Confessions of an Organizing Junkie!

Let's be honest, pictures can be deceiving. And, sometimes, pictures are not worth a thousand words like we have always been told. You get online, visit your favorite blogs, and think to yourself, "Man, I bet their house is spotless all the time!" Well, I am here to show you that mine is not! As much as I want it to be, life gets in the way EVERY DAY!!! Plus, there just isn't enough time in the day.

I hope by the end of this post, you see that I am just like you. I'm still waiting for Tabitha from Bewitched to come to my house and teach me her talents!

Confession #1 - I am ALWAYS in the process of doing laundry.

It doesn't matter how hard I try, I can't get caught up. And, to think, it is just going to get worse when my children both enter school and participate in extracurricular activities.

Ready to be folded.

Sorting.

Confession #2 - My children have taken over my living room.

I have fought it over and over again, but I guess they are stronger than I am. I continuously pick up this area throughout the day, but it still looks like this.

Can you tell it takes a lot to entertain my son? He is actually swinging in the swing during this picture.

Confession #3 - I HATE hand-washing dishes.

I was not raised this way, but I can't stand to hand-wash dishes. Growing up, my mom always had a dishwasher, but never used it. Not me! My household only has a few dishes that can not be placed in a dishwasher. We will gradually load up the dishwasher and when it gets full, we will start it. I just feel we have a dishwasher, so we might as well use it!

Just waiting to get full.

Confession #4 - We are ALWAYS in the middle of a project.

This causes one area of the house to get a little messy, which is usually the office. I have donation things in this picture, things for my bedroom, and even a few things that need to be filed and stored. Plus, my daughter's mess!

Confession #5 - I believe in having a catch-all area.

Let's be honest, it's going to happen. We can either fight it or learn to live with it. Well, I have learned to live with it. There is always one place in the house where everyone throws down their stuff. For us, it is the kitchen counter. So, I have placed a small bowl in that area to catch it all. I feel if I didn't do this, then every room would have a catch-all area: living room end tables, bedroom night stands, and bedroom dressers. It has definitely helped our household.

Confession #6 - Sometimes, it is hard to keep the kids on-board.

My daughter is only 4-years-old, but we explain and involve her in the cleaning up and organizing process. But, she is a child and those things just aren't top on her priority list most days. She will go through spurts where she wants everything straight, but this is usually what her room looks like... 

Mommy usually has to go through and help her clean it up at the end of every day.

But, hey, It could be a lot worse!

Now, you know my dirty little secrets. I hate cleaning dishes, my house is NOT always organized (Hey! I have kids), and I am always in the middle of projects. : ) But, I wouldn't have it any other way!!!

The Laundry Room Nook!

It is no secret that our small laundry room has been the "dump all" spot in our house. If we can't figure out where something goes, we put it in there. At the beginning of summer, the cabinets were full of junk and so was the corner of the room.

One day, I stopped, looked at it, and was disgusted!

So, I delayed a few of my other projects to tackle this important one. Note: Our laundry room is the first room people see when they walk through our garage door. YIKES!!! 

The Before

After some cleaning up, creating a donation & "to sale" pile, and purchasing some Rubbermaid shelving at Lowe's, our laundry room nook now looks like this...

The After

Basket on the right - Room Essentials @ Target

Basket on the left - Sterilite @ Wal-Mart

Clips Post - see here

Bags Container Post - see here

The Before & After

Now, we are just waiting for our new washer and dryer. Then, our laundry room should be finished. It was supposed to be delivered last week, but we received a phone call stating that when it was delivered to Lowe's, the washer had a "ding" on the front of it. So, I politely asked them to reorder us one and deliver them both at the same time. We are waiting patiently!!!

I will be sharing this post on the following blogs:

DIY Grocery Bag Container!

I have become this person that HATES throwing away plastic, glass, or anything else that can be recycled. In any given week, my family accumulates at least a garbage bag full of items that we take to our school's recycling bin.

