Linen Closet

I am still working on my organization challenge from a bowl full of lemons. I had some free time this weekend so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to tackle the linen closet. Its a closet that I hate, its such a mess! I'm warning you. I went into a lot of detail about how I organized this closet to help you do yours too. I'm a little detail oriented :)
BEFORE:

AFTER: Not completely done, but a good start. The first thing I did, take everything out of the closet. It was a mess. I couldn't believe how much stuff I had in there. Stuff I didn't even know I had. Mismatched sheets, incomplete sets, you name it, it was in there. Next I went through and pulled out things I no longer wanted to keep. Who needs 5 sets of sheets anyways? I even had a twin size sheets and I don't even have a twin size bed! So I added them to the donate box. (Tax write off and a clean closet! Score!)

The top shelf is now where I put pillows and comforters. I reused a clear comforter bag and stored all 5 of the comforters I have into one bag. The bag is see through so I can see exactly whats in each bag and it saves me so much space. Then I labeled the bag. I think I'll make bigger labels, but this will do for now.

The next shelf is where I keep these storage drawers that are awesome. I found them at walmart. I keep all sorts of items in the drawers.

• bandaids
• first aid
• dental
• medicine a-m
• medicine n-z
• sanitizer and soaps
• facial
• nail polish
• manicure

I still need to purchase one more set of drawers. I plan on labeling them Lily (for Lily's medicine, Vick's vapor rub, gas drops, those types of things), hair (for hair ties, combs, etc), hair cuts (for a cape, stuff for high lights, hair scissors, clippers). So this shelf is in the works (that's why things are still a mess), but you get the idea.

A closer look. I'll go into a little more detail so you can get an idea of how I organized each drawer. I put bandaids into a snack size Ziploc bag and labeled each bag. I have small bandaids, large bandaids, and kids bandaids which my niece and nephews love. I did the same with medicine. Put a slip of paper in each snack size Ziploc bag. Each slip of paper has the name of the medicine, dosage, date it was prescribed (you should only keep most medicines for 2 years), and directions. We had a million pill bottles and I was running out of space to put them all so I came up with this idea.

The next shelf I have washcloths, extra towels for guests since we keep towels in each bathroom, and another plastic storage bag labeled beach towels. The next shelf I put blankets that we use the most out front and put the ones that we don't use as much into storage bags.

The next shelf I have Halloween costumes in a storage bag, pedicure bath, paraffin dip for hands, facial steamer. Those types of things still in the box. They are put away and I can use them whenever I want to treat myself.

(This is what's behind our everyday blankets.) Here's the storage bags that I have saved forever. I never knew what to use them for but I knew I'd find a good way to use them. In these bags I have duvet covers, curtains, pillow cases, and sheet sets. With each sheet set I folded them together. For example. The main sheet is the outside layer, the fitted sheet is the middle, and the pillow cases inside. So when you grab sheets to change the bed, you no longer have to dig to find all of the matching items. Much easier.

So there's my linen closet. I now know where everything is. I can keep it clean and organized. I also created a lot more space using my recycled clear storage bags. Love it!

{Hawk}

I Love Lily's hair. This is what it normally looks like unless I comb it down.

Yep. My baby has an awesome Mo-Howk. In this picture she was grinding her teeth. She just started doing it. She has 6 teeth now (4 on top and 2 on the bottom). I'm hoping the grinding will stop, I'm thinking she is just playing with her little teeth. I love everything about her.

{Sweetest Dollies}

I came across this pattern to make the sweetest dolls you have ever seen from one of my favorite blogs, the Jones design company. She is listed as one of my favorite blogs, so take a peek. I loved how charming these little dolls were and I knew I had to make them for the sweet little girls in my life. I am still learning how to sew, but I am pretty proud how the dollies turned out. With a lot of help from my friends Lexi and Mishal we all had a task to do for each doll and then they taught me a bunch of stuff. I learned how to cut patterns, seam allowances, stuffing each doll, and watching my amazing creation come together. Here's a picture of us girls at around midnight. We all got together after our kiddos went to sleep so we could have some uninterrupted sewing time.

Here's what we came up with.This is Lexi's dolly. Lexi used an old cardigan and its buttons with soft fabric for her dolly's sweater. Then she made an amazing little skirt with a ribbon tie closure. Lexi was the master of making doll clothes.

