DIY - Plastic Drawers: From blah to beautiful!

This weekend has been VERY busy.  Brady finally agreed to hire a maid so before she came, we cleaned out and reorganized our entire house. (Thanks to YaYa for helping with Gavin and Kailee's reorganization)!

Our children have tons of toys.  TONS!  Most of the clutter in our home is due to toys.  The cheapest way we have found to store them is to organize them in plastic 3-drawer sets from Wal-Mart.  The problem is, they aren't that attractive and while opaque, you can still kind of see things inside.  Thus, even when the toys are away, it still appears cluttery.

Then inspiration struck!  I used scrapbook paper to line the front of the drawers to make them pretty!  I attached it with scotch tape and masking tape.  Ta-da:

My first and my favorite!

Kailee loves butterflies

I had so much fun making these

This one is my other fave

Another small one

Her room with the decorated drawers!  It looks waaaaay better than before!

Now the inside is a mystery and her room looks neater than ever!  My next project is to get boyish ones for Gavin's drawers.

XOXO,

Any paper has the potential to become a post-it note...

It's called repositionable glue!  You spread it on the back of a sheet of paper, stick it wherever you want and move it if you need/want to, easily.  It makes every piece of paper a post-it note.  So cool!

XOXO,

The OTHER Consequence

I found these when I went through my bathroom cabinet.  They fit nicely in my purse for consequence needs on the go.  And they have the same effect as the ORIGINAL consequence... Just ask Gavin!

XOXO,

10 things I learned on Facebook!

1.  It's not a wise idea to post when you are hurt/angry, even if you have the right to your feelings.  You will AWLAYS end up looking immature and anything but classy. (Yes, I made that mistake and learned from it.  Save some time/pain and learn from my mistake)

2. "Holding a grudge is like letting someone you don't like live rent free in your head/heart." (Such a wise, wise person posted that as a status.)

3.  Amy Winehouse died.

4. The Search bar and the status bar are way too close together--I once posted a status with a name of someone I was planning to FB-stalk.  Hopefully no one saw :).

5. Passive-aggressive posts are always taken personally, and usually by the wrong person.  If it's someone I am at least semi-close to, I do wonder for a minute if I should be worried that it's directed towards me.

6. Instagram is an AWESOMELY easy photo-edit app. (Thank you, Lauren Gibson)

7."If you can't tone it, tan it." (I don't recall who posted this but I LOVE it!)

8. Be careful when choosing to unfriend someone.  If you realize you acted in haste/anger, it's hard to explain what happened when you re-friend them (or may make it impossible to do).  When in doubt, put them on limited profile so they can't see/post anything.  If you make amends, it's easiest to rectify the situation when all you have to do is remove them from the limited view.

9. That there were going to be a lot of consecutive ice-days in a row! (Every afternoon I watched for the firs person to announce our school district was closed the next day)

10. And my fave: "'Let's eat Grandma!' vs. 'Let's eat, Grandma!'  Punctuation saves lives!" (Pretty sure this is from Julie Mullins Penisten)

XOXO,

2nd or 3rd generation remedy :)

Growing up, I had stomach aches FREQUENTLY.  I remember praying that I didn't have a stomach ache on days we had big plans--like Christmas, family gatherings, Six Flags, Wet 'N Wild, Krause Springs, etc.  It really was random when I got them because as a creature of habit, I typically ate the exact same things everyday.

On one occasion, my mom told me to lay on my left side, and it worked!  Of course, the stomach ache would only stay away as long as I was lying on my left side, meaning the remedy was really only available when around the house.  Nevertheless, I still would try to use my trick when out in public if I was in enough pain.  When on a school trip to London in between 7th and 8th grade, I had such a severe stomach ache that I went to the infirmary at Hampton Court Palace to lie down.  They were very accommodating but the leader of our trip accused me of faking to get attention.  In all honesty, I HATED the attention I got when having to deal with my annoying ailment.  Back then I was horribly shy; thus, I did everything possible to avoid extra notice.

