Helping Sharkbait Get Well

If you know me, you know all about my little Sharkbait and all he has been through.  If you stumbled upon this website, because you Googled something fascinating (Ecumenical Sunday, maybe?) and just happened upon my blog, this is my nephew, Sharkbait.   Sharkbait was born in July of 2012 with major heart problems. He has been on oxygen most of his life, had multiple heart surgeries and heart catheters. He has had to make many quick trips to the hospital in an ambulance and even a helicopter. On top of his heart issues he has had a feeding tube his whole life, because of a cleft palate and lip. We are raising money for his mounting health care fees and to begin saving for his future heart transplant. Help us let his parents worry about the day to day of taking care of Sharkbait and not have to worry as much about his bills. Thank you!

For my Girl Friends

I got this in an email and wanted to keep it somewhere for prosperity

Thiswas taught at Stanford University…

In an evening class at Stanford the last lecture was on the mind-body connection - the relationship between stress and disease. The speaker (head of psychiatry at Stanford) said, among other things, that one of the best things that a man could do for his health is to be married to a woman whereas for a woman, one of the best things she could do for her health was to nurture her relationships with her girlfriends. At first everyone laughed, but he was serious.

Women connect with each other differently and provide support systems that help each other to deal with stress and difficult life experiences. Physically this quality "girlfriend time" helps us to create more serotonin - a neurotransmitter that helps combat depression and can create a general feeling of well-being. Women share feelings whereas men often form relationships around activities. They rarely sit down with a buddy and talk about how they feel about certain things or how their personal lives are going. Jobs? Yes. Sports? Yes. Cars? Yes. Fishing, hunting, golf? Yes. But their feelings? Rarely. Women do it all of the time.

We share from our souls with our sisters/mothers, and evidently that is very good for our health. He said that spending time with a friend is just as important to our general health as jogging or working out at a gym. There's a tendency to think that when we are "exercising" we are doing something good for our bodies, but when we are hanging out with friends, we are wasting our time and should be more productively engaged, not true. In fact, he said that failure to create and maintain quality personal relationships with other humans is as dangerous to our physical health as smoking! So every time you hang out to schmooze with a gal pal, just pat yourself on the back and congratulate yourself for doing something good for your health! We are indeed very, very lucky.

Sooooo, let's toast to our friendship with our girlfriends. Evidently it's very good for our health. Forward this to all your girlfriends and stay in touch! Thanks to all the girls in my life who have helped me stay healthy, happy, and feeling very loved. Life isn't about surviving the storm; but how you dance in the rain.

Ecumenical Sunday 2013

I think it is always good to pray for unity of the church.  Why is there so much fighting within churches?  Or even between churches.  Today is the day to pray for Christian unity.  There is one truth that we can all agree on, let's, atleast for this week, not fight about the other stuff that really doesn't matter, shall we?

Happy Ecumenical Sunday 2013

Yikes! The craft room

Ok, you might have gotten the sense my craft room is a little crazy, well, you would be right.  My craft room/Girl Scout Room/ Storage room/Drum room/Spare room tends to be a mess more often than not.  This was an all day project.  My after pictures my be more like someone else's before pictures, but I am ecstatic with the progress made today.    I can not believe I am actually posting pictures of this room on the Internet.     I may have to change my name. I don't normally let anyone in this room with the exception of my sisters who stay here occasionally.

Let me explain the different areas of this room and what I did.  We will start in the Northwest corner.  In this corner I keep 2 stacks of boxes for the girl to grow into.  Clothes for the bear are generally from our neighbor and the boxes for the Bug obviously come from the Bear.  In this corner you can also see a clothing rack.  I am the chair for one of the major fund raisers for the school.  It is a children's clothing sale that we do ever year.  The rack holds hanging clothes that the Bug and Boy have out grown for the clothing sale.  I keep the Monkey's pack n play over there, some poly fil, gift bags/tissue paper and Valentines.

The Southwest corner has the boy's much shorter box of clothes to grow into.  Although his are also split into sizes.  It is a much more vague sizing, big or little.  There are just not the hand me downs for girls lie there are for boys.  Boys are just to hard on their clothes.  This corner also holds a dresser that holds my craft things, my crocheting, painting stuff, melty bead things for my kids and construction paper.  The top of the dresser looks a little busy, but I know what it there, promise.