This is the doll that Mishal made for a sweet little girl that she knows. This doll even has blonde highlights. Mishal was busy helping me learn how to sew my doll so She didn't get to make a skirt for hers. Its cute without a skirt though :) Mishal is so talented with a sewing machine. This is the doll I made for Lily. Since her hair is red it kind of looks like my niece Audrey, so I may give this one to her. She is wearing a sweater with a ruffle on the top (also something the girls taught me how to do) with a ribbon closure skirt. The skirt was a little to long so I think I'll make it a bubble skirt instead, much cuter.

These dolls were made with scraps from other projects and supplies that we all shared. So the doll cost us nothing to make. For my next dolls, I'll go our searching for the perfect outfits that remind me of the little girls I'm making them for. I can't wait to sew more of these sweet little dolls. My next purchase is a sewing machine, now that I know how to use it! I got the pattern for the doll here.

https://www.youcanmakethis.com/info/featured-products/mae-doll-15-inch.htm

Got My Hair Did

Finally, I was able to get my hair done. I haven't been able to get it done since I was in Newfoundland by my Aunt Diane. Its hard to find that perfect hairdresser that knows exactly what you want done and how to do it. Brandy is my girl. My best friend Brandy, also one of my bridesmaids, came home from Florida for a visit. I missed her so much and it was so good to spend some much needed girl time with her. She has pretty much done my hair forever. So when she moved away I had no idea what to do. So when she came home I insisted that she fix the mess of my hair. I love that getting your hair done makes you feel so much better. I feel so pretty and confident. Isn't my friend Brandy a beauty? We went to middle school and high school together, then we reconnected after high school, modeled together, we were rock girls together, and have been inseparable ever since.

Finished! You can't really see my hair, but I got a full head of highlights and an amazing much needed cut. Favorite hairdresser ever.

{7}

Today my amazing step daughter Laney is 7 years old. My husband flies to Kansas every couple months to visit her and she comes here to visit us. Right now he's in Kansas celebrating her birthday with Laney's Mom's side of the family. I wish I could be there to celebrate with them, but times are tight so I was unable to make it this trip, but we are saving money up to go see her this summer and possibly have her visit us here in Washington too. I am really excited to see her beautiful smile. (My favorite picture of her taken in 2009)

I can't believe she is already 7 years old.

I love when she tells me she loves me.

I love when she licks the phone and gets my cheek all wet with doggy kisses.

I love when she whispers to tell me secrets.

I love that she is such a good girl.

I love giving her a bath and playing with the bubbles while we talk.

I love kisses and when she holds my hand.

I love that she names all of her stuffed animals with a first, middle, and our last name of coarse :)

I love being her step mommy.

I love everything about her.

This picture was taken in August 2010 by my very talented cousin Charrone who owns Burntblack Photography in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. How lucky am I to have such an amazing family. I'm so in love.

Happy Birthday sweet Laney Bug. I love you so much....all the way to everywhere and back.

{I Love Organizing}

My husband is gone to Kansas to visit our step daughter Laney, so after my baby Lily goes to bed for the night I have all of this free time to do projects that I would normally not have time to do. So I got back on my organization challenge from a bowl of full of lemons. Its a cleaning and organization website that I love. If you want to check it out, she is listed under my favorite links section. You've seen what a mess was made with my spices.....

BEFORE: AFTER: .......and the amazing spice system that I am now using.
So that left this drawer empty which allowed me to do this. Ohhhh so pretty.

Previously I had all of Lily's baby food in a cabinet. It was hard to reach, I could never see what food I had in there and when I would pull one out, they would all fall out. I have an entire months supply of baby food, that is easy to see. I only like to do my big grocery shopping once a month and then on a weekly basis I just get the basics bread, milk, eggs, fruit, veggies, yogurt. That kind of thing. I have found that I use more coupons when buying bigger amounts, I use my really detailed grocery list and buy things only on the list or things that we can stock up on that are on sale. And really, going to the grocery store once a month is much easier than going weekly. When Lily is no longer eating baby food, I can turn this drawer into her snack drawer or lunch system. Also an idea from a bowl full of lemons blog.

