Mom to 2 Busy Boys

CHAOS

2009-08-12T19:04:00.000-07:00

My life has been Chaos lately. My house is never kept tidied. Mt. Laundry keeps growing in my bedroom. I'm always asked Whats for Dinner nightly and have no answer. Where is my ____ (you fill in the blank) is asked almost daily. I need to get in control and manage/organize my house and life better. I want to start fresh in trying to do so, so I started a new blog "Chaos to Organized" to try to help myself accountable and share my journey with others. I hope you come check out my new blog and encourage me along the way.

Works-For-Me Wednesdays

2009-08-05T12:00:00.000-07:00

This weeks Works-For-Me Wednesdays theme is back to school.

This year is my oldest son's first year going to kindergarten. In hope of not losing his belongings or clothes while at school, I bought the back to school pack from Lovable labels.

Hopefully we'll not have any lost shoes, lunch containers or mittens this school year.

Check out other great back to school tips here

Bargain Shopping

2009-04-08T13:37:00.001-07:00

I am now addicted to coupons. It drives my husband but I don't care because now I can go shopping and spend a little bit of money and don't feel guilty about it.

Today I went shopping and walmart & the real canadian superstore and bought the following in the pictures for $13.90. Saved $49.60 in coupons!

If you want to read more about my shopping trip you can read about it here.

I won

2009-02-20T10:56:00.000-08:00

another giveaway. You can read about it here.

My brother is coming home tomorrow from his girlfriend's place in the states and is bringing home this cute lil' girl home for me. I'm so excited!! My poor baby brother isn't too excited about carrying her in his suitcase tho. hehe

New blog

2009-02-13T19:22:00.000-08:00

I started a new blog today, Frugal Canadians. I will be posting about coupons, freebies and giveaways I find for Canadians that are hard to find I think. Also hoping to post about frugal ideas I find around the net. If you're American, feel free to check it out because some of the information might benefit you too. Don't worry I will still be posting here too because I really enjoy connecting with new friends and my readers through this blog.

Mail Sorter

2009-02-13T09:19:00.000-08:00

Picture Souce: The Masked Mommy

Isn't that a cool mail sorter? It's all made out of junk The Masked Mommy had laying around her house! What a great way to get organized and staying frugal too. I think I need to make one of these. Our mail all gets piled on our bar (the first surface when you walk into the living room) and gets quite cluttered.

I'm a winner!!

2009-02-02T10:23:00.000-08:00

After spending many hours entering the giveaways last week, it paid off!! I was so exicted when I opened my email this weekend and today to find that I was the winner to:

Organise your Home e-course from Marcia @ Organising Queen

Motivated Moms Chore Planner from Amy at Are we there yet?

Are these 2 a hint that I need to get my life organised more? I really do need to.

Kailos Doll from Victoria at Life starring Ellie and Eve
I dont have any girls but I'm sure the next girl who has a birthday will sure love it.

So exicted to win these prizes and to start using them!!

Virtually Organized blog

2009-01-28T09:24:00.000-08:00

the Virtually Organized blog has moved to www.VirtuallyOrganized.com/blog! If you have not checked out this site before, do so now. It has lots of great resources.

(yes I'm blogging about it because I want to win the gift certificate but I do love this site!)

2009-01-27T09:56:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share a list of the samples I've came across while browsing.
mail free samples. I think in this time of recession we should take advantage of all the free things we can get. Sometimes with the free samples they send coupons too.

I know free samples in the mail could mean clutter if you don't sort your mail when it comes into the house. The free food trails could be great for a free little snack. So start a snack basket. They'd be also be good for a little snack on the go. So stick the free sample into your purse and the next time you're out you have a free little snack. The shampoos would be good for traveling or trying a new shampoo without spending the money. They'd be good for guests too. Set aside a spot for them in a the bathroom cupboard. If you don't have time to put them in their place when they come into the house, place them into a basket. That way they are all in one spot and contained. Hope someone else able to enjoy some of these free samples:

All of these are good for the states only. bummer I can't get them in canada.
Bear naked fruit & granola sample

Sample of Tide Total Care

Crest Whitestrips Advanced Seal

Dark Chocolate Raspberry Almond True Delights

sample of Cream of Wheat

Rice snack sample

SoftSheen Free Dandruff Solutions Haircare Sample

Dove Samples of Dove Shine Therapy

Dunkin' Donuts Dark coffee sample

o.b sample
Maybelline SuperStay Silky Foundation

walmart samples

true lemon sample

Kid Essentials Register now to get a free trial offer coupon

playtex sport sample

Breath-A-Licious green bone sample

need to register:
Pantene sample & coupons

Head & shoulders sample & coupons

coupons:
Sign up for $1.00 off any stayfree brand product

1.00 off bounce roller

0.50 off soft scrub

minute maid coupons

Save $1.00 off any GE Energy Smart® CFL purchase

for canadians

$2.00 off tylenol

$2.00 off coupon and sample of Mortin IB

coupons

Giveaways

2009-01-26T09:31:00.000-08:00

There are lots of great giveaways going on this week. I wanted to share the ones i've found and really liked with my blog friends.

A copy of the funny comic "Baby Blues" (@ simplemom)

flip video camera (@ a cowboy's wife)

PT-70 Brother Label Maker (@ Complete Organizing Solutions)

$50 Amazon.com gift card (@ UnexpectedBliss reviews)

EASYSHARE M893 IS digital camera (@ 5 minutes for mom)

to check out hundreds of more giveaways, check out bloggy giveaways.

last bloggy giveways I won a cute pair of squeky baby shoes. I gave them to my SIL as a baby shower gift. So keep that in mind if you like something but dont think you'd be able to use it. I know most of us are trying to declutter but by setting up a gift cupboard or box, you are being organized and being frugal.

Good luck if you enter!!

The Laundry room

2009-01-25T10:30:00.001-08:00

My Laundry room has looked like a dump for awhile. It was getting to the point you couldn't even walk in there. I was not waiting to do laundry at all. I tried to stay out of that room as much as possible. The room was in need of help. Thursday night I was reading blogs and came across this inspiring post about simplifying laundry at MySimplerLife. It motivated me to get in gear and clean the laundry room.

