Q: Take a common problem - the magazines that have been lying around for months on end. You say you have to do something about them, so you rush off to the store to buy a dozen magazine holders. It's probably best to sit down, though, and figure out which ones you actually should keep and the ones you should toss. Remember, sometimes less is more. Sometimes you can find real gems in sales like this. Many items that sellers give away for next to nothing are because they had to move and can't make use of what was in their home before. The bookshelf racks that were just right in their previous living area are now too wide in their new space. So their loss is your find in getting more organized at a fraction of the cost. Reach out to the community and earn something for yourself! The simplest thing you can do to stay organized is to put whatever hairbrush, bag, article of clothing, tool, or item away right after using it. Basically, you want to know where everything is so that you never have to waste time looking for it. Ask yourself this question: Could you tell a stranger where to find anything where you live? If not, you probably need to get more organized. Organizing things you don't need is simply a waste of precious time. It is incredible how much more in control you will feel by ridding yourself of outdated articles you're going to read "someday" or pages of notes from which pertinent action items have already been taken care of. For many of us, the reason we accumulated things is because we just don't want to take a look at it. This is a cultivated habit, however, and can be changed. What you will find with many of these items is that you can now just throw them away. So try not to be afraid of your accumulated stuff. You will feel a lot more empowered and be much more organized as a result. On your paper, you write your "to do" list for today. Keep that with you throughout the day. By the end, whatever you can't get done, gets moved to the calendar. The white board is kept for you to make scribbly notes on at any given moment. It's easy to get overwhelmed with everything we think we have to do. However, take a look at your essential and non-essential tasks -- not everything is essential. Sometimes we can think that because we are racing around like whirling dervishes that we are actually being productive. But it's usually quite the opposite. When you focus on just the top three most important tasks, the path becomes a lot more clear and achievable.
A: Organize first, buy last. Hit the yard sales. Put it away. Use the trash basket/recycling bin. Find a paper calendar, a sheet of paper and a white board. Write down your three most important tasks.

Q: To get your creative juices flowing, sit down and write as many keywords and terms you can think of about the subject. Try to be specific as you make this list, as you can then use it to pull words for your poem later. For example, if you are writing about tennis, you may write down "strings", "grass", "sweat", "armbands", "two handed forearm", "tingling hands". If you were writing about an object of sentimental value, like your grandmother's watch, you may write down terms that relate to both your grandmother and the watch. For example, "ancient", "ticking", "light colored", "delicate", "wise". Use sensory detail to really make your poem come alive. Consider how the subject of your poem might, smell, sound, look, taste, and feel. Include sensory details whenever possible to make your poem feel more descriptive. For example, maybe in your poem about tennis, you write about the smell of the grass courts, the sound of the ball hitting your racket, or the taste of sweat on your lips as you play a match. You may focus more on short descriptions of these sensory details, as your shape may only allow you to include a few lines of text. Many shape poems use literary devices like rhyme, repetition, and metaphor. These devices can be a good way to inject energy and engagement into your poem. Rhyme: This is a pattern of words that produce the same sound or similar sounds. Rhyme is often used in shape poems as a way to tie the lines together, especially if your shape creates breaks or gaps between the lines of text. For example, in Schondelmeyer's "Butterfly", the author has rhyming lines: "Oh what a beautiful creature, does it fly/ it floats by/and flutters high/I think it's called a butterfly" Repetition: This is a pattern of the same words that repeat in sequence. Many shape poems use the repetition of words to create the shape of the poem or to reinforce the shape. For example, Charles' "Concrete Cat" repeats the word "stripe" to create the striped lines on the cat's body and repeats the word "whiskers" to create the whiskers of the cat. Metaphor: Metaphors are used often in poetry. In metaphor, a meaning or identity is given to the subject by way of another subject. For example, if you are writing about tennis, you may use the metaphor: "The racket is my sword in battle, the court is my green battlefield."
A: Make a list of keywords and terms about the subject. Focus on the five senses. Use literary devices.

Q: To get rid of cattails, you need to completely remove the root system. Cattails propagate through rhizomes. The rhizomes send out additional roots horizontally, quickly resulting in new plants. Manual removal is most effective if you dig out the rhizomes when cattails are first establishing themselves in a pond. Dig down below the root system to remove the cattails. Dispose of the cattails. Consider using a backhoe for manual removal if you need to remove a larger amount of cattail stands.
A:
Dig up the cattails.