Next step in disc organization!

So I just ordered the next step of my organization project. I ordered more of the Atlantic Sleeves that I love so much, and I ordered these other cool sleeves that will fit into a binder, which is how I will be storing the video games. The atlantic sleeves are too delicate for little hands, so Micah's DVDs will probably end up in a binder of sorts, but there are so many options. I have to consider that most movies come with two discs now, so that will be a factor in the decision. Once I have that solution, I'll let you all know! For now, I am just going to be waiting for my package to arrive!

Halloween Treats! Yay, yay, yay!

Halloween is this Thursday. Are you ready? Micah's school is having some activities, and the teacher said it would be fine to bring some treats, so I made some that the kids could take home. :)

I was inspired by a Pinterest post, which led me to http://mudpiestudio.blogspot.com/. Mud Pie Studio has a few different ideas for treat bags, and I knew I didn't need to do a ton, so I just chose to do ghost poop and Jack O'Lantern Teeth. Here were my finished products (except I did 32 of each):

When I first started, I cut exactly on the black border, then the next time left a little edge. Here's the difference: 

If you look at the blog, the author recommends putting the ziploc on the bottom so that the tag doesn't need to get ripped off. I didn't read that until later and just went into super staple mode. I feel okay about it, though. :)

Here is another side by side: 

Sooooo cute! 

And here are my .pdf files of the documents I created to make my labels. There are ten per page.

For Ghost Poop, click here.

For Jack O'Lantern Teeth, click here.

Link for the bags on Amazon, click here. These bags seal and are 3" x 4"

Happy Treating!

DVD/Blu-ray Organization

I received my organization products that I wrote about in my last post, and I just had to show off how much space they save!

Here is the stack of DVDs and Blu-Ray cases that I'm tossing as compared to the height of my dog, Watson. He was very interested in the process. ;)

And here is a comparison of the cases and the discs in their new cases:

Overall, I am pretty pleased. We'll be getting rid of our monstrous DVD case in the near future and be able to put the DVDs somewhere more obscure.  This is where are DVDs are currently held:

It's pretty tall and takes up a ton of room! So I will happy to see it go. I didn't purchase enough to do the whole case yet, and I have a cool idea for how I will do my husband's and son's video games, which I will share with you soon!

Happy de-cluttering!

Organzing out of order!

My kitchen is still not finished as far as organization goes, and I've started a new organization project in the mean time. And oh wait, did I mention I still haven't installed shelves in my son's closet? Because that needs to get done too!

Regardless of the status of other projects, let me share with you this new one! I bought a few packages of the Atlantic DVD Sleeves. They are a little on the pricey side but buying the 36 sleeves with the case at $20.99 was more price effective than buying the 25 sleeves at $14.99. So in the long run I will be saving money. I'm starting off with three packages. My goal is to get my dvd's and blurays and video games-- all organized! I haven't figured out what the solution will be for season's of shows, but when I do, I will let you know! :)

We have been trying earnestly to stay in our budget, which is complicated. After we get all those DVD's reorganized, the goal is to buy some sort of storage/console type cabinet to go behind the couch to better utilize our space and create some less obvious storage places.  One thing at a time, right? Or maybe three or four in my case!

Happy Organizing!

Fall Centerpiece

I originally envisioned something different. I pictured a long but narrow basket with some sort of fall leaves on the bottom with pumpkin and candles on top. But I couldn't find a basket that I liked so I decided to do something different, and I am really glad and pleased with what I did!

My mom happened to help me run all my centerpiece errands, and she took me to a pumpkin patch so we could get the perfect pumpkins and gourds. 

We got this mini garland from Pier 1 with a 20% off coupon :) I also got the candles there (not picture separately) and the sales clerk used the 20% off coupon on the $10.00 unscented candle. It may have been cheaper elsewhere, but my excitement overruled my sense of financial judgment.

This charger was $1.99 from Michael's. The flash made it look worse than it is, but it doesn't really matter since you hardly see it anyway.

