Tackle It Tuesday: The Desk

Somehow our computer desk is a dropping spot for stuff. All sorts of random things make their way there. And never seem to leave. Though this is an older photo, the view is pretty typical.

I returned everything to it's home, leaving me with a ::gasp:: clean, clutter-free desk. The baskets were sorted through, leaving one for electronics and one for my randomness (earrings that I always leave laying on the desk, hair bands, pens.) I know it's better to accept that I'll leave this stuff on the desk than to say I'll start putting it away. I know that I won't.

Accepting it is the first step of the battle. Right?

And the wipes/diaper holder? It's the new home to a DSi and the games to go with it. Who needs to go buy a case when you can make due with what you've got already?!
This little box has become home to my Post-Its. I use them for everything. I adore the box, bought at a public auction years ago for maybe 50 cents. It's sat unused since. But it makes a perfect hiding spot on my desk.

Tackle It Tuesday

Before getting sick week before last, I had decided it was finally time to declutter the den. Our den has become the catch-all for the house. The room really has no purpose, other than storage, but everyone uses our back door, which brings them right through the mess den.

After pulling everything off the shelves, I purged two trash bags worth of stuff. Can I just say how hard it is to throw away anything my son has created? Even the littlest scribbles were tough to part with. But I know I still have plenty of them around.I remembered to snap photos about halfway through. Probably a good day into the project (which is why there is stuff all over the floor already). I can't believe how much stuff has gotten left out there. Ridiculous.
Now, everything has found a home, and a label. It's not perfect, but it's much easier on the eyes.
The craft supplies have found a new home-inside a spice rack that has sat unused since we got married. 6 years ago.
And the books have found room to fill shelves. Rather than random stacks around the house, they are all organized on an actual shelf.

Whew!

Through it all, I learned that (1) we own way too much stuff, (2) my mantra is one thing at a time, and (3) next time the den looks like a tornado hit, I'm recruiting hubby and the little one to help clean the mess they helped create. Oh, and that I love organizing in the most random ways possible. I'm so weird.

Dandelion Wall Vinyl

Thanks to Chickadee Vinyl and Just for Me...And You, I now have the cutest hallway.
I love it!

Campus Quilt Company Review & Giveaway

I'm one of those people who can't bear to part with old clothes. I always think that someone else could wear them, some day they'll fit again, whatever. But really, I just love the memories that come up when I dig through a box of old clothes. Remembering high school games, the first time I went out with hubby, the days when little man was still little.

I was recently introduced to the Campus Quilt Company. The Campus Quilt Company creates custom quilts from your old clothes. Not only can they make quilts from tee shirts, but also from sweatshirts, ties, socks, hats, and baby outfits.

I was impressed at how easy it was to create a quilt. Campus Quilt Company sends you everything you need, from swatches to choose a backing color to a UPS shipping bag and label to send back your tees.

The toughest part of the process? Picking out what shirts to include!

(Getting my tees in order)

I had the opportunity to create a Stadium Quilt, composed of 16 squares. Quilts usually take 2 to 4 weeks to complete, though rush orders can be done in as little as 2 days. My tees were sent out on Tuesday September 19th and my quilt arrived Thursday October 1st. I was surprised to see it arriving so quickly, and loved that I received email updates from Campus Quilts throughout the process.

(Finished Quilt)

The final product is being enjoyed by everyone in the house. It quickly became little man's favorite blanket to snuggle with on the couch. And I don't blame him, the flannel backing is incredibly soft and the front holds a ton of memories.We are loving our custom quilt! It would be a perfect Christmas present this holiday season or a birthday surprise.

Win It! Campus Quilt Company is offering a $150 gift certificate to one lucky winner!

To enter: Visit Campus Quilt Company and tell me what type of quilt (which size) you would spend the gift certificate on.

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Giveaway ends 10/22 at 11:59 pm EST. Winner will be notified via email. Open to US only.

Just so you know... Campus Quilt supplied the quilt for the review free of charge, but it does not influence my opinion. I really do love it!

What to Expect Guide to a Healthy Home Growth Chart

After about 5 months of pregnancy, I hit the nesting stage. And everything had to be clean. I would spend hours cleaning every little nook and cranny of our house, not wanting a single germ around my baby.

Over the last 5 years, I have toned down my cleaning obsession a bit, but I still like to keep things clean. I'd rather spend a few minutes disinfecting the house than a week dealing with a sick little one.