Here is a before shot of my small laundry room.

After 15 minutes here is what the room looked like:

It looks a lot better. I was surprised how little time it took. I guess all I needed was the motivation to get up and do it. So if your laundry room needs a bit of tidying up, I recommend you reading the post. Hoping my clean laundry room will motivate me to get some laundry done and be caught up this week.

In need of a routine

2009-01-20T16:31:00.000-08:00

I want to have more a structured routine around there. I think it'll help me be less stressed and get more accomplished. I need to try to start my day off right. I've been getting better at getting up in the morning, instead of dragging my butt out of bed. I still need some improving. So I thought I'd join in Crystal at Biblical Womenhood in setting up a morning routine.

Here's my planned morning routine:
1. Up out of be by 7:30am before boys are awake.
2. Do least 15 minutes on my wii fit.
3. Shower, dress, hair & makeup (makeup is a new thing for me.)
Boys wake up about this time.
4. Eat breakfast & get the boys breakfast
5. Unload the dishwasher
6. put a load of laundry in. (This would be my frog for the day. I HATE laundry!)

I'm going to make this habit. I'll update in couple weeks on how I'm doing on this.

More cookies

2008-12-04T19:06:00.000-08:00

Lately this seems to be one of the boys favourite activities to do. So today we decorated store-bought gingerbread trees.

Owen's tree

Tyler's tree

Next week i hope to start doing all my baking. I bought all the baking stuff last night. I'm so exicted to start! I'll share when I do.

Christmas Baking

2008-11-27T11:10:00.001-08:00

This year I would like to try to bake several kinds of cookies and desserts. I want to give some friends gifts this year but without them feeling I spent lot of money. I thought this would be a great way. I want to prepare early and start making lists of what cookies I want to make and what I need. I thought I' share it here with you. Plus this way I won't lose my list.

Cookies & desserts that look yummy and might make:

Are you doing baking this year? If so, what? Do you make any special cookies year and years? Is there new ones you want to try?

Gift tags

2008-11-21T13:31:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to share this awesome list of printable gift tags at Bella Dia. There is a long list of gift tags and I'm sure you should be able to find one to fit your taste. Save money this christmas by printing out our own gift tags. How are you saving money this christmas?

Winter is here to stay I think...

2008-11-20T19:43:00.000-08:00

This morning we woke up to Winter Wonderland. The ground was covered with aleast a foot of snow. Here is a view of my backyard:

The boys loved playing out in it. They built a snowman, a snow fort and had a snowball fight with their dad.

I made a fun treat for them today. It was a big hit with the boys and the 2 kids I babysit. I make flourless peanut butter cookies and put three cookies together before baking to make a snowman Topped them with Icing and let the kids decorated them. They turned out pretty cute I thought.

Tyler's cookie

Tyler enjoyed going outside so much that he got himself fully dressed in his snowsuit and boots all by himself while I was busy chatting on the phone tonight after supper. After I got off the phone I then got Owen dressed and sent them both out to play on the lighted porch. While they played outside I stood at the kitchen window doing dishes and watching them. It was a nice quiet moment for me and tehy had fun. I'll have to do that again for sure. I loving this stage of life where they are both becoming more independent.

I saw a quote the other day that has inspired me to try to enjoy life more, so I wanted to share it with you guys. "Live your best life"

Hope everyone stays warm and enjoys this winter. Whats the weather like where you are?

Giveaway Winner

2008-11-01T07:29:00.000-07:00

Congrats to Kara for winning my giveaway!

Thank you for everyone for entering my giveaway. I didnt expect that many to enter, so thats great! If you didnt win but would still like some photo christmas cards you can buy some from my shop with a 10% discount on your order except shipping. Just put the code: blog10off in the comments section and I'll send you a revised invoice.

Thanks and Congrats to Kara again!

Carving Pumpkins

2008-10-29T19:47:00.000-07:00

and making snow mans usually don't go together in the same day but they did here today. Since I'm in the mood for blogging and sharing pictures, I'm going to take advantage of it.

Tonight my family carved their pumpkins for Halloween. Tyler, my oldest wasn't too crazy about removing the guts from the pumpkins. Owen loved it. It was cute he'd take the guts out with his hands and then place it onto the spoon he was using. Then put it into the pail. Too cute the way he thinks. Here are pictures from tonight:

I am enjoying my time with my family. What have you done lately while enjoying your family's company?

Snow in October

2008-10-29T13:16:00.001-07:00

It's not really rare to have snow at the end of October here but still feels weird. The boys and I decided we were going to enjoy the snow while it was here and not too cold yet. I bundled the boys up in their snowsuits and outside we went to play.

The snow was perfect for building a snowman. I made the bottom ball and Tyler rolled the other two balls. I was surprised how well he did.

Our lovely snowman

Yes thats a flower on his head. My last flower growing in my garden. I picked it for the snowman.

Then we came inside for some yummy hot chocolate. Tonight I think I'm going to use my winter set of dishes for dinner too. I'm not a huge fan of winter but going to try to make the most of it this year.

Bloggy giveaway- CLOSED!

2008-10-27T13:03:00.000-07:00

I just opened my own etsy shop,
This giveaway is to win 25 4x6" christmas photo cards (all of the same design) with your family or kids picture, envelopes included. All to have to do to win is go to my etsy shop and leave a comment on this post telling me which design you would love to win. Giveaway open to all Canadian and American addresses. Make sure I can reach you through your blog or leave an email address. Draw will be Saturday November 1st.

Good luck to everyone and thanks for stopping by!

New shop

2008-10-24T09:41:00.001-07:00

Just a quick post to let you know whats been keeping me busy the last couple of weeks. I opened an etsy shop. Check it out: http://prettypaperdesigns.etsy.com
I will be adding more designs and items to the shop in the near future but for now I need to go tidy up the house. It's been suffering while I've been working on new designs.

Thanks for checking it out! Hope all is well with everyone!

