Digital Hybrid – Christmas Planner

Alright, I am trying to challenge myself to think outside the box with my digital program!  So I was sifting through the web and cam across a lot of sites gearing up for an organized Christmas.  Now in years past, I had promised myself I would make one for me, well after the house went hushed last night.  I designed one on my digital storybook creator and then this morning I put it all together.

It is so nice being able to lay it out in the storybook creator and then print, cut and glue!  And I get to easily share it with you!  So here is my planner!

So I am using a brand new creative memories digital kit.  It is the Very Merry Digital Kit and is only $8.95 to download.  The kit comes with all this!

So In the first 2 pockets I have my to do list for each month and then lined paper to track my gifts.

 

Next pockets is for any cooking and then another to keep track of cards sent and received.

When I put the planner together, I had to use 2 pieces of 12 by 12 aqnd I ended up with a pocket at the back.  Then I realized how perfect.  I sealed an envelope and trimmed it to fit and added a tab and it became my receipt holder!  

 

See it is sturdy enough to stand up on its own!

 

 

So to make this all wonderful for you!  I have the files here for you to be able to make your own!  If you love the content!  Buy the digital package.  I got the calendar and the lined portion of the paper from the freebie blog by Creative Memories.  Have fun!  If you are part of my midnight PJ party crew.  Print these out and bring 2 12 by 12 cardstock, you cuter, and adhesive and we will make these Friday night.

Now click on them to enlarge them, then save them as a picture.  Print out on standard letter.  Make sure your printer ink is filled, I printed mine out the first time at the end of my color ink cartridge.  If you make yours, send me links so I can take a look!

Enjoy!

~trish

The last 2 weeks of blur!

Well friends, the last 2 weeks have been rough in so many ways.  As a mom that wants to succeed at the task, I had to take inventory or my strengths and weaknesses and had to come to reality about my personal limits.  Like I said, it has been rough, a few personal meltdowns and finally coming to grips with the decisions we made.

I can imagine the “dun, dun, dun” loud eerie music playing.

Okay, no one died! But, my husband has been working some crazy hours with his second job. I feel so blessed that he is willing to work so hard.  These crazy hours are about15-17 hours each day on the weekend and 2-3 nights during the week, him working until 9 pm.  I had no idea how fragile our home is without him.  Let’s just say in no way, can this momma go it alone.  We were getting the kids fed, educated, and dressed, but this momma wasn’t getting to be the momma I want to be.

Now this side job will last like this for about 2 months.  I know we could put our school aside for that time and just focus on being mom, but then there is always another side job that will put the same schedule on him.  On top of this, I have a little test I have to study for that is a major deal. (This goes back to that professional degree I have.) 

So momma is off having day in and out with all 4, with pure exhaustion making me just want to cry when the voices are echoing off the walls to sound like I have an entire herd of hyenas in here.  So I was getting snappy with my precious babies and losing all joy in every moment and realized something needed to change.

I heard a while back on a podcast, that it is the attributes of the stay at home mom that will change the world.  It lingered in my mind as I was facing the stresses in my life at the moment.  What echoed is that it was not the homeschool mom that is changing the world, it is the stay at home mom.  SO it shook me that it is more important for me to be mom, than it is for me to school teacher.  I never thought that I would have to choose between the 2, but this is where my world is fragile without my husband being readily available in my day.

So I made the decision painfully and heartbreakingly.  And once I mourned at the loss this year of being able to school my own children, I put my big girl panties on and got to the business of enrolling my kids.  I made the decision Tuesday, enrolled them on Wednesday, and they started on Thursday!

Here they are on their first day.  Now #1 started kindergarten. #2 is going to VPK.  #3 just wants to go to school, so she totes a backpack with her all day long.  Every time we stop somewhere, she ask if this is her school.  I am using this opportunity to tell her she needs to go pee pee in a potty, so she can go to school one day.

Now we are on day 3 of them going to school and wow!  I feel like I am coming back to my old self again.  So I am embracing the change. I am also changing things with the baby! 