Heidi Murkoff, author of the What to Expect series, recently published the Healthy Home Growth Chart with a grant from Clorox. The chart offers advice on keeping your child healthy from birth up to age 5.
For example, Murkoff says moms of 5-year-olds shouldn't leave home without sanitizer or anti-bacterial wipes, as playgrounds can have more germs than a public toilet. Moms should also have a bottle of water handy so that germ-laden water fountains can be avoided.

Around here, we have never leave home without our all-natural hand sanitizer (so I can use it without worrying about it containing alcohol), and we have a sports bottle personalized with my son's name so he feels special carrying it. Both have likely saved us from catching colds or worse over the last few years.

The Healthy Home Growth Chart is a great reference for moms who only have a few minutes to read over the tips. It also has very practical advice, with a huge emphasis on proper hand washing and general care.

And just so you know...I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Clorox and the What to Expect Guide, and I received a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Welcome to the Zoo

It seems our animal exhibits continue to grow. Pretty soon, I think someone is going to be sleeping outside. And it's neither me or my 5 year old.

When we moved in a little over a year ago, we brought with us our Himalayan we've had since I was pregnant with Little Man.

Since then we've added a turtle, 6 goldfish, two gerbils who now have 6 babies, a 10 week old kitten, and a 6 week old kitten. I'm feeling completely over run by animals, and you can imagine who gets to take care of them all.I get to feed, play, clean up messes, and give the attention hogs a little love all day long. Even the turtle bangs on the cage if you ignore him too long. Which in turn causes a kitten to climb on top of the aquarium. And I have to run to the rescue before one of the water inhabitants becomes dinner.

Hubby has an ultimatum: Not another pet comes into this house or he goes.

Wonder how he feels about that.

notNuetral Review

My little man is a picky eater. I know I've mentioned it before. But, we are working hard to find ways around it. I know that I could just not give him a choice, but I hate to make dinner time a battle. So instead, I try to find other ways to liven up his meals.

We recently had the chance to try the Melamine Snack Set from the notNuetral collection at Accent Furniture Direct. It arrived in a very sturdy, reusable box. (Which has been turned into a toy carrier, along with my laundry basket and cloth grocery bags.)
The Melamine Snack Set is made up of a tray, plate, cup, bowl, fork, and spoon. The first thing I noticed is how heavy duty they are. A lot of the little one's bowls end up misshapen after they meet the dishwasher, but the Melamine Set had absolutely no problems and came out unscathed.

The colors are bold and the design fun. I've served little man dinner on the set, and each night, he was excited to use it. The design is perfect for portioning foods. It was funny to watch him use the set, because every time he used the fork or spoon, he would be sure to replace it in the exact same spot on the tray.

The set is BPA-free and meets CPSIA requirements. And apparently, it meets the expectations of my 4 year old too. He announced that his food "tastes better this way." (Meaning off his tray.)

Buy It: You can find the Melamine Snack set, as well as lots of other home decor at Accent Furniture Direct

Houses and Cows

Helping my sister move last weekend brought with it a little twang of jealousy. She's owning her own house, while we still rent. She has the ability to redo things however she wishes. She can paint, remodel, decorate.

Around here, we can paint. If we agree to repaint before we move out. We can decorate. But only by their rules.

I do what I can. We have photos hung everywhere. We used wall stickers in the little one's room. We changed out the curtains.

But there are certain things I still can't stand about this house. The carpet, with it's perpetual stains from previous tenants, the poorly designed bathroom, where you can touch every wall from one spot, and the cows. The hideous cows inhabiting our kitchen.Some days I just can't want to have our own house.

Be sure to keep an eye out for an upcoming home decor review! It won't help me escape the cows, but maybe it'll take my mind off them for a little.

Welcome to it...

Sometimes I get so depressed looking at other blogs (and people in general). You know the people: their house is always clean, everybody is always happy, they always look amazing.

I'm so not one of those people. My house is a mess most days: toys strewn across the floor, dishes that need done, all that.

My kid pouts. A LOT.

My cat wants to eat the gerbils. The gerbils we bought exactly one week ago tomorrow. The same ones that had babies within 3 days. 8 babies.

The same *@!$^&* gerbils that ate some of their babies. Leaving me absolutely sick to my stomach, trying to calm down a 4 year old freaking out.

