Loftee Ideas

Sticky Storage - Magnet Strips

2011-11-14T00:02:00.000-08:00

When I organized my medicine cabinet like a year ago, I got an idea, there was some wasted space due to different sized toiletries. A magnet on the wall inside would hold the metal items nicely. I tried every magnet on my frigde to try and repurpose, all failed.

Then after organizing my spice cabinet, I started looking at magnetic spice racks. Over at Mod Podge Rocks recently I saw she attached magnets to baby food jars to stick to the fridge. (We actually do Baby-Led-Solids AKA Baby-Led-Weaning, and do not feed Ellie baby food, she feeds herself real, whole foods, but we get baby food on WIC so I put mashed veggies and meat in soups and we eat the fruit.)

At heaven (Ikea) today I remembered the magnetic spice rack idea and looked around for a metal backing for magnetic jars I imagined exsisted. I found some magnetic knife holders instead. (they also come in fun colors)

I was pretty sure the baby food jar lids would stick, and at only $2.49 it was worth a shot, I'm sure I could use them in my craft room for scissors or to relocate knives or something. (they were small, so I bought 5)

Someone on FB tonight asked about bathroom storage and I re-read my medicine cabinet post and at the magnet on the wall part, I had an aha moment! Those little knife racks would work! So For $2.49ish + like 10 minutes (most of which were spent opening the package) I had a little more storage in my medicine cabinet, which is great because we have since added the baby's toothbrush holder in that space.

The back of the medicine cabinet is not real sturdy, so I couldn't screw the magnet in. I thought of my darling, command hooks strips.

Without the screw holes being used though, there was a lip in the back of the magnet. The Velcro picture hanging strips came to mind. They were perfect sized and filled in that lip.

I just stuck one side to the magnet and other to the wall, clickety click, we were installed!

Add the metal tools and tada! Extra space!

Before:

After

oh and I had to check, yes, baby food jar lids DO stick to the magnet, even through the packaging.

If I dont get to make my spice rack soon enough for you, check out Mod Podge Rocks, or Just Home Made, or The Little Apartment, who uses Goo Gone for that pesky lable glue that has been driving me nuts.

Ive FALLen in Love again this year.

2011-11-07T21:31:00.000-08:00

(i totally cheated and bumped this post from last year, life has been nuts lately, I do intend on getting back into blogging my life and home, soon.)

Fall is my favorite time of the year. September 1st rolls around and I pull out my fall decor. October 1st-ish (or whenever i feel like it) the Halloween stuff gets added. November 1st-ish the Halloween gets put away and any Thankgiving specific decor gets added to the decor.

here are some pictures of some of the Fall only stuff:

I had 2 little punkies and the gourd in the middle, but one of the punkies got moldy, so I had to toss it out. During my recent Gift Wrap Organization project, I found the gold/orange bow and thought it was too Fall-y to pack it away, (I love it too much to gift it anyway) the vase was from some flowers we got at our wedding, and the flowers (silk) were purchased on clearance at Walmart for .75/10 stems, intended for our orange/blue wedding, but they were too fall-looking for the wedding theme, so I didn't use many of them in the wedding. The cloth was purchased to cover an ugly air-conditioner I had in my old apartment.

COST: $1.50 for the 3 real veggies(one was tossed out). $0 for the vase I already had, $0 for the flowers (they were in the wedding budget), $0 for the reused bow, $0 for scrap fabric from before (was like $1)

This cake stand/punch bowl was my favorite bridal shower gift. Purchased at Bed Bath and Beyond (although I'm not finding on their website today) Here is a similar one from Bloomingales. Its super versatile, has a divided tray under that turns upside down to be a flat cake plate when the domed lid is also inverted. it can also be covered with the domed lid with the divided tray as it is in the picture. Since I got it, it has been a fruit bowl, a cookie/brownie tray, candy bowl, and during the glorious days of summer, tomato bowl. Hasnt been either a cake stand or punch bowl yet, go figure.

In the bowl are faux punkies, I was disappointed when one of my real ones got moldy already this year, thats never happended to me before, usually they last from beginning of September through Thanksgiving. So after Halloween, I snagged a bunch of these little moldless punkies and gourds for .75 each on clearance. They will pay for themselves next year when I don't buy real ones. There are more of those non-wedding flowers in there too. And of course, underneith, some candy, not Halloween candy, just candy, I am pregnant with a sweet tooth. This would great with a bowl of red apples, silk flowers and leaves too.

Under the bowl is a faux suede placemat bought on clearance a few years ago for $1. I have more of them in other places in the house.

COST $6 for the faux punkies, everything else was from before.

This is actually the back/top of my bedroom armoirs, covered in a blue bedsheet. I really like how it hides the back of the armoires from the living room (were in a loft, remember). I also gives a "wall"/"mantle" area for decorating. The daisy picture(free at a yardsale, $10 walmart poster frame) is hanging by a chain (hidden by the scarecrow pik) and a 3M command hook from the other side. I love the little dangly leg guys in the middle. They make me happy every year.

COST: $0, I already had everything from previous years. The scarecrow pik was, I think, $0.25 on clearance. The little dangly leg guys were under $1 each, also on clearance, The candles were in a set with 3 small ones also for, I think, $3 on sale.

BTW, The picture frame was this:
but it was out of place with all the other fall decor, so with some handy Scotch Double sided tape, a leftover wedding flower ripped from its stem, and some silk leaves it became this (temporarily):

Happy Fall!
Im linking to: It's A Blog Party's Days of Thanksgiving Holiday Party and Cottage Instincts Make it for Monday

Boo!

2011-10-20T00:26:00.000-07:00

My amazing mom friend and her son made some adorable Halloween cards to mail out, I stole this idea from her.

First, I put Ellie in our travel high chair up on the counter so her feetsies would be accessable, then I distracted her with peahes.

Using white acrylic paint on a paper plate, I stepped her foot in it and onto black cards.

after all the black cards were stamped, I stamped a bunch of times onto some black card stock I had bought as back up in case her foot didnt cooperate on the other cards.

Then, I realized, I DO have some googly eyes in my craft room! Hot glue + tweezers + ghost shape = scarey googly eyes. I used a sharpie for the mouth.

For the inside, I printed out a family photo and a message onto white card stock and wallet sized pics of just Ellie. I stamped on the "Happy Halloween" part to add something different. The card was glued to the inside of the card, the wallet was just slipped inside.

I learned that clear stamps can work with the acrylic paint, just have to dab gently and do a lot of tests, and not worry if it doesnt look perfect. I used the same BOO stamp with both the white paint on black and black ink on orange.

After doing the 20 cards that I bought pre cut/folded with envelopes, I realized that I needed more cards to mail out. I took the extra foot prints and some leftover orange cardstock from wedding crafts and made up a bunch more.

Happy Haunting!

clever title so you read this blog post (cricut giveaway, scentsy giveaway, babywearing discount)

2011-08-20T02:05:00.000-07:00

Something tragic happened to some friends of mine. Everything they owned was completely destroyed in a housefire. The home was shared by a set of twin sisters, their Nicks (both Nick, both in Coastguard), and their young boys. See more HERE (prepare for some tears)

Imagine what you would do, could do, if something like this happened to you. Do what you can to prepare. Get a firesafe. Test your smoke alarms. Hug your children. Imagine how grateful you would be for any and all help.

Their mom, fellow blogger At The Paper Midwife, is matching proceeds from a Scentsy party and entering orders there in a contest to win Scentsy money. Click Here for more info.

She is also accepting donations (via Paypal) in exchange for entries to win a Cricut Imagine and a bunch of extras to go with it. See Cricut contest HERE (scroll down past Scentsy stuff)

Please, donate for the shear contest reason, the good of it, for self gratification, whatever your reason, please. (see the first link above for non-monetary ways to help)

Last but not least, BABY WEARING MAMAS:

From August 10th through the 30th, ComfyJoey.com will be offering 15% off all orders with coupon code KORI. The 15% you save is the same amount Comfy Joey will match with a monetary donation to Kori and her family and also match it with a Comfy Joey GIFT VOUCHER to help Kori replace her lost baby carriers. Get a gorgeous sling at a discount and help a beautiful babywearing family rebuild their lives.

Wear your babies and treasure every moment. We would appreciate all effort in spreading word about these fundraisers and promoting them among your friends.

Feel free to post on blogs, FB pages and different forums.

PLEASE SHARE and help spread the word

Thank you!

So you're thinking about breastfeeding...

2011-08-04T23:59:00.000-07:00

, it's really is the best choice. This is just a quick letter, written to pregnant Jane Doe, it is not intended to replace medical advice or be a complete article of information, just a start.

The first thing to do, decide you will breastfeed, not "try to" breastfeed. Medically, a very small % of women cannot physically breastfeed. The reason many woman think they cannot is a lack of support or misinformation.

There are lots of "Booby Traps" out there that make breastfeeding more difficult, nursing in public is one of them. Its really not a big deal, I have never had even the slightest negative response about breastfeeding and I rarely use a cover/blanket. The trick is to wear the right clothes, long, loose tops can drape over baby's head for latching and over baby's nose to cover as much skin as possible. A combo of a nursing tank (access from the top) paired with a tshirt (access from the bottom) gives great coverage. Also, position yourself in a place with less traffic or where the angel is right. I ask for a restaurant table in the corner away from other diners "in case the baby fussed" so nursing wouldnt be a big deal.

I highly reccommend the My Brestfriend Pillow, makes holding baby a lot easier, and save your back. It's much better than the Boppy because it buckles in place so the baby doesn't slip down.

The best way to ensure success is to educate yourself, take a class, go to LLL meetings, a breastfeeding support group at the hospital or WIC.

Most moms complain that their nursing relationship was ruined at the beginning. Immediately after birth, have them place baby on your bare chest, let her find her way to your breast. Babies will often do what is called the "breastcrawl" you can google youtube videos to see it, it is amazing. The little bumps around on your areola are called Montgomery glands and the make your nipple smell like amniotic fluid. They also excrete a lubrication that helps prevent dry cracked nipples, its a good idea not to wash your nipples with soap, just rinse off. If you noticed your nipples getting darker throughout pregnancy, its so baby can see them better. Just more evidence that babies are designed to breastfeed and your body is designed to nurture after birth just as it did before.

Absolutely refuse bottles and binkies in the hospital. A sign like this can make sure all nurses and CNA's know your wishes. In the hospital is where many moms make a mistake. They are in love, and afraid of any little thing hurting their baby. They will do anything to protect them. They listen to doctors and nurses, who are not properly educated or supportive of breastfeeding. They may think they don't produce milk because it can take up to a week before your milk "comes in" really though, you have milk, it's a thicker ultra concentrated Colostrum which is super mega perfect chalked full of nutrients and very strong antibodies. It is all your baby needs. Her tummy is the size of a marble, she won't starve. Most babies arent hungry right away anyways, remember, they have never eaten before so they dont think they are missing something. It's normal for newborns to drop about 10% of their weight shortly after birth. Don't worry, most is the meconium, the dark sticky poop that was sitting up in their gut before birth. Just give her time, she will put the weight back on.

Plan to see a lactation consultant while you're still in the hospital, even if things seem fine.
If she loses more than the 10% of her weight and you want to supplement, you should be able to rent a pump at the hospital or from WIC. Don't use a bottle though, use a supplemental nursing system (SNS) a medicine dropper or syringe right at your breast to supplement. This prevents nipple confusion or preference as bottles are much easier to drink from than breast. The nursing motion that gets the milk out is great for oral development.

Understand that the pump is NOT as good at getting milk out as the baby is. I say this for 2 reasons. Moms sometimes pump, dont get much out and then worry that the baby isnt getting enough. A better indicator that the baby is getting enough is by counting wet and poopy diapers. Also, I suggest seeing a lactation consultant a few days and a week after the baby is born. She can weigh the baby before and after feeds to see how much she is getting. The 2nd reason is that if you plan to just pump, realize it is A LOT more work than direct feeding. Moms who pump have to do so about twice as often, as the pump isnt as good at keeping supply up. Milk supply happens on demand, the more milk that is removed from the breast the more milk the breast will make.

After coming home, plan to nurse constantly for like a week or so, it's perfectly normal for baby to need to nurse almost constantly, this sounds daunting, but it is a great excuse to continue to rest, as you both need it. Don't let anyone say "she can't be hungry again" because she very likely is. Breastmilk digests very quickly, within about 2 hours. Nursing on demand (whenever she fusses) helps establish your supply. If a baby gets so hungry that she cries, it will be much harder to get her to latch on correctly. Crying is a late hunger cue, fussing, rooting, turning her mouth to the side, sucking her lip, fingers or anything else at her mouth are earlier hunger signs.

Another Booby Trap is other people wanting to feed baby. They have been conditioned by a society where formula is the norm, and that holding a bottle in a baby's mouth is a beautiful thing. They might suggest pumping, or giving "just 1 bottle". That's a slippery slope as it messes with your supply. It doesnt really "give you a break" when you give pumped bottles because you will likely have to pump twice as long as the baby would nurse. Other people's desires are not more important than your baby's needs. They can snuggle, change diapers, do laundry, bring you the baby, talk or read stories to baby while you nurse and not, bring you food and drink, there are lots of non-feeding ways to help out and to bond. If you experience supply issues for one reason or another, there are herbs and foods you can take to boost supply, there are medications that help also. My new treat is Lactation cookies, they have multiple milk boosting ingredients, and are good for you too!.

Something that has really helped our breastfeeding relationship is cosleeping. This isnt right for everyone, and there are differnt options for different situations. At first I didn't intend on having her in our bed with us, but instead had a bassinet next to my side of the bed, but after having my daughter I learned it was much easier to have her sleep with me. It just felt right to hold her. My husband was concerned with safety, as co-sleeping has gotten negative publicity. It felt right, and safe to me though, so I researched and less than 2% of infant sleeping deaths occur while in a parents' bed. (the rest of them are in cribs and bassinets etc) The info about the danger is usually published by consumer agencies who want you to spend $ on cribs and bassinets! If you're more comfortable, put a bassinet or crib with the side down right next to your bed so you don't have to get up.
My daughter and I get plenty of sleep, she barely wakes up when she needs fed, just squirms and grumbles a bit, I pull out my breast, adjust if necessary and she can eat, often times, we both fall right back to sleep. If she were in a crib in another room or even across the room shed have to fuss quite a bit to wake me up, I'd have to get outta bed, go get her, stay awake while nursing and put her back to bed, then go to my own bed and settle back down. I am a much better mom because I get plenty of sleep, she is very secure and rarely cries.

You will likely get lots of coupons, literature and free samples of formula, before you even have your baby, toss the junk mail in the recycling, and donate formula to a women's shelter or food bank, you won't need it. (if you end up really needing it, you can get a new can, or get WIC. If you get bottles, binkies, formula portioning cups, or anything for bottle feeding at your baby shower, return/exchange them for nursing bras, easy access shirts, bra pads or anything else your baby needs.

You may hear about mastitis or thrush, they are infections that sometimes happen to breastfeeding moms/babies it's nothing to stress over, it doesn't happen as often as you hear about because women who don't get sick don't post questions or complaints about being perfectly healthy. The worry about you getting sick is not reason to not breastfeed because the antibodies only found in breastmilk keep your baby healthy.

About binkies. You might hear that breastfed babies should have a binky because they like to suck for comfort. Yes, the motion of sucking does comfort many babies, not just breastfed babies. At first though, your baby should suckle on you, it is ok, and good for both of you for you to be "a human pacifier" (kind of a backwards phrase really, since breasts came first. it should be the NUK is a "plastic nipple"). Or you may hear that binkies help with their ability to suck, this is only the case of preemie babies. Babies dont only suck, they use their tongue to rub the milk out, sucking is secondary. Giving a binky too soon could mess with your baby's latch and with supply. All of the comfort sucking tells your breasts to make more milk, a very good thing. I didn't want to give my daughter a binky but she was one of those babies who really NEEDS to suck for comfort. She would get frustrated when she would get milk when she wasn't hungry. At 1 month old, we gave her a binky. We didn't have any supply issues so we weren't too concerned, I try to offer my breast whenever possible, until she gets frustrated. Some moms chose a binky because they need to have a break from the baby, and want others to be able to help the baby sooth/fall asleep. This can help save your sanity and help you continues breastfeeding through rough times, like colic or teething. As with anything, get to know your situation before deciding for or against something.

"Is is painful?" No, not in relation to anything else in life. At first, as you are both learning, you might have some nipple pain, this means that something isnt right, this is why seeing a Lactation Consultant is a really good idea. If your tooth hurt, you would see a dentist, if your heart hurt, you would see a cardiologist, etc. Breastfeeding is natural, but so is walking and that usually takes practice and guidance. Grinning and bearing it wont do anyone any good, if the baby's latch isnt right, they may not get enough milk, or they may swallow air, causing gas & gas pain. Books, classes, youtube videos and blogs can give you images and information on how a correct latch would look, but a lactation consultant can give you one on one help. It is normal and good for you to cramp, like period cramps, for about a week while nursing sometimes. Breastfeeding releases oxytocin, which is the same hormone that triggers contractions in labor, after birth, the cramping is your uterus retracting back to prepregnancy size, this is important because it slows bleeding and helps with recovery. Another thing that might hurt a bit, is "let down" babies nurse fast and hard at first when they latch, this gets the milk flowing, then they slow down when the milk is flowing and have long even draws of milk. You might feel a cramp in your breast, for me, it was the opposite breast, while nursing, it lasts maybe 10 seconds and is no big deal, it just reminded me to make sure that I had a bra pad or wash cloth to absorb leaks. I would occassionally remind myself that this 10 seconds occassionally is much better than washing and sanitizing bottles! Do not worry if you dont feel "let down" some moms don't, that doesnt mean you dont have milk flowing.

Engorgement can hurt too, when your milk "comes in" a few days after birth, your breasts can be very full, this can hurt, it can also be harder for the baby to latch on, imagine latching on to a basket ball. It is not a good idea to pump, pumping + feeding will tell your body to make more milk causing even more supply. The exception is if you are going to have to pump for work shortly after birth, then pump and store the milk in the freezer. To alleviate the engorgement, hand express just enough to soften and then let the baby do the rest, I had to hold my breast into a smaller shape near the nipple so she could get a good latch, it gets better, and not nursing, it would be much worse.

I am not a doctor, I am not a lactation consultant (yet), this was not inteded to be the only place you find information, just a introduction letter. Breastfeeding, for me has been one of the most empowering choices and enjoyable times I have with my daughter. No mom ever regretted breastfeeding, yet many many moms regret NOT breastfeeding, or weaning before time. You CAN breastfeed.

If thinking of nursing your baby full term overwhelms you, check out this article If You Nurse Your Baby
If you love Facebook, find http://www.facebook.com/#!/TheLeakyBoobthere are tons of great moms available for quick questions, deep support or just a high five.
If you think formula is just as good as breastmilk, read this article.

Why I suggest nursing discreetly.

2011-08-01T02:07:00.000-07:00

I have a common goal with Admin of the Facebook page Breastfeeding Basics and creator of http://www.breastfeedingbasics.com/ Anne Smith IBCLC to normalize breastfeeding. She recently posted requesting that moms nurse discreetly. Not what you would expect from an LC passionate about breastfeeding. She was inspired to make the request after reading a slew of negative comments following a news story about a mom nursing in public. I will not repeat those comments as that would be counter productive to my goal. She made a great point and I agree. People have some strong, disgusting, twisted views on breastfeeding, and they arent afraid to try to pass those views onto others. Many people are just embarrassed, not hateful or angry, and rightfully so thanks to the oversexualization of breasts nowadays.

Nursing discreetly helps to normalize breastfeeding in a slow, gentle way. "we don't need to give these people any more fodder to feed on."

I agree completely. I have gone back and forth with using a cover, not for my own comfort, but because I had this thought awhile back. I don't want to be fuel in a negative firestorm.

I have seen moms say, "do what you and you're baby are comfortable with." Problem with that is, I'm not very modest at all and am rarely uncomfortable while exposed (breastfeeding or not), I'm just a laid back and comfortable in my naked skin. That's not however, the impression I want to give while breastfeeding. If not caring how much skin I show, or the occasional 1.2 millisecond nipple flash would normalize breastfeeding, then I would go about my business. However, society won't change it's collective mind about BFing as long as they have fuel for negative thoughts, comments and examples all the time.

(that stupid drunk driver BFing mom spraying the cop with milk has gotten much more publicity than the military mom who pumps milk to send home from Afghanistan.)

What society needs is to see happy breastfed babies, hear stories of how well breastfeeding has helped a premie, hear that well educated, strong parents breastfeed full term. They need to see moms breastfeeding, but in a so-called respectful way (it's society that thinks NIP uncovered is disrespectful, not me). Moms to be, and new moms, need to see only positive publicity surrounding breastfeeding, not how a woman feeding her child was harassed. They need to see and hear about breastfeeding more often than they see formula or bottles. Teenage girls need to see how much easier it is, and happier mom and baby are, not that they cannot go anywhere out of fear of offending someone, or being embarrassed.
I see many variations of the comment "it's just a boob, that is what it was put there for" frequently, or, "they're for feeding babies, not sexual fantasies" biologically, naturally speaking, this is very true. Society however won't stop seeing breasts in a sexual light. No matter now many moms nurse, that fact won't change. Seeing breast skin, areola, and nipple in a feeding context won't change the deeply ingrained fact that breasts are sexual part of the body. We can only help to separate the feeding breast from the sexual breast by normalizing breastfeeding and complying with society's desire to not see much skin.
We cannot change the minds of wacked out twisted sickos out there, but we can blanket breastfeeding in a positive, beautiful light. Hopefully washing out the negativity with the positive.

I am by no means suggesting we move to the bathroom, or stay home for 2-7 years if we nurse full term. I'm agreeing with Anne, do what you can, within reason, to show that breastfeeding is normal, and that breastfeeding moms cannot be compared to sluts at mardi gras.

She gave some examples on how to nurse discreetly. I give similar tips often on Internet support group pages often. Chose location wisely, a table, bench, shady tree, etc with low traffic flow, or that gives the least amount of people a direct viewing angle. Use the excuse "in case the baby fusses" when asking for restaurant seating off to the corner. You can use a super lightweight silky scarf to cover just a bit. Or turn away or cover only while latching. Lift your shirt to gain access from the bottom rather than the top, or layer a bottom-access blouse with a top access tank, so belly/side skin aren't exposed.

I don't intend on hiding, I enjoy knowing that when feeding my babe in public, others will see that it is normal, accepted, and no big deal. I will however try to see things from their point of view, they see probably, an uncountable number of sexual breast references for every 1 feeding reference. I can't blame people for being shy, or ill-informed. Embarrassing them, or giving them gossip for later won't do the cause any good.

I haven't forgotten about the Craft Room Overhaul

2011-08-01T02:03:00.000-07:00

I just, you know, had a baby n stuff. And by "n stuff, I literally mean stuff, that darn room has been a nasty catch all.

I've worked in there a few times since I last posted, but I was mainly just keeping afloat in there.

