People, especially families, are always looking for ways to keep themselves organized. And the more people you have in a family the more that need grows. If we can take charge of those things we can control then we have more time and energy to devote to being creative. (You can even be creative with your labeling.) Having a family with 8 children, and all of the activities and directions that entails, I have learned a thing, or twenty, about organization. 

WHY?
• When everyone uses things, not just the mom, they need to know where to find it and then, where to return it
• The more creative you are, the more stuff there seems to be, you want to find it to use it
• When it's time to clean up, anyone can clean because they know where things go
• You can see if something is empty or out quickly before shopping
• It slows the need for you, personally, to look for something someone else needs, you can teach self-sufficiency by sending them to the box labeled...

WHAT?
• Anything
• Everything

HOW?
• For starters, just take one small area, the one that drives you crazy the most, organize and label that stuff
• Use vinyl letters, printer paper & tape, magnetic cut outs, heck, I even use masking tape and a marker (especially if I am not sure how I want to label something and want to wait and see if it works)
• For non-readers, take a photo or draw a picture to use as the label
• Use color coding if you have numerous items in one category (my studio tools and stuff are lime green)
• If you store a container on a shelf label all sides that might end up showing. If you only label one side, then inevitably, that is the side that will get put away facing the wall where no one can read it. The extra effort for all sides is worth it.

Don't think this is the Magic-Now-Everyone-Will-Put-Everything-Away-Pill. But, it leaves little excuse for the "I don't know where to find it" or "I don't know where it belongs" crutches. It will still require some reshaping of patterns and habits but this is the start.  

We have a house where everyone is involved - cooking, cleaning, creating. So, stuff is flying around all the time. This has helped us a little. Hope this bitesized organize helps you.  

People need proof. Especially in this day and age. It's not good enough to "feel" something is right or beneficial, you have to show it is. Art is one of those things that has always fallen in the "feel" category. Until recently.

People have wondered, "Why do we need Art?" and proof comes in handy, particularly in an economy that stretches resources. Semir Zeki, Professor of Neurobiology and Neuroaesthetics at University College London has researched brain activity of those viewing art.

"There have been very significant, new advances, in our understanding of what happens in our brain, when we look at works of art. We have recently found that when we look at things which we consider to be beautiful, the activity in the pleasure and reward centers of our brain goes up. There's a lot of dopamine, which is also known as the feel-good neurotransmitter, in these areas. So, essentially, basically, the feel-good centers, if you like, are being stimulated. 

We have looked at the activity in different brain areas by putting people in a scanner and showing them pictures. When they experience beauty, there are areas of the brain which activity goes up significantly. It's also released, for example, in a state of love and desire, so that in a sense, it induces a feel-good factor."  
                                                                The Independent, 9 May 2011, Video: Scientist: Art inspires feelings of love

To sum up - 
       • Beautiful artwork stimulates the pleasure-reward centers in our brains
       • Dopamine, a feel-good transmitter, is being stimulated in our brains when 
              we see beautiful art
       • Feelings of pleasure, love and desire are induced when we view art that we 
              consider beautiful

So, there you have it. Proof if you needed it. 

Surrounding yourself and family with images that you consider beautiful will enhance the happiness of those around you. Here are a few paintings that have given me great pleasure. What are some of yours?

The Boyfriend surprised me the other day. That can be hard to do after almost 29 years of marriage. And knowing him for 33 years. He told me that his middle school art won the contest and was in the Los Angeles County Fair. I remember this fair as a girl and loved it.) How can you not tell an artist you had your art exhibited as a kid? Yeah, I know, he failed me there. 

We also talked about art projects we did as kids. How we remembered distinctly doing them. He went off - talking about the feel of the paints while he finger painted, how he really enjoyed it and how it delighted him. He was kind of giddy. This was just weird to listen to, he sounded like me. Which is so not like him, to be like me. But, I totally knew what he was talking about from my own finger painting experiences. 

It's got me thinking about things. Again. But, while I think, do you have any childhood projects that you remember doing? 

Here's one of mine. An early elementary school art project I did. I remember very distinctly being disgusted that I went too far in playing with the colors on top and smearing them. I wanted to do a new one, that's how unhappy I was about it.