r u l y

As a Halloween treat for my readers, I wanted to share the Halloween costumes we came up with this year.

Last spring when we were in Washington admiring the cherry blossoms, we happened to stop in at the National Gallery of Art and wandered through an exhibition of impressionist paintings. My four-year-old stopped in front of Renoir’s A Girl with a Watering Can and I did a double-take. The likeness was incredible! The idea for a Halloween costume was planted.

I enjoy Halloween and try to coordinate costumes with my girls each year. We all try to dress along the same theme. So, this year, we each found a painting in the impressionist exhibition that we somewhat resembled and tried to bring them to life.

Since they don’t sell Halloween costumes resembling late 19th Century impressionist paintings, we had to make them ourselves. We didn’t want to spend too much money on this project either so we did our best to do 19th century elegance on the cheap. Some great ideas resulted.

Le Gourmand (The Greedy Child) by Pablo Picasso

Materials:

White stretch jersey fabric from my stash, hand-me-down patent leather shoes, pink socks.

When I first saw Le Gourmand, I thought it was of a little girl because of the dress and the red hair looked a smidge like my little girl. When my daughter was recently watching an old episode of Mr. Rogers, he indicated it was of a little boy! Since it was too late to change costumes, we decided to girl up the costume by switching the blue socks in the picture for pink ones. I just read on the National Gallery website, however, that it is in fact a little girl so perhaps we will locate some blue socks for trick or treating tonight to honor Picasso’s “blue period.”

“The young girl in this work is tipping her bowl to scrape out a last morsel of food. She is shown with just the barest necessities — a nearly empty bowl, a mug, and a scrap of bread on the table. The titles given this painting seem to be ironic comments on the child’s humble condition.”

–Picasso: The Early Years, 1892-1906, Teacher’s Guide, National Gallery of Art Website

Here is my Picasso-inspired daughter in the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden and with her doppelganger at the National Gallery.

Portrait of Sonia by Henri Fantin-Latour

Materials

Old, stained tablecloth, white blouse (from last year’s Halloween costume), faux fur (from eBay), ribbon (from eBay), straw hat (from Target), ostrich feathers (from eBay)

This painting is a little obscure to most people (and to me before this project) but it was the one I had the closest likeness to in the exhibit. This transformation required quite a bit of creative sewing but I think the end result was quite good.

The best picture we got at the museum with the painting was the one below. Please excuse the blurriness. The museum does not allow flash photography or tripods so this was taken by my four year old. She did quite a good job. With a flash, it would have been a great picture. It also shows that if you squint, the likeness is pretty accurate.

A Girl with a Watering Can by Auguste Renoir

Materials

Used blue velvet dress with glitter (from eBay), white Turkish lace (also from eBay), white plastic rose buttons from Canada (eBay again!), white jazz boots on clearance (but only available in women’s size 5), blue shoe polish, white socks and lace slip.

The inspiration for our costuming project ended up being the best costume of all! My little girl was instantly recognizable everywhere. Apparently Renoir’s “Girl with a Watering Can” is the National Gallery of Art’s equivalent of the Mona Lisa. It is an iconic piece of art that people strongly identify with.

We had to take our costumes to visit their paintings at the National Gallery of Art on Friday. My girls caused a minor paparazzi-like sensation and tourists from around the world asked to take their picture.

Many people stopped to tell me that they loved seeing the works of art come to life and that it gave a new dimension to the paintings to see the subjects eating a brownie in the cafeteria, running around on the lawn and falling down and getting scraped knees requiring a hug from mom. A mom with a young daughter who spotted us in the cafeteria asked where in the museum our paintings were and it became a new treasure hunt for her daughter to go find “us.” We also met many people in town for the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear and learned that they appreciate fine art. Everyone recognized the Renoir. A few recognized Picasso and none knew Fantin-Latour.

I also gained a new appreciation for these paintings. When I was creating the costumes, I learned a great deal more about Victorian style. It was interesting to experience that what I would generally assume to be excessive decorations and accessories could be so classically beautiful. For my own costume, for example, if a modern woman were wearing this, she would probably skip either the hat or the fur wrap, or perhaps both. The Renoir dress is so full of lace and buttons you would think it would look terribly gaudy but yet even my husband commented that the dress is beautiful.

Hope you enjoyed a wonderful Halloween weekend!

. . . . . George Vlad . . . . . http://myspace.com/aexzm

Overwhelmed? Need a lift? How about something to challenge your thinking and creativity? I have just the treat for you today . . . another great Ruly Mix!

Today’s mix comes from Romanian composer George Vlad. When I first contacted George to discuss doing a mix for me, he wrote back . . .

“[U]pbeat is not quite my genre. For the last few years I have been concentrating on game music and sound effects, mainly from the horror, suspense or action categories. This lead me to experiment on how to convey intense feelings of fear, shock or whatever comes with a game of those types.” [emphasis added]

Could “intense feelings of fear” work for the Ruly Mix? Hmmm….it got me thinking about how much fear is a motivator for all kinds of behaviors. Fear of rejection, fear of failure, fear of imperfection, fear of embarrassment, fear of change, fear of pain . . .sound familiar? The demons in our lives so often come internally rather than externally. So, in contemplation of Halloween, I thought George’s music would have a lot to say to all of us and it also makes an excellent soundtrack for a spooky weekend.

Read on for more about George and his music.

1) What is your musical background? When did you begin playing/writing music? What instruments do you play?

I studied music theory in elementary school, where I also played my first instrument, the recorder. My then- music teacher really helped widen my musical horizons, and guided me through my first steps in exploring Baroque and Classical music. Until I graduated from high school, I did quite a lot of listening. I was attending classical music concerts, but I also went to jazz and electronic music events.

I think it was around the age of 18 when I really became interested in composing music. I had been DJing for a while, and I suddenly felt that I had so much to express and couldn’t do it just as a DJ. Therefore, I got my hands on various Digital Audio Workstations and a keyboard and I started learning how to use them. Then I began composing electronic music, mostly drum&bass and breakbeat. Over time, I widened my production horizons, composing ambient, trip hop, IDM, and even breakcore. It was during last year that I started to get involved in videogame music, and since then I have been honing my orchestral arranging skills.

As for instruments, I play the MIDI keyboard, which, in turn, is able to control a wide variety of instruments, from percussion to brass or strings.

