I didn’t want to have two Oprah blog days in a row, but you know what? I was watching the show last night and was really touched. Oprah had guests on who have transformed their lives by giving to others. All it takes is one person with an idea.

The most inspiring was what the audience was asked to do — and what they did. One of the women featured on the show has a program that gives pajamas to needy children, who otherwise have to sleep in the same clothes they wear during the day. The producers of the show called every audience member and gave him/her a challenge: to bring as many pairs of PJs to the show as they could. There was a catch too. They were only allowed to buy one pair — the rest they had to be resourceful and get other ways. It was amazing to see how many pairs of pajamas one audience (aprox. 300 people) brought. There was a total of 32,046. Yes, that’s more than 30 thousand! Amazing. (Click here to see the photo from the show.)

Had I been called by one of the producers, I probably would have brought about 10 pairs. That would have been doable. I’m amazed at how hard some of these people worked. One woman brought more than 10,000 pairs on her own. She reached out to different businesses with a phone call. BJs Wholesale Club donated 10,000 pair. All it took was one phone call.

Read the full story here.

I was flipping through the September issue of “O” magazine last night and read Oprah’s “What I Know For Sure” column. What a great read this always is. It reminds me that even she is human and struggles with issues like being overwhelmed.

This month she writes that she was working so much and trying to find a President for her new TV network as well as a new Head for her school in Africa. Nothing was working. Then, she:

pulled out my gratitude journal, in which I’d been too tired to write even a sentence for months. … I took a few deep breaths. I said “Thank you” out loud.

And I wrote in my journal: “I am grateful for my breath and the recognition that I am here, alive. Breathing. I am grateful for life. And for this time alone. In this moment, I have to do nothing. Yes, there are many things that need to get done, but in this moment I have to do nothing.”

I sat in silence. I prayed. I meditated. I napped. I filled three more pages with praise and gratitude for all that’s gone right. And stopped giving my attention to what wasn’t working …

The next day, I found the new head of school. Two days later, a president for OWN.

She took time to step back. To be thankful. And everything came together.

Read Oprah’s full article here. 

Offices are closed, school is out. Tropical Storm Fay is coming. She is anticipated to be mostly heavy winds for Central Florida, but we prepare for worse — just in case. My family lives on the SW coast of Florida and are going through the effects now. We will get it later today and tonight.

It’s truly a balancing motherhood kind of day. Have to balance taking care of the family, preparing for a storm and getting my work done. It’s doable, just have to figure out where it all fits in. Nothing that moms don’t do every day.

Tropical Storm Fay is approaching Florida and meteorologists predict she is coming my way, Central Florida. At the beginning of the season I wrote about my experiences during the 2004 season (tree falls, hunkering down in bathroom, not fun, but all ends up safe.) It was from those experiences that I developed the family hurricane checklist. I’m reposting it here today because I had to pull it out to start getting ready. Hopefully some of you can find it helpful in the next few days, but I’ll be happier if, because we are all prepared, we are spared any damage or losses.

Family Hurricane Preparedness List It breaks down everything that we need to have on hand and to prepare (like taking porch furniture inside), and is color-coded based on when each task needs to be done. For example: You don’t need to fill your bathtub up with water until 24 hours prior to the storm’s arrival, but you should get cash from your bank at least 48-hours in advance to avoid ATMs running out of money.

Related:

• Balancing Motherhood’s Official Hurricane Checklist — Download now
• National Hurricane Center Official Web site

Last night while listening to one of the digital music channels, my 2-year-old son looked intently at the photo of Bach being displayed on the screen:

“Is that Uncle Craig?” he asks.

Don’t worry dear brother. Upon returning from 4 days away from my son, I was showing him photos of my trip. When he saw this photo of me, his mother, the one who feeds and clothes him, he says:

“What’s her name?”