As you probably know by now, I’m a big fan of recycling, and I feel the same way about water!  I’ve set up an extensive water capture system at my home to catch and store rainwater so it can be used later.  

This video walks through the details of my system and includes tips on how YOU can set up your own bathroom and rooftop water systems!

As California’s Mother of the Year, I’d like to make sure that we’re prepared to protect our homes, families, and pets as we continue through FIRE SEASON. Everyone knows that it’s a matter of “WHEN” not “IF” there will be another catastrophic wildfire like had last year when both northern (Paradise Camp Fire) and southern (Woolsey Fire) destroyed almost 20,000 structures, burned almost 250,000 acres, and killed 88 people. So let’s work together to prevent a fire from taking out your homes and neighborhoods.

#1: PUT TOGETHER GO-BAGS
Fill an old backpack or suitcase with things you’ll need to survive in the case of an evacuation. I created 2 Go-Bags.
Go-Bag #1: In my car trunk
This bag has things that I need to survive for 3-5 days:
__ First aid kit
__ Food (high protein, energy boosting, non-perishable, plates/utensils)
__ Personal hygiene (toothbrush/paste, shampoo/conditioner, tampons/pads, contact lens cases/solution, medications, etc.)
__ Water (3 gal/person; water purification tablets)
__ Tools (wrench, screwdriver, saw, hammer, can opener, phone chargers)
__ Battery-powered radio and flashlight
__ Clothes (long pants, sweatshirts/jackets, sturdy shoes, hats, etc)
__ Sleeping bags/pillows
__ Paperwork (copies of IDs, insurance policies, prescriptions, important phone numbers, back-up drives, and Cash (small bills))
__ Pet plans (dog bowls, vaccination records, leash)

Go-Bag #2: In my house
This bag contains a list of things for me to grab before I evacuate my house. This prevents you from forgetting precious items during the chaos.
__ Precious jewelry
__ Cash
__ Medications/Medical equipment
__ Important documents (mortgage, insurance, investments, etc)
__ Computer drives/laptops/back-up drives
__ Photo albums
__ Videotapes/drives
__ Framed photos
__ Artwork

#2: SIGN UP FOR CodeRED
By signing up for CodeRED, this reverse 9-1-1 system will alert you of important messages in your county. All you need to do is sign up with your cell or VOIP phone number as well as GPS service,and you’ll automatically receive emergency messages (evacuation and disaster updates).

#3: UPDATE YOUR STATUS WITH LOCAL FIRE DEPARTMENT
During an emergency, your local fire department will have limited time to reach out to affected residents. If you inform them of who lives in your home (including how many disabled or elderly people), how many indoor and outdoor pets/livestock, gas tanks, electricity meters, water storage tanks, etc, they can more efficiently rescue victims.
__ Full names of each resident
__ Street address (including specific directions if the house is not on the main road)
__ Contact info (landline, cell phone, email)
__ Ages of residents who are disabled, elderly, or children
__ Pet names, breeds, ages, and location (indoor/outdoor)
__ Number and location of propane/gas tanks
__ Number and location of PG&E meters/shut-off valves
__ Number, location, and size of water tanks (specify valve type, pump, and hose) (current level of water)
__ Medical/Paramedic/EMT/CPR training
__ Access roads for evacuation (describe and indicate if a fire truck and/or vehicle can use in case of an emergency)
__ Ham radio (licensed)

#4: ORGANIZE EVACUATION PLAN AND MEETING LOCATION
Every household should set up an evacuation plan that consists of collecting go-bags, pets, and family members/neighbors. Know your evacuation routes, and if you have only exit route by car, know other routes that you can take on foot. Practice this with your family.

Plan to meet at one central location after a disaster. Assume that cell phone service will be down and that everyone will be hoofing it to this location.  Choose a place that will be safe in the case of a fire or earthquake. My family meets in the Safeway parking lot where there is plenty of asphalt and few structures.  We’ve agreed that if we should move from the lot, that we would post a note with the new destination on a light pole.

Sometimes you can reach people out of state, even when local calls won’t go through.  Choose a family member or friend who lives out of state to be the contact person. Tell all family and friends to give updates on location and physical condition to that emergency contact person and make sure that their name and contact info is in each of the go-bags. 