2) What inspires you when you are writing music?

I find that I am inspired by anything aesthetically pleasing, such as taking a walk through the woods, admiring a complex painting or reading an interesting book. Moreover, it is not always a conscious process. It is rather an urge that grows inside me when performing these activities, to the point where I find myself playing something in my head until I can express it through music.

3) Tell us about “Cat’s Eyes.” What were you thinking about when you composed this?

I composed the first version of this song in the summer of 2006. All I wanted was to compose something of a happy careless nature, but as I was working on it, I noticed that my cat was watching me from under the bed. I could only see its eyes, hence the name. The whole picture looked slightly evil, and I tried to capture that with my music: a happy careless creature that sometimes can look a little scary.
Doing this remix for the Ruly blog was really exciting. If composing the first version took me only one night, remixing it took me more than two weeks. I had never tried to remix my older songs, and I had the opportunity to compare my present knowledge and technique with what I knew back then. I have to say I learnt quite a lot in the mean time.

Click the picture below to play or right-click to download George’s track, “Cat’s Eyes.” (If the picture is not working for you, you can also download by clicking here.)

To respect the rights of the musician, please comply with the simple Ruly License terms below.

Ruly License: You may download and play any Ruly Mix song for your own personal use so long as you keep the voiceover tags intact indicating the name of the artist and that the song came from beruly.com. Businesses may also download this song to play as background music in their establishments so long as the voiceover tags remain intact. Any other uses of the song (such as in videos, etc.) must be pre-approved by the musician. Questions about license permissions can be addressed to info@beruly.com.

If you enjoy this mix, please comment, give a “like” on Facebook and share this link with others!

Have a great weekend!

Previous Ruly Mix artists: Samuel Pushpak, Danny Stewart-Smith (“Maintain Focus”), Danny Stewart-Smith (“The Flow”), Danny Stewart-Smith (“Insights”), Danny Stewart-Smith feat. Evin Gibson, Joe Hanley, Jamie Smith, Rajiv Agarwal

"poppet gift exchange." Photo by Jessie Terwilliger. From the Flickr Creative Commons.

With the recession, in my opinion, still in full swing, money’s tight and the economy’s barely holding steady, it’s time to look at Christmas lists. More importantly, looking at alternatives to gifting for everyone on that list. My sisters and I a few years ago started drawing names when we each started having kids. This year we talked about doing whole-family gifts instead, but after one sister pointed out how stressful it can be to budget and buy and send gifts–very time and money consuming, we all came to a truce and agreed no gifts this year.

If you want to start drawing names, that can be an emotional point for some people who are used to buying something for everyone. But we had a lot of fun with it–I’m the one who initiated it, and everyone said they’d be willing to try it, so I literally matched one person to another through the Randomize Excel function (you could also literally draw names–but I hate to waste paper!) or if you’re the one drawing the names and you know of a specific person you’re dying to give a gift to, I’m fine with people “claiming” someone.

The other part of drawing names for us was putting a dollar amount on the maximum amount you can spend on a gift. For me, this did not include shipping and handling, but it could and does for some. My girlfriend had a ton of stuff in her kitchen cupboards that she knew her giftee would love, so she packed that up–and sent it off to a very happy Xmas recipient! And because she considered it already bought for a different purpose, she didn’t count it in the dollar amount. Savvy!

"exchange gifts." Photo by maviscwling. From the Flickr Creative Commons.

“] "Lanie & Tina, with their 10rmb (~$1.50 USD) exchange gift." Photo by amazingGie. From the Flickr Creative Commons."

On that note, definitely go through gift closets, giveaway piles and check your cupboards for unused items that for others would make a very desirable gift–believe it or not, most of us have great stuff squirreled away. This is an extremely economical way to find gifts for both list-people and name-drawing.

"tacky gift exchange dec 16 2009." Photo by waferboard. From the Flickr Creative Commons.

Another great gift idea especially for parents and grandparents are scrapbook-style items. My parents LOVE our annual calendar we put together on either Walmart.com, Snapfish.com, or any other photo site. They run around $15, and are a reminder year-round of our kids and their goings-on through the past year. Another cousin took pictures of her son’s preschool artwork and uploaded it to a printed book and gave that to her parents for Christmas. It’s absolutely precious! The other great thing about items like this is that once you create the calendar/scrapbook, you can have multiples easily made and shipped to numerous recipients. Definitely a gift from the heart!

Another cousin made on her own her own cookbook compilation. It has fun family recipes among her personal favorites. I keep it with my cookbook collection because of the great sentiment that went into that. She printed the pages and took them to Staples or Kinkos to have them spiral bound so it lays flat while cooking or reading it.

Tell us if you and your family are drawing names, coming to a gift “truce”, or buying for everyone–and any other gift ideas! ‘Tis the season to get started! Happy Halloween and holidays in advance from Ruly Ruth!

"Ringing our doorbell." Photo by Heather Greene. From the Flickr Creative Commons.

One of the biggest organizational challenges related to the holidays is getting your house clean for entertaining or hosting guests. While ideally people would understand and accept us exactly as we are, slovenly or neat, the truth is that most guests expect a pretty tidy space.

Most of us (including organizational consultants!) struggle with keeping our living spaces tidy. When you have a lot of demands on your time–whether from a job that has you working 60 hours a week or constantly on the road or as a stay-at-home mom with small children who make a disaster in seconds of whatever you have just cleaned up—cleaning up is often at the bottom of the priority list for daily living.

When the holidays (and company) come around, however, cleaning ratchets up from lowest priority to high priority. It is the quick shift in priorities that makes most of us a little stressed. In order to make the priority switch, we have to adjust a lot of other things in our lives too. Cleaning up isn’t a small, quick task. It takes time and energy. If we spending our time cleaning, it means we are not spending our time doing other things we need or want to do.

Are there any quick cleaning tips? Scads of them all over the internet. Most of them involve some variation of “Stuff everything into a bag, box, closet, your car or an unused room” and “wipe down all surfaces with a velocity impossible for most humans to achieve.”

Are these tips realistic? Honestly, no. Just like diet and exercise, cleaning is a slow process over time that requires constant vigilance and maintenance. You also need to start with a good organizational design that balances both your need to create mess in the space with ease of cleaning for company.