And the final product! So proud! 

Overhead view of my centerpiece! 

I am so happy with how it turned out. I've never attempted something like this before and a lot of googling and pinteresting took place to get the creative juices flowing. :)

Happy Fall!

Project List

I decided to make myself a little project list to help me complete my projects. Sometimes various circumstances stop me mid-project, and I have to wait before I continue. So I made my list with that element in mind.

Feel free to download:

[Click above or this text to download]

Christmas Shopping Shout Out

I cannot believe it, but I have already purchased my first Christmas gift of the year! It, of course, was for my mom. She's difficult to shop for so when I saw something that I thought she'd like, it made sense to purchase it without hesitation. Now, if only I could do that for all my family members!

My husband and I plan to buy gifts for both sides of our family and for Micah. With extended family (which is usually just my side), we [I] love to make cookies for everyone. I cannot wait to share pictures with you when that event happens, but for now, here's a view of 2011's:

Apparently, I did not take a picture of the final product for 2012 so here's some cookie pictures from last year!

Is it too early to be talking about Christmas? I am just super excited! Back to focusing on Halloween, I guess!

Weight Loss

No topics are off limit in this blog, so to be half informative and half inspire-myself. I'd like to talk about my weight loss!

First off, I am not at my ultimate goal (which is an unknown weight because I do not know what I'll look like or where my body will be at). I have lost 70 lbs over about 2 years. Obviously, not all of that time was used wisely, but that's part of the process.

Since January of this year, I have lost about 40 of it. Over the summer, I fluctuated between about 5-7 lbs since my eating went out of whack! I am in the process of trying to get back into the swing of things.

Right now my goal is 1lb a week starting THIS week. I am feeling optimistic since some of it has got to be water weight ;) Today I wrote down what I ate, I didn't even write down everything, and I was feeling a bit guilty and down. But tomorrow and right now, I can make a conscientious effort to do better. That's what you gotta keep doing and reminding yourself. It is possible. You can do it, but only you can do it! No one else can make me eat better or smarter. No one else can exercise for me.

Food is everywhere. Sometimes I feel like food controls me, when it's supposed to be the other way around. I just love my sweets! But what I've also noticed, is that I will go around munching on anything sweet in my house until I get the sweet fix I actually want. This is bad because I don't usually have chocolate cake on hand. ;)

When I first started losing weight, I used food as a reward, and eventually was able to get away from that as my cravings lessened and my discipline increased. After months of poor eating choices over the summer, I am kind of back at square one when it comes to my brain. The month of September I kept trying to pick it back up where I left off or calorie count where I left off, but it very clearly hasn't been working.

But guess what? That's okay! It is a learning process, after all. I've decided that for the next two months, I am indulging once a week. JUST ONCE A WEEK. I am also going to ease back into calorie counting and regular gym going this month. I've already hit up the gym once this week, so I feel good about that. As for eating........ well, I have part of that figured out, right?

The other part will be eating less. Less snacking. Being thoughtful to hungry and full and thirsty. I do not expect eating within my "calorie limits" that I had previously set to happen right away, but that's the goal. So I wrote down all the crap I consumed today, and guess what? Tomorrow's plan is so simple: DO BETTER. I am not going to freak out and be mean to myself and most importantly, I do not want to set unrealistic goals that I won't even reach. If I don't eat better tomorrow, I am only hurting myself and my own goals.  So tomorrow? I will eat less, and I'll be thinking about that delicious treat I am going to earn next week!

Maybe by this time next week, I'll be close to my calorie goals! I can only take one day at a time and remember what my goals are and remember that only I can make them happen.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask! :)

Decorating for Fall!

I am finally posting fall decoration pictures! I had gotten all my items out, taken pictures, but was discouraged with my "loot." Seriously, I only had like five things. So with a coupon-in-hand, I went to Pier 1 and grabbed a few adorable items.