#5: BUDDY COMMUNICATION SYSTEM 
Now that we’ve discussed your plans with your immediate family and household members, let’s consider your neighborhoods. First create a neighborhood group that consists of no more than a dozen households. Get #3 information from each household. Select the group leader who will be responsible for making sure that all 12 households are informed, prepared, and evacuated should there be an emergency. The group leader can set up a phone tree by selecting 3 reliable volunteers to reach the households quickly. These 3 volunteers then contact 4 of the other families in the neighborhood and report back to the volunteers, who in turn report back to the group leader.  If there any dead ends (no contact or responses), then volunteers will go to the house to assess the situation and leave notification of the emergency. read more

20% of millionaires with college-bound kids spend more than $50,000 to get them into college. That isn’t to say that they are part of the Operation Varsity Blues scandal, but these wealthy parents spend money on elite private school tuition, SAT/ACT tutoring, private tutors, and skill training for sports and music. What parents don’t get is that college admissions officers know that these students have many advantages that other less wealthy students don’t have, and that high GPAs and SAT/ACT scores have now become the norm.

So what does it take to stand out and get into selective colleges?

A PROJECT.

Projects highlight student interests, tenacity, and success. Because these projects aren’t required by teachers, club leaders (Eagle Scout), and church groups (Habitat for Humanity), and are therefore not managed and organized by others, the student demonstrates how they’ve learned and utilized these vital life skills. Colleges love these projects because they recognize this passion as a key to success for students in their 4-year institutions.

One of my students is designing a device that will stop wildfires from spreading. He lives in Northern California and has a constant fear that his neighborhood might go up in flames like those in Paradise, CA, did last year. He is working with our chemical engineer to create a prototype that will instantly put out fires caused by PG&E power lines. Meeting with fire chiefs all over the state and researching fire retardants gives this student plenty to write about on his college application essays. He is likely the only student in the country engineering such a device – which will make him stand out.  He isn’t an athlete competing among the 80,000 high school athletes or a drummer among the 100,000 band members.

Another student is writing a fictional novel that focuses on teenage angst. She’s developed excellent storytelling skills as well as improving her grammar and mechanics. By researching problems with interpersonal communication, this student has learned how mean words can also be a reflection of the perpetrator’s personal insecurities. The student’s mother told me that her daughter has handled typical teen conflicts with maturity as a direct result of her work on this project.

College admissions officers appreciate reading about students who have the initiative to do something because it is important to themselves. They learn more about how the student has gone above the norm to do a project that has personal meaning.

Besides, imagine if the 4 million students who entered 9^th grade each year did a project? They could solve many of the issues we face as a community, state, nation, and civilization. All students can do projects and they can find mentors in the retirement communities to support them. Wealthy parents, instead of cheating and stacking the decks for your child, support your child as they do a project – even finance their endeavors – but let them do the projects on their own.  They’ll become empowered with confidence and they’ll become interesting young adults – just the kind that selective colleges are admitting.

Monitor your child’s screen time — even if you feel like you’re invading their privacy.  In your family, you are the parent and you are entitled to check their phones, laptops, and computers.  You have every right to know everything that they are seeing and doing.  

It constantly shocks me that parents feel insecure about looking at their children’s devices.  We need to parent our children’s online activities.  Even if you install screen addiction apps, you still need to monitor their activities.  

Set up a digital screen agreement between you and your children.  Include rewards and consequences for breaking the rules.  Remind your children that you bought their devices and that they are simply allowed to use them.  Just knowing that you have screen addiction or monitoring apps installed on their phones and that you have access to everything they’re doing will inevitably lead to your children staying away from unsavory sites and limiting their social and gaming usage.

Remember, you are the parent and they need you to do your job. 

Susan is spreading the news about ProjectMerit and the book Beat the College Admissions Game with ProjectMerit!  Her latest interview is with Laurie Kirby of WBZ CBS Boston News Radio!  The interview is an excellent way to spend a few minutes and is available here:

First of all, who really wraps up leftovers from restaurants to take home to their dogs?  We should call them Leftover Bags or Snack Containers! I replaced of all of my plastic containers with glass containers at home and love how nice it is to clearly see the contents in them.