I'm the one with a kid who now walks around talking about gerbil babies being eaten and animals mating. The one with a kid who asks how we knew which gerbil was the daddy (since we had to take him out). Then follows with, "I know, the daddy has a pee-pee. Wait. Does that mean the mommy can't pee? How does a mommy pee? ... Mommy, how does the mommy pee?!"

This is my life. Welcome to it. I'm not perfect, my house isn't perfect, my little one...well, of course he's perfect (to me).

Oh, and I have a zit on my chin. La dee freakin' da.

House Rules

Lately I've been thinking a little more about house rules. Maybe it's because the little one's been extra grumpy (or maybe because the big one has been grumbly too). But, we've been reassessing and trying to find out what works better for us.
After almost 5 years,you'd think we would have figured this out already. But it seems like a never-ending process. Trying to find routine and rules that fit our needs.

As it is, our rules are pretty simple:

• Respect one another (No hitting, punching, kicking, backtalk, etc)
• Respect the house (Pick up after yourself, don't break things)
• Listen & do as you're asked (Works much better in theory)

Maybe it's because I grew up without a lot of rules, but it's been tough for me to know how to set them. But I also know the house runs so much smoother with them in place.

Do you have set house rules? How do you make sure the house runs smoothly?

So Random This Week

It's seems that whether it's here or in the house, I really can't put two coherent thoughts together this week. I bounce from one thing to another. Right now, the dishes are half done, half the floors have been cleaned, and laundry is just waiting to get put away. I just lose interest part way through everything. (Well, seriously, who likes to clean anyways?)

Sunday afternoons are supposed to be my relax time. Hubby always wonders why I'm so tired Sunday nights.

Here's why:
I get up at 5 am to go to work, after going to bed at 11, and getting up with the little one twice during the night. I get off work at 3, stop at the store to get groceries or odds and ends, pick up the little one if he's over at grandma's, then come home.

But even after I'm home, the groceries need put away, the dishes in the sink are piling up from the day, and I need to figure out what the schedule looks like for the week.

By the time I hit the couch, my feet hurt and I'm beyond exhausted. And the last thing I want to hear is, "why are you so tired?" Hearing that just makes me want to smack somebody.

So, if my I'm cranky or scarce on Sundays, that's why. Just pure exhaustion.

To Yard Sale or Not to Yard Sale...

Yet again, I find myself debating a yard sale. It's nice to de-clutter and make a little money, but I'm never quite sure it's worth the time and aggravation. Last year's sale took days to prepare for, and I was exhausted by the time it was over.

I also learned quite a bit from it:

• I hate people touching my stuff. I thought I was okay with people buying my junk, but I still wanted to tell them to be careful and to wash their hands before touching.

• I'm not a fan of talking to people. I got asked weird questions, got hit on by somebody's grandpa, and got to listen to some of the most random stories ever. Boundaries people, boundaries.

• Toys sell better with batteries in them, but, it is so annoying to her Elmo sing 56 times in 8 hours. La la la la la, Elmo's World... It sang when the person beside you pushed it, do you really need to try it out again just to be sure?

• No matter how much you make, it never ends up to be a profit. We had a decent sale, but as I carried back in the tables we used to set up on, I bumped the corner of the glass top, chipping off a huge corner. Now, yes, stupid me for using it in the first place, but we were desperate for table space. The table is still in the den with the chipped corner hiding in the back.

Now I have to decide if the money is worth the effort or if I'll be more aggravated by the time the day is over.

Do you hold a yard sale each year? Love it or hate it?

I took the day off...

Today, there was no thinking of blogs. There was:

Drooling over bathrooms:
(Note the tv cubby by the tub)

Hoping that our house will one day have this sink:

Walks through the woods:

Watching waterfalls:

And lots of sliding on the slides:

This particular slide was far too skinny at spots for this momma's behind. I unfortunately found that out part way down. Ouchie!

How was your Friday?

Reclaiming my Space

Even though we moved into this house almost 8 months ago, we've still fought with feeling like it's home. Don't get me wrong, it is a wonderful house, and we love it here, but it still feels "new."

Since living here, little man has been sleeping in our room (in his own bed). His bedroom is one of the only ones we decorated, but he has wanted nothing to do with it, and rarely even uses his playroom either. We all have a habit of converging in the living room and staying there all day.

