Day 25: Super Duper Lego Picker Upper & Lego Storage

I love the way my boy builds amazing creations with his Legos.  But, I could do without the way our floor looks after such creations are made.

Does that look familiar? 

On the search for a solution, I found a pin concerning this very issue.  The pin led me to Gwen's Nest, where she made a "sheet" for legos to be played with on and to be put away with.  She made hers with handles and two different colors, but I'm looking for a quick solution and lack the knowledge of how to use a sewing machine.  (I would love to learn to sew...sometime!)

 So, I made do with an old sheet and a container.  That is all I needed.  I know it's not pretty, but it sure does the job.

Here, you see Jackson playing with his Legos at the center of the sheet.  He has been told not to remove his Legos from this sheet unless he is building something on the Lego table.

Next, I taught him how to bring all the corners and sides together.  He simply brings all that together to gather up in Legos in the sheet, then lifts the sheet into the container.  Voila!  Instant and effective Lego Storage!  

Again, I am aware that this isn't pretty.  But, it is functional for a five year old boy who doesn't care about sorting his Legos into different shapes or colors, as some store their Legos.  I'm sure that will come when he is old enough.  For now, this works.

And guess what?  I didn't step on any Legos today and Jackson cleaned up his Legos all by himself.  That makes this momma smile!

Day 15: Tea & Coffee Bar

Anyone who knows me knows I love tea.  I drink it everyday, several times a day.  Yesterday I realized that I walk across my kitchen to put the kettle on, then walk across it again to get the tea on the other side.  Then I cross it again to get the mug and once more to get my stevia sweetener.  That is serious MADNESS!  For something I do several times daily, I need more efficiency than that!

In comes Pinterest.  I have looked up several coffee/tea bars to get ideas before, but for some reason I never pinned them because I never found one that suited me.  I looked them up again and decided to take bits and peices from each pin to form my own idea about what my coffee/tea bar should look like.

The best thing about this project is that I had everything I needed already.  And, to make it even sweeter, everything I used in the project was either a gift, dollar store find, or a garage sale find.  I started with where my tea was stored and decided to put the "bar" on the counter there.

In the midst of doing all this, I used a few tricks I learned on Pinterest.  My kettle was SUPER dirty with calcium.  So, I followed a pin on Pinterest and put 1 part water, 1 part vinegar in the pot (about 1 cup of each), and swished it around until the calcium started to come loose.  Then I let it sit for a few hours.  I just had to rinse the kettle until the vinegar scent left and it was as good as new!

Before vinegar/water...

...and after!  What a difference!

The next pin I used was one that I wish I had found years ago.  To drill the holes in the wall in the right spot without having to risk measuring the distance of the holes wrong, you just put some tape over the holes on the shelf (a $1 garage sale find!).  I made a mark over each hole and transferred the tape to the wall.  In one swift effort, I was able to drill the holes in the correct spot.  I hate to admit it, but, if you look under some of my mirrors or shelves already hung, you may find more than two holes.  I'm so glad I found this pin!

The last specific pin I used for this project was using contact paper to make a label.  I bought some contact paper at the dollar store the other day that I love.  How perfect to label my tea jar (a $2 garage sale find!) with this contact paper!  It was super simple.  I just cut the contact paper with scalloped shears and used a Sharpie to neatly write "Tea" on the label.  I peeled the backing off and stuck it on the jar. 

I also printed out a jpeg from a pin that says, "Keep calm and drink tea" in a color that matched my kitchen decor.  I brought in my kitchen decor by adding the lemon garland.  Lastly, I added the silver tray, another garage sale find.  I think perhaps I was inspired by all the tea trays on Downton Abbey.  I think it adds a nice touch.  I love how the whole thing turned out!  And now I'm going to go enjoy a cup of tea!

Before

After

(If you are wondering where the coffee comes into this, I don't drink it, but my hubby does, so the coffee grinder and Chemex is in the cabinet above.)

Day 14: Command Center Redo

I love organizing.  The one thing that I just can't seem to get in control of, though, is paper and mail.  The photo above is my "command center" I set up a few months ago.  Believe me, there was no commanding going on from that spot.  I had good intentions when I set it up.  I spray painted that cute white basket to the left of the desk and set up files to put all the incoming paper in.  I set up a tray with a cute pitcher that held all my pens.  The set up was all wrong.  A certain toddler of mine would always get into the pens and papers and a mess would be made of it.  The open basket for the files allowed my lazy self to stack things on top, behind, and all around the basket instead of in the proper files.  Like I said, I was all wrong.

