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We all have a dream apparently!

Modern Parebts Nessy Kids posted this one her blog.
I've been trying to figure out how to write this without sounding ridiculous. What I want to say is this: I finally did it you guys, I completely and totally organized my life! It took a lot of hard work and a lot of late nights but I now have a plan, routine, or system for everything. •I've compiled and categorized enough healthy, inexpensive and easy recipes that I have a 90 day dinner menu (complete with theme nights like pasta Monday and slow-coooker Thursday) and I have the grocery lists to match. •There is nothing in my house that we don't use. I've ferociously weeded out the clutter and sent it packing via Craig's List or Goodwill. •Everything I didn't get rid of is now beautifully organized into colorfully labeled containers. If you're ever visiting and you need something, just ask me - I totally know where it all is. •I now have a weekly schedule with time carved out for blogging, housework, play dates, park time, library time, and other activities we've been wanting to try but never got around to. •For those days we stay home, we've got a dependable routine that the kids can rely on. It includes stuff like art time, outside time, story time and bath time. •Remember when I told you C isn't really down with napping anymore and I was worried about ever getting anything done again? I completely solved that problem by putting together some genius quiet time kits (one for each day of the week so he doesn't get bored). They're crammed with busy bags, DIY audio books, and learning activities he can do independently. •I finally got our budget down to a science using a combination of the cash envelope system and mint.com. We're saving tons! (and while I was at it I updated our wills, life insurance, and retirement planning). •Thanks to evernote and some other handy apps, I will never again miss an appointment or birthday. (If something does somehow sneak by me, I have a birthday closet with pre-bought gifts and cards - thanks to the new budget and organization I now have the space and money for it.) •I also joined a gym and started exercising regularly (part of the new weekly schedule). The kids love playing at the drop off center while I'm burning calories. •I went through all 2,000 of my digital photos, edited them, imported them to yearly photobooks and backed them all up online. I've also caught up on my personal blog and am regularly contributing to it. •Last but not least, the hubs and I have a set-in-stone date night that we never miss and we've recently instituted family game night. Seriously, it's been a long time coming but today I stood in the middle of my living room, looked around the house and admired what I've accomplished with a huge goofy grin on my face. And then I woke up. DAMN. IT. Sounds good though, doesn't it? I should probably get on that. P.S. The top photo is from Martha. I bet she doesn't have cruel dreams like that - since she really is that organized. Also, I hear she doesn't actually sleep.
and I was so jealous...until I read on til the end and saw it was her dream as well. I'm determined, have added almost all of her items on *my* list to accomplish this year. I'm am making progress, one cabinet, one room, one task at a time. 2012 WILL be my year of becoming organized!
Agood start!

Craft Room Redo

I'm so embarressed to show the picture of what my craft room looked like "before". I'm one lucky girl, one who has a husband who not only encourages my creative pursuits, but one whose husband provides space for them. I am lucky because I have not only a kick ass sewing center that he created, but I have a separate craft room for the "rest of my stuff". I love paper and polymer clay and while I play with neither as much as I do fabric, I have quite a collection of both. Add their numerous accessories and I needed a separate space. In my defense, the craft room is our only non-public room and thus became a catch all space. Yanno, the empty boxes we might need to ship stuff in...someday, spare furniture, and anything else that needs to be hidden or put away...someday. Because the room became so stuffed with stuff, I couldn't and wouldn't craft in there, so I would stumble over things, grab what I needed, and then craft in my sewing center. I would box up the craft supplies, open the craft room door, and kinda slide it in so I didn't have to see the disaster. This is the end result!
Disgusting, huh? Well, I got a hair up my ass Saturday and said to myself, "Self, 2012 is your year of becoming organized and you look at this mess day after day". Self shook her head and replied, "today is the day!". Mark was at a class and I downed several cups of coffee, pulled courage from deep within my soul and into the abyss I went. I have to admit, it was like Christmas morning, finding all kinds of cool stuff I forgot I had. I also wondered simple things like why I had a giant basket of styrofoam balls of every size, or what the hell was I making that I needed a plasic pear? One of the promises I made to myself, and my husband, was for every new hobby I started, I would get rid of one. The time had come. I got rid of ten year old bottles of paint, so therefore, I might as well get rid of the painting things, yanno, wooden sleds, wooden boats, wooden oars that I saw and bought with the idea that I would paint them...someday. I hate that word now. Someday is now, I've seen too many people put off for someday and never get to travel or accomplish their goals. Not me, I tell you, my someday is now, today! I hunted out a big empty box, I sure had enough of them, they were the first things I cleared out of the room and what a remarkable difference it made. I started purging, purging, purging. I emptied container after container, drawer after drawer. Another box pulled out and filled. I have one small container of misc craft supplies and everything else is stored and labeled. I only had one "oh but I love this, I hate to get rid of it, it's so cute moment. A set of teeny tiny clay flower pots, and I kept them! Yep, I kept them. But wow, 5 garbage bags of trash, two giant boxes of donations, three boxes to mail goodies to friends and family and I sat in the middle of my room, dirty, tired, and hungry. But oh, so satisfied. Mark came home from class, stood in the doorway stunned. Wow, was all he could say. Then, as per his usual wonderful loving and giving spirit, he suggested we make an ikea trip and buy some cubbies. He knows how I love my cubbies in my sewing center, smart man, that he is. So he measured, and made thinking noises, measured some more and then made some suggestions. We made the 45 minute trip to ikea, god, I love that place, and got what we needed. Mark constructed and I took a nap, LOL. I woke to beautiful cubbies waiting for me to finish organizing. and the result...
I'm in heaven
Gotta love it!
Mark even moved a floor lamp into my room and I spent a considerable amount of time carefully stowing and labeling. During my ruthless purge, I found some magazine clippings I had stashed away. Pictures of my dream craft/sewing room. I waved them in front of Mark and said, this was my dream room. The love of my life tossed the pictures in the trash and said, now you have your dream room and it's so much better than those pictures. God, I love that man!