New organizing Challenge

I had a moderate showing at a Bowl Full of Lemons New Years challenge. I finally finished some of the challenges and have pics waiting to be uploaded. All in good time.

Now there is a new weekly challenge over at A Bowl Full of Lemons. Great having a week to complete some of those bigger tasks. I say bring it on! My project today will beorganizing craft stuff. So far it is all thrown in my master bath tub. No baths right now.

So check out the challenge:

Day 9- toy organizing challenge.

Toys.

They can drive a parent mad.  My kids have come to an age where they can understand picking up toys.  However.  Now they play with barbies, little pets shops, polly pockets, matchbox cars, and, wait for it.............. LEGOs.  We wish we could have a playroom.  Just not feasable in our house though.  We've thought about putting a playroom in our sub basement.  However with a 3 and 5 yo, we don't want them 3 floors below us playing when we are upstairs.  And we don't want them to get into all of our storage items down there.  And toys will always end up upstairs anyway, which is where they are now.  Through the whole house.

All those little pieces.  My rule is if it is on the floor when I am vacuuming... bye bye.

So here are some befores:



Girl's Room

Target bookshelf.  The bins have dress-up clothes.  The lower shelves have coloring books, binder with art supplies, Tag reader, Starfall readers.



Bookshelf that came with bedroom set.  Contains...Books.  Which need to be straightened again.  On top is her CD player...right now it is Enya for bedtime music, replacing the Glee Christmas soundtrack.  The lower drawers hold purses. Her little floor pillow on the right.  I made that.




Previously mentioned barbies, pet shops, and legos.



Barbie vet and toybox.  She has dolls and some dog clothes in the toybox.  I forgot to show you her net.  I highly recommend one for stuffed animals.  It is in the corner on the celiing.  Her stuffed animals (all dogs) go up there except the ones currently playing with (like 20).  But they go in the net for time outs.  Very effective.



Drives me crazy that she shoves things unde the dresser to make her room appear clean.  She is five, though.



Here is her bench after we put all of her barbies/petshops/legos in the appropriate bins.  Better.

Boy's Room

Note the cute toy box.  Easy to just throw things in, but not really organized.  Hubby needs to learn that football tent does not belong behind here.

Bins of books.  The red one is for library books

More bins of books.  And see, tons of books behind glider.  And there are books in the cabinet of the night stand.

Boy's closet.  I cought the closetmaid shelves when boy moved to toddler bed.  He stopped napping once he had access to toys during naptime.  Now many of them are locked in the closet.  I am thinking about adding picture labels to all the bins, though.

 I need to break down and get him a real bookshelf.  we have one in our office I may paint blue and red.  Or I may look for one at Target.  I am thinking about getting rid of the glider and putting the bookshelf there.  He still likes to read betime books there, though.

And, ugh.  Legos.  My almost 3yo son got two Lego sets from family that were Lego City for 5-8yo.  Sorry, but those went back in the very back of the closet where he can't find them.  Luckily Santa knew he was almost three and got him the Cars duplo set.

 Toy Chest

So this is really a TV chest.  We have this in our entry living room.  It was a hand me down from my MIL.  Note all the bags of girl scout cookies.  Those are staying up top until I can get the cookies delivered.

Here is the inside.  I did go through this before Christmas and got rid of quite a few things.  Donated games and puzzles to the school.  We have those metal wire divider shelvf things.

Here is the puzzle/game shelf after cleaning it out and organizing.

Lincoln Logs that got recycled down to us.  Thankfully, they cam in their own bin!

Thank god tinkertoys come already in a bin.  Jeez!  And did you know that nowdays they are plastic?  Not wood.  I was shocked!  And more puzzles and games.  Those wooden name puzzles are great for helping kids learn to spell their names.

After I rid the kids of more toys (poor things!)  and organized a bit.

So that was my project for the day.  No, I didn't clean up all those messes.  Just the ones I showed you : )  If you have any ideas for rounding up our toys, please leave me a comment : ) 

For more ideas for organizing toys, please check out:

I know I will!