It still did not leave me with a ton of decorations but enough to make me proud and keep my wallet happy! I like to disperse my decorations in several key places in the house that are sure to draw some attention and be noticed. What good are decorations if they are hidden away, right?

First, we have the welcome sign. I have a welcome sign for quite a few seasons! :) This goes outside by my front door.

This is our entry table (note: cute Micah pictures). My scentsy is rocking the pumpkin roll scent right now, and it smells delicious.

I am not sure why I did not take a picture of the whole fireplace area, but the pumpkins are to the bottom right of our fireplace, and the witch's house and brew is on our mantle.

Watson checking out the pumpkins.

Here's my coffee table. The picture is super boring, but I had to include it. The pumpkin candle is from Bath and Body Works. The book holds our remotes and was from Michael's. We, unfortunately, had to throw it away though because it started leaking glue :( 

These next pieces are in the dining area. I love the owl! He houses a tea light and is very cute. I have my husband to thank for that one. Also, I could not leave Pier 1 without those salt and pepper shakers. They were the first things I knew  I was going to buy!

One of my other fall decor purchasing goals is to come up with a nice fall center piece. Ideally, I'd love to have something for Halloween and something more Thanksgiving appropriate, but at least I can start with a fall one that will work September through November. I looked online at a lot of different websites, and I think I've come up with a great plan....now just to buy the stuff and implement and show you all!

Procrastination Backfire

Remember how I said I would use the shows I watch on netflix as a means to encourage myself to scrapbook?

Well, the good news is, I haven't broken that deal with myself. The sort of bad news is I have been just reading instead the past three weeks.

I do not feel too bad since I haven't read in some time, but I can only seem to really focus on one hobby at a time or at least for right now because this book is good!

A few weeks ago I had finished George R. R. Martin's Clash of Kings, then I took about a week break, and I have started A Storm of Swords the third in the series. I've read over 600 pages in the past 5 days. I am over half-way done with the book! There are two more in the series that are currently out and more to come.

Tomorrow the family and I are going to go to a museum, where I will presumably take some photos. So when I actually participate in a scrapworthy event, I like to scrapbook two or three events from the past, that way I feel like I am making progress into catching up. I hope I can find some willpower to stop reading in order to explore other creative outlets. ;) 

Thankful Thursday

My projects are going quite slowly right now, and I've been so busy that I haven't had time to think out any extremely interesting posts. But I decided that in the middle of a busy week, it'd be a good idea to focus on all the positives instead of thinking about the overwhelming amount of things I have to do.

It's easy to get wrapped up into the day to day and the routines without pausing to think about all there is to be thankful for in our lives.  I've been looking at what I feel I am missing instead of examining and appreciating all that I have.


I thought about making a list, but that seemed a bit boring and a bit obvious (family, friends, etc). A list, however, will still make it into this post, but I've decided to go into each room in my house and list a product that makes my life a little bit easier. I am truly thankful for things that make my life easier.

7 Items for 7 Room in my House that make my life easier:

Bedroom: Touch lamps (Not exact model/style)
I know it's not hard to turn on and off a light, but when I stumble out of bed in the middle of the night to use the rest room, it's nice to not have to fumble. I can just touch my light and find my way!

Son's room: Drapery Holdbacks (No need for screws or hardware!)
These are amazing. We did not want to have to install holdbacks for his room due to the framing of the windows that already existed when we purchased the house, and these holdbacks are magnetic and work perfectly!

Spare room: The Cricut
The spare room houses my scrapbooking supplies, stuff for the cat, and a desk for my husband. So I had limited choices, but the cricut is one of my favorite scrapbooking supplies. So many different fonts, endless choice of colors because it's cuts your own paper, and a variety of sizes!

Bathroom: Scentsy (I am not a consultant, but I had to go through one for a link!)
I had a hard time deciding what in my bathroom I am thankful for, but I decided it would be the thing that makes the bathroom smell better! I love my little scentsy.   Life is easier when things smell good, especially when you only have one bathroom in the house!