It is one of the cardinal rules of organizing that it is easier to clean up someone else’s mess than your own. We are so emotionally invested in our own stuff and mess it is hard to deal with it objectively.

Let’s try a little exercise now with some messy room photos from the Flickr Creative Commons. Assume all of these people have come to you requesting advice to get their home in shape for company for the holidays.

We’ll start off with three chaotic living rooms.

"uh oh, handbuilding takes over the living room." Photo by bptakoma. From the Flickr Creative Commons.

In this first living room, it looks like the resident has some sort of home improvement task or craft project going on. This stuff is probably here either because a) there is no other place in the house to put it or b) the living room is the resident’s favorite place to work on this project.

We’ll assume that b) applies and that the owner wants to work on this in the living room while watching TV. I would suggest that the resident consider adding some sort of table or bookcase to store all of these supplies. A large table with storage underneath, like the NORDEN table from IKEA, would be great idea. When company comes over, just put whatever is on top of the table on the shelves underneath and throw a long tablecloth over the top to hide everything. Put some hors d’oeuvres or a vase of flowers on top and voila, you look polished. You could also use something like the BILLY bookcase with glass doors or a large EDLAND wardrobe to tuck all this stuff away with style.

IKEA NORDEN occasional table. Image © Inter IKEA Systems B.V. Used with permission.

BILLY/ BILLY MOREBO Bookcase with glass-door. Image © Inter IKEA Systems B.V. Used with permission.

IKEA EDLAND Wardrobe with 2 doors. Image © Inter IKEA Systems B.V. Used with permission.

In living room #2, the resident is also using the living room for “dirty work” refinishing guns.

“Messy Apartment.” Photo by Ryo Chijiiwa. From the Flickr Creative Commons.

While the solutions for the first living room would also apply here, the layout of this room seems to scream out for a large coffee table with storage. For safety purposes, the guns should be stored in a locked cabinet or gun safe.

First, let’s take care of the guns with a locking gun safe along the wall to the hallway to the right of the couch. And we’ll add a large coffee table with as much storage space as we can find to tuck away all that sandpaper and other woodfinishing supplies.

SentrySafe G0135 Black Safe 5 Long Gun Maximum Capacity Safe, 3.5 Cubic Feet, Black. At amazon.com.

Contemporary Espresso Finish Coffee / Cocktail Table. At amazon.com.

We’ll give the resident a little extra storage space by adding a matching end table, filling the open space on the bottom with a tool box, basket or other storage container to easily tuck away more clutter when needed.

Contemporary Espresso Finish End / Side Table. At amazon.com.

Excel TB131-Black 18-Inch Portable Steel Tool Box, Black. At amazon.com.

To add a touch of class, consider painting the futon frame black, add a new futon cover in a neutral shade, a lamp for the new side table and display some of the pictures taken with that tripod in black frames on the wall above the futon.

LumiSource AD-ELEMENT3W Element Touch Table Lamp, Silver. At amazon.com.

Royal Heritage Home Full Size Futon Cover. At amazon.com.

10 Wood Frames in a Box Set, Black. At amazon.com.

Finally, we have a typical family living room. This space truly isn’t that messy but it looks more cluttered than it is. There is also a sort of dark and depressing look to this room.

"Living Room." Photo by Elizabeth/Table4Five. From the Flickr Creative Commons.

First thing, the owners should see if there is anything on all these shelves that they can get rid of. Once they are down to the basics, they could invest in a new corner entertainment center that would condense their multiple furniture pieces into one cohesive unit.  They could also purchase some basket storage to fit into the lower shelves of the entertainment center to quickly toss toys into.

B-Cubed Corner Entertainment Center. At amazon.com.

Set of 3 Espresso Finish Storage Wicker Rattan Baskets. At amazon.com.

If a new entertainment center is too expensive for their budget, it would make a huge difference to paint all that dark wood furniture white to match the walls so it looks more like built-in storage. That would take the attention away from the lines of the bookcases (which aren’t that interesting) and put the focus on the things inside, which could be creatively displayed.

There is also too much furniture in this room. I would consider eliminating some of the smaller cabinetry pieces if possible, one or both of the side chairs and the existing side table beside the sofa.

Ideally, if you could free up enough space in the room, you could put the playpen against the wall where the TV is now (removing the shelves and movies and putting up a cute display of family photos). You could also angle the sofa slightly toward the TV and add a small console table behind the sofa for snacks, a reading lamp and additional storage. Since this husband is handy, perhaps he could build a console table to match the existing coffee table and computer stand. I would reposition the computer table where the existing end table is for storage when it is not in use.

Finally, for style points, the window is one of the best features of this room. I am not sure what the view is like but those maroon curtains are not doing anything for the décor. White plantation shutters or blinds would be a cleaner/sleeker look and would add more light to the space. I would also slipcover the couch into something more neutral.

Bali White Faux Wood Blinds - 31x64. At amazon.com.

Soft Suede Sofa Slipcover - Taupe. At amazon.com.

So, that is my take on how these messy living rooms could be transformed in a way that lets the owners live the way they want to but also allows them to clean up in a hurry when company comes.

Now it’s your turn. What changes would you make to these rooms? Are you getting any ideas for transforming your own space? Please share in the comments.

"Satanic Natalie." Photo by adactio (Jeremy Keith). From the Flickr Creative Commons.

If you work in a corporate office full-time, the opportunity to see people you work with day-in, day-out in a different setting is appealing. Some managers and employees look forward to holiday events as a way to liven things up, energize people, boost morale and facilitate closer bonds between co-workers. When it works well, it really works! Here is an example from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) website:

“She has fond memories of those early years when the Halloween party was a highlight for the less than 100 SHRM employees and the education department traditionally took first place for its themed costumes. One year, for example, education staffers portrayed Elvis through the years, with Sadek donning wig and cape as Las Vegas Elvis.”

–“SHRM Education Director Recalls 20-Year Career,” Society for Human Resource Management website, November 6, 2009

But, unfortunately, often it doesn’t work well. Today’s corporate workplaces boast a diversity of employees who may not hold the same views on anything outside of the workplace. Often trying to celebrate the holidays ends up being a big problem. If you consult your legal department, you are likely to get a list of things that could go wrong celebrating Halloween at the office resulting in lawsuit after lawsuit for the employer.

