Last year was a busy year! I started this website, and thankfully, at least a few people have read it! Thanks everyone for your visits! It's been a fun year. For all you new readers out there, I thought I'd post some of the most-read posts from 2012 -- enjoy! And, if you are wondering, I have created an unfinished basement playroom space for my kids, but it's nowhere near as nice as I'd like it to be. I haven't painted the walls or stained the floors in the unfinished basement playroom space, and there is still a lot of organizing to be done! I will have to keep working on creating a fun Continue reading...
What I Am Reading This Week
Reading magazines used to be a hobby, but now, reading all the fantastic mom blogs out there is my new obsession! These are some favorite posts that I came across this week. I just LOVE Mexican food, so I was happy to find this Cheesy Chicken Taquitos recipe from How to Nest for Less: I love this post on organizing a daughter's closet. I've been trying to figure out how to organize one daughter's hair accessories, and One Creative Housewife has some really smart ideas! My kids love fortune cookies, so if I could manage to make these fortune cookies (with free printables) Continue reading...
Decor for a New Kid Study Area
Last week, I finished the feature wall in my kids' new study area. I think it looks great! For the new feature wall, my kids picked out a pretty green paint, plus a really cute owl and tree RoomMates mural (Happi by Dena), that I purchased on Amazon (my go-to shopping place). The mural was pretty easy to put up -- the only help I needed was reading the itsy bitsy numbering on the mural's instructions that told me where to put each of the mural's parts. The numbers were so small, I couldn't read them even with the help of a magnifying glass! I finally had to call one Continue reading...
Organizing Kid Spaces in the Home
When my kids were babies, we kept most of their toys in a small bookshelf that we kept in the living room. Their baby toys didn't take up much space. But, as they got older, they got more and more toys, and before I knew it, their toys were all over the house. Over the years, I've done various things to find a space for them to play in, and a place for their toys. At first, my husband and I kept two large toy boxes in the living room to hold all their toys. But now that they are older, I am hoping to replace those toy boxes with a sofa, and move the toy boxes into a basement playroom Continue reading...
Kitchen Wine Glass Organization
The cabinet space in my kitchen is limited, so I recently added some extra storage to my kitchen to hang some of my more decorative wine glasses. My husband isn't a wine drinker, so it isn't often that we drink wine together, but I do like to serve wine occasionally when my dad stops by for dinner, or when I have friends over from the block for a ladies' night. The wine rack that I chose -- the Oenophilia Under Cabinet Stemware Rack -- was just under $13 and can hold six wine glasses, plus my two margarita glasses. In the rack I've hung some pretty striped wine Continue reading...
Cleaning Out the Toy Chests
Ever since my kids were tots, we’ve kept their wooden toy boxes in our living room. The living room, which is only furnished with an upright piano, was the perfect place for them to play in. The plush carpeting was nice for them to play on and cushioned their falls, and the room’s location just off the kitchen made it easy for me to keep an eye on them while I was cooking. But now that my kids are both 9, I am hoping to move the toy chests downstairs into a basement playroom. I would love to turn the living room into more of an adult living space, and furnish it with a small loveseat and a Continue reading...
Sprucing Up a Storage Shed
With the weather so nice the other day, I decided to get some much needed home improvement work done. I posted way back in June about how I planned to get several DIY projects completed, including staining a weathered wood ramp that leads to our outdoor storage shed. My husband and I had the ramp for the backyard shed installed more than a year ago, and unfortunately, we never got around to staining and weather protecting the wood. So with the kids back in school, and the weather bright and sunny, I decided to tackle that project last week. I started out by purchasing a gallon of Continue reading...
Toy Organization
A big problem most moms face is how to organize kids’ toys. It seems that these days, kids have way more toys than kids did when I was young. Or, maybe, my parents did a better job of organizing my and my sister’s toys when we were kids than I do organizing my kids’ toys. My daughters’ room doesn’t get cleaned as often as it should because it takes me over an hour just to clear all their toys off the floor and their beds before I can change their sheets, make their beds, vacuum, etc. Sometimes, I simply just don’t know where to put it all! Getting Organized So, what to do? I’ve found Continue reading...
Organizing With Shoe Bags
This post contains Amazon affiliate links. I’ve been pinning a fair amount on Pinterest lately, and I’ve been finding a lot of creative uses for hanging shoe bags – and I mean doing much more than organizing shoes! I’ve seen shoe bags used as office and craft supply organizers and by adding some potting soil, even as hanging planters. I’ve been thinking of maybe trying the hanging planter idea – I’d like to find something to add interest to my yard’s chain link fence. Organizing This and That A hanging shoe organizer can also be a great central organizing area Continue reading...