I was tagged..

2008-10-07T14:25:00.000-07:00

I've was tagged by Marcie and I now need to write 7 random things about me, then pick 7 more people to tag.

So here it goes:

1. My favourite colour is pink. I love everything pink, even my shoes are pink.
2. My initials didn't change when I got married even though I did take my husband's last name.
3. my favourite dessert is cherry cheesecake.
4. I am not a pet lover at all. Sorry I don't like pets.
5. I cant drive our car because its standard. I'm too stubborn to learn how to. So instead I walk everywhere I go by myself.
6. I am addicted to coca-cola. i usually a least have 2 cans a day.
7. I am not a morning person

I tag whoever wants to do it.

October roundup

2008-10-07T14:05:00.000-07:00

This month at I'm an Organizing Junkie the monthly round-up is the craft/sewing room. My craft room badly needed to be cleaned. It was on my to-do list this week since my brothers girlfriend is coming to my house for the first time on the weekend. So this post was perfect timing.

What I use as a craft room use to be a kitchen for the upstairs apartment when our house was a duplex. Our house is a single family house now. Its a perfect room for all my craft supplies. I love having all the cupboard space to hide my supplies, the counter to do some crafting (when cleared) and the sink for easy clean-up.

Lately the computer desk and extra fridge have been moved into my craft room. The room has became a catch all room for the last couple of months. My counter top is piled high with stuff up to the cupboards.

Here is a before picture so you could see the mess:

I spent the afternoon decluttering and putting stuff away where they belong.. and look you can see the counter top again.

A view of one of the cupboards.

Most of my stuff is organized and I can find it when I need it. It probably needs a little bit of straightening but today I'm just happy I can see my counter top again. Ahhhh much better. Almost makes me motivated to do some crafting. Hopefully this will get be back into crafting.

Thanks for visiting my craftroom!

Decluttering on the computer

2008-09-29T17:27:00.000-07:00

Today while the boys napped, I went through most of my bookmarks and added them to Delicious. I tagged them by categories (for example: by type of recipe, crafts, scrapbooking, etc) You can see my bookmarks here. After I was done I deleted 125+ from my internet explorer bookmarks. My bookmarks were getting to crazy even though I different folders sorting my bookmarks. The long lists were becoming overwhelming. I couldnt find anything I wanted. I am hoping this will help me meal plan better and be able to find inspiring ideas & activities when I want them.

Do use Delicious? If so what's your username?

Fun activities

2008-09-29T15:47:00.000-07:00

I love browsing blogs to find new activities I can do with the boys. They have tons of toys but seem to get bored easily and like to climb the countertops and my couch when I'm not looking.

Here are a list of the activities we tried over the summer to try to keep us busy. Wish I took more activities of the ones we did but the ones I took will have to do.

Marble painting (@ World Preschool Mom)

food colouring painting (@ World Preschool mom)

It was a big hit with the boys. The love painting. Mom loved it because there was no mess to stain their clothes or clean up if it got on the table.

Ice treasures (@ Let's Explore)

The boys played with it in the bath. It occupied them for quite a bit of time trying to get all the toys out. Once again no mess for mom to clean up. So big thumbs up from the boys and mom.

Valentine Juice pops (@Make and Takes)

Didn't take a picture of this one but I used frozen orange juice. Very yummy. Loved that they were small for the boys. Ususally they want a popicile but only eat 1/4 of a big one. They ate the entire thing. I'll be making these again.

Painting on scrap wood

Their masterpieces hanging up on the toyroom wall. Lots of fun and I love my new art on the wall :)

Here is an awesome list of 50 activities (@Write, Mama, write) to do with your kids to keep them busy and change their moods.

So far we have done the following:

#2 Make muffins together.

We made yummy blueberry muffins and gave some to the neighbours.

11. Crank up the music (stuff you like too) and dance, boogy, shake, wiggle.

We love to dance!!

#12. Go to the library

#20. Play dress-up!

The boys were pirates to go to a pirate birthday party.

24. Call someone to play with you.

The boys love to have playdates with their friends. We had several over the summer.

25. Make a life-size body outline and color it in.

We used a big recycled box after our daytrip to Ikea.

30. Head outside to putter with a camera

#40. Decorate the dinner table together to make an ordinary meal special.

We had a friend over to celebrate her birthday. so we decorated the table all pretty.

# 41. Play hide and seek.

This is Tyler & Owen's favourite game now. We play it almost everyday when we are

outside playing.

#42. String fruity-o cereal

Big hit. Lots of fun & yummy snack put together.

It was a fun filled summer with lots of fun activities to do while we were home. We took lots of day trips too.

How was your summer? What fun activities did you do?

Procrastination Challenge: Project 1

2008-09-17T13:46:00.000-07:00

I am finally joining the procrastination challenge hosted by Virtually Organized. In our hallway upstairs is our wall of family pictures. I've had a frame to hold multiple pictures hanging up on the wall since April. Only problem with it was it still had the original strangers' pictures in it.

I liked the pictures. They were neat poses and places but they weren't of my favourite people. They weren't making my wall beautiful. Today I finally sent in my favourite pictures of the boys to be printed.

That looks a lot better. Now when I walk up the stairs I can look at my favourite boys smiling at me. It feels great to finally finish that. Thanks for the challenge, Debbie. Also thanks for all the inspiration Marcia (who is rocking this changelle!)

Filing Cabinet

2008-09-06T13:09:00.000-07:00

I organized and crossed the filing cabinet off my anti-clutter list quite a while ago, but hadn't got around to showing it yet. It is still clean and organized today.

This is what it used to look like on any given day before I organized it. It was always piled with scrap papers, junk mail or just odd things.

I bought 3 magazine holders. I wanted either white or black ones, simple ones but the ones I bought would do. My boys love Dora, so they like the boxes. (You could make them out of recycled cereal boxes too) I sorted through the papers and put away the odd items. One box for important papers to keep and file away later, one for clean computer paper and one for all the scrap papers. My boys love to colour. They know they can grab a paper out of that box to colour. The scrap paper also comes in handy when I like writing lists or my credits when I do a scrapbook page. On top of the filing cabinet is usually a jar of pens. Makes jotting things down, quick and easy.

