LWU - This and That

The bed bugs are gone! We hope. Turtle had 3 bites on her leg this morning that we hope are from some bug on our patio.

Since the bugs are gone we have been slowly unpacking and reorganizing the apartment.

Here's my weekend 'tada!' list;

coat closet bins labelled - check!

girls books on Expedit - check!

pantry baskets all labelled up - check!

And I started my Project List.  Or, I created the page for it. Watch for updates there!

What lovely things did you all get accomplished this weekend?

Updated because I can't remember everything when I blog at night.

Check out the other awesomeness at Life Made Lovely's Linky.

Stuck on Food

Y'all may remember my menu planning sheet.

Menu Plan

	Supper	Tomorrow's Prep
M
Tu
W
Th
F
S
S

While I loved it, I was limited by a few things about it;

• needing to print a new one each week
• not laminated (on purpose, I change my mind after all!)
• not wanting to post the printed one on the fridge
• I was STILL hearing "what's for dinner"
• still forgetting what to take out because it was hidden away

Then when I was party hopping (LOVE crafty/decor blog parties, even if they do increase my project list each week) and stumbled across this.  Creative Momma D made hers out of dry erase paper with scrap booking rub on letters. "AHA!" I said as I pulled all my rub ons out and was nearly smothered.

After a quick trip to Dollarama ($2!), I now have this stuck to the front of the fridge.

Never enough tea in my kitchen!

When I finished putting the lettering on and put the menu up for the first time Hubs saw it.  Then said "I like this menu board, it's nice and simple!"

HA! Well done I say.

Well done indeed.



Eventually, I will get all the bags unpacked. Until then I'll have at least a weekly project to share!

Anyone else getting props for organizing/simplifying their lives this week?

Annoying Adenoids

This post could also be titled "Snoring will make you snotty," which is close to the truth.

While driving home from Ikea last Saturday I fell asleep in the car.  I don't know how long I slept but I woke myself up mid-snore.  Six days later I am in full on congestion mode.  My throat is sore and I can't even guess how many boxes of tissues I've gone through.


10 Things I wish I'd done this week;

10. Organize pantry, storage and bookshelf in closet
9. Put mattress protector ON Turtle's bed
8. Assemble bookshelf for girls' bedroom
7. Sort and purge everyone's clothing
6. Put away everyone's clothing
5. Unpack my books
4. Unpack the girls' books
3. Laundry, laundry and more laundry
2. Purge and put away girls' toys
1. Bake cookies!

Turtle has Friday and Monday off so I hope after a restful weekend (please?!) I'll be feeling better and can get the apartment back to normal.

It would be nice to not be tripping over orange garbage bags every time I go into another room.

Lovely Wrap Up Bugs be GONE!

I'm happy (more happy that I probably should be, but pretty dang happy!) to announce that we passed our scent dog inspection today!

3 things about having 90% of your belongings in bags since last weekend;

Not so lovely thing? I've had to dig through various bags for clothes, towels, art supplies. Pretty much any thing we've needed.

A lovelier thing - we've had a very toy free week!

Loveliest thing of all? I now realize just how little of the stuff we still have bagged we actually need.  I'm going to be decluttering as I empty bags.  If I don't have room to make a home for something, out it goes!

Brain Contained

For the second half of March I worked and slaved over my six (what was I thinking!) different household binders.  I had one for basic stuff, the girls, budgetting/financing, birthdays & holidays, the blog and a personal development one for me.


Let that sink in for a minute.


Do you see the problem?

I had to look through FOUR different binders last week when I was updating my calendar.  I wasn't even done the system yet and it was in need of major tweaking.

So when Jen posted the challenge link I pored through the links posted.  Heaving a deep sigh, I took my carefully arranged and organized binders and dumped.them.all.out.

Pardon the blurriness. I really need to find my camera's manual.

