routine checklist for April. Because my mind was so focused on maintaining the weight loss I had achieved in March, I didn’t really feel up to working on all my routines at once. I think this focus really helped me. Now in May, I really need to add back in new routines, particularly for cleaning up around the house and working on the garden, which have suffered.

Below is a blank May 2013 daily routines checklist. I changed the format a bit. If you are using these charts, please let me know what changes you would like to see in them.

• 2013-05-01-BLANKDailyRoutines

Before I reveal to you how my weight loss maintenance has been going, I wanted to combine some lessons learned with a recap of the past posts.

1) If the inspiration strikes, act on it! When I received the offer to review the DDP Yoga system, I wasn’t really planning on a big weight loss or exercise focus to my blog. I don’t know why I was so enthusiastic about the program but I am so glad that I let that energy carry me. Diet and exercise require an intense amount of self-motivation so if the inspiration strikes you, go with it! Don’t wait for it to come again at a more convenient time. It may not!

2) Hard change requires a bit of anger. The last thing I wanted to have to do on my health regimen was go on a diet. I don’t like restricting my eating patterns. At the time, I was listening a lot to Dave Ramsey’s radio show, and he always emphasizes that you know you are ready to change when you get so angry and fed up with a situation to the point that you yell out, “I’ve had it! I’m not living this way anymore!” At that point, you are ready to commit fully to whatever changes you need to make to get your desired result. I was thinking about that when I kept stepping on the scale and seeing negative progress despite my exercise diligence and made the commitment to try a diet. It was that feeling that helped me continue my diet despite changing conditions like the snowquester and to take it to the next level by limiting myself to just 1200 calories per day. And with that level of focus and dedication, I achieved success, losing first 7 pounds, then 4 pounds, then 1 ½ pounds, then an additional 1 pound for a total of 13 ½! I faced up to some hard lessons during this process including realizing that dieting or calorie restriction is something that will continue to be necessary as I age.

3) Keep perfectionism in check. It is so easy for us to want our bodies to look like models or athletes since those are the images we are faced with every day. Yet we don’t really want to make the sacrifices these people make to look like that. Portia De Rossi’s book exploring anorexia helped me to realize that the key endpoint of exercise is to focus on achieving a skill or getting better at something. Exercising to achieve a body type is almost impossible. Also, we have to be realistic about our own time constraints to exercise and fix special diet-friendly meals. Parents, in particular, may be suffering from sleep deprivation or lack of energy and may have a harder time sticking to a diet. Pick an achievable weight loss. It’s so much more motivating to hit your goal than to be endlessly seeking a goal you can’t achieve.

4) It’s the big changes not necessarily the small changes that matter. While I spent some time agonizing over small changes like using whole wheat flour in my pancakes or coloring healthy hard boiled eggs or swapping out snacks for my kids, or reviewing the difference in fortified versus non-fortified processed foods, in the end, I’m not sure these changes made a whole lot of difference in my weight maintenance.

5) It’s hard to override human nature. When I first went off my diet, I had a great time eating! I showed you the paintable Easter Egg sugar cookies I made for my daughter’s preschool class and the Matzoh lasagna and matzoh lemon cake we tried.

6) You must have a pleasurable distraction if you are going to diet! When I am not eating, I am knitting a lot more. I made Easter sweaters, have completed another project I will share with you later and am halfway through a third knitting project. I had no idea how much time I spent eating! I also spent some time bargain shopping.

7) Be open to alternative interpretations of your results. While I knew my diet was giving me success in the weight loss department, I wanted to know if it really was healthier. My blood test results helped me to realize that my diet still could use a few tweaks.

8) Even when you are successful, keep looking out for new things to try. I keep reading just about every article I see about healthy eating and exercise habits. I get new ideas all the time. I try them out, like eating more parsley and drinking green tea. I was also introduced to fasting, the latest form of dieting through Dr. Michael Mosley’s PBS series. Ramit Sethi also hosted a webchat with his personal trainers and it was eye-opening to see how many women were facing the same problems. Why can’t I lose weight? How do I get these pregnancy pounds off? The trainers made an interesting recommendation that people try 16 hours of fasting per day and noted that estrogen is a challenging hormone when it comes to weight loss for women. It was about then that I realized that dieting often comes down to a “what” or “when” decision.

9) Each person is different. My experience trying to help my husband eat a healthier breakfast was a failure. When it comes to weight loss, we are all motivated by different things and have different taste buds. It’s important to keep searching until you find a routine that speaks to you. I received many positive comments on the 400 calorie salad recipes that I shared, including a humorous one from my dad that 2 or 3 of those together would make a good meal!

10) Normal people have a lot to think about besides diet and exercise but that is not an excuse for why we can’t be successful. In our family, for example, I had to spend some time in April doing some detailed financial research to audit our accounts, get our taxes filed, review our college savings strategy, review our retirement savings plans, research ideas to improve our investing strategy and plan our children’s summer educational activities. I could easily have said that all this stressed me out and derailed my diet but I didn’t let that happen.

So now for the moment you are waiting for . . . did I manage to maintain my weight loss in April?

Yes I did! But it wasn’t as easy as these numbers appear. The first week after my diet, I managed to regain 5 ½ pounds eating a lot of Easter candy and lemon cake! I realized that something had to change. I contemplated going back on my salads but didn’t have quite enough willpower to do that. So I decided to continue with the one part my diet that was easy for me, the breakfasts. I also decided to experiment with fasting and added a one mile walk to my exercise program. So here is the “formula” that is working for me.

If I don’t do every single one of these things every single day, I will gain about one pound the next day. This program works for me because it allows me to eat what I want and the exercise is enjoyable. I love the one-mile walk because it warms up my muscles. I also have fun with my children along the way. After the walk, I like to do my 30 minutes of strength exercises right away while my muscles are still warm. It really helps with my yoga stretches.

I can maintain this diet even if I am on vacation or otherwise not in control of my eating situation. If I have to, I can bring a bag of chia seeds and mix them with water for my breakfasts. I can also switch up the timing of the fast period, etc. if there is a special feasting event. My diet does not really impact anyone around me except that occasionally they will have to accept that I am not eating and will be sipping my water. Over time, I may have to cut down the “forage period” to keep my weight in check but it seems feasible that I will always have at least one hour a day when I can eat whatever I want to. So I don’t have to “cheat,” I just have to wait!

