Purging... Your house

A few days ago my parents moved out and back to Oregon.  While it was a sad time, it gave my husband and I a chance to go through our house and get rid of some things.  The garage and living room were the first to be tackled.  Before my parents moved the garage was a mess.  There were boxes, shelves, tools, Christmas decorations, yard tools, and just a bunch of junk in there.  After the move I am happy to say that we have found the walls and floor.  WOO HOO!  Now there is room for projects.

In my last post I stated that I was going to be taking on some new projects.  Since then the garage turned into a storage unit of sorts which left little room to get anything done.  But now, I can finally get in there and get things done.  I am really looking forward to that.

The next area we (mainly I) tackled was the living room.  With the TV, stand, and multiple DVD stands gone, there was a giant space to fill.  I pulled in a dresser from my parents room and turned it into a sort of entertainment stand.  The drawers are now being used as storage for our Blu-Ray and regular DVD's, some board games, and our Xbox games, controllers and accessories.

Next on our list is the dining room.  We have two sets of shelves that we are going to purge and possibly move to another location in the house.  This will free up more room in there and open it up a bit more.  I'm looking forward to that.

I love rearranging furniture.  It helps shake things up a bit and gives a new look to any space.  I wish I could paint this house though.  But unfortunately since we are renting we are not allowed to paint.  I don't mind the color that the walls are painted now, but it's boring to look at.  I cannot wait until we move into our own home.  I will be painting like crazy.

Soon we will be taking on our next yard sale.  I will have be willing to let go of a lot.  We have so much and so do the kids.  I honestly believe this a good sign.  It means we have been able to give our children a lot, more than we had as kids.  But after a while they start losing interest in some of those things and that is when it is time to sell them to other little ones.  It will be hard for them, but in the end they will appreciate what they still have.  Same goes for Ed and I.  There are so many things we still have that we no longer use.  Especially me.  I have been through so many phases that I now have a hefty collection of craft items I no longer use.  Time to purge!


What are some ways you like to purge?  Is it in your closet?  Do you do yard sales, donate, or throw it all away?  I would love to hear some of your purging stories.

It's December and that means...

Time for Fancy Projects!

Last night I was up late creating a cute advent calendar for the kids.  I got the idea from iHeartOrganizing!  I love the website. Jen always has some great ideas for organizing and family fun!  I used her idea for a holiday countdown, and created a variation of my own. 

First, I went to Hobby Lobby.  By the way, do not go there on a Friday (it was also payday), after school (which is 3:30), and expect it to be not crowded.  Holy CRAP!  There were so many people there.  I suspect it was because there was a 50% off sale on all Christmas decor.  I was nuts to think it would be slow there. 

I got a cute wooden box.

You can find these online here. 

First I painted it all white.  A little accident happened after it dried.  Oops! I forgot to leave the top propped open a little so it wouldn't stick to the box.  When I went to pry it open I ended up ripping off the top, the front edge and side edge.  Thankfully there was a part still attached to the hinges and one of the other sides.  So I scrambled through the house to find some Krazy glue.  When I found it 10 expletives and 20 minutes later,  I was able to glue it all back together. YAY!

After the scary party was over, I then painted on red stripes to the top of the box.  I just used regular scotch tape to tape off the lines.  No, I did not measure, I did it all by eye. 

After that was dry I tried to use a stencil and paint on letters that spelled "Advent Calendar"  Unfortunately, that did not work out as I had hoped.  Grr.  So I had to hand paint the rest of it on.  Yes, the A looks funny.  Sue me!

This is what it looks like when I finished it.  I think it looks cute no matter how cracked out the letters look.  ;)

From there I made cards for each day and wrote down activities for the littles to do each day.  

I used a lot of the ideas from iHeartOrganizing, but I added in a few of my own.  One, in particular, is my favorite.  

They don't know when Daddy is going to be home.  All they know is that he is coming home this month.  We have talked about different scenarios to surprise them.  