Recently, my in-laws have decided to apply for a new kind of home loan to lower interest rates. Part if the process is an appraisal. So for the last few days and next week or so, we are working hard to clean up.

I'm very happy to have the motivation, and happy the rest of my family does to, as my craft room isn't the only hot mess on the propert we share with the business and my in-laws.

I didnt take a recent before pic, but it's about the same as before, perhaps just a little different, same amount of stuff, just as disorganized.

Here are some current (still in progress) pics:

Ive Missed You Blog

2011-07-12T15:09:00.000-07:00

I have been blogging for Ellie a few days a week, and I had been blogging my dieting (although fell off the wagon recently) but I have ignored this blog since Ellie was born. I want to get back into organizing our home, working on projects and sharing my house life. I find that I put off doing a project until minimum cleaning is done, and its a bore to blog about. I havent gotten to many projects around the house. We have a busy summer and I know Ive gotta stay on top of the cleaning to prevent chaos. We just got home from camping and I am motivated to get back on track!
Im getting up from the computer now, gonna go switch the laundry and then clean the kitchen!

quick 34 min cleaning session

2011-06-03T12:52:00.000-07:00

I was sitting on the couch on motheringdotcom and saw a forum about quick 10-15 minute clean ups, Ellie was in a good mood, so I put her in her Bumbo (best invention ever btw) and got to work, I was able to work for 34 minutes before she was done watching me.

the bathroom:

I hung the baby bath tub behind the door, where it is usually, the mesh insert has a little loop and it had been peed on, and wasnt back together after being cleaned. We dont actually use the tub for bathing, because she prefers to shower with us, but we lay her in it while we wash up, then reach out of the shower to get her, then put her back in it after we wash her up, she is usually quite content to lay in it all bundled in a towel while I dry off and stuff.

the plastic container box on the counter is for all the extra toothpastes and toothbrushes, i put a lable on it finally and put it in the bathroom cabinet.

The kitchen:

yes that is a toilet seat on my kitchen counter, that counter just attracts stuff like crazy! (its a new one, that has a toddler insert, better than an removable ring thingy) not even a year ago there was a toilet on that counter!
(during construction, 8/12/2010)

You can see that I decluttered the fridge again.

Ellie was done watching mommy clean house, and hungry so i fed her and put her down for a nap, had some lunch and now im going to tackle the rest of the house! except the office, that aint happening.

more updates to come, hopefully!

The organizing returns! Ellie's Book Case

2011-05-24T20:46:00.000-07:00

I have been away from organizing for a while. I have been blogging occasionally on my weight loss blog and my blog for Ellie, but I missed the household stuff blogging. Here is a quick organization that I did in like half an hour.

My hubby brought some children's books he had collected over the years up from storage. And put them on the.kitchen.counter.

And they stayed there for like a week.

After contemplating putting them in the craft room/office, I decided if we wanted access to them, I'd better not.
I had considered moving the video game stuff on this book case:

(You can see the organization inside those boxes here)
into the drawer under the tv, (currently just a bunch of junk)

The boxes they were in looked nice on the shelf, it seemed like a shame to put them in a drawer, I decided though, that I needed to get the books off my counter, and under the TV was a logical place for the games and accesories.
I emptied the drawer, the junk was relocated (mostly to the junk drawer below it)

and put the play station and Wii stuff in the drawer,

and because they fit and needed a new home, Ellie's baby DVDs.

The books moved to the newfound space on the book shelf. Also I found that wooden picture frame on the shelf from our wedding (in October) and put a picture in it (was also on that shelf)

and my counter was clean! (for the time being anyway)

some other books moved off of a dresser in the bedroom to this shelf too, opening up space for some items that had been just floating.

I have missed blogging and have been working in the craft room, but havent been taking pics (bad blogger! shame on me!) but I intend on posting some updated pics soon!

My Other Blog

2011-04-04T10:58:00.001-07:00

When I started blogging I decided to have a separate blog for my weight loss journey, to chronicle my days, and give myself something to look back when I get to my goal. Hopefully it can be inspirational to others also.

I don't have any followers though, so no one to cheer me on, give me tips or just hear what I say. So, if you're interested check out

http://nicyndi.blogspot.com/

If you're dieting, and want a virtual diet buddy, let me know.

Cloth Diapering

2011-03-27T15:04:00.000-07:00

a couple years ago i learned that cloth diapering nowadays is not like i remember when my kid brother (who now is expecting his 2nd child) was in them and i would occasionnaly change him 20 years ago.

image credit

I decided I would cloth diaper my babies, for 3 reasons, to lower our impact on the earth that my babies would be residing in for the better part of a century, reduce the amount of chemicals touching their tushies and I would rather save money for braces or college or a beach house. cost comparison article

I decided to blog about cloth diapering because i dont tend to blog about being green or being frugal, even though i try to be both.

I was very overwhelmed when i began researching cloth diapering i read a bunch of cloth diapering 101 type blog posts and articles like this one . There are bunches of well written articles to help new cloth mamas like this one, so Im not going to try to write a how-to on cloth diapering, im just going to chronicle my adventures.

Although I got a decent idea about what is available and what i wanted, I still had a hard time committing to one kind. My mother-in-law offered to pay for cloth diapering service for a couple months, i decided to look at what kinds of diapers they use so that if i decide to contine cloth diapering, doing my own laundry, id already know what i was doing and would have the supplies needed. Turns out the diaper service provides prefolds and sells covers

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(an alternative to oldschool rubber pants) and snappis(alternative to safety pins)

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through their website so thats where i started making decisions.

I googled cloth diaper cover reviews and found this site.

I contacted the diaper service to start delivery and they informed me they dont service outside city limits where we live. I was ok with this because from the beginning I thought that paying for the service might counter the cost saving aspect of cloth diapering but my mother in law had insisted, and diaper service was just about the same price as the chlorine free disposable diapers that I wanted if i had to go with 'sposies. My mother-in-law offered to pay for the starter diapers that we needed instead of the service, this is the best gift ever, like offering to buy diapers for the next year. We had bought a couple packages of prefolds on sale, buy one get one half off from toys r us with a 10% off everything coupon. I was going to order from the diaper service company, but I found Little For Now because I needed a diaper pail liner also. They offered a $10 off $50 purchase coupon for signing up for their newsletter so I looked at the diaper covers, they were comprable priced to the diaper service but they had some decent packages. We ordered 2 packages, a starter package and a big package we also bought a pail liner and a huge box of detergent.

Im really excited to get the diapers in the mail and start cloth diapering. I primed the prefolds we got at toys r us. and set up space for the cloth diapers on the changing table shelves.

{since starting this post, we have received the diapers and been using them for about a week.}

The cloth diapers are just as easy to use as disposables, just tiny extra steps of lining the diaper up inside the cover and checking to make sure its not poking out along the leg holes or the back and its all done. I dont use the Snappi, its not nessesary with the covers, I got one, with the starter package, and can use it if i feel the need, like in the summer if i want her to go without her cover outside or something.

Washing the extra few loads of laundry isnt a big deal, its just part of being Ellie's mom. I read lots of information on washing diapers, most people wash them seperate from other laundry, for obvious reasons, I wash the diapers often and we have a decent sized washer, so I wanted a way to conserve water other than waiting a week to wash. So I do an express wash (without soap or spin) of just the diapers then add the rest of her clothes and do a regular wash with extra rinse. I have noticed that the poopy leg gussets of the Thirsties arent getting cleaned in the regular wash with the small amount of Country Save detergent, so last time, I pulled the stained cover out after the express wash, rubbed a bit of Oxyclean on the spot, threw it back in with the regular clothes and the stain came out just fine. I dont have to handle the poopy diaper by waiting until after the express wash to address the spot.

Prefolds go in the dryer (on sunny days, I will hang dry the diapers) covers are air dried.

I found a good deal on a bunch of OS (one sized) pocket diapers.

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Mikey finds them easier to use because i pre-stuff the pockets. I have noticed that Ellie doesnt ask for her diaper to be changed when wearing the pocket diaper because of the stay dry liner that seperates the soaked diaper from her bum. This will be nice for longer timeframes between changes. I will still default to use the prefolds with the covers most of the time, because the entire pocket diapers need to be washed after each use, while i can re-use the Thirsties covers and just change the prefold each time, until she poops (which usually gets on the cover).

A new benefit of cloth diapering has came up since starting.

Ellie asks for her diaper to be changed. She rarely did that before, with 'sposies. I like this because I believe it will help with trust building, just like her fussing when she is hungry tells me to feed her, feeding her lets her know Im taking care of her needs. Her Daddy can give her something she needs and asks for now. Also, I like that Im reminded when she needs a diaper change.

If you have any questions about cloth diapering, let me know, im not an expert, but ive done tons of research.

Best Valentine's Day Ever

2011-03-22T20:05:00.000-07:00

I miss blogging. But without thinking about it, I took a maternity leave from it to adjust to motherhood. It occurred to me that life, home, hobbies, etc dont pause whenever convenient. Our lives have been nonstop since, well always. I will be getting back into the swing of things. There are a couple awesome challenges going on currently that I wanna jump in on. Although I haven't been blogging, I've been reading blogs thanks to google reader on my phone.

At the end of January, my father-in-law Mike went into the emergency room with shortness of breath and back pain. A week later he ended up getting triple bypass surgery. We asked Ellie to wait to be born until after her grandpa was home recovering, at least. He was released to a skilled nursing/rehab place Saturday night, the 12th. The place was a wreck and he refused to even stay the night. (they had him checked in under his brothers name, didn't have his meds, still hadn't made his bed 4 hours after he arrived and the nursing staff wad fighting with management.) So even though he still had a hard recovery road ahead of him and our baby was due anytime, he came home. My mother in law Connie was able to take a bunch of time off work and my husband works from home and I'm not working so we knew we could handle him.

As requested, Ellie waited until her grandpa was home, we didn't need family in 2 hospitals in 2 towns. We spent Sunday the 13th of february with Mike down at the house (we live on the same property) Mikey had gone up to work in the shop when at 11:20 pm I decided to go home. I stood up and my water broke!
Connie called Mikey as I waddled to the bathroom to get a towel. He came down to walk me up to the loft. We finished packing and drove to the hospital.

I had always known I would strive for a natural birth. The documentary The Business of Being Born only solidified my views on birth. We read bunches of books and planned out how I thought I wanted things to go. We kept an open mind about everything since "life is what happens when your busy making other plans" we learned different laboring positions, relaxation techniques, and breathing excersises at childbirth class.
We packed all kinds of distractions and massage tools.

I hadn't had any contractions until we had gotten in the car and they were 3 minutes apart. They were consistent as we got checked in and settled into our labor and delivery room.

I had planned to stay up and moving around to help ease pain/ distract myself and help things moving thanks to gravity. On our way in it occurred to me that it was late, I was going to go up to bed before my water broke. I was concerned that I would get tired out so I decided to start off resting between contractions before they got too bad. Things became a blur soon after we were settled. Magically I was able to actually sleep, unmedicated between many of the contractions. I spent a lot of time in the jacuzzi it was the most helpful. I also enjoyed kneeling on the couch/bed under the window, looking out at Mill Creek in the night time. We didn't use any of the distractions or massage aides we'd brought.

My midwife arrived and we decided to not bother checking my cervix until we thought I was much closer, based on pain and pressure changes.

At one point I felt strong urges to push and it felt like the contractions jumped up a few notches. The midwife checked me and I was 8cm. I'm not sure how much time passed, less than 45 minutes I think, I stayed in bed so the nurse could monitor Ellie's heartrate. She got concerned and put me on oxygen. The midwife checked me and said I was ready to start pushing, less than 7 hours from my water breaking. I couldn't believe it had been 7 hours it didn't feel like it had been that long. I was thrilled though. I was worried about a long drawn out exhausting 19 hour labor. I started pushing. About 5 or 6 contractions later I had my daughter on my chest!

I had read about delaying cord clamping and the midwife showed Mikey how to feel for blood pumping through the cord and when it had finished, she clamped it and he cut the cord. There is no medical reason for the cord to be clamped immediately it just became part of standard procedure for most OBs as they rush through the after birth stuff. Studies found that delaying clamping the cord can prevent anemia for up to 6 months.

We had thought it would be neat for Mikey to catch Ellie but she was so quick, and our midwife had to do a quick somersault with Ellie to get her cord untwisted.

We cried. She was all wiped off and started breastfeeding right away. We snuggled and rested and gazed and loved eachother for a couple hours before we were moved up to the mother/baby room. We got settled and nursed a bit more and napped.

We were so proud to have gone all natural and I'm sure our birth wad so perfect because we allowed my body to do all the work, uninterrupted.

She and I got pretty good at breastfeeding, had a little. Problem with latch on one side but we stuck it out. 5 days later we met with a lactation nurse at our pediatrician office to get some tips and have her weight checked. She wasn't concerned with our progress so far and eased some concerns we had. A few days later we had another appointment and the lactation nurse decided we didn't need her, we were old pros by that point.

At her 2 week check up, she had gained a pound and 1 3/4 inches.

Miss Ellie is 5 weeks yesterday. I still get lost in her face at times.

We have had some rough nights with her colic but were learning and adjusting. We tried mylicon drops, they didn't help at all. I'm currently avoiding dairy to see if that is bothering her.
We are going to start cloth diapering soon. I ordered some diapers today finally. I'll be blogging about that I'm sure.

6 credit cards down, 4 to go!

2011-03-03T11:13:00.000-08:00

i know i havent posted in a while... i had a baby! more on that later
i have only turned on my computer 2 times in the last 18 days... to pay bills. Im proud to say ive just paid off the 6th credit card this year! I will be losing my unemployment income so my husband and i set out to lower our monthly minimum bills for when that happened. I listed out all of my credit cards and found out their interest rates and promotional periods and made a plan using the rest of my unemployment income and part of hubby's salary to get the cards paid off using a modified snowball plan. We had a couple promotional balances on our Home Depot card from constructing the loft. That was the first to be paid, even though it wasnt the he lowest balance because we wanted to avoid interest that was set to hit soon. Then we focused on the lowest balance cards next with the exception of another card with promotional period ending in july. each month i poured as much of our budget as possible to the debt and now i am down to 4 big cards, Best Buy is set to be paid before it's promo period is up next year.

the idea behind the snowball is that as a debt is paid off the money in the budget that was being used to pay that minimum can be allocated to the next debt.

in january, I looked at my expected income for the next few months and outlined how much $ would be paid to each debt each week. I kept in mind misc $ for whatever wasnt in the budget.

anyway... baby needs me be back later!

ETA
today, 3/23/11 I paid off yet another card. I was excited to see that the final balace was smaller than i had calculated so i was able to swing it with this paycheck!
I only get 1 more unemployment check next week, so my debt snowball pay off is going to slow down but now that we have cut back how many minimums we have overall, we have freed up some money to really make headway on the final cards.
YAY ME!

so much to do so little time, to blog.

2011-02-04T10:08:00.000-08:00

life has been kinda hectic lately. Months ago, we decided that aside from Super Bowl and Daytona 500 we wouldnt plan ANYTHING for the last month of the pregnancy. But as John Lennon tried to tell us, life is what happens when youre busy making other plans.

What has kept me so busy?

Saturday I threw a surprise Grandma Shower for my mother-in-law since Ellie will be her first grandbaby. It was a huge success. Grandma Connie was very surprised. We played some fun games and had some yummy snacks. Guests showered her with attention, celebration and love, oh and some gifts too. We were concerned with the guest of honor's ability to attend though, when the grandpa-to-be went into the hospital the night before. But my husband came to the rescue and convinced her that she didnt need to sit by grandpa's side for a few hours, she thought that the shower was a regular baby shower for me, and that id understand if she missed it or was late. She was very surprised and tickled pink at the idea that the party was for HER.

My father-in-law Mike has had issues with his health for a long time now. Never had a heart attack though, an arrhythmia, a stroke, half his foot amputated due to diabetes, got over pneumonia and strep/sepsis last November. He had some trouble breathing and back pain on Friday night the 28th and went in to get checked out. The DRs thought he was either at the beginning of a big heart attack or that he had already had several small ones. He was at the hospital in town for a couple days, had an issue with his medications and the doctor decided he probably needed an angiogram. There had been talk about a pacemaker or defibrillator at his doctor appointment about a week before all this happened. His insurance wanted him transfered to their medical center about an hour away. After the transfer he was doing well, just going through more testing. Then one of the medicines needed for some of the testing was caught in a blizzard back east, so they decided to do the angieogram instead. That happened yesterday early afternoon. The cardiologist says he has several extremely blocked pathways in his heart. one about 80% blocked another about 90% and another completely blocked. There was some concern that a big chunk of his heart was dead though and that was not the case, so it was actually one of those the good news is bad news kinda things. Coincidentally, the cardiologists meet weekly, on Thursday afternoons, about an hour after the angiogram was complete, so his Dr took his case to the conference to discuss his treatment plan. It was decided to do bypass surgery. Up to 5 ways. That will probably happen on Monday.

So Friday was getting ready for the Grandma Shower, then dog sat Annie since Connie and Big Mike were at the hospital. Its usually a chore to dog-sit her because she doesn't like when mom and dad aren't home, and its more work to let her out to pee, because our yard isn't fenced and we don't have a dog line set up like they do at their house, so we have to walk her out each time, and it has been sooo cold here lately, no snow thank goodness, just cold.

Saturday was the grandma shower and after we visited at the hospital.

Sunday was my actual baby shower. That day was beautiful, cold, but the sun was shining and I was in a great mood. This is what I saw when I went to let Annie out:

This is the view from our deck, yes we still have Christmas lights up, but to our defense, they've been there since the wedding, in October. Not sure how that is a defense....

Anyway, Annie and I enjoyed a lovely walk around the property enjoying the sunshine and encouraging Ellie to get off my hip so I could ride comfortably into town for my shower. The walk worked and Mikey's Aunt and Grandma picked me up for my shower.

My Shower was lovely, lots of guests were very generous. Had a really great time. Instead of regular snacks or a cake, we had ice cream sundaes, so yummy. The games were fun, the people were happy, the kids were well behaved. After the shower Connie and I went in to see Mike at the hospital.

Monday was spent recovering from the long weekend, I was so drained. After going to visit Mike in the morning, he was going to be transferred to the medical center in Portland an hour away, we went home and I napped. My amazing husband kept laundry going all day. Lately I have just been doing laundry on Sundays, during the football games that I don't care about, but didn't have time or energy to that weekend. After my naps, we went to get pizza and watched a few old school Disney movies. A much needed break from the busy weekend.

Tuesday, we spent the day in Portland with my sister, we needed to go to the Baby's R Us up in Portland to get a bassinet mattress and a few other things for Ellie, needed to get my birth certificate replaced (mine is in that darn file box, someplace within about 400 cubic feet of storage, replacing it was faster and easier, and I need it to change my name now that were married) and wanted to spend time with Mike.

Wednesday we had errands to run and a midwife appointment and I was feeling pretty icky all day, crampy achy, nauseous and light headed. We came home instead of finishing our errands we came home to rest. Stephen Kings The Langoliers helped me take a nap and I was feeling much better, still achy but a bubble bath helped that.

Yesterday we found out about the angiogram, so we went right up to the hospital in Portland instead of doing the rest of the errands we skipped Wednesday. Most of the day was spent waiting. After the angiogram, Mike had to lay flat for like 6 hours and rest, so we went and did some shopping and had dinner at Gustav's a really awesome German restaurant, it was happy hour and we got some great food at like half price. Win-win, then back to the hospital to visit with Mike. Eventually, he was able to get up, so we brought Annie in from the van and she loved visiting with her "daddy". A long drive home and I was spent, crampy and achy again. Laid down in bed, and despite the bathroom trips I haven't gotten up since. Mikey was really awesome, took care of me, got me a snack, water and then snuggled and rubbed me to make me feel better.

This morning, I decided not to do ANYTHING for a few hours, Ive been missing my blog and wasn't ready to get up yet. I decided I wasn't doing ANYTHING for 2 hours.

Mikey left to go pick up some buddies of his to help get the shop set up for a UFC showing tomorrow night, and Super Bowl on Sunday. People would understand if we decided to cancel either party, but Mike loves throwing the parties so much, he wouldn't let us, it was important to him, especially the Super Bowl. Even though he wont be there, to show both on our big screen so people have a fun place to enjoy them. Our "big screen" is estimated to be about 24' x 18 or 20 '. FEET. its nuts. The building we live in is half open space and half our apartment, business office and business storage. The open shop half has a balcony/mezzanine with couches, end tables and a counter, and a projector and sound system. Here is a pic of the balcony: The open part holds old couches, end tables, buffet tables, stack chairs, and a VW Bug.

This picture kinda gives you an idea of the space. Normally the couches face the screen, in theater rows, this was Christmas, we moved the couches in a big circle around the tree. They were moved forward facing again for the BCS football game, then back in a semi-circle in the corner for the Grandma Shower. Enter the buddies, they will get the couches forward facing again, set up more buffet tables for food (last year Super Bowl we had, i think, 8 buffet tables of potluck party food for over 100 people)

Here is a bad picture of the screen: (note the VW bug "Herbie" in the pic above and below for reference points)

That was a UFC fight months ago. We show the UFC fights about 1x a month.

Aside from moving couches, tables and chairs around, I also need to get our apartment cleaned up. People dont spend much time in the aparmtne when we throw parties downstairs, but people do help me carry food down and some Super Bowl guests still havent seen the loft finished, and Id like it to be presentable, I could totally use the "sorry my house is a wreck, life has been hectic, dad's in the hospital, Im pregnant, have been dog sitting" excuse and Im sure people would be fine with that, the loft isnt THAT bad. But Miss Ellie can come any time, and Id like to NOT have the loft get bad.

In about an hour, Im going to get outta bed and clean, make a grocery list for UFC and Super Bowl food. I also need to make space in the loft for Ellie's new dresser, because the buddies will be carrying it up today when theyre done with the couches.

Although I have been doing my daily small things, I have NOT done the home management binder (but I want to) or ANYTHING with photos.

when (or IF) i get some time, I will. The great thing about enjoying organization, is that it counts for "me" time and I can justify taking the time to do it, because "me" time makes me a better mom and wife.

ORGANIZED HOME TOUR

2011-01-28T12:25:00.000-08:00

I have done quite a few organization projects in my home, I wanted a place where my followers can come to find all of them, room by room.
Here is the entire 750 sq ft (not counting the deck, attic, or game room) apartment: The dvd library/game room isnt considered part of our apartment, it is used by both us and my husband's parents. It houses our movie library, game collection and poker table.

BEDROOM: 1: Bedside drawers and my underwear drawer.
2: The bed AKA "desk" and my husband's desk
3: My Husband's drawers.
4: Our makeshift master closet.
5: The Linen Chest
6: Someday I will show you the extra storage I get under the bed.