I keep improving in my fitness and that is exciting. My legs feel strong and light. It sounds weird but it feels like it takes so much less energy just to do basic things like walk and climb stairs in this condition. My flexibility is returning. It has taken 60 days worth of exercise to finally feel like my muscles are loosening up. I even had one yoga-related injury along the way! I sought the help of a chiropractor who told me that my hip flexor muscles are too tight and that I need to work on stretches to loosen them. As I understand, the hip flexor muscles connect to the abdominal muscles in some way and as my abs are getting stronger, my hip flexors seem to be getting better as well.

Going into May, I feel confident that my new diet and exercise routine is under control and that it will take less effort to maintain what I have established. Now to tackle other areas of my organization that need addressing!

How do you feel going into May? What would you like to accomplish? Please share in the comments.

Wow! The end of February has come altogether too quickly. Here we are 4 days into March!

February ended up being a bit of a blur for me.

We finished up our ski lessons.

• Ski lesson recap

and prepared to celebrate Valentine’s Day

• Ski Valentines
• Valentines with an Organizational Twist
• Valentine Moments

There were many ways to spend time screen-gazing this month. I reviewed three major online events:

• Watching SuperBowl XLVII online
• Live Streaming from Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week
• Organization of the State of the Union Address

We looked at the fitness routines of the ultra-skinny

• The Model as Athlete

and checked out the athletic prowess of The Washington Ballet

• Ballet and Orchids

I began my own fitness routine

• Lenten Project: Yoga with Diamond Dallas Paige

and gave an update on how I am doing after one week on my new regimen.

• Fitness Routine Progress at Just Over One Week

If all of this activity caused anyone anxiety, Guest Blogger Ryan Rivera shared his insight, particularly anxiety in women.

• Guest Blogger Ryan Rivera: When Anxiety Attacks: A Look at Anxiety in Women

Honestly, I fell off my routine-tracking about mid-month and have been struggling to getting back to it.

March is going to be hugely busy for me. The weather is starting to turn spring-like and that means three things for me:

1) Gardening
2) Spring cleaning
3) Tax preparation

All of this comes on top of what I am already doing so I have to find a way to work that into my routine. Even though my first reaction is to throw my hands up, scream, “That’s impossible!” and forget about it all, I know that if I can stay focused and disciplined and work really hard this month, I will be in excellent shape for the rest of spring and summer. So I tell myself that all this craziness is only for 30 days, that I will get through it and my reward is to celebrate Easter at the end of the month with my family, in a gorgeously clean and organized house, (hopefully) with a trim body and a yard that is at least progressing in the right direction.

It’s going to be a LOT of work this month but I am trying to build myself up and stay positive that it can be done. The change in seasons is really giving me a lift. I love seeing all that sunshine! Of course, life will happen too and I will adjust as needed but for now I am starting off with guns blazing.

This past weekend, I began a deep spring cleaning on the main floor of my home. It took forever but now we are enjoying the progress we have made. It seems less intimidating now to work on maintaining the organization we have just achieved. Sometimes you can organize a little at a time but what a boost it gives you to do it all in one big swoop!

However, while I was focusing on the spring cleaning, I fell off on my other goals. So, you can’t have it all!

Here is a blank goals/routine checklist for March if you need a reminder to get yourself back on track.

• March 2013 Daily Routines Checklist

Are you amped up for March? What is on your to do list? Please share in the comments.

If you are surprised that today is the first day of May (May!), join the club! April for us was jam-packed and flew by altogether too fast. Easter, Spring Break, dog sitting, boom, end of the month! Sadly, I am nowhere near done with what I needed to get accomplished in April. I have more things to do and say about my gardening and outdoor efforts. I still have plants sitting in my kitchen sink awaiting their permanent homes. I still have projects to try and tell you about.

I can’t control time, except in the context of this website, so I am going to grant myself a Ruly extension into May! I will continue on with the gardening efforts and we will weave in a few other fun things as well.

If you have noticed my hiccups in posting this month, I apologize. In addition to the special events calendar, I have another excuse . . .

We’re remodeling!

It’s “just” the master bathroom but this being my first ever major remodeling project it is taking a lot of my time and energy to organize all the logistics. Yes, it is an indulgence to get a brand new master bathroom but we’ve earned it, literally! We have been in our house for 9 years now and dutifully saving up to remodel (since our household policy is that remodeling expenses should be paid in cash). If you have been reading my blog since the beginning, you have seen all the ways we have tried to save money, from eating at home, to saving on holiday clothes for our children, to putting in the elbow grease to refinish old patio furniture, and scrub the playroom clean.

So, finally we have arrived at a reward point! Remodeling gets expensive very quickly so we still have to watch expenses and make sure we stay in our budget. We are really looking forward to the results. I am sure the remodeling process will cause further hiccups in my posting schedule in the future but please hang with me.

In April, I did make a little progress in the garden and shared the following posts:

• Eco-Friendly Weeding Tip
• Patio Furniture Update Tip: Wrought Iron Furniture Caps
• Garden Status Report: Native Plants
• Braiding the Daffodils
• Slate Concrete Patio Makeover

I received some wonderful comments this month on these posts. My native plants status post earned a retweet from the grande dame of DC gardening, editor of Washington Gardener magazine (and one of the most generous Tweeters out there), Kathy Jentz

as well as from Martha of The Soil Toil, who has an amazing DC gardening blog

and Roland Park Native who promotes use of native plants in the Baltimore area and compiles a native plant daily from stories found on Twitter.

My “slate” patio makeover picked up several comments, including a kind comment from Alison Rice of “L is for Latte” (who is currently blogging about her house selling and moving adventures)

and diadia, my devoted reader who hilariously commented:

“Amazing & inspirational–only a chemist w/JD/MBA could detail this accomplishment. Where is the editor of Architectural Digest?”

And the best compliment of all. . . Behr Paint gave me a compliment when I shared the project on Twitter.

Sometimes in the blogging world, it is not about getting the most comments but the right ones. This month’s comments certainly gave me a big boost and I thank everyone for taking time to put your thoughts here.  I do read each and every comment.

On the lighter/personal side, I posted a few tidbits of our life:

• Easter Dresses
• Easter Highlights Plus Non-Sugar Alternative Easter Goodies
• What I Learned from Dog-Sitting for a Week

The Easter dresses have been fun. I ended up making a third dress from the leftover fabric for my niece and we learned through extensive testing that a) this design is perfect for playing “horse.” and b) this quasi-outdoor fabric holds up tremendously well to a dip in the ocean.