When I was at Big Lots yesterday, they had this nifty file holder for five bucks.  You can't beat that!  It has two handles that the kids would have to undo to get into.  I'm hoping they give up and realize the files aren't worth the time it takes to get into the box.  :)  Now, for the files themselves.  I already had these in the basket before.  I did add a "Calendar" file to the box because this is where I will put Jackson's school calendar and invitations for events we are to attend.  The files I have put into the box are: Calendar, Bills to Pay, To File, Receipts, Troy's File, Melissa's File, Kid's File, and Taxes.  Inside the box is a little pencil basket perfect for my pens, markers, a little stapler, and scissors.  I got the file box idea from Pinterest, of course.  A Bowl Full of Lemons is a blog I discovered through Pinterest and has all sorts of ideas to organize.  I LOVE this blog!  (Click here to visit the "command center" post)

This is what goes in front of all my files.  It is a FREE printable that is very, very useful!  I just laminated it and I write on it with a dry erase marker.  I love that it gives you a time slot for everything, a list of goals, and a space to write scripture to meditate on.  Brilliant!  (To get that FREE printable, click here)  

Before...

After!

It cleaned up rather nice, didn't it?  I bet you are wondering where all that paper went?  That, my friends, is for another post!  For now, I have my file box, a calendar hung up, a "shred" basket and a trash can.  Nice and neat.  Now, I need to try to keep it this way!  I have a system!  I just have to use it!

Day 12: Speed Cleaning 101

Most days, my house is a mess.  In fact, the days that my house is clean are very special because they are so rare.  I don't mind cleaning, but I do it all day long, it seems.  There usually is no rhyme or reason to it.  I start to clean up a mess, then as I'm cleaning up that mess, three more messes are made.  Troy's friend once said to him that cleaning a house with kids is like shoveling snow in a snow storm.  How true that is!

When the house gets unbearably messy, I like to have a plan to tackle the house, or at least the cleaning of the front rooms.  It helps me focus.  I've tried many quick house clean "plans," over the last few months, but the one that works for me every time is the one over at somewhatsimple.com.  It is called "Speed Cleaning 101."  The idea is you have ten steps, some of which you repeat, and do each step in ten minute increments, with a break every thirty minutes.  I don't know about you, but I love racing against the clock.  It makes a mundane task such as washing dishes a little more interesting.  A little.

More importantly to me, the "Speed Cleaning 101" method really makes the HUGE mess that my house is a bit less overwhelming.  I can do it if I take one step at a time.  And, if I have to change a diaper, get a sippy cup, or break up a fight in between those ten minute increments, I can do just that.  You will be surprised how much you can do in just ten minutes!  My messy living room (pictured above), complete with Trader Joe's O's sprinkled from wall to wall, sippy cups from the morning, pajamas, books, toys, a pink tricycle, and much, much more took ten minutes of speed cleaning to get it looking clean.  Of course, this didn't include dusting.  I guess that's for another day!

You will find all of the cleaning speed methods/plans I have tried on my 30 Days of Pinterest board, so feel free to take a gander!  Happy cleaning!

Day 8: Refrigerator Redo

When I was younger, my Uncle Tony had a magnet on his fridge that said, "If it walks out if the fridge, LET IT GO!"

We have a small fridge for our family. It get's out if control very easily. It's very easy to imagine things growing legs in there and taking if upon themselves to escape. I put several pins to use in the revamping of the space, or lack of space, in our fridge.

The first idea that helped me handle tackling the huge task of cleaning out what lurked within our fridge was to divide the fridge into sections. The door is a section. Each drawer is a section and each shelf is a section. The pinner suggested to clean one section a day for just ten minutes and this way you can keep your fridge clean. It's a great idea! I just hope I can keep it up!

The next pin I used was the idea of baskets. This worked perfectly for our fridge because it made more use of the space. I grouped like things together: the "bread" condiments with each other, the salad dressings together, the sauces together. These ideas are very useful and I hope my new basket system helps keep my fridge organized. I was able to put the extra deli products in a basket, tortillas in another, sauces, produce and so on.

Next, I made sure that I was storing my produce in the correct way.  This would ensure I would get the most bang for my buck and waste less produce.  Did you know that celery should be wrapped in foil, then stored in the fridge?  Below is a pretty handy chart that I used.  (Click to enlarge.)

Lastly, as posted on day 6, the fridge snack box has proven to be such a great tool for saving time and keeping snacks organized and available. I would recommend this to anyone who owns a fridge!

So, without further ado, here ate the before and after photos....

(Just a reminder, to view the pins I am referring to, please follow me on Pinterest and view my 30 Days of Pinterest board.)

Yikes!  That before photo is pretty embarrassing.  Notice the limp celery leaves?  Yup.  Embarrassing. 

Now to tackle my freezers!