This week, my family finished off a 4-quart container of ice cream. It came in one of those plastic circular containers with a red handle that looks like this...

similar container

(source)

I had pictures of my step-by-step process, but somehow they vanished... Literally!!! I took my memory card out of my camera, stuck it in my computer, tried to pull up the pictures, and NOTHING!!! Needless to say, this girl wasn't very happy. 

Back to the topic...

The "I feel guilty when I throw away plastic" side of me had to find a use for the container. You will remember that my husband and I are in the process of adding more storage and cleaning up our laundry room. I took one quick glance in there and knew what needed a new container... my supply of grocery bags.

I had them in this nice looking sock... if that is what you want to call it. 

I am sure there are lots of people that use these handy things, even my mom, but it doesn't look like me AT ALL!!! It definitely serves it's purpose, but it sticks out like a sore thumb in my laundry room. So, it will be donated to Goodwill.

The first step in this process was to remove the writing off of the ice cream container lid. I used the steps the 2 Busy Brunettes posted on their blog and they worked. You only need 3 items:

1. pure acetone (finger nail polish with acetone)

2. old rag

3. the container

Steps:

#1 - Soak your rag in the acetone.

#2 - Place the soaked rag around the container for approximately 3 to 5 minutes.

#3 - Use the soaked rag to scrub off the writing.

It really was that simple! The only issue I had was with the soaking time period. Instead of only taking 5 minutes, mine took at least 30 minutes. I also had to re-soak my rag several times, but it did take the writing off with some scrubbing. 

The last steps I used were:

#4 - Cut a slit in the lid for easy bag removal.

#5 - Applied a chalkboard label & wrote the word "Bags" on it.

And, here is my "new" grocery bag container:

Now, my grocery bags won't look odd sitting in my laundry room. Stay tuned next week to see the progress we have made in our laundry room.

Why Does My Blog Not Show a Thumbnail Photo on My Blog Reading List?

A couple of months ago, I decided to add my blog to my blog reading list. This is a good way for me to make sure everything looks correct when I make a daily post.

Every time I made a blog post, I kept noticing that my thumbnail photo was not showing up. I researched and researched and researched the issue and I could not find an answer. All of the information that I found online was already correct for my blog or the changes created issues. Plus, it didn't solve my problem.

After looking over and over again, I decided to play around with some of the settings, and BINGO!!! I found a solution.

So, if you use Blogger and can not get your thumbnail photo to appear and you have tried everything, then see if these things help:

1. Go to your Dashboard.

2. Click the "More Options" arrow & go to "Settings."

3. Once you are on the "Settings" screen, click "Other" at the bottom left of the screen under "Settings."

4. Once you are on the "Other" page, make sure two things are correct:

#1 - Make sure under "Site Feed: Allow Blog Feed" it says FULL! 

#2 - Make sure under "Site Feed: Enable Title Links and Enclosure Links" it says YES! 

The issue with my blog was step #2. I had "No" selected until "Enable Title Links and Enclosure Links."

If you do these things, then you should be able to see your thumbnail photo on your blog reading list. After several weeks of researching my problem, these things finally made my thumbnail photo pop up.

Now, my reading list looks like this:

I hope this helps other blog authors that have been having the same problem.

My Master Bedroom Storyboard!

After weeks and weeks of looking, I THINK we have finally decided on a bedroom look and bedding set.

You will remember at the end of April, I decided to purchase the following quilt set from West Elm.

I really liked it and thought I could add many different colors when purchasing lamps, pillow, rugs, etc. that would brighten up the room. Well, I went to purchase it online and it has been discontinued. Bummer!

So, that put me back at square one! I decided to be open with colors and designs... Basically, allowing myself to step out of my comfort zone a little. 

With some excellent suggestions from y'all, I have decided to go with a duvet cover instead of a comforter, bedspread, or quilt. I like to switch things up frequently and by using a duvet I can change out bedding pretty easily and inexpensively. So, thank you for all of your input! 

Without further ado, here is the theme for our bedroom...