We also took the dresses to the ballet this past weekend, paired with a ballet sweater for the chilly, rainy weather and the girls received many compliments.

The ballet itself was an organizing marvel. It was a joint affair between the Richmond Symphony and the Richmond Ballet centered around the theme of the American West. The symphony members wore bandanas, plaid shirts, belt buckles and cowboy hats. They played music synonymous with Western culture and movies, including the William Tell overture. Interspersed with the music were wonderful dance pieces, including Agnes de Mille’s delightful “Rodeo” and a children’s piece involving students from the public school system. It was one of those moments where you just sit and feel lucky to witness such creativity and beauty.

Elsewhere on the web . .

Artist (and Ruly character creator) Angie Jordan, had an event with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra doing live illustration of Babar the elephant! So wish I could have seen this one!

It was Earth Day on Sunday, April 22nd and alas, I didn’t find the time to note the occasion. I did get pitched with several blog stories that sounded interesting and so I am passing them on:

• Vegucated – A new documentary film called “Vegucated” debuted that profiles 3 people who take up the challenge to eat vegan for 6 weeks. While I am not vegan, it does sound interesting to learn more about what these people end up eating without meat, dairy or any animal products in their diet.
• Precycling – Organizing expert Barry Dennis just published a new book on decluttering. He pitched organizing as an earth-friendly activity that counts as “precycling.” What is precyling? “That’s when you return precious resources to the earth by not buying the product in the first place.”
• Irrigation – Consumer expert Andrea Woroch shared 22 tips on how to go green for Earth Day. One of them is particularly important for this month’s gardening theme: “7. Use an irrigation controller to manage watering. 20 to 50 percent of your water use goes toward the landscape, even more in certain areas of the country. Invest in a controller to schedule irrigation to reduce overwatering.” We all need to think carefully about water use when we are putting any plants in our garden. My personal strategy has been to just see what lives given the sunshine and water that we have available but I will have to water some of the newer plants I will be planting.
• Little Green – Apartment Therapy also compiled several Etsy seller tiny container garden creations that would work in any space. Gardening meets art!

Hope you are also enjoying your garden and the outdoors at this time of year!

It’s a bit past the end of March but time to recap March’s posts on the investing mindset as well as highlight favorite comments and recent organizational news stories.

This month, we discussed several facets of the investing mindset—strategies to organize your thinking about your finances to make good decisions that result in financial rewards.

1) Invest in what you know. We started off with a reminder that when you are trying to invest in something you don’t understand, you are likely to make mistakes. So when you are faced with a situation you have no experience with, you need to make the time to do your research and learn as much as you can to make informed decisions. Never assume that you can just guess and coast by or follow what everyone else is doing.

Anonymous commented:

“The only person looking out for your interest when it comes to your money is you.” Well put. Yes, finances can be complicated, but not necessarily incomprehensible. If your banker or financial advisor isn’t willing to take the time to explain things and help you make the right kind of risk decisions that allow you to sleep at night, it’s time to make some changes.”

Matt commented:

“As always, solid, lucid advice. I think it’s also important to remember that ordinary people in the investment market are competing with professionals who devote their careers to it. We can take advantage of their skills but it will cost us. Or we can concentrate on understanding a specific sector and place our own bets. There it’s no easy, simple way to beat the market.”

2) Always remember the difference between shopping and investing. We looked at the recent resurgence in couponing and discussed several other examples where people try to use shopping as a “savings” or “investment” strategy.

Ruth filled me in on an aspect of couponing I did not understand:

“. . . a girlfriend printed like 80 coupons for KY Jelly that was on sale–something most of us do not need 20 of! Well, at the commissary (she checks every place you can buy stuff on earth thru site shopping and also various websites)–with the coupoon price she could actually get $.80 back because the coupon was worth more than the original price in this case—so she used the rest of the money on groceries. So the goal is NOT to buy your core staples–it’s to “make money” on oddball stuff so you don’t have to pay for groceries. MOST people actually end up donating the extra unneeded items to shelters etc. And then they know which stores on which days double coupons, etc. It’s truly an art!!”

Angela commented:

“I have also heard the goal of couponing is not to save on stuff you do want, but to make money on other items you may or May not want/need so you can spend THAT money on wanted items… But, since I place a value on my time, the hours I’d need to learn to play / prepare to shop / that game do not equal the ‘savings.’ I realize that once you figured the system out and it (maybe) equalized time spent vs money saved, there might be real savings to be had… But I just find other stuff I’d rather be doing with my time!”

This month as I followed a coupon blogger I learned quite a bit about how couponing works for an expert. Essentially, you need to clip and save high dollar value coupons and hope that there is a massive sale before the coupon expires. You can then use the coupon to get either free or heavily discounted items. In March, this particular blogger got contact lens solution and dog food totally for free with coupons. For my shopping style, I have yet to be convinced that coupons are a winning strategy for me but if I see a rare coupon that is for something I actually buy, I make sure to use it or stock up when non-perishable items are on sale.

3) Maintain a healthy skepticism about all things. Particularly when it comes to money, you always have to stop and think about what is motivating someone to make a particular recommendation. We also have to be realistic and know that when it comes to money, there are many cases where people don’t play by the rules and you need to be alert to looking for fraud or other unethical manipulations.

Lou commented:

“There are so many stories of this nature out there that are quite frightening. I have stopped reading about them for a while, and am not sure when I will resume. For those that don’t play by the rules, I wish there were faster ways to catch them so as to prevent any loss to those playing fairly.”

4) Good investors are always open to learning math and calculation methods. Yes, math is not just for school students. We all need to keep our math skills sharp. I gave an example from The Wall Street Journal showing a common error made when estimating returns on a portfolio.

On this front, this month I learned about a website called Bedtime Math Problem that encourages parents to tuck their kids in at night by reading a story AND doing a simple math problem! It’s a simple but brilliant concept. We have started doing this at our house. You can sign up here for their free email list.

5) Restate a complex investing scenario into something you do understand. It is all too easy to just give up when trying to understand something requiring detailed focus and concentration like money management. But we don’t have to give up. There are many ways to look at any situation and even the least sophisticated among us can have at least some understanding of what is going on. We took one of the most complicated financial situations out there, the U.S. government’s financial situation, and proportionately scaled down the numbers to reflect what the government’s finances would look like if the government was a typical middle class family.