She has been evicted from my bed. She is thrashing around through the night and I am not getting any sleep.  I am almost dried up and have lost all desire to nurse.  SO now I am trying to get her on a schedule to take her bottle and sleep through the night.  I had to get on the phone today and find a crib that would fit in our bedroom, because she has outgrown the bassinet.  Thankfully a friend came through with the coolest port-a-crib.

It is low to the grown, so it is not overwhelming in a small room.  Against better judgement, I will show you what my room looks like.  We do not have anything fancy, it is just the nuts and bolts of real life.

 

And I didn’t clean up from my sewing project.  I even sew in my little bedroom.  Here is my $20 Janome machine I picked up at Goodwill.

I dream of grander things, but today is not the day for them and that is that.  I will make due with what I have got, because I know one day I WILL have them the way I want, so I will practice patience.  None the less, I get a lot of sewing done at this spot.

So all this craziness and meltdowns is the reason I have been lacking any real thought to my postings and why I was late on my give-away.

I do want to share my excitement for the plans to my new family order.  I am giving myself this week to catch back up on my house.  But hopefully next week, we will start back up on the unit study side of the MFW kindergarten program.  I want to continue to show them God in everything around us and the one week unit studies are perfect for that.  The nice part is, the unit studies have so many activities, I doubt they will feel like “work”.

I am also excited to have more time to devote to making my home more stream lined.  Yeah!  I hope that by the end of the school year, I will be more at a maintenance level than a purge and organize level. SO I plan to keep FLYING with the flylady!

I better post my next giveaway, toodles!

~trish

The hooks I love!

 

 

I love these hooks!  I love how easy it is to put them up and be able to hang things out of the way so easily.  One of the

reasons I love them, is that my walls within my house are concrete.  I am not just talking concrete blocks, I am also talking concrete coated.  So to hang ANYTHING! I need a hammer drill and a 20 page commitment contract with my husband that I really want a hole there and that I will keep something hanging.  Because those holes are not easily patched.  But having these hooks makes a huge difference. A double pack of hooks this size cost me about $4.  I also get smaller ones for hanging garland in the house.  I have even thought to use them for clothes line affect with the kids master pieces.

I am really impressed that they can hold a lot of weight.  My purse typically has a wallet, calendar, and camera; along with all the other stuff that attracts in it.  I have no fear that it will stay up.

 

So this is an option, especially if you do not want to wait on the hubby to hang something.  (Mine has intentionally hid the hammer drill on me)

 

~trish

Goodbye clutter, HELLO functional!

This post is to celebrate less!  Less stuff that is.  Background, please! I really have a big house with lots of little rooms that is filled with lots of littles and according to my friend and lots of furniture.  So I have in my house a couch and a futon, because my darling husband won’t let me get rid of the futon, in case, we have company.  Well, I agree with said friend, too much stuff is really hard to live with.  So I am slowly replacing things.  Like remember the once loved ashtray chair that was in hopes to replace, but couldn’t due to obnoxious smell.

Well, I am saying good bye to these two items.

I am picking up this tomorrow:

because it does this:

(side note: new sofa is 4 inches shorter than the old one because of the lack of huge arms)

And the most awesome thing about it, is I am using this to help pay for it!

Do not stress, I have already purchased its replacement a couple weeks ago for $20 at Goodwill, right here.

   Look familiar, yep, a pretty version of the ashtray and probably more comfortable since I don’t have to hold my breath.

Confetti going everywhere!

~trish

A new routine for my kitchen.

   So I have been using FlyLAdy to build a new routine to clean with. Who am I kidding.  I hate to clean, I am building my first routine of keeping house.  I hate to keep house.  I work so hard and it feels like I am running in circles and getting nothing accomplished.  Well, I decided to try FlyLady. Well, my kitchen is very quickly coming together pretty and clean. 

Just to recap, I did clean my sink on the first day, but this was my counters.  And there was nothing special about that day, this was my counters everyday.

 

I promise that I did not move things around the room to make it look good.  Here is another day and the entire kitchen.

suddenly, my kitchen is feeling spacious.  I take up the whole counter when I make dinner now, because I have the entire counter to use.  I am not getting stressed when the kids bring their bowls to the sink, because there is space to put them.  So what if food gets on the counter, I am going to clean it off no matter what. 

