The House Fairy not only encourages and inspires your children to clean their rooms and keep them clean...she also helps with good manners. This video might even enlighten some adults you know.

1. See the sights

October in our state of Washington and its neighbor Oregon is stunningly beautiful now. Take a drive through the countryside and remember, it’s not too late to get one more picnic in.

What are some famous sights in your area? Go check them out. If you have already been to them, try to discover something new about them. If there aren’t any famous sights in your area, then go discover ones that aren’t famous.

2. Take a discovery walk

Things are always changing, but October seems to inspire Mother Nature to order up some drastic alterations. I like to think of her shopping some mystical catalogue, oblivious to what current color schemes are being pushed in fashion news and saying, “Oh, orange, red, yellow, lime green and brown, yes that’s what my trees are gonna wear!”

Drenched and Delirious

Coming out of my chorus rehearsal the other night, I got caught in a downpour trying to get to my car! It was one of those Hollywood rains. You know, the kind you see in the movies.

We natives of the Pacific Northwest don’t usually have umbrellas, because we have dashability. We dash when we have to, but I hadn’t done a night dash in such a deluge in a long time.

There are 100 women in my chorus and we all dashed out into the torrential darkness at the same time. There was sort of a cheery pandemonium. The parking lot is about the size of a football field and as I ran toward what I thought was my car (I’d hit the unlock button) taillights were going on everywhere and I inadvertently got into one of our baritone’s car. I knew instantly it wasn’t my car, because she almost fell in on top of me. We shared a wet hug and a giggle and I headed to the car next door. My glasses were fogged and streaked and it was hard to find the door handle, but I did. The door was locked. Wrong car again.