WHAT A MENU!!

You all have to head over and see Marva's month menu. Im soooo impressed! Dinner is the one thing I have to have organized otherwise I get so flustered. She has some yummy looking meals on there that I think Im going to have to try :) She even has desserts!!

Got the containers filled and Labeled

Yippie! I finally got all the containers filled and labeled. :)

Disks no more!

Im on a roll organizing. Yesterday I decided to try and condense some of the many disks I had burned throughout the years. Alot of data, alot of photos, ancestry stuff. At first it really did seem daunting but I was determined. I made a folder on the laptop, and started loading all 19 disks info into that folder. A year ago I bought a bundle of DVD disks to use to make a backup cd for the laptop. Wow, these disks hold alot of data!! I was able to burn all 19 disks onto this one disk!!! Im still in awe. OHHH DVD disk how I love thee!

Valentines Craft

Yeah, I finally was able to sit down and do a Valentines Craft last night :)

I saw these and I just had to make them. Their super easy. I found them at Heathers blog. I had fun sewing the "be mine" onto felt. I used regular needle and thread. I used what I had on hand. Construction paper, scrapbooking paper, glue stick, white felt, green thread and beads. Oh and I used a cutter I completely forgot I even had. I think I got it from a yard sale for around 25 cents. :) It made cutting the circles SOOOO easy.

Love this cutter!!!

FOUND THEM!!!

As you know Ive been on this quest to find some plastic containers that will help me organize my pantry but I didnt want to spend any money. I know, what a wonderful dream . I had those little bugs that come with flour and boxed items before, Ewwwww, and I dont want them again and since Ive been coupon shopping like a made women I want the food Ive worked so hard to get a deal on, to last. So Im considering it a good investment.

I had a gift card that I wanted to use but everything I found was expensive and I would have only been able to get a few containers. I went to Target yesterday and they were having a sale on their containers. I got (4) 6qt., (4) 4qt. and a cake tote. The cake tote is the exact one I wanted :) (Look Linda I found it :) And the best thing is I got to the register with groceries, containers, and coupons of course, and the cashier saw I had a $10 off coupon if you spent $50 on home goods. I said "I dont think I spent $50" and she said it will work anyway so let's use it. YIPPIE! So instead of 9 containers costing ab. $33 they only cost $23. I have money left on my gift card!!! whhhahhhahhh.

Happy dance Happy dance !

Here they are.... I'll post an after photo as soon as Im done fillem up!

School Room Mission complete !

Yippie! I finally finished the school room. Command central. Feels great to not sit around all the papers, books and junk. This is our formal living room that I turned into the school room/office. We have an open floor plan and this room is divided from the other rooms by large archways so its visable at all times so everytime someone would walk in I would be embarrassed.

I started by sorting everything into groups. Coupons, schoolbooks, bills/mail, yard sale stuff and a pile of things that just didnt go into this room and needed to be put somewhere else. I threw away as much as possible.

I cut more shelves using wood I had out in the garage :) Now Im able to put things on the desk instead of having it laying out and about.

One side of the lower desk is all hanging file folders holding paperwork and the other side is school related stuff.

Im looking for baskets or something to hold items that didnt have a spot before so they landed on the floor next to the desk. Items like coupons, bills, mail, coupon binder, school boxes. If these items have a specific spot the room will not get cluttered.

Teacher deserves an apple!! :)

Look!!! Nothing on the ground :)

Simplify, Simplify, Simplify

I really wanted to make a fun Valentine decoration today that I learned from another blogger but instead I think Im going to try and tackle this jungle today. Im alittle nervous because it seems alittle daunting. But Ive collected alot of tips and I think it can be done. Im also alittle embarrassed that I let my desk get this way. I have blinders on. Thats my excuse. lol You cant organize junk so most of this is going to have to go or it needs a specific spot. These spots also need to be easy access. If I cant get to the spot I usually do the "dump and run" technique which as you can see is working great! Sigh

Keys, Keys, and MORE Keys

I decided I should start organizing all our keys. We have keys to the 5th wheel, both parents house, horse trailer, mailbox (2 miles down road), 10 locks for gates, all 3 cars spare keys, and our ulility trailer. Im thinking this is a good one because if theres a fire or emerency I can quickly find the keys. I sat down and thought No I should start organizing the desk, Im surrounded by books, papers, and coupons everywhere, total chaos, but instead I got up and saw something Ive been painting , took it out in the garage, painted alittle and came back and made lunch. Remembered I was working on the keys, started looking all over the house for spare keys. Actually these arent all of them. Yikes! Most of these I have no idea.