What I am liking about FLY LADY:

First, it is not “go clean your house and then keep it up”.  Her way is start a routine a little at a time and before you know it, your house will be sparkling.  My attitude has always been to exhaust myself and scream as I would try and deep clean a cluttered house, then be exhausted and never keep it up or get back to it.

Second, you start with manageable accomplishments and somehow I always do a little more.

Third, I have been working hard but the good kind of hard.  I put in 100% and got 100% accomplished. Usually, I feel like I put 100% towards my goals and got 10% accomplished because I was moving with no direction and just mostly chasing my tail everyday around this house.

And forth, I like the smell of bleach and never knew it. I can’t believe how good my reflection looks in my sink. I didn’t know a toilet could be pretty. I love the look of shock when my husband comes home.

~trish

Urge to Purge is BACK!

  SO to be a way! I went unplugged for just over a week, totally unintentionally.  I would never want to unplug from you, but I snuck away to see family and had no telephone service or internet.  So I had almost a week of no phone calls or keeping up with anything.  I was even unplugged from my sewing machine, now that was the most daunting part.

While I was staying at my uncluttered, simply arranged sisters house, I found a nice book by Better Homes and Gardens. I really liked this book.  I only got to get about an inch deep into it, but found it heavy in wonderful information about keeping a home. 

 

Now I know this sounds funny of an idea, a book to help you keep home, but I quickly realized keeping a house a home, takes art.  The art that you must learned and let me say, I have not and did not learn it.  It had a ton of details about everything, even making a bed.  So being in a clean home with an inspiring book, I got the urge to have the same at home.

 

So I spent the 8 hour drive home making my initial game plan, hmm, boy is this sounding familiar to one of the many post I have done on the overwhelming clutter I have.  I will say, over the past few years and months, I have drastically decreased my clutter. 

My problem at the moment is,

1. Yes, there is still stuff to get rid of and removed from the house.
2. Some things really will not have a home until some remodeling is done (and of course, my darling husband refuses to start until everything is moved out of his way, YUCK!)
3. It is time to find a reasonable home for the rest of it.

To help motivate my I am calling upon the knowledge of FlyLady!

Our FlyLady system is all about establishing little habits that string together into simple routines to help your day run on automatic pilot. You can do this! – Essentially it is an outside source that reminds you to work on your chores.  I did this when I had my first child and would get emails telling me to clean this and that – as funny as it sounds- it was the boost I needed to get it done.

I am coming back to Fly Lady to help me maintain a routine outside of myself as to controller to make it work.  I am not sure if I am going to sign up for the emails or have a reminder on my calendar to do things each day.

 

Fly Lady’s initial push is all about the kitchen sink!  Clean, sparkle and polish.  There is even instructions to do it.  Well I got started tonight.

The funniest thing happened, I decided I should wipe the window ledge above and then I noticed how dirty the screen was.  Next thing I know, I am on a chair taking down the screen and washing them.  These are good wire screan, so I was able to scrub it good.  I was shocked at the dirt.

 

At this point I want to add a little condition statement.  This is still what you see when you look right and left of the sink.

Ah, oh well, my sink is pretty.  And besides, baby steps.   Maybe tomorrow my counters will be cleaned.

Fly lady, fly!

~trish

Individual Cups

 

A friend read my facebook post about monogramming cups for each kids.  Well, she did it better.

 

What you see are Tervis Tumblers that are made in the USA!! I am so excited about my cup and I have been drinking a lot of water since.

Here is what I love about Tervis!

1. I can leave a drink with ice in the car for over an hour in 97 degree summer day and still have ice left.

2. It has my name on it!

3. Freezer, microwave, and dishwasher safe.

4. It has a lid.

5. It has a lifetime guarantee and it will be replaced if it breaks.

6. Made in the USA, BABY!

 

You can order them online at www.tervis.com and the prices are extremely reasonable.  I am now embarrassed to say, this is my first tervis and because of the guarantee, it can be my only one, well unless I lose it.

I am loving too that each kids has their own cup.  Thank you Heather, totally awesome baby gift for the entire family.