6) A good investor makes decisions first by numbers and secondly by emotions. We again looked at the U.S. government’s financial situation and tried to understand why the budget numbers never add up. I summarized the three main budget proposals from Democrats, Republicans and the Tea Party. We also looked at statements from Comptroller Dodaro in the latest report on the government’s finances indicating that regardless of what budget measures are taken, the government has a lot of financial clean-up and organization to do.

7) Past performance does not guarantee future success but history is an excellent teacher. I took a look at how my 401(k) savings did last year and gave you a form that you can use to check up on your own investments.

Other posts:

A reminder about daylight savings time and taxes. I also gave a tax organizing tip to make filing next year a little less painful. For those with taxes still to file, we are now at 13 days and counting.

I continued my own investor education with reviews of two books:

First, I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi. I think everyone should have at least one finance guru to follow. If Suze Orman does not excite you, give Ramit’s advice a try. He comes at financial management from a slightly different perspective and particularly appeals to a younger audience. He is going to start answering more questions from readers on his YouTube channel. You can watch his most recent (hilarious) answer here.

Second, I reviewed the book Aftershock with the ominous subtitle, “Protect Yourself and Profit in the Next Global Financial Meltdown.” I really hope that this situation never comes to pass but we can all learn a lot from the economic discussion in this book. We also have to learn not to be afraid of terrifying financial news and instead arm ourselves with a Plan B for when things don’t go as we hoped.

Fun posts:

I wrote a post about the 24 Hours of Le Mans race to be held in July as a treat for my Dad’s birthday.

I also showed you my children’s St. Patrick’s Day outfits this year that also saved me some “green” as I spent just $4.50 on accessories!

Ruly Ruth continued our healthy cooking series with a delicious pears with berries dessert review.

Money News

The Atlantic published a fascinating article called Prices Are People: A Short History of Working and Spending Money about economic trends since 1974. This article was part of a new series called The Money Report giving a consumer-eye view of the world. Article titles include: “How Investing Turns Nice People Into Psychopaths.”

Smart Money published a fascinating article “Fix Your 401(k)”about the myriad of problems in employer-sponsored 401(k) plans.

“I personally think the 401(k) should be abolished.”

–Matt Goff, a Houston financial adviser whose practice serves small-business owners needing help with their company retirement plans, quoted in “Fix Your 401(k), SmartMoney Magazine, March 15, 2012.

Politics aside, a beautiful piece of writing From George Will in The Washington Post about how trying to be too organized with the economy might be a problem and that we need to leave room for surprise and creativity. Love the highly quotable phrase “a ruinous itch for tidiness.”

“America now is divided between those who find this social churning unnerving and those who find it exhilarating. What Virginia Postrel postulated in 1998 in ‘The Future and Its Enemies: The Growing Conflict Over Creativity, Enterprise and Progress’ — the best book for rescuing the country from a ruinous itch for tidiness — is even more true now. Today’s primary political and cultural conflict is, Postrel says, between people, mislabeled ‘progressives,’ who crave social stasis, and those, paradoxically called conservatives, who welcome the perpetual churning of society by dynamism.”

–George F. Will, “The inexorable march of creative destruction,” The Washington Post, March 21, 2012

Money woes are clearly piling up around the globe. I learned via Twitter of the ongoing debate in Ireland over the “household tax,” which sounds similar to the U.S. property tax system. The economic woes in Ireland have led the country to impose a tax of roughly $133 per household. The New York Times reports that half of Irish homeowners refused to pay.

The biggest news in March, however, was the Supreme Court hearing on the Affordable Care Act. I found the Supreme Court testimony on all sides so incredibly beautifully argued. There was so much to think about and everyone was so excellently prepared. Truly, this was a law professor’s dream. It was also an excellent example of how people with very strong opinions can intelligently and respectfully have a productive conversation. Our Supreme Court justices earned every penny of their pay this week. Strangely, I put the audio on in the background and used it as motivation to do my own organizing. (Totally nerdy, I know.)

We are now (finally!) going to move on from money organizing. For me, it is time. While trying to organize my money mostly gives me a sense of control and confidence, this month’s discussion was the first time I found thinking about money a tad depressing. When I think too hard about retirement planning or paying down the national debt, I find it forces me to focus on my own mortality, which for a young person is just too overwhelming! But for 30 days out of each year, I force myself to take on all of these serious topics so that I can have full enjoyment of the rest of the year. I hope this month’s topics have caused you to do the same.

Please check back Friday when I will introduce a new organizing theme!

This month at Ruly, we revisited the topic of goals, looking at various perspectives on crafting effective goals. Below is a quick recap of this month’s posts, reader comments and organizing news.

• Goal Discovery Questions – when you aren’t sure where to start with the goaling process, some questions to ask yourself to generate ideas.
• Think Big and Think Small – asking “How” and “Why” to clarify an idea into a goal and subgoals

Lou commented:

When writing the one area of my life that I want to improve, I thought I was being altruistic, but the WHY and HOW questions made me realize it really is all about me! And that’s ok. The goal will help others while helping me.

 

• People-Based Goaling – the first reality check once you have developed a goal. Do you know anyone who embodies your goal?
• The Every Single Day Test – the second reality check for your goals inspired by a recent article on weight loss in The New York Times. If you had to do something you are not that interested in doing every . . . single . . . day to achieve your stated goal, are you still willing to commit to it?

Ruth commented:

I totally needed this article! I always want my old exercise and diet routine which is not possible with a toddler and being home full time. Time to get back to goal setting and finding compromise so I can work toward that goal again.

• Marcia Francois’ Goaling Tips – Streamling your goals into one theme word for the year to keep yourself focused and frame your goals (excuses, inspirations, etc.) to keep you motivated.  There were many great goaling theme words shared in the comments.
• The $10,000 Question – Using a time-tested mantra of the corporate world, how could you phrase your goals to practically guarantee you will achieve them? How would you state your goals this year if you had to pay a $10,000 penalty for each one you didn’t achieve?
• The De Kooning Perspective – If sticking to a goal is making you angry because you feel forced to adapt to someone else’s standard, check out this post for the insight reader Mary called “trippy” from artist Willem De Kooning.
• The Met Perspective – how a page-a-day calendar is keeping us focused on our goals.
• Ruly Hot Salad – If one of your goals this year is to improve your diet, I shared instructions for a super-easy winter salad.