Kitchen: Sunbeam Mixer (mine is much older)
So many options in this room! But I had to go with my upright mixer since I bake a lot.

Dining Room: Vinyl Seats
When we bought our dining set, we had a hard time finding a set we liked that didn't have fabric on the chairs. So finally, we found a set in the right color with vinyl cushions, which works out great! It's nice and easy to clean, which is important since kids somehow spill 80% of the time.
Since the theme was what makes my life easier

Living Room: Netflix
It's like having TV without paying for cable. Sometimes I will watch a movie on netflix instead of putting in the DVD because it really is that much easier. ;)



I hope you enjoyed my spin on things I am thankful for, and in case anyone doubts it, I am most thankful for my family, friends, and pets! :)

Spending tips

I am not a professional accountant, and I do not claim to know the best way to budget. But I do know I like to spend money, and I only have a finite amount of it to spend, so here are a few tips that we use to help determine on what/how to spend our extra income. Obviously, don't take grocery money and go out to eat or spend it on the movies.

1. Eating out is expensive- try to cook all your meals at home.
    
It may seem like everyone says that, but it is definitely true. This past weekend my husband and I   ate out twice! We went to brunch with friends, and we ate lunch out at an order at the counter  kind  of place. After all was said and done we spent about $50.00 on two meals. Probably not worth it.

2. Look up a coupon online before you purchase, especially free shipping if buying online!

At this point, I will 9/10 times not buy something online unless I can get free shipping. There are those rare occasions, that I just can't happen to find the product in a store or anywhere else online, and I bite the bullet and pay, but I can only think of one example in the past six months of that happening. On top of that, find a coupon for a percentage off! If it's clothing that you don't absolutely NEED, wait until you get that coupon! You'll get more for your money! Again, I never buy clothes for myself that aren't on sale unless I absolutely need it for something. Even then, I am not happy about it!

3. Buy quality items!

I bought a Camelbak water bottle a while back, and after using it for about a year, the a hing broke on my straw. I was really sad, but I wrote their customer service department, and I received a lid and straw for my waterbottle at not cost to me! Totally worth the investment!  Sometimes you don't find quality items with awesome warranties, but buying that quality item, means it's going to last you a very long time! So the extra money upfront saves you the heartache of it breaking a few months down the line.

4. Skip the cable.

Now my husband still misses sports, it's true. But I know if we had cable, we'd both be spending a lot more time in front of the TV than we do reading or investing in other worthwhile activities like being active! Instead we pay 7.99 a month for Netflix, and we also have Amazon Prime (primarily for free two day shipping and the kindle lending library), which also offers TV shows.

5. Projects!

I am all about my projects. So that's how I decide what to spend all that extra income on, after I've found all my coupons ;) For instance, I really want new bedroom decor, but that's not my current project so until I am done improving the organization in my kitchen, everything else will wait. This helps me stay focused on actually completing a project, and I don't get sidetracked! My goal has been to buy one thing to help me complete that project every pay check. This week I bought a garlic keeper and pan organizer thing. But more on those later!

6. Spend on yourself.

My husband and I need to be able to invest in ourselves and the different things we like, so we allocate a portion of our budget to each other. We get an equal amount of money, and we are allowed to spend that money on WHATEVER we want. No judgment, and it's completely fair. I am a money saver, and my husband is more of a spender, so when we didn't have that money set aside, mine would get spent on house items, and he'd end up buying a great deal of things that I didn't think we should be spending "our" money on. Now it's his money, and I have my own money that I can keep nested away and saved for that big ticket item I want or whatever! But the main point is that we know it's important to have that money for ourselves and for our hobbies, so we've worked it into our budget. And it doesn't take away from our family's money for things like groceries! ;)

I am sure marriage and having a family will keep teaching me better ways to assess and improve our spending habits, but I am proud of what we've developed so far. I hope these tips help and give some amount of inspiration.