Here's the basic one now;

Calendar; previous months, auto maintenance log*, important dates*

Gift Giving; gift wish list**, gift giving log*

Schedule; basic weekly plan, prepare for tomorrow, Frog, Turtle & Mommy routine sheets

Frog; data sheet, clothing inventory

Turtle (& ADD); data sheet, clothing inventory, chore & reward system, some basic ADD information on routines and behavioural techniques

Cleaning; home maintenance checklist*, minimum maintenance***

Menu Planning; basic weekly menu (seasonal), master meal list, favourite meals**, recipe inventory**, chillin' in the freezer, hangin' out in the pantry, Canada's food guide copy, Eating Routine for Young Children, Turtle's list of ok school foods

Medical; doctor visits log, dentist visits log, medications log, Frog immunizations record, Turtle immunizations record

Bills; finance checklist*, basic budget, +/- tracking (savings, budget, expenses, groceries, eating out and purchases), debt repayment worksheet**, savings fund**, FACE worksheet, money & finance master goals**

Contacts; emergency phone list**, medical professionals**

Now that I've finally assembled it into making some sort of sense, I can't wait to start using it.

Have you created a home binder or redone your current one lately?

*Jen's printables

**from Michelle's Value Pack

**Rachel's lovely idea

Taking back the living room

Perhaps you have one or two or more of those darling little creatures children. They may not have a playroom. Even better, they may just have a toy stash or several in your main living area. The best of all is when one of them is a fiercely independent nearly 2 year old who you haven't begun mastered the clean up routine with.

Do you know what that means?

Yes. Frog adores taking aaaaaaaall the toys off the shelf to spread them across the living room, into the dining room and down the hall. By the time Turtle comes home from school it looks like the floor has a raging toy fungus! Lucky girl that she is, I usually get her to do help with the clean up before supper. Then there's the after supper toy explosion!

Ikea Gles baskets. Love that they are stackable and have handles.

When erasing the evidence of the weekend I decided that I was going to reorganize a toy stash or two. The girls won't suddenly have a toy room. Nor is there going to be a furniture shopping spree. I just dumped the current baskets and sorted the toys. Turtle gets her baskets, Frog gets hers and the overflow goes to the linen closet to await a toy shuffle.

Shelves organized, toys contained.

Turtle and I revamped her play kitchen.  The clear trolley is going to be their play kitchen.  While I love the entertainment centre kitchens we just don't have room for one.  I have some prettifying to do there.

Now, least you think that this lasted more than an hour after Frog got out of bed...

Success?

Partying here;

Toni's having a party!  Make sure you head over the check it out.

Lovely Wrap Up Studio Storage

I was party hopping a few weeks ago and found Life Made Lovely. Have you ever party hopped? I stumbled across a few party link libraries and wow! There are some parties out there!! I could do a different party every day is the month (if I was less lazy so inclined).

I decided to combine two of my favorites for regular Monday posts. Welcome to my first Lovely Wrap Up post! I will be linking this up to Tatertots and jello and Life Made Lovely every Saturday and Monday. Most likely the post will actually be up on Sunday.

On Friday I went to Ikea with a friend to stock up on some more Kassett boxes and FLYT magazine holders.  I love visiting Ikea and poring over the storage options.

Yes, I left the mess there for effect. Really I did!

I've found that art and craft supplies multiply when you're not looking. Or when you visit the thrift store 'to have a look'.

Taking pictures at night with the flash, not such a good idea.

So now I can pull out any storage box I want and find what I need.  Now to cut out fifteen circles for all the FLYT magazine holders I now have!  I'll update with the new pretties once I get them done.

If I can still type after doing all that cutting out!

Here's this week's links to the parties



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So, what lovely things were you up to this weekend?

Containing my brain

I've already talked about my love for binders here.

After Toni did her Home Management weekly challenge I browsed through all the links.  After my first pass through the binders, I started to notice quite a few common categories.  Since I was working on freshening up and consolidating my binder I made notes on the categories people were using.  Just for kicks I added up how many different categories there were as well.

Some number crunching for you;

32 binders
28 different categories
9 categories are used for more than 10 of those binders
Menu Planning is the single category that is in every single binder (Laura would be so proud!)
Cleaning came in second, in 27 of the binders
Calendar = 23
Finances/Budget = 22
To Do = 20
Contacts = 18
Schedules or Medical = 15
Kids/Family Info = 11

Now that I know what others are using, I'm better able to purge my binder system.

System on my studio shelf.

Jen is doing household binder creation the entire month of March.  Also, she is including free printables (and they are OH so cute).

Before I catch up with Jen I thought I'd share the acronym I came up for my binders.

B.R.A.I.N = Book of Reminders And Important Notes

The binders I am redoing.