THE LIVING ROOM:

1: Mail Box, Video Game Storage, Camera Box, Phone Accessory Box, Book Case
2: Ellie's Clothes Dresser (will show you that soon)
3: Ellie's Changing Table (will show you that soon)
4: Storage Ottomans (I might show you these eventually)
5: Dresser the TV sits on (has tons of organizing potential)
6: no more pile of junk in that corner

THE KITCHEN

1: Liquor cabinet (will share soon)
2: glass dish cabinet (will share soon)
3: Paper storage
4: Pots and Pans storage (needs some tweeking, will share soon)
5: Junk Drawer and Junk Drawer revisited
6: Silverware drawer, Ziploc drawer, linen drawer.
7: Tupperware cabinet and drawer
8: Under the Kitchen Sink
9: Lazy Susan Corner shelf, Food Cabinets
10: Spice Cabinet
11: Fridge and Front of Fridge Decluttered
12: Freezer
13: Top of fridge and small party dishes storage
14: Coat and Broom "closets"
15: awkward cabinet that hides fuse box and networking wires. (needs work will share eventually)

THE BATHROOM: 1: Laundry Storage
2: Bathroom Cabinet, Medicine & Vitamin Storage
3: Medicine Cabinet
4: Under Bathroom Sink Cleaning supplies
5: Some day I want shelving or another cabinet above the toilet.

OH THE CRAFT ROOM / OFFICE
this picture does not show the massive piles of stuff and whatnot currently in the space. Its much easier to design and organize on a software program than in a real room...

1: Pantry Wall begun, Can Rack still not assembled, Pantry wall still unfinished, Beautiful Pantry wall
2: Chest Freezer
3: Coat Rack
4: Pile of stuff which is unfortunately not invisibale in real life
5: Scrapbook Paper rack
6: Scrapbook supply shelf needs work, Scrapbook Sticker Storage
7: "Office" Desk
8: Desk Drawer with Office supplies
9: Hubby's Shelf (still empty, some of the #4 stuff goes on it)
10: New Bookcase (will house photo storage, printer, non craft stuff)
11: Gift Wrap Organization
12: Would like to move the recycling organization center in here, once the room is done.
13: Craft Room Overhaul begins and Craft Room Overhaul Continues and just for fun Earths Coolest Ceiling Fan

I will continue to add links to this list as I complete more organizing projects. In case you are wondering, the floor plans were designed using floorplanner.com a reasonably easy program to work with, completely free.

Weekly Challenge, Small Things, Photo month, My own list

2011-01-27T18:27:00.001-08:00

I love Toni at A Bowl Full of Lemons, first she scheduled a daily organizing challenge right when I started getting that late pregnancy "nesting" feeling. And now, she is keeping us going with a new weekly challenge, right when my energy levels are lower and expecting my little bun to come out of the oven in the next few weeks. Worked perfectly.

If you weren't around when she started the challenge, I would like to challenge you to join the new weekly challenge, or go ahead and tackle any of the daily challenges the rest of us worked on throughout January. You wont regret it!

Loving the idea of the daily challenge before Toni's even started, I did some blog searching and came across Home Sanctuary, where Rachel Anne inspires us to do some small thing everyday. I wasn't sure what it was all about and didn't want to commit to 2 daily things, but after following her blog for about a month, and often participating in the small thing, I decided to actually keep track of the small things I do, and rack up some points. I have found that usually the small thing is actually multiple choice of several themed small things (candy inspired, "dispenser inspired and pirate inspired to name a few), so I can chose to do one, or more, small things from a list. I like that because I can personalize it to me. Also, with a new baby, I can pick whatever small thing best fits my energy level, household needs or just fun.

In addition to the weekly challenge and the daily small thing, I have my own to-do list. I wont be stressing over it, as the last few weeks of pregnancy should be stress free and enjoyable, with my amazing husband by my side, the entire pregnancy has been pretty great. But I also want to stay motivated to do what I can, when I can to improve our living quarters both before and after we get our new little roomie.

My ever-growing sometimes shrinking list:
THE OFFICE/CRAFT ROOM this is a big one, I have done some work on it but its a big job and I was kinda stuck because I needed some more book cases, my darling husband assembled one of them last night and him and a buddy moved another one up from his old bedroom in his parents house a few days ago, so that should give me some place to put a bunch of stuff. I really need to pull stuff out of the room, to give me room to work in there, and were having company over tomorrow, so that can wait for Monday.

THE PANTRY WALL (within the office/craft room) This gets its own place on the list, because it needs doing just as much as the rest of the room.

DECORATION IN THE BATHROOM
other than the paint on the walls, the shower curtain and my little jars on the counter, the bathroom is very plain. It hasn't bothered me because I had some holiday stuff in there for fall, Christmas and now Valentine's day, but my decorations have been limited to the counter top, or hanging from the medicine cabinet door handle. I need stuff up on the walls. I think a few shelves or a closed shelf/cabinet would be great for some additional storage.

SCRAPBOOK JANUARY PAGES
I really want to stay on top of scrap booking this year, Its our first year married, Ellie is due in February and of all the scrapbooks I have made over the last few years, NONE have been for me, all were gifts. Its time to focus my paper crafting on my new little family and me.

A SYSTEM FOR PARTY SUPPLIES
we throw a lot of parties in our home theater/shop. More than 1 a month on average. Most are low-key, monthly UFC fight showings, various football games. Then there are some bigger ones, including SUPERBOWL(there is a box of decor, someplace that needs located this week), Daytona 500, Thanksgiving, Christmas etc. Our wedding was held here last October and there are plans to host my nephew's wedding in a few months as well. We have quite a few party supplies, bowls, trays, extra silverware, table clothes, mass amounts of paper products, condiments, coffee supplies, cups, coolers etc. We need a good system for storing it all so that when party time comes, we can get out trays we need for our food and when someone brings a bag of chips or something, we know right where to go for a bowl for them. We also need to know how we are doing on supplies so we don't buy a new stack of plates for each party, or run out of hot dog boats because we thought we had another package, somewhere. There is a perfect closet in the shop I would like to house a shelving system for everything, but its currently used for other stuff.

ORGANIZE THE ATTIC
our little attic holds all the long term storage for our loft, (there are other storage areas throughout the building for business and collections etc) all of our holiday decor and long term misc stuff is up there. Its KINDA organized but could use a better set up.

MEAL PLANNING
this is something that I know would benefit us, both health wise and budget wise. With our new baby, we plan on staying at home more and therefore eating at home more. We are really bad about eating out and take out, fast food and sit-down restaurants. We enjoy eating out and it has been part of our lifestyle for a long time, but it is a habit that is costing us a lot of money and makes it hard to eat healthy. I would like to set up a meal plan, including calorie counts for both of us and cost counts so we can better plan food into our budget. I have been putting off meal planning because my appetite has been so unpredictable during this pregnancy, but I'm motivated to eat healthy for breastfeeding and soon, weight loss.

ORGANIZE ELLIE'S EXTRA STUFF we have been given lots of great hand me downs, and they need sorted so that as she grows, I can easily find the next size up clothing, supplies and toys. I have pulled out all the newborn-3 month stuff, but I have a feeling shes gonna be a big baby and I will need the 3-6 stuff soon enough, currently everything past the 3 month mark is all jumbled together in a few bins. I also want a good organization system for when she grows out of stuff It can be stored for another baby a few years away.

PHOTOS
ahh yes, I know that was one of the days of the 21 day challenge this month, but I knew it would be a big job, and that I had higher priority stuff to do getting ready for baby, so I skipped it. Jen at iheart organizing is focusing on photos as her February Challenge so I will ideally, participate in that challenge as well. I really like how she broke up the PAPER storage challenge in January into managable steps. I got most of my mom's photos a few years ago, after we gave her a scrapbook for mothers day, she let me take all the rest of her pictures, so I could organize them, make digital copies and more scrapbooks with them. I would love to finish that project and give the photo boxes back to her.

I am not giving myself a time line for all of the projects, (except Ellie's bigger clothes, and the photo challenge) I will use my blog, and the above challenges to keep me motivated.

Laundry Day! Day 10

2011-01-25T22:39:00.000-08:00

I don't have a laundry room. Our loft is located in the top of a building on my in-law's property. I do laundry in the main house.

I WISH I could re-do that laundry room, (you would love the before picture) but I am certain that would offend and upset my mother-in-law(both the photo on the internet and cleaning it. I have visions of beautifying the space, dusting, decluttering, containerizing and organizing everything. I have considered braving the project when she is out of town as a welcome home surprise. Then I remember when we first lived together and my then-boyfriend said I could have a cabinet in the bathroom, so I organized under the sink, to have space to clear out said cabinet and she was very upset, not at me, at him. She was just offended and said she would have cleaned it out.
So I cannot re-do the laundry area. Only in my dreams.

Instead, I will share with you
My Laundry Routine:
I almost NEVER have piles of laundry, unfolded or folded around my house. Im not saying I keep up with the laundry, Im just saying I usually put it away right away. And I have a decent system for dirty laundry.

I carry a basket down and start/switch the laundry. If there was anything in the dryer, I fold it after starting the next load. If there was something in the washer, I move it to the dryer. Our dryer needs usually 20 extra minutes, and rather than going back up to the loft just to come back down, I waste some time in the house. I play with Annie, go through my mail, read a magazine, talk to the in-laws etc. To keep me in the laundry mood, I usually fold whatever came out of the dryer, or if there are any of my in-law's unfolded clean baskets (this doesnt seem to offend her, she will sometimes take out our laundry and fold it if I dont get to it in time) I put away what I folded if it belongs in the house, normally towels, (my MIL usually gets her clothes out right away to prevent wrinkles) I dont put away their clothes.

After about 15-20 minutes, I add time to the dryer, set an alarm on my phone and go up to the loft. As soon as I walk in, I put away any of my laundry. If Im on my last load, or if I found other things to do for 20 minutes, I will need to fold my laundry first. I DONT SIT ON THE COUCH. If I were to sit on the couch, I would probably fold the basket into piles, and then stay sitting on the couch while the piles sit around. I would lose my momentum and decide to deal with the clothes later. The stacks would get messed up, clothes would get unfolded. Instead, I take the basket directly into the room where it goes (either bathroom or bedroom). When the alarm tells me, I go switch the laundry. Sometimes we have dinner and watch TV with the in-laws on laundry day, so I switch the laundry, but dont have to go back and forth to the apartment, I simply put all the laundry away before bed that night.
In the bathroom:
Clean, unfolded laundry in basket -> folded and placed directly in towel cabinet (socks were also in this load, they got a stack on the counter)->Empty basket! The kitchen towels are also often mixed with the bathroom towels, so I make a stack for them on the bathroom counter too.
Since we roll the bath towels (makes it easy to grab one and supposedly they take up less space), its much easier to put them away after rolling than have a stack of rolled up towels that like to roll over and fall of the stack.

In the bedroom: I open the drawers, shove t-shirts, socks and underwear to the back of the drawer (straightening any that need it), to leave space up front for newly folded items, and leave the drawers partway open. I fold and hang everything, putting each item away as I go, (with the exception of my underthings, which are across the room from the rest of the clothes storage, and hoodies which hang in the coat racks, I make a pile for them on the bed, and put them away as soon as everything is folded and away).

NO PILES ON THE COUCH OR FLOOR OR TABLE!

I don't fold my sheets when I wash them. I just wash them early in the day and leave the bed naked until they're dry and make the bed with them (I get to enjoy that fresh laundry smell better this way). I do have an extra set of sheets in my linen chest, in case something comes up and I cannot finish the laundry, or whatever.

How I store dirty laundry:
I used to have mis-matched tall hampers and short baskets in both the bedroom and bathroom. When we had company over, I would hide a basket of dirty laundry in either the bathtub, the office or the bedroom. That got annoying and didnt look nice when company wasnt coming. So early this month, I had some fun money in my budget (is it sad or awesome that I bought laundry baskets with "fun" money?) and bought 2 hampers that matched one I already had. They have lids and the handles are much easier for carrying down the stairs than any of the others. They're tall, so they don't take up much real estate in my bathroom.

Feeling like I aught to do SOMETHING for Day 10's challenge, I finally made labels for the basket lids. I don't worry about keeping the baskets straight, just the lids, and they stay in the bathroom when I take the laundry down to the house. I went to Avery.com and made labels (I wrote a tutorial here)
A peel and a stick and ta-da:
I also have a hamper in the bedroom, it gets sorted into the bathroom hampers whenever its full, or on laundry day. Another small basket in our bedroom holds the clothes that we have worn but will wear again, usually just jeans, hoodies and bras.

No big awesome transformations, I wish I could give you a glimpse into my brain and all the beautiful ways I would re-do the in-laws laundry room, you would love it.

For some real life awesome Before and Afters, check out DAY 10 at A Bowl Full of Lemons

Master Closet ~ Day 19

2011-01-25T14:42:00.000-08:00

I will again tell you how we don't have any closets. At all. It was all part of the plan. Sometimes I question the plan.

To give you an idea about the layout of the loft here is a floor plan:

A close up of the bedroom:

When we planned the loft, we intended on getting some IKEA PAX wardrobe units to go along the bottom wall, from the corner to almost the door. Then perpendicular to that, an IKEA Expedit shelf to separate the bedroom from the rest of the apartment, about where the current armoirs are now. Money changed the plans a bit. The armoirs we have are actually book cases, with the shelves removed and tension shower rods in for hanging clothes. It works pretty well actually.

This challenge was easy peasy, because I purged some clothes before I moved in with Mikey about a year ago. I purged again when we moved in. Also, we really don't have more clothes than we need. Mikey is a bigger guy, so its expensive to buy clothes for him, and I just don't have the desire to own more clothes than I can wear. Having a minimalist attitude toward clothes helps me avoid hugemungous piles of dirty laundry, I HAVE to do laundry weekly, or we both run out, it works very well. It also helps that any clothes that don't fit my pregnant belly are packed in the attic.

BEFORE: I put away a load of laundry between the before and after, I purged a t-shirt that had some stubborn stains and didn't fit well anyway. I straighted up some Roy G Biv errors and moved empty hangers to the end of the rod. White Grey Black Brown came before Red in the rainbow.

Years and years ago, Oprah had some organizing pro on her show and she mentioned a really simple/big impact thing one can do in their closet to visually declutter, is to have all matching hangers. I think this is so very true. not wanting to spend any money on hangers at the time, I traded hangers with my roommate, who didn't care about visual clutter. I had started with more white green and black hangers than any others. At that time, my clothes went on black, my boyfriend's were on white and rarely worn clothes were on green. They were separated in the closet which made it really easy to see where my clothes ended and his began, and at the most buried corner, the rarely worn clothes. Since then, we broke up, he got the green and white and I bought a few more packages of black hangers.

When I moved in with my now husband, his hangers were all mismatched too, but there were bunches of white, so we traded with his parents so we could have all black and white, I liked how we could separate them in our big closet. The clothes are still on different colored hangers even though we have our own cabinets for them. I do have a few of those huggable hangers, (at the end of the rod on the right) leftover from my personalised monogrammed wedding party hangers project. I accidentally packed away too many black plastic ones when I packed away my summer/non maternity clothes, so they are being used until I get that box out.

And AFTER: Under my clothes I have a few shelves, which I quite prefer over drawers.

BEFORE and AFTER: I moved a few things around, stretchy pants were stacked with warm-up pants and sweat pants. I needed another stack for pj pants (Im pregnant, remember). I really only have 2 pair of jeans that fit(currently), one is maternity, they other is just a baggy, low-cut pair. (the rest are packed away for now) I simply take the jeans off when I am home and they drape over a laundry basket or hang in the bathroom to air out a bit, and after a few times wearing them, I do laundry. T-Shirts for around the house are on the shelf, and a sweater that I love but dont want to hang is there too. (The rest of my hoodies hang in my "coat closet") My more commonly worn shoes live on the bottom shelf. I have an under bed shoe organizer under my bed for out of season/rarely worn shoes also. I sadly had to purge about 10 pairs of heels when the Dr said I had permanent damage to my ankle and prescribed physical therapy last year. I couldnt risk messing it up worse, so now, Im stuck with flats and very low heels, wedges.

In case youre curious, the back of the "armouirs" is covered to make it more pleasant for the living room side. You can kind of see it in this old picture from my fall decor post The book cases were slightly different heights, I took the shelves and made them seem the same height from the living room side. The blue fabric is a flat sheet that used to be a curtain in a previous life. I used a command hook and leftover chain from our hanging potrack to hang a daisy poster (I got at a yardsale for free) I fully intended on this being a temporary set up, but we have realised we can live with this for as long as we need to in order to pay down debt before making the big IKEA purchases.

So nothing mind boggling here, just a simple solution to not having closets.

Im Linking to Day 19 Master Closets at A Bowl Full of Lemons

The Freezer ~ Day 11

2011-01-20T21:12:00.001-08:00

I went grocery shopping the other day, and like i usually do, I bought a big bulk package of ground turkey, to divide up into meal sizes. I cooked it up and portioned it tonight and decided enough was enough I needed to finally organize my freezers. I will try to blog this but my fingers are awfully cold!

My kitchen freezer wasn't really that bad. Because I am good at Tetris. It was packed to the brim. The chest freezer was maybe 1/4 full. Because I am good at piling stuff on top of it.

I will remain good at Tetris, thanks to my PS2, not my freezer.
I will probably always put stuff on top my chest freezer. I'm human.

Let me tell you a story about the top of a lovely chest freezer.

Once upon a time, it was covered in stuff and pantry foods. Then I needed inside, so I moved the stuff off, and put the pantry foods in a laundry basket while I got inside, the laundry basket went back on top. Then I needed to return the laundry basket to the laundry room. So everything went back on top the lovely freezer. Then I created my temporary pantry and the food was relocated. Then I was organizing the craft room and needed a surface. So it held my "OUT" box (donations and stuff that doesn't belong to me) and my "HOUSE" box (stuff that belongs at my in-law's house). Then one lovely day, I decided to finally do day 11 of the freezer challenge and had to get inside again.
The End.

Chest freezer BEFORE:
No need for organization, because it was so bare. I organized it anyway:
Meats went into baskets, one for chicken, one for pork and turkey. Another basket for veggies. Misc stuff on the edges.
Now I could add to it, since my fridge freezer was so full BEFORE:
I pulled everything out, sorting onto the kitchen counter:

I put a lot of it back, except duplicates of items, rarely used items, and less convenient food items.

The top drawer holds fruit and vegetables, and a few of the 12 cans of juice: In the front of the freezer is a great little tray, used to be full of juice concentrate, now holds items that don't want to be buried: yes those are hot sauce packets, I read somewhere, a blog probably (let me know if that was yours I'll credit you) to freeze ketchup packets as tiny ice packs for kitchen burns or little boo boos. I'm pretty clumsy and will likely need a tiny ice pack at some point in the future.

Also in the tray, a bigger ice pack, margarine, frozen waffles, (both homemade and Eggo), and shredded cheese (we bought a hugemungous bag when we bought our wedding food, and didn't want the leftovers to go bad, so we froze it in smaller packages), we add it to chili, or casseroles. Freezing cheese does kinda mess with the texture, but really not too bad, especially when mixed with other foods.

Next, ice cream and Popsicles were divided off:

Only one of those are my husbands. I must be pregnant.

The left of the bottom drawer now holds dinner food: We eat a lot of convenience-y foods, the bag dinners are actually not too bad for you, have bunches of veggies and lean meats, they are easy to cook, just add a little water in a skillet for like 13 minutes. The TV dinners are eaten much less often, we bought them when I had barely any appetite and was feeling sick often, easy for either of us to eat when the other wasn't hungry, or not home. Or when we were feeling very lazy.

The cheese tub is leftovers from tonight's dinner, Hamburger Helper stroganoff, we ate about 2/3s (and big salads) and froze the rest for another easy dinner. We used to be bad at portions and would have eaten the entire thing in one sitting, even with a side veggie. We are working at paying closer attention to portions, not just for health reasons, but for budget. The Hamburger Helper was on sale and I had a coupon so was $0.80 + 1 can of mushrooms, 1/2 lb of ground turkey (bought in bulk) and 3 cups of milk. About $2 for 3 dinner portions, and it was soooo yummy.

The rest of the food was organized into the black plastic bins I already had, (had bunches of them from my old apartment, they lived on top my cabinets to add storage to that small kitchen) and added to the chest freezer.

I divided the veggies into 2 baskets: Everyday veggies on the left and party veggies on the right. I only use frozen spinach in spinach dip, and like the cheese, that is a bunch of chopped onions leftover from the wedding. We throw a lot of parties with chili, hot dogs and nachos, we just put about half a bag of onions out in a bowl each time. Much cheaper than buying a small thing of chopped onions each time (like we used to). Much more convenient than chopping a fresh onion each time. There is also half a can of diced chilies frozen in a baggie, from when I make a small batch of artichoke dip.

Both baskets were stacked in the chest freezer: The rest of the juice cans, some Italian sausage rolls and leftover hot dogs went in the basket that came with the freezer:
A few misc items were put on the bottom, between the baskets. Including our bride and groom wedding cake topper cupcakes. We cut the top tier of our "wedding cake"... ...so we are saving these for our 1 year anniversary instead:

I really think these baskets will help utilize the freezer. It was so bare before because I knew if I didn't use baskets or something, I would never see whatever items were on the bottom. Now, I don't need to worry. Which is great because before Ellie is born, we are stocking up on food more, so we always have something. Also, our income might be cut drastically in the near future, and we want to get in the habit of eating at home more and shopping smarter.

I am really glad to have gotten this done, and thanks to this blogging, my fingers are finally warmed up!

Im linking to Freezer, Day 11 ~ A Bowl Full of Lemons Organizing Challenge

Mail Station? Paper Storage ~ Day 17

2011-01-20T16:20:00.000-08:00

I dont have a mail station, but I NEED some kind of system for organizing papers. This has been on my mind since Jen at iheartorganizing decided January was the perfect month to get papers organized, to start the year off right. She has some great tips and aweswome examples, iheart her, check her out!

I have paperless statements for all my bills/statements, so I dont get much mail that needs filing. I do get junk mail/coupons, magazines, invitations etc. Also we bring home lots of paperwork from the midwives about the baby/pregnancy, and Im sure there is going to be even more paperwork when Ellie is born.

This is my mail routine:
~Mother-In-Law gets the mail from the box (we live on the same property, so we have the same address)
~She pulls out our stuff and makes a little pile on her kitchen table.
~Every day or so, when im in the house for something, I go through it.
~I open everything and make a stack of recycle (junk, envelopes etc) and a stack of "deal with it"
~Both stacks go up to our loft.
~I put it someplace, usually either the entryway dresser or the kitchen counter.
~When I am cleaning the area, I put the recycling in the recycling bin and deal with the rest.
~The "deal with" stuff usually stays a pile, until I need something in the pile, then I get it out.
~Very rarely do I "deal with it"

Its NOT a perfect routine.

I used to be very organized, had a folder for everything in my file box, a little coupon holder, a recipe book, a spot for owners manuals and receipts, previous years bills and papers were filed away, sorted in cronological order, stapled together etc. Mail was immediately divided (i had roomates) recycling was recycled, personal stuff was shredded, the rest was filed.

Then I moved out of my apartment, in with my husband at his parents' house. We lived with them for about 8 months during construction. I didnt have a good file system in place during that time. All of our new papers were mixed together in a big bin. When we moved in to our loft, my file boxes were somehow buried in storage. The bin got fuller, and it became harder to find what we were looking for at any given time.