Want some examples? Here are some excerpts from a great article on the SHRM website:

“A worker sashaying into work in one of the “Illegal Alien” costumes [an orange jumpsuit with “Illegal Alien” stamped across the chest; a space alien mask and a fake oversized Green Card], for example, could be seen as creating a hostile work environment and lead to a litigation nightmare . . .”

“[M]any men [could] dress as David Letterman, talk jokingly about workplace sex and may even pretend to hit on female co-workers to re-enact the scandal—a potential sexual harassment concern . . .”

“[A] suggestion four years ago to wear a “pink slip” over clothing and chase co-workers around might not be funny given the current unemployment rate.”

“Also, costumes depicting other cultures or religions—dressing as a Native American or as a priest or nun, for example—could be considered disrespectful and cause offense.”

–”Allowing Halloween Costumes at Work Can Be Tricky,” Society for Human Resource Management website, October 22, 2009

Or how about some real-life examples:

“In December 2004, Judge Ellender was suspended for one year without pay for appearing in public at a Halloween party dressed in a costume consisting of an Afro wig, black face makeup, and orange prison jumpsuit with handcuffs.”

–In re: Ellender, 889 So. 2d 225 (La.  2004).

“On Halloween of 2000, respondent came to work wearing a doctor costume, and [her supervisor] gestured to her by unbuckling his pants and telling her, “Here Doctor. It hurts here[,]” while pointing to his groin.”

-Devane vs. Sears Home Improvement Products, Inc., 2003 Minn. App. LEXIS 1514 (2003).

(Court affirms finding of sexual harassment and monetary damages against employer for a variety of actions including the Halloween incident.)

Not all courts have an anti-Halloween sentiment, however.  Two decisions out of Massachusetts seem to lean in favor of Halloween costumes in the workplace:

“Counsel asked whether [the founder of the company] “told [the employee complaining of sexual harassment] that her Halloween costumes were too provocative and seductive.” [The founder] answered, “I probably said they were ‘hot,’ . . . [or] see-through.” Finally, counsel asked [the founder] to describe one of her Halloween costumes, which he described as a see-through Empire State Building.”

(no evidence of sexual harassment, etc. found against employer)

–Dahms v. Cognex Corporation, 914 N.E.2d 872 (Mass. 2009).

“On Friday, October 29, 2004, about forty bargaining-unit members and union supporters [employed in patient services at a state-owned mental institution] wore black T-shirts depicting a skeleton and the phrase ‘Skeleton Crew on the front, and, on the back, a ‘thumbs down’ skeleton hand with the phrase ‘MNA Unit 7 Staffing Levels Cut To The Bone.’ Upon learning that the nurses were wearing the described T-shirts . . . the director of labor relations at the hospital, informed [the] . . acting director for the Department of Mental Health, that the T-shirts were inappropriate to wear at the hospital. [The Director of Labor Relations] agreed and ordered the nurses to remove the T-shirts within one hour. The union members complied. . . .

[T]he director of clinical services at the hospital . . stated that ‘a symbol of skull and crossbones is clearly clinically contraindicated’ for the patient population that is susceptible to ‘hallucinations, delusions, perceptual distortions, paranoid ideations, acute suicidality, and/or trauma. . .’

The T-shirt was displayed for viewing by the panel during oral argument. It shows a smiling, dancing skeleton . . . .

(Court remands case to the Commonwealth Employment Relations Board for an evidentiary hearing on whether the costumes were provocative or upsetting.)

–Mass. Nurses Ass’n v. Commonwealth Empl. Rels. Bd., 928 N.E.2d 975, (Mass. 2010).

So, if all of the legal considerations are not enough to kill your Halloween spirit, consider that some people find the celebration of Halloween deeply offensive!

“A few years ago Fitzgerald, HR manager for the Washington, D.C., law firm of Spriggs and Hollingsworth, put together a Halloween happy hour in the firm’s conference room, complete with cobwebs, spiders, black and orange decorations and glowing candles down the center of the conference table. Pleased with how the setting turned out, she was shocked when two employees told her they wouldn’t go into the conference room. The distraught employees said they considered celebrating Halloween to be ‘devil worship.’”

–”Halloween Parties: A Tricky Treat,” HR Magazine, Society for Human Resource Management, October 2000.

I have met quite a few people in the D.C. area who share the “Halloween as devil worship” view. One colleague explained that in his religion people celebrating Halloween are viewed as inviting the devil to come into their lives and that on Halloween night, members of his religion spend their time in church praying to counteract all the evil being conjured up around them.

So, if your workplace chooses to celebrate Halloween, not only do you have to worry about offending your employees but also your customers as well! In today’s challenging economic climate, it is the safer choice (although far less fun) to eliminate all Halloween celebrations.

But what if you are just feeling festive? How can you secretly celebrate Halloween at the office in a completely inconspicuous way? The litmus test for your workplace-appropriate creativity is, “If I wore this to work on any day other than Halloween, would people find me ridiculous?” If the answer is yes, you have gone too far. If the answer is “No one would even notice,” you are probably on the right track.

5 SUGGESTIONS FOR INCONSPICUOUS WORKPLACE HALLOWEEN COSTUMES

1. Underwear. It goes without saying (I hope) that you are not to show your underwear to anyone you work with but if you want to be festive, do so in a way that only you know about.

Peanuts - Snoopy Woodstock Happy Halloween Boxer for men. At amazon.com.

SuperGirl 'S' Logo Cami & Panty Set for women. At amazon.com.

2. Socks. If underwear is too racy for your taste, consider a pair of festive socks. Best if they are hidden beneath long pants or boots.

Adult Solid Black with White Stripes Toe Socks. At amazon.com.

Bones & Roses Pirate Knitted Over The Knee Thigh High Socks by Foot Traffic. At amazon.com.

3. Jewelry. The key here is subtlety. There is a lot of wonderfully creative and beautiful Halloween-themed jewelry out there but most of it is not work appropriate. You want a piece of jewelry that isn’t instantly recognizable as a Halloween item. Anything black would probably work well (and could be reworn with other outfits later!)

Black Tungsten 6mm Beveled Edge Wedding Band. At amazon.com.

Black Princess Cut Cubic Zirconia CZ Silver Stud Earrings by Perry Olsen. At amazon.com.

4. Temporary Tattoos. Again, tattoos are generally not welcome in most corporate workplaces so keep these hidden under clothing.