~trish

Finishing up on the Smokers Chair

 

Remember my post that one of the things I wanted to get done this summer was to finish my ashtray chair.  Well, I got started on it!

So I just took a knife and started cutting at the seams.   I realized very quickly that I had no idea what I was doing.

Then I realized that this thing has had water damage.  And then I knew what I needed to do to make this chair right.

So I took the hardware off at the bottom and took it to the curb.

~trish

When the day just doesn’t start off right.

Enough said!

Yah right, like that is all I would say.  Well, I just might be a little hormonal.  Not too bad, pretty mild for me, but I am FREAKING OUT HERE PEOPLE!  Well, no not that bad.  Lets see, I have already public apologized for being me, see earlier post on Miss Bossy pants.  I have thrown myself to the Homeschool moms forum that I might be inadequate, because I can’t get myself into a routine with my children, even though I have a 4 week old attached.  Miss Type A is trying to take over again, I must STOP her!

 

Well, the blessing in homeschooling year round is that you can take time off.  So seeing that I have a newborn, I am attempting no curriculum progress for another 2 months.  So I believe that would make our unit study start date august 10th. Hmm, that is my wedding anniversary.  Well, I better keep the poppa happy, no rice dinner for him, we might start the following week.  I do want to keep them learning, almost unconstructively, so here is what I plan to mildly work with them on:

1. Monthly Calendar (got all the pieces from the Dollar Tree)
2. Numbers
3. Alphabet
4. Weather
5. Lots of reading (We will be exceeding our limit at the Library this summer)

I plan to do all this with games and nothing too structured.  I might even throw in some file folder games that I already have made up.  I did find a neat blog Confessions of a homeschooler, she has a ton of ideas that I might have to copy from.  I love the use of her workboxes and it makes me want to try them.  But then again it goes into me trying to do too much.  For this summer, I am trying to keep it simple.

Oh, so what better way to keep it simple than to make a few goals for the summer.  I am trying to keep it to a minimum here folks, but I am a task master and if I do not have a list I will never get it done, the traits of a reformed/rehabilitated procrastinator. So here are my plans/goals.

1. Potty Train #3 (I really should say, coheirs my darling husband into training her, like he did for the last one)
2. rebuild my wardrobe by making, thrift, or refashioning.
3. Recover my nasty ashtray chair, so it will be useable.
4. Take the kids to see my sisters
5. See a play with the kids
6. Take the kids to a Museum
7. Start making my Christmas gifts (also meaning I have a list made on the who and what)
8. Work on building a routine (maybe that we just play school between 10-noon), engrain the rules, distribute chores.

I think 8 items for the next 2-3 months is reasonable.  I am so excited, I will have to make a list on sidebar to show them and cross them off as I go.  Sounds like a reasonable, I am not letting the “Type A missy have a mile, but I will give her an inch” thing to do.  I will even try not to add to it, but I can not make any promises.

I am excited, I wrote this last night.  I just found out that you can go to www.kidsbowlfree.com and sign up to 6 kids to bowl 2 free games this summer until the end of August.  For $25 you sign up 4 adults to join in on those free games.  How awesome is that!  So I am happy to be adding a little fun to our summer at little cost to us.

~trish

Building a New Routine

We played school last week on Monday and not one of us had fun.  I think pulling teeth would have been met with a better attitude.  I think my attitude needed to leave the check it off my list attitude to this is fun and making it messy.

We are using My Fathers World – Kindergarten.  The first 2 weeks is an introduction that covers creation and alphabet singing and is very light in requirements.  At first, I thought lets get through this section and get into the meat and potatoes of the program, because this is soo me to want to get it checked off my list.  Well after last weeks misery, I realized the 2 week introduction is really to get them used to what you are doing and to build a routine.

Well, I have pages and pages of explicit routines that I never follow through with every 15 minutes accounted for.  15 minute increments go back to working days, I had to account for every 15 minutes for billing.  Well, I got some inspiration at The Girlies at Mt  Hope and her 4 girls.