I know what you are thinking... This is a total 180 from my original intentions. I saw this Echo Designs set online at Bed Bath and Beyond and really liked the pop of color. So, I visited an actual store and really really liked it. I have tried to veer to another bedding set because this one is a little adventurous for me, but I keep going back to this one. So, I think this is the one! And, my husband didn't object to it either, which means it must not be too girly. ;)

Macy's also sells this bedding set, but they do not have the king size duvet online, just the comforter set. I am purchasing the yellow euro shams and two standard pillow cases from them because they are cheaper. You know, I am always looking for the best deal. 

So, what do you think? 

A Few of My Favorite Things: June 2013

Happy Friday, everyone!!! I am excited to share some of my favorite things for the month of June. I have tried to include a variety of things; organizational items, clothing, my kids' favorites, and a few things in between.

Some of the things I actually own and others I would love to own. We all have a wish list, right?!?!

Disclosure: I do not make any profit from the sale of these products. I am not affiliated with any of the following companies. These are strictly products I love and wanted to share with y'all.

1. Pikos - I have talked about these once before, but they have become my favorite top. They are very flowy, which is great when you had a baby a few months ago and are still trying to lose the kangaroo pouch. I am learning it isn't going to fall off! It didn't after my first baby and it is definitely not this time around either. 

2. Monogrammed anorak - I do not own one of these yet, but I will once they are sold at one of my favorite Facebook boutiques. My sister owns the monogrammed jacket and loves it. I am more of an anorak type of girl, so I am waited to snatch one of those. 

3. French Bull melamine dinner plates - Aren't these the cutest things?!?! My mom purchased me a set of 12 in assorted colors for Christmas and they are so much fun to use, especially for a cookout. They come in a ton of colorful patterns. 

4. Rhino Oball - My son is 3 months old and learning how to grasp objects. This ball is completely hollow, so he can grab it very easy. It has become one of his favorite toys and mommy's too. He has a football one too that he loves just as much. We have caught him trying to throw them lately, which his daddy is pretty excited to see.

5. Chevron pants - I have been admiring these pants for about a month on various Facebook boutiques. I just haven't gotten the nerve to order a pair yet. They are just adorable and look super comfy. They would be stepping out of my comfort zone, which isn't easy to do these days.

6. Moon and Lola block monogram acrylic necklace - I LOVE this necklace, but just can't break down and make the purchase yet. I know the size and color I want, but I am just waiting on the right sale to purchase one. The acrylic jewelry is really hot at the moment and they are popping up everywhere. I think it would definitely add a bit of color to my wardrobe. Sometimes, I have a problem drifting to black all the time!!!

7. Target Room Essentials white y-weave storage boxes - Last summer, I purchased a set of 4 bright green Room Essentials storage boxes. Now, I have a son that is going to need storage for his closet. The bright green will look so much better in his closet than in mine. So, I am thinking about passing my boxes on to him and purchasing white for myself.

Make sure you check out my favorite things for May! I would love to hear some of your favorite things too.

Simple Sticker Storage!

Last Spring, we changed our dining room into an office. So far, we are getting so much more use out of the space, but we are still piecing it together. We have a lot of storage jars and containers on our bookcases that aren't currently being used. I guess we are just looking for the perfect thing to go in them.

After cleaning out our kitchen junk drawer, I found that a lot of Kate's stickers didn't have a place to go. So, what better place than one of the empty clear jars on our bookcases.

Most of her stickers are located on sheets with tons of stickers on them. When you purchase coloring books these days I have noticed they usually have a sheet of stickers in the front or the back of the book.

I didn't want to place each sheet in the jar. So, I took some scissors and cut out each sticker. This way each small sheet only had a single sticker on it.

I am not sure about your kids, but my daughter likes to place stickers on EVERYTHING!!! She calls it "decorating." Maybe if she has only one sticker on a sheet at a time her urge to "decorate" everything with stickers will decrease.

The only other thing I did was place a chalkboard label on the front! Very easy and simple storage solution, but I am hoping very effective!!!