Guestroom Checklist
When was the last time you gave your guestroom a refresh? Having a restful space for guests is a sign of good hospitality that is not that hard or expensive to achieve. Here’s a guestroom checklist with 10 things to check in your guest space. Bedding: Fresh bedding, extra pillow, and extra blanket (refresh/wash your bedding if it’s been awhile. Consider replacing your pillows if needed.) Guest Info: Wifi password/contact info/welcome note/housekey Entertainment: A book, card game or puzzle Lighting: Lamp near bed (it’s nice to not have to walk across a dark unfamiliar room to find the bed), maybe a nightlight for bathroom or room Outlets: Access to an outlet or power strip ( for charging electronics or medical devices) Bathroom: Toiletry supplies (a few extra guest supplies like toothpaste, ear plugs, and cotton swabs or even the travel kits you get on the airplane), good shampoo/conditioner/soap, disinfectant spray or wipes available, and extra toilet paper Food and Drinks: Snacks, bottled water, and a note about kitchen access or breakfast time Temperature: Heat/ac info if it’s ok for guests to adjust, a fan in the room Clothes: Laundry access (washer, dryer, steamer), a place to hang up their clothes…
10 Test Taking Tips
How can you help a student confidently take a test? Fear tends to grip students when teachers, parents or tutors talk about testing or preparing for tests. My 10 free Test Taking Tips will help students so that they can focus confidently on the test, not on their worries. Students and parents can smile more and sigh less! Well prepared students will work to the best of their abilities. Read everything! Read everything on the page including the directions, the passage, the questions, and every answer choice. If time allows, rereading the passage, too. Read the question twice. Sometimes you misread or your brain tricks you into thinking something different than what it’s really asking. Rereading will help you understand what the question is really asking. Underline important words or numbers in the questions. These clues might help determine the answer or eliminate wrong answers. Think about what the answer is. Before reading the multiple choice answers or before writing your answer, think about what the right answer is. Eliminate wrong answers. Cross out wrong answers before selecting the correct one. Even if you can only eliminate one or two answers, you will have a better choice of picking the…
Before, During, and After Travel Tips
What should you do before, during, and after your travels besides pack your bags? Recently I posted about international travel niceties and necessities so I wanted to expand on those travel tips to include things you can do before, during, and after your trip to save time and help your travels go smoothly. Having recently traveled to the countries of Georgia and Turkey, I tried out my own tips before, during, and after traveling. With each international trip we take, I try to evaluate my packing and see what I would do differently the next time or what one investment I might make to my capsule wardrobe. Before my next winter trip I want to add a black crew neck merino wool sweater, otherwise I was pretty happy with my minimalist packing. Below are my travel tips for saving time and avoiding travel stress on your next international trip. Ahead of time: Lots of packing lists abound: here’s mine Pack your bag 90% full or less so you have room for souvenirs (or consider bringing a foldable duffle bag if you need an extra bag on the way home) Never pack a bag heavier than you can carry. Often you…
Book Review: It Must’ve Been Something I Ate
Leading Question? It Must’ve Been Something I Ate by Jeffrey Steingarten, best selling author of The Man Who Ate Everything has been on my nightstand for months. Not because it is a neglected book, but because it is so good but so long! No book recently has increased my vocabulary and knowledge like this book by a former lawyer transmuted into food writer. Why say friendliness when you could use conviviality to describe the perfect holiday dinner party? Why kill a lobster by boiling it alive when you can research all the conflicting ways to humanely kill a lobster at home before turning it into a lobster roll served on top sliced hot dog bun? It is categorized as “cooking essays” but it also clearly falls into the category of humor books. Food critic, Jeffery Steingarten is obsessed with investigating recipes, culinary techniques, ingredients, and replicating it at home, whether or not the ingredients are easy or legal to obtain. Never have I wanted to try more tricky recipes like pizza bianca in “Flat Out” after I read pages of sampling the percent of protein in the milled flour around the world or the mineral content of the water in…
Product Review: Gut Friendly Recipes
What resources do you turn to when looking for gut healthy recipes? If you have ever had gut issues, worried about cooking for a houseguest with IBD, or gone on an elimination diet, you know that meal planning can be an added stress. The Crohns and Colitis Foundation is a wealth of resources, and they have just added a recipe and meal planning section to their website. This free resource, Gut Friendly Recipes, lets you filter recipes by your diet and food preferences, plus if you register, you can make a weekly meal plan and save your favorite recipes. Some of the diets they specialize in are Crohn’s Disease Exclusion Diet, Low-FODMAP Diet, Mediterranean Diet, and Specific Carbohydrate Diet and many recipes have tips of what to avoid or substitute if you are having a flare. After registering it only took me a few clicks to get a meal plan for 7 dinners. So whether you have IBD, IBS, gut issues, or are cooking for someone who does, this helpful resource will give you a boost in the kitchen. Check out this new resource and show some love to the gutsy person in your life. https://www.crohnscolitisfoundation.org/gutfriendlyrecipes Table Talk: Who do…