Awhile back, I did some purging and sorting, but, not having a file box, the organization stopped at piles, in 2 bins.

Not having any designated place for new stuff only added to the issue. I kinda had a system. Coupons/receipts/recipes went into a drawer(with other misc catch all stuff), the few statements that come by mail went into either the catch all drawer or the bins, magazines and baby paperwork went into a storage ottoman.

I do NOT like how things are (not) working currently.

I got a couple of Target $1 zone accordian file folders the other day (the 1st purchase for the 21 day organizing challenge). My nice file box is still buried in storage. I couldnt justify buying another fancy one, the one buried matches my other office stuff and is plenty big enough, and mobile, like it want. These $1 ones will suffice for now.

I started to gather all the paperstuff from around the house.

The bin and catch all drawer BEFORE: I sorted everything into piles, purging any obviously not needed stuff (expired coupons, old shopping lists, junk mail, etc).

(There is another bin of paperwork that is all sorted, waiting for the long term file box that is lost in storage, its not included today, because its already sorted.)

Most of the piles: There are piles for: keepsakes, wallet stuff, coupons, magazines, notebooks, receipts, all things baby, recipes, recycle, and file-away stuff.

The drawer is destined for a better life, as is the under bed tote:
Coupons, receipts, and a couple other sorted piles went into dividers in one accordian file.

All the baby stuff went into the other, unsorted, yet.

My collection of piles shrank:Above you see the 2 $1 accordian files, and a stack of blank notebooks. The magazines moved to a storage ottoman, recipes to a recipe book, keepsakes to the keepsake box in my craft room, and I need to start a binder for owner manuals. The blank notepads will find a home in the craft room/office.

I still need to do some work on this, and hopefully get into the storage garage and try to find those file boxes, but it is much better now.

Seriously, my husband just got home and said "you've got mail" and set it down on the counter right as I was typing this.

ETA: So I realized that other bloggers are including the outgoing mail stuff, and although I dont have a "mail station" persay, I do have a system. Remember, I organized my "MAIL" box on Toy storage day. My front door is metal, so when I have outgoing mail, it gets clipped to the door with a magnetic clip. I pay bills online, so other than mass mail (Christmas cards, party invites, thank you notes, etc) Its pretty rare to have outgoing mail.

I'm linking to A Bowl Full of Lemons Day 17 ~ Mail Station

Medicine and Vitamin Organization~ Day 15

2011-01-20T15:39:00.000-08:00

I really didn't need to DO anything for this challenge, besides blog it, which is why I'm a few days late, blogging has been lower on my priority list as we've been preparing for Ellie everyday.

I store some vitamins and more common meds in a basket on top of the fridge:
You already saw my daily vitamin organization when I touched up my junk drawer:

This basket holds my daily vitamins(prenatals, magnesium and iron) and Tylenol, Zantac and Advil, and my pill splitter, (my tummy can only handle 1/2 a magnesium at a time) I love the weekly pill case, I fill it up weekly, or whenever I feel like it before its empty, it helps me remember when to take which vitamins.

Hubby and I take chewy gummybear vitamins, you may remember that they live in the spice cabinet: We take out a handful of each kind, (calcium, daily, C, and fish oil) and put them in a little Pyrex bowl with a airtight lid. Each of the chewys are different shapes/flavors so we just take 2 of each one(except me, I don't take the daily, since I take prenatals), gets him a little bit of "candy" for his sweet tooth. (the fish oil ones have a unpleasant after taste, so we take them first, so the others cover that up) The bowl lives on either the counter or hubby's desk or night stand, wherever he is when I remind him to take them.

I had already gone through my meds when I organized my bathroom cabinet, tossing any expired or icky stuff. I did come across a Tylenol bottle the other day though that was half full of 2 different pills that weren't Tylenol and 1 Tylenal pill, I took the Tylenol and tossed the others. I'm pretty sure they were Advil and acai supplements, and that it came from when my sister lived with me, she used to take acai and kept that mixed bottle in her purse, but that was over a year ago, so I tossed it. The bathroom cabinet is still organized 7 weeks later. The OTC meds are under the shelf. The Rx stuff (mostly, inhalers, migraine meds and allergy meds) are in that bottom right hand stacking container.
A close up of the OTC meds: the one on the left is all the less commonly used OTC meds, on the right is the bigger packages, cough drops, Costco size NyQuil and Airborne. The one on the left could be more organized, but for everything to fit, I didn't want any extra containers or whatever, so its fine.

Im linking to Vitamin/Medicine StorageDay 15 at A Bowl Full of Lemon's 21 Day Organizing Challenge

pantry wall, unfinished day 7

2011-01-19T00:34:00.000-08:00

So the pantry wall isn't done yet, but I made some progress, kinda felt forced to after we went grocery shopping and even the best Tetris skills couldn't get everything to fit in the Kitchen Cabinets.

I didn't take a before picture of the cabinets, because i wasn't really planning on blogging it, i was just putting groceries away, but it ended up being pretty organized, for now.

I ended up relocating some of the food from the kitchen cabinets to boxes for the pantry for now, all the less often used stuff, and the duplicate stuff.

I did take a BEFORE picture of the "pantry wall" corner

I had previously worked on starting this wall here

I did a bunch of work in the rest of the room, which I will share more in another blog post. I needed to make space in the room to move some things around so we can assemble our can rack: I moved all the food stuff off of the chest freezer, (yes i know i haven't completed that day's challenge yet, the craft room is more pressing) and over to a stack of boxes that are waiting for a book case to be assembled also. This is my temporary "pantry" It isn't really in any of an organized fashion, that can wait until it finds a new home.

We will get that darn rack assembled, eventually and it will go between the metal shelving unit and the corner.

That pantry wall corner AFTER Until I get that corner looking good, I will show you the food cabinets in the kitchen: above the microwave/hood are all the canned foods, they will eventually move to the pantry wall, but not until i get my can rack assembled. The cabinet to the right of that holds cereal and boxed dinner foods. The extra cereal on top the cabinets will also move to the pantry (there is more in a basket, that you cannot see)

I love that we have a lazy Susan (how sad would it be to be so lazy someone would name a rotating shelf after you? poor Susan) in the lower corner cabinet, it helps keep things from being hidden in the back.

Notice the pink measuring cups Command hooked to the cabinet door?

Let me spin that Susan for you:

Top shelf has peanut butter, a little basket of Kool-Aid and misc packets, granola bars, and salad toppers (bacos, sunflower seeds, croutons and french fried onions). Bottom shelf has canned and dried fruit together, a container of nuts/raisins, and a bunch of drink mixes. My modular mates for sugar and flower fit beautifully under the bottom shelf, so even though the rest of the baking stuff in modular was relocated to the pantry, these stayed, I plan to get some more though, for some misc items instead, since I so rarely use flour, and I keep a smaller sugar container in my spice cabinet I might just have a Tupperware party this month to get some more Modular Mates, since theyre on sale, or some other container that will fit down there.

Having a small-ish kitchen, and no pantry (yet) I opted to put baskets on top the cabinets (review the can cabinet picture above) for added storage. They hold rarely used items: Frostings, food colorings, extracts and sprinkles. Cookie cutters and silicone baking cups. Corn on the cob holders and deviled egg trays. Cupcake liners. (all of my holiday specific sprinkles, cookie cutters and other accessories are stored in the holiday's decorations boxes that only come out for the season. I don't want to look for a plain cupcake liner and find some holly-berry lead ones, or jack-o-lantern ones.)

I also have baskets on top the cupboards for excess cereal, Magic Bullet blender/attachments, misc rarely used glass stuff (shot glasses and sugar/creamer containers). Also, one for the saved-from-recycling lidded containers (like from sour cream and stuff) that I pull down when we have a party and want to send leftovers home with people, it doesn't clutter up my Tupperware cabinet this way, and lots of our parties are in our home theater/shop, so I just take the entire bin down there.

Ok, so Im finally posting my "Pantry"

check out some actual pantries at A Bowl Full of Lemon's Pantry link party, day 7

already did day 14 on day 5

2011-01-17T12:40:00.000-08:00

I already posted about my bathroom sink here on day 5, so I will be using today to work on my pantry wall, its a big project.... Its a good thing Im "nesting" and feel like getting things done, or I would probably just skip today.

I do still need to get the last black basket out of storage for the rest of the cleaning supplies, along with a bunch of his buddies for my pantry storage, maybe I will post a more accurate AFTER pic...

for even more Under Bathroom Sink organization, check out Day 14 @ A Bowl Full Of Lemons

Medicine Cabinet (touch up) Day 13

2011-01-14T22:28:00.000-08:00

I'm so glad I finally have a legitimate reason to share this story with blogland.

My husband is in the bathroom getting ready to go when I hear him start laughing, I ask "whats up?" He chuckled "come here". Curious, I come see. He had mistaken his black can of Edge shaving cream with his black can of Axe deodorant. He had shaving cream in his arm pit! I laughed so hard!

(would it be mean to make a label that says "NOT DEODORANT" for his shaving cream?)

Anyways, this did NOT happen due to a cluttered mess, the medicine cabinet was still organized from when I did it and my bathroom cabinet here.

See the AFTER from almost 7 weeks ago next to the BEFORE from today:

(apparently I use a jug of mouthwash each month, that's a new one)

There was one tiny aspect of the medicine cabinet that needed a little tweaking though.

The winter weather made me bring out my lip treatment stuff, and the medicine cabinet seemed like the perfect place for it. This wonderful little dish wasn't working any more.

When I first realized this could be improved, I got the idea to attach some magnets to the wall, above the dish, on the inside of the cabinet, to stick the nail clippers and tweezers to, but I don't have any magnets strong enough (I tested all the ones I had on hand) and Ive decided not to buy anything unnecessarily for this challenge, or until February when I can spend some more "fun money".

So I came up with plan B: Rather than putting the clippers and tweezers inside, I hung them off the side of the votive holder, so they'd be easy to grab. Also, my husband sanitizes his nail tools after use, he can just fill the little cup with alcohol rather than getting a different cup and leaving it out on the counter like he did last time.

The lip stuff went into a different candle holder, (I'm glad I'm getting to use some of my candle holders, Ive given up candles due to my husband's sensitivity to smells and smoke, the toothbrushes are in one too)

The new AFTER:

Im Linking to Medicine Cabinet, Day 13 Organizing Challege

Spice Cabinet (and then some) ~ Day 12 Organizing Challenge

2011-01-14T20:23:00.000-08:00

I was hoping this would be on Toni's list. It was on my list.

The BEFORE: I pulled everything out of the cabinet:

Then I sorted them, pulling out any expired ones, any I havent used since we moved in (that was 5 months ago)

I would love to get magnetic spice containers for the door, or a bunch of matching little bottles so everything would fit better. But we have put ourselves on a very strict budget, and I KNOW I could make do with what I have on hand. I had bought these pink and brown stacking containers when I lived at my old apartment. (picture doesnt show the lids) They matched a bunch of my other kitchen stuff, and I had committed to buying only the spices I need, out of bulk bins (when I could), to save money and reduce waste. The top of the next one screws into the bottom of the first one, they also came with lids too. They worked well for the spice shelf I had at my old aparment. But I dont love the stacking aspect now. Since I am on a budget, I decided to use them, this time, later if i find a good price on something better, I can upgrade.

I didnt have enough for all of my spices though. I needed a way to use the original bottles and the cabinet just hid any spices that werent right up front.

I thought they should be in a container or tray of some sort, that can be pulled out. I went to my stack of boxes bins and containers I had gathered before the challenge began and found this:
its a photo box lid, I liked that it wouldnt take up too much space itself and was almost as big as the shelf. It almost fit, and I thought it would be fine to sit up on the edge of the cabinet, it would make it easier to slide it out to see all the spices in the back. So I loaded it up: But it was pretty floppy as a "basket" or "tray" so I started brainstorming. I remembered the white plastic basket in my tupperware drawer and had taken another matching white basket out of the spice cabinet (it held all my "sweet" spices, as a way to sort before). The one in the drawer wasnt really being fully utilized. I put both in the cabinet to see if they would fit: Fantastic! I can still put the "sweet" spices(cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, cloves, etc) in the small one, and the "savory" spices in the big one.
I had a bunch of little baggies of bulk spices. (a tip, when writing the bulk bin code on the twist tie for checkout, also write the name of the spice on the tie, so you can identify them later. I used my handy dandy label maker for the spices in the little pink and brown containers and the bulk taco seasoning(so much cheaper than the packets). It didnt fit in one of the little containers, so I grabbed a container that was almost empty, (was garlic, and there is garlic in taco seasoning, so I didnt have to wash the container) I ripped the lable off and filled her up: I put both white baskets back in the cabinet, and straighted everything else out: The top shelf holds the spices that arent used often, but were still good, and extra vitamins, the 2nd from top shelf holds the very large spices and hubby's chewy vitamins. Next is my food scale and measuring cup. I was happy to have the room to move things to more logical accessable spaces.

While I was up on the step stool filling the top shelf, I saw my freezer divider on top the fridge, (it was removed when fitting a bazillion wedding cupcakes in the freezer) I realized I was going to need that when I do challenge for Day 11, but it was a little buried, so I cleaned up the top of the fridge.

I didnt take a before pic, but found one from a while ago.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

While the top of the fridge was empty, I thought I would show you how I use the cabinet above: I have a bunch of reusable plastic dishes we only use when we throw smaller parties. Like between 8-20 people. I dont have to have a bunch of real glass dishes to go around, and dont have to worry about them getting broken. Any party with more than 20 people is held in our home theater/shop and we use paper plates. I even have re-usable plasticware. Misc leftover party paper plates and napkins live in here too, in a plastic shoe box:

I decided to put the plasticware in the baggie, because the tray was balance precariousely and I was sure it would spill out. Getting the baggie out of the drawer inspired me to do some more organizing.

BEFORE:

One reason it was so jam-packed:

3 aluminum foils, 2 parchment papers, and 3 plastic wraps. 1 foil and 1 parchment paper belong to my darling MIL who loans me things when I need them. I cannot explain why I still have them, when obviously I no longer need them, or why I had all the other duplicates. I only put the smallest rolls of the ones that were actually mine, put the others aside for elsewhere storage and put MIL's aside to take down to her house. I pulled a small stack of straws out for the silverware drawer and set it aside for elsewhere storage too.

AFTER:

I did some other organizing and straightening in the kitchen too, but I will wait to post all of that for when I do my pantry post. If I ever get my pantry wall set up...

Check out some even awesomer Spice Cabinets at A Bowl Full Of Lemon's Day 12 Organzing challenge link party

Fridge ~ Day 7 (or 16) Organizing Challenge

2011-01-12T23:23:00.000-08:00

i havent done my pantry yet, I thought I aught to do something, the fridge needed some attention. I could see Toni assigning the fridge one of these days (AHA I WAS RIGHT!!!), if/when she does, I will do the pantry. Maybe. (I WILL WORK ON THAT, TOMORROW)

I love our fridge. Its hugemungous, it beeps at you when you leave the door open, has a water spout and ice maker. Has an awesome drawer at the bottom for pizzas, or veggie trays, (usually pizza though) Its got french doors and a drawer freezer. I used to hug it before going to bed.

We were in love at Best Buy, and yes, I had to take a picture of my favorite delivery truck:

I love how the outside looked once I decluttered it here. (and it still looks as perfect 2 months later)

The great thing about a huge fridge, is it holds a lot. The less than great thing about it holding a lot, when we dont over shop, is that im not forced to keep it organized or even cleared out of ick that often. My tiny apartment fridge was constantly needing cleared out, and organized. This one has so much space that I havent actually cleaned it since we moved in over 5 months ago. (except some creative tetris when i had to fit the wedding cupcakes in it)

See what i mean: Not even full:
dont judge me for the #10 can of nacho cheese, we just threw a football party. Problem with the left door, cant see what is in the top shelf, I will be using that to my advantage....The drawers are kinda organized, all the fruit and veggies in the left one, sandwich stuff in the right, the bottom, my pizza/veggie tray drawer is pretty cleared out, but thats only 1 of the egg cartons...

It really didnt need much organization, since its big enough, and not over stuffed, I can find what im looking for pretty easily. But when I saw raspberry pie filling left over from wedding cupcakes 3 months ago, 2 bottles of ketchup, chicken stock from Thanksgiving and 2 questionably old containers of salsa, I decided it needed cleaned out more than my "pantry" needed done.

Step One: take the garbage out, reline the can. (By take the garbage out, I mean sit the bag on the floor, because there is crazy freezing rain outside at the moment)

Step Two: take everything out, sorting as you go. Icky stuff either gets tossed, or put aside if the dish needs cleaned.

This is where I ran out of counter space: See the counter:Notice the case of cream cheese, it went on sale when we were shopping with my sister, she gets a 10% discount on Safeway brand food, making them .89 each, and we needed quite a few bricks for upcoming recipes anyway so we bought 12. For everyday use, I squish the cheese from a brick into tupperware, i get the convience of a cream cheese tub, with the price of the brick, and it lasts longer in tupperware.

I wasnt really surprised to find this many duplicate items:

margarine, miracle whip, bbq sauce, ketchup, whipped cream and syrup. I combined the margarine (not pictured) ketchup and the bbq sauces: the bbq sauce is in a cheap ziplock in a drinking glass, when all the sauce ran out, I snipped the corner of the bag and squeezed the sauce out into the other bottle, much safer than balancing one bottle on top of the other. The ketchups were different sizes and had a better spout for balancing. The extra syrup was actually the in-laws' (gotta love them living on the same property when you need a cup of sugar or a bottle of syrup, we had bought our own, but didnt return theirs, until now) Also, I had 2 jars of pickles (remember, I'm preggo) that I combined. One of the whipped creams was almost empty, so, the hard worker I am, I emptied it, in my mouth, gotta sacrifice when organizing, right?

This makes us look like lushesreally we dont drink often (I'm preggo, and he just doesnt enjoy it often), most (possibly all of it actually, I forget) of this is leftover from hubby's bachelor party. All the refridgerated alcohol is moving to the party fridge down in the shop, since we wont be drinking it, or throwing parties upstairs any time soon.

Next, I wiped down the shelves and put everything back in:

(i had forgotten a couple items on the other counter at this point, the tortillas went where the margarine was, so they wouldnt be stacked on top of, the margarine moved to the left, I still need to move the nacho cheese into a smaller container and move it to the party fridge)

I containerized / organized /sorted most of the fridge, Condiments went in a plastic shoe box. Veggies went in the left drawer, sandwich making stuff in the right. Pickles and olives next to eachother, jarred fruit next to eachother. The jug of water on the top right is only for power outages purposes(in addition to like 6 more gallons downstairs), so its fine to be buried, we use the spout for drinking water otherwise. Extra milk(current milk is in the door) and large pitcher of juice fit on the top shelf.

The doors are better utilized with the condiments in the shoebox: The top left shelf that likes to hide items (i did attempt to adjust them but for milk to fit in the door, moving them didnt make a difference) now holds dessert stuff, out of site, out of mind. The middle shelf has fruit and yogurt cups. Not long ago I tossed out a few expired cups of yogurt, when they were in the drawer I wasnt seeing them and thinking of eating them.

In the right door, has the cheese holder, full of cheese (except slices, which are in the sandwich stuff drawer) the misc drinks, and tall condiments/salad dressings (we plan to eat more salads) on the bottom.

I didnt take a picture of the bottom drawer, it holds both cartons of eggs, and the egg whites, and the case of cream cheese. The veggie tray was emptied into tupperware and moved to the veggie drawer.

It looks so empty now. We do need to go grocery shopping though.

Im linking to A Bowl Full of Lemon's 21 day organizing challenge, day 7, the pantry

ETA: so we went grocery shopping tonight (1/15/11) and it was so nice to come home to a cleared and organized fridge! I shifted just a couple things to make more room for the fresh fruit and veggies, but I am so happy. It was easy to restock from the back, so older items got used first, everything sorted, I didnt have to question where to put the applesauce jar (got a jar rather than cups, dont need the convience of cups for the rediculous price hike), the new jar of pickles, or anything else. So lovely.

The freezer on the other hand.... well lets just say Im glad Ive spent way too much time playing Tetris throughout my life.... Tomorrow is football/laundry day so I bet I can get the freezers straighted out...

Grown-up Toy Storage, Day 9 Organizing Challenge

2011-01-11T14:06:00.000-08:00

Day 9 is supposed to be "Toy Storage" Well, Ellie's only toys at the moment are her pillow (my stomach) and her kick boxing bag, (my bladder) occasionally she plays the kicking stretch out game with my ribs too. I enjoyed reading a bunch of other blogs about toy storage, hopefully I can get a system set in place that will work well when we set everything up.

We have received bunches of hand me down toys and I'm sure we will get even more at the baby showers, I need to organize all of that, eventually.

For now though I decided to organize some of the grown up toys.

I had just straighted and prettied up this shelf yesterday, sorry, no before pic, just imagine stuff that doesn't belong, books mixed with games and randomness.

This looks fine to me. But "what is inside those lovely labeled boxes" you ask?

Cell phone accessories, camera accessories, Wii accessories/games, PlayStation games/accessories, PC games, mail necessities and randomness.

They could stay how they are, since they look pretty, but I know better, like I know that the PS1 label is on the PC games box, and the PS1 box has an NES label, the Wii box doesn't contain all the Wii stuff around the house and isn't labeled. Also, I'm certain there are dead headphones, chargers to phones we don't own, and owners manuals to dead cell phones in the PHONE box. Also, my big camera bag is somewhere in the craft room. I have no idea what is in that red box... Just to name a few imperfections.

I spent about 15 minutes on all those boxes.

CAMERA box:
I pulled out everything that didn't need to be in there: Spanish owner manual, some other camera's owners manual, registration post card, expired warranty info, memory card reader cap to name a few. Then I gathered a few items from other spaces that belonged in the box that weren't, my camera bag, camera case, and battery chargers. (The USB cord was already labeled from when I went hog-wild labeling when I first got the label maker) To make everything fit better and be less jumbled in this box, the straps for the camera cases were tucked inside the cases. Also in this box is a fanny-pack thing that matches my camera case, because it made sense to keep the matching set together.

Next the PHONE box I tossed a box from a phone I sold over a year ago, several pairs of dead headphones, (I tested all the ones I could) and countless owner manuals from phones I don't have anymore.

What is left in the box: box/extra accessories for my current phone, package of screen protectors, extra SIM cards, back up phone/charger. This box also holds headphones and my portable speakers because I use the media player on my phones instead of having a separate mp3 player. Also, I opted to keep the small collection (5) of chargers to phones we don't own, because I have had lots of guests ask "hey do you have an extra charger for a blah blah blah phone?"

The WII box: I had labeled all these boxes before I got my Wii. It used to house my sister's Sega that she sold, I had removed the label, but never made a new one. I did the same thing as with the other boxes, pulled out all the expired warranty info, packaging from extra controllers, ads and fliers that had come with games etc. Originally this box held all my Wii games and controllers and accessories. I thought they would all fit, but apprently our collection has grown, once I collected all the games from the 2 places the Wii gets played, and tried, I found it wouldn't fit. So I decided the box would be just for accessories, the games can live on the bookshelf for now (as they did before I started today).
All that is left: remote charger, remotes, remote accessories, owner manuals for the wii, the fit, and 1 for a remote.
I grabbed my label maker and finally gave it a label.

