Boys Will Be Boys...

So we got off to a good start this morning. I got the boys up and made them some cereal. I reminded them to put their bowls in the sink...

But then things went haywire!

Is he literally climbing the walls!?

 

Apparently, our furniture is a jungle gym, and my drink is now Owen's. It's only 7:30AM!! 

 

hmmm. I think It's a play outside ALL DAY, kinda day. What'cha think?

New Art Box

When I posted about my bathroom closet I told you I found something at Target that got my juices going. A while back I read this post and thought it was a great idea! I had an extra cleaning caddy and tried it out, but all of our art supplies wouldn't fit. Not to mention, the coloring books and craft paper. So I went back to stuffing it all in this box...

Since school is out, our "art box" is getting a lot of use. I stopped trying to put it up only to have to pull it right back out, so I started leaving it on the kitchen table. It's within the kid's reach when they need it, but boy, what an eye sore...

So at Target I found a cleaning caddy that looked just wonderful to fit all of our art supplies! What was right next to it? A matching plastic basket... What did I do with these two things??

Tada! The cleaning caddy fit perfectly in the basket, leaving enough room underneath for all of their coloring books and drawing paper...

I love the caddy because of all the little compartments. It was like it was made for art supplies!

This art box looks so much better sitting on my kitchen table. I'm loving it!

I think he's enjoying it too! 

So I Have This Closet...

In our bathroom we have a closet. For years we've used it to house towels, extra hygiene products, etc. About a month ago, the boys somehow broke their closet door. Instead of going out and trying to find a door that will fit our narrow closet openings, we left it alone. When I reorganized the boys' closet I realized quickly leaving it open wasn't going to work. My two year old would dump everything out of it daily! So I figured I would take the door off of our bathroom closet and put it on theirs as a quick fix. 

A couple of days ago I was looking at it and realized this was prime real estate, and was not being used to it's full potential. I humdingered for a while on what I could do with it and I got an idea! I could still use it to home our hygiene stockpile, but make it double as extra square footage/wall space! Kind of adding a few extra feet to our dressing area...

So here is what it looked like yesterday....

I had a shelf in there that held the baskets, but I had already taken it out before I took the pictures haha. Here's a picture of it anyway...

So I went to Target looking for some sterilite drawers. Of course I had to stop by the dollar section! I found a couple awesome things that got my juices going on another project!!! Any who, so I got what I needed, came home and got started! I had to bring my ham of a nephew in with me to keep me company...

Before long we had this!

I plan to get some smaller drawers to put on top of the bigger ones to hold my jewelry. I have never had a full length mirror in this house because I didn't have anywhere to hang one. Now I do!

In the drawers are my stockpile items. I plan to make labels for them, but with the clear plastic, I may not need to.

On the top shelf, my paper goods are stored in baskets. I was going to get some more dollar tree baskets, but I forgot. Once I got home and started clearing everything out, I found these! I figure I can spray paint them so there's not so much white going on. (white baskets, white toilet paper) 

So there ya have it! A quick, cheap and efficient makeover! What'cha think?

I Love Laundry Day...

No, I'm not insane. I was just reminded this morning of why I love having one whole day devoted to laundry. I got into this habit a few months ago. Every Sunday I go through and was EVERYTHING. As soon as it comes out of the dryer, it gets folded or hung up. I start with the kid's clothes. When I pull the last load of theirs out of the dryer, I put them away. Then it's on to me and my hubby's clothes. Sheets, blankets and towels all follow. Before "laundry day" can be called done everything has to be put away, and the laundry room straightened up. I love this because I don't have to even think about laundry for the rest of the week. Every one has clean socks, undies, clothes and sheets. The laundry room isn't piled high with clothes that need to be folded. There isn't a load in the washer that I forgot about that is starting to smell. No clothes left in the dryer getting wrinkled. No last minute freak outs when it's time to go somewhere and no one has clean clothes. Nope, everything is washed, dried, folded and put away.

Last week I tried something new. I thought I could split laundry day into two days. I did the kid's clothes on Thursday and me and my hubby's on Friday. It didn't work out. Nope. Not at all. So here we are on Tuesday and somehow all of the crib sheets are dirty. Both kids are out of shorts and running low on shirts. My clothes are still in the dryer. Hubby's clothes are laying on the bed waiting to be hung. Sheesh.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Back to my Sunday laundry marathon.

My Bad...

So, after I finished posting my real home post, I looked around at my house and realized I wasn't being real enough. hehe. I showed you pictures on a normal day, when I've been keeping up with my routine. I did absolutely nothing yesterday, and haven't done much today. I tackled the dishes and posted a blog. So let me share my pics of a very bad day.

Ugh, I feel nauseous. I am really embarrassed to show these...

Here we go...

If you're a clean freak, overt your eyes!

So after I took this picture, It didn't look that bad. I dare not take close ups, though. If I did, you would never come back to my blog!

All the boys playing video games on a lazy Sunday...

So there you have it. Now I'm going to go brew some very strong coffee and get busy cleaning.

Are you still going to read my postings after seeing  my home in all it's realness?!

REAL Home Tour

So I had to take a break from blogworld for a few days. See, I looove to follow organizing and decorating blogs, looking at their beautiful homes and DIY projects. Problem is, I start obsessing over making my home perfect, like theirs is depicted in their photos. I have to remind myself that no one with kids has a house that looks that good all the time. If they do they have no life. Their life would consist of following little people around wiping everything they touch. Not to mention children that would be afraid to have any kind of fun for fear of making a mess! I have to tell myself that they probably spend 20 minutes dusting, wiping, arranging and banning children from that spot before they even try to take those pictures.

