I live on a cul-de-sac where all 11 of the homes were built by the same builder. While our homes are great for the most part, our houses seem to share the same flaws, minor problems for which it can be quite difficult to find a handyman who's willing to do the small job. So, when recent winds took off a long piece of metal at the peaks of our home's roofs, none of us were sure how to get it fixed. Our homes all are two stories high and are quite tall at the roofs' peaks, so the fix, while minor, is a bit tricky. So, I recently called my handyman, and scheduled him to come out and fix my Continue reading...
Kids DVDS – Organized!
My kids’ DVD collection of animated films is quite extensive, thanks to a doting dad who buys them many of the newest DVD the day it comes out. We have lots of the latest animated DVDs, like “Despicable Me” and “Tangled.” I have a small storage ottoman that once kept all our kid movies in one place, but now, sad, to say, those DVDs are bursting out of their storage container – now, it’s impossible to close the box in which the DVDs are stored, and many of the movies are often spilled out on the floor. So, I’ve purchased a big binder that comes with sleeves for holding the DVDs. It will Continue reading...
Easy Wine Glass Charms
Earlier, I blogged about crafty wine glass charms that I created by picking up some cute dangling charms and some earring hoops/findings from my local craft store. The charms were simple to make and will be great to use at my next party! When I found some paper tags (the kind that are sometimes used as tags to identify house keys), I decided to make some more wine-glass charms, so I could have more charms for guests once I have another get-together. So, using the paper tags, I added some cute three-dimensional scrapbooking flowers I had on hand and some glitter glue. The tags are cute Continue reading...
Chain Link Privacy
As I’ve blogged before, I’ve been obsessed with creating privacy for our chain link fence. For the past several months, I’ve been thinking about how to add privacy to the chain link fence, either through planting shrubs and trees or through adding a fence screen of some kind. The fence drives me crazy, because there is a schoolyard with a playground behind it. Kids are out in the playground throughout the day, and even after school for after-school care. The kids are nice and friendly, and always want to know what we are eating, etc., when we try to have our dinners out on the Continue reading...
Creating Living Space in the Basement
Basements have to be the WORST place to declutter. At least mine is. I've been wanting to create a playspace for my kids in our home's basement for years now, but haven't gotten around to it. That's because our basement, which once once fairly neat with only a few boxes piled in it, is now a mess. When my twins were tots, I didn't have the time needed to keep the space clean, so whenever we had stuff that we needed to store, we just threw it down in the basement. To top if off, we accumulated belongings from family and friends that is now stored in the space. I have set up a play area Continue reading...
Is Our Furniture too Fat?
I have been on the lookout lately for a simple, small-scale sofa or loveseat to place in my living room. The room is on the small side and quite narrow, so I don’t want a massive coach or sectional that will take up the whole room. My house is about average size, just above 2,100 square feet. So you’d think that finding an appropriately sized sofa or loveseat would be a fairly simple task. But it isn’t. I’ve been to nearly every furniture store in the suburbs where I live – places like Raymour and Flanigan, Ethan Allen, Pottery Barn and La-Z-Boy, only to find that most of the furniture Continue reading...
TGIF, But Not for the Extra Clutter
It's Friday, which means that the end of the school and work week is nearly here. It's also the day that my children, their eyes bright and searching for praise, empty their school bags out in my living room the minute they get home. Before I know it, the floor will be covered with artwork, drawings, homework and countless other items. I love looking through their work, but dread adding them to the pile of other treasures that sit in my home office waiting to be filed -- either in the "circular" file that only I know about, or to be placed among the many piles of my children's artwork, Continue reading...
Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes
Every Thursday, mom blogs Centraljerseyworkingmoms and the Harried Mom host Thursday Crock Pot Buddies. In the recipe series, the moms try out a new crock pot recipe each week. I was chatting with CC Fowler of Centraljerseyworkingmoms the other day about the cooking fest, and decided to join in the fun. I decided to make my life easier for myself Monday, and so I made a slow cooker supper of Sloppy Joes that afternoon. The recipe was quick and easy to put together and the meal came out tasty! This is the recipe, which I adapted from Dawn J. Ranck’s and Phyllis Pellman Good’s Fit-It and Continue reading...
Styling the Kitchen
The kitchen is literally the heart of my home's open-floor plan, so since moving into our house just over 9 years ago, I've been working to upgrade it's look. We opted for oak cabinets when we moved in, so we purchased a big oak table with Windsor-style dining chairs to match. I know oak cabinets aren't in favor right now, but I like the retro down-home look of our kitchen. For a long time, I had my eye on Broyhill's Attic Heirlooms china hutch, so when a local furniture store had a similar one at a great sale price during a going-out of business sale, I snatched it up. I later Continue reading...
Readying a Spring Garden
Spring has sprung, so on Sunday, I prepped my flower and vegetable garden beds. With the weather so nice, my kids wanted to play outside, so I decided to hit the garden store in the morning, so I could work on the gardens while they played. The first thing I did was add mulch to our front flower bed. We already have a few blooms coming up for spring – in that garden bed we have tulips, daffodils and hyacinths – and I want to keep the weeds down once the flowers start flowering. I bought two bags of mulch, but it wasn’t enough to cover the garden bed, so I’ll be back to the garden store Continue reading...