Fall

Fall is one of my most favorite times of the year! Here in Southern California, we get our own special variation of fall where flip-flops are still widely acceptable!

One of the best parts of fall is pumpkin flavored anything. I am talking about pumpkin spice lattes (or iced), pumpkin cookies and muffins, pumpkin pie, pumpkin pancakes. Pumpkin galore! I almost forgot pumpkin ice cream from Trader Joe's! Mmmmmm!

Pumpkin Cookies

Now, I am not sure where I found this recipe, but it is amazing. I was a huge fan of Starbucks pumpkin bread, and I think this is even better. The cookies have a cake like consistency and are pretty much AMAZING!

Iced Pumpkin Cookies
Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

(can subsititute 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice and 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon instead of other spices)
Icing Ingredients

• 1 cup confectioners sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoon milk
• 1/2 tablespoon melted better
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt; set aside.
2. In medium bowl, cream together 1/2 cup of butter and sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, vanilla to butter mixture until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls, flatten slightly.
3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in oven. Cool cookies then drizzle glaze with fork.
4. To make glaze combine confectioners sugar, milk, butter, and vanilla. Add milk as needed to achieve drizzling consistency. 

If you make these, you will not regret it! They are even good without the icing.
Happy Baking, friends!

Gym woes.

Sometimes I do not want to go to the gym. It's just how it goes sometimes. It happened last Friday and again today. I tend to feel unusually guilty about missing a gym day without a valid enough excuse. Talk about hard on one's self. It's okay though. Last week the deal I made with myself was gym for 30 minutes or cleaning for an hour. Well, cleaning for an hour actual won out, and I am glad it did. I was able to tackle cleaning my stove, getting the house swept, the kitchen mopped, and the living room and dining room vacuumed. Today productivity did not ensue although I missed the gym. I did manage to empty the dishwasher and get some pictures hung that have been sitting on my entry way table for about a month. So it was a step in the right direction. At least a few things got done.

But sometimes, we need a break, and we need to feel okay about taking that break. I once heard that you need to talk to yourself like your best friend, and best friends generally don't insult or shame us when we make what we deem a "bad" decision.

I think there is a difference between being a friend to yourself and self-sabotaging. Now maybe a friend would tell us it was okay that we had that slice of cake for dessert despite our eating plans, but a best friend would also remind us how we're going to do better next time, and in my case, encourage me to go to the gym tomorrow instead. There is a delicate balance between making up excuses and listening to what you need!

Remember to love yourself! You need to be your own best friend, your cheerleader and your coach!

Enjoying the quiet

Today my husband is golfing, and my stepson is at home with his mom this weekend. My house is quiet. The coffee is brewed. And I am enjoying it all. The week gets so hectic with school and plans and work and chores and everything else. Usually my husband is home too, but having just me-time is pretty awesome.

Maybe someday we will have a bigger family, and me-time will be a scarce, once-upon-a-time idea and distant memory, so I better soak it all in right now!

I hope everyone else has a happy weekend!

Spice Cabinet

I finally got my spice rack in the mail. It wasn't exactly what I wanted, the sides of it slant, but over all, it works, and most importantly, it fits the space!

I haven't figured out quite yet if I am going to get any extra organizational help for the other shelves, but I managed to go through and do some re-oganization and cleaning.

I think everything looks much improved! I am looking forward to not spending 5+ minutes looking for spices.

The product: InterDesign Linus 3 Tier Organizer, Clear
Next Project: Pantry. I've already started, but I only do a little bit at a time, or I'd blow all my cash on organizational products!

So behind-- how will I ever catch up?

As the title implies, I am feeling doubtful about my ability to consistently scrapbook and "catch up." That's okay though, at least, I know I'll never run out of things to do for this hobby, and if I stick to my netflix while scrapbooking rule, it will definitely help!

Currently I have books for 2011 and 2012 started, and school year books for my step-son. It's basically a mess, and I feel unorganized and overwhelmed a lot. But I FINALLY got a little timeline going of all my pictures for 2011. So there's an end in site for that book. Any tips on catching up?