Binder #1 - Family B.R.A.I.N
Binder #2 - Girls' B.R.A.I.N
Binder #3 - Birthdays and Holidays B.R.A.I.N
Binder #4 - Budget B.R.A.I.N
Binder #5 - Blog B.R.A.I.N
Binder #6 - My B.R.A.I.N

Go check out what Jen is up to at
 

Label Me This

Perhaps you've seen those glorious little chalkboard labels floating around the blogosphere?  I've seen them used for pantries, for playrooms, for entire walls (ok, that was paint).  They are EVERYWHERE!

I want them in my house too.

Now I can have them!

Adhesive blackboard from Dollarama? Check!

Scissors, template, pen? Check!

Baskets that need labels? Check!

Prettily labelled baskets, all set for me to chalk up and label? Check!

Now, was I forgetting something?

Chalk? Uh, not check!

Am I the only one so gung-ho about a labelling/organizing project that a vital part of it gets forgotten?

I'm linking up for Tackle It Tuesday over at 5 Minutes for Mom.

Grand Plan - Pantry

I was going to do updates for everything I've organized/decluttered in one post.  If I did that, it would be one VERY picture heavy post and really? I need SOMETHING to blog about this week.

So I'll start from the beginning. The pantry was week 1 (it is week 7).  I've since had to go back in there and rearrange it.  There is still some work to be done in there.  I need to get more baskets and purge more stuff off the shelves.  I also really need to hang the art that is being stored everywhere at the moment.

'Pantry' Before

The pantry was the unfortunate dumping ground for everything I had in holding.  Yeah, I was holding on to too much!

'Pantry' First Try

This first try was by far the best.  There was NOTHING on the floor and I loved it.

'Pantry' Second Try

I did a bookcase shuffle for the second try. The screen and our DIY window shade made their way into the pantry.  The girls games and books also got a shuffle and wound up in here.  It is so much easier for Turtle to get to her art supplies now.

Items to Clear;

folding screen - am I REALLY going to use this?

girls books - they can be purged, or at least downsized

artwork - I need to get some 3M hooks and replacement glazier points so I can hang all the art again

cleaning supplies - I'm going to put those back in the coat closet with the laundry supplies

Things to Add;

labels for the girls books

storage for Turtle's art supplies

baskets/lazy susans for baking and pantry staples

hook for broom

Favorite Things Friday

One of my absolute favorite things is a binder filled with lined paper, dividers, cover pages, labels. This binder contains all the useful bits of information that I need to refer to.  Schedules, medical information, all those goodies that I need a physical copy of in one place so I'm not running around the house wasting time hunting them up.

Since I developed mom brain (and a recurring need for a nap) I can hardly remember what I want to remember, let alone where I may have put something.  It doesn't matter what it is; paper, (mine, Hubs, the girls'), an object (my purse, the diaper bag, Turtle's school bag) or a piece of information (medical insurance papers). The second I neeed to do something with it, is the second it grows legs and scurries off to the lost sock dimension.

When I found Fly Lady, I was introduced to Control Journals. As with everything else Fly Lady I adapted it to work for me. 'So smart,' I thought, 'bet no one else has done this!'

To my great delight, when I just was not happy with my control journal, I found a plethora of blogs with their own versions of control journals.

Toni  had a household notebook as her first weekly organizing challenge.

Yay! More household notebooks to browse!

Amanda posted a huge list of links to printable!

I love Denise's binder.

I could go on and on. If you are looking for some household notebook inspiration click over to Toni's and check the binder post for more links.

Tackle It Tuesday - Nothing But (under) the Bathroom Sink

Yesterday, I just couldn't take it anymore.  The unlabelled baskets, pulling multiple baskets out to get the one that was at the back of the cupboard.

Under my bathroom sink was a bit nasty cluttery mess!  So I tackled it.  I even yanked out the particle board 'shelf' that was shedding paper and board filling all over the cupboard.  Now it's sitting in the bathroom leaning against the wall. I need SOMETHING for AP Wednesday!


So here it is, in all it's newly organized still unlabelled glory!

Doors of Doom (I totally would never choose that hardware) 

Ahhhh. Organized Bliss.

What's that? You want to see INSIDE the drawers?  Well, if I must.

Turtle & Frog's hair stuff drawer.