Next I pulled out the NES (I mean PS1) and PS1 (I mean PC) game boxes. I straightened both (relocated some Wii accessories & game) and then swapped the PS1 stuff to it's correctly labeled box. The PC games went into the box labeled NES (was sold when we found we can download our fave NES games onto the Wii, as a way to de-clutter), my hubby needs to go through these and then it will likely be re purposed as Wii game storage, but he isn't home now, so that can wait.

The other 2 boxes on the shelf aren't for grown-up toy storage, but, since I was sitting on the floor in front of it, I decided to tackle those too.

The MAIL box

I pulled everything out and sorted it, there were quite a few items that didn't belong: photos, mementos, garbage, etc. I used to rip return addresses off of envelopes as a way to save addresses, but after organizing all the wedding invitation addresses, I don't need to do that any more. I also had a few pages of addresses from my mom's master list from 2 Christmases ago, and a list of addresses from last Christmas. I saved all those but I will be tossing them as soon as I check my master list, when I'm done blogging.

What is left in the box: business envelopes (greeting card envelopes were moved to my craft room, where I have bunches of card making supplies gathered) a post-it pad (I sometimes write a note and post-it to an envelope and clip it to the front door, i.e. "mail after Monday" "needs more postage" "sign then mail" etc) and our return address stamp. Usually there are stamps in here too, but we are all out, added that to the shopping list.

The last box on the shelf wasn't labeled, because it didn't have a set purpose. It was full of receipts, recipes, colored pencils, crayons, and 5 month old to-do and shopping lists. I recycled most of the receipts and lists and relocated everything else. Now, the box is empty!I have a few ideas for what to do with the box, but we will have to see what Toni has in store for the rest of the 21 days and see if its perfect for something else. I moved it to the slightly shrunken pile of boxes, bins and containers I collected before.

Oh, there are 2 other boxes on the shelf, one is wedding photos, the other is CDs, nothing to show off.

This is a picture all all the stuff and junk that didn't belong in those boxes:

It was all recycled, tossed, or relocated.

Once I get Ellie's stuff all situated, I will share, although newborn toys arent as clutterupable as older kids.

Check out how other bloggers handle Toy Storage at A Bowl Full of Lemon's Day 9

also linking to Organize with Sandy's Mission Organization Monday

Coat Rack & Broom "closet" ~ Day 8 Organizing Challenge.

2011-01-10T15:27:00.001-08:00

I don't have any closets. None. Unless you count my bathroom cabinet I organized here. But as for clothing hanging closets, or broom closets or linen closets, we just done have any. We are ok with this. It was part of the design plan of the loft, to keep it feeling open, big and airy.

We do live in Oregon though, so coat storage is a nessesity.

There are 2 hook racks in our loft we use for hanging jackets, coats and hoodies. Scarves, hats mittens and umbrellas live in drawers in the entryway.

This was a pretty easy challenge day, which was nice because today we are hosting the BCS Ducks vs Tigers game for probably like 50 people in our shop. Which means my house needed a quick cleaning, some food needs to be made and then I get to relax.

Also since neither hubby or I should be carrying boxes up stairs, when our football buddies show up, they will be toting Christmas bins up from the shop then up into the attic (gotta make them work for their nachos). I was super organized with my packing this year, we got some new red/green bins for most of the Christmas stuff and wanted to label the bins before they get stored. So I went to Avery.com and printed some labels like I did under the bathroom sink for each bin, this should make life much easier next year because I will be able to send some boxes down to the shop and leave some up in the apartment. I could have taken pictures and blogged the organizing and packing process, but I was ready to be done with Christmas decorations.

Without further ado, lets see some coat rack BEFORES:
The one on the left is behind our front door, in the kitchen, the one on the right is right inside the office, which is right next to the opposite side of the kitchen.

Both racks were a little over packed. I pulled all the coats and hoodies and bags and feather boas off of racks, packed a jacket that wont fit until after Ellie is born, moved the striped gym bag (havent been to the gym in months!) into the bedroom to be reused as a hospital bag. My bathrobe was hung inside the bathroom, a sweater was moved into the wardrobe. I found a new home for my bowling ball bag (been bowling 1x in the last 3 years a few weeks ago, but intend on going more often). Nothing mind blowing, but looks much better:

I also installed a Command Hook (there are printable coupons at their website) to hang my greenbags, usually they sit on the little step stool, but thats one more thing I have to do, lift the bag off to use the step stool, it also would often fall off. The hook contains it where it goes, and I can use the step stool without messing with it.

AFTER: I gave the scarf hat and gloves drawers a quick touch up:

BEFORE AND AFTER:

I then decided its time to clean out my purse, since it lives on the coat rack and this job was pretty easy.

I dumped it out, picked out all the trash and sorted, pulling a few things aside that wouldnt go back in. (duplicate water bottle, extra lip balm, candy and hair clip)

(no after pictures, because i just put everything back in my purse, utilizing the different pockets on the sides and inside for different items. Not too mind boggling)

Still thinking this challenge day was pretty easy, and wanting my home to be more presentable for people who might come up to the loft, I decided to tackle my broom "closet" too.

BEFORE:

(this picture was taken after cleaning my kitchen, there was some random cardboard recycling on the floor, i hadnt decided to include the broom wall in the blog post at that point, so I didnt get a true before, but you get the idea)

Installing more command hooks for the broom and dustpan has been on the ever growing to-do list since we moved in. I installed one, for the swiffer, but usually it held the dust pan, or recycling bag or whatever was hung on it. I finally finished the job! (only took 5 months)

The big bag hanging is pop bottle recycling, doesnt really need to be that big, we really dont drink that much soda, and we have a big recycling can down in the shop for when we host parties that I can dump them in to, so I used another Command hook and made a place for a smaller bag in that space:

Broom wall AFTER:
the broom and swiffer will quit falling over, and the dust pan can move off the floor!

The entire challenge took me maybe 45 minutes, doing small parts at a time and made a decent impact. We have more space to hang coats, hopefully keeping them off the back of chairs, I should be able to find my keys in my purse pretty quickly, and everything looks prettier!

I am linking to DAY 8, Coat Closet~ A Bowl Full of Lemon's 21 Day Organizing Challenge

Pantry~ DAY 7 Organzing Challenge

2011-01-10T15:16:00.000-08:00

Yes i know, i havent done my "pantry" yet, I am ok with this because my cupboards are actually pretty organized. Eventually, (my goal is before the 21 days are over) is to assemble and use my can rack. We got one of these bad boys:

before we even built the loft, thinking that it would fit at the end of the kitchen, well we were wrong, but we also got a chest freezer as a wedding gift, and need more storage anyway, so we will be making a wall in the office a "pantry wall" i started the process awhile back in in this post.

My Hubby assembled the one his parents bought and it was a PITA to assemble, and really needs to be assembled pretty close to where it will be sitting, and that corner of the office is occupied.

So I will be coming back to day 7, I promise.

Making Labels on Avery.com

2011-01-07T00:58:00.000-08:00

I am a big fan of Avery.com and printing labels using the online tools.

here is a quick tutorial.

First, buy whatever Avery (or off brand if it says the Avery product # on it) label product you think will work for you. I labeled items under my bathroom sink with 2x4" shipping labels.
Their website will look something like this. At the top, between "Products" and "Projects and More" is a tab for "Templates and Software" click that and in the drop-down menu find Design and Print online. (circled below) click that.

then click Start Now

Locate the product number on the packaging.
Enter it on the website:

Click next. On the left, you will see categories of designs for your label. If you were making address labels for Christmas cards, there are bunches of choices. Click a category and browse the designs. Find one you like and click on it. When choosing, don't be concerned if you like an address label design, but are making labels for bins or something, you will be able to edit the design later. If you have a design saved as an image on your computer that you would prefer to use, just click on a design with text that looks like it would work, you can change the image later.

when you click a design on the right, the next page will appear:

There are 3 options on the left, Enhanced Editing is the one I use, unless I am using an address list for mailing labels.

After clicking Enhanced editing, directly below that radio button (the little dot in the circle you click), decide how many pages worth of labels you will be making. The package tells you how many labels are on each sheet. For this project, I need less than 1 page. So I left it at 1.

Then click Next

This is what the next page will look like, but with your label design on the right.
Click the ZOOM magnifying glass.

If you have a partial sheet of labels, I recommend just putting it in backwards, so there aren't any gaps at the top of the page. If you have already done that and have gaps at the top and bottom, and want to use labels in the center of the page, find on the left where it says Auto Copy
Un-check that box.
Now click on each element of the labels at the top of the page and delete each one, emptying the labels so it matches up with the sheet you will be printing on. Once the top spaces are cleared, re-check the Auto-Copy box. (circled below)

If you aren't going to need all the labels on the sheet, that is OK, we will get to that.

Find the first label on the sheet, and start editing it. (you will notice all the labels under it are also edited) Click on each element of the label to make it look how you like, using the command buttons on the left for font, size, color etc. Here is what mine looked like after deleting all but the graphic and 1 text box, deleting all other decorative elements.

(if you have an image on your computer you would rather use, click the pre-loaded image and look for the option on the left that says From File. or if you want to browse more clip art, there is a button for that too. If you want different graphics on each one, un-click the Auto-Copy button, and edit each one individually)

Since I am making labels for multiple different items under my sink, I need to edit each label accordingly. The Auto Copy feature only copy's further down the page, (see picture below)
so after each one is edited, I move to the next one. Etc. To scroll down on the sheet, click the zoom button again to un-zoom, click the label to edit then click zoom again, and it will be zoomed in on the part of the page you are working on.

This is where I show what to do if you don't need all the labels on the sheet. After the last label you need, just click the elements on the next space and delete them, All remaining labels will be cleared. (as long as Auto-Copy is chosen)

See:

When all the labels are filled in how you like them, click next.
Put the sheet in your printer however you are supposed to for your printer. Then Click Print Your Project (or Save Your Project. If you have edited the labels in a way that you might use again, save it, you can also print it.)

This window (or one like it) will pop up, confirm printing properties and click Okay

Your pretty fancy peel and stick labels will be born out of your printer. Enjoy!

When the package of labels is empty, be sure to clip the Box Top for Education and send to school with your little ones. (or save for a friend or family member with kids, or just drop off at a school near you)

Now, although I wouldn't object to the idea, Avery doesn't imburse me for loving their products or raving about their website.

ETA:

OOOH so it occurred to me when I thought of how I stuck the labels onto note cards for baskets under the bathroom sink,

that I could easily just put a peice of cardstock into the printer instead of a label sheet if I wanted to cut the labels out and hang (hole punch and ribbon, for example) rather than peel and stick. Why not just design my own labels in Word or something? well if I want the design to match with peel and stick ones, and Avery takes the guess work out of lining up or formatting. I think I might just do that in my spice cabinet...

Clothes drawers~ day 6 of 21 day Organizing Challenge

2011-01-06T22:20:00.000-08:00

ahh again I am finding I have a headstart on a challege, that makes me proud of myself.

Day one was supposed to be for Junk Drawers but since I had already organized mine, the touch up was easy, so I moved onto other drawers in the house, underwear drawer included.

We dont have a lot of storage space in our loft, and dont have the desire to own much clothes, so keeping it mostly organized isnt too hard.

I will be showing you my husbands drawers.. (tee hee hee)

I also re-did mine and they look pretty good, I just realized that I failed to take after pics of my
drawers and now hubby is in bed, I might post them later.

Here are some BEFORES:

The top drawer is pj bottoms, socks and boxers. not super straight, but organized. a little crammed, especially because I hadnt washed whites for a while so there are a bunch of socks in the laundry.

the next drawer is for shorts, super crammed full, can barely close it. I purged some more worn out shorts. This was easy to do because ideally hubby will be fitting smaller shorts by the time summer rolls around.

next is tshirts. theyre rolled up so theyre easier to see what they are. (more proof my hubby is a geek, 2 dragon shirts, a warewolf shirt, & 2 tiger shirts. What makes up for the kgeeky shirts is my favorite, it doesnt fit him, but will fit me after Ellie moves out of my belly: Boot Camp for New Dads Tshirt). I didnt do much to this drawer but move the shirts he wears more often to the front. There are a few that are worn out, but I will be saving those for night shirts after the baby is born, or if I leak bm before then.

The pants drawer reminds me I need to do laundry.

Then I see the bottom drawer, the misc drawer has some pants in it... weird, but at least I dont have to do laundry for another day or two tee hee hee... This drawer does have much more potential. The belts were all jumbled, and there is clearly space in the pants drawer for pants.

I went to my pile of boxes bins and containers and found a box for the belts:

rolled them all up, (getting rid of one that i dont think i have ever worn, doesnt go with much of what i wear and is too wide for average belt loops) I wrapped a rubber band around the belts and put them in the blue box: This freed up space to give those socks from the top drawer some breathing room. The uber warm socks and dress socks relocated. Also when I did my bedside drawer re-do, I didnt take in to consideration that I hadnt washed whites in a while or that my bras were all still hanging from when I did laundry last or dirty, so the shoe box of accessories needed to move out of my underwear drawer and into this drawer.

Also, I swapped the shorts drawer for the pants drawer since it is winter time.

So now some AFTERS:

I did do this challenge on day 6, I just havent felt like blogging it, so I promise I am keeping up with the daily stuff (although I havent done the pantry yet) just not the blogging part.

speaking for clothing and laundry...

I got ALL (besides 1/2 a load of towels, and today's clothes) WASHED FOLDED & PUT AWAY today(Saturday) + a load of blankets. YAY!!! SO nice to have that done. I dont do laundry on a daily basis because I (by "I" I mean the Hubby) have to carry the baskets down my apartment deck stairs across the lawn and into the in-law's house, because we dont have W/D hookup. I can carry a basket if its only like 1 load, but if its overstuffed, it gets heavy and some days, it wears me out. I usually forget about the laundry after starting a load then my wonderful mil will end up finishing it for me when she does her laundry. I dont like leaving it for her to do, so I try to do laundry all day long, setting myself a timer to go down and switch it over, which I was succcessful at doing today. I was feeling pretty good today, only really needed to take a break after lunch, but I did that after switching the laundry rather than putting it off.

It is too easy for me to leave clean laundry in hampers to deal with later once its washed, but I have been making myself fold and put away the laundry when I bring it upstairs. The new habit is great. I love that I can put the empty hampers back in the bathroom to be filled (sorted) instead of having a pile of dirty laundry on the floor and have to have the extra effort of picking it all up and sorting it once I empty the baskets.

We have 3 matching, lidded hampers in the bathroom (is it pathetic or awesome that those were what I spent my "fun" money on this month?), (I love how big my bathroom is!) one for lights, towels and darks. We also have a hamper in our bedroom, and when its full, or when I feel like it, I take it into the bathroom to sort. Under the sink is another mini-hamper for kitchen laundry which gets added to the towel hamper when its full. We also have a short basket in the bedroom for clothes we will wear again, like my maternity pants, hubby's pants, hoodies, bras, we wear them a few times before washing them. This cuts down on laundry a lot.

Im linking to Day 6 at A Bowl Full of Lemons

Under the Bathroom Sink, Day 5 (or 14) Organizing Challenge

2011-01-06T20:41:00.000-08:00

So I have been doing pretty good at A Bowl Full of Lemon's 21 day challenge so I couldnt let myself cheat and only post about my under kitchen sink re-do for today's challenge. And I really needed to tackle under the bathroom sink.
ETA: Then Toni went and actually made day 14 under the bathroom sink day. So I am cheating now... Im working on a bigger extra credit project though, so Im not slacking off!

This BEFORE is why:
im not too embarrased by these pics, I never really attempted organization in here, just unpacked when we moved in and added a few things since then.

as I pulled everything out, I sorted. I have bunches and bunches of these black plastic baskets, but theyre either up in the attic (hubby doesnt like me going up there when he isnt home) or out in the storage shop (I dont have a key). So until I find more, I used the one I had repetedly. I used the empty basket to measure the space, to be sure of how they would fit. Then I put all the Flooring and Upholstery supplies in it, then I removed it all from the basket, for now, and stacked it neatly in the corner. Next, I put all the Toilet and Tub & Tile stuff in it, and then stacked it all neatly where the basket will eventually go, next to the first imaginary basket.

Last, I put all the Misc stuff in the basket.

I thought it would be nice to contain items even better in the misc basket. So I thought about the bins and containers that Toni made us collect before the challenge started....

I wondered, will those plastic gloves fit in the saved-from-recycling drink powder tube?

Why yes, yes they will!

...but how easy will it be to get the old label off?

Super easy!

And hey, thats about the same size as that roll of garbage bags....

Tada! (I did have to take a few bags off, from the outside of the roll, to make it fit, I put them under the current bag in my trash can, so when we take the garbage out, we can just grab a bag from inside.) I dont normally buy garbage bags for the bathroom can, I usually re-use plastic shopping bags, but these were purchased on accident awhile back.

Next, I containerized my BBW hand soaps, oh how I love those sales!

Looking at the pile of stuff that was either going to be relocated, or give away, I was proud: There was actually a little more than this, a few more things. The Swiffer box is full of air frensheners that my hubby is sensitive to but my sister will love. I LOVED the scrubbing bubbles stamper thingy in my old apartment, but with the iron bacteria in our water, a film of gunk coats the gel, making it not work. oh well, MIL got a free sample of IRON OUT's automatic toilet bowl thingy, we will see if that works!

This was the part of the project I was excited about. (yes, I am cool)
LABELS!!!

I got familiar with Avery.com for making labels when I did our Christmas cards this year, and knew I would be using it again for organization purposes. I wrote a tuturial on how to make lables using their site, click here.

Before I started, I looked in the cabinet, mostly put back together and took some notes about what labels to make, so I wouldnt have to go back and forth.
The shipping labels are great because I just peeled them off and stuck them on!

I didnt think they would stick well to the plastic baskets though, so I got an idea:

Then a hole punch, ziptie and snip:

I ended up remembering where another black basket was, so now, I just need 1 more under here, for the Flooring and Upholstery stuff. (and one to replace the one I relocated)

Ready for some AFTERS? Under the sink, I had some of those wire shelf things, to add a bit more storage, I lifted the Misc basket up. It sits in front of the plumbing, so I wasnt concerned with the basket being to tall to get behind it. Ohh did I magically got more TP since the before pic? (actually I took it from the bathroom in the shop) I prefer the clean uncluttered look of the plain white paper rather than the logos on the packaging, so I take the rolls out of the package when I restock. Jenny Free Style had a similar idea when she redid her bathroom linen closet. I will borrow her before & after, since I dont have a before pic with the tp package, looks much nicer with the solid white rolls, huh? Also, the rolls can fit better out of the package in some spaces than a big package can.

makes it easier to get a new roll out also if you dont have to rip open a package while youre on the throne. There is plenty of room for more tp, after I go shopping. Oh and, because I gotta show Command hooks some love:

the orange dusting mitt didnt have a hangy thingy, so I just grabbed a safety pin and gave it one.

There you have it, all organized and some purging done, I almost felt like cleaning my bathroom. Almost.

Im Linking to Day 5 Under the Sink 21 Day Organizing Challenge at A Bowl Full of Lemons.

Linen Chest~ Day 4 Organizing Challenge

2011-01-06T13:07:00.000-08:00

Day 4 was a busy day and we didnt get home until late, then hubby went straight to bed, so I had to wait to organize our linen, since it lives at the end of our bed in this chest.

I love this huge chest, we picked it up on a family vacation with my hubby and his parents, at an antique shop, paid $50 for it. We knew we wouldnt have much for closets in the loft we were building and would need some place for linens.

I really dont have many linens to store in the loft. We have a bin full of quilts and other blankets for the back of the couches in the home theater, but it lives in the corner of the home theater.

All my seasonal blankets are stored in the attic with the seasonal decorations. I have bunches of fall-ish throw blankets and a few Christmas-ish blankets too, but I dont use them year round.

Granted there are a few household throw blankets in the laundry that will live either on the back of the couch or in the chest. Which is why the chest needed organized, the blankets wouldnt fit otherwise.

All of Ellie's sheets and blankets will live in bins or baskets under her crib or on a shelf once we get her stuff all set up later this month.

without further ado, here is the BEFORE pic:

I have 3 sets of sheets for our queen bed, and 1 set of sheets for a twin bed, we dont own a twin bed, but I love the set and we use it for when guests sleep on the couch. We also have several top-sheets that we put on top of our fancy comforter when we dog-sit to keep Annie from tearing up (or stinking up) the comforter.

Also living in this chest are some flat sheets and some string curtains that I had used as curtains in my old apartment. When the pantry wall is set up in the office, I will use them to hide it.

Also, a box with my husbands's handguns(safety on and unloaded) I don't really like having them in the bedroom, but I dont hate it either. They will find another home soon though.

I pulled everything out:

and I started folding. I begain thinking of how I would containerize the sheets, I like the idea that each set of sheets is folded and stored inside one of the pillow cases, but I have a lot of extra top sheets, and one of my sets doesnt have a matching pillow case...

Then I saw something in the chest. its one of these:

But I dont have any use for it in the Loft. (I loved it in my old aparment with the big closets though) It also had some folding canvas drawers too, I have since stolen them and repurposed them in the kitchen. I could have gotten rid of it when I unpacked it, but Im glad I didnt, because look:

It is slightly longer than the space, but, because its canvas, i just scrunched one of the openings at the end. Also, the hanger thingy isnt metal like the picture, its cloth with velcro, so its just flattened agains the end.
I next found a smaller box for the handguns to go in at the end of the divider thingy, and stretched it out further.

I folded everything, found a new home for Ellie's PillowPet and put it all back:
AND, The AFTER:

Those pillows on the edge will likely have to find a new home, probably on the recliner in the office, when its moved in there.

I have a compartment for: extra pillow cases, twin bed sheets, extra queen sheets, top sheets(and Annie's Sesame street blanket) and extra queen set (yes its brand new, identical to the one on our bed currently, ive just been putting the same set on the bed after washing it, but we wanted an extra matching set)

Im really glad I got this done, even if its a day late.

Im Linking to A Bowl Full of Lemon's 21 Day Organizing Challenge Day 4~ Linen Closet

Under the Kitchen Sink, Day 5 Organizing Challenge

2011-01-06T02:15:00.000-08:00

So I've skipped day 4, for now, had a long day away from home and when we got home, hubby went straight to bed, well our linen lives at the end of the bed in a cedar chest, so organzing it when we go home wasnt an option. I will tackle it though, the lid barely closes!

For Day 5, Under the Kitchen Sink I am going to half-cheat. I already did that a while ago, and I can tell you that other than running out of paper towels and having just done laundry, it still looks the same. Check it out here.

I have another busy day today, but if I get the chance, perhaps I will tackle under the bathroom sink... Which would be a good idea since I admitted several times in my post about purging, that I needed to purge cleaning supplies, and I did kinda promise in my bathroom organization post, that I would let my readers see the crazyness.