This is what I tell myself, anyway...

My home is small. Very, very small. Less than 1000 square feet kinda small. I have two boys, a newborn nephew most days, a husband that digs in dirt all day at work, and a tiny dog with a tiny bladder. Cramming all of that into such a small area is bound to be a disaster. Granted, we are in the process of a major redo of our home that will make our home more like 1500 square feet, for now we have to make do with 1000.

I've gotten a system down that keeps my home sanitary and half way presentable, but some days I just don't feel like it. Then there are days when I keep up with my system, but my kids are just in mess making mode! Those days I spend scrambling, and yelling, and sometimes almost crying! Such is life with kids, I guess. I adapted the flylady system to fit my needs. I'll post about it later and let ya know. I really like it. It leaves me plenty of down time to spend doing important things, like spending time with my family!

When I started this blog I wanted to share REAL life. Not the edited version, the REAL thing. So I am going to show you what my house looks like at any given moment. It's nothing glamorous, but I hope it makes someone feel better knowing that they're not alone ;0)

This is my humble kitchen. Holy checkered floor! haha. My husband lived here before we met, and this was to be his "bachelor pad." He thought checkered flooring with all of the wood would be cool. NOT! We've never changed it because we were always about to buy a new place, or about to start the renovation. Seven years later and we're still dealing with the awful checkered floors...

Here is our dining area...

A little jumbled, eh? Yes, that is a laundry basket full of cardboard boxes. We like to burn them so they don't take up so much garbage bag space. If you head down that little hallway, you come to our little bitty laundry cubby...

Sorry, it was laundry day, my little monster spilled his milk all over his pillow so it's in line for the washer. A whole set of encyclopedias to be taken to goodwill piled up and in the way.

Then you get to the master bedroom. It's pretty plain.

Our closet is in need of some serious organization!

Then there is our bathroom, it's sort of a weird layout...

Ok, back down the hall and through the kitchen to our living room. This is where all the action happens! Kids, dogs, jumping, dancing...

I watch my 3 month old nephew most days, so here is his corner of paradise. You can also see our office area and the back of our beat up couch.

My oldest son watching some 'tunes. Not sure where my two year old is in this picture. I'm sure he's in his room looking for another toy to bring out. If you head down the little hallway area, there's our second bathroom...

Then the boys' room... By the way, this is a very good day. Usually you cannot see the floor! I meant to close the curtains so you didn't have to see the blue tarp hanging lol. Ah, life in a home under construction... 

My husband made the loft bed so they would have more play area. Eventually, when my two year old gets out of the crib, it will be a bunk bed. For now, His crib is....

That's the end of my REAL home tour. Nothing fancy. Just a whole lotta realness. If you look at the Trashy To Classy page on the right hand side you can see our progress on the outside of the house. Just beware, the before pictures are pretty scary haha. We haven't done anything in a while, I think the hubster is a little burnt out.

21 Day Challenge Day 3... Tupperware

Eeeek, this is the challenge I've been dreading! I don't have a whole lot of Tupperware or anything, I just don't have a good place for what I do have! We don't have a lot of cabinet space. It doesn't help that we don't have a pantry either, so precious cabinet space had to be designated to food.

I tried my best, here we go...

BEFORE

I took everything out, and wiped out the cabinet. I HATE the old peeling 70's wallpaper on the back so I looked for some scrapbook paper to cover it. I didn't see anything I liked in my books :0( Then I saw my extra file folders from Yesterday's Project and I got an idea. I modge podged them on and they look great! I then moved the little wire shelf to the top since it wasn't helping much with the cups. Put everything back and I was done!

TOP SHELF AFTER

BOTTOM SHELF AFTER

I am still so tired of all the wood in our house (wood ceiling in the living room, wood cabinets, wood panelled bottom half of walls, wood wood wood!) but I just keep reminding myself everything will be pretty after we're done with the remodel. One day... One day... ;0)

21 Day Challenge Day 2... The Computer Desk

I decided to move on to day 2 since the junk drawer wasn't done today. I recently cleared and sort of organized my desk, so it didn't take very long to clear the clutter that had slowly made it's way there.

Here is the before and after of the desk....

BEFORE

AFTER

But what I'm actually excited about is the file cabinet underneath! Since it only took a couple of minutes to do the desk, and I was in the organizing mood, I dove in! Whew it was a MESS!

So I went to my favorite blog and looked up her paper pile challenge... Paper Challenge I read and got my inspiration... I pulled everything out of the top drawer and took it to my kitchen table out of reach for little hands ;0) I sorted and sorted and sorted! My goodness there was a lot of stuff in there!

Look at this pile of stuff I have to shred! It's all things that are completely outdated!

When I finally finished sorting, I put them into pretty file folders I already had, and then into hanging files. I couldn't believe how much I pulled out and how little was going back in!

WOW! Then I put the little tiny bit I had left into that HUGE file cabinet drawer....

Haha, even all spread out it's not even close to as full as it was.

Then it was on to the bottom drawer. I used it to hold my office supplies. Extra paper, binder supplies, hole punches, envelopes, etc.

Another disaster. I took everything out, purged and put it back as neatly as possible...

But with such little going in the actual file cabinet I'm thinking of changing things up. I think I may go with a file box like this for the files and adding some shelving or something for my supplies.

For my tax returns I'm just going to use a file box, but for the kid's school papers I'm going with Iheartorganizing's genius and beautiful creation.I have to get more files and ink before I can do this. So for now I'm stuck trying to find somewhere to stash this pile of school and tax papers on my table until I do! hehe

Loving the results and can't wait to finish!