Dragon Armband Temporary Tattoo. At amazon.com.

Set of 12 Assorted Costume Accessory Temporary Tattoos. At amazon.com.

5. Temporary Hair. Not all workplace Halloween costumes have to be spooky. Try out a new hairstyle with a subtle hair extension. Go for a natural look matching your existing haircolor.

Revlon Ponytail Swirlz Hairpiece. At amazon.com.

Nicolette Brown Clip On Bun Adult. At amazon.com.

Is your office celebrating Halloween this year? Will you be wearing a costume to work? What are your most memorable office Halloween events? Please share in the comments.

"Liam's Birthday Party." Photo by eyeliam. From the Flickr Creative Commons.

I’m actually a day early but it was just about one year ago that I penned the first words that started my blog!

In this first year.  I have connected with so many wonderful people (virtually and in person).  I have learned along with you as we explore aspects of organization in the business  and personal environments month by month. I have enjoyed reading your great comments and e-mails. I have also gained a new respect for the blogging profession and the time and effort that goes into even seemingly “quick” posts.

In celebration of my blog’s first anniversary.  I wanted to share with you the top 10 blog posts by reader traffic (as measured by Google Analytics).  It seems a bit surprising but often the most popular pages on a website aren’t the ones that get the most comments.  Google Analytics serves as a sort of friend/marketing director/oracle, letting you know what keywords people are typing in to your site, what pages got the most views and where your traffic comes from.  (In case anyone is worried, Google Analytics doesn’t tell you the identity of any individual visitor.  So, relax, you are still completely anonymous!)

For a blogger, Google Analytics is also partly a psychological exercise as it gives you the answer to the question:
 

What makes me unique from everything
(and everyone) else out there on the Internet?

 
It’s kind of a scary question to have answered.  So, what did Google Analytics have to say for Ruly?

Ruly Readers’ Top 10 Favorite Blog Posts

10.  Minimalism Lessons From My Refrigerator

The fridge!  The starting point for my uncluttering journey.  I can’t tell you how much last November’s Ruly Challenge to eat only from fridge and pantry stores for a month made an impression on me and how much I learned about our consumption patterns from it.  I strongly encourage you to do the same at some point.

While our fridge isn’t perfect at the moment, the same organizational system is in place and it doesn’t take long for us to do a quick straightening to get the system back in order.  This system has really helped us to get our leftover problem under control.  If leftovers overrun the “eye-level space” on the second shelf, we know that we need to eat/clean out/throw out.  Recently, trying to improve our eating habits, I quit buying juice concentrate and bought a bunch of apples.  I put the apples in the eye-level space in the fridge.  They are the first foods we see when we go looking for snacks and it is really helping us to eat more fruit.  I will also tweak my fridge a bit to incorporate our emergency water rotation, putting in 6 small bottles and 1 large bottle of water (probably in the fridge door).

9.  IKEA’s Communication Strategy and the 2011 IKEA Catalog

8.  The 2010 IKEA Catalog is Here!

Readers appear to share my love of all things IKEA.  I will try to incorporate a little more IKEA into my posts.  There is no shortage of organizing ideas there!

7.  Landscaping Basics: Topiary

Topiary is a fun, old-fashioned, fussy sort of gardening.  It isn’t quick and easy but it gives such a lovely effect.  I am glad that there was such great interest in this post.  I am considering adding an evergreen topiary to my front porch to help disguise an unattractive plug.  If that happens, I will post an update.

6.  Ruly Ruth on Fall 2010 Women’s Fashion Trends

Super fun, super energetic Ruly Ruth’s commentary on 2010 Fall Fashion Trends, posted only a few months ago, was a big hit with readers.  We may consider doing a regular Ruly Ruth feature for spring and fall fashion (and what real people think about these trends).

5.  Ruly Mix: Jamie Smith

Ruly readers love Jamie Smith!  His jazz sound for the Ruly Mix has been a big hit and I get a lot of Google keyword searches looking for information about Jamie and his music.  He is an incredible talent!  Thanks, Jamie!  Who knows . . . perhaps Jamie will find his way into the Ruly Mix again!

4.  Perfectionist Parents and Perfectionist Kids

This post gets some of the most heart-breaking Google search terms, particularly from the child’s perspective.  We will do another month on perfectionism next year and give more focus to the issue of perfectionism in the parent-child relationship.  Kids and parents are looking for more information about why perfectionism happens and how a perfectionist does or does not express love.

3.  Working for the Perfectionist Boss and Managing the Perfectionist Employee

There are a lot of perfectionist bosses and perfectionist employees out there and I get numerous search words from both frustrated managers and employees wanting to know how to work with a perfectionist.  We will add this to the list for the perfectionism month.

2.  Real Washington Style: Military

For a relatively recent post, readers have shown great interest in the fashion trends of the U.S. military!  Given the complexity of those uniform guidelines, I can understand why many military members are looking for an easy guide.  We’ll keep the military in mind for future posts.

1.  Budget Patio Furniture Makeover

Far and away, my most popular blog post of the year was the post about transforming my outdated patio furniture for just $126.  My lawn furniture is now world famous!  I owe my traffic primarily to a wonderful surprise feature in Apartment Therapy and also on the Studio G Blog of Greayer Design Associates

So, here I am: budget lawn furniture transformer, fashion observer, perfectionism guide, jazz appreciator, topiary admirer, IKEA fan and fridge organization expert.   What do I make of all this?  I think it’s a great cross-section of the variety in my site and showcases the organizational techniques, organizational theory and motivation I try to combine.

Since my first picture-less post, I have learned so much and know that there is still so much more to learn about and improve.

Going forward into my second year, I will change things up just a little.  Starting next week, I am going to switch from a Monday/Wednesday/Friday posting schedule to a Tuesday/Thursday schedule.  The reasons for this are many but one major reason came from an interesting chart in Tim O’Reilly & Sarah Milstein’s The Twitter Book. Peak usage of the Internet (or at least Twitter) occurs Tuesday through Thursday.  Friday through Monday aren’t nearly as busy.

This is sort of an interesting phenomenon that agrees with what I see in the mom-world here in Fredericksburg.  You are more likely to catch up with people on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday than on Monday or Friday morning, for example.  On Fridays many people are leaving someplace for the weekend and Mondays leave many people scrambling to catch up from the weekend.