Next corner, oh me oh my.  The exploding corner shall we call it?  This is my Girl Scout corner.  So much craft stuff, glue, fabric, scissors EVERY craft thing you can imagine.  I keep all my Girl Scout stuff down here, paperwork and their snacks EVERYTHING I tell you.  Well, I organized my boxes, made sure all the paint was in the paint box, all the glue in the glue box, all the yarn in the yarn box, all loose badges in a box, you get the idea.  What also helped is that Cookie Sales start a week from tomorrow.  So, I was able to take up a lot of cookie stuff, stickers, poster for booth sales, money bag, all kinds of good cookie stuff.  It will be nice when Bug gets through Daisies and I can start getting rid of some of this stuff, but that will be a sad day too.  Don't want to think about Bug getting any bigger.  Ok, happy thoughts, lets move on.

Have you been keeping track?  We are on the last corner.  The North... RIGHT! you have been listening, the Northeast corner.  See the hubby's drum set.  Pretty sweet huh?  Well, besides the drum set you will see MORE clothes.  These are all Clothing Sale clothes.  I can not wait until September to get them OUT of here.  Some are my kids clothes that I am selling, but there are also clothes that were not picked up last year, but they were supposed to be picked up by the seller so we couldn't donate them as the donation people had already came.  So, I have them here to retag for the school.  100% of the sale of these clothes will go to the school, but it is SO MUCH STUFF.  So I did a little sorting, the big open box needs tagged, then there are 2 smaller boxes one is my stuff to tag (for myself) and the other my stuff that didn't sell last year that is already tagged.

Well, that is it.  It totally makes up for all those easy days!

Before Northwest Corner

After Northwest Corner
Before Northeast corner

After Northeast corner

Before Southwest corner

Before Southwest corner

After Southwest corner

Before Southeast corner

After Southeast corner

Day 9- Makeup case aka Craft area #1

So, yeah, I don't wear a lot of makeup.  So I thought I would do my super secret craft area.  This is where I hide new craft stuff from the kids and pull it out on "I'm bored days."  It is a random cabint inside our dresser.  It really just needed straightening up.  I did take a few things out to do with the kids that day too, just because.

Before

After

Day 8- kitchen cabinets

Kitchen organization is a never ending battle isn't it?  I mean the supply of what is there changes weekly.  I just did this a month or so ago and there were things totally out of wack again.  Then I come to post and I am not sure if my after picture doesn't look worse than my before picture!  I can tell you that in day to day use it is better, but what the heck is up with these pictures?

Anyway, I am a creature of habit so, I like to keep things where I know where they are.  So, for me organizing the kitchen is about keeping like things together.  All Crackers on one shelf, all cans on another, all salad dressing lined up neatly, next to all the bottles of bbq sauce.

In my baking cabinet I do have Tupperware, specifically shelfmates that they made ony ONE season in an AWFUL color so, I waited for the next season to order in a decent color.  AND bam!  They have been discontinued ever since.  Grr!  I love these things, but they are butt ugly.  Maybe if they were made in a good color they would have sold some and not had to discontinue them, but I digress.  Where was I ?  Oh yes, I have some shelfsmarts for powdered sugar, brown sugar ect.  I have been keeping my rice in old creamer containers, but I think I will be switching to mason jars with the tops of salt containers used as lids so I can get them to stand up straight.

Found this nifty dodad at Walmart a couple months ago and LOVE it.

Before

After

Baking Cabinet after

Baking Cabinet before

Just a square of velcro and voila!  Instant spice rack!

Here is my super serect invention for a spice rack

Day 7 fridge and freezers



I don't think it is too bad

Fridge and freezer.  My fridge gets cleaned out regularly.  Gross things in the fridge grosses me out.  I do not want to open something growing its own farm.  No thank you!  But some how there is always gunk on the shelves, what is up with that?  And then my freezers... well, in my defense I have a hard time getting into my extra freezer since we got the new car, because I need to back out to really get in there, no joke :-( 

So lets start with the fridge.  I cleared each shelf one at a time and cleaned them.  Then anything that needed to be thrown out was and anything that needed to be eaten soon was jotted on the dry erase board so I can plan them into meals this week.  Yes, I am that good.  Basically other than that some things that were out of place were moved back (kids) and that's about it.



Neat sure, but clean

The door is a little busy, but I plan to plan this weeks menu around what is in the door.

On to the inside freezer.  If I didn't think it was going to be used in let's say, the next month.  It went out into the big freezer.  Everything got wiped down and well, that's about it.



Do I really need all this?