What a big difference containing the papers did. Its been cleaning like that for close to 3 months now. If a paper our odd item is placed on there, it only takes a second to clean up again. Now if only I could learn this habit when it came to doing laundry...

The Friday declutter challenge

2008-09-05T18:28:00.000-07:00

This week I went through my boys clothes and got rid of the clothes too small. It feels great to have less clothes in their drawers. It's been easier to pick out clothes. I also deleted 99 junk photos off my computer. I am hoping this motivates me to organize my pictures.

What did you declutter this week? To see what others decluttered, head over to Organising Queen

Front Entryway

2008-08-29T19:22:00.000-07:00

This month's focus at Org Junkie was the entryways.

Here is my front entryway before:

After:

All I did was put away couple coats, put away the odd things and added the shoe rack from Ikea. Its a small change but has made a huge difference so far. It's amazing with alittle bit of organizing does! To check out what others have done to improve their entryways, go check out here. How do you organzie your shoes in your entryway? What works for you?

Computer Desk

2008-08-25T12:59:00.000-07:00

Our computer desk was in the living room. It was the first surface you came across once you walked into the house. It was always piled with papers and things that didn't belong there. The computer desk was on my anti-clutter list but I kept putting it off. I was unsure of how I was going to solve the problem of the clutter building up.

I think we finally solved the problem for now. This week my husband, Jeremy is on holidays, so we have been busy rearranging the house and redoing half the living room floor to make the room look like two separate rooms. Jeremy wants to have a bar, entertaining section of the living room. So in order to do that we had to move the computer desk upstairs into my craft room (which is hardly used and is a catch all room right now.)

(Don't you love the wallpaper in the room. NOT!)

I am loving in this room because it feels more like an office space. There is a bulletin board and room for the filing cabinet. Hoping it stays cluttered free for a while. Unfortunately all the papers that were on it went into a bin to be sorted and filed at a later date.

How does your computer desk like? Could it use some tidying up?

Weekly Round up

2008-08-23T15:03:00.000-07:00

What I decluttered this week:

1. junk papers off computer desk

2. handful of old puzzle pieces

3. 20 magenzies I didnt read and probably wasnt going to soon. There were just passed onto me.

4. handful of fake rose petals.

5. carbboard boxes.. Put the stickers into a smaller box to make room.

6. Lid to a blender we dont have anymore.

7. empty leftover favour boxes that i made for my wedding reception. I kept 2 for a keepsake.

8. papers we dont need anymore (DH did this one. shocking!)

9. dried up marker

To see what others have decluttered this week, go check out: My Simpler Life

The Toyroom

2008-08-18T10:33:00.000-07:00

Acouple days ago I posted saying that I started to clean the toyroom. Friday I got the urge to really deep clean it and organize it.

The toyroom is suposse to be the master bedroom in the house. We didnt want to use it as a bedroom since its the only bedroom on the main floor. We wanted our bedroom near the boys bedroom. The master bedroom was perfect for the toyroom. its right off the dining room and has an ensuite bathroom. The boys have enough toys to fill a toystore. A lot of the toys are big and take up lots of room. The were all around of the edges of the room and didnt leave much room in the middle to play. The room has a big closet but was always very cluttered. We cleaned it all out. Put the boxes of baby clothes elsewhere till I give them to my sister-in-law.

Before pictures

We bought shelves for the closet. Place the large toys and containors of blocks and legos on the shelf. Clean out the big white bin from the right side of closet. Put all the baby toys in a bag for my sister-in-law and put small random toys that the boys dont play with in a containor to put away on the top shelf. That way the boys cant just dump those toys on the floor. The white bin went outside to use for outdoor toys.

We have been wanting to buy a new sectional couch for a while but didnt have the room to move the fouton anywhere. We finally had room for the fouton in the toyroom. Saturday we went and bougt a new sectional. Found an awesome deal and its going to be delivered Thursday. Yesterday we moved the Fouton in the toyroom and completed cleaning up the toys. We also moved the book shelf into th I think it looks awesome. I am loving it and think it'll stay a lot cleaner this way. I am hoping to find a good book and do some reading while the boys play now. That way I can keep an eye on them and try to teach them the rule of play with one toy and when you are done, put it away.

The after pictures

Yay for being able to cross another thing off my anti-clutter list. What did you accomplish over the weekend?

Week Round-up

2008-08-15T19:15:00.001-07:00

I just started the challenge on monday. So here is a list of what I decluttered this week.

Day 1

Put a scrapbook program, a name book and a potty training dvd in my yard sale box.

Threw out expired coupons, and an old college workbook from 3 years ago.

Day 2

Recycled 25 magazines

Day 3- threw out 3 broken toys

Day 4- deleted 459 emails out of my inbox.. still lots more to go..

Day 5 - Today I cleaned out the car and threw out a grocery bag of garbage.. gross I know..

What did you declutter today? It's not too late to still join in the challenge!!

the challenge

2008-08-14T13:27:00.000-07:00

DH just called to say he is on his way home from work. So I'm all done cleaning for the day. Here is what I accomplished this afternoon:

emptied dishwasher
cleared off kitchen counters
put in load of towels
threw away 6 moldy wash clothes
vacuumed kitchen floor
mopped kitchen floor
straighten up main bathroom
vacuumed bathroom
vacuumed back hallway
decluttered dining room
vacuumed dining room
straighten up living room
vacuumed living room
straighten up front hall way
vacuumed front hall way
folded & put away towels
folded 2 loads of laundry
picked clothes off bedroom floor
sorted the laundry
put a load of the boys clothes in

Boy am I tired now. I am glad I have a store bought lasagna in the oven. Now I can sit back and relax :)

What did you accomplish today? Did the challenge motivate you to get more accomplished today than you would of?

Thanks for joining me in the challenge!!