So, in a four bedroom house, one is being used. Today, my goal is to change that. I'm shuffling toys around, so that there are more in his bedroom, adding more decor, and organizing like crazy. I'm hoping that it will make the room more appealing. My ultimate goal is to have him sleeping in his own room by next week.

Wish me luck as I try to reclaim my own room! I'm off to continue on with my rearranging trek.

Bye Bye Clutter

This weekend, I decided to immerse myself in the cluttered hole we call a den. Since we don't use the room often, it has become a catch-all for everything in the house. Don't need it right now? Put it in the den. Doesn't have a place to be returned to? Throw it on the shelves.

There was a little bit of everything out there, from toys and books, to papers and craft supplies, plus a little of everything else. As you can see, nothing really had a proper place. I really wonder the need for the party supplies and snorkel.

Before:

I took everything down, went through bins, and categorized everything. Even within the bins, craft supplies are organized in small bags by types. Papers are sorted by importance and need. And anything that didn't belong or wasn't needed was packed away. Bye bye snorkel.

After:

The next step will be to go through other rooms and take things that truly belong out there. But that project is being saved for a day when a 4-year-old is not rooting through my boxes and trying to sneak away with old toys.

My Hate for Blue Bills

I dread getting blue envelopes in the mail. They carry with them such annoyance. Wondering what arrives in the light blue carrier of doom? That would be our electric bill, or the piece of paper that will suck away half of our bank account at the moment.

I opened it this morning and about choked on my Cheerios. Okay, that's a lie. I don't eat Cheerios. But if I did, I most certainly would have keeled over from inhaling them with my gasp of shock that escaped. $300 for one month of electric. Granted, we are living in a bigger house this winter and it has electric heat versus gas, but we only have the heat on in the main rooms we use.

So for 1 upstairs bedroom (yes, all 3 of us are sharing 1 of our 4 bedrooms) and 5 downstairs rooms we doubled our electric use from 3 months ago. This is truly ridiculous. Tomorrow, I'll be on a mission to find ways to reduce our usage. I have a feeling I'll be sewing up quite a few draft blockers (those things for along the doorways) and researching ways to cut back. I'm just not sure our pockets can handle a whole winter of bills like this.

I'm really wishing we would have realized just how drafty this house was before moving in. Since we didn't, we'll just have to find some ways to deal with it. To make matters worse, we are going to be in the middle of a huge ice storm over the next few hours. Maybe I should start sewing now.

A New Year of Clutter

This week has been full of days where I feel as though I have nothing to say. Well, that's a lie, I've thought of a million things to say, but just feel too blah to actually get them down. Maybe it's the new year. Maybe I'm feeling as though I need a change, and just haven't discovered it yet. Maybe it's the clutter from the holidays still filling my head.

I'm thankful that the holidays are over, but still need to recoup from the immense amount of toys still covering the living room floor, the socks and books piled on the dining room table, and the cookies sitting on the counter. I need to clean out some of the old, to make way for all the new things coming into our house.Maybe I can't think straight because this is what I see every time I sit down at the computer. Clutter does nothing for me. Well, nothing except irritate and distract me. I really need to tackle the toys before they take over the house.

Questions About Our House

GM asked me today why we lived in this house. It seemed like a simple question, but completely out of the blue. I tried explaining that this was our house, it's where mommy and daddy wanted to live. We moved in here back in June, and he adjusted really well to the move. The last few days, with the parade and trick or treat, we were around our old house, so I figured that's where the question was coming from.

It was hard for all of us to be back by the old house and not be living there. It was the first house GM ever really knew. He played in that yard, he ate his snacks in that kitchen, he jumped on the bed in that bedroom. It seems to be the little things we miss about being there. Even though it's just a house. I miss the flowers we planted out back, sitting on the deck over looking the yard, and snuggling in th living room.

The new house has so many advantages though. It's so much bigger, GM has a playroom, we have an office, and a garage. There are definite perks. But, it still doesn't feel like home some days.

Anyways, back to the question. After asking why we lived here, he followed up with "Why don't we live next to grandma?" I don't know what brought that up. We own four acres of land next to my parents, but we haven't built there yet because I worry about not being able to keep up with a mortgage, property taxes, and all that. I'd rather wait a little while and be more stable before taking such a huge plunge. I guess GM is ready to be grandma's neighbor, but it's hard to explain to a 4-year-old that sometimes things just are the way they are. And, I feel a twinge of guilt that maybe he doesn't think of this place as home either some days.