So for the induction phase of homeschooling with my little ones, I am trying to implement a routine that will corral them in and not be too rigid.  I am hoping after 2 weeks we will be, for the most part, adapted to it and following it. Here it is:

7:30 am    Breakfast with a bible story

8:15 am    Get dressed, brush teeth, make beds, put clothes where they belong

8:45 am    Circle Time (Prayer, Pledge, in the furture: calendar & 100 day chart)

9:00 am    Unit Study (#1 and #2; #3 will probably sit along and I will let her do the craft)

9:45 am    Snack then Play (this will be my time to sew and get laundry/household chores done)

11:45 am  Start lunch (followed with #1 and #2 clean up play area & living room; #3 goes down for a nap)

12:45 am  Activity/Craft for #1 & #2 (this might be finger paint, baking, who knows)

3:15 pm    Quick Pick up (#1 & #2) and put laundry away

3:45 pm    Quiet Time (Movie time)  & snack

5:10 pm    Set table for dinner & outside to play

I am not making plans past the time for my husband to come home.  I have him to keep a natural order to the evening.  Usually we eat like clock work at 6 pm, the moment he is walking in the door, but with the summer days of being light until almost 8:30 pm, I have moved dinner time to 7pm.  So the kids are having a later bedtime from 7:15pm to 8:15pm.  I wish I could say they make up that sleep in the morning or at nap, but sadly they do not.  I think the longer exposure to the sun, gives them an energy boost during the day to keep them going.

I also like that I have not scheduled us to go from one thing to the next.  If we get done before our next thing, we just have free time.  So I guess I am using it as a schedule versus a routine.  The nice part is I know if we are not finished after 45 minutes or the amount of time I had set, then it is too much to do in one day.  Yesterday was a great example, I have 5 days worth of laundry to get done.  I could have had the kids help me with that for the next 2 weeks, but all we would be doing is making more laundry to do each week and really? Having all the laundry put away, is that the importance of our daily lives?  Spoken by a true hater of putting laundry away. 

Well, moving through our routine yesterday, I was ready to rush them onto the next activity, until I looked at the clock and realized they 35 minutes before we should start our circle time.  See momma was ready to get this show on the move, while they were still coming to grips that it was a beautiful morning and they should investigate the chicks.  So I took a step back and realized, I WASN’T EVEN READY TO DO OUR LESSONS FOR THE DAY! Bad MOMMY!  Well, that free time was a blessing for me, I was able to make the copies I needed, pull out the paint, and be ready and not rushed.

 

Let’s see how tomorrow will be!  I will be doing my bulk of cooking for my Once A Month Cooking.

~trish

Handling the overwhelming pile of children’s clothes!

I just went on a shopping spree yesterday and picked up these marvelous outfits for the kids.  I am having a feeling it is the hormones at the very end that just encourage me to spend without the desire to hold back.  So back to my shopping spree. I went to a Family Thrift Center in the “city”.  I am going to call it the city, because it is much larger than the county I live in, but it is mostly just a large county with a bunch of people that give rise to these awesome thrift stores with brand names.  In my county, the thrifting is donated by a majority of full time and seasonal retired folks.  They make up over a majority of our populations, so finding good children’s clothes is not worth the time.

So I picked up 6 dresses for #1, 3 dresses for #3, and 2 long sleeve shirts for #2 and a set of the hard headbands for under $30.  Now when I went in, I was on a mission.  #1 had a growth spirit and her legs grew about 6 inches, turning her everyday dress collection into minis.  So I went in with the intention to just replace those dresses, #3 is not in need of anymore dress, but I couldn’t help myself.  Well, I can’t leave my little man out of the equation.  SO this is what I ended with.

Now, for the first time ever, I knew what I had and what I could use.  A large THANK YOU goes to a post I read at www.raisingolives.com

Kimberly is expecting her 10th child and writes a ton of articles within her blog about keep order in it all.  The most inspirational and the one I could implement immediately, most for the shear need of it was limiting the clothing.  Here full article is located here.

http://raisingolives.com/2009/03/laundry-clothing-limits/

Now I had spoken to a friend about this, or more, she kept telling me to pair down the clothes.  My children’s clothing method was anything that came we came across that fit went into the drawers.  For my children I had 12 dresser drawers and 8 feet of hanging space and clothes piled on the surfaces.  And they could never find anything to wear.  Everything was the wrong item for the occasion.  Play clothes were on for Sunday morning service and then I would catch them in church clothes digging in the yard on Tuesday afternoon.  I swore that I just need to get it organized.  I couldn’t consider ever getting rid of the clothes because they were so pretty and nice.  TRUTH!  After reading her post, I had way too many.