1. Surprise them at school during class. (that can only happen if he gets home during school hours)

2. Surprise them at the park after school. (again depends on the time he gets home)

3. Waking them up super early and having them see what Santa brought them for an early Christmas present. 

4. Having them see this card before knowing Daddy is home. 

Any of these will be great, I'm just hoping we can pull it off.  Thankfully I have amazing friends that are willing to help out with each scenario.  

The other project I did turned out fantastic.  I LOVE IT! I have seen it about a billion and 13 times on Pinterest, so I thought I would finally do it. 

Super cute Wreath wrapped in red and ivory yarn with cute felt rosettes and holly!

It is now hanging on our front door. We have never had a hanging wreath on our front door. I am loving this one! 

One last thing the littles and I did for a few good times and a bunch of laughs was made chocolate mustaches on a stick!

Needless to say it was a lot of fun!  And they tasted delish! I love dark chocolate mustaches in the evening! tee hee.

I hope everyone is having a great December so far.  I know it has only just begun, but it's never too late to have a great time!

Weekly Menu Planning

For a long time I have been trying to get more organized. It was my New Years resolution.  I have done research on organizing pictures, books, files, and life in general.  Now I am working on organizing our weekly menu.

I will admit, in the past I used to make whatever we felt like for that day. But it is time for a change.  Gone are the days of Mommy the Short Order Cook.  Starting this month I will from here on out be known as, Mommy the Amazing Chef.

I have looked at many free printables from multiple bloggers, but I never came across one that I really liked.  So, being the creative gal I am, I made my own.

Down the left side I put the meals of the day.  B for Breakfast, L for Lunch, S for Snack, D for Dinner, and of course D² for Dessert.  The reason for D² is because everyone always wants seconds.  See how clever I am. Tee hee. 

I also have another list for the groceries I will need for these meals.  It is a little extensive, this being because I am a couponer and like to know what I am paying for everything I am buying. 

{Click here to download for FREE}

I scoured my cookbooks looking for recipes to switch up the every day meal we usually go with, that being spaghetti.  Mind you I still have put spaghetti on my new menu planner, only because it is an AWESOME family meal. I love how it brings us all to the table. 

My next venture will be creating chore charts for myself and the kids, because this summer I will be needing all the help I can get. Thankfully they are both old enough to start helping around the house.

Again, I have found some very cute templates, but in the end i will probably end up making one myself.

Well, that is it for me today.  Do you have any awesome templates or Menu Planning tips to share? Leave a comment.

Project Gallery

What started off as an idea in my head has exploded on our walls. So far we only have two walls with photos on them, but in my head I would like to have every single one of them loaded with pictures.

I have found many crafty blogs with posts regarding gallery walls. I love every single one of them. they have all given me inspiration to create my own.

First place we started was the wall in our "dining room" area. I put dining room in quotations because it's not really a room, but more of an area behind where the couch and desk sit.

The wall was white and bare. Nothing to give it any life. So, after we got our taxes I made the ultimate decision and booked us an appointment to get our pictures taken. The whole process from leaving the house to leaving the mall was an adventure in itself and I will not get into that. But, needless to say, after 4 and a half hours, we had our pictures and were headed home. The next day I started my project.

First I measured out where I wanted to the pictures to sit, and then I started hammering in some nails. I love hammering nails, it's fun.

This is what the end result came out as...

Though, I know it is not the biggest and most extravagant gallery wall every made, but for now it is simple and I love it. 

The next wall I tackled was the bare wall next to our GIGANTIC television. Trust me when I say it is big. 

There was nothing next to the television. It was where we had our love seat, but we moved that in December to make a space for our Christmas tree. After Christmas was over and the tree was put away we really didn't feel like going through the trouble of moving the love seat back, so we left it in the family room. 

Now I was faced with about a 5' x 3' area to work with. So I set up shop. I craftily made a desk out of two tv trays and the top to my old desk that mysteriously lost one of it's pieces, thus making it so I could not put it together. I laid the top of my old desk across the two tv trays and viola! A new desk for me! I set up my laptop with my printer next to it and had my very own work desk. 

Then I realized the wall needed a little something. So I started digging for pictures that would fit the frames I had. Sadly only 1 of our newly taken pictures would fit. I was so sad. But I did not let that get me down. I love looking at old pictures and reminiscing on the good old days. 