That project didn't take very long so I decided to tackle another item on my to do list, Brad's Hats. My husband loves hats. He wears them to match every outfit he has and even has matching shoes with all of them....he's worse than a girl I swear. I have tried many different systems to display his hats. On a shelf, took up to much space. Behind the door on a hat rack, takes too long to hook that hats on it and it looked so sloppy. Then I put them in a bag away in the closet, that just made my husband sad since he couldn't see all of his awesome hats. What could I possibly do in this space?

BEFORE: AFTER: So I came up with this idea.

Brad's favorite hats are now near the closet, out of the way, and organized looking. Happy husband and happy wife. I used clear thumb tacks and spaced them out evenly. Not only that, but I think it looks decorative and makes the space useful. So when Brad takes a hat down to wear it, you don't even see the thumb tack. My husband is 6'4' so he can reach them easily, and hang them up when he is done wearing them. Notice the Canadian hat, its my favorite since I am an awesome Canadian! I can't wait to tackle more projects to come tonight, it feels so good to have order in our home. I also can't wait for Brad to see what I did when he gets home. I think he'll really like it :)

{Making a Budget}

My husband and I attended Dave Ramseys Financial Peace University Classes at our church when we first got married. For more about this program go to http://www.daveramsey.com/. We learned a lot about our spending habits, where our money was going, and a lot about saving money. One of the first tasks that we were assigned as a couple was to build a family budget. I found an excel spreadsheet online and tweeked it to meet our needs that I thought I would share with you today to help you get on track with your finances. Since its a new year, my husband and I are going to take a look at our budget and make changes based on our needs. We also save our budget monthly so that we can track our spending throughout the year. It comes in handy!

Click the arrow at the bottom right hand side of the box to download. You'll be amazed what you can do with your finances if you make a budget. Enjoy Budgeting! Do me a favor. If you download the buget guide I made, please refer back to my page from your blog and comment below :) Thanks so much!

Baker

This weekend my husband and I went to a cabin at Mount Baker with our friends the Gaeta's for some much needed R & R. Its our first Valentine's day together since we have met. He normally flies to Kansas to visit Laney for her birthday and the best day to fly there falls on Valentines Day, but not this year. It was so nice to get away from the house and just relax with friends. Our cabin was so nice and cozy. Our room was located upstairs in a loft bedroom. Saturday we woke up early and had a big breakfast. The Gaeta's went on a family hike together and we stayed in to be together as a family and relax. Look how cute they are. Brad and I took turns taking naps during the day. I can't remember the last time I took a nap during the day, it was glorious. I loved spending some quality time with my baby girl. I especially love it when she loves to cuddle with her mama. After the kids went to bed, we watched funny movies, had some yummy stew, and chatted. Sunday we went to Mount Baker to go sledding and to take Lily out in the snow for the first time. Brad and I don't have any snow gear so we wore jeans and warm coats. Our jeans were soaking wet and it was very cold. So my next mission is to get us snow gear when it goes on sale at the end of the season, which is coming up very shortly. My Valentine even took me down the hill sledding. I was really scared since Brad said he was going to make it go really fast and the hill looked pretty steep.

Perfect weekend. I love that.

{Wish List}

I have been awfully busy lately, spending very little time or money on myself. I would much rather buy something for the baby, my husband, or our home. Every mother knows that you can't be a good mother unless you take care of yourself. I love organizing, doing crafts, and having spa days. If I could do those things as a living, I would be the happiest girl in the world. In the meantime, my husband and I work full time jobs to pay the bills and provide our family with the things that we need. There are always a few things that aren't on my need list, but totally on my want list. Since its fun for a girl to dream, I'll do just that.