After reading her post: This is what I did! 

1. Wrote down a list of what is needed for clothing.

Based mostly on what works for her, We consolidated down to 10 pairs of undies, 2 pajamas, 1 bathing suit, 5 play clothes (everyday) outfits, 1 painting clothes (I never know what my husband will get them into), 2-3 nice going out outfits, 3 church outfits.  That is it.

2. Pulled all their clothes out, one child at a time.

Now, being prego, I mentally reminded myself I had 7 days to start and finish, not 1.  My normal self would expect this done in 1 day and went into a complete turrets breakdown for it then being out.  So I got the laundry all done for the most part and then took out every article of clothing for #1 and everything out of my size 5 box for her.  I laid it all out by each of my categories.  Anything that did not make the cut, that I was holding on to, to just have because I have it, went into a large black garbage bag for a clothes swap.

Then I had her stand in front of me and we checked seen what fit.  from here, if it did not, it went into the sized bag for the next girl.

3. Shopping for her clothes.

Now once I got the piles of appropriate clothes that are the right size, I laid them out by category.  Note, I only had in the pile the things I liked.  Next, I called her in and said, you get to go shopping.  You can pick out 3 dresses you want for church from this pile, it is all your choice.

Ohh, this was nice.  She had a huge grin on her face, knowing she had control of her clothes.  I did this each time and when she was done with each category, I had her hang up the few items and put them away.  The remaining clothes went to storage.

4.  Determining what is really needed.

When we were finished with the process, for each child I knew what was lacking.  One needed pajamas, because it was all flannel nightgowns for summer.  This is my #1, during the picking process, I really began to see what is it she likes.  And she likes the old style girly-ness. So I knew I needed to make her a cotton nightgown. ( I will have to show them to you later).

Also as time went on, I was able to see that she had outgrown here everyday dresses.  So I knew, that we were in need dresses.  All because of having limits.

 

Benefits!

• All their clothes now fit in 6 drawers, if that. 
• The hanging space required is about 4 feet, so now everything is spaced and can easily be picked through.
• Laundry can go to the point there are no clothes and it only takes 5 loads to have everything put away.
• Everyone is always looking nice and put together each day, appropriate for each occasion.
• No more fighting over what they are wearing.
• I know get to SHOP with a purpose, not just buying something on a limb.
• My house doesn’t look as cluttered from all the clothes.

~trish

Getting Ready!

I have been a little missing, but I have been very busy.  At 34 weeks, I woke up having contractions.  Well, this was just what I needed to get things in order.  I am happy to say that the contractions have stopped.  As I was cleaning and washing all the little things that go with a baby, I was struck at the preciousness of her clothes on the line and could not help but share it with you.
This past week has been an absolute blessing for my heart and mind.  #1 had a week off from Pre-K and we were able to feel like we were in our old routine again.  By the end of the week, my longtime passion and desire to homeschool my children had returned.  I have so many reasons to want to, in the beginning it was a large desire to shelter my children until they have grown mature enough to handle the day to day influences that are not always favorable for their moral and character.
Now I have come to understand, that I desire the calmness that comes with not being demanded to be everywhere with everyone, multiple times a day.  The fun and excitement from exploring the things around the house and within our community.  The peace and connection that stays within my young children to be together, through kicking and biting and laughing and playing.
So for the past week, I have been reading and reading, exploring and putting my house in order.  I have found some wonderful thrifty, homemade sites that I can not wait to share with you as I begin newborning again.  We will be back to clothe diapering soon.  I am excited to be back, although a little daunting, it frees up so much money in the budget.  I have found a few website to make diaper covers and I am excited to give them a try.
I am in the countdown of 5 weeks to the due date and by then I should get to go back to my “old self” with energy to do the things I love to do in this home.  So be prepared for a bit more sewing, less bentos (Pre-K ends in 13 days), a lot about baby, and a journal of our homeschooling journey. 
Also, I have been having a wonderful time digital scrapbooking.  I have made a few templates to share with you.  I am also excited that my friend, Tracy Croy, will be starting a digital scrapbook club. 
Have a blessed day!
~trish