This month has been a fascinating month for an observer of the world’s organizing systems. Just a few of the things that caught my eye this month:

Additional thoughts on goals:

• The ever-insightful Stever Robbins wrote a great blog post on “Your Life is a Community” about how you need to balance out goals in one area of your life with all of the other demands on your time.
• The University of Southern California School of Social Work sent along an interesting infographic about goals. What I found most fascinating was the first statistic about how the number of people that make goals drops by half once people reach the age of 45!

Examples of Extreme Organization

• SOPA – The amount of organization exhibited by those who challenged the SOPA legislation was awe-inspiring. The website blackouts had a profound effect and the reverse robocalls were clever and had a significant impact. In a perfect world, it would have been nice to see this attention morph into a broader discussion about what we (and the music and movie industry) can do to protect rights holders in an appropriate way but wow! What an effort!
• The State of the Union – Kudos to the White House for using technology to enhance the state of the Union speech with graphs and additional data and for using social media to start a discussion on these ideas! A clever way to lead by example.

Two fashion trends:

• Ombre Lips – FabFitFun posted a super-simple tutorial on the latest way to wear lip color
• The State of the Union provided some great tie-watching. If you struggle to pick good ties (as I do), you could try these lookalikes to the State of the Union ties.

Bruno Piattelli Mens Navy Gold Striped Designer Silk Neck Tie at amazon.com. (similar to Vice President Biden's choice)

Luzzario & Co Burgundy Dot Necktie at amazon.com. (similar to President Obama's choice)

Big Shot Neckwear 100% Silk Woven Striped Extra Extra Long 67" Tie at amazon.com. (similar to House Speaker Boehner's choice)

There is still more that could be said on the subject of goals but we will pause here for now and move on to a new organizing topic. Before we move on, however,

Ruly Challenge: Make sure your 2012 goals are written down and that you have at least one goal that you are fairly certain to achieve.

 

I’m running just a bit over on November’s theme but wanted to finish off this healthy eating series with a quick summary of November’s posts. (I promise we will get into a new holiday-appropriate theme next week.)

As I told you at the beginning of the month, my goals for November were to attempt to eat “half my plate” in fruits and vegetables at each meal and to get 20 minutes of exercise each day following Jillian Anderson’s 30-Day Shred. Since it is the holiday season and a difficult time to start a diet, I decided to allow myself to eat whatever I wanted so long as I ate an equivalent amount of fruits and veggies to balance it out.

Two days in, I discovered a delicious blueberry smoothie and tried out spaghetti squash on my kids. My body was sore from the exercise.

8 Days in, I gave you another update on my progress and we discussed perfectionism in diet and exercise and the reasons why people always try extreme diet and exercise routines.

There were some great comments on this post, including this one from Bertie:

“I recently watched an interesting presentation given by one of the directors of my company’s wellness program called “Fat Loss Made Simple.” One thing that really stuck with me was how they emphasized NOT to try for an all-at-once, perfectionistic approach. They said that of the people who begin a health/fitness regime, 98% will revert back to their old habits, and only 2% will be successful. The 98% tried for an immediate, ‘I will only eat healthy food and exercise two hours everyday’ type of approach. The 2% who were successful took it in gradual steps.”

10 Days in, I gave you another update, growing a bit weary of cooking all those vegetables but getting stronger on the exercise routine.

17 Days in, I was feeling a bit weary—eating bland soups and hobbling around on tender Achilles tendons while keeping up my exercise.

We paused on the dietary discussion to discuss Thanksgiving.

• Ruly Ruth gave her suggestions for hosting a vegetarian Thanksgiving when carnivores will be present.

• I gave some tips for organizing your Thanksgiving cooking and shared the mini pumpkin pies we brought to my daughter’s preschool feast. There were many sweet comments and Thanksgiving wishes on this post.

• I also gave an update after Thanksgiving on my day of cooking, walking you through my experience with White House Chef Cristeta Comerford’s sweet potato pie recipe. My husband is asking when I will make this again (with a chinois, of course).

We also discussed what happens when you try to impose healthy eating on others, looking at the recent experiences of school lunch programs and SNAP (food stamp) programs.

We had fun listening to a little produce-inspired music from the MyPlate Fruits & Veggies Video Challenge.

After 30 days, I gave you a final progress report on my diet and exercise results as well as the financial impact of this experiment.

This month I also gave some reminders about Daylight Savings Time, Voting and Flu Shots. I hope everyone took time to vote. In my county, one race was decided by just 26 votes. No matter where you fall in the political spectrum, make sure you plan to get educated on the issues and get involved with the political process as we head toward the 2012 presidential elections. Also, another reminder to get those flu shots if you haven’t already. Kids in our area are already coming down with influenza-like illnesses involving high fevers and other serious symptoms. It’s also time to stock the car with hand sanitizer and baby wipes to keep those hands clean.

One of the treats for me this month was to review Peter Walsh’s latest book, Lighten Up. As I read more and more news on the economic crisis, I continue to find his book so timely and full of helpful messages for people facing unexpected transitions.

One of the most unusual news articles on the economy this month was the shocking admission by a financial planner that he lost his home to foreclosure after he got caught up in the cycle of mortgage-financed high living. This New York Times article forced us all to realize that a component of economic recovery is going to involve forgiveness—both forgiveness of people who lacked knowledge about how mortgages work and got in over their heads and forgiveness of people who knew (or should have known) exactly what they were doing and strategically walked away from their obligations.  I wonder what Peter Walsh would have to say on this subject.

I hope you enjoyed this month’s posts.  I know they struck a nerve for some people who gave me feedback behind the scenes.  Diet and exercise are hard subjects to discuss.  Almost all of us could use some improvement in this area and it is hard to face an area of weakness.  However, we also know that avoiding the subject does us no good and that we have to keep striving to find ways to make ourselves healthier and encourage health among those we care about.

Have a great weekend and type to you next week!

 

In October at Ruly, we focused on the essentials of a good wardrobe. It was a fun month full of tricks and treats.

Treats

We started off with 3 strategies to stay sane during this holiday season.