A Challenge

2008-08-14T08:00:00.001-07:00

Today I am feeling really lazy and have tons of housework that needs to be done. So I need some motivation. I am going to challenge myself to try to get as much as I can done, in fast mode. It'll be great exercise and hopefully get lots accomplished. I'm going to turn up the music too, for fun.
I changelle you too! Go try to get as much done and report back here with a list of what you've done! It can be anything as small as doing the dishes to tackling a cluttered area. Are you ready? Set, go!! Off to the races! :)

Day 3

2008-08-14T07:45:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I started cleaning this war zone that we call a toy room.. It's a never ending thing. I've blogged about it before.

What it looked like before I started cleaning yesterday. Yes, they have way too many toys. I'd love to get rid of half of them but unfortunally DH says we have to keep all of them. So little did he know, I was able to throw how 3 small broken toys. He'll never know they're gone.

I didnt get the chance to finish it before I had to make supper. I'll hopefully finish it today.

I dare you to declutter 1 broken thing today!

Day 2

2008-08-12T08:32:00.000-07:00

Day 2 of the August Declutter Challenge for me.. I decluttered my basket that held all my magenzies plus some junk. I wanted to use the basket to hold the library books.

Before

After

Ahhhhhhhh, A lot better!! I got rid of 25 magenzies (not all read but they were ones just passed on by a neighbour) and handful of papers.

What did you sort through today?

Day 1

2008-08-11T13:45:00.000-07:00

I joined in the August Declutter Challenge at Organising Queen

Yesterday I tackled more off my Anti-clutter list.

First my night stand table

Before

After

Nothing to get rid of except a pile of paper. Everything else went back to its homes. Looks a lot better. Hope it stays that clean for a while.

Next the book shelf in living room.

Before

After

Not a whole lot different. Put a scrapbook program, a name book and a potty training dvd in my yard sale box. I switched the diaper box with an old antique crate I found at my parents that was being unused. It doesnt hold as many diapers but I think it looks more beautiful.

Last night I organized the storage shelf in laundry room. This shelf wasnt on my list but I wanted to clear it off some to make room for my blue boxes. They were first in the basement but I hated walking downstairs everytime I had something to put in the bluebox. Next I had them in the front hall but they didnt look nice there and I had to walk from the back to the front of the house everytime I had a recyclable.

Before

After

The snowsuits and baby toys went to a pile of stuff I'm giving back to my sister-in-law who is due in November. The A/C cover went away in the main storage room. The rest was just organized nicely to the left side. Now there is room for the blue boxes. I'm going to test it out this week to see if I like them there. I think it'll work better since the laundry room is off the kitchen.

That was enough organizing for one day yesterday. Off to do more today. Thanks for reading!! What did you declutter?

Muffin Tin Monday

2008-08-11T09:20:00.000-07:00

This week's Muffin tin Monday is hosted by FrannyKate's Creative State

Contents: cooked ham, bluberry muffin, yo-go bites, animal crackers, cheese and pickles

Everything is doubled because my boys share 1 tin for lunch.

Do you have a fun idea for lunch?

Meal Plan

2008-08-11T08:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we did our grocery shopping for most the month. It feels great to have the pantry stocked up again. so I planned meals for the next 2 weeks.

Week 1

Monday
Breakfast: fruit
Lunch: Muffin tin lunch
Dinner: sausage on a bun, brown beans, corn on the cob

Tuesday
Breakfast: waffles
Lunch: grilled cheeses
Dinner: shake-n-bake chicken, butter n herb noodles, baked potatos and salad

Wednesday
Breakfast: french toast
Lunch: soup- boys pick
Dinner: lasanga, bread sticks and salad

Thursday
Breakfast: cereal
Lunch: picnic lunch
Dinner: pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes, noodles

Friday
Breakfast: waffles
Lunch: soup- boys pick
Dinner: fish & chips

Week 2

Monday
Dinner: beef stir-fry

Tuesday
Dinner: chicken manicotti

Wednesday
Dinner: sausage, hash browns and brown beans

Thursday
Dinner: spaghetti

Friday
Dinner: pizza

For more meal ideas, head over to Meal Plan Monday at I'm an Organizing Junkie

Anti-clutter list

2008-08-06T13:27:00.000-07:00

I read most of the book 'Momstown: guide to getting it all' The first few chapters I found really good and learned some things from it.

In the book it says to make an anti-clutter list. Write a list of areas of your house that are cluttered. Be very specific when making your list. For example: Don't just list the living room. List the book shelve, entertainment centre, etc. Then when you have a spare moment or in a cleaning mood try to tackle one of the cluttered ares on the list.

Here is my long list:
(The ones in red I have completed)

top of filing cabinet
top of microwave
night stand
top of dresser
bathroom counter
bathroom drawers
book shelf
toy room closet
computer desk
magazine basket
end tables
kitchen junk drawer
underwear drawer
shoe closet
boys underwear drawer
craft room counter top

I am slowly tackling each cluttered area.

What would be on your anti-clutter list?

Bathroom Organization

2008-08-05T20:16:00.000-07:00

Tonight I acrossed another thing off my Anti-clutter list. I finally declutted and organized my master bathroom. This is the bathroom that we get ready for the day in. A lot piles up on the countertop and gets cluttered easily.

Here are the before pictures

One of the drawers

After

Oh how nice it looks. I'd love if it stayed that clean. In order to help keep it clean I bought baskets to keep the items we use everyday in. One basket for DH, one for me and one for the boys to share. I got the idea from Passionate Homemaking.

Ignore our lovely wallpaper in there. We havent painted/rewallpaper anything yet since we moved in 2 years ago. I dont think its been redorated since the '70s.

The drawers afterwards. I organized a drawer for DH and one for me.

The boxes in mine store my hair ties, bobby pins and my jewerly. Dh now has a basket to hold all his blades for his hair clipper.

Thanks for visiting. What have you decluttered recently?

Addicted to baskets

2008-07-24T18:52:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Laura at I'm an Organzing Junkie I am now addicted to baskets. Tonight I went shopping at Dollarama and bought quite a few baskets.

and this is what I did with them:

Stackable baskets for bath toys. The toys use to just sit on the edges of the tub and would fall in while taking a shower... very annoying I must say!!

a basket to hold the several wash clothes. Hopefully this will make more room to put towels in the cupboard.