Thoughtful Teacher Gifts
What do you consider a thoughtful teacher gift? I really do not want another teacher mug, hand lotion, or note pad, but I would love to hear you say “thank you” in your own way. Some of the best teacher gifts I have received have not been costly ones, but thoughtful ones. One mom hand wrote me a poem and even though she told me she had authored it previously and reused it for her kids teachers, she took the time to hand write it on pretty paper. Another time a client brought me a bag of avocados for my birthday and they ripened more perfectly than any other avocados I have ever had. It upped my healthy eating month and made me grin just to think of how thoughtful this gift was. A very thoughtful and unexpected gift card to my local craft store came in a thank you note from a mom of a sick student that I took care of while waiting for the mom to get off work. My best friend’s husband once gave me a pencil sharpener. THE BEST ONE EVER. A student chose a book for me from the book fair because I had…
Strategies to Master Multiplication
How old were you when you learned your multiplication facts? Knowing basic math facts and skills is the foundation of strong math progress, yet multiplication seems daunting to many children and parents. I often tell students that if they do not know their math facts they can still get the right answer, but their classmates who know their math facts will get the answer faster. In elementary school the time gap is not as apparent as it is in middle school and beyond. Start with conceptualizing the facts, add some counting and reasoning strategies, and then work on fact mastery. Mastering multiplication facts does not have to be a painful experience. Most schools try to have students be fluent in the one by one digit multiplication facts by memory by the end of grade 3 as they conceptualize multiplication and division. Fluency is as important in math as in reading no matter the access to calculators and audio books. However, straight memorization of math facts without a concept of multiplication is like memorizing the alphabet without understanding that the letters represent sounds that blend together to make words. How can parents and tutors help children learn to master the multiplication…
10 Spring Cleaning Tips
Would you rather shake the rugs or dust the ceiling fans? My number one spring cleaning tip, of course, is to sign up for my Clean the Chaos course and you’ll be cleaning and decluttering each space of your home throughout the year without a need for a big spring cleaning! Did I mention that for less than $50 for the year, you get a 5 step system that works in every space along with monthly checklists and motivational emails? You can sign up right now for free and get started! If you love it, you can buy the rest of the course. Spring is a time of refresh after the winter. There are so many little things you can do to welcome spring into your home and clean out the winter cobwebs. This is not an ultimate spring cleaning list, but a few useful tips to reset your home for spring. Dust cobwebs off ceiling, ceiling fans, vents, and light fixtures. (And vacuum up the dust that falls down!) Wash the baseboards and hose vacuum the edge of the carpet where it meets the wall (you know that long crevice that your regular vacuum misses!). Clean the curtains and…
20 International Travel Necessities
When going on an international trip, what must-have things should you not leave home without? The internet is full of helpful packing lists for travel, but often lacks the explanation as to WHY those items are necessities or how to differentiate between necessities and niceties. In addition to your clothes, what should you not leave home without? Whether you have made your first international travel plans or are helping a friend pack, here are a 20 necessities and 20 niceties for international travel to get your started. Bon voyage! Necessities Travel tissues (not all bathrooms have tissues, have one in your daypack and one extra in your luggage) Change/small bills (to pay to use some restrooms or buy water in order to be able use a restroom, to pay at places that do not accept cards) Credit/Bank card without international fees (notify your bank of your travels, too, so you can release your cards for international use) 1 reusable grocery bag (many stores charge for bags) Day pack or bag with crossbody strap (for the days when you aren’t carrying your luggage everywhere) Hand sanitizer (so many germs in public spaces!) Universal power adapter (can be used in different countries)…
10 Read Aloud Books for the Younger Years
What is your favorite picture book from your childhood? Reading aloud is so important in the younger years. It teaches a love of reading, models fluency, introduces vocabulary, builds curiosity, and opens the door for great discussions. These picture read aloud books I like for the writing and the illustrations, especially the colored pencil art in Albert and the watercolors and postcards in Toot and Puddle. Several stories are about overcoming fears, making friends, travel adventures, and family. Some have sensitive topics that will take careful discussion, but what better place to have these conversations than in your own living room. I took a walk down memory lane and pulled these off my bookshelf. Some I read to my own kids and some were from my classroom. Below are 10 of my favorites for read aloud books for the younger years (or actually for any age!). Just pulling these favorite books off my shelf has brought me joy and a flood of memories from my classroom and my own children in their younger years. I am looking forward to reading these to my grandchildren! A Pig Parade is a Terrible Idea by Michael Ian Black and Kevin Hawkes…