Then we turned to the women’s closet, identifying classic items for professional and casual dress as well as hearing Ruly Ruth’s take on Fall 2011 Women’s Fashion Trends:

• Closet Essentials: Professional Women
• Closet Essentials: Women’s Fall Casual Wardrobe
• Ruly Ruth on Fall 2011 Women’s Fashion Trends

We had some great comments! From the sound of things, we are all going to be wearing a lot of turtlenecks over the next few months.

Ruth commented that my professional wardrobe choices looked a bit bland from a fashion standpoint. Truthfully, they probably are but sometimes that is the way “classic” pieces work.

diadia gave a great tip for saving money on professional blouses . . . shop in the men’s department!

“White or other color true men’s shirts make excellent shirts for me. The cost for each is usually under $30, poly, no iron. Buttons can be changed on the cuff to give a feminine dash–I use pearl or rhinestone. Also I move the cuff button to hold the shirt sleeve firm at the wrist.”

diadia also gave a comment on the casual clothing post, raising a question about a product I had never heard of before — socks or pantyhose with a separate toe for the big toe. She wanted to use them to extend the life of her summer thong sandals into the winter months. I have never attempted this but do something similar for my girls by having them wear turtlenecks and tights with their summer sundresses in the winter to extend their wardrobes. Diadia later emailed me an update, indicating that she had found the socks in question at eBay and that they are called Tabi socks. She also included a photo of her discovered look. I quite like the look and the ingenuity of the idea.

 

Then we turned to the men’s closet, identifying staple items for professional and casual dress.

• Closet Essentials: Professional Men
• Closet Essentials: Men’s Fall Casual Wardrobe

My son received several positive comments behind the scene for his modeling debut in a thermal shirt.  Also, Ruth received a request on her Facebook page that she consider a menswear version of her commentary on the latest fashion trends.  Men, are you interested in this?

Refashioning Men’s Dress Shirts
I so appreciate all the kind and encouraging comments on this post where I turned my husband’s cast-off dress shirts into dresses for my daughters, particularly since they came when I just confessed my failures at the bake sale on the same day. My wonderful readers taught me a lesson on etiquette here. Whenever someone has a failure, the kindest thing you can do is let them know how great they are at something else!

Fashion and Finances
We contrasted the fashion spending habits of financial guru Suze Orman and fashion blogger Maegan Tintari. Readers provided some great money-saving options for clothes shopping:

Summer commented:

“I NEVER pay full price for clothes, especially clothing for children. I shop sales and clearance like crazy! If there’s something full price I want, I wait for coupon discounts like “friends and family” promotions or those “bounce back” type coupons that clothing stores are now doing (e.g. Gymbucks, Savings Cards, etc.) I also shop for my kid’s clothes at the end of a season and just buy things big for next year. I am totally that customer that walks in and goes directly to the back of the store.”

Ruth commented:

“I’ve been so blessed with amazing friends and my sister’s mother-in-law that love to shop and splurge on their kids’ clothes that my daughter has been lacking very little!! THANKS FOR THAT!! Now on occasion I’ve been very successful in finding out-of-season clothing for especially my son at Goodwill. Especially shorts–most people don’t sell or need them in November–we do!! Goodwill was a god-send then!”

Tricks

No life is perfect and there were a few bumps in the road this month.

Lessons from the Fall Festival Bake Sale
I shared my poorly organized attempt to contribute to the school bake sale and readers commiserated and shared some helpful suggestions.

Mary commented:

“I completely agree with you in that if they want Moms to contribute, then they better lovingly accept flat cupcakes with little one’s fingerprints, squiggled icing and gobs of sprinkles all over the tops of them. Plus, let’s face it, we aren’t living the lives of our grandmothers who stayed home and made goods from scratch on a regular basis. This stuff is out of our element! In closing, I praise you for your bravery and efforts but definitely think next time keep it simple and use that ‘extra’ time to play with the kids!”

Best Wishes Giuliana
My thanks to Ruth and Mary who commented and shared Giuliana Rancic’s breast cancer story with friends. Per the last public update, Giuliana’s surgery went well and based on her Twitter account, she is still going full steam ahead with her busy career! Bill Rancic has done an excellent job in his role as the supportive husband too.

In Praise of the Black Turtleneck: Remembering Steve Jobs
Life has continued on without Steve Jobs but I do find myself thinking of him from time to time and the hole in humanity that he has left behind.  I just read the beautiful eulogy his sister, Mona Simpson, wrote in The New York Times and recommend you read it too.  I love his last words.

Finally, I had a small Halloween celebration on my site yesterday with two posts about Halloween costumes. Again, many thanks for all the positive comments on the Halloween costumes! I am glad to see there are some Charlie and Lola fans out there too.

• Halloween Tribute to Lauren Child
• Halloween Outfits – How Many Costumes is Enough?

Last, I wanted to share my Halloween costume for this year. I spent so much time making costumes for everybody else that I had literally no time to make my own. I told my children weeks in advance that I would go as Amelia Bedelia– another of our favorite storybook characters. I made attempts at cobbling together a costume from a used dress on eBay (which I then forgot to bid on before the auction ended) and had plans to make Amelia’s characteristic apron but ran out of time. My girls insisted that I needed a costume for our trick or treating. So, into my closet I went and came up with the costume you see above. There was literally no expense and no sewing in this costume. The “apron” was the best trick. This is really a white blouse with ruffled sleeves worn upside down with a little clear packing tape to “hem” it. My neighbors had a great laugh when I told them how the costume came together.

It was actually quite fun dressing as the formal maid. On a quick run to the grocery store for candy, I was surprised to discover pride in wearing this outfit. I was not just a mom but a well-dressed professional for my household. I may have to remember this trick the next time I am lacking motivation in my own organizing efforts.

I hope you enjoyed the posts this month and that they have helped give you a new perspective on your own closet.

P.S. In other organizing news.

It was great fun this month reading the advice from South African “Organising Queen” Marcia Francois in her 31 days of organizing questions. Her last post in the series is especially great. Reality happens even to Organising Queens too.

Still following the Apartment Therapy 20/20 Cure posts designed to improve your home in 20 days with just 20 minutes a day. I have not been able to follow all of them to the letter due to the bustle of Halloween but am finding a lot of inspiration just from watching them.

This month at Ruly we have been discussing emergency preparedness in connection with National Preparedness Month.