Mommy's hair stuff drawer.

The only thing that's in the bottom drawer at the moment is my stockpile of orangewood cuticle sticks. Yes. I live an exciting life!  Full of nail care accessories.

I'm linking up at 5 Minutes for Mom.

For Fridge's Sake

If the kitchen is the heart of the home, mine needs a pacemaker. With a toddler, a 2nd grader and a husband who works evenings, more often than not, my poor kitchen is a wasteland of recycling, dirty dishes and a trail of toys.

The worst offender in the kitchen is the stove with the fridge a close second. Spills, unlined crisper drawers, it can get a bit gross in there! Friday is the day I set aside to tackle my kitchen, then Hubs doesn't need to spend all weekend restoring it. This week I really need to give the fridge a detail cleaning as well as organize what we have in the freezer.

So! While I scour, scrub and snarl here's some links for you.

Tanna also cleaned her fridge this week.

Laura has this guest post from August of last year on organizing your fridge/freezer.

I'm making this to display our menu each week. Hubs and Turtle are ALWAYS asking 'what's for dinner?'. With this, I just need to point to the board.

Here's a few pantry and freezer inventory printables for you.

Little Birdhouse has a really cute Chillin' In the Freezer one.
About.com's is cute as well.
If you're using Organized Home to make a home management binder, here's their freezer printable.

Do any of you use freezer inventories? Or can you remember what you have in there all by your lonesome?

Nothing to see here

Or is there?!

It's been a week full of procrastination around here.  One thing has led to another and now it's Thursday!

So here's some catch up for you

On Thursday!

I printed out one of Get Organized Wizard's menu printables*, I love that it lets me plan out breakfast, lunch and dinner.  I'm going to do a display version of this for myself.

Laura posted this link on January 10th's Menu Plan Monday. I found this awesome idea to use up one of the cork boards I have hiding in my pantry at the moment. Now to see if I have the ribbon and such to make my own version (in green and blue of course!).

So far this week we've eaten pita pizzas, creamy cheeseburger macaroni, waffles and bacon.

Thursday (today!) - scrambled eggs and toast

Friday - spaghettini and meat sauce

Saturday - pizza buns, we're going to switch up the toppings for this one, basically our regular pita pizza toppings on buns

Yeah, still Thursday!

Monday night I had Turtle completely empty out her art & craft shelf in our linen closet. She threw out a full shopping bag full of papers and mostly used notebooks. We added some more papers to her bags to scan and post here.

Well, now I'm only a day behind!

Have you seen Awesome Note? You should try it! I tried the Lite version, then I saw what I could do with the full version and bought it for my iPod**.  I love that I don't need to clutter up my planner with multiple post-it notes now! I could use Awesome Note for appointments and scheduling as well, but honestly, sometimes I really love my pen and paper!

*I won this  in November of 2009 from one of Laura's Round-Ups.

**I paid full price for this from Apple's App store. I love the App store.

Grand Start to the New Year

I'm sure you have all read Organized Home's New Year's Cleaning Grand  Plan? You haven't? Well! Basically, it is fourteen weeks of cleaning your house room by room, area by area. That's the basic premise.  I was interested in doing a twist on this last year, but time got away from me (or was it my motivation?).  I kept my plans/ideas for it and when November rolled around I made an editorial calendar* of what I'd like to post on the blog and when I'd minimally like to post on the blog.  Putting my plans back in play for participating in my version of the NYGCP worked well for the editorial calendar so I pencilled it in.

Yesterday, while Frog was napping, I attacked the pantry. 

Yes, that was really what greeted me when I'd open the door!

We've only been here three months and it already looked like that! Not to mention I couldn't get to anything I wanted at the back of the closet and half of it was buried!

So I pulled all the bags I'd shoved in there out, hauled them into my bedroom (for just in case babyproofing) and organized the rest if the closet. By the way, is a three by seven room actually a 'closet'?

Several hours and a lunch break later, the pantry looked a little fuller than this, but not by much.

That flooring is really, REALLY ugly.

You'll see I even have a shelf for empty storage containers, definitely inspired by Laura!

And so my New Year's Grand deCluttering Plan begins!

*this isn't where I first found out about the editorial calendar but it's a nice short post to start you on the right track!