• Silhouette SD (www.silhoetteamerican.com): is an electronic cutting machine that connects to your computer allowing you to cut fonts and images on card stock, vinyl, heat transfer material, and fabric. I would love to have this for my crafting. I've done a lot of research and this puppy is the best, but its a pricey one at $299. I found promo codes online to make it cheaper, but its still a chunk of change.
• Sewing machine: I am dying to learn how to sew and to try a few projects that I have in my idea file. I have curtains that I want to make for the kitchen, crib bumper for Lily's crib, new pillows for our couch. All of these items are just a straight stitch so it can't be that hard. One of the best sewing machines that I found online for beginners is the Brother XL2600i. I found it online at amazon.com for $86. For some reason I thought this was going to be a lot more expensive.
• New Mommy Clothes: Going through my closet is a painful experience. Some items don't fit, some are old, some are inappropriate for my new mommy chest if you know what I mean. The problem is I really don't have a style. I like simple, clean, classic, and items that make me look thin of coarse. I need to buckle down and buy the staples for my wardrobe...jeans, a coat since I've been wearing my husbands, pretty tops. This is going to have to be a priority soon since I am still wearing some of my maternity tops. Yikes!!! I am 5 pounds shy from my pre-baby weight, but my chest grew quite a bit making all of my tops too small. The whole time I was pregnant I was worried about my stomach, who know I had to worry about my chest?
• Day at the Spa: I love going to the spa and relaxing. Its a very expensive hobby, but I do love the amazing me time. I take a very long and hot shower when I get there, dry off in the sauna, go for a facial or body treatment, then afterwards I take forever putting my makeup on and do my hair, have lunch and read magazines. Its amazing how I miss doing those types of things. I've perfected the 2 minute makeup and toss my hair up in a clip. So on special occasions this is what I ask for from my husband. Brad on the other hand likes to get tattoos....that's what my husband considers "me time". He's funny and very adorable. I have recently fallen in love with the TSpa at the Tulalip casino in Marysville. Its so nice and relaxing there.
• Shopping Spree at Ikea and Ben Franklin crafts: I love Ikea. You can buy so much there for little cost and change the entire look of your home and use their items for crafts. I would love to go up there and spend an entire day buying whatever I want. Ben Franklin crafts is a store I adore! They have everything there and at pretty decent prices too. The closet one to me is a few hours away, but that doesn't stop me.

It was nice just to take that minute and dream a little. What is on your wish list?

Movie Time

DVDs take up so much space. They also look really messy when they are in cabinets. I wanted to find another way to organize our movies and xbox games. I have been working on this project for a while. Brad bought me these DVD storage books for Christmas because he knew I wanted to get this project finished. This organizational challenge pushed me to complete it. I labeled the bottom of them according to genre....comedy, action, drama, kids movies, scary. You get the idea. In the box on the left side, I have brad's xbox controllers and accessories and in the box on the right side, I have movies that I need to buy more books for. I plan on getting 4 more for now so that I have an even 10. I may need more in the future, but its a good start.

AFTER: I hate the big DVD storage books because I find that the DVDs fall out and make a mess. So I found these! I looked everywhere and they are hard to find, but I eventually found them online at amazon.com. Here is the information so you can find them too: Case Logic DVD Album 48 DVDs and 21 title notes model number DVB40. They hold the DVD artwork on the front and two DVDs on the backside. The albums are made out of leather so they stand up really nice and are very sturdy. I love them!

Lily's Closet

I totally forgot to take a picture of Lily's closet before I cleaned it out and organized it. It was pretty similar to how it is now, but I went through a lot and sorted by size. I put the everyday clothing in the drawers and hung up dresses, coats, and fancy outfits in the closet by size. It's not done by any means, but I cleaned it out. Put the clothes that no longer fit Lily into a storage box, bagged up the newborn and infant supplies that I no longer need, threw away stained clothing, and got a bag together of things that I'll hand down to my sister in law if she has a girl. I totally think its a boy though. I also made a list of things that I would like to purchase to make the closets easier to find items. Notice the bin in the bottom of the closet. I am saving this bin for my next challenge of organizing the baby clothing for storage.

AFTER: On this side of the closet I have wipes, diapers, crib sheets, blankets, shoes, hats, extra diaper bags, Lily's baby book items which I totally need to get to, 18 month and bigger clothing that has been given to me. Although its organized it still looks like a mess. After taking my photo I realized that I am not using this space very well so I did some research on how to make it look neater and utilize the space better. I think I'll buy these and put diapers, wipes, lotions and shampoos, baby carrier items and accessories. I found these canvas bins on target.com. I think I'll get a couple of these.

I also found this amazing canvas spacer for your closet. Packing Lily's daiper bag for the next day can be made easier if I use the lower bins to put the clothing items for the week in them, that way I don't have to dig through the drawer to find things when I am in a rush in the morning. As she gets older, I can put her outfits in the slots so that she can get dressed in the morning without having to dig through everything. I think I'll see if I can find it in dark brown. It's hard to divide clothing without some kind of divider to note the size. I found these online and they look super easy to make, so I'm going to try and make my own dividers for her closet. I'll update when I redo the closet again with my new organizational changes.

