I Know I'm Not Practical

I'm reminded of that fact daily by either my husband or my children.

I did a little cleaning Sunday afternoon...

For me, cleaning is when I make things pretty,

and most of the time,

the end product is completely impractical, but usually free.

For me, personal touches and happiness trumps practicality.

Case in point, my new and improved sweets and hot drinks cabinet.

Our kitchen cabinets are original to 1968.

They insides have been painted several times.

I attached pages of a 1975 church cookbook to the inside.

The names are dear to me, as many of the ladies have passed away.

I seldom make these recipes, so found it more useful to have it here,

where I could enjoy it...

A little cocoa and cream station.

The kids are digging the keurig hot water dispenser...and cocoa is flowing.

The "0" container is from Anthropologie.

Inside is my zero calorie sugar. :)

Coffee pods for the coffee maker...

Labelled containers and reorganized...

Vintage ric-rac that I had attached to the shelves with a glue gun...
"New" basket from a dear friend holding baking supplies.

Old wooden spoon and gingerbread man from my Grandma Izzy.

I wish I had taken a before.

It was a disaster.

Feels good to have something in the kitchen that makes my heart sing a bit!

-julie

Linen Closet Reorganization

While Mr. Mark reset the toilet for the third time...

which really was the charm,

I gutted the linen closet.

I took out everything...and dumped it all over the already messy hallway.

I scrubbed the walls and shelves,

then added a coat of fresh paint.

What a difference...used the same "Brook Trout" as in the kid's bath.

I didn't have a budget for this project,

so I shopped the house.

Turns out I had just what we needed....

lots of baskets from Ikea and Michaels,

and little containers from Ikea and the thrift store.

I crawled around the hallway sorting like items and finding a container that fit.

All of the boy's contacts and solution, etc. is in one basket.

All of the little samples I save for camp and travel are in a little container inside another basket.

Being containerized inside of a container has helped.

Little hands are not stirring the basket so to speak.

I'm not grabbing haphazardly in a crazy moment....

since everything has a place.

I purged a ton.

All of the sheets are in the basket and organized by size and bed.

Easy for little bodies to grab and take back to their room.

I have one extra set for each bed...that's all we've ever needed.

I used to have a laundry basket on the bottom for the kids' dirty clothes.

That was a disaster.

Now I have a basket of neatly folded towels.

The kids have a new laundry system, and I'm loving it.

I bought them each a bright colored laundry bag from the dollar store (spent $4 total),

We are repurposing some hooks for them to hang behind their doors.

My neighbor with kids a little older had a brilliant idea.

Each kid has a laundry buddy.

Remember...the kids are almost 13, 11, 6 and 6.

Thursday two kids do laundry together.

Friday the other two kids do laundry together.

They wash, dry, fold and put away....

and the best part?

It's working.

I have less laundry to do...

and they always know where their clothes are.

Plus, they aren't throwing things in that really aren't dirty...

Makes me happy!

Next step...

cute labels and some burlap ties on the baskets....

one step at a time.

-Julie

Organizing By Personality

I am not a naturally organized person.

I never have been, and never will.

Flip back a few posts, and you'll see the horrible before.

I still can't believe I posted that picture...

but I did,

and now it's out there for the world to see.

With four kids, ages 6-12, our house has been constantly evolving....

I am constantly recycling and giving things away.

If I didn't, there would be even more stuff lying around everywhere.

Here is what my art studio looks like today,

and this is the book that got me there.

It's called The Organized and Inspired Scrapbooker, by Wendy Smedley and Aby Garvey.

I bought it a few years ago.

Read that line again.

a few years ago...

Hmmm...a few years ago my kids were 3-9 years old.

If your kids are in that age bracket,

don't try to take on too much...

Recently I went through and did the little exercises in the workbook.

I took the time...I worked through my ADD.

I didn't want to, but I did

and it made a huge difference.

I don't like clutter.

This book helped me realize that I organize best with open containers...

that I can't see through.

I also realized that I can't stand plastic ones.

Not even one little bit.

I organized by like objects.

And it doesn't always look pretty.

These are projects in the works....quite a few of them.

I know, they're in plastic envelopes...but until I find pretty woven basket-like ones,

these will have to do.

I can grab one, work with it, and then put it back.

I'm not a seamstress.

I simply wrapped the shower rod with burlap, and used cute safety pins.

For now, it works.

Someday, I'll sew it.

That someday may be when my kids are ages 16-22,

and that's ok.

Storage container wheels out...from Ikea, years ago.

Photo boxes on the top...still to be organized a bit more.

There are even some empty drawers...exciting!

Here is the kid zone.

The little boxes on the top were found curbside, as is.

Isn't it amazing what I find on my runs?

Time to head out for one in the morning.....

Inside are scissors, envelopes, crayons, markers, pipe cleaners, etc.

They are all things they use regularly, and can plop on the nearby table.

In the metal cabinet are their plastic bins...organized by item.

The kids don't mind the plastic.

I just close the door, and then I don't have to see them. :)

The closet, I mean pantry, locks.

Little things like safety pins, metal words, letters, etc. are in the muffin tins.

I also learned I organize well by color.

The jars of ribbon are by color.

The little jars are flowers by color.

The scraps are organized by color.

Little doo-dads (paper, graphics, etc) are in the drawers by color.

The paper is sorted on the racks, by color.

Maybe my aversion to plastic went a bit too far.

Jello molds and angel food cake pans work well for paint and glue guns.

Until tonight, when the kids wanted some angel food cake,

and I couldn't find the pan in the kitchen.

Doesn't everyone store their acrylic paint in an Angel Food cake pan?

Nope.

Probably just me,

and I'm okay with that.

-Julie

Looking at Pretty Things

My girls love looking at pretty things.

Like watching butterflies

in a beautiful butterfly garden at a local farm.

I love watching them look at pretty things

from behind my camera lense.

I like looking at pretty things too,

and collect way too many of them.

Here's what it looks like when I look at pretty things.

I almost didn't show it to you,

but I'm working on being more transparent.

I pulled EVERYTHING out of the drawers last weekend

...and I mean everything.

I dumped the baskets.

I dumped the pretty containers...

and I've sifted through this pretty little mess.

I have one more pile to sift through today.

It's the one under the table.

Can you see it?

I need to learn how to write on my pics...but I'm not that techy yet.

The adding machine isn't mine.

It's Sofi's.

She asked Santa to bring it for Christmas last year when she was five.

He did.

I've never asked for an adding machine.

I don't want to know how much this pile cost me.

Would you?

Today I'd like to do anything but sift through this pile.

My ADD brain is a few steps ahead.

I'm on to the next room.

The walls and ceilings are painted.

Things are back in order.

My "impractical, fun, cute things" are back on the walls.

The quote is Mark's.

He'll be helping me hang the "impractical, fun, cute things."

Like the door from the neighbors curb.

And the peely paint broken window frames.

And the skis as my new banister rail.

Soon I can create more pretty things.

But for today, I'll be sitting on the floor under this table.

Looking at pretty things.

Filing away.

Containerizing. That's a word isn't it?

Pitching.

Giving away.

And maybe I'll find a few pretty things to pass on, to you

my sweet readers

who have taken the time to read this silly little story...

that I write while procrastinating.

Off I go...

to look at some pretty things.