So, we’ll try out Tuesday/Thursday and see how that goes.  Of course, if I have too much to say, you might get an extra day in here or there too!

Thank you so much for joining me on this first year’s journey, especially those who have been with me from the beginning!  I hope to continue to earn your interest in 2011 and look forward to living the organized life with you!

Having beaten readers up enough about storing emergency water supplies, I’ll take a break from emergency preparation to have a little holiday fun.

It’s October and here in the United States October generally means the official start of fall (in terms of cooler weather and gorgeous autumn leaves) as well as a little spookiness in preparation for Halloween.

It was time to refresh our front door décor so I found/created a little project to add some stylish spookiness. Not too ghoulish, not too sugar-coated and not too time consuming either!

I have always liked people who have seasonal door decorations. The front door of your home is your visitors’ first impression of your space and it is fun to give people just a little taste of who lives inside. I have not been entirely successful at keeping my own door decorations up to date but am hoping this project will give me new inspiration.

So first, I was looking for an October-appropriate door wreath. A great way to get decorating ideas is to check etsy.com, the paradise of handmade items. You might find something there that you just adore and buy on the spot. I found this wonderful wreath by webvanessa and used it as my inspiration piece.

A black wreath? Yes! It’s fantastic. A bit dark and spiderweb-looking perhaps but I think of the overall effect as hanging a black tutu on my door. Tutus work well in our girl-filled household. Tutus also remind me of my friend Regina Bogomolova and the Fall Festival ballet performance she is putting on next weekend (October 24-25).  If you are in the Fredericksburg area, be sure to check it out!

If a black wreath is not your style, tulle comes in practically every color of the rainbow. You could also use orange, white, purple, or green for a Halloween look or mix together a variety of fall colors for an autumnal look. Brief instructions below.

Halloween Tulle Wreath

Materials

• ~50 yards 6” black tulle netting (mine came from eBay seller jdr_favors who is currently away until October 24)
• wire hanger
• scissors
• ribbons, etc. of your choosing for decoration

Directions

1. Bend the main part of the wire hanger into a shape of your choosing. I chose an oval but you are limited only by your imagination! A circle, square or rectangle would also be chic. (Don’t worry about the hooked hanger part right now.)
2. Cut the tulle into 6” square pieces.

The Tulle Spool - 100 yards of black tulle netting.

3. Scrunch the tulle square into a narrow width and tie it tightly on the hanger. I just did a single tie, no knotting needed! The tulle seems to grip well and is even a little difficult to untie.

Tie each square onto the hanger with a single (right-over-left) tie. No knots needed!

4. Scrunch a second square and tie it diagonally around the first tied piece. You end up with an X shape.

Tie the second tulle square diagonally across the first to form an X.

5. Repeat until the wreath is covered. Push each X close together to give a full, bushy appearance.

Tulle wrapping finished.

6. Bend the hook/hanger part of the hanger in a way that will accommodate hanging the wreath on your door. My door has a screw drilled into it for hanging wreaths so I bent the hanger down and into a small circle for hanging. If you use an over-the-door wreath hanger you might just cut off the hanger part.
7. Tie on festive accessories. I just scrounged for ribbons in our wrapping paper box.

Use creative accessories to give the wreath some personality.

8. Hang and enjoy.

My Halloween-ed front door.

This project took me only one evening to finish, mostly done while watching a movie. It’s fun. It’s simple and it gives an impressive look that should hold up to the elements well.

Top off your door décor with some of the wonderful pumpkins from your local farmers market. This year there is a fantastic supply of unusual pumpkins in colors like forest green, red and white as well as “warty” pumpkins with little bumps on them. These pumpkins are art in themselves and apparently are doing creative farmers a good business this year.

Artful pumpkins at the local farmers market.

How are you decorating for October and/or Halloween this year? Please share in the comments.

"Glass of Water." Photo by Greg Riegler. From the Flickr Creative Commons.

Thanks for all the great comments on the emergency water storage post, both on the site and behind the scenes!

Some of the comments have been helpful suggestions like:

“I always keep a gal or 1/2 gal of water in the bathrooms.  In case the water goes off, It can be used for hand washing or flushing.”

Kirkland (Costco brand) bottled water is also a favorite.

Ruth’s comment was really interesting because it gets to the heart of why so many Americans are not prepared for emergencies.

Ruth wrote:

[W]e prob. should be stockpiling water, but literally have NO ROOM FOR IT! We would seriously probably have to rent a storage shed to store it in–and it would definitely not be cycled through—so I think a risk assessment should be done of what are the chances of needing this…..interesting…do you know of a site that would show that?

According to a 2005 survey by the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, the U.S. is listed as #3 in “Countries most hit by natural disasters.” Fortunately our death rate from those disasters is relatively low (excepting the large death toll in 2005 from Hurricane Katrina).  Floods and windstorms (like hurricanes) are the most common deadly disasters worldwide but earthquarkes and wave/surge/tsunamis while not as common are very deadly when they do occur.

This site created a chart compiled statistics showing your approximate risk of death in various situations.  Heart disease (1 in 5), cancer (1 in 7) and stroke (1 in 23) are the top three causes of death.  Accidents (1 in 36), car accidents (1 in 100) and suicide (1 in 121) round out the top six.

The first deadly “emergency” situation hits the list at number 9, “Fire or Smoke” with a risk of death at 1 in 1,116.  So, you are roughly 10 times more likely to die in a car accident than a house fire.

“Natural Forces” is next at number 10 with a risk of death at 1 in 3,357.  So, you are roughly 3 times more likely to perish in a house fire than in a flood, earthquake, hurricane, tornado or tsunami.

Note that these are the risks of dying in these situations.  The risks of being affected in some way by an emergency situation/natural disaster are likely many times higher.

Your individual risk of something might be higher than the average as well.  For example, our risk of losing power due to some sort of weather situation in a given year is practically 100%.  It has happened every year we have lived here.  When we lose power, we also lose water.  So, in my case storing some water makes a lot of sense.  If you live in an area prone to wildfires or floods, you might need to take steps to prepare for those situations that others do not.

Emergency preparedness sometimes conjures to mind paranoid people living in the wilderness with huge supplies of food, water and guns.  Being prepared does not have to be this extreme.  Most of us do not (and cannot) prepare for the end of the world.  Rather, we are giving ourselves a “margin of safety” to borrow a phrase from Chris Farrell in his personal finance book, The New Frugality.

