I took a day trip to the Philadelphia Museum of Art to see and hear (audio tour included) the Late Renoir exhibit in the Dorrance Galleries (June 17 – September 6, 2010).   While at the museum, I took a Collection Tour of American Mavericks, saw “Water Work” in the Stieglitz Gallery (thru 7/18), and viewed Art in Revolutionary Philadelphia (thru fall ’10).  The PMOA is one of the largest museums in the US with over 2,000 years of visual creativity on display. 

A café and exterior sculpture collection make for a thoroughly enjoyable day (as well as 3 – 4 museum shops).  If there’s any criticism, it’s that the museum itself is too dark and I was approached in at least five to six different ways about membership.  My trip to Philly included  a visit to Blick’s new store and Border’s old store on Chestnut Street.

The CRTS® (Certified Relocation and Transition Specialist) credential is earned by qualified organizers who specialize in serving senior clients in home relocation, transition, and organization.  The designation is managed by a third-party testing organization.  Psychometric  standards are employed to assure the validity of the candidate credentialing and examination process.  In 2010, the CRTS® designation is being submitted for NOCA(ICE/NCCA) accreditation. As part of that process, Meaningful Measurement, Inc conducted a final Job Task Analysis (JTA) survey.   And as a recognized service provider in the field of residential downsizing, relocation and transition services, Shauna Lee Lange’s input along with the comments of other qualified professionals,  will be important to the continued development of testing standards and the continued advancement of the industry.  Taking inventory, purging, packing, storing, and moving are unique challenges for seniors who may also be facing family, financial, physical, emotional or other limiting struggles.

Check out the Michael Graves Closet Organization Collection just launched at Target! It’s easy to install, affordable and looks great. This MIX and MAX closet system helps you organize your closet and doubles your closet space!

The Closet Organization Collection is just one of many design items available at Target.  The spice rack above is one of a great many handy studio and office organization tools that are quick, easy and affordable.

Michael Graves is a well known Architect who has been at the forefront of modern design. He has most recently become a household name due to his success at Target in Home Décor.

As of Monday, June 7, 2010 there are 8,438 opportunities to take part in 644 unique events produced by 285 different organizations in 366 different locations across the Commonwealth.  There are 23 days remaining in the Celebration. 

1. Visit the photo upload page on our website
2. Enter your name, your email and a description for your photo(s) in the photo upload form
3. Upload your photo – it must be a .jpg or .jpeg file and less than 1000KB in size
4. Submit your photo
5. Photos will appear on the site within 24-48 hours

1. To do this, you or your organization must be registered to Facebook & a fan of MINDS WIDE OPEN.  For instructions on signing up and becoming a fan, please refer to oursocial media tips
2. Once on the MINDS WIDE OPEN fan page, place your cursor in the input field for comments at the top of the ‘Wall’ tab (the default page)
3. Type in your comment and/or the description for your photo
4. Click ‘Attach’ underneath the text field to view the four attachment icons (one for attaching a link, one for attaching an event, one for video, and one for photo)
5. Click on the photo icon
6. You will be given 3 options:
   1. Upload a single photo
   2. Take a new photo with your webcam
   3. Create an album with many photos
7. Select Upload a single photo or create an album with many photos and select which photo(s) you wish to upload to our page
8. Make sure ‘everyone’ is selected next to the share button, so that the entire MINDS WIDE OPEN network can see your photo(s)
9. Ready to post?  Click ‘share’

How can I stop telemarketing calls?

The FTC has created the National Do Not Call Registry to give Americans a choice about getting telemarketing calls at home. You can register online at www.donotcall.gov or call toll-free 888.382.1222. Registration is free.

Once your number has been on the registry for 3 months, most telemarketing calls will stop. However, not all calls are covered by the registry. You may continue to get calls from, or on behalf of, political organizations, charities and telephone surveyors, as well as calls from companies with whom you have an existing business relationship.

I put my name on the FTC’s “Do Not Call” list, and I am still getting telemarketing calls. What do I do?

First, make sure that your number is actually on the registry. You can verify that your number is on the registry online atwww.donotcall.gov (click on “Verify a Registration”), or by calling 888.382.1222 from the phone number you wish to verify.

If your number has been on the registry for at least 3 months and you are still receiving telemarketing calls, file a complaint with the FTC by going to www.donotcall.gov or calling 888.382.1222. You will need to provide the date of the call and the phone number or name of the company that called you.

I received a call from someone saying they were confirming my registry on the “Do Not Call” registry. Why would the government do that?