While I didn’t get to discuss every topic and idea I had in mind and got a bit off-schedule at the end of the month (as we are enjoying visiting family), I have at least made forward progress in my emergency preparedness. I already have some ideas in mind for future posts.

Emergency preparedness is such a huge subject that no one can have it all done at once. It is a topic we should all revisit periodically to review and refresh our knowledge. I hope reading the posts this month at Ruly have helped you to do that for yourself.

In brief, this month:

We looked at three weaknesses in our current emergency preparedness efforts generally.

Ruth commented:

“Do you prepare for everything all the time? Seems a bit over the top to me…..maybe I’ll regret typing that one day!”

I gave 3 quick ways to improve your emergency preparedness:

• Quick Emergency Preparedness Tip #1: Sign Up for Facebook or Twitter Updates from FEMA and Your Local Emergency Authority
• Quick Emergency Preparedness Tip #2: Identify the Types of Emergencies You Need to Prepare For – Curiously, seconds after writing that Flood was a “Very Unlikely” event for my situation, the entire DC area was deluged with rain, causing extensive flooding.
• Quick Emergency Preparedness Tip #3: ICE Your Cell Phone – Ruth added a great comment to this post that after the word ICE add a number showing the order you want your ICE contacts called.  So, for example, the contact to be called first should be ICE1, the second contact, ICE2, etc.  I am waiting for “Be my ICE1″ to show up on a candy valentine heart.

I shared my memories of 9/11/01 in Washington.

Suze Orman reminded us that the chief financial lesson of 9/11 is that we all should remember to update our will and trust documents.

Ruly Ruth provided a great form to organize information for families, where an emergency is really any situation where parents cannot care for their children.

I showed you what it is like trying to go shopping for emergency supplies when a predictable disaster like a hurricane is just about to strike.

We also looked at two recent news stories showing how emergency drills and emergency training saves lives.

Mary commented:

“EVERYONE should become CPR and First Aid certified and recertify every couple of years. There is nothing worse than coming across someone in need and not knowing how to use those precious moments to help them. Trust me, I know from personal experience watching a young boy pass away. Because of this tragedy, I promised myself I would never be helpless to helping others again. As the old survivalists say, ‘Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.’”

We discussed the visual-spatial thinking advantage in emergency situations.

I reviewed some of the latest earthquake advice and gave some tips for organizing stuff in earthquake-prone spaces.

We also discussed the importance of planning for mental recovery after an emergency has passed.

Also, if you are new to Ruly and wondering why I didn’t discuss water and food storage, it’s because we did that last year! If you want to read last year’s emergency preparedness posts, they are below:

• Emergency Water Storage
• Emergency Water Storage – Implementation!
• 20 Emergency Preparedness Foods You Can Find at the Grocery Store
• Emergency Food Supply Planning continued. . . Male Versus Female Nutritional Needs
• Veteran’s Day Salute: The MRE
• Emergency Food Storage Update: 6 Dinner Options
• Emergency Food Storage Update: 6 Lunch Options
• Emergency Food Storage Update: 4 Breakfasts and 6 Snacks
• Sample Emergency Food Plans for Men, Women and Children

Finally, I wanted to share a few references to organizing in recent news stories this month.

First, a theory for organizing motivation in an article about eyebrow tweezing in The New York Times fashion column.

“When your hormones are out of whack, you want . . . order. You want everything to look clean. I think that’s because of the chaos that’s going on in your body.”

–Meredith Madron, makeup artist and eyebrow specialist, quoted in Kayleen Schaefer’s “For Shapely Brows, Put Down the Tweezers,” The New York Times, September 21, 2011.

Somewhat related to hormonal organizing, I shared a link on my Facebook page to Sandra Tsing Loh’s latest article in Atlantic Magazine about menopause. She had this great quote:

“And now that Aunt Carol’s hormonal cloud is finally wearing off, it’s not a tragedy, or an abnormality, or her going crazy—it just means she can rejoin the rest of the human race: she can be the same selfish, non-nurturing, non-bonding type of person everyone else is.”

–Sandra Tsing Loh, “The Bitch is Back,” Atlantic Magazine, October 2011.

Lorraine commented on Facebook:

“I can relate to this!!”

Is it possible to be too organized? Facebook users may think so. The recent uproar over changes to Facebook’s user interface that is supposed to organize your data to make it easier to use prompted this comment:

“This is another example of improving something until it is unusable.”

–David Jay Crispin commenting on Vince Horiuchi’s Salt Lake Tribune article, “Facebook fans express their disgust with changes,” September 21, 2011.

Hoping you had a wonderful September! Please check back next week for October’s organizing theme!

This month at Ruly we have been discussing organizational strategies for the school/learning environment. Below is a quick recap of this month’s articles, reader comments and relevant news stories.

This month’s articles pointed out that there are two aspects to learning success. The first critical skill is the basic nuts and bolts of having binders and calendars and other physical organizing tools to track key information. The other critical skill is to take a step back and understand your learning style, your strengths and weaknesses, and position yourself for maximum success.

Positioning for Success

• August’s Theme: Organizing for the School Environment (along with a discussion of the reasons why I chose to homeschool my daughter this year)
• Could Defects in Executive Functioning Be Hurting Your Child’s Success in School (how to identify an executive functioning defect and learning and scheduling strategies to compensate)
• Adapting Your Organizing Style to Your School

Lou commented:

“Some professors, you noted, need to ‘hide the main points as obscurely as possible.’ As a young college student, I thought this was a sign of their brilliance and my ignorance. As a graduate student, I felt the professors were somewhat lazy and had not taken time for thoughtful presentation.

One of my mentors in graduate school told me, ‘The grade you get on your work often tells you more about where the professor is coming from, than what you may have learned.’ That advice helped me turn my “B” work into some of my best learning!

 

• Ruly Bookshelf: That Crumpled Paper Was Due Last Week (how to assist a discouraged or underperforming learner using organizational strategies)

Author Ana Homayoun recently Tweeted an article in which she is quoted titled “No. 1 Back-to-School Rule: Get Organized.” How true!

• Ruly Bookshelf: The Shut-Down Learner (a professional psychologist’s view that quite a few discouraged or underperforming learners in our public schools might actually be manifesting visual-spatial dominant thinking and weaknesses in language skills). I received several behind-the-scenes comments that this book struck a chord with people who saw themselves or loved ones.