Neat and orderly and all things I plan to use soon

This is why my freezers are outa wack.  I just have enough room to squeeze an arm in to get what I want out for the day since we go the new car

Next up the freezing monster.  After about 2 minutes tackling the beast, oh! and after putting my car in the driveway, I ran inside to grab my ski gloves.  I highly recommend you start with this step, but whatever floats your boat.  I tried to plan out what I would want inside soon and moved it there.  Then I tried to decide where I wanted everything.  Antelope went on top, pizza chicken and potatoes next, followed by "bone chicken," turkey, and waffles, then finally I put veggies and fruit in the drawer although most of the fruit is inside for my smoothies.  YUM!!!  The door is mostly stuff from the garden and the hubbsters beer glasses.  A few things got thrown out from the freezers as well, but very little.  On to something warmer shall we?


All neat and orderly and nothing I need this week

Ok, a little nuts-o in here

Day 6- Under sinks

So I didn't think this would be a tough job and it wasn't...it was a GROSS job.  So, when we moved in there are issues right?  This one had a lot and one that we kind of ignored for what, 11? years now was waiting for me under the kitchen sink.  The previous owner let the garbage disposal rust through and this in turn rotted the wood on the bottom of the cabinet under the sink.  Obviously, we got a new garbage disposal put in and lived with they quirky sunken in floor of the cabinet.  Well, after pulling everything out (not sure when or IF I have done that before) I found the wood to no longer just be warped, but truly rotted out.  There is no moisture anymore, it was just from the previous damage.  So, out cam the shop vac to get up all that old splinters of wood.



Under kitchen sink Before

Ok, step one done, on to step two.  Going through what was under there.  What in tarnation WAS under there?  Seriously, you would think I never got into this cabinet.  Liquid dishwasher soap??  I only buy powder and this is a HUGE bottle, some bottle of aluminum cleaning powder that did NOT fit with my clean green lifestyle, straight to the TRASH, 2 bottles of wasp spray, why 2 and why in the garage and not in the kitchen?  My gardening gloves!?!!?  What!?!?  A nasty sponge, 2 bottles of veggie spray, and a can of Oust (Do they even still make that stuff?? and then all the normal stuff I expected to find down there, trash bags, dish soap, POWERED dishwasher soap and my cleaning gloves.  So then I tossed old stuff, put mislocated things away and returned everything else in an orderly fashion.



Kitchen after the insanity.  Check out my cool spray bottle rack :-)

Then I thought, lets take this a step further.  I wanted to hang my spray bottles on the door like I had seen on Pinterest.  They used a towel rack certainly we had an extra towel rack hanging around, but alas, I could not find one.  What I did find however was a paint stir stick and some nails.  Voila!  A nice easy convenient place out of the way to hang my spray bottles!

On to the bathroom, ok I thought this might be rough.  I mean look at that mess!  I have no idea why it looks like this.  Seriously, I took everything out, folded it, got rid of a couple bleach stained washcloths and put everything back neatly.  Voila! 


Undersink in bathroom before



After  scary easy

Moral of the story, sometimes organizing is quick and simple so, just get in there and do it.  Other times it is going to be a gross nasty b!t... so be prepared.  Either way I am loving my neater house.


Day 5-Purse

Ok you don't get a picture of my purse, but seriously, how is this organizing my home?  I don't know about you, but my purse needs cleaned out all the time. 

So here is what I do on a biweekly basis.  Go through those coupons and check expiration dates, ok, maybe this one happens to be more like a bimonthly task, but it still has to be done.  I had to pull out my check book this time.  I don't like to carry it around with me, but it was in there so, out it came.  Receipts, do they mate in there?  Geeze!!  And why do I get a 5ft receipt when I just bought toilet paper?  Why do I even get a receipt?  Is someone going to accuse me of stealing tp?  I certainly am not going to return it.  Sheesh.  Did I get off track AGAIN?  Sorry, ok there were some gum wrappers in there, you know, just incase.  I also went through all those store cards.  I know I don't need 80% of them AT ALL and the other 20% I can use my phone number for.  I kept the ones I use regularly, grocery store, Michaels, Pet co ect.  All the others?  TTFN. 

Tomorrow is "under sinks" which is 1.5 sinks.  Under the kitchen sink (25% trash can), and under one bathroom sink, but half is towels.  The downstairs bathroom is a pedestal sink so.... I am thinking I am goo there!  Another easy day.  It is ok, I see the craft room in my future......

Day 4.5

Ok what do you think of the new updated layout?  I started this blog in 2005 and have never update the template.  I really liked the old template, but it looked really skinny on the new wider screen I have.  I figure, "Hey, it has been 8 years, why not!"  Don't worry I will get to the purse later.  Don't get to excited though, I try to keep it pretty cleaned out.