Menu Plan Monday and Organizing Days 4,5,6,7,8

Hola!  Snow day in KC- no school.  Yippee!

sledding

I have not been able to update my organizing status for some time.  So, I am trying to catch up!

So I am doing the wonderful:

But first, I will share with you my Menu Plan Monday : )  I have never menu planned before, and I have taken it one step further and planned out the whole month of January.  It helps to see the whole month with activities listed to know when/what to plan for meals.  But, I will show you this week.

Monday:  Barbeque Pulled Pork Sliders, with salad and green beans.

                ~I have altered the original recipe a bit, by seasoning and browning the meat at first, adding lots of garlic.  I've had lots of juice still in the pot.  I also added some brown sugar and some red pepper flakes for a kick.  My pork shredded without even taking it out of the pot.  I think I'll have to darin some liquid before I add the barbeque sauce.  Using Rhodes rolls for the slider buns.



Pork, pre BBQ sauce.



Tuesday: Baked pork chops with cream of mushrooms and wild rice, salad

Wednesday: Baked Ziti

Thursday:  Asian Chicken stirfry with rice (we like teriyaki, with pinapple, snap peas, carrots, and water chestnuts)

Friday: eat out or leftovers

Weekend: I work, so Daddy's choice (grill probably)

On a side note, here is Daddy trying to get the cat, named Squirrely, out of the tree.  He was very stuck.

Now, onto the Organizing Challenge:

Day 4 Challenge: Linen Closet
- We don't have one.  We keep our linens in each respective room's closet.  I worked that day, so I didn't do anything different.  I had organized  some extra cabinets in the kitchen the day before.  So there.

Day 5 Challenge: Under the Kitchen Sink

This really needed to be done.  And so I did it.  Found some interesting things, like tons of hummingbird food?  Never use it.  Lots of dish soap I got for free from my couponing days.  Etc.

The problem?

No camera, my hubby had taken it for work.  So I used the cell phone camera.  But found out later that I don't have the cord to the camera to upload pics- and no internet connection on my phone- so no before pics.  But here is a nice after pic.  Pretty.

Day 5: Kitchen Sink

Day 6 Challenge:  Dressers

Day 6 was dressers.  It took pics this day, uploaded them to my iPad.  Figured out I couldn't upload pics from my iPad (no Flash), and could only do blogger using HTML (no flash.)  Ugh.  Does anyone know how to do this?  So had to wait til today to sync iPad with desktop.  Tada!

So dressers.  We keep most of our clothing in the Master closet.  (now that is an all day challenge.)  In our dressers we keep mostly socks and underwear, my hubby has some tshirts (I'm not touching his drawers.)  I have some defunct srapbooking supplies in some drawers.

Side note, we don't have a matching bedroom set.  Our furniture is old.  The tall chest hubby had since he was a baby! We want to get a new set.  I want to try and refinish our side tables though.

Here are the befores (and I'm not showing pics of my underwear!):



before



before



after

after





So the big deal here is that I threw out eight nursing bras and tanks.  So long!

Now I have some cute organizing baskets to be used somewhere.

Day 7 Challenge: Pantry

No before pic here.  I had organized my pantry last week after I did a large shopping trip.  I have to do this every time I grocery shop, one to see what I have on hand before shopping.  Two, because my husband and kids mess up my system all the time.  Maybe I need to put up labels.  And pictures.  But it probably wouldn't help.  My hubby should know where everything goes after five years of living in this house.

So here is my pics today.  It is mostly food items, the bottom shelves have some grilling items and the iced tea machine.



pantry

 Since I had recently done the pantry, I decided to do the cabinet above it.  It is a catch-all, and I can't really reach alot of it without a chair.  I last organized it about 9 months ago, so time to do it again.

before

 Interesting items found include old jellybeans from last easter.  The twice a year coffee machine and blender are parked in the back.  Can't get rid of those.  Also keep vases in the back.

after

Day Eight Challenge:  Hall Closet

This is a work in progress, cause I am worn out from two hours of sledding, and two hours of getting caught up on here.

But here is a before of my closet.  I'll post an after tomorrow : ) 

closet before

 Now I am off to take a nap!

 

Organizing Day 3: Cleaning the tupperwear cabinet

Day 3 at Bowl Full of Lemons: Tackle to Tupperwear  Cabinet.

This is funny, actually.  My husband always makes a big deal about being able to find matching lids and rubbermade containers.  He can never find matching lids.  But also, he doesn't try to find them.  Well, when it is messy and unorganized, you really have to search to find them, but they are there.  So for his birthday in October, I bought him all new rubbermaid.  Then I threw out all the old, and organized the cabinet.  But, as you can see, it has gotten a bit messy again.

before

before

I am lucky that I have a large lower cabinet that I use for my Rubbermaid and other miscelaneous items.  I also have lunchboxes, flat serving trays, my hand mixer, and a foreman.  I also found a waffle maker.  Well, hello, I asked a received one for Christmas.  This old one will go to the garage sale box.  I only threw out one plastic container this time.

Tip- For plastic containers not too yucky that you don't have a lid, save them for organizing!  Mine went to organize pony tail holders in the bathroom.

Here's some of the loot out of the cabinet.  One good thing about organizing.  It remaind me what I have, so it doesn't go on next year's Christmas list.

My little helper : )
  It took three times as long to do this because he was a doggie taking a nap in the cupboard :)





My cabinets are a lot cleaner than they were a few years ago.  My kids would always play in them and take the tupperwear to play with for their barbies, puppies, and other toys.  Now they pretty much sty out of them, unless we are trying to use them.

I took eberythin out, cleaned the insides, and rearranged.  I have enough room to keep lids on most of the tupperwear (good for my husband!)  When I bought my last batch, I bout the rubbermaid where the lids clip together,  That helps keep things organized.



I have my small snack sized containers in ths bigger box.  It is see through.  Also keeps all the litle ones from floating around the cainet... and my kids from stealing them.

After

After

Now I have plenty of room in there.  I think I will put my new Magic Bullet in there that I got for Christmas.  It is still in the box, though.

I also cleaned the outside of the cabinets with diluted Murphy's Oil Soap.  Then I used a thin layer of Lemon Oil for wood.  My kitchen has a sliding glass door onto our deck.  We don't have houses behind us, so we don't have  a curtain for it.  But I think we may get one.  I was noticing that many of our cabinets were looking really weathered, and that the finish looked to be fading.  This fall I found out Lemon Oil that we use on out Tiki cabinets.  It said it helped protect against sun damage.  I used it, and our cabinets looked good as new!  It is wonderful stuff!

In other news, I did get moving yesterday, if only for walking on the treadmill.  Today I will try a walk/jog.  I found a new use for my iPad.  I don't think it will be safe there when running.  And definately can't type while on it!

Day 2: Organizing challenge and Meal Plan Monday

As part of my New Year's goals,



Day two is organizing a desk top.  Now my husband works from home most of the time, and this is really his domain.  But it is our shared computer, and I use it too.  It really isn't as bad as it has been in the past.  But he never really cleans/dusts the thing, so I thought at least I could do that.

Before

After

Much better, but I didn't tackle the cord area or his files underneath.  I wouldn't want to get rid of something important!



OK, Now I will attempt to show my meal plan for the week, ala Meal Plan Monday on Organizing junkie.  A few posts ago, I stated that meal planning was one of my goals for the year.  I've seen some blogs that plan out the whole month, which is what I did.  It helps me to be less repetitive.  But I will just list my plan for the week:

Monday: Cheesy potato/ ham casserole (just using boxed cheesy potatoes and using up leftovers of the Honey Baked Ham we had for Christmas.)

Tuesday:  Turkey Sausage Jambalaya (I use Zatarans and add onions and bell pepper.)

Wednesday:  Daddy's choice.  I work that night.  Often times will will feed the kids mac n cheese, then grill something for when I get home.  We'll see.

Thursday:  Ham & Bean Soup- A beginning of the year tradition.  Will freeze leftovers for a future meal.

Friday: Leftovers or eat out.

Day 1: Oragninzing challenge with A Bowl Full of Lemons

The first challenge was to organize a junk drawer. I have many in the house, but I thought I would start with just one. Now it is not too bad, my hubby organized it a few months ago, but they always get messy fast.

Here is the before:

Here is the after: (Sorry about the orientation, I had it turned in my photo folder, but it turned back on here,)

Also, I found a massage gift card!  Yay for organizing!  I wonder what other goodies I can find : )

Now on to day 2's task!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Ya'll!


I have some goals for this year- to help me achieve more balance and health in my life.  I bet many of you have similar goals, or "resolutions."


My overall goal is: Try and be more organized!  That needs to apply to all areas of my life.  But, I need a balance.  I tend to go in phases:  my exercise phase, my cleaning phase, my couponing phase, my craftin phase.  When I do this, other things fall to the backburner.  So I need to achieve more balance.  And I think trying to stick with an organized schedule will help.


Here's a few of my plans:
1.  Sticking to a meal schedule.  This will help me develop a better grocery shopping plan.  I wrote out a basic month of meal plans.  I only planned for 4-5 meals/week.  Baby steps people.  Also, as a nurse, I don't get home til 8pm, so those nights are Daddy's Choice : )  By having a specific shopping plan, I can use coupons better, and not turn into crazy coupon lady and buy lots of things we don't use.  Along these lines, I am typing out a list of general grocery and household items we use.  Then I am laminating it.  I will circle items as we get low to add to the next week's shopping.  This will help in couponing.  Also, no more, oops, we're out of ketchup!


2.  Losing weight.  Yup, I have gained back some weight.  I did really well the beginning of last year- running 20 miles a week.  But other things, like laundry started pilling up.  Then I got a bit stressed, and healthy eating and exercise fell away.  I'm not a SAHM- I really just have 4 days a week at home, I'm gone from 6am to 8pm the days I work.  Then I come home and go to bed.  So I am going to start by exercising on my days off, just 30 min walking a day at first, and building back up.  I'd like to run another half marathon this year, maybe two, the first in June.  And I know I need to track what I eat.  Spark People, ya'll, it's awesome.  Great comprehensive food databse, and it's free.  Lots of message boards too.  I'd love to lose 5 pounds a month.


3.  I am getting organized.  I found this great blog, a Bowl Full of Lemons.  It is a great motivation for organizing and cleaning.  Like Clean Mama, she also sells Shaklee products.  I would love to try this, but I have a huge stockpile of cleaning products from my couponing kick last year.  But I did throw away my swifter mop, and am just using microfiber and water, or wood cleaner on my floors.  But I am going to be following this:



So follow along on my blog as I attempt to do this. I won't be able to do everything on the day she posts them, due to my work schedule. But I'll try to squeeze them in when I can.

Anyone want to join in with me on my goals.  I'll try to post some more of my plans, and progress as I go along.  Maybe I'll get brave and add  my menu plan or weight tracker.  But no before pics!  And no foodie pics because I have a sucky camera.

But here are some gratuitous pics to show what Santa brought me this year!

My MIL got me this sewing table- I already had the machine (actually hers that she never used.)  My Mom go tme the Cricut- yay!  And my friend who scrapbooks has many cartriges I can borrow.  I moved the toybox from this wall and put the kids coloring table next to the sewing table.  A whole wall of family crafting..  Se the blank canvas of wall above?  Any ideas for decor or organization?  I'm a copycat, so I'd appreciate any ideas!

Santa was reall nice and got me an iPad.  I was not expecting that, but my husband said that Santa wanted him to have his work laptop back : )  So I've spent the last week downloading apps, organizing the calendar and contacts, and messing around on that.  Anyone have any cool apps they reccommend?

Long enough, so here's to 2011!!!