Blooming

I have had a continually expanding, messy binder full of random recipes stuffed into my cupboard for the last 10 years.  I could never find my favorite California Pizza Kitchen recipe when I wanted it, I felt embarrassed whenever a friend caught a glimpse of my disorganization, and the appearance of the binder itself discouraged me from even TRYING to cook.

Then I started playing "Bloom."

I have to admit that I was a little skeptical about this game at first.  I think of myself as a very driven, goal-oriented person, and I didn't think a goal-setting game would do that much for me, but it did.

The first week I played, I entered "Organize my recipe binder" as a goal in the "For My Family" section (You set one goal each week: for you, for your family, and beyond).  I've had that goal written on my list since I got married, but somehow, knowing that I'd "committed" myself to The Power of Moms made a big difference.

I printed off my goal sheet, and that week, Alia and I were sitting in the kitchen, sorting through my recipe-binder-monster, and I said, "I set a goal to get this organized, but I've got too much going on this week."  Alia said, "Mom, let me do it!"

So while I made dinner and answered emails, Alia got out a brand new (bigger) binder, made a cute cover sheet, created dividers, and sorted the recipes by asking me which ones I wanted to keep, toss, etc.   I then went through the whole thing, created a monthly shopping list, and brainstormed new meal ideas.  I LOVE it.

We're still refining the Bloom Game and learning what works/doesn't work for our players, and it might not be the best solution for everyone, but we've got lots of fun plans in store:

Here's a bloom book and journal that I found while I was out shopping with my children.  I got a bunch of them that we're going to start giving out as prizes.  They're so cute!

Alia gets really excited about helping me with projects, and when I told her I needed to take some photographs of these books, she begged me to let her print out some pretty backgrounds.  I think she did a great job!

We're also going to be putting together a monthly Bloom tele-seminar, where moms can call in and participate in a fun discussion/Q&A about different motherhood topics.

I've just learned about these recently, but there's software available that allows hundreds of moms to be on a call at once, and if you have a question you want to ask, you can be "un-muted" or you can submit your question through an Instant Messaging service.   Make sure you're on our newsletter list so you can join us for these phone calls.  I'd love to get the chance to talk with you!

And finally, we're working on making the Bloom points equal to "Power of Moms dollars."  That way, when you earn points from goal-setting (5 or 8 per week), you can come to our store and buy programs, eBooks, a Power of Moms t-shirt, etc.

If you have any other ideas for us, please email me or let me know in the Comments section here.  We want this game to be a simple, fun way for moms to reach their goals.  I love this concept of all of us "blooming" together.