If I dont do my bathroom sink soon, bug me, Ill appriciate it!

Purging, my thoughts, Day 3 1/2 of organizing challenge

2011-01-05T01:51:00.000-08:00

I appriciate that Toni has been posting the next days challenge either late night or early morning .. not sure what timezone she is in... it gives me a chance to think about the challenge, and get excited for it. (and truthfully, if the linen werent stored in the bedroom, i might be working on it now rather than writing blog post at 1:48 in the morning from my pda laying next to my snoring hubby.. Ellie seems to think now is a good time for her nightly aerobics work out.)

I was going to just get a headstart on the next day's blog post about linen organization, but I ended up going on a tangent about purging, so this will have its own post.

I am finding myself repeatedly glad that I purged so much stuff before I moved. I didn't have any excess Tupperware yesterday, and very little actual "junk" in my junk drawer on day 1.
Thinking about my linen collection for the next challenge, I remember how things were in my old apartment. I used to be much more of a pack rat / saver. I believe it stemmed from growing up with similar parents, then having to be very frugal when I was in college, supporting a deadbeat boyfriend. I used to see having stuff as wealth, I couldn't afford to buy the 1 peice of furniture I would love, so I held onto 5 hand me down peices. If I got a good deal on something, I couldn't get rid of it, because I would never find another donut baker for $1. (Even though the 1 time in a year I used it the donuts weren't that tasty)

As I matured and lived with myself, and packrat roomates, I learned, that quantity was not as important as quality. By quality, I don't nessesarily mean pricetag brand name quality, or even durability as much as I mean how usefull it is, how often used it is, how much real estate it uses and if it is loved or not.

I was constantly asking myself if I loved the item, would I buy it today if I came across it in a store? Or am I only keeping it because I already have it(making it free) ? What am I giving up to keep this? (Mainly space, time, energy)
A linen example, I had some hand me down table clothes, they were nice quality, but I only used them very rarely and only because I had them. If I didn't have them, I would have made do with something else or without. Same with excessive blankets and sheets. Years ago, I donated a big bag full of blankets and sheets to a womens shelter, and I really don't remember what patterns the sheets were, I never regretted getting rid of them, and even forgot about them for a long time. I did LOVE the new found space in my closet though, and it allowed me to remove clutter from elsewhere in the home.

In the last 5 months living in the loft, I haven't missed anything from the boxes and boxes of stuff donated to the "little brother's first place on his own" fund.
Sister also asked me the other day if I wanted my George Forman Grill back. I had forgotten I lent it to her during construction of the loft, while we lived with hubby's parents. I decided, if I haven't missed it by now, I don't need it back.

I know as I go through the challenge, there will be things that need to be purged (especially if we tackle cleaning supplies) but I'm quite happy that I already went through that a long time ago, and learned this lesson.

I know most people don't have the luxury to purge, pack what's left, and live with their (packrat) in-laws for 8 months, therefore forgetting purged items and having motivation to live clutter free once they move into their sparkly new home. But it has taught me that I don't need as much stuff as I used to have. I LOVE not being bogged down with stuff. I survived purging. I truely am happy living with less stuff, making do with what I do have. Also, I think about new items before I bring them into the space. I also learned its A LOT easier to organize less stuff and keep it organized.

The organzing advice and tips found on websites, in magazines and blogs really makes sense when they say to purge, you won't miss it. When they suggest packing unpurgables away for time, if you haven't missed it, or unpacked it in x months, its safe to purge, they are right.

Now, I'm not saying I don't have more stuff than I need, I do. I should probably purge some hair ties I found when redoing my bathroom cabinet. I could purge more shoes. (I purged a bunch when I finally admitted to myself my ankle was permanently damaged and heels are out) I could purge some kitchen gadgets (but I like cutting my sandwiches with a squiggly cutter). I could purge quite a bit in my craft room. I know I could purge A LOT of cleaning supplies. I have a hard time purging stuff like lotions and extra toothpaste tubes, because of replacement cost. I know I can purge more And I will. When Toni tells me to.

Tupperware Cabinet:... Day Three Organizing Challenge

2011-01-04T13:10:00.000-08:00

I saw this was the challenge last night. Either Toni knows were super excited each morning and wanted to give us a quick preview, or there is a time difference. Either way, it was nice to get the heads up.

I was going to do the challenge last night but told myself I had to get the dishes done, so I would have all the Tupperware clean, and well, the dishes needed doing anyway.

Dishes kinda take their toll on my back though, with this big bowling ball between me and the sink, so I decided after doing most of the dishes last night, I would wait until day 3 to do Day 3's challenge.

I left them drying overnight though, why do something that the air will do for me?

Yes, I have 2 drying racks, the smaller white one my MIL had already when we moved into the loft, the larger black one, we bought because the white one isn't large enough usually. The white lives on the counter most of the time, the black one has a spot under the sink usually. Since I let dishes air dry, its nice to have them up on racks, so moisture doesn't get trapped under glasses and anything flat on the towel.

The Messy Tupperware Cabinet BEFORE:

Not bad because I had purged, a lot, when I packed to move out of my old place. all of my household stuff was going into storage until the loft was done. So when I unpacked when we moved in, back in August, I really only had my favorite containers and all the lids had containers and vise-versa.

The lid holding door thingy BEFORE:

I had all my Tupperware lids in a long rectangle container, but when I saw the cabinet door organizer at Bed Bath and Beyond a few weeks ago, I knew just what I would do with it.

The other cabinet where some other plastic containers live BEFORE (and AFTER, It didn't need changing, although I did straighten the lids, like a millimeter):

The drawer where tiny Tupperware lives, BEFORE:I had found, after living here a few months, I have needed to change a few things around for better functionality. The first thing I had done with this cabinet is take all the rarely used entertaining trays and large Tupperware that I use, but not often, out of the cabinet and into my office where I will have a pantry wall, someday. Also, I had started out with all my medium and small Tupperware in one of the larger deep drawers, but I didn't have any place for kitchen towels, and had to go to the linen cabinet for them all the time, no good. That drawer had some free space in it and the main cabinet did too, so I took the tiny stuff and moved it to that drawer and moved the medium stuff to the main cabinet. This freed up the perfect drawer for kitchen linens.

For many organization purposes, its better to keep all like items together, but for me, having the few locations for plasticware actually works very well.

The first thing I did, (after taking pics) was put my dishes away:

I love how this challege is inspiring me to keep up on my cleaning chores. Kinda seems pointless to organize a cabinet under a counter full of dirty dishes, right?

Then, I pulled up a step stool to sit on and tackled the main cabinet:

(I did end up straightening that blue container in the middle after the picture, so it was square with the cabinet)

I pulled out 2 pieces of Tupperware that need replaced next time I see my Tupperware lady.

Other than that, I basically just straightened everything. Didnt need to wash or clean anything, we have only lived here under 5 months, so it didnt need it. On the left I have my Tupperware "place for seals" lid organizers with Flat-Outs(and a few large round lids) in them. I was super excited to get these, when I had a smaller kitchen with more clutter, before I moved, but I really do not use them often. 2 of them actually cracked while in storage, so, although the concept is great, I'm not as happy with them as I thought I would be.

My husband thinks its silly to have the cheese grater in here, but there just isn't a better place for it anywhere in the house. So there it is, its hard shiney metal cuttingness hanging out with the soft brightly colored storageware. I asked him though, and he feels "quite accepted and isnt picked on for being different at all".

The lids were all straightened up, and the tags on the new organizer were removed:

The drawer was next, just a little straightening up, and moving less often used items to the back, I did this while waiting for eggs to cook and toast to pop, it was that easy. (I try to do productive things around the kitchen rather than sit watching pans heat or food cook)

sadly, my vegetable peeler and slicer are in the back and my pizza cutter and ice cream scoop are in the front... don't judge me, I am pregnant! oh but wait, the apple cutter is kinda to the front!

I didn't have to add any organizing bins or things since I already had a decent set up. Just straightening a bit is all.

It does help that I purged (except for my yellow squiggly sandwich cutter, I'm allowed 1 useless unitasker) so much before I moved, and we have only lived here under 5 months.

This really didnt take long at all, and I am glad I did it, although it didnt "need" attention, yet, I didnt want it to get that way!

I really am posting this late at night on day 3, I sleep in every day, so ended up doing the challenge at like 3pm and we had our first childbirth class tonight, so, I promise I didnt procrastinate until the last minute, I just didnt get a chance to write the blog until now.

Im Linking to A Bowl Full of Lemon's 21 Day Organization Challenge Day 3- Tupperware Cabinet

Computer Desk:... Day Two Organizing Challenge

2011-01-03T12:34:00.000-08:00

I found myself bringing up google reader again today before getting out of bed, excited to complete the challenge. Saturday, having 1 simple task to complete really kept me motivated to stay busy around the house, and I ended up getting more than just my Junk Drawer cleaned up.

Yesterday was a day off for the challenge, and I quite enjoyed it. Went to see Tangled, then relaxed at home until we went down to the in-law's house for dinner and to watch the Seahawks game.

By "watch the game", I meant "take a nap" I'm just not into football. Everyone else in our family is though, both mother and father in-law, hubby, and apparently, our unborn daughter. She dances to the "Are you ready for some football" song, and likes to pretend she is either star kicker, or cheerleader for most of the game. this time, she listened calmly while i napped, but did get excited when they WON!

I am ready to get back into the groove of getting organized, and being productive around the house now that its Monday.

Read about day 2 challenge here.

Day 2 of the challenge is top of computer desk. Well, I don't have a computer desk. I have a laptop that, when not in use, usually sits here:

Coincedentally, I had just cleared this surface off 2 days ago, when I was on a roll after Day 1 of the challenge, the laptop was sitting on some junk mail, papers from the doctor, a couple magazines, and candy wrappers. So without knowing it I gave myself a headstart on Day 2.

Kind of an odd place for it, but its between the bedroom end of the loft and the living room, so I can take my laptop to bed, or to the couch. Or it can sit there and I can stand at it for short periods of time. That box is our can organizing pantry shelf that hubby hasn't put together yet. its been sitting there only a little while (3 months is "only a little while" right?).

Next to the "desk" is a pile of stuff that I have been needing to get to, my (lame) excuse, I needed to catch up with laundry before I wash the blankets. This was a lame excuse because there was more than just blankets in that pile.

Hubby's computer desk, looked like this: Top isnt bad, but what is with all the socks under there?

(This is after I told him I would be cleaning things, so he had moved his Magic cards from in front of the keyboard, so I wouldnt mix them up or something, yes, I married a geek, more proof to come)

Coincidentally, It needs to move to where the box/pile is, so we can shift things around in the bedroom, to make room for baby stuff. So I am glad we are getting both spaces cleaned up for that move.

Technically, my most common "computer desk" is my bed, so I aughta show you what that BEFORE looked like too:

After a short break, (feeling kinda icky today) I got to work.

First thing I did was tackle that pile of blankets (I'll be honest, they were left from a sleepover for Thanksgiving!), under the blankets I found: some trash, a suitcase of clean clothes from a trip we took back in November, (I was looking for those pants and that belt!) hubby's hot pack, a wedding gift (from October) and several chewed up water bottles from when we dog sat early December.

Next, I cleared, dusted and wiped hubby's desk: The lamp moved off of the floor and all the non-garbage was contained in the lamps little organizer.

Moving to the "next desk" I made the bed:

Yes I have a cow pillow pet, yes you may be jealous.

Then, since I might as well, I cleared off the tops of the bedside dressers: (I do not like our "nightstands" but they work for now. theyre as tall as our bed, are perfect sized to go on either side of the bed, and add storage to the room, eventually, we will have pretty matching ones though)

If you look closely on the nightstand on the left, you will see more proof that my husband is a geek. his grooms cake had a tiger, eagle and dragon on it, his favorite animals. He kept the little toys. Occasionally i find on on the floor, he says they fight while we arent looking, but I think he plays with them... Oh well there are worse traits he could have than being a geek.

I moved to the floor, picked up all those socks from under the desk, and other random trash and laundry around the room, finishing up with the broom in the entire room. This prompted me to straighten my shoe shelf also, since there were a few shoes on the floor. (I love how I go off on cleaning tangents)

My "Desk" AFTER:

Hubby's Desk After:

I also updated his PC background, for a nice fresh change, (and because I love our current family portrait)

The cords will be better organized and prettied up when it moves to its new home. Thats a job for the hubby though.

Overall, I am very happy with everything I got done today. It was a much bigger impact visually, than the drawers i cleaned up yesterday, and it prepped for a big job we have to do when we get the baby's bassinet moved in and need to re-arrange.

Im Linking to A Bowl Full of Lemon's 21 Day Organizing challenge ~ DAY 2 Computer Desk

Bedside Dresser Drawers:... Day One Organizing Challenge

2011-01-01T16:33:00.000-08:00

Day One of the 21 Day organization challenge was going to be JUNK DRAWERS, Since I already did the Junk drawer, I was to pick another drawer. I had 2 in mind, my top dresser/night stand drawer, which I had recently organized but needed a touch up, and my office/craft room desk drawer. I decided to start with the office drawer, because hubby was still sleeping and didnt want to wake him up to clean a drawer.

While cleaning out the office drawer, I found some jewelry (not sure why it was in there), my jewelry box in on my bedside dresser, so I took it as a sign to do the bedside drawer also, when hubby awoke.

Before:
I had organized this drawer recently but I didnt love how it was functioning I loved that all my massage stuff was contained, but I often tossed items in the drawer from the top of the dresser, and I dont need top drawer access to massage stuff. I decided to switch it with a drawer below it so I could fit my pregnancy books in the top drawer, and have a little free space for all the stuff that ends up on top of the dresser.

Everything that didnt belong in this drawer was pulled out, & trash thrown away.

All the parts to my Hi-Lo electric stimulation massager went in a shoe box, all contained. I might cover the box and make it pretty with a label.

Massage Drawer AFTER:

Another drawer in that dresser was full of post-baby/summer clothes, they were all moved into a box bound for the attic. I swapped the newly empty drawer for the massage drawer.

The pregnancy books were on the other side of the room, but I most commonly read them in bed, so they moved into this drawer:

There is a lot of free space in here. I know myself and I know that i need a little bit of free space as catch all. I am ok with that trait of mine, as long as I plan for it.

I had decided that the clothing accessory stuff should go in the underware drawer instead of the massage drawer, the bra clips, garment tape, lint roller, and extra bra straps all moved out. At this point I realize I need to reorganize my underwear drawer to make room for all that! That is ok, today is drawer day!

Underware drawer before:

I pulled out a bunch of items that werent going back in. Some nicer, but smaller undies were saved in my after pregnancy clothes box, some old uncomfertable ones that i never really loved, (and matchless socks) got thrown in garbage.

I straightened everything and found a box for the non-clothing accessories, it all went back in, a little snug for my comfort but it will work for now.

AFTER:

I am so glad to have gotten 5 drawers organized today. I look forward to the organize challenge on Monday. Tomorrow, during the Seahawks game, I will be working on non-organizing chores, like dishes and laundry....

I'm Linking up to A Bowl Full of Lemon's 21 Day Organizing Challenge Day 1~ Drawers

Office Drawer:... Day One Organizing Challenge

2011-01-01T15:37:00.000-08:00

Day One of the 21 Day Organization Challenge is JUNK DRAWERS, well I had already organized mine a while back. Toni, acknowledged though that some of the challenge members have already done their junk drawers and we should find another drawer.

well, I found 3. ...and I touched up the junk drawer.

GO ME!

for organization purposes, each drawer will have its own seperate post today.

Drawer #1 (not counting the junk drawer) My Catch-All Drawer in the Craft Room/ Office

This Drawer has always just been a catch all for whatever was in the way on the desk. I needed/wanted someplace for my office supplies.

THE CHALLENGE:
Here is your challenge (I started out simple)...

1. Find a drawer, any drawer (preferribly your junk drawer), and take a picture as it looks right now. No cheating here. We want to see chaos!

2. Now empty the contents into a large box. ALL OF THEM! (Trust me, the box will be much easier than the counter... you can transport it).

I opted not to put it all in a box, too easy to leave it there and ignore it if I get distracted, instead, I spread everything out on the desk

3. Get a soapy washcloth and wipe the drawer clean.
It didnt need the soapy washrag, just a quick swipe of a tissue to dust it out.

4. Now, go collect some of those organizing containers that I had you stash away and place them in the drawer. The more containers you have, the more organized you are going to stay!
This was easy, the pile of boxes/bins was on the desk already.

5. Set up your bins & trash can near you: one bin for "keep", the trash can bin for "toss", and the "donation box" you set aside earlier in the week.

I grabbed some temporary labels and made a few different boxes, based on what was in the drawer, A box for stuff that belongs in the kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom, and a container for Command hooks since there were a bunch in there. I did have a little shopping bag near too for trash and made a pile for the OUT box.

6. Get your box of drawer contents, take a seat at the table, and start purging. Keep ONLY what you have used in the last 3 months. Toss everything else... either in the donation box or the trash.

I just worked at the desk, since it is a "table". Sorted everything out, almost NOTHING was staying in this drawer, It needed repurposing.

7. After you have gone through the whole box, you can start organizing! This is the fun part. Try to keep like items together. Isn't organizing fun?

This is where I grabbed my big bin of office stuff that I wanted to organized into the drawer.
its actually kinda organized in this bin, but I didnt want to dig through the bin anymore to find what im looking for.

I had to change things up a bit after I had filled the drawer, I thought an extra silverware drawer organizer would work, but it took up too much space and only pens really fit in it. Also a box i had used for note pads was too small for my largest note pad. I also decided to move some left often used items toward the back, more logically,

Attempt #1

After changing things around:

also, not pictured, I updated my day planner, it was time to start the new year in it.

All that is left in the office stuff bin is long terms storage stuff, a box of papers, an extra day planner (we got 2 for our wedding, we share 1, and wont need that until october) and a box of floppy disks with old school stuff on them. This box is bound for the attic!

It feels great to have this drawer organized. Since getting married, we havent combined much of our finances and starting with the new year, I will be taking care of all of both of our bills and papers and officey stuff, and I know this will help with that process.

Im linking to 21 Day Organization Challenge DAY ONE~ Junk Drawers at A Bowl Full of Lemons

Junk Drawer revisited:... Day One Organizing Challenge

2011-01-01T14:57:00.000-08:00

I know its kinda pathetically awesome, but I was so excited for the challenge, before I even got outta bed, I pulled out my google reader on my phone to see what today's challenge would be, and a little disappointed, I found out we would be working on JUNK DRAWERS. Although I shouldnt be disappointed at my prior accomplishment, I had already organized mine a while back. POO. I kept reading though and Toni, acknowledged that some of the challenge members have already done their junk drawers and we should find another drawer.

well, i found 3. ...and I touched up the junk drawer.

GO ME!

for organization purposes, each drawer will have its own seperate post today.

THE CHALLENGE:
Here is your challenge (I started out simple)...

1. Find a drawer, any drawer (preferribly your junk drawer), and take a picture as it looks right now. No cheating here. We want to see chaos!

I last posted my Junk Drawer when it looked all pretty like this:

This morning, it looked like this: Not too bad, Ive since started storing my vitamin organizer in here, because its the best place for it, fits perfectly and easy to pull out to find items underneith.

2. Now empty the contents into a large box. ALL OF THEM! (Trust me, the box will be much easier than the counter... you can transport it).

I didnt follow this step, because i had already done this drawer recently.

3. Get a soapy washcloth and wipe the drawer clean.
I also skipped this step, I had already done that last time, and it didnt need it again (day one and Im already cheating, oh well, its my blog, ill do what i want!

4. Now, go collect some of those organizing containers that I had you stash away and place them in the drawer. The more containers you have, the more organized you are going to stay!
This step also didnt apply since I already had an awesome tray in place

5. Set up your bins & trash can near you: one bin for "keep", the trash can bin for "toss", and the "donation box" you set aside earlier in the week.

The trash can is right next to the counter, where I was working. I did grab a box for stuff that doesnt belong in the drawer and isnt trash.

I opted to work at the counter, above the drawer, because it was such a quick clean up.

7. After you have gone through the whole box, you can start organizing! This is the fun part. Try to keep like items together. Isn't organizing fun?

This step just didnt apply to this drawer for me, everything was organized once I pulled out a few scraps of trash and the stuff that didnt belong.

I did refill my vitamin organizer though, I was on the last day anyway.

8. Now take another picture and give your self a pat on the back! Way to go... you completed challenge #1. Don't forget to come back to A Bowl Full of Lemons and share your success on THIS POST!

Im linking to 21 Day Organization Challenge DAY ONE~ Junk Drawers at A Bowl Full of Lemons

21 day organizing challenge prerequisites: check

2011-01-01T14:11:00.000-08:00

I am awefully excited to be joining the 21 day organizing challenge at A Bowl Full of Lemons, couldnt wait for the new year and day 1 to come.

Toni listed a quick checklist for prepping for the challenge.

Checklist (copy/pasted directly from the above link)

1. "Round up as many bins, boxes, crates, baskets & containers that you possibly can. These can either be something you already have in your home or you can go to Walmart or Target and purchase some new ones, if you wish. Either way will be fine. Now put them aside in a spare room or corner. You will utilize these during our 3 week challenge."

I had already been collecting and saving boxes and bins baskets and containers since I started organzinging a few months ago. All I really did was gather them all into one place.

I have even added some to the pile since this picture was taken. I am opting NOT to buy any new containers for now. I will use what I have and make it work. Although i found it hard to resist during a recent trip to Tuesday Morning. I KNOW I can be creative with what I already have.

2. "Make a donation box. You can use a large cardboard box, a large rubbermaid container, or even a trash bag (whatever you have). This is where you are going to be placing all of the things you no longer use or need (that isn't trash). At the end of each week, you can take this box to Goodwill, etc... As long as its out of the house!"

I had made an OUT box when I started my Craft Room Overhaul, its purpose for awhile was to hold anything that didnt belong in the loft. I have since almost emptied it, giving people what is theres at Christmas really helped.

I Purged, A LOT when I packed before we moved in to the loft a few months ago, so I havent found much that isnt used, but I WILL be getting rid of things throughout this challenge.

3. "Get a LABELER! My challenge isn't about going and buying new stuff to bring into the home, but I really think this is an important step. If you just can't afford one now, thats fine... At least get some label stickers (the long narrow ones that you can write on). Walmart has them for a couple of bucks. You will be labeling boxes & bins. I got my labeler at Target for less than $17.00. It's not necessary for the challenge, but you will be much more organized if you use one. It was instant love after the first time I used mine. Now Im a labeler maniac."

I am also a LABELER MANIAC, and I am not ashamed. I got my toy quite a while ago and labeled all the cords to my old computer, all the cords to the video game systems and other media, ive labeled containers in my bathroom, and even impressed our electrician with the labeler when he was marking our fuse box. amongst other things. I LOVE IT. mine was, I think, $20 at walmart.
Since I got my new printer, i have also been printer label happy, so for any labeling I need to do that isnt appropriate for the little printouts from my toy, I can use those, either printed, or just written on. Check out a tuturial on using Avery.com for printing lables here.