Ruth commented:

“I don’t know the answer—but in our society the bottom line is if you communicate well–and that means verbal and written–you get hired more often, you make more money, and you have a much better chance at being successful even than someone who may inherently know the subject better but can’t communicate. . . .”

I was surprised to see an article recently on NPR titled: “Think You’re An Auditory Or Visual Learner? Scientists Say It’s Unlikely” indicating that typing people as categories of learners is not appropriate or effective to boost learning. The article indicates that we are better off looking for similarities in learning styles than teaching differently for different styles.

School Organizing Materials and Techniques

• Back-to-School Organizing Ideas from the 2012 IKEA Catalog

IKEA enthusiast Mary thoughtfully commented:

“[R]eceiving the IKEA catalog is a bit like Christmas morning for me! With three people, two home offices, and our array of hobbies and interests in 900 square feet, creative storage is a MUST!!!!! . . . The only thing that makes me laugh is when I actually put “real” items in the cases, they are never as zen and uniform looking as the catalog. . . . I *LOVE* IKEA, but have to remember to be realistic about the end outcome… catalog world and real world are NOT the same!”

• How to Organize School Papers and Your Home Work/Office

Social Commentary

Ruly Ruth shared wisdom from years of school volunteering emphasizing the need for school volunteers and the easiest ways to get involved.

• Ruly Ruth: How to Be a Great School Volunteer

Volunteer diadia commented:

“. . . Every parent helps and often artistic teens thrive on their parents’ underwriting”

Amy commented:

“[O]ne big assist to teachers is just to read with students one on one or small group…that is always a need…and math tutor, too…and definitely a male in the process…so many children without fathers in the home and the male presence always gives a certain feeling of security for the children.”

Sue Shellenbarger wrote a fascinating article for the Wall Street Journal’s The Juggle blog, noting:

“While volunteering used to be just a nice way to get to know your child’s teacher and classroom, now it has become a lot more – the last line of defense against a decline in the quality of education.”

–Sue Shellenbarger, “Needed: Parent Volunteers in Schools,” WSJ.com The Juggle Blog, August 31, 2011.

Other Posts

Finally, in light of the recent earth events occurring on the east coast of the United States, I posted some Hurricane Irene Preparation Tips. I am thankful to report that Irene passed by our house with relatively little impact. We will have more to say about Irene next month. Check back tomorrow to find out how Irene fits into September’s organizing theme.

Thank you for your readership and comments this month! If you have input for future topics related to school organization, please share in the comments.

This month we have been discussing ways to organize your yard and garden, primarily focusing on a lot of ideas that have nothing to do with the actual growing of plants! If there is one thing I have learned about gardening, it is that you have to learn to cede control to nature on every decision. You can plant the best plants in the best soil according to perfect instructions and there is always something (bugs, animals, bad weather, plant diseases) that will foil your plans. It has been comforting to me (and hopefully to you too!) to know that there are other ways to add beauty, charm and personality to your garden that are more in your control.

Below is the quick version of this month’s posts.

Theme Posts

We started off the month with 8 quick and easy landscaping ideas that don’t take a lot of time or money to implement.

Next, I improved on last year’s post about inexpensively updating your old patio furniture to give it a new look. First, I told you how I made a set of 20 custom chair cushions for a grand total of less than $20. Next, I showed you a way to transform a tired vinyl strap chair into a hammock chair using nylon rope.

Inevitably with every organization project, there is some aspect involving paperwork and the same is true for gardening projects. I shared with you various ideas for creating a garden journal and/or plant markers to “file” the plants in your garden.

Ruth commented:

“We for the past 4 years have lived in 3 different houses on 2 different military bases. This home we have now has the first real garden to speak of, with lovely flowering roses and tubal roses and rosemary–and a hummingbird complete with nest and 2 babies–but not sure that goes in the gardening journal. But the 2 gals that lived immediately prior–that would have been a really neat thing to pass on to us–a gardening journal! LOVE it!! Otherwise we kind of guess at what we have and do maintenance on a guesswork only basis.”

I finished off the month with 3 garden art projects to try using inexpensive, durable materials: rock creatures, metallic flowers, and a product test of the Make Your Own Poetry Stones kit.

Lou commented:

“Adorable! We have our own hand-made molds that the grandkids put in their hand print, with their name and the date. 15 years later, they’re as fun as ever!”

FYI, my test poetry stones are still on their second day of drying time but even in just one day (despite adding too much water to the mix and having high humidity) they are hardening quite nicely. The color is changing as they dry and I will update later with a picture of the final test stones.

Social Commentary

June is the kick-off of the summer cookout season and Ruly Ruth shared a popular list of the 10 best and 10 worst foods to bring to a potluck cookout, an organizational challenge frequently faced this social season.

Ben commented:

“I agree with all of the worsts, with the caveat that a GOOD potato salad is definitely worth bringing. I have recently been making a potato salad that has a bit of white wine or champagne vinegar in it to give it a good tart finish, and (don’t tell my mother in law) [my wife] says it’s better than her mom’s.”

Ruth received several comments on her Facebook page including a complaint that spinach artichoke dip should be removed from the list of worsts and an inquiry from a bachelor wondering what to bring/buy if you don’t cook. As you grocery shop this summer, please keep an eye out for delicious store-bought goodies that would work for these social situations and feel free to comment with your findings. We recently found the new heart-shaped shortbread cookies half-dipped in chocolate at our local Costco. They are fantastic! I wanted to share a picture but they were all eaten before I could take one!

Fun Posts

June is a big gift-giving month and I provided you with some gift-giving ideas for:

• Father’s Day Gifts
• Teacher Gifts

My incredible uncle wrote a post in his newspaper column about Father’s Day gift giving that was both funny and very touching.  I encourage you to give it a read.

I hope you enjoyed this month’s posts and wish you many hours of relaxation this summer outdoors in your own garden oasis.

For my U.S. readers, Happy 4th of July! A few safety reminders for this long weekend . . .

• FEMA reminds us to be careful with fireworks and grilling.
• The American Academy of Ophthalmology reminds us that almost one-third of all fireworks-related injuries are injuries to the eyes and to be especially careful with sparklers around young children.
• Finally, MADD reminds us that this weekend is one of the most dangerous times of the year on our highways for drunk driving fatalities and to be sure to designate a sober driver for your festivities.

Have a wonderful weekend! Please check back next week when we start a new month (and the second half of 2011 if you can believe it!) and a new organizing theme.