challenge...what challenge???

Okay so little over a week ago I challenged myself to organize two rooms in my house, which is basically my whole second floor. As I am making small amounts of progress, I have been distracted by the beautiful weather we have had and because of the beautiful weather I have been doing yard work and taking day trips to Longwood Gardens!

Now looking forward to an Easter celebration with my family I am afraid to say that I might miss my mark. I am not saying that I am going to stop trying though. I will be spending my week cleaning, folding, dyeing Easter eggs, making large piles of trash, filling plastic Easter eggs and baskets, and decorating.

I will post pictures of my progress soon.

Organizer??? Not quit yet!

So I was featured on my friend's blog. Jill has a blog that gives advice on everyday organizing and cleaning. I love using her tid-bits. One of her great points was to use five minutes here and there to get some small messes dealt with.


I tend to have problem areas in my house that drive me crazy! But no matter how much I try to keep them clear it just doesn't happen. So taking her advice I started with a few minutes I had while I was making dinner and my husband was entertaining the kids outside. I cleared off a few areas  and let me tell you I felt so much better about the rest of the evening. I also had a lot more space to get dinner set out and cleaned up afterwards.


Usually, I don't have more then five or ten minutes to get much done. This has always kept me from really dealing with the small areas that get cluttered with extra junk, piled on papers, and kid stuff! Now I really try to utilize that few minutes when my kids are happy playing and go for it!


So when my tiny kitchen counter looks like this...

I take a few minutes and sort it out...

Get rid of the trash or old or expired and wipe the counter clean...

I even set out a plant to spruce it up a bit!

Now I know there are still things there and I haven't completely cleared the counter. First I have very little drawer space and secondly there are lots of things that need to stay out of little hands. But it is much more organized and clean!


I am really trying to continue to take Jill's advice and clean as I can...even if it is just a small 2ft by 2ft area. If you want to benefit from her help click here.

The Sweet Life!

We love smoothies...and it took a bit of tweeking but I have perfected ones that my kids love. And it couldn't be a simplier recipe!
All you need is....

One blender
Yogurt...we love Stonyfield's French Vanilla and we get the big container!
Juice...we use orange or apple
Frozen fruit...my kids are strawberry freaks!!! but you can use any you like. Using frozen gives you the smoothie consistancy...you can use fresh but then you need to add ice. Sometimes I use both fresh and frozen. Depends on the time of year and what produce is available.
Put equal parts yogurt and juice and as much fruit and frozen stuff as you want into the blender and mix!

While I mix a special treat for the kids...they create artwork for me!!!
Then it is time to enjoy!!!!!

A great refreshing and healthy snack that won't fill them up before dinner...gotta love that!!!

2 WEEK CHALLENGE

With moving my daughters room from the nursery to our old bedroom created a ton of work on my part. By doing this we lost a "storage room"...which really wasn't a storage room but that is what we were using it for. This room had to once again become the master bedroom it was before we had kids and the clutter had to go.

Due to my rush to move Lizzy into a "big girl" room I didn't get any before pictures. It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that the room in question was a total embarassment! Nothing!

But once we did switch rooms I got a few pictures.

This is the view when you get to the top of our stairs...not pretty! This is the hallway that leads to our bedroom. Really not the relaxing sanctuary I would like it to be. But at the time we were down a dresser and lost a ton of closet space by moving rooms.

This is the front of our bedroom...crammed with stuff waiting to be sorted into keep, give away and yard sale! The yard sale will clear out so much. And yes that is All My Children on the tv. The kids were napping!

And the other side of our bedroom...again not relaxing. But we were able to give the futon to a happy home (my sister in law!!!).

This room was a labor of love from both my parents and my in laws and both my husband and I. We worked very hard to create this room for my son and it was a great space for what we used it for. Now it will become my craft area. But it will remain such a loved area. But for now it is storage.

Much of what  you see is yard sale stuff...most is going to be taken to some kind of local thrift store if it doesn't sell. Some is craft things waiting to be used. But all is apart of my two week challenge.

One of my greatest weaknesses is procrastination. My college roommates can attest to me starting many 10 page English papers the night before they were due. So I am going to see if I can use this to keep me going. I am giving myself two weeks to prepare a yardsale and clear out and organize this room and my bedroom areas. I want it usable at least for crafts so that I can have a sewing machine out and my scrapbooking stuff easily accessible.

Over the next two weeks I will post pictures of the process of getting to the yard sale and getting all of our dressers in place.

Pray for me and pass on any tips that can help me out in getting this all done!!!!



Mom's Are Superheroes!!!!!

Okay with Mother's Day just around the corner I thought this would be a great way to start getting ideas for those special mom's in our lives!!!! I will be leaving hints for my hubby! 

This is part of Zulily...which I am increasingly becoming obsessed with.

Click here to sign up for their daily emails...it's free!!!

Happy shopping!!!

Wrapping my kids DIY!!!!

One way I love to love on my kids is to make them home made things. Hooded towels are really simple so if you can sew a straight line you can do this.

First pick out a bath towel and two wash clothes that you love or they love.

Lizzy picked out pink and Jake picked out blue stripes.

This one was a bit more difficult because of the stripes but they were broad enough to match up easily.

Then put the two wash clothes back to back and pin them together on two adjoining sides.

...then sew them together

This will be the hood

Then pin the hood to the towel. I folded the bath towel in half, turned the hood inside out and matched the center of the towel with the seam on the hood. I pinned them together...

...and sewed again.

To make the seams a bit stronger...because I will be washing this often...I would begin to sew and reverse for a bit and back again.

I added a little ribbon to the hood of Lizzy's towel for a girlie flare!

Makes for two happy, and clean, kiddos!

Composting for a mom!!

Since i was little I always felt a need to be environmently conscience. I try to make sure I use as little power as possible. Turning off t.v.s and closing refridgerator doors. Not letting the water run when brushing my teeth.

One thing I have really been wanting to do for a long time was start a compost pile. It kills me every time I put produce scraps in the garbage. Just seeing the trash can fill and know it is going to some huge landfill felt wrong. So finally I went to Home Depot and got the materials I needed. Some chicken wire (or poultry fencing as they labeled it) and four stakes. I already had the hammer and shovel at home that I would also need.

Since we were having some really beautiful Spring days I decided where in the garden I wanted to place the compost pile and just started. I cleared a small area of extra Basically all I had to do was unroll the chicken wire into a square and used the hammer to get the stakes in the four corners securely.

After that it was all about the layering...green and brown materials. I started with a bit more dirt and some of the clipping I had trimmed off some evergreen bushes and shrubs in my yard. And then I added some fruit and vegetable scraps and covered them with some more dirt. We even added two cardboard egg containers. Added some water, just enough to dampen everything and let it cook.

So now when I am chopping up some yummy fruit for my family I always have an extra bowl for the scraps....because we will be putting it to good use!!

I have reused a large yogurt container to gather small scraps during the day.

This has become a chore for my four year old. He runs out with me when the scrap bucket in the house gets full and dumps it into the pile. We then add a bit of dirt over top to cover it. I am truely hoping this is a way to help my kids see how we can care for the Earth God provided for us. It is another great way to teach responsibility to my kids. And he thinks he is having fun the whole time.