Day 4 Laundyroom

Don't you hate when you think there is noting wrong with a room and then you are like "serioulsy?!?!  Why do I have this?"  Yeah, that was my laundry loom.  Now my laudry room is really a closet so, I didn't really even think there was anything I was going to do. 
  "Here is my before picture... here is my after picture... I dusted off the lint??"  BUT thankfully for anyone so unlucky to stumble upon this blog there was a little more to todays "challenge."  Ok VERY little, but lets pretend shall we?  Ok, see the 2 containers of laudry soap on the top shelf in the before picture?  Yeah... those were empty.  I am not a hoarder I SWEAR!!!  I saved them for when I made my own laundry saop and I DO make my own laundry soap and I found a receipe I love... it just isn't a LIQUID receipe.  Yes, I have been making powdered detergent for a while now and these containers are still here.  Sigh, I forget things.  Ok, so step one threw those in the recycling bin.  NEXT?  Ok, I used dryer bars they come with a holder that holds the bar in the dryer and it stays there for about 3 months, they are pretty nice.  I had 2 extra holders in there collecting lint.  Why?  WHY I ask you!?!?  Ok, besides that I wound the cord around my iorn (that is used to iorn on Girl/Boy Scout patches more than iorn clothes, but I digress,) organized a little basket I keep extra supplies in and moved all the blankets to the same shelf.
  It really was another pretty easy day.  So far this 21 days is easy peasy, but I know they won't all get done in less than 5 minutes.  Did I mention my fear of the craft room day?

Before

After

 

I am also not sure why my lighing source changed?

Day 3

Today was pretty easy too, don't worry, my day is coming with craft area. Yikes!  I have underbed drawers so I went through my side of the bed throwing out everything outdated to small/short, or to big and frumpy.  With the current diet I don't want to have those clothes to fall back on so they are GONE.  No going back now!
Ok, the kids beds have been organized for years.  The girls have 3 underbed boxes, one for babies, one for barbies and one as a misc toy box.  Plus their barbie cars.  I will go through those tomorrow while everyone is at shcool.  It is crazy how attached my oldest is to everything including broken toys. On to the boy's room. His underbed boxes include matchbox cars, legos and superheros. His room is always the cleanest. Maybe I will see if he is ready to part with some cars (that he NEVER plays with) and we can give them to his little god brother. Looking forward to the next 18 days!bro

Organization Day 2

Ok, today I cheated.  I tackled the closet last week.  Therefore, I do not have a before picture so, I will paint you a word picture.  I had a 3 drawer plastic thing at the bottom of the closet.  One drawer for hats, one for gloves and one for scarves.  It was fine, but it ment all the snow boots were thrown at the bottom and the vaccuum had to be muscled into place.  What I did was get rid of the drawers and replaced them with this shoe organizer.  Each person has their own row with 4 pockets plus we have an extra row for umbrellas.  This gave me enough floor space for all the boots and the vaccuum.  I also cleared out the top shelf and got rid of somethings that were broken.  Done for day 2!  Bring on...

I love multipurpose items like shoe organizers!

21 Days of Organization Day 1

Todays place to organize was the medicine cabinet.  It was a pretty easy place to start.  I did throw away some old medication and baby items.  Kinda past the baby gas meds phase.  Anyway, here is my before and after.  I mostly turned everything so the label was out, tossed old stuff and put things togethef ie kids meds and vitamins.  Hoping for a bigger challenege tomorrow.

Before

 

After

The 21 Days of Organization Chalenge

Here is the list of the 21 Days of Organization Challenge it comes from Holiday Sparkle.

1. Medicine Cabinet
2. Coat Closet
3. Under Beds
4. Laundry Room
5. Purse
6. Under Sinks
7. Fridge/Freezer
8. Kitchen Cabinets
9. Make Up Case- this one will change as I have VERY little makeup (craft area 1)
10. Bedroom Closet
11. Garage
12. Craft Supplies- YIKES!!!
13. Linen Closet
14. Backyard
15. Bedroom Dressers
16. Jewelery Box- again I will change this one too (craft area 3)
17. Living room
18. Attic/Basement- I will just be doing basement
19. Car
20. Playroom/Den- again, this one will change (Office)
21. Enjoy the fruit of your labor

I cannot wait to go through this list and share my results.  I hope to stay on track for the next 21 days.  Let me know if you are playing along at home.  Let's do this thing!