But back to the present, today, Gavin ate a Pop-Tart and then told me he had a stomach ache (I know I know, the source of his pain is obvious).  Instinctively, I told him to lie down on his left side on the couch.  I had to help him get situated with a blanket, but my remedy worked.  His tummy is all better now! :)

XOXO,

The Consequence

A couple of years ago, one of my sisters-in-law shared a "cure" for the "talker-backer-syndrome."  She would put a drop of Tabasco (something she had tested on her own tongue to make sure it wasn't that bad) on her child's tongue if s/he refused to stop talking back to her.  We used the idea a few times with Gavin but I hadn't had to use it for a few months until tonight....

Tonight, Gavin decided to dump out all the dominoes from our Mexican Train (Turkey Foot on the Heil side) game.  I told him he could not watch TV or eat dinner until he put the dominoes away.  He slowly put them away, throwing out snide comments here and there.  I kept threatening the "consequence" (as Gavin calls it) but had not followed though.  Finally, 40 minutes into the process, with only half the dominoes put away and immediately after being told "I don't want to hear what you have to say, Mommy," I followed through with my threat and put a teeny-tiny drop on the middle of his tongue towards the back (where it isn't very sensitive).  You would have thought I'd poured acid on his tongue.  He cried real tears and boo-hooed.  BUT the other half of the dominoes were quickly put away, Mommy got an apology, and Gavin promised never to dump the dominoes out again--we'll see about that one.  

Mild salsa has the exact same effect as Tabasco.  In fact Gavin's reaction tonight was not nearly as severe as when I have used mild salsa.

XOXO,

Last year's jeans, this year's capris!

This is kind of a spin-off of to my post Last year's dress, this year's shirt!  If you have petite children like I do, they grow up faster than they grow out.  With Gavin, it was quite frustrating finding him cute clothes that fit until he reached the toddler sizes and adjustable waistlines.  It just didn't work to let him wear his last year's jeans as capris seeing as how he's a boy.

With Kailee, it was easy to make last year's jeans into this year's capris!  While we still had to get her some jeans--jeggings are actually her preference and can be found cheap at Wal-Mart--her old ones became awesome spring-wear as adorable capris.


So if your daughter grows up faster than, out, this money-saving tip may help you as well!

XOXO,

Last year's dress, this year's shirt!

Shirt 2011

Dress 2010

 This is something I happened to try with Kailee this year.  I was not ready to say goodbye to all of her super-cute dresses from last spring/summer so I decided to see if I could make them work with leggings, jeans, and shorts.  I could!


Not only do I get to see Kailee in all her adorable dresses again this year, but it's a HUGE money saver.  I have not bought Kailee a single shirt this spring/summer.

Shirt 2011

Dress 2010

Plus thanks to my mom's generosity and ADORABLE hand-me-downs from my cousin Ella, I have not had to buy Kailee a single dress.  She is set for the summer!

XOXO,

Need help carrying all that pool gear?

If you are like me and find that you have way more gear to carry to and from the pool than you can possibly handle, then I have got the solution for you!

A draw-string laundry bag!

It's big, breathable--so all the toys/floaties can dry out easily--and makes it easy to carry all the big inflatable gear back and forth.  The one pictured contains 2 sets of water wings, 2 balls, to inner-tubes, 2 boats, 2 watering cans and 2 pairs of goggles.  Since I took this picture, I've also added 2 more pairs of water wings and still have room for even more gear.

As a stay-at-home mom in the summertime, I often have to take the kids to the pool by myself.  This makes it much more manageable and convenient--something all moms can appreciate.

XOXO,

From one Pen-Fanatic to Another

My faves!

If you didn't already know, I LOVE PENS!  I am very particular about them and often have expensive taste in pens that write perfectly to my taste and come in sets with multiple colors--especially pink and purple.  I always have a pen with me, usually at least 10 in my purse.

Over the years I have come to realize that there are many pen-fanatics in the world as well as many inconsiderate-pen-borrowers.  At conferences, professional development, or even in a class, I have lost many a good pen to people with whom I've so generously shared because they forget to give it back (or quite possibly, they pocket it because of it's obvious awesomeness).