I also found when packing my old apartment and when working on my Craft room overhaul that its nice to label temporary bins/boxes when sorting things so that you dont have to run to each different room in the house with a handfull of items as you come across them. I have used just post-its / sharpie for this, but I had a bunch of scraps of bright orange paper left from wedding crafts that I have been using with tape/sharpie for temporary labels.
4. "If you are REALLY serious about organizing your house, purchase some shoe boxes at the store. I think just about every store carries them for around a dollar each. The more stuff you have to organize, the more boxes you will need. You do NOT have to go out and get these, but they will DEFINITELY come in handy if you have them. If you have a lot of bins/boxes at home, this step isn't needed. I use them for every room in my house"

I have quite a few hard plasitc shoe boxes we had purchased for packing when I moved out of my apartment a few of them have since been emptied, they are in my stack of boxes bins and baskets.

5. "Make sure you have trash bags in stock. You will be purging a lot of stuff during our 21 day challenge, and I would hate for you to run out of trash bags."

I do have plenty of trash bags, in various sizes as well as small shopping bags I prefer to use when Im organizing since theyre smaller, they just go in the larger trash can outside.

Thats it! You are now ready to begin the 21 days To Getting Organized Challenge!

I sure feel ready! LETS DO IT!

Reflecting on 2010

2010-12-31T13:15:00.000-08:00

This post was inspired by Jenny Free Style's recent post reflecting on her year.

i contemplated writing a resolutions post, but thought it was a better idea to start off with feeling of accomplishment and reflection.

This year I (or in some cases We):
Moved out of the apartment I'd had for 6 years, in with Mikey's parents and him.
Said goodbye to my almost 5 year long employment (it was not my choice)
Co-Hosted a Superbowl party for about 100 people
Said YES to his proposal
Co-Hosted Daytona 500 party for 50
Said Goodbye to My Grandpa-in-law to be.
Turned 27

Designed and began construction on our Loft

Started Blogging
Won a Trip to Las Vegas to see Kenny Chesney, thanks to KUPL
Got pregnant
Planned our budget wedding for 200+
Said goodbye to my Uncle Babysitter
FOUND OUT WE WERE PREGNANT!!!
Completed construction on the Loft and moved in
Hosted 2nd Annual Aunts Day
Hosted Kyhara's 1st bday party
Put together our wedding staying under budget.
Found out we are having a GIRL!
GOT MARRIED!
Hosted multiple UFC showings and football games
Hosted Halloween Party for 30
Hosted Thanksgiving for 40
Named our Daughter Elizabeth
Co-Hosted Christmas for 40 in-laws
Hosted Christmas 30 in my family
Organized and settled in multiple areas of our home.

I look forward to continuing with my blog and sharing my Loftee adventures throughout the new year.

my only resolution will be to continue living life fully with a positive attitude and enjoy every moment of it.

super cheap/easy wine glass charms!

2010-12-27T19:45:00.000-08:00

I've seen lots of wine glass charms for sale from everywhere from the Dollar Tree to The Container Store to various craft stores and K-Mart.

Although I loved the idea, I didn't think we needed them, because we rarely served wine or champagne and didn't even have wine glasses until our wedding gifts were opened.

Then, at Thanksgiving, 2 of my aunts raided my ribbon collection to tie different colored ribbon to their glasses to tell them apart, I decided I should consider getting (or making) some.

I came across this blog post showing off these gorgeous charms, and I was inspired:

Remembering the ribbon raid at Thanksgiving, and knowing we would be hosting Christmas, I decided to make something to label wine glasses this time. I didnt have the desire to make something as fancy as Tamara did at Etceroize, and wanted to make them for free (stuff I already owned).

I had come across a package of red/white/green "chenille stems" aka "pipe cleaners" when I was unpacking Christmas stuff. I had bought them for another project years ago but didn't use them. I thought cutting tags or other die cuts out with my Cricut, but I wanted this project to be even easier than that. Having just recently organized my Christmas gift wrap similarly to how I did my generic gift wrap I remembered some little card gift tags on strings mixed in with the peel and stick gift tags.

So I had the general idea in mind and got to work:

I measured the pipe cleaner and found about 1/2 is perfect for my wine glasses. cut them all in half.

I twisted the pipe cleaner around the stems and then removed them.

I tried hole-punching the tag hole bigger so it can be strung directly onto the pipe cleaner but didn't like how it looked, and it started ripping. So instead, I wound the string (that was already on the tag) around the end of the pipe cleaner a bunch of times, so it only dangled down a bit.

Then, to hold the string in place better, i folded the tip of the pipe cleaner back on itself over the string.

There were about 6 different gift tag designs in the set. While winding the pipe cleaners I found that the red white and green colors were actually 3 smaller pipecleaners twisted together, so I untwisted them to make even more design combinations. People could have written their name on the back of the tags, but this made theme easier, and re-usable.

I made 4 of each tag design, a tri-colored one and one of each color. I left one on a glass stem and put the rest inside the glass for display, so people can choose the tag they like and put it on their either wine or champange glass.

I very much enjoyed my snow man on white stem with my martinelli's sparkling cider, and made it easy to spot my glass, even from across the room.

Not a lot of people drank wine or champagne or sparkling cider at our gathering, but these were so easy and cheap to make, that I wasn't disappointed more of them didn't get used, I can pack them away and use them again next year!

this project could also be done with gift wrapping ribbon / store bought or home made tags also, if you don't have pipe cleaners. Lke Tammy at The Sweet Spot made with her new craft toy

Cost of this project:
for me: $FREE
if starting with none of the supplies: about $2
The gift tags came from the Dollar Tree a few years ago.
I estimate the pipe cleaners were about $1 / package also.
Time: maybe 30 minutes, not much time at all.

a new challenge, organizing!

2010-12-27T19:33:00.001-08:00

so i kinda lost interest in the last blog challenge i did, but i am really very much looking forward to this new challenge i found at A Bowl Full of Lemons.

I have no idea yet what im really getting myself into joining in, but im up for the challenge.

i reserve the right to skip a day or 2, alter the challenge as i see fit, but i will do the best i feel like doing!

cant wait to get started.

my to do list today!

2010-12-17T11:39:00.000-08:00

today i am going to get stuff done!

i took a photo to-do list:

wash blanket pile from when we dog-sat... pack up un-used christmas decor, unpack bags from the christmas goody making party... put away clean dishes... clear off counter... clear off door-side dresser for nativity scene... unpack suitcase from when we thought we might spend the night in town... another bag from goody making party, clean out punch cooler... clear off and pretty up couch...

off to start some laundry (so i can wash those blankets)

i will check back later today!
Ok
\

EDITED 10/18/10
So, I was wrong. After starting laundry, putting away clean dishes and filling up the drying racks with newly cleaned dishes, and about half clearing the counter, I got sick. Its crazy, like I'm getting morning sickness again. I know some women have it all through the pregnancy, but mine went away for almost an entire trimester. Grr. So I was entirely unproductive most of my day. Well except for beating my high scores on several facebook games and the quality time with my comforter and pillows.
Oh well.

I did end my day well, was feeling better around 6 and went to dinner and a movie with my hubby and his parents. Very much enjoyed the movie despite Braxton Hick's starring role.

Today is a new day. I got outta bed earlier than usual, 10 something. And already organized my christmas gift wrap, and made a shopping list. Then my headache came back and I'm in bed again. This shouldn't last long, I've got a todo list todo.

EDITED 10/19/10
Ok so again not long after posting this yesterday, I got to feeling icky and went to bed for a bit, then we had a wake to go to and some Christmas shopping to do.

Today wasnt much more productive. Got up way earlier than usual to take my mommy out to breakfast, then did a little shopping, by the time we got home, I was dirt tired and took an extra long nap. But after that, I have unpacked some of those bags, did most of the dishes (they will never be done!) Finished with some Christmas goodies, put some laundry away.

Before bed tonight, I will FINISH the people Christmas goodies, start the dog Christmas goodies, finish putting away laundry and wrap the like 5 gifts sitting ready to wrap.

will update when done.

EDITED: 12/20/10
last night, i finished completely the people christmas goodies, didnt start the dog goodies as i was getting bunches of contractions, i did put all the laundry away. The dishes have been done for the most part each day lately, so the dish drying rack can be checked off the list, even though its full again. I got up an hour ago and wrapped all the gifts that were wrappable.

so this list is taking me days, thats ok, as long as i am productive as much as i feel i can be, been getting naseaus a lot lately, Im ok with that.

{30 Day Blog Challenge} Day #13-16

2010-12-15T01:47:00.000-08:00

so im a bit behind on my blog challenge, oh well, sue me.

heres a quick catch up:
Day 13 - Your favorite musician and why?
dont have one.

Day 14 - A TV show you're currently addicted to.
i dont watch tv. i dvr Brothers and Sisters but havent seen them in over a month, eventually i will watch them all. we dont have cable hooked up in our loft yet, only in the home theater and we havent been using it except for sporting events lately, it takes a bit to heat it up in there.
I was addicted to LOST though. like Lostepidia adicted.

Day 15 - Something you don't leave the house without: my phone. whenever i do, (on accident) i realize how much i am addicted to it. I have the motorola Cliq and its super great, its actually over a year old, there was a time when i was getting new phones every 6-9 months or less, when i was phone spoiled working for the Mob.

All i want for Christmas this year is a new phone though. I dont get great signal in our loft and since it attempted suicide by gravity down from the attic earlier this month, sometimes, the bottom 1/3 of the screen doesnt respond to touch.
Santa is waiting for some money to come in or Christmas would have come earlier for me.

and because i will probably be pretty busy tomorrow,

Day 16 - Your celebrity crush.

well i wouldnt call it a celebrity crush, more like a character crush. i dont really know much about Naveen Andrews the person, but I do have a crush on (and miss much) Sayid Jarrah the character on LOST. Both his real life accent and Sayid's accent are both crazy sexy though!

Sayid was a torturer in the Iraqi republican guard and has to use some of his skills on the Island of LOST but when falling in love and losing his love, we see a much sexier side of him. ahhh.

Christmas Goody Making Party!

2010-12-12T23:49:00.000-08:00

For years we have been getting together to watch the annual holiday parade downtown, this year it was canceld, big bummer! Aunt Sarah had the idea to get together to make Christmas Goodies instead.

The party was a huge success.

Everyone brought ingredients and supplies to make a recipe or 2 and we all went home with trays and trays of super festive goodies.

I made these Snowball cookies. Cuzzy Jenny informed me they are also called "Sandies" (I didnt think sandies were coated in powdered sugar) I informed her it is winter, so therefore theyre called Snowballs, in the summer, at the beach, she can call them Sandies.

I got the recipe from Annie's Home:
Snowball Cookies (her picture)

The Recipe:
1 c. butter
1/2 c. confectioners' sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla
2 c. sifted flour
1 c. chopped pecans or walnuts
Additional confectioners' sugar (for rolling)

Preheat oven to 375°F. Beat butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add remaining
ingredients, mixing to combine. Use a teaspoonful of dough and roll into small ball. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Cool slightly and roll in confectioners' sugar.

I followed the recipe for the ingredients but I stopped reading the recipe
after that. Sister-in-law Rachel and I decided to add more sugar, about 1/3 a cup because dough didnt taste sweet enough. Also mine turned out larger and not as round because I used a #40
disher (my new favorite kitchen tool) to scoop the balls out on to the cookie
sheet rather than rolling in my hands. Hers were prettier.

my picture: I also made

Cherry Balls

I got the recipe from Echo's of Laughter

These were super easy and a favorite of all the other elves at the party. I doubled the recipe but I should have tripled it!

her picture:

The recipe:
1/2 cup butter
1-1/2 cups coconut
1-1/2 cups icing sugar (powdered sugar)
1-Tablespoon milk or water
1/2 teaspoon almond flavoring
1 small bottle maraschino cherries
graham cracker crumbs

Directions:
Drain cherries well and pat dry. (we did this while the dough was chilling) Beat butter, coconut, icing sugar, almond flavoring and milk or water with mixer.
Chill for a bit in the fridge.
Using a teaspoon, take portions of dough and wrap around a cherry. Roll in graham cracker crumbs.
I like to place the balls in little decorative paper cups. (this is a super perfect idea! mine are in mini muffin cup size)
This recipe can be made ahead and kept in the freezer for up to 2 months. (i dont think theyd last that long)
Very yummy.
Very messy on the hands. (we learned to eat one all in one big bite)

I intended on buying butter, but forgot, so I used I Can't Believe Its Not Butter. And I COULD believe it WASN'T butter because the dough didnt harden very well, so I recommend using actual butter. They were still tasty though!

One of the commenters on her blog post suggested chocolate cookie crumbs rather than regular graham crackers, and I prefer chocolate, so I went with that idea and had my 4 yr old newphew crush up (toss around a ziplock freezer baggie of) chocolate grahams. for a double recipe he crushed up a full brick (1/3 of the box) + about half of another brick and we had some leftover crumbs.

Aunt Sally did the cherry wrapping, and found it was easier to work with the dough when it was cold, and her warm hands didnt help, making it difficult to work with (probably harder having used imitation butter) so after re-chilling the dough and chilling the cherries, she used a #40 disher to scoop the dough, squished a hole in the middle, added the cherry and covered the cherry. plopped the ball into the cookie crumbs. my picture:

Oreornaments:

Aunt Sally had the right idea to make semi-homemade goodies after seeing the idea in a magazine.

She brought store bought fudge covered Oreos, cookie icing, sprinkles and cut strips of fruit leather into "ribbon"

with help from my sister Lenna, made these: I named them Oreornaments

She also made some with the chocolate fudge covered Oreos with white icing.

We found when working with 2 colors of icing, let the first color set a few moments before adding the 2nd color to prevent them from melding together. Also for some designs, she practiced the shapes on wax paper first.

After the party, I was relaxing on the couch reading Woman's World Magazine

and actually found an article about a very similar idea, only it includes how to coat the Oreos in chocolate yourself, and other super great goody ideas!

Being as smart as she is, Cuzzy Sabrina had brought some leftover jumbo chocolate chips she had, (just incase we found a use for them), and I had leftover Marachino Cherries, someone had the great idea to combine the 2.
Chocolate Covered Cherries
the recipe:

dunk drained and patted dry marchino cherries in melted chocolate chips, place on wax paper or into paper cups to harden.

(the Cherry Balls Recipe above called for cherries without stems, but if you're making just these, I would recommend getting them on stems for easier dunking and pretty presentation)

Jenny melted the chocolate on a makeshift double boiler (metal mixing bowl over sauce pan of boiling water). We dunked the cherries into the chocolate and out onto wax paper.

after the first batch, I remembered I had some tiny paper cups in my box of Christmasy recipe stuff, and they were the perfect size for the cherries, so for the 2nd batch the cherries were put directly into the paper cups after dunking.

here is a picture of the cherries from the first batch after moving them into the cups, not as pretty as the ones moved directy into the cups.

We really liked the look of the cherries poking through the chocolate.

Mom made:

Peanut Butter Snappies aka Ben's Favorite Cookies

(Recipe here)

Sabrina made:

Rocky Road

we found it would have been easier to start with preroasted and skinned peanuts, roasting and peeling was the most difficult part of the recipe... placing the chunks into paper cups made it much less messy and prettier when we put a few of these babies onto the trays and in boxes and tins.

Aunt Sarah made some most decadent

Lemon Fudge

Lemon fudge combines a silky smooth white chocolate fudge with the vibrant taste of tart lemons. I think this refreshing candy has just the right combination of sweet and sour citrus.
This recipe calls for lemon oil, which is a super-concentrated flavoring with a strong lemon taste. If you don’t have lemon oil, you may substitute lemon extract, but you may want to add more, to taste, to ensure that the lemon flavor is strong enough.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutesIngredients:
•2.25 cups sugar
•3/4 cup evaporated milk
•1.25 cups (9 ounces) white chocolate chips
•1 stick (4 ounces) butter, cut into small pieces
•1 tsp lemon oil
•zest of one lemon
Preparation:
1. Prepare an 8x8 pan by lining it with aluminum foil and spraying the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Combine the sugar and evaporated milk in a medium pan over medium-high heat. Stir continuously while the mixture comes to a boil. Once it is fully boiling, continue to cook, stirring constantly, for six minutes.

3. After six minutes, remove the pan from the heat, and quickly stir in the butter, white chocolate chips, lemon oil, lemon zest, and a few drops of yellow food coloring.

4. Stir quickly to melt the butter and white chocolate, and continue stirring until the fudge is homogenous and smooth.

5. Pour the fudge into the prepared pan. Allow it to set at room temperature for at least two hours. Once set, cut it into small squares to serve. Lemon fudge can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for several weeks.

I had picked up a bag of tiny twists pretzles when Wal-Mart didnt have the square "window" pretzles I wanted for a recipe I saw on My Computer is My Canvas

I will be making these soon:

I ended up finding the square Snyders of Hanover pretzles I wanted at Winco, so I brought the twists along for the party. Aunt Sarah had leftover white chocolate chips from her fudge, so we melted them for my neice Baylee and Sister Lenna to dunk the tiny twist pretzles in, some were sprinkled with peppermint sugar.

Not pictured we also had M&M cookies, Cherry/Strawberry cake mix cookies, and chocolate carmel fudge.

We found it very nice to put most of the items into paper cups when we made up all the trays of goodies for either ourselves or to give as gifts. Cuzzy Jenny brought some store bought candy to go with the goodies on the trays.

Overall, this was a great way to spend an afternoon with friends and family and I hope we continue the tradition even after the Parade comes back into town next year!

Peanut Butter Snappies AKA Ben's Fave Cookies

2010-12-12T23:29:00.001-08:00

Peanut Butter Snappies aka Ben's Favorite Cookies

My brother Ben is not the only person who loves these cookies, they just got nicknamed that because whenever he would come home on leave during his 8 years in the Marine Corp, mom would make them for him.

my kid sister Lenna, who was too young to remember the military leave tradition named them "Peanut Butter Snappies"

The rest of the world knows these as Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal No Bakes (or something along those lines)

Although I make these a few times per year, and every time, I call my mom for the recipe. It amazes me how she has recipes memorized like that... Eventually, I will have this one down, or at least organized to find my notes from last time I called her.

I made them for a cookie exchange I went to yesterday.

Ingredients:
~1/2 cup baking cocoa
~1/2 cup milk
~2 cups granulated sugar
~1/2 cup room temperature butter (pictured is for a quadruple batch) or margarine
~1/2 cup peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)
~1 tsp vanilla
~3 cups instant oatmeal (non instant will work if thats what you have) ideally its the instant that cooks in 2 minutes)

Supplies: ~pan, (non-stick is very helpfull)
~wax or parchment paper
~measuring spoons and cups,
~pot holder/trivet
~kitchen timer (your microwave or stove probably has one)
~disher (mine is #40) or 2 eating spoons
~stove safe mixing spoon (not pictured)

directions:
Prep everything:

~roll out wax or parchment paper, onto counter or cookie sheet (about a large cookie sheet size peice for 1 batch)

~measure peanut butter and oats (I love the pampered chef plunger type measurer for peanut butter!)

~into the pan, measure sugar, cocoa and butter (if your butter is cold, warm it on the stove before adding everything else)

~set timer for 2 minutes~I don't pre-measure the vanilla, since its easy to measure out when it is time, I just get the spoon ready.

~you will want the peanut butter and oats ready before starting to cook the rest because its important to be quick when adding them when its time. take too long and the cookies might not set up right, or might be too crumbly.

Start cooking:

~bring butter, sugar, milk and cocoa to a rolling boil. stirring constantly, as soon as you think it could be considered "rolling" press start on the timer

~stir constantly for the 2 minutes
~when the timer goes off, remove from heat, onto trivet or pot holder next to the parchment paper.

~ stir in peanut butter until its mostly melted.

~ stir in vanilla

~ stir in oats to cover them completely

~quickly scoop out cookies onto the paper, I LOVE the disher (mini ice cream scooper) for this, but 2 spoons works well too)
Using the small #40 disher, this recipe makes about 3 dozen cookies

when I make multiple batches (which is like 90% of the time), I dont double the recipe, I actually repeat everything multiple times, because its important to get the dough out of the pan onto the paper quickly so it can set up (if the oats cook too long, they get mushy and dont hold up, or the sugar dries out and is too crumbly) It really doesnt take much time to re-measure everything. If you do this, wash the pan between batches so you dont get burned oats in the 2nd batch)

My mom is good enough at making these she doubles it. I could probably get away with it now that I have been making these awhile, but Id rather mess up 1 batch than 2 or more batches, starting over each time is better success insurance.

Even the 3 batches I made in the same night with same ingredientes, turned out slightly different, the first, the butter was still mostly frozen, and they turned out drier (the sugar and milk cooked too long waiting for the butter to thaw then melt then boil), the 2nd, I melted the butter first, and they were perfectly shiney, the 3rd, not sure why, but they had better flavor

This night, I made 3 batches, yeilding 8 1/2 dozen (+ like 6 the hubby and I ate)

If your cookies turn out crumbly (or if they arent eaten in a few days, yeah, right), serve crumbles warm as an ice cream topper. Or with milk, like cereal.

If they turn out mushy and dont set up hard, smash into a graham cracker pie crust, top with whipped cream, serve as pie and pretend you did it on purpose.

If you have space, plan to cool the cookies away from the heat of the stove. Especially if youre baking other stuff and its hot/humid in the kitchen) Either by scooping onto wax paper on cookie sheets then moving to a cooler area of the house, or on a counter away from the stove. If the cookies dont cool quickly, the oats cook for too long, getting mushy (like oatmeal) they can be put in the fridge, but I always get the best results in a cool kitchen.

I suggest storing under a heavy lid, so you burn a few more calories getting to them.
Try them and you will know why we looked forward to Ben's visits sooo much. (well that and we missed our brother)

Im linking to Momnivore's Dilemma Creative Juice Thursday

{30 Day Blog Challenge} Day #12

2010-12-12T11:50:00.000-08:00

so i have missed a few days of the challenge, oh well, it's my blog, ill do what I want.
i missed:
Day 9 - A photo of the item you last purchased. I've been doing some shopping lately, so i dont know what the last item I purchased was.
Day 10 - A photo of your favorite place to eat. I love Applebees and my kitchen counter.
I'm feeling way to lazy to take/find a picture, and the counter is full of bags of goodie making ingredients anyways.

Day 11 - What's in your makeup bag.
i dont wear much make up, its just some basic stuff. I mentioned my make up basket in this post though.

Day 12 - A photograph of the town you live in. Here we go, I'm caught up...

in 1876 (photo courtesy wikipedia)

after 1937 (photo courtesy this site)

in 2005 (photo courtesy this site)

the town i live in is pretty big and growing, we actually live on the outskirts of town, about 7 miles from a main road, one of the last Salem addresses before hitting the next town.

from Wikipedia:
Salem (pronounced /ˈseɪləm/) is the capital of the U.S. state of Oregon, and the county seat of Marion County. It is located in the center of the Willamette Valley alongside the Willamette River, which runs north through the city. The river forms the boundary between Marion and Polk counties, and the city neighborhood of West Salem is in Polk County. Salem was founded in 1842, became the capital of the Oregon Territory in 1851, and was incorporated in 1857.