After about 20 minutes of trying to place them where I wanted them to I ended up with a pretty neat looking wall. 

The quilt in the frame is from a quilt that my grandmother made me. It had already been torn up between me, my kids and the dog using it. So I decided to turn it into art. I cut out my favorite part, (the only piece left untouched) and placed it in a frame. 

I love my walls. I will most definitely be adding to them in the future. I can't wait to show you all the process and how it all comes together. 

Finally...

I got a NEW, to me, camera!

Now I can take pictures of all my crafts, projects, adventures, and my little ones.

Another awesome thing happened. Last night I got my new photo organizer. So far I have used 15 of the 16 cases. I had a great time going through all of our old photos and trying to separate them into the right categories.

After my Grandma had passed I went up north to Wisconsin to visit my Grandpa for the funeral. We went through all of the pictures she had, and boy did she have a lot. I would have to say she could have easily had over a thousand pictures of her family, spread out between over 30 or so photo albums. I got to take home all of the little albums she had of my two babies and also a couple that she had with pictures of me when I was a baby.

Yes, that is me.

It was so much fun getting to reminisce old memories with my family. It was sad that a death in the family brought on the reunion, but it was also nice to see my extended family. Some I had not seen in over 10 to 20 years. It was amazing to see the look on their faces when they realized it was me.

Anywho, back to the story at hand. I received the new photo organizer last night and today I am happy to say that all of my pictures are not put away in an orderly fashion. Before they were either hanging out in an old shoe box, in small albums, or laying around in drawers. I admit, I didn't take very good care of my photographs, but again, that is why I bought this awesome organizer.

YAY! This thing is the shizz!

Next thing I need to do is create labels for each of the boxes. 

I highly recommend this photo organizer. Jen from IHeart Organizing! was a genius when she put this nifty organizer on her site. I am obsessed with her blog and with my new photo organizing friend!

Tomorrow, I will show you how I jimmy rigged my own crafty little corner. I think it is pretty spiffy.

Out with the OLD, in with the NEW...

Year!

This year I have a lot planned. Not only do I have my own personal resolutions, but also resolutions for the family.

For the last almost 7 years I have put the family first, as most mothers do. But after the last 7 years I have come to the conclusion that my waist line has seen better days and my backside tends to jiggle more than the jello I made the night before.
Starting next Monday I will be starting my journey to rediscovering my pre-baby body. Though I know I will not be as small as I used to be, because as they say on One Tree Hill, "Zero is NOT a size!"
Come Monday I will be starting P90X.  I fully plan on sticking to it this time. The last time I "tried" I lasted all but two weeks. This time I am bound and determined to fit into my size 5 jeans that I absolutely LOVE!

Another resolution for myself is to become more organized. For anyone that has known me either since birth or from when I was a teenager, knows that I am not the most organized person on the planet. When I was a child everything that went missing in the house ended up under my bed. Though those days are long gone, I still have not gotten the hang of putting everything back where it belongs. So, to begin the journey to my organization resolution, I have subscribed to 3 organizing websites and I have already begun little projects.  The first was to organize all of our photos, and trust me we have a lot.

I have purchased a Photo Keeper from Amazon.

I got the idea from Jen at iHeart Organizing! She has amazing ideas when it comes to organizing. I recommend her site to everyone who is struggling with their organizational skills like me. 

When it came to resolutions for the family, I could think of one right off the bat.  Less time on our computers and the Xbox 360 and more time with each other. So much time of ours has been spent on the couch watching TV, playing Call of Duty, or sitting at our computers playing games or surfing the internet. 

With the cold and rainy days that have plagued us as of late, we have found that getting out and about is a difficult task.  Building forts has become our new favorite even here in our home. If it were up to them, they would have a fort in every room in the house.

I also want to start leaving the weekends to family time. No Xbox, TV (unless it is a family movie time), and no computer time. We are going to fill that time with crafts, reading, board games, and family outings... if the weather permits.

These don't seem like too much to ask, right? Hopefully it will all go over well with the little ones, and I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will stay on top of my personal goals as well.

Here's to a new year! Cheers!