While looking for the keys I thought, hey I have two drawers that are junk drawers I should clean these out. They were full to the brim with tools, KEYS, and just junk. So at least I accomplished some kind of organizing today. Hour later thought to myself as Im grinning down at one empty drawer and one organized drawer, hey, wasent I organizing keys?? sigh.

Off to try to stay on track.

Finished Pantry!!! Well, almost....

Worked on the pantry this morning putting everything back in and this is what I have so far.

This is a shoe rack organizier . Got from my friend Linda for free. Im using it until I can get one of those fancy dancy costco can organiziers :)

I went through and purged about 1/2 my cookbooks I never use. I got the magazine holder that is holding food mazagines that I use all the time from Target in their clearance section. It was all scratched up so I painted it. Im going to need one more of these for some more magazines that I need to go through and see if I want to keep. That metal box is a Martha Stewart recipe box from my mom :)

Since Im using what I have I decided to go ahead and paint some cardboard boxes and label them. Im on the look out for some good deals on basket or bins to replace them. Im also still looking for some plastic or glass containers to replace all the plastic you see in this picture. Then all the brown sugar, cereal etc will all have matching organized containers :) Cant wait.

The basket on top is holding pasta and the basket on the bottom is holding all those side dishes packets that are really slippery and slide all over the place.

I cant believe how much duplicate spices I had. Because I was so unorganized I just kept buying them. grrrrr I tossed out the bad and consolidated all the new :)

Edit: I forgot to add this picture. I hung my aprons on a removable hook for easy access :)

I have one of those motion detector lights in the pantry. Its really nice. Saves electricity. You should have seen me painting. I would paint alittle and have to wave my arms to get it to come back on. Then I realized it has a perm. on button, off button and auto button. DUH! At least my arms got a work out LOL :)

Heres alittle peak at my progress. I painted today and heres the boxes I painted yesterday and labeled. :) Im actually looking at a website for plastic containers that will not be expensive. I just need to figure how many and what sizes I need. I also need to check out a few more sites. Just not sure I want to spend my gift card on these but Im thinking it probably will be a good investment. :)

Clear your space & clear your mind!! Amen

Im already working on another project. I know, getting ahead of myself, but I wanted to start thinking of this one. I can think while the paint dries :D

ORGANIZING KEYS. I really want to get my loads of misc. keys labeled and hung in a specific spot. Part of me says why go to all that work so if someone breaks in you make it so nice and convenient for them LOL But the other part of me, the part that has had GREAT panic in trying to find the spare key to the car because your husband took your keys while you were sleeping and didnt want to wake you up to tell you (how sweet) because he couldnt find his own! That part of me says, go through every drawer, every nook, and find and label those keys!

Im still working on the pantry. Im thinking of painting the back wall now to make it look pretty. Since Im not buying anything new I thought I can make it pretty with some paint I already have. I have a gift card that keeps talking to me telling me to buy some pretty clear containers that all match. LOL

Working on Pantry

UGH the before....

Ive been busy working on our pantry. Its giving me heartburn.

Ive been encouraged by people posting their organizing photos on thriftydecorchecks organizing & decluttering challange so I decided I would bite the bullet and try to do the pantry too. Im working with what I already have in the house. Im not buying anything new. I have some baskets, some extra tupperware/rubbermaid items, cardboard boxes and paint. I'll post an after photo as soon as Im done. Thats if I can tame this jungle.

You painted leopard spots on WHAT?

As you all know I LOVE leopard anything but when I saw this photo I started to laugh. I love leopard but Im not sure I would paint my house in leopard. But it is a conversation starter thats for sure and very creative :)

Dreaming of Pottery Barn

I LOVE LOVE LOVE PotteryBarn. Its one of my ultimate favorite stores. I love everything Except the price! LOL Heres a few items I would love for storage. Thought they would look great in my (Indiana Jones) home :) lol

I TOO have Been Tagged!!

I just got tagged for a photo meme by my friend Elizabeth @ Thoughts from an evil Overlord.

The rules are:

.1. Go to the the 4th folder where you keep your pictures on your computer.

2. Post the 4th picture in the folder.

3. Explain the photo.

4. Tag 4 fellow bloggers to join in the fun!

LOL Okay this photo isent as interesting as Elizabeths 4th photo she posted on her website site. The 4th picture is of organizing. Im gathering photos for inspiration so I can organize and post photos for a decluttering & organizing challange from Thriftydecorchicks blog. She asked us to take pictures and post them for others to see. So here is my dream linen closet by none other but Martha Stewart.

