Junk Drawer no more!

When I finally hit my breaking point and decided to beat my family into submission start the Great Organization of 2011 I wanted to take the house by storm and change everything before the end of April.  When I woke up I knew that wasn't the best planning.  This is going to be a big change for the kids and an even bigger change for my husband.  If I try to do it all at once, or worse if I tried to do it all alone, I don't think it would stick.

I've spent the last year focused on losing weight.  I've lost 60 pounds so far and see my goal within my reach.  The hardest thing I've learned is slow and steady progress is the only way to lose the weight and keep it off.  It's something I still struggle with daily.  I'm all about The Biggest Loser numbers rather than 1 -2 pounds a week.  

Along those lines, I took a few days to come up with a plan.  Since we both work full time and commute almost an hour each way to work and our kids are both active in sports or scouts I knew I had to keep it reasonable.  I decided I needed to start with storage spaces.  The single biggest pet peeve in my kitchen is the "junk drawer".  It's something I've not had in any other home, but we have so many drawers in this kitchen it seemed like a good idea.  Six years ago anyway!

The funniest part about this project was the amount of "help" I had.  Generally when I start to clean, all 3 of them run for the hills.  When they heard me start going through the drawer my husband was instantly in there, followed closely by my daughter.  I'm sure my husband was afraid I'd throw away a treasure if he wasn't there to claim it.

I'm not even sure that I was able to pull the drawer completely out.  I had NO clue what all was hidden in here because I hated to even open the drawer!

Thanks to the help from my husband I made quick work of this.  Much of it was junk and went straight into the garbage.  At least 1/4 of it was screw drivers and tools that needed to go into the cave {aka the garage}.  

Another 1/4 was pencils, pens and markers.  Good grief!  There were also 2 pencil sharpeners that none of us knew we had.  Its always a struggle to get homework done because they can't find a sharpened pencil.  A side project from this will be a Homework Box.  

I found at least 100 candles.  How many birthday cakes will we need to have use all of those? (not all pictured haha).  Anyone care for a glitter covered gum ball?  

There are no words.

This is all that went back into the drawer.  Actually it went in, they were crammed in a cabinet before.  Everything else in the drawer went to its rightful home.  

Do you have a junk drawer?  Is it out of control? Or do you have organized chaos? 

A mess 6 years in the making

I've always considered myself pretty organized.  My mom used to say you could go in my room and not be able to find enough room on the floor to walk, but open up any drawer and it was nice and tidy.  Even as a young adult if I needed something in my home I knew right where to look, and it was always there.

I married a man that could not be more opposite and proceeded to have two of his offspring that inherited that gene from him. We were both in our 30s when we married and combined two complete households. Each of us wanted to keep most of what we had, for one sentimental or logical reason or another.  In the interest of peace keeping I tried to stop being so particular.  With 2 young children and a teenager plus two full time jobs and no organization in place, no plan and no schedule we were living by the seat of our pants. This began a downward spiral that has left me with a home that I feel is out of control.

I pulled the family together and had a heart to heart.  I can't do this alone and I know it won't happen over night but going to have to try and teach my children and husband how much more smoothly life is when you live more simply, how to plan ahead and live intentionally!

I've decided to blog about my progress.  To keep myself accountable, share my inspiration and tips and gain ideas from other bloggers!  I have so many ideas, my list is a mile long, but I hope the outcome is worth all the growing pains!

Have you had to completely retrain your family?  Any advice you want to share??

One Little Word 2011

It's a new year and I can't be more glad.  2010 wasn't a great year around here.  It wasn't bad really, nothing horrible happened but it wasn't great.  I want us to look back at our lives and remember things being great, not remember how we just got by.

I struggle with wanting to be perfect.  I want it done right and I want it done now.  If I can't get it just so, then I just don't do it at all.  This bury your head in the sand mentality has lead my whole family to a bit of a stagnant existence.

We are busy, we are always moving, but we are always reacting, not living with intention.  I finally had a realization at some point in December that we can't change everything at once, but until we start making changes nothing will be as we want it.  As such, my One Little Word for 2011 is Intentional.

Definition of INTENTIONAL

1

: done by intention or design : intended <intentional damage>

My first step in setting our family up for success is getting organized.  As a working mom with 2 young children I've spent years doing everything myself because it was easier.  It also hasn't taught my kids how to clean up after themselves or how to help us out.  This won't be an easy change, but I think we will all be better for it.  Won't you join us?

Candle light re-done

I've seen this idea several times lately, so when I pulled out the same tired pillar candles yesterday I knew right away what they needed. I told my husband 'I'm going to get my craft on!' and I'd like you to imagine his delight with me. It was similar to the delight I feel when he exclaims his excitement that yet another college football is on!

Thankfully I had everything on hand. You never know when an emergency may arise and you need a little Modge Podge and salt!

I added the glue to the entire candle then rolled the candle in the salt. After it dried I hit the top to knock off the lose pieces.

I think the red came out much prettier. I tried to color some salt red but food coloring turned the salt brown. I need to find a way to do that though, I have a fun idea for a 3 wick candle if I can figure out something other than plain white.

Advent Calendar

This is a repost, but since we get to start using this today I thought it was worth saying again!

I'm also linking to Kimba's DIY day!

I saw many variations on this last Christmas so I finally took the plung and decided to try one this year. I'm so happy with how it turned out, especially since it only took me an evening to put together.

I started with just a plain cheap cookie sheet, bunch of stickers and buttons and some magnet tape that I've had on my fridge for ohhh... too many years to admit

I used spray paint on the back of the cookie sheet then used Arose Such a Clatter kit to create the back ground and the count down numbers


I had some heavy weight card stock that I used a 1 1/4 inch punch to make each days square and used glue dots to put the squares together. I hand drew the grid, don't look too close, I remember why I went digital now! I especially love the baking squares, thats one of our favorite Christmas traditions - making cookies together!

As you remove the days you just pop them on the back for safe keeping.

Make a Statement

SaraAmarie has a new kit is coming out Saturday at Sweet Shoppe Designs

A preview of the entire kit:



and here is the layout I did using it. I already have an idea for another one! I love kits that you want to use more than once!

NDISB June Blog Train

I'm SO sorry for posting this late! Just call me the caboose ...

The Natural Designs in Scrapbooking designers has created a wonderful collaborative kit, a collection of wordart and the creative team is has used it for goodies just for you!

Check out the NISB Blog for a full run down of the kit and to all the blogs you need to visit to get a new part.

Here is a preview of the wonderful kit by the NDISB designers.

I've made a quick page for you, I hope you enjoy it! Click here to download.



Your next stop is Samceline http://www.samceline.de