Here's how thick it is so far. I am thinking I will need to break it up into two books.

I love using the Creative Memories products, but I am pretty disappointed with them going bankrupt, and as anyone who loves CM knows, we have no idea what the future really holds for them or their products. So once I finish my supplies up, I will be on the market for new ones! Any suggestions on albums?

Here are a few pictures of some of my favorite layouts from my 2011 album (from what's done of it):

Time Management 101

Now that fall is upon us, Netflix is getting all the latest seasons of a ton of shows that I just happen to watch. This year, however, rather than plopping myself in front of the television to indulge in all my favorite fictional characters' lives, I've decided to make sure I am scrapbooking while watching anything.

It's hard to budget time for all the different things I love to do. I think many folks can relate. Never enough time, but plenty of different things to do to fill the time. At the beginning of the week, I like to sit down and journal and think of a few different, realistic goals to set for myself. Last week, I wanted to calorie count three days of the week and exercise 3-4 times, scrapbook once, and journal three times. I journaled, I exercised, I calorie counted 2/3, and I never scrapbooked. But the scrapbooking one is okay because I ended up finishing a good book (another thing I wanted to do!). I am not beating myself up about missing that other day of calorie counting either because I was sick and taking care of my body was number one priority.

This week my exercise goal is increasing since I met last weeks to 4-5 times. Seeing as it's Tuesday, and I haven't hit the gym yet, I am thinking that 4 times will probably be what happens. Calorie counting is still three days since I did NOT reach my goal, and scrapbooking I did yesterday, but I'd like to do it one more time. My problem comes in with how I'd also like to play Minecraft, Animal Crossing ( I play it with my son), and read more! But sometimes I just have to pick and choose what I want to do the most when it comes to hobby.

Also, there are always a few BIG cleaning projects I like to tackle each week, that I don't necessarily do every single week for example, washing bed sheets, scrubbing floors, dusting ceiling fans, etc. So I like to throw one or two of those into the mix.

And let's not forget to mention, when it comes to being a mom, an employee, a wife, a daughter, a housekeeper, a chef, and any other hat you wear, there are always per-arranged appointments coming up.. taking the dog to the vet, going to dinner with friends or family. But, I find that managing my time at the beginning of the week, ends up cutting down on a lot of stress of life, and I become creative with how I use my time, and I try to listen to what I need. I end up tackling the things I don't want to do (laundry, dishes, chores in general) and making sure I have the time to do what is going to make me feel good (journaling, scrapbooking, reading, playing a game with friends, etc.).

So figure out what you need to do, what your appointments are for the week, and fill in the blanks with what makes you feel good! :)

Potluck Palooza

The company I work for had a potluck today for memorial day. I brought a side dish and a dessert. Side dishes can be tricky for potlucks I've come to realize, because cold food is easier to keep at work when you only have a microwave at your disposal for heating things up. But I decided to crockpot my side dish, so we'd have something warm. I also brought pie. I tend to like to bring cookies to things because I just love baking cookies, but with all the lemons gracing our tree in the backyard, a lemon meringue pie was hard to resist. I like to use a Martha Stewart recipe from her food magazine for my pie. It always turns out delicious!

Her recipe calls to follow part of a lemon curd recipe so here are links to both: Martha's Lemon Meringue Pie and Martha's Lemon Curd. For pie crust, I cheat and buy Marie Calendars already made crusts, because after all, I am a busy woman, and they come in two packs, and it's great reason to make another pie!

So here it is before the meringue

 And, of course, the final product!

Back to the side dish! It was just a calico beans recipe. If you've never made them, and you like baked beans, this is a great dish. A lot of the recipes online call for ground beef also, but the recipe I used did not. The beans are a great easy side dish for this potluck, but also great for when you're making something on the grill, whether it's hot dogs and burgers, or just some chicken breasts, and it's really easy, and clean up is a breeze when you use a crockpot liner (best invention ever).