The grey basket is new to hold extra sauces from drive-thrus. The other baskets hold drink mixes, snacks and seasoning packages.

baskets in a drawer below DS's bed to hold his underwear and socks

basket to hold DH's socks in the cupboard. They use to be all just thrown there in the corner of the cupboard.

I feel so good now that I've found a home for those things.. makes me want to buy more pretty baskets.

if you want to see more uses for baskets, head over to Laura's basket carnival

(yes I know i'm alittle late but thanks for stopping by)

tackle it tuesday

2008-07-22T12:03:00.000-07:00

Today while taking a shower this morning, my son was trying to find his snow pants (not sure why since its summer) and this was the lovely mess I came out to:

It was in need of a deep cleaning anyways, so today was a good day to clean it.

While cleaning it I decluttered:

5 cheap plastic hangers
a winter coat I gave to my neighbour
3 pairs of baby winter boats
3 baby winter coats
3 pairs of baby shoes
3 pairs of baby mittens
2 baby winter hats

All the baby things were put in a box for my SIL who is having a boy. I'll be giving them to her next time I see her. I'm just glad they are packed away for now.

And heres an after picture:

It looks a lot better and now I'll be able to find the shoes I want.

What did you tackle today? Thanks for stopping by!!

More great giveaways

2008-07-20T12:45:00.000-07:00

Lately I have entering some great giveaways and want to share the links with my blog friends. Check them out:

Chance to win a Flip Video at A daycare life

Chance to win a beautiful quilt at Old Red Barn Co.
Chance to win a $50 Amazon.com Gift Certificate at Robyn's online world

best of luck to everyone that enters :)

Early Evening Gown GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!

2008-07-12T07:51:00.000-07:00

Go check out this cute giveaway: Early Evening Gown GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!

best of luck to anyone that enters :)

Monday Muffin Tin Lunch

2008-07-07T08:53:00.000-07:00

I decided to join in the fun of Muffin Tin Monday hosted by sycamorestirrings.

Contents: bananas, blueberries, cubed cheese, pickles, cooked ham, & ritz cheese sandwich crackers

I divided the tin in half and doubled each food in order for my boys (3 & 2 yrs) to share the tin. This way they each got the same amounts without fighting over anything. I normally do these type of lunches but just on a plate. I love the look of the muffin tin. I'll be doing this again for sure. It'd be a great snack idea for a playdate too.

Giveaway

2008-06-30T07:18:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to let my blog friends know about this great giveaway:

Go join in the fun!

Laundry...

2008-06-24T20:21:00.000-07:00

or the beast as Prairie Prologue calls it.

So far this week laundry has been going pretty good. I've been doing my 1 load a day and even washed the boys sheets.

Tonight while blog-hopping i came across this awesome blog entry with great tips for laundry. Thought it was worth sharing with all the other laundry haters.

This week I think I am going to try to go through the boys clothes and only keep 7 of each item. Maybe I'll see if my mom wants to help me when she comes on Thirsday for a visit. It'll get done faster with good company.

Summer time schedule

2008-06-23T11:57:00.000-07:00

This week is the last week of having to babysit. Its been nice to have a built-in playdate everyday for the boys & the extra cash has been nice but cant wait just for it to be me and my boys. It'll be nice to go anywhere whenever we want. I have a feeling we wont be going to far from home while DH is at work since I have to walk everywhere and its been raining lots.

The boys and I need a little more structure or nothing is going to get done this summer. So here is a schedule I came up with. Hoping we stick to it most of the time.

Here are some of the goals I would like to accomplish this summer:

get into the habit of aleast 1 load of laundry a day
declutter 1 item a day
teach Owen his animals & animal sounds
teach Tyler his alphabet & numbers
meal all 3 meals & snacks
eat healthier

What does your summer schecule look like? What are some of your goals for the summer? What would you like to accomplish?

Smart Habit Saturday

2008-06-21T09:21:00.000-07:00

This is my first time joining Smart Habit Saturday. The habit I want to try to start is getting into a routine of putting in a load of laundry every morning, folding it and putting it away right away. It seems like I am always falling behind in doing laundry. so hoping this will help me stay caught up with the laundry.

My goal for now is 1 load of laundry per day.

Any tips how you stay caught up on laundry would be great!

Have a nice saturday!

365 days of decluttering

2008-06-16T13:06:00.000-07:00

I started about 2 weeks ago but haven't posted about it yet. sS far I have either got rid of or donated:

24 bibs
2 bags of old curtains
1 bag of clothes
1 pair of DH's old ripped jeans
7 old shampoo bottles cluttering my shower
1 bag of paper junk from my bedroom
8 magenzies
handful of small broken toys
3 boxes of newspapers
1 candle
2 broken scrapbook punches

Want to join the challenge to? Head over to 365 days of decluttering

Playroom Cleanup

2008-06-13T13:29:00.000-07:00

This month's round up is the playroom. We use a bedroom on the main floor as the toyroom. Its a great escape for the boys. They are still pretty young but I'm trying to teach them to clean up their toys after they are finished playing with them I try to tidy it up at night or aleast every other night till it becomes a diaster like this one....

Tyler dumped all the buckets of toys and said it was a hill. I didnt have the engery to clean it up that night so the mess just grew even more.

Tomorrow is Tyler's birthday party with his little friends. We are hoping to be outside but it sounds like its suposse to rain tomorrow. so I thought I better clean the toyroom so the kids have a place to play if we get stuck inside. I spent acouple hours last night cleaning it and rearranging all toys.

Here is the clean room:

Owen enjoying the clean floor to walk on :)

Hoping it stays clean for awhile to come.

Are you messy

2008-06-11T07:13:00.000-07:00

You Are a Little Messy

You aren't the cleanest person in the world, but you're definitely not a slob.

You clean up when you have the time, but you're realistic about what you can get done.

Generally, you're pretty organized and tidy - though you may have a few hidden messes.