For example, it might not be very likely that your water will be cut off for a long period of time due to natural disaster, etc.  But could water service be disrupted temporarily during extreme weather conditions?  Could an environmental disaster occur that might render the water supply temporarily unsafe?  Could there be a terrorist attack that affects the water supply?  Could there be a natural biological disaster that contaminates the water supply?  Yes, there could.

It is unlikely these events would end life as we know it but there could be a constraint imposed such as, “Please don’t use the water for a week while we disinfect the pipes,”  or “Until we know more information we can’t guarantee the water supply is safe.  Drink it at your own risk.”    If you have your own water supply, you are going to be fine.  If you don’t, you are going to be overly stressed and anxious in an already stressful situation.

If you are concerned about space or the responsibility for caring for all this new stuff, just do the minimum.  Ready.gov suggests a minimum 3-day water supply per person.  For a family of 4 this is either 12 gallons (if you don’t have a supply of non-drinkable sanitation water) or 6 gallons if you do.  If you buy the Deer Park 3L stackable bottles, 15 bottles (~12 gallons) takes up a 1 foot x 3 1/2 foot space (less if you stack them 2 high).  If you are a single person, it’s just 4 3L bottles or 3 gallons.  It’s no big deal.  It’s easy.  You should do this!

What else holds you back from creating or completing your emergency food and water supplies?  Have you ever experienced a situation where you needed to rely on your bottled water storage?  Please share in the comments.

In my last post, I discussed how to calculate how much emergency water you might need to store for yourself or your family. In today’s post, we discuss how to implement the solution.

Stage One: Acquisition

This morning I went to the grocery store in search of 38 gallons of water. As soon as I walked in the front door, I saw this display of 3L Deer Park water bottles. (Is this a coincidence or a sign!) Exactly what I was looking for and it seems to be on sale too!

I loaded up my cart with 18 bottles and headed toward the checkout. With characteristic Southern hospitality, the checkout woman looked at my odd purchase and said, “Oh, stocking up for the winter?” We then had a brief chat about my emergency water storage plans. (My husband advises that the correct response for this situation is to look deadly serious and say, “No, I’m just REALLY thirsty.”)

I loaded the 18 bottles into my car and went back in for a second load. This time, I loaded up 20 bottles, checked out and loaded them into the car. One more pass. Back into the store for 5 24-packs of water and a 2.5 gallon container with built-in dispenser. I checked out and added to the stockpile in the car.

Total cost: $61.96

Our car loaded with 40 gallons of water!

Note: Before you stock up on water, make sure you have tasted the particular brand you are buying at least once before. A few years back we were drinking only bottled water and must have tasted every brand out there. Each one has a slightly different flavor/aftertaste to it. We found that we consistently liked Deer Park water and that there were some (particularly the least expensive brands) that we thought tasted awful. The most delicious water we tasted was a European brand that comes in an elegant glass bottle but alas, that will not work well for our emergency storage.

Stage Two: Storage

Shopping is a relatively easy activity. Now that we have all this water, where on earth do we put it? This was my husband’s biggest concern about this whole project. “Isn’t the point of organizing to have as few things as possible?” he asked. “This just seems wasteful to stockpile all this stuff.”

There is a tension between stockpiling/emergency preparedness and organizing to be sure. It has made me stop to think why it doesn’t bother us to stockpile things that we love, like books, craft supplies, tools, clothes, etc. but we bristle at the thought of stockpiling a boring but essential item like drinking water!

The great thing about the Deer Park water 3L containers we purchased is that the bottle is ingeniously designed to be stacked! There is a recessed area on the bottom of each bottle that just fits the neck of a fellow Deer Park 3L bottle. Based on some simple experiments, you can stack them about 3 high but they are a bit unstable so you want them in an area where they won’t be bothered. In the grocery store, they grouped them 6 bottles to a cardboard separator tray and stacked them 6 units high. The store had over 300 bottles in a relatively compact space. There is no reason why someone couldn’t do the same in their basement.

It is also somewhat comforting to know that if you did have to evacuate and toss all of your food and water supplies in your car that you could pack in more of these 3L Deer Park bottles easily by stacking them. You can’t really do that with gallon containers of water.

Fortunately, I already had a spot in mind for our water storage and I made a rough estimate of its capacity in advance. The bulk of our water storage fits on the bottom two shelves of our kitchen pantry. (It would probably all fit if the bottom shelf of our pantry was just about an inch taller so we could stack the 3L bottles 2 high. Oh for the benefits of adjustable shelving!)

The bulk of our water supply on our lower two pantry shelves.

There was a little water left over that didn’t fit in the pantry so I cleaned out a kitchen cabinet that had become a repository for unused stuff. We are now using it for a more valuable purpose.

Water storage in our kitchen cabinet.

Stage Three: Maintenance

The Red Cross advises that you should put your emergency drinking water in a dark, cool place (like a basement) so that algae doesn’t grow in it and plastic bottles don’t degrade. If you are not purchasing commercially packaged water and are bottling your own, there is a whole list of requirements to follow about sanitizing the containers, adding a little bit of bleach and making sure to replace the water every 6 months(!). This has made me rethink the glass water storage portion of our solution. I think we will keep one of the 5-gallon glass containers and give the rest away, replacing the missing 10-gallons with plastic commercially-bottled water.

Commercially purchased water is far easier to maintain. It’s cheap and presumably the bottler has to comply with a million regulations about water quality, packaging, sanitation, etc. The earliest expiration dates on the water I purchased today are June 2012 (or about 21 months).

So, with regard to maintaining your emergency water supply you have a couple of choices. The simple option would be to say, “Well, it only costs about $60 for all this water. I’ll just buy it, stick it in the basement and when it expires I’ll use it to water my garden, recycle the bottles and buy new.”

“Throwing away” $60 doesn’t sit all that well with me or my husband so we are going to try to cycle through the water and keep the stock rotated continuously. In order to be able to do this, however, we can’t store the water in the basement where we will never think about it or walk down the steps to get it. This was the primary reason why we are storing it in the pantry that we use all the time.