Calico Beans

We don't have any special Memorial Day plans, so it was nice to have a little work gathering to celebrate the three day weekend!

Sometimes I bake cakes

When I started this blog, it was the idea that everything was open for discussion. So today, I am talking about cakes! Sort of a side hobby/interest I have is baking and decorating cakes. My husband asked me to make our son a cake for the completion of his first day of school. So I did, and like any overachiever, I tried to go "all out." Here are the results:

The Cake

 The Kid and the Cake :)

Broom Closet Project

 Every time I reorganize a space, I like to think about what needs to fit in the space, and how can I make it the most accessible and easy to use. I recently re-organized our broom closet (2 months ago). Originally we just had brooms/mops thrown in a corner, a trashcan with dog food sitting on the floor that we'd scoop out of, and a key rack, and miscellaneous pet supplies on a tiny shelf that is inside. It didn't really utilize the height of the space. As a result, we had to keep all our recyclables on a bag hanging on our side door. It was not a nice look. When I re-did the space, I decided I not only wanted to keep the dog food in there, but also add our cat food, and recyclables, and I needed our brooms to be easier to get to because they were constantly falling over and getting stuck.

This was our end result, and the top bin isn't even filled (we were using it for empty cans, but we decided to stop drinking soda):

 

The products:  

WTM CBCL- Stackable Bins with Hinged Lids, 24-Quarts 

Evriholder Magic Holder 5-Position Wall Organizer 

 

Always a project!

Well, school started about a week ago for my little guy. And of course, his desk is still unfinished! My husband and son both came down with a cold, and there was no way I could build it alone. ;)

Tonight my husband is taking our son to go shopping for a tool set and then together they will build the desk. It's such a cute idea, and I am going to have take pictures. I wish I could say that I came up with it, but I didn't! It was all my husband. Such a good daddy!


We still need to install shelving in the closet, and redo some wall decor, but I am happy to see that after four weeks, this project will be closer to being finished.

My next organization project will be my kitchen cabinets. I finally found some spice racks that will fit in our tiny spice cabinet. I am so excited to get started on that, but I am trying to discipline myself to finish one thing at a time or at least know what steps must be taken for it to be completed.

School is near!

I can't believe school is near, and basically, here. My stepson (who I will probably refer to as my son in most blog posts) starts on Wednesday! This summer has just flown by! He is our only child, and with our small house, I have been coming up with better ways to stay organized and help him store his things. I notice accessibility is key when it comes to putting toys in bins, and if I expect something to be cleaned, it's got to be easy enough for him to clean it up and put it away.

This summer I reorganized his entire room and closet, and I will have pictures to share later. For his backpack and jacket (we have a designated school jacket, since sometimes he likes to forget them at school, never to be found or heard of again), they hang up behind his door.

 Having them up off the floor helps them from becoming dust collectors, and we like not having them sit out in our dining room each night, which is where they previously sat. He's also finally tall enough to use a real desk, so we bought him one over the summer to begin using this school year. He's really excited to have it, and I am excited to have a space for all his crayons, papers, markers, coloring books, etc. Again, he hardly was able to use them before because it was so hard and made such a mess just to access!

We actually have to build the desk this week and get it all organized, which I am actually looking forward to!

The Everything Woman Blog

First posts are generally introductory, as is this one. When thinking of a blog name, my first inclination was to call it, "not just another mom blog," but given more thought, I decided I did not want to limit myself to the mom title, because every woman, even if a mother, is always more than a mother. She always started out as a daughter, a granddaughter, a niece, a friend, a lover, sometimes a wife, and sometimes a mother, and sometimes in there there's an occupation, there's being a student. Every person wears a lot of hats in their lifetime, so why limit myself to claiming to be not just another mom blog? I am a woman first and many different things come after that and because of that. So this is for moms, for students, for grandmas, for friends. This is for any woman and every woman. These are my life hacks and my experiences for anyone who wants to know. :)