Salem had a population of 136,924 at the 2000 census, with an officially estimated population of 154,510 on July 1, 2008,[1] making it the third largest city in the state after Portland and Eugene. Salem is less than an hour driving distance away from Portland. Salem is the principal city of the Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area, a metropolitan area that covers Marion and Polk counties[4] and had a combined population of 347,214 at the 2000 census.[2] A 2008 estimate placed the metropolitan population at 383,100, the state's second largest.[5]

The city is home to Willamette University and Corban University, as well as the main city in the Salem-Keizer School District and is home to the main campus of Chemeketa Community College. Other schools include the Chemawa Indian School, and the Oregon School for the Deaf. The state of Oregon is the largest employer in the city, with Salem Hospital as the largest private employer. Transportation includes public transit from Salem-Keizer Transit, Amtrak service, and non-commercial air travel at McNary Field. Major roads include Interstate 5, Oregon Route 99E, and Oregon Route 22 which connects West Salem across the Willamette River via the Marion Street and Center Street bridges.

{30 Day Blog Challenge} Day #8

2010-12-08T23:36:00.000-08:00

Day 8 - A song to match your mood.

well, my moods change a lot, so I'm changing the challenge topic to it to

{Favorite songs right now}

"My Grown Up Christmas Wish"

and

"Was He A Boy Like Me?" by Veggie Tales (free download available at Amazon currently)
( check out my post on free downloads here )

and

"Christmas Shoes"

{30 Day Blog Challenge} Day #7 my dream wedding

2010-12-07T21:43:00.000-08:00

(I missed yesterday, oh well I didnt really have a good answer anyway.)

Day 7 - Your dream wedding.

First some of my favorite girls will help me get ready.

Then, before we can get started, some important people must be seated: Then our amazing attendants will come in: And because its VERY important for brides to walk on flowerpetals before they get married:

Then as I have always dreamt of:
My 2 big brothers will walk me down the aisle. This moment in my memory makes me tear up most times I think about it. Even before it happened. The morning of the wedding, I couldnt sleep, I laid in bed imagining the wedding and this moment made me cry like a, well bride on her wedding day. I still get choked up looking at these pictures.

2 more of my darling neices were my train carriers.

I will meet my Groom, my Love at the front for a few gushy words... Blah Blah Blah....

After the ringbearers will bring up the rings, we give them to eachother:

And because by then we couldnt wait any more, we kiss!

and then we love happily ever after... Well... not until we have cake anyways

A few more details about this dream, we re-entered the room to "His Cheeseburger" by VeggieTales. Its the most romantic song ever.

We served basic food, the highlight was over 400 hand made cupcakes made and decorated by me and my wedding fairies. Topped with a jumbo cupcake made and decorated by my great friend, owner of Pink Princess Cakes.

My Something Old New Borrowed Blue:

My Love had given me Citrine Earrings for Christmas, not very old, but aside from the veil, it was the oldest thing I wore.
Both my dress and matching necklace to the earrings were new, it was my wedding gift from my now husband.
I borrowed my mother's veil, altered slightly to add my colors.
My mom used scrap fabric from my bridesmaid's blue dress to make me a garter belt.
And I had a sixpence in my shoe, my father in law gifted it to me for good luck.

It meant a lot to me to have my entire immediate family involved in the ceremony. Family is important to both my husband and I. This is the 23 (going on 25) of us. My Parents, Siblings, Siblings' spouses, neices nephews, my Husband and I.

The wedding was held in our home theater/ shop. The weather was unpredictable that day, and we were very concerned that it would start to down pour right when I had to walk out my upstairs door and down the deck and through the building for the grand entrance. Luckily, the downpouring stopped about an hour before the wedding, so I didnt have to walk down the inside stairs: it was hard enough to walk with my brothers holding my arms, me and stairs dont like eachother much.

My Dream came true on 10-10-10 and everyday I imgine that I couldnt be happier, and everyday, I find that yesterday, I was wrong.

more wedding details can be found at my wedding blog including handmade invitations, floral, decorations and other misc stuff.

{30 Day Blog Challenge} Day #5

2010-12-05T23:17:00.001-08:00

Day 5 - A photo of yourself two years ago.

This is one of my favorite pictures of me and my nephew Presten, we are coming back in to town on the shuttle from the Susan Komen Race for the Cure. My sisters, mom and I walked as individuals in 2005 and loved it so we formed a team the next year. "Just In Case", walks together every year, 2010 was 5 years as a team.

{30 Day Blog Challenge} Day #4

2010-12-04T00:34:00.000-08:00

Day 4 - Your favorite photograph of your best friend.

My sister, the rubber ducky.

she has an impressive rubber duck collection, so it was the perfect halloween costume idea!

Bow Wreath, the lazy way.

2010-12-03T18:07:00.000-08:00

Im sure you have seen something, In a home goods store, craft fair, thrift store, or favorite etsy store, and thought, "hey, I could make that!"

Sometimes, you have to stop and ask yourself "but will I?" "how much is it worth to me to have been the one to have made it?" "Will mine even turn out better?" "How much will the supplies cost?" "how much time do I want to put into this?"

I had one of those moments at the Humane Society Thrift store one day looking for cheap Christmas decor when I saw this:

Thinking, "thats just a bunch of store bought bows glued to a wreath form. Ive worked with wreath forms before (spring and 4th of July) , I can make that"

I took a look at the back and sure enough, theyre just hot-glued on there.

and then I noticed the price, $2. hmm there are lots of goodies in my shopping basket already... I have some random bows in my Christmas wrapping box, and even more I found when I organized my other wrapping supplies. But I wasnt sure if I would have enough of coordinating colors, but bows are cheap right? Then I remembered that the only wreath forms at Dollar Tree were pretty small. I decided that making a wreath like this would cost more $ and take lots more time than buying it.

Although I get satisfaction in crafting, I knew I would have lots to do this month, and I would be prouder of other craft items, I didnt need to make a wreath for this holiday too.

So I gave my $2 to the poor homeless animals and saved myself time, energy and money.

There are lots of great wreath ideas out there, but I needed something that is weather resistant. we have NO cover or overhang of any kind out our front door, yet.

Here is a great looking wreath from Atelier Caroline

I'm thinking I have bunches of tulle left over from the wedding, and tulle is cheap, and for the most part water proof, so I might make one like this for the other door...

Tammy from The Sweet Spot made her wreath using stuff from the Dollar Tree:

Im thinking, could even be done with pieces of plastic shopping bags from the recycling and a bent wire hanger as the base...

Alex at Crafting with my Cub even made her gorgeous wreath for $6.

I have lots of miscellaneous ornaments and a blank wreath I could attatch with hotglue...

Nope, (so far), Ive taken the easy way out. Don't judge, I'm toting around a canteloup in my belly, just came off a 3 day migraine, and Dad-in-law just came home after 11 days in the hospital. So Im not ashamed of my lazyness.

Im linking to A Little Knick Knack's EBTKS Party

and

Momnivore's Creative Juice Thursday

and

Somewhat Simples Winter Holiday Party

and

Vintage Wanna Be's Talent Tuesday

{30 Day Blog Challenge} Day #3

2010-12-03T00:14:00.000-08:00

Here we go, day 3 of the challenge.

Day 3 - Your idea of the perfect first date.

hmmm. This is a good question. I would love to say how romantic and lovey Mikey and my first date was, and it really was, I just wasnt feeling it our first time dating. This was 3 years ago. He picked me up looking nice and dressed up, brought me tulips, which he didnt know were my favorite flower, and we went to lunch. We had a good time, but I was hung up on another guy who really wasnt worth my thoughts, so I wasnt really open to feeling anything for Mikey. I kept thinking what an idiot I was, hes perfect, has good values, respectful, thoughful, sweet, not a lowlife. I just couldnt feel it.

Fast forward almost 3 years and the other guy is long gone from my thoughts, and so are a few other losers. I wasnt really looking for love, just feeling like I aughta be more social, so I joined Facebook and was hooked pretty quickly. Browsing for friends, I came across Mikey on a mutual friends list and sent him a message, I remembered what a good friend he was when we tried dating before and decided to start the friendship up again. It was in the back of my mind that I hope we can try the dating thing again, with less pressure. The first time, I knew how much he liked me and I felt pressured into liking him and that didnt work for me. This time, I was a happier, more open person and didnt feel any pressure. We went into the "dating thing" as more of a "hanging out with friends thing" we had some Pizza and watched a movie, my brother, his girlfriend and my sister were all there, so there wasnt any pressure. We hung out more and more and things fell into place and here we are, married and loving it!

{30 Day Blog Challenge} Day #2

2010-12-02T00:11:00.000-08:00

Day 2 - A photo of something you ate today.

Today's challenge reminds me that I am supposed to be eating healthier and cutting back on the sugar, this pregnancy has really peaked my sweet tooth! Mikey and I met with a nutritionist about a week ago and learned some good information, we have been shopping better, but not really eating better. But every good choice is better than whatever bad choice we didnt make, even if we dont always make good choices, right?

Breakfast I had some apple cinnamon oatmeal, 2 packets since thats all i was having. lunch was Huevos Rancheros from Muchas Gracias, I was craving Taco Bell but hubby doesnt really like Taco Bell and weve been there 2 or 3 times since weve been to Muchas. Wasnt the healthiest choice out there, but eggs and beans arent bad.

I remembered after my first burrito to take a picture, so this isnt as pretty as it was when I ordered it.

I have them sub the rice for an extra egg, I really dont like rice. They gave me more beans too, I didnt eat them all.

Ok I will be back tomorrow for the next day's challenge.

{30 Day Blog Challenge} Day #1

2010-12-01T23:42:00.000-08:00

Taking cue from Ciao Bella, Im going to try to follow along with the challenge! Christmas is coming, so we will see how I do.

Check out the challenge here.

Day 1 - A photo of yourself and a description of how your day was. I chose this picture because I really enjoyed playing mom and teaching my kid sister how to do some cooking in preperation for Thanksgiving. this is us, cutting celery for the stuffing. She did great, and we still have all of our fingers! I love how pregnant I look in this picture. I can't wait to get to teach my daugher how to cut celery.

How did my day go? Well, woke up thinking my headache was finally gone, (had it since Monday eventing) I planned to finally get the Thanksgiving/fall decor packed up and put in the attic, so I can get the Christmas stuff down.
...but it came back as soon as i got out of bed. I did a lot of nothing until we got a call from the vet. Our bull dog Annie has a UTI and we opted to get her a shot instead of the oral pills, life had been kinda out of the ordinary lately with my father-in-law in the hospital and the holiday planning, so we decided it was worth the extra $ to get the 1 time shot rather than remember to give her pills a few times a day (although Im sure she would have liked the spoonfulls of peanut butter we hide it in).

This afternoon, I decided to call the midwife about my headache since Tylonal, laying down, darkness, chocolate and water wasnt helping. She suggested trying some caffeine. After my nap, I had a cup of strong tea and a can of Pepsi, which seemed to help the dose of Tylonal actually work for about 3 hours. Its coming back though, if this dose of Tylonal doesnt work, I will call the midwife on call.

In other news, my father-in-law is well enough to come home tomorrow, which we, including Annie, are all very happy about. This really lifts some worry stress off of our shoulders even as it adds some additional work stress on them. We can take care of him here at home.

Tomorrow, this headache better be GONE, I have some housework to catch up on, some decorating to do, an appointment to go to, and a dad to welcome home. Also, I should eat something interesting so I can take a good picture for tomorrow's challenge.

Free Music!

2010-11-30T14:23:00.000-08:00

Searching for music for our wedding, I found that sometimes, Amazon does free music downloads, I was like WTH? nothing in life is free. I thought I aughta give this a try though, this wedding is costing a pretty penny. So I clicked on the song that said FREE where the price goes and downloaded it. No problem, no charges or anything! I went on to get a bunch more.

At the time, I thought, "wow, I need to share this, eventually when the wedding is behind us, not less than 2 days ahead of us" (yes I waited until the last minute to do music)

Sitting here, a few weeks later, reading The Thrifty Home, I remember about Amazon's free wedding music and decided to search for Christmas music. (in the past I bought Christmas CDs for dirt cheap at thrift stores garage sales and the Dollar Tree. I'm sure I have plenty, but heck they're free.

Here is what Amazon will look like if you go to the MP3 downloads section and search "Christmas"

Then click "sort by" and then price: Low to High

as of now, there are 53 free Christmas song downloads, several will be available soon.

I was thinking, "is it worth the time to go through and download each song?" YES especially because some of them are on full albums that are free, reducing the amount of time and clicking to get the songs. Ahh. Easy, Free, Untimeconsuming, and Christmassy. 4 of my favorite adjectives!

I think I might just make a copy of this one for my neices and nephews. As a Thanksgiving gift, since I dont like giving Christmassy gifts on Christmas. Although I know they would enjoy it year round!

im linking to:

Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays

and

Just A Girl's Handmade Holiday Hoopla

and

Its a Blog Party's Home for the Holidays

and

A Little Knick Knack's EBTKS

eta: i wrote this back in october, but since people are actually thinking about christmas now, i thought i would bump it up to the top!

bathroom cabinet redo

2010-11-28T23:01:00.000-08:00

I haven't forgotten about my Craft Room Overhaul, I just don't want to spend all of my cleaning/organizing time in my space when other, smaller jobs, that my husband will enjoy being cleaned up, need done also.

Last night, I cleaned and organized my bedroom, and I will share those results later, but hubby is sleeping and probably wouldn't appreciate the camera flash all over the room.

Tonight, I tackled the bathroom cabinets. I had done some organizing about a month ago, and we only moved in 3 months ago, so this isn't really that bad.

As always, lets begin with some BEFORES:

Top shelf:

not pictured is another 1/3rd of this cabinet, the middle, towel shelf. its really not bad, the towels are stacked and rolled and pretty boring.

The bottom shelf:

I failed to take "during" pictures, well because, I was sitting on the floor, and well, my camera was not.

I pulled everything out and using existing boxes, I sorted everything. I had organized before so
things were mostly sorted, just had a few "misc" boxes.

I had a lot of misc boxes because when I clean elsewhere in the house, I usually fill a box of "bathroom" stuff and it gets put in the cabinet. Also, when i have company, everything from the counter gets put in a bin or box or basket and put in the cabinet.

Also, as you see on the top shelf, I had a 3 drawer shelf thingy that was completely empty and has been empty for 3 months, since we moved in. I thought it was awfully wastefull to have a great organization tool just sitting, empty, taking up space. Also, i tend to use the same hair clips/scrunchies all the time because, well my hair stuff was in several places, one was that tall silver star basket, the other was a labeled box at the bottom of the cabinet. I decided to try putting all my hair stuff in the 3 drawer unit.

Top drawer has the "chompers" and headbands. Middle holds scrunchies, pony holders and in a bin in the middle, bobby pins and bendy clips. Bottom drawer holds hair brushes, curling iron, combs. The brushes my hubby and I use are actually out on the counter not in here, the blue brush is my travel brush, the silver one in the middle is my sisters(she left it here), I thought the other 2 were my hubby's until i asked him not his, weird... Ive since got rid of them.

UPDATE: my Brother has since also left his hairbrush at our house, whats up with my siblings? its now in the drawer next to Sister's.

Also, as I was sorting the pony holders, any that were stretched out or too weak were tossed out. Bent out of shape bobby pins were also tossed. The cord of the curling iron is banded to itself with pony holders.

Some of my hair stuff was in one of my stacking Rubbermaid take-along containers, (circled)

Now that one was empty, I decided to do some re-arranging. I also wanted a box for travel size items, so when I pack, I don't have to go through all the different sorted boxes to get the travel size containers from each. Most of the items in the "shower" container were travel sized, so this emptied that container.

Sidenote: I used to have a surplus of shower gels and bath beads and bar soaps,
toothpaste, deodorant etc from gift baskets and sales when I stocked up, I have been slowly, NOT buying any, until I use it all up, as a way of decluttering, and saving money.

So all travel sized items in the bathroom, went into a box.

(review bottom shelf "before" pic) The "face" (extra chap stick, less often used make-up, etc) and "teeth" (extra toothbrushes, toothpaste, teeth whiteneing trays) items moved out of their mismatched unstacking boxes into the freed-up matching containers. (one was repurposed as my "chomper" holder inside the drawer)

I also tossed out any expired medicine and vitamins, sorted the medicine into "rx meds" "over the counter meds" and "cough drops". I cleaned up the 2 first aid boxes (one that is easy to grab and go, the other is surplus of the first one, that stays in the house) they had bunches of band aid wrappers in them. (remember the stitches I mentioned in my under sink redo?)

All of the sorted containers were put back in the cabinet (they were already labeled from before, I do need to make more labels for the new ones though)On the bottom shelf are the following bins: NAILS, MEDS (rx) FIRST AID, FACE, TEETH, SHAVE, LOTIONS/DEODORANT, MEDS (otc), COUGH DROPS/BULK NYQUIL(we had a bunch and hubby got more at Costco) The silver star basket is staying in the cabinet, even though it is empty, because inevitably, there will be bathroom clutter that needs hidden away at some point, its a great place for it, unless I steal it for another area of the home. I also think it would look cool with Christmas ornaments inside to dress up the back of the toilet...

Since I wont be needing the TRAVEL box, or the big Costco size box of Tampax, anytime soon, I moved it, a box holding a surplus pantyliners, Vagisil, and OB tampons, and a Costco size box of face moist towelettes refills, to the back of the cabinet, behind the HAIR drawers, for now. The cabinets are so deep, Its necessary to bury some items, and the lesser used items fit well back there.

(this shelf also traded places with the towel shelf, so towels are alone in the top cabinet, everything else is in the bottom cabinet, it makes more sense this way)

On top of the boxes in the back, is my make up basket, I rarely wear make up, when I do, I pull the basket out to the counter and use it there. The basket got cleaned out, never worn make up, older versions of duplicate items, eyeliner pencil shavings, etc all got tossed.

The tray on top the HAIR drawers holds a tray of bunch of perfumes, they don't store well laying down in the stacking containers, and I do use different scents on different days, so this is a pretty/practical way to store them.

On the right of the HAIR drawers are extra shampoo, dog shampoo, and extra bar soap (since I don't have a "shower" box anymore) I have converted my husband over from bar soap to shower gel, when this bar is gone, we will just have a bottle in the shower hangy thing.

Speaking of which, it got hung (i know, it only took 3 months) I had intended on getting some "bath" Command Hooks (printable coupons on their website), but hadn't yet. Cleaning out my junk drawer, I found one! YAY! so up it went! Its about time too, because my worrier husband would come running to the bathroom whenever I would bump the big bottles of shampoo off the corner ledges sending them crashing down, (sounding too much like a pregnant klutz falling for his comfort).

more Command Hook Love: our loofahs used to hang off of the shampoo and conditioner pump spouts (adding to their fall-ability), until one day I got command hook happy.

The problem with our bathroom, is, no drawers, none. looks like we have some, nope, those aren't real.

(oh by the way, you will eventually get a peek in those cabinets, its cleaning supplies and TP, not ready for their blog debut yet) ETA check it out here

The counter usually holds items that we don't want to constantly open the cabinet for, and therefore gets cluttered up easily. Leading to the "declutter-for-company-by-tossing-it-all-in-a-basket-in-the-cabinet-to-be-hidden" problem. Or we have to reach into the cabinet for stuff all the time.

I wanted to be able to put out everyday items in an attractive way, so I didn't feel like i had to clear off the counter for presentation. This will also save steps to the cabinet for a Q-tip or something.

I always love the look of NO lables(for obvious items) or packaging.

I grabbed some inspiration from Jess from Our Life in His Grace, who upcycled some mason-esque jars with spray painted lids in her pantry: So clean and uncluttered looking! love this look!
Not realising it, I got (what looks to be) the same jar set from Bed Bath and Beyond. I had a gift card, a 20% off coupon and a $5 off coupon so they ended up costing $11 (gift card money) for a set of 4 (down from $19.99) I ended up only using 3 of them. I like the look of odd numbered items better anyway. I'm sure I will find something to do with the last one. Inside are Q-Tips, cotton rounds, and flossers. Much prettier than the packages sitting out on the counter!

Because counter items are inevitable with no drawers (and well, even with them, my old place had drawers that weren't really used often) I grabbed a little basket to put hair brushes and the air freshener in.

Moving above the sink, lets take a look into the medicine (although it doesn't hold medicine) cabinet behind the mirror.

I tried to only let items used daily stay in here, everything else moved into the sorted containers in the the cabinet.

Inside, organized left to right: are lotion, hubby's shave cream, deodorants, face washing items, teeth cleaning items. On the bottom shelf is a pretty awesome re-purpose.

I love Glade Scented Oil Candles, but, my husband is very sensitive to all smells, so I cant burn scented candles often, I had this great heavy glass holder that comes with the candles (they sit in the middle, via magnet, and burn beautifully into a pool of scented oil)

I flipped the candle holder over and ta-da! a little bowl for small items!

This was actually in my cabinet before I organized, and was in the "doesn't belong in the bathroom" box but it's perfect to hold nail clippers, nailbrush and tweezers, in the medicine cabinet.

Things from the pictures I haven't mentioned yet:

Fire extinguisher: was moved to under the sink, a more readily accessible area, and not in the way of more commonly used items.

Dog Shampoo: We don't actually have a dog full time, but we live on hubby's parents' property so we dog-sit often, our shower has a sprayer wand, and its easier for us to give her baths than his parents.

The towel bar: has yet to be installed, 3 months after we moved in, we have a "robe" hook, and a double shower curtain rod that hold our towels, so this might not ever be installed. I will be thinking that over in the next few days.

Hubby's Magazines: I know it seems silly to keep magazines in the bathroom, but if my hubby didn't have a place to put them in there, they would accumulate on the counter anyway, like they did in our old bathroom. This solution has been working since I renewed his weekly subscription last month.

Box of Air Fresheners in Swiffer box: Those were moved to the cabinet under the sink, with cleaning supplies. I need to get rid of them since hubby is sensitive to smell but there should be more under there, I will tackle that cabinet another day.

Orange soap pumps between the stacks on the bottom shelf: Mary Kay, Satin Hands, I love them, but I don't tend to need to use them often enough to keep them out, the caddy is actually from another gift I had gotten, I pull it out to use it once in a while, then it fits perfect between the stacks.

Little blue treasure chest in the bottom shelf: Actually, this is empty, not sure what i am going to do with it yet.

OK, the moment you have all been waiting (a long time, this post is crazy long!) for:

SIDE BY SIDE BEFORE AND AFTER

AHHH so pretty!

April, from Home Hinges, did an amazing job on her bathroom, check it out!

Mindy at This Little Light Of Mine made some adorable labels for her bathroom organization:

im linking to Somewhat Simple's Strut Your Stuff Thursdays

and

Medicine Cabinets A Bowl Full of Lemons' Day 13 Organizing Challenge