The government would not do that, but a con artist would. Under this scam, the phony registry “official” asks for your personal information to verify that you want to be on the “Do Not Call” list. They then use this information to run up debts in your name or otherwise steal your identity.

Thank you to Kim for this timely info!

The June chapter meeting of the Washington DC National Association of Professional Organizers was held last night, Monday, June 7, 2010, at the Fairfax Kena Shriners.  I attended with NAPO National Board President, Laura Leist, CPO®, CRTS. She spoke about how NAPO works, NAPO’s strategic plan for the future of the organizing industry, and the association’s current projects and priorities. Members and guests had an opportunity to learn about the association and ask questions of the NAPO President.  A Corporate Partner Expo was held from 6:15 pm to 7:00 pm. Members could check out current promotions and learn about referral programs. 

Laura is the founder of Eliminate Chaos, Washington State’s largest organizing services firm with ten employees. She is also the author of five books including “Eliminating Chaos…. The 10-Step Process to Organizing Your Home & Life”, three books on Microsoft Outlook and another book to be released in 2010, “Eliminating Paper Chaos”. A NAPO board member visits the Washington DC chapter only once every two years!

It’s a tenant of organization methodology that if you have an unattractive task to do, do it early in the day.  ”The afternoon knows what the morning doesn’t.” goes the saying.  Well we had boxes in our storage room that I knew contained a mix of empty frames, older artwork and who knows what else so after my early morning dream of winning $7,000 on a slot machine (but having no attendant available to pay), I braved the dark, dank, dreary cellar.

Well not only did I have to bring all that stuff up, but if you don’t happen to live in the metro DC area, we are having what I would term to be one of the hottest and most humid summers I have seen since 2003 – and it’s sticky and uncomfortable even at 6:30 in the morning.  So another trick to decrease your time doing the thing you most dread, is to make sure an item touches your hands ONCE.  That means when I picked up the collage work on the far left (“The Reinterpretation of Rob Vanderzee (2009)”), I had to decide finally what to do with it at that moment.  Now I know all you organized artists have inventories of your works.  This is a task I had long forgone because a) I don’t like to store a lot of inventory; b) I give a lot of works away as gifts or auction items; and c) works I really love tend to get stored in book (portfolio) form.  So I needed an inventory.

Now in the inventory above, I’ve got a column for title, media, size and year which is all so very important when you’re submitting older works to newer competitions – it’s very easy to forget what you did when.  I hand wrote this list for future importing in the computer (my computer is not in my studio – too much of a distraction Facebook!) and I probably should have added a column for disposition.  For example, this morning as I was clearing out those boxes, I ended up sending a couple of works over to Goodwill.  (There was a time when I was collecting primitive works and had been holding onto some Berkeley Springs children’s finger paint posters.)  Having no way to record this means I can’t presently remember at the end of the year what I want to claim for deductions, so I would recommend adding a disposition section. Another suggestion is to measure the work framed and unframed – I didn’t do this either above because I know the framed works will likely be disposed framed as well.

So the result is now a single box of empty frames on the left and works I’m still hanging onto on the right.  Another tenant of great organization is to do a big project in small steps – such as, it took me a good 30 minutes to match misplaced glass fronts to their corresponding frame backs and when you’re short on time, having done this in advance would have made the overall project go much smoother this morning.  As for that box?  I think I’ll ask hubby to put it back down in storage (covered of course – you want to protect your frames from bugs and water damage).  So all in all, not bad for a Monday morning – again, when it comes to those projects you’re dreading, do the ugly – early!  

I saw an art journal page recently that captured the feeling of snow and I wanted to play with that as well as to try a cross-hatching watercolor technique in the lower right hand quadrant.  Both were okay.  Sometimes you hit, sometimes you miss.  I’ve been using a lot of red lately and I love the vibrancy of it although I am still seeking markers that blend more uniformly (even colorless marker blenders don’t always do the trick).  I’m currently thinking about a summertime water theme, using poetry about the sea – stay tuned for more.  This one reads:  ”If only it would snow and the flowers still grow, happiness I’d know like the crow below.”  

Here are my three entries for this month’s artdc.org‘s sketchbook exchange.  The exchange is being organized and managed by Stephen Loya and now has a half-dozen or so participants.  Summer is easy breezy and my entries for this month concentrated on quick, pen and ink five-minute doodles; a more in-depth, double-page spread watercolor on the summer outdoor theme; and lastly, some collaged thoughts I’ve had about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.