Glass containers can be sterilized in the dishwasher and the glass doesn’t retain any bacteria from moldy or rotten foods the way plastics do. [photo of my pantry with glass containers]  I keep 3-4 glass containers in the trunk of my car so I have them when I eat out at restaurants.  Instead of having to wrap my leftovers in Styrofoam, plastic containers, or wax-lined boxes, I put the leftovers in my handy glass container. I love having my food in a sturdy glass containers that don’t leak and don’t fall apart in my car! 

Imagine having a 10-second warning BEFORE an earthquake? Starting today, you can receive an alert on your smartphone that will give you 10 seconds to get to safety before an earthquake occurs!

The Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) will be delivered through the same system that Amber Alerts go out AND you can also install MyShake, a phone app that has partnered with USGS ShakeAlert and CalOES.

Here’s how it works:
“The California Earthquake Early Warning System will marry a new smartphone application with traditional alert and warning delivery methods such as Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA). The system uses ground motion sensors from across the state to detect earthquakes before humans can feel them and will notify Californians so that they can “Drop, cover and hold on” in advance of an earthquake,” the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services said in a press release announcing system launch on Thursday.”

Share this with your family and friends! This could save their lives! 10 seconds is plenty of time to get to safety, put on shoes, and grab a flashlight.

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I vividly remember Oct 17^th, 1989. Jaclyn was an infant so she and I hid under a table on the first floor while Nicole was napping in her bedroom on the second floor. Cabinets flew open, our microwave bounced to the floor, and photo frames shattered everywhere. The tremors kept rolling and ceramic pots landed on me as I made my way up the stairs to call for Nicole.  Meanwhile, barefooted Nicole managed to walk through the broken glass in the hallway without cutting her feet. We were terrified as we all walked through the house and garage out to the driveway. Huge cabinets had fallen over and it looked like a hurricane had whipped through our house. Then we looked over at our neighbor’s house and saw the entire hillside tumbled with giant boulders. This scared me to my core.

Today marks 30 years from the Loma Prieta Earthquake. We had to evacuate our home for 3 years while we shored up the hillside behind our house. Immediately, we prepared for the next “Big One” by putting earthquake kits (now called Go Bags) in our cars, earthquake kits on the property (for food and clothing), and an earthquake plan (where to meet).  But that was 30 years ago. 

A few years ago, I opened up our earthquake kit to see what was in there – it had been a few decades since I created it.  I found diapers and formula for Jaclyn – who was in college at the time! The food had all expired, the water wasn’t safe to drink, and the clothes wouldn’t fit any of us.

On this anniversary, it’s time to restock our earthquake kits and create our go bags. Check out ShakeOut.org to find your region and learn what you can do to prepare for the next earthquake.

Create your Go Bags

Let Oct 17^th be a great reminder to plan and prepare for the next big earthquake.

Starting with the 2022-2023 school year, California classes will start later: 8:00 am for middle schools and 8:30 am for high schools. It’s about time! Kids need to sleep at least 8-9 hours per night, and most can’t fall asleep before 11:00 pm.  Do the math – our students are getting 5-7 hours of sleep per night in order to be in their classroom seats by 7:30 am start times.

I have been advocating for later school day start times for decades.  When students start school later in the day, they have increased attendance and graduation rates, improved grades and performance – especially in math and science courses, and decreased car accidents in the mornings.

At Merit Academy, I set the start time at 9:00 am for all classes.  When students get more sleep, they are more alert in class and perform better on exams. The later start time also allows kids to drive to school later than the early morning commute traffic jams.

Encourage your school administrators to push back the start time for school before the 2022-2023 school year.  Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation on Sunday that makes California the first state to require the later class start times, but that doesn’t mean we have to wait until then to make the change. Let’s give our students the opportunity to get more sleep now.

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In this podcast, I talk about free child care, how to get it, why you’d want it, and my book “The Millennial’s Guide to Free Child Care in Your Home”! 

To listen to this podcast, find GakkoMom on iTunes and subscribe to my podcast, or listen to it below: