Do over

Hello my bloggy friends. Due to the lovely and kind flu that has visited my family this past week, I confess that I have nothing prepared for you today. Don't worry I have a do over post from my family blog that I'd liked to share with you. Just don't mind the dates because it's from post I did last year! So enjoy and I promise to have something fun for next week. Alycia has friday's post so don't forget to check out what she has on her mind. :)

I know, I know! You just can't believe it can you? I finally finished Tyler's blanket. It only took 6 weeks, but I did get it done before his bday last week. I figured by the time I finish it he'll be on to some other favorite but luckily he still likes Star Wars. I don't know why but for some reason I've been all crafty lately. For my moms bday I sanded and repainted and then sanded again to look shabby, an old window. I'm bummed though because I forgot to take a picture of that before I gave it to her. Here's a pic of Tyler's blanket.
Then I've been wanting to do this for a long time in Mackenzie's room and I've had this material forever so this weekend while hubby was gone I finally recovered her stool in this polka dot material. Her room is pink and brown. I also have a pillow that I"m going to recover in the same material.

Also in my to try book (I'm a nerd, I know. I actually have notebooks that I keep ideas in, like crafty ideas, and one for recipes to try, and of course since we are remoldeling our kitchen soon, one for that too) anyway in my craft book I saw an idea where they took a magnetic board and covered it in a cute fabric and then used as a message board in their kitchen. TOO CUTE! So anyway while I was at Wally world I picked up a three dollar 8x10 dry/erase board and tried it out with the left over material. See how cute it turned out if I do say so myself. lol I added some ribbon to the back and a little bow to the front and added some buttons to the magnets and now Kenzie has a cute little message board in her room for under 5 bucks.

So there ya go! My little projects for the month. March is coming up soon, what are YOU going to be working on?

TOYS GALORE?

I watch 2 little girls everyday on top of my two and let me tell you... my living room is a disaster! It wouldn't be so bad but we live in a 1200 sq ft home and the walls were starting to close in on us.

Does your toy situation need to improve?  Ask yourself the following questions.  Do you dislike the amount of toys that your children have?
Have you stepped on GI JOE'S or Barbie dolls?
Spend A lot of time coaxing your kids to pick up toys?
Have you ever wanted to take all of the toys and Goodwill them?
Do your kids have so many books that they haven't read all of them?
Do you want to change "the toy situation" but have no idea where to start?
Well.... If you answered yes to any of these then please read on.......
I FINALLY found a system that WORKS....( for me at least). I have tried the toy rotation before and I don't have the time to sort through toys. Here is what you do: Go out and buy 3 to 6 totes (Wal-Mart, target, Kmart etc.) I bought 3 of them for $15.00. Also a must is wipes containers or small shoe containers( I bought mine at Costco) I also used 3. I took an hour one evening and separated all of the kids toys. I separated all of the hot wheels and train sets and divided them between the 3 shoe boxes. I took 5-10 books in each tote, as well as… baseballs, games, activities for my 1 year old and activities for my 2 year old.
I keep 2 totes in my master bedroom and switch them out everyday. The other tote stays in my living room. I don't keep toys in my kids bedroom because I need to help them with sharing.

This system helps in sooo many ways now.

• I don't have as much toys to pick up each night with the kids and they love this part too!
• Toys that the kids don't play with stay in the tote so it's easy for me to evaluate what I can send to Goodwill. (if something goes untouched for a couple weeks, I know they don't need it)
• When I first started to do this I was surprised at how much they play with their toys now. The less toys you keep in your totes the better.  More options are overwhelming for them.
• If you have WAY too many toys to fit in 5 or 6 totes this system still makes it easier to rotate some out and evaluate what your child hasn't asked to play with.
• your kids will only play with the toys in each tote every couple of days so they love to see the toys they have been missing. (you don’t realize what ya got till it’s gone.. right?)

EXTRA TIPS:

• keep the toys that aren't in totes in a locked cabinet or put away so your child can come and ask you for them. (this also helps toddlers to learn to communicate) you can tailor this system for older kids too. Keep a draw pile of toys on a certain shelf and ask them to put toys that they have used on a different shelf.... this way you can see what toys are left behind and not used.
• remember to put a game in each tote so your more likely to play a game as a family.
• you don't have to do it all at once
• remember that toys are just "things" and less is more
• have your children help you donate things when it is time to start weeding through the toys.

BEFORE:  TOYS TOYS TOYS

 

AFTER:  SOOOO MUCH BETTER!

 

below:  this is all I have in that corner now

Hula hoopin' myself slim

A few years ago my mom was working out at Curves. While working out there she was introduced to a 3 pound or so hula hoop! She bought me one and I loved it! I used it but when I got pregnant it made its way to the storage shed. I am happy to report that it is out of storage and being used once again! I love this thing. You can order them here and its a great little work out for your waist. 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes at night and there you have it! I suggest cutting it by half the first week or so and building up to the 10 minutes. Yes 10 minutes doesn't seem like much but it does give your waist a work out and you will be a little sore in that area (believe me) :) This morning I measured myself and I'm just going to put it out there...33 inches is my starting weight and periodically I'll be sharing what it is when my waist is going down. No I don't believe I'm fat, I think I am average but I would like to firm up a bit!! Who wouldn't, right? Has anyone ever heard of this before???

Fabric obsession

I know that what I really have probably doesn't compare to many people's idea of lot's of fabric but for me, who doesn't sew very often it's enough. For someone who doesn't sew, I LOVE fabric. I love the colors, the styles, the feel. I have been slowly delving into being a domestic diva of sewing and have tried a few, small and simple projects. The problem is, I keep buying more fabric! This is just some of the fabric that I had tucked away. Some I have actually used and some I've just admired.

Aren't these fabrics cute? Mackenzie picked these ones out for a rag quilt. Um...I'm still working on that one! Grandma did make a cute pillowcase out of this same material for her though.

I just found these ones this past weekend. Aren't they super cute? I just loved the two prints together and the colors totally match. I loved it so much I bought two yards of each! Too bad I don't have any plans for it yet. I think it would make a cute apron.

This one is my absolute favorite of the bunch though. Isn't it just too freaking to die for? I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, this one! I bought two yards of this one too. I think I might just frame it.

I just remembered I had a whole other stack of material in the other room I didn't get a chance to grab a picture of and that's not counting the material my mil shared with me.

Well call my loony I guess. I just LOVE fabric.

Pill Overload

So this morning I was going through our cupboards and I decided it was time to organize our little pill box. Looks like this should belong to an elderly couple who take a million pills each but its not, its ours. Honestly most of them are either expired or ones that we don't even take. Most of the time we can't even find what we are looking for let alone if we even have something as simple as some Tylenol! This project took about 20 minutes and its a great feeling to have it all organized! Not only will we now find what we are looking for but its all in the same place and won't give us headache searching. :)

So what does your pill box look like?

And by the way I couldn't help taking a photo of Ella. It was early this morning and she was still all cute in her pajamas!

Apron in an hour

While I was stalking the blogs one day I found the cutest idea for making an apron. http://jonag.typepad.com/stop_staring_and_start_se/2008/12/your-christmas-gift-from-mean-apron-in-an-hour.html I thought that it would be pretty easy and non complicated to make, so today when some unexpected time came up, I decided to go for it. I had already picked out some material from the fabric store a few weeks ago. I wanted something sort of vintagy. I've been on a vintage kick lately. Anyway I thought that these would be really cute to make with the YW too and maybe we'd make them for Mother's Day or something. However, if we were going to make them, I figured I'd have to be able to make one first. If I can do it, anyone can make one! lol Ok it did take me more than an hour ( I cut wrong the first time-oops) and I actually dug out Brent's old iron from his mission (15 years ago!) and even ironed the dang thing like it said ( I avoid ironing at all costs!). I think it turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself. Guess what everyone is getting for Christmas this year?

The Food Situation

My daughter is in that stage where she has to feed herself. Sometimes I trick her and I'll sneak something in but then she'll pull it out, show me and then put it back in herself! I also love that she can now have regular food all the time, I hated the baby food in the end! Peanut butter and jelly, macaroni and cheese, cheese and crackers...the possibilities are endless, or so I thought. I am constantly trying to rack my brain for new things to give her so she doesn't get sick of the same ol' thing! So I've been searching the internet for idea's to help out and its almost overwhelming! A lot of these I've tried only once but I think I need to keep switching it up!
Crackers, turkey and cheese
Grilled Cheese
Fruits and veggies
Mini corn dogs
Eggs
Leftovers are great too! Are your kids messy eaters during eating time because mine is! So what do you guys feed your kids?

Shopping your house

I've mentioned before that a great way to save a little money is to shop your own house (or your moms! ) for something that you have stuck away in a dark attic or basement and don't know what to do with, and re purpose it into something usable again. Meet my frame. (sorry about the blurry pic and the tape you can still see at the top).

This frame came to me by way of a Christmas present from my in laws several years ago. Love it! It's black (my favorite color!) so it goes well with my decor. At first it had pictures of the kids in it and then I changed them out to some really cute scrapbooking paper at Christmas time one year. Then it became part of the attic for some reason ( I think we were remodeling again.) and it never made it back out.

We inherited this nice TV armour from my parents awhile back and have been wondering how to decorate the top of it. Hubby wanted to put his speakers up there. For shame! Speakers on top when there is an opportunity to decorate? I think not! So then I started to shop the house. I found a few odds and ends to put up there but something was still off. I saw the picture frame but I wasn't sure I wanted to just put pictures in there. Then comes the aha moment. FABRIC! Fabric would look fabulous and it comes it so many different designs and colors that the possibility's are endless. I found a piece of left over fabric from some long ago project in chocolate brown and cream. I took off the back of the frame and wrapped my fabric tight around it and then slipped it back into the slots of the frame. I didn't even hot glue it or anything (which would totally work too if you didn't have a fitted frame) and then I just taped down the little tufts of fabric to the back so it would lay flat. It took longer to put the frame up then it did to put the fabric on. This could work for some many things, the ideas are endless!

So that is my little 15 minute project that anyone can do to spice up an area that needs spicing.

Simplify

I have been in the 'Spring Cleaning' type of mood lately or maybe is it that my husband keeps mentioning that our spare bedroom still needs to get put back together...Hmmm I'll go with the first one! We are transforming our third bedroom into a guest bedroom but there's so many little things that are standing in my way before I can do that. All the random items in your house you just don't know what to do with. So I'm taking my SIL Natalie's advice and if it doesn't have a place then I'm getting rid of it! That is my new philosophy and I think its just a great one and you know what? Its been working! In the past anytime I have cleaned I always have this little guilt angel on my shoulder. It says things like, oh you'll fix that up one day, you'll lose the weight to fit back into that outfit, oh that's new, I can't get rid of that. Too bad so sad for that darn angel because I'm not going to listen to it anymore! My new thinking is that I haven't done that project because I just don't want to and I shouldn't have to feel guilty about not fitting into an outfit that I used to wear pre-baby, my body has changed and I should be fine with that! So Idaho Youth Ranch and Goodwill...here I come bearing gifts that maybe someone will actually use! I'm also an extremely sentimental person and that is never good because I have a hard time getting rid of things. If you could just see my Grandma's house, well that would give anyone enough motivation to NOT be a pack rat! I am trying to simplify my house. I have too many hair products, too much make up and just too many random things that I need to get rid of. So here's to simplifying my house and getting rid of those items that I just don't need and who knows maybe someone else is looking for that exact thing that you just don't use anymore!

So...what about you??

Let's talk laundry

With a family of five I expect there to be laundry, and there is. Lot's of it! Never ending it seems. Just when I think I'm all caught up, a child cleans it's room and brings in the mountain of laundry they have had stashed in the corner, under the bed, behind a bookshelf and dumps it on the floor. Great. Lucky me.

Each child has a basket that their clean clothes go into and that they take to their rooms. The idea is that hopefully they put their clothes away into their drawers. Most of the time they just paw through them all week long but hey, I'm just happy they got them to their rooms most days. Honestly, they are pretty good about putting away the clean clothes.

One thing though that I really hate about doing laundry is matching socks. I do not like it. No I don't. When I'm folding clothes and there is a match close by then I'll match the socks together but most of the time, I just gather them up and put them in the sock basket. Yes, I confess I really do have a basket just for socks. If you need a sock? Look in the sock basket!

I do wish that I had a more organized laundry room though. There are several things that I don't dry in the dryer so they get hung over everything. Chairs, tables, the exercise bike ( I knew it was good for something!). I wished I had a spot in the laundry room just for this. Ahhh another project!

So how do you do keep up on your laundry and keep everything organized?