One or two more things off the floor

Girls like stuffed animals. My girls LOVE stuffed animals and I've had to restrain myself from buying them every little cuddly fuzzy one they see and "aw" at. Months and months ago I bought Turtle a toy net to put her favourite stuffies in so Frog couldn't get at them and muck them up.  A month ago I bought the Fabler Groda wall pockets from Ikea to add some more storage by the dresser/change table for Turtle's birthday.

Today I finally hung them both up and took the stuffies out of the garbage bag they were packed in when we moved back in September.  Turtle and Frog both "ooooh'd and awwww'd" over the stuffies looking down at them so I think we've got a decor success!  Tomorrow I'll take a picture of how their room is starting to shape up!

So that was my tackle and that was not one, two but THREE things crossed off my to do list for the girls room set up.

Linking up to Tackle it Tuesday at Five Minutes for Mom.

Living Room 2.?

The best part of movie is probably up for debate. That some people ENJOY moving is even up for debate.  If you want to debate either of those, we're not going to do it today here!  Tonight I'd like to gush about MY fave part of moving into a new home; the new furniture arrangements.

Almost to scale, here's a 'rough' of the floor plan.

Since our new apartment is a tad bigger AND has a fabulous vaulted ceiling in it we are facing a few issues regarding furniture arrangements. 1) We're on the third floor now so we have a balcony we intend to turn into an adult only room (it's above a busy road and we both know what little kids and balcony railings mean). 2) The vaulted ceiling, while fabulous, means we need to take care we don't have the roller coaster eye line. 3) We have LIGHT! Fabulous light! Extra windows! Fabulous for doing artwork! So where do I set up my art area?

All those issues being said, I believe I've figured it out!  For a better idea of the furniture; short bookcase = Ikea's Billy bookcase, Expedit (ours is 4x2), couch = Ikea's Klippan (in black, and it's not so shiny!), desks = Ikea's Galant (in birch with these legs), router stand = Ikea's Lerberg (in dark grey).

I think that's it. That's the plan, but we have another bookcase, a chair, and a stool to put in there somewhere!  There may end up being a reading area in our bedroom after all!

So, what do you think?

My husband has baggage

No, seriously, he has baggage! Or luggage, whatever, he has a big ol' trunk he inherited from his grandfather which has followed us for the past 8 years from one home to another.

Yes, that's his baggage trunk!

Usually I shove this thing into the storage closet and try to forget it exists. Until the next time I have to move it.  It's not very bendy!

Although, it is waterstained!

It's also lined with a truly FABULOUS paper (did I mention it smells?)

Huh, Made in Vancouver! Guess I'll have to do something with it!

So! Pre - Moving Project #1 (which I will probably finish around December) - do SOMETHING with this trunk that does not involve a) the dumpster or b) donating it.

Suggestions? Comments? Screams of horror?

Moving on and up!

Around the middle of June I started downright despising the local transit system. It's not bad if you are getting around downtown, it's actually terrible convenient and well planned out. However! When you get to where I need to catch the bus, it's either late or early. Rarely is it on time, and if it is on time? I've already left that stop and gone to the main exchange on my end of town.  Add to this dislike the fact that I've now failed two road tests and I was fed up with having to take the bus! I was not looking forward to taking it daily when school started back up.  So Hubs and I decided it was time to move!

It took about 3 weeks of solid searching but we finally found (and were accepted into) an apartment that is all of five minutes walk from Turtle's school and barely a ten minute walk from my work!  We also are moving into an apartment on the third floor so we can take advantage of being off the ground floor and open our curtains and windows whenever we please!

For the rest of August and all of September I will try to post at least once a week with an update on something relating to the move, even if it's that I managed to pack one teeny tiny box!

Long time too much napping

Last week I tackled a nice deep clean in my bedroom.  Then last Saturday I rearranged some of the furniture in my room to accommodate a new vanity/bedside table.  Haven't found the table yet but I do have the rest of the room set up and ready to go.

Here's the befores.

Looking into our bedroom.

Looking across the room from the doorway to the corner under the window.  Where Hubs' dresser used to be.

Where the bookcase used to be.  This is where the vanity is going to go.

Our closet, before a big purge/rearrange.

Look for my updated room pictures after I go garage sale'ing this weekend. I'm on the hunt for a vanity table!