Fridge Service call

My husband, bless his heart, had the best laugh at me about a year back.  My fridge was not keeping cold, but my freezer was working fine.  So, I called the service man to come have a look.  Now, my hopes were that I would be getting a “New to Me” huge fridge!  Well through his inspection of my fridge, he informs me that I am not allowing the vents to work because of all the “STUFF” in ziplock bags up against them. 

Well, news to me!  I had no idea that my fridge was cooled by the freezer venting into the fridge.  Oh, my husband rolled laughing that I had to have a service man tell me that I had too much “stuff” in the freezer and how to pack my fridge.  My husband swore by all means, this was a lack in my domestic upbringing!

The only one who ever used their freezer growing up was my Step-mom.  And Dad did have stories about how the last 2 feet at the bottom was no-mans land.  I did not give it much thought until I went to visit and opened her freezer.

So I believe using every cubic inch of the freezer is a learned behavior!

~trish

Do I need to organize or unclutter?

After my last posting, a friend came over and helped me with 4 rooms to declutter. WOW! I am not sure if I need to organize or declutter to organize. So at the end of 2 hours, I had the entry way filled with stuff to go. Another 2 hours later and the house seemed as if it had a new life. This is when the realization kicked in that, it is not organizing I need, I need to get rid of STUFF!

How in the world do I have so much stuff? So in the past 2 weeks, we did make some more progress, but now I am down and out with a sinus infection AGAIN! But I did get an entire room emptied and put carpet in! So now the house it turned upside down.

I am realizing, instead of being worked up about organizing it all, I need to get a handle on what it is I need to keep in my house and what should go. AND MOST OF ALL GET IT THERE. I have a bad habit of throwing it to the side to get rid and never getting it out of the house. So my solute to organizing. I do want to show a few pics.

This my bathroom, uncluttered and organized to its first degree. The counters were cluttered. Background information, I am not a pink and white kinda gal, my house is mostly original to the previous owner who lived here since 1954. It will stay that way, room by room until I can make it otherwise. So I am working with what I got.

Yes, I do use the vanity as my changing table. I am sad and disappointed to say that I only discovered this marvelous use for it about 10 months ago. Until then I was doing the changing in the bedrooms and piling diapers up there, yuk!

So Here are my drawers, except my cocked eyed make up one. I used the top one for the my husband and I stuff only! I did use 2 shoe boxes and another container on hand to prevent it from looking like an out of control junk drawer.

Then I think another brillant idea came to me!

Put the diaper stuff in a drawer! Tadaa! The blue lid is actually my home made baby wipes container. I have the diapers to the side, I did put #4's diapers in as a place holder. (well left over from another kid, it was just to get me a bit excited to lug through the next 4 months). I have a divider in for the butt balm and such, in the back is my measuring cup and baby oil to make the wipes. Now I know you are seeing the duct tape, well we were having issues with a midnight streaker in the diaper department. We reduced the laundry amount by covering the tabs with duct tape. Otherwise, she would pull it off to hear the velcro noise.

Last drawer, is the hair stuff basket! ahhh! I

needed this for months. Every time it was time to do hair, it was a mad search for brushes and ties, now it is all together with the detangler and gel. I will side note, I am thankful I can put the detangler and hair gel here, in previous years, #2 would have coated his body in the hair gel. The remaining basket is the what nots.

To end the love of toothpaste eating by my youngest and to keep control of tooth brush clutter, I picked up these little holders from the Dollar General for $1 each. They are working very nicely.

So until next time, I am off with my garbage bag to get rid of, the organizing my be put on hold until a clean sweep is preformed. My rational is: clean sweep to easter, spring clean to July, and then organize to October, and finish the year by vasting in my glory with a beautiful holiday house.