You eventually get around to making things spotless, but you do it on your own schedule!

Are You Messy?

A Fun Tag

2008-06-05T15:26:00.000-07:00

Tina @ Housewife Hiccups tagged me to spell Mom to 2 busy boys in Japanesse.

so here it goes: rinmorin chimo 2 tudoarifu tumofuari

Wow I'm not even going to try to say that!

Laundry

2008-06-03T17:34:00.000-07:00

Tina found this at Only sometimes clever and tagged anyone who wanted to play around. So I thought I'd share too.

In your home, who does the laundry? Me but the very very odd time DH does.

Do you sort your laundry? Yes
If you sort, how many different color/fabric type groups do you sort it into? darks, whites, colours, towels, sheets and boys clothes.
Do you hand wash anything? Nope the washer machine "hand washes" them for me.
Are there any articles of clothing that you send out to be cleaned professionally? Yes
If you have any clothes cleaned professionally, is that drycleaning? Or regular laundering/pressing? DH’s suits drycleaned.
At home, what detergent do you use? Tide powder

What whiteners/brighteners do you use? None

Do you use any fabric softeners? No
How do you handle stains? I spray on a stain remover.
Do you use different water temperatures for your different loads? Wash everything in cold water

Do you use a tumble dryer, or do you hang your clothes to dry? Always the dryer. Last summer i use to hang the towels and sheets on the line but we had to remove the line to make room for the boys' playground.

In your home, who folds the clothes? Me.
Where do you fold your clothes? (i.e., in the laundry room, at the kitchen table, etc.) On my bed or the boys bed depending whos clothes it is.

Who puts the folded clothes away? Me or the odd time DH puts away his.

Do you have a certain day of the week you consider ”laundry day”? Nope just when its way over due. I want to try to get better at doing more everyday.

About how many laundry loads do you do per week? No idea.

Do you iron? Never

Wanna share how you do your laundry? Consider yourself tagged!

I am thankful...

2008-05-04T19:34:00.000-07:00

I had a great weekend. It was the first weekend my husband has had off for the last 2 months. So It was great to spend lots of time with him. Friday we went to visit my parents unplanned (an hr away) so it was really nice to visit with them. While we were there we watch Evan Almighty. I really liked it. Today we went to a friends daughter's birthday party. It was a fun day spent with friends. So tonight I am really pretty thankful and happy.

I am thankful for:

...the awesome weather today

...a fun day spent with friends

...my 2 sweet boys

...my parents who are always supportive

...my wonderful husband

a picture of us on our 4th anniversary together

...a quiet night to myself to listen to Churchpoint series

...great friends, new and old :)

...my life

A fun picture I took last weekend

Hope this is a start to a great week, mine and yours!

Trying to find my way back to God

2008-05-03T17:50:00.000-07:00

In my first year of college I stopped attending church and had lost faith. Within the last week I have been having this feeling like I need to start believing and being closer to God again. I've been reading acouple christian blogs and listening to their music. Its amazing how at peace I have been feeling when reading them. I want to find a new chruch to try to attend here. A friend has agreed to go with me. So I'm exicted about that! If you have an extra prayer please say a prayer that God guides me in the right direction.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Searching for my scrapbooking mojo...

2008-03-30T21:16:00.000-07:00

Once again I said I'd blog and didnt.. what can I say? I'm a terrible blogger. This week I've been trying to play catch up and tackle Mt. laundry. It never seems to disapper, always growing. I wish I had a maid to do laundry and my dishes for me. I know, keep dreaming Amanda. A girl can dream. Speaking of dreaming, I've been doing alot of this week. Wishing I was an awesome, talented artist. I've been admiring all the talented artist on etsy, trying to find some inspiration to get my mojo back to scrapbook. Since I was so busy with everything for the wedding, I havent scrapped for almost 2 months now. I really miss it!! I am hoping to start scrapbooking again soon. I might post some challenges or pieces of inspiration on here to able encourage and motivate me to scrapbook. If you would be interested in me posting some writing and art propts, let me know. You dont have to be a scrapbooker either. It could just be something fun you could blog about. I'd be happy to have some company finding my mojo. :) Tonight I went to a card making party with my mom and I think it helped a tiny bit.

Well better get to bed because the boys will be up before I know it. Looking forward to hearing if anyone is interested :)

Sorry I've been MIA

2008-03-19T20:09:00.000-07:00

I never have been a good blogger and cant seem to be able to keep it updated but this is why I've been missing lately.

I'm now finally married after being engaged for 3 and half years. :) Planning our wedding reception was a bride's nightmare, and we had alot of bad luck. Our wedding turned out to be beautiful and lots of fun. My best friend flew in the Friday from out west. Later that afternoon we traveled to Nigara Falls. We made good timing and didnt run into too much bad weather but our parents didnt have a good drive at all. It took them double the time it took us to get there. Another couple came too as our best man and matron of honour. Jeremy, my DH was very sick all weekend and spent most of the weekend in bed. It sucked for him but gave me lots of time to spend with my best friend who I hadnt seen for 9 months. Friday we went out for dinner and swimming. Afterwards we had a pj party in our hotel room and ended with us dancing/jumping on the bed. Lots of fun! The whole weeekend felt like a big sleep over party. Saturday we started the day off with breakfast with everyone and the the guys and girls seperated to start getting ready. The 2 girls and I, all got our hair done up, and I got my make up done by a make up artist. It was an neat experience. I have never wore that much make up in my life combined I bet.

Owen and Tyler, my boys, wore little tuxes. They were so cute!! Unfortunally Owen fell asleep right before the cermony started so he didnt get to stand up with us or wasnt in too many of the professional photographers pictures. My mom got this cute super cute picture of my and Tyler before the cermony.

Where Jeremy and I got married was in a tall tower that was mostly made up of windows that overlooked the city or Nigara Falls. We got married on the observation floor that was all windows. It was really pretty. The cermony went really well.

Here is us signing.

Afterwards we had dinner at the resturant in the hotel and our view from our table overlooked the falls. It was very pretty too. The food was very yummy too. Tyler fell asleep sitting up eatting his dinner. It was too funny.