Sugar & Spice

I'm calling this my sugar and spice challenge because I had no idea how happy it would make me feel doing such a simple challenge. Our kitchen is small with very little storage so I decided rather than organizing my spices in the existing drawer I had them in, I was going to create something else. I thought of using a spice rack but that would just take up counter space. Space I don't have. I also found spices that I had no idea I had and old ones that I threw away. On top of that, every time I open the drawer things fly all over the place, so no matter how I organize it it ends up looking like this!

BEFORE:

So I went idea searching and I came across this genius way to store your spices. These spice containers are from Ikea and come 3 in a pack for $4.99, so very affordable and really neat. They are a decent size, you can see through the lid, and they are magnetic. I used a label machine to create the labels for each canister and stuck them to the side of our fridge. Not only did I make space in our kitchen, but the canisters decorate our fridge and makes it look really neat.

AFTER: Notice my favorite spice:

Newfoundland Savoury.....I brought all the way back to the states from my last visit. It makes the best stuffing!!!! It tastes so different than the stuff that you buy here.

Junk Drawer

Every house has a junk drawer. Mine happens to be located in the kitchen. It wasn't as messy as I thought, but it was still unorganized to the point where the drawer was hard to open and I really had no idea what was in there.

BEFORE: Lily thinks that its funny when I clean. She's pretty amused. Lily loves watching ma ma clean. AFTER:I went through the drawer and I threw away exactly what was in there.....junk. So now I have nothing in the drawer. I'll find stuff to go in there, no worries. The existing tray that I have in the drawer isn't really a good tray for this drawer so I plan on making a trip to the dollar store to see what I can find. I also used a small box lid for my battery storage, I need a little bigger box to put all the batteries in so this drawer still needs a little work, but its getting there. Note pads, lighters, batteries, pocket tissues, thumb tacks, calculator, and notes for Brad's lunchbox. What else could go in there? I'm pretty proud of starting this daunting challenge and following through. Whats next?

Obsessed

As you know I have been working on an organizational challenge from one of my new favorite blogs, a bowl full of lemons. I started the challenge and I felt really overwhelmed with all the stuff that still needed to be done. I consider myself a very clean an organized person, but when I took a look at the challenge list I realized that I had missed a few things....like under the kitchen sink. Who looks under there anyways? Mine is a mess. I never thought to organize it, but when I do it will make things easier to find and simplify. I have also been looking at other peoples challenges to see how they organized their homes and got a ton of ideas! Now I'm ready to get started. Its turned into a slight obsession.

So here's the challenge with a few of my modifications of coarse. I took away the 21 day challenge and I am just going to have a task list. I work 40 hours a week, make dinner, take care of baby, do laundry, dishes, and pick up the house. So the only time to organize and get things together is when everyone else is in bed. So finishing this challenge in 21 days isn't ideal for me. So here's my task list in no particular order. Whatever I have the supplies to organize or feel like organizing that night, that's what I'll do. I plan on making another one after this one is done

Junk Drawer

Computer Desk

Baby Closet

Baby Clothing Storage

Spice Drawer

DVDs

Linen Closet

Under the kitchen sink

Coat Closet

The Pantry

Baby Food

Laundry Room

Under the bathroom sink

Medicine Storage

Craft Storage

Gift Wrap Storage

Brad's tool box

Photos

Launch pad

Brad's Hats

CDs
Cords (box of tangled cords to all of our electronics)

9 Months Old

I can't believe I grew my baby girl in my tummy for 9 months and now she is 9 months old today. She is getting so big. She has such a big personality and is such a pleasant and happy little girl. Our little girl all tuckered out after church.

Sitting in Poppy's rocking chair, she loves it!

She loves standing at the glass patio door and looking outside! What a happy girl.
Luke and Courtney Gaeta took this picture when they were feeding her and sent it to me. I love that you can see all of the teeth that grew in this month. The top two and bottom two are now in, so four total teeth. My favorite picture of the two of us taken at my sister in law Jenn's baby shower. She looks so sweet and makes me so happy.

I have also been unable to wear my wedding ring since I was 3 months pregnant because I was retaining so much water. I was hoping that my ring would fit again, but it didn't go down quite as small as it was before. Go figure. I went from a 5 1/4 ring size to almost a 5 1/2. So 9 months after my baby was born, I am now able to get my wedding ring back on! I pick it up today. I am so excited!