Now here are the four bloggers to whom I am passing on this tag. Be sure to visit their blogs to meet these wonderful bloggers :)

1. Terrie @ Terrie's Lil" Piece of Serenity Shes an AMAZING gardner!! She really needs to start her own magazine.

2. Stephanie @ sweetsouthernroots She has some really cute decorating ideas on her site.

3. Marva @ Blessed Frugalness Times Two With Twins She has twins boys like me so of course I would chose her. LOL

4. Laurel @ Ducks in a row found her blog by searching around and she had a cute blackboard I think I might want to try and make. :)

Organized Makeup Drawer

Heres another organizing idea. I use a kitchen utensil organizer to organize my makeup drawer. I lined the drawer with leopard drawer liner (of course) to dress it up alittle. :)

Weigh IN day.

I weighed in this morning and Im still down 3 lbs!!! YIPPie! My goal is 1 lb a week so 3 lbs is awesome!

My goal for this week is to drink water. I really dont like water and only drink it if I really have too but Ive noticed if I drink my 8 cups a day the weight starts to fall off. I need to make water my friend.

Gulp!

Coat Rack

When we built our house we had the option to have a coat closet but we have an old phone booth that we wanted to put that in the place of the closet so hence no place for coats. I found a cute coat rack at a yard sale for $2 and hung this in our entry way. I also hung a wrought iron coat rack in the laundry when people come in from the garage.

More organizing

Ive been trying to think of something to post for organizing. I ask my husband and he laughed!! He said "well you used to be super organized". Sigh. Hes right. I need to get busy.

Heres a cabinet I bought at a yard sale for $10. As you can see its near the front door. I placed all our photo albums in here so that incase of an emergency like a fire etc we can grab them easily.

Control Journal

On Sarahs blog Thrifty decor chick she encourged us to post some tips for organizing. I hope this counts. I use a control journal (flylady style) to keep my day organized. If I dont use the journal my day seems to fall apart. When I do use it I have more time in my day to organize, blog, spend time with my family etc. It really frees up my mind to think of other things. I keep it on the kitchen counter at all times so I see it when I walk by. :)

The Bucket List

We were watching the movie the Bucket List. Talk about a tear jerker. I turned to Larry with tears streaming down my face and said "we have to start a bucket list"!! He thought I was nuts but I was serious. Why wait till were sick and dying to do the things we dream of doing. So Im starting a list. One of the things on the list is to visit Ireland, Scotland, and England. Larrys is Irish/Scottish and his gggrandfather used to build castles so I thought we need to go stay in the most scariest, biggest, spookiest Castle we can find. Tonight Mikey and I were looking online trying to find the right castle. We're going by looks of course. LOL

5th day on Weightloss Journey~ sniff sniff

This is how I feel most days!!!

Its the 5th day into my weightloss journey and everyone in the house is sick. UGH Nasty sinus colds so I actually havent been very hungry but Im eatting alittle every 3 hrs. Made homemade beef barely soup. One of the twins Favorites. Fresh warm bread would have been awesome if I had only remembered to use the new bread maker I bought! Sigh.

Yippie, lost 3 lbs so far!!!

OKAY, its only been 4 days but HEY, 3 lbs is 3 lbs even if its water weight right??

Been exercising everyday, drinking my water, and staying in calorie range. So far so good :)

Here we go..

My friend Dee encouraged me to start a blog after her and I were posting about saving money. My mother has taught me how to save and I have a ton of tips. I consider my mom the Coupon Queen! The woman is amazing. No car payments, house paid off, pantry stuffed, no late charges, no finances charges and low utility bills. I havent always followed my moms lessons and if I had I would be sitting pretty right now. Sigh. 20/20 But Im putting all those lessons into effect right now. Hopefully it will be enough.

Right now its tough with the economy. Even for us. My husband put his dog training business into full time when he was recently laid off from a 17 year old job. UGH. Talk about having the rug pulled out from under you. My security blanket is gone :(

I started coupon shopping again and I am stocked up on 90% of tolietries so now my grocery bills are all food. My goal is to get down to $200 a month for groceries. Right now Im at $400. (Use to be $800-$1000 monthly)

I have a few websites I use to help with couponing. I'll post those later too.

I'll start blogging my moms tips and tricks soon.

3rd day into weightloss journey

Well, its my 3rd day into my weightloss journey and so far so good. Been working out, drinking water (feat in itself) and staying in calorie range. My starting weight is 155 Goal is 127

I get alot of help and support from http://www.sparkpeople.com/ They have a great support system and you can keep track of your calorie intake and calories burned during the day. Best of all its all FREE!! yippie