My favourite picture of Jeremy and I.
Cutting our cake
My favourite picture of Owen and I

Wow its midnight already and I think I finally got both boys back to sleep (grrrrrrr we are having bedtime ussues but thats a whole different story), so I'm going to head to bed too since DH's arlam will be going off in 4 hours. Thanks for reading if you made it this far :)

To Be Continued tomororw...

Menu Plan

2008-02-11T11:05:00.000-08:00

Monday: pasta
Tuesday: Chicken Stir-fry
Wednesday: Country Chicken Nuggets & Homemade french fries
Thursday: French toast & breakfast sausage. French toasts cut with heart cookie cutter to celebrate Valentines day
Friday: Steak & potato skins. Make mashed potatoes for tomorrow.
Saturday: Using the mashed potatos, sheppard pie
Sunday: Pork tenderloin, butter and herb noodles, green beans.

snacks: Skor cookies & banana bread

All my recipes this weeek come from Amen. Lets Eat! If you havent check out that blog before, do so! It has lots of yummy recipes!!

Enjoy your week!

Febuary Round-up

2008-02-01T12:08:00.000-08:00

Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie is hosting a monthly challenge to organize one room per month. For February, its the kitchen. To see a full list or more info, read here.

So today I thought I'd straighten up some of the cupboards that were cluttered.

Food cupboard:

Before

After

I got the baskets at the dollar store. One for my packages of spices, the stackable baskets are for snacks and a basket to hold all our juice packages.

The kids dishes cupboard. This is where I store all the boys dishes and sippy cups. It was such a clutter mess with all the cup lids all over the place.

After The stackable baskets will work great for storing the cups on top and the lids on the bottom. no more lids all over the place!!

Hopefully they both stay this neat for a long time!

Thanks for stoping by!

2007-11-30T14:14:00.000-08:00

Just found this video and had to post it for my cleaning buddy, Emily.

Hope it motivates you to clean a bit. :)

Speed Cleaning

2007-09-22T07:03:00.000-07:00

I challenged Emily to another cleaning challenge. The challenge was: pick your favourite song, turn it up loud and speed clean to see how much you could get done before the song ends. Make sure you post before and after pictures to seem how much you accomplished!

Here is my before picture

so I picked the song Clumsy by Fergie and off I went to speed cleaning.
And here is what i accomplished:

Now I challenge you to do the same!! :)

I challenge You!

2007-09-07T12:30:00.000-07:00

My "cleaning buddy" and I have both had an unmotivated day, wasted to much time on the computer so I challenged her to so cleaning.

The challenge was to put away 7 (her favourite #) things that are out of place and throw out/or put in a bag 7 things to donate!!

so I took the challenge too but my favourite # is 13.. so I decided to clean up my living room. I am sure there was more than 13 things to put away.

Here is the before picture:

And the after picture:

(my boys were playing with the cars)

And for my 13 things to throw away, I cleaned up the bathroom a bit.

So now I challenge you! Do you want to join in the fun? Just pick your favourite #, pick up that x amount and throw away x amount too! Post a link in the comments!

Tackle it tuesday

2007-09-04T05:36:00.000-07:00

Today I'm going to join in the fun and try Tackle It Tuesday for the first time. I am going to try to clean the computer area. Its just has some much clutter piled up.

Here is my before picture:

I finished it! This is as good as it gets for today:

I also did this for tidy desk competion hosted by Marcia.

Thanks for looking!!

i'm back!

2007-09-04T05:20:00.000-07:00

So I went back to my terrible self and was slacking in the cleaning dept. Thats why I havent been posting. Yesterday we had the inlaws for supper. so before they came we did some major cleaning, and they even helped with dishes. so this morning I woke up to a clean house and clean kichten, so i'm feeling great. Hopefully this week I can get back on track. In in time for my sons 1st birthday party this week.

My todo list for today:

dishes right after meals
clean toyroom
computer area (tackle it tuesday spot)- DONE
one load of laundry, washed, folded and put away

if i get all that done, i'll add more.

so off to go clean..

Toddler Activities

2007-08-07T20:01:00.000-07:00

I was insired by Amy at Heart Matters to start a schedule for activities to do with my boys. so I am going to try to start making one.

Today- we made a craft with foam shapes and baked banana bread
Wednesday- Playdate in the morning
Thursday- Library if weather is nice
Friday-

I'll update this post tomorrow with more ideas.

Off to a great start!

2007-08-07T19:33:00.000-07:00

Today was my first day of my new habit.. turning off the computer..

Normally the computer is on all the time, so its right there and I am on it most of the day while the boys play by themselves in the living room. I spent too much time browsing blogs and scrapbook message boards, which is very addicting let me tell you. By doing that, it lead my house to be a mess all the time and found my self easily stressed and had no patience with the boys.

So last week I decided it was time for a change. In order to do that the first thing I needed to do was spend less computer time. I thought I start it at the beginning of a new week. Since yesterday was a holiday for Jeremy, it was spent as a family day and things were were back to normal today.

So about my great day today...

I got up early to shower and get ready before the boys woke up. Spent alittle bit of time checking my usual sites. As soon as the boys woke up, off went the computer.

spent a lot of time playing in our clean toyroom (thanks to dad for cleaning it sunday!)
Tyler and I did a craft
baked banana bread
kept toyroom clean
did dishes after every meal
did 2 loads of laundry, even folded and put away
had supper together (not something that happens often due to dad's work schedule)
even schedule a playdate for tomorrow (normally too embarassed to have anyone over)

I only turned on the computer while Tyler was napping and even that was productive because i got a scrapbook page done for my Amazing digi Scrapping race.

I got tons accomplished and felt great at the end of the day when Jeremy got home!

Hopefully tomorrow is just as good!

My new blog

2007-08-01T17:49:00.001-07:00

Welcome to my new blog. This blog is going to be more for myself to try to become a better house wife and mom. I need motavation to keep my house clean and organized. Everyone is welcome to read and help me along my journey!