With regard to the excess stock in the kitchen cabinet, the hope is that this space is close enough to the pantry that we will remember to rotate this water supply along with the pantry supply but in the worst case, we will do a good job on the pantry water and toss the kitchen water as it expires.

How do you rotate your water supply? Well, first chart how much water you have and when it expires. Then divide the number of bottles by the number of months until it expires to get an estimate of how quickly to use your water. In our case, since I bought all the water at the same time it generally all expires at the same time (plus or minus a few months).

To keep the supply up, this means that we will also have to buy a new 24-pack of water bottles at least once every 4 months and about one 3L bottle per month.

Likely, we will put the new bottles in the kitchen cabinet and shift all the bottles down, moving them to the pantry. The oldest bottles (to be used first) will be on the leftmost side of the pantry/cabinet and the newer ones on the right.

Will this work? We’ll just have to wait and see. In any event, we are basically done with our 30-day water supply. Ideally, we would pick up another 3 of the 2.5 gallon dispensers to replace the 10-gallon glass containers we will phase out. We’ll save this for the next trip to the grocery store.

So, what do you think? Could this work in your home? Please share in the comments.

"The World of Water." Photo by Snap® Third Eye a.k.a. D. Basu. From the Flickr Creative Commons.

While we still have a few brain cells left that are not dedicated to (pleasant and non-stressful) holiday thoughts, I thought it would be a good idea to focus in on some of the emergency preparation aspects of our theme.

My own emergency planning could use a little tweaking. I have a lot of projects started in my preparation but need to get them to a completed state. My goals for myself and for you by the end of the year are to get all Ruly readers to have a 30-day food and water store ready as well as essential tools for whatever emergency is likely to befall you given your particular geographic location. Bonus points to anyone who goes above and beyond!

From my post last year, we know that food storage is not necessarily the first and most vital part of our emergency preparation but it is the one psychologically that we associate with safety and security. Since psychological soundness is a good thing (whether in an emergency or otherwise!) we will add that as a priority on our list.

Priority one, however, is water! Ready.gov gives a rough guideline of “one gallon of water per person per day” and recommends a bare minimum 3-day water supply per person in your emergency kit. For our family of four, that is roughly 4 gallons per day, 28 gallons per week and 112 gallons per month. Wow! That is a LOT of water!

When we were first discussing our water storage, I informed my husband that we needed to find a way to store 112 gallons of water. I envisioned lots and lots of plastic bottles of water. “No way!” he said, saying the idea was ridiculous. He then walked me through how he saw the situation.

One gallon of water per day per the ready.gov guidelines includes “drinking and sanitation.” So the one gallon per person is both for drinking as well as an allotment for things like bathing, washing dishes, flushing toilets, etc. He then pointed to the 74 gallon hot water tank in our basement. In an emergency, we would save our bottled water for drinking and drain the hot water tank for bathing, washing and all those other “sanitation” tasks.

So what is the bare minimum level of water you need for drinking purposes? My survival guru, John ‘Lofty’ Wiseman in his book the SAS Survival Handbook suggests a bare minimum of 2 liters (~0.5 gallon) of water per person per day for drinking purposes. So, for our family of 4 that is roughly 2 gallons per day, 14 gallons per week and 56 gallons per month. If we are aiming for a 30-day supply, we need to find a way to store 56 gallons!

Clear Glass Cold Drink Dispenser Jug with Pouring Spigot by Home Essentials. At amazon.com.

So, as of this moment, how much water storage capacity do we have? I purchased three of these 5-gallon (~19 liters) glass storage containers from amazon.com. I am not yet recommending them as I am still testing them out. I like that they are glass since plastic storage containers always seem to impart a strange taste to the water. But, we have had a few problems with leaks which is a big downer. Once we have them all full and are using them regularly, I will provide an update. So, we have 15 gallons right there.

41 gallons (~155 liters) to go. We have a couple of large 3L Deer Park bottles so we can add 9 liters (~2.5 gallons) to the total. A grand total of 17.5 gallons (or close to 9 days survival).

While 9 days is pretty good, it isn’t anywhere close to 30 days. How will we make up the difference?

We can stock up on plastic water bottles. I am not a big fan of plastic water bottles generally due to the taste of the water but have to admit that they are probably the most convenient way to store and transport water in an emergency. They are small, portable, individually contained (which helps keep the supply fresh and prevent contamination) and durable. While you could also invest in a huge water storage tank in your backyard, in an evacuation scenario you would lose access to that water supply. Plastic water bottles could also be used as a form of currency if you need to trade supplies with a neighbor.

Each water bottle is 0.5 L so our family would need a minimum of 16 of those bottles every day in an emergency! Generally, those bottles are sold in packs of about 24 at our local stores. So for a week’s worth of water in plastic water bottle form, we would need to buy at least 5 packs of bottles (120 bottles!). This would give us an additional 16 gallons (60 L).

That leaves 22.5 gallons (85 L) to go. That’s a little over 28 of the 3L Deer Park bottles. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to keep a store of those in the garage.

Our tentative drinking water storage plan:

• 15 gallons (~57 liters) in large glass jars
• ~25.5 gallons (96 liters) in 3L plastic water jugs
• ~16 gallons (60 liters) in 0.5L plastic water bottles

Total drinking water storage: 56.5 gallons (~214 liters)

Our sanitation water storage plan:

• 74 gallon (~280 liters) hot water heater

Total water storage: 130.5 gallons (~494 liters). We will slightly exceed the 1 gallon per day ready.gov guideline.

Shopping List: (Check expiration dates when buying. Yes, water expires!)

• 5 24-packs of bottled water
• 28 3L bottled water containers (or ~22 gallon water containers)

Estimated cost: ~$100

So this is baby step one in your water storage preparation. And I issue you a Ruly Challenge:

The Challenge: Figure out how much water (drinking and otherwise) your family needs for 30 days (or a shorter or longer period of time depending on your situation). Take into account the 1 gallon/person/day ready.gov guideline and the 0.5 gallon/person/day minimum survival drinking water standard and what is likely to happen to you in an emergency. 30 days seems plenty (if not excessive) for us since we are close to a large city and several water sources. If you live in a desert area or a remote area, you might need significantly more.

If water supplies were cut off for you today would you be ready? Are you intimidated by the thought of storing so much water? Please share in the comments.

Friday’s post: Where to store all that water and how to rotate it to monitor expiration dates!