Inexpensive, Expendable, and Easy-to-Replace

I have a solution for those out there, like me, who spend good money on pens and can't keep replacing them...  Always carry cheap pens to share!  Right now I have exactly 3 expendable pens in my purse in case someone asks to borrow.  When I attend professional development or a conference, I bring at least 5 pens I don't mind losing forever.

XOXO,

RSVP - More proof that I'm brilliant!

I want to begin by saying that I am a huge fan of evites but evites can't happen if you don't have all of the guests' email addresses.  What you are about to read is my solution for when evites aren't an option, but you want a convenient, handy RSVP option.

Nowadays it's not a strange idea to have people RSVP via email.  It's quick, convenient, easy to keep up with.  Well, why not create an email address to use for all RSVP's for all of your future events?  Why not create an email address like this:  For the John Doe Family: RSVP2Doe@gmail.com.  All future events the Doe family has can be RSVPed to that email address.  Now this might not seem too exciting, but I have more...

Right now we are about to send out invitations to Gavin's birthday party.  I created a similar type of email address.  Within the email address, I created 2 labels "Gavin's 5th Y" and "Gavin's 5th N."  I can label each RSVP and archive it so I don't lose it or have a cluttered inbox.  When I need to see how many are coming, I can click on the label "Gavin's 5th Y" and go through the necessary emails.  I can do this each time we have a party/event and easily keep it organized.

I know, this is pretty smart, but that's not even the most brilliant part...

I also created a "vacation" or "out-of-office" reply in my email settings.  The response thanks the person for RSVPing and then includes all of the party information and my phone number in case it's needed.  The auto-reply ends the day after the party.  How many times have I misplaced an invitation and had to text a parent to find out the date/time/location of a party?  How convenient would it be to have all of the information in my email which I can easily access on my iPhone.  (Of course the responsible parent would probably put all the info in my iCalendar, but I don't always think of these things).  Or, what I just thought of and probably will do in the future, take a picture on my phone (that's how I got Gavin's class list today).

Anyways, I've been sharing my brilliance with anyone who would listen today, and I have yet to find someone as excited about this as I am.  I'm pretty sure people think I'm a crazy hyper person in my enthusiasm.  Oh well, I'm excited and I know there's someone out there who will be just as excited by my idea when they read this! :)

I'm a genius!

Brady is out of town which means I don't have help taking care of things around the house--like our children.  Most mornings with Brady gone are quite stressful because I'm worried I'll forget to feed the dogs or forget to let them outside, not to mention that I have to dress and feed 2 children.  Oh yeah and myself too!

Well, as of late, Gavin is getting pretty good at dressing himself (or at least helping dress himself) but Kailee is a wild one.  She tries to escape throughout the entire process.  What could take 2 minutes often takes 10 when dealing with an obstinate 1 year old.  

This brings me to my brilliance.  The past 3 nights, I have gotten Kailee dressed in her next day's school clothes before bed.  Monday night she slept in a dress, last night she slept in leggings and what might be the world's softest shirt, tonight she's sleeping in a dress.  I have successfully removed one of the morning's stressors by dressing her the night before.

Yep, I'm a genius!

Birthday Invitations ~ I've got a cheap cute way!

Gavin's birthday is coming up which of course means a big birthday party with his family and friends.  Last year I got very fancy, expensive-ish invitations that probably were a waste of money but part of the appeal was that I did not have to hand write each one.

This year, I knew I would not want to write out a bunch of invitations (I mean, there's like 19 kids in his class alone; my hand gets tired just thinking about it) but I wanted to save money.  Then I remembered our Christmas cards, we ordered 100 for less than $20.  Remember the secret?  (TBH, I don't know if I posted about it on here or not)

But anyways, here's my secret: photo prints and Microsoft paint!  I took a picture of the kids by a blank wall and added text using Microsoft Paint.  Then I uploaded it to Shutterfly and ordered prints at Target.  Badaboom Badabing!  I even alternated colors of the letters in the words and used different fonts to make them super-adorable.  So tonight, I spent an hour making Gavin's birthday invitations, and I must say they turned out great!

Now you might be wondering, why did it take me a whole hour?  Well... Microsoft Paint is finicky.  If you save the file mid-type or click off the text box, you cannot access it again.  So you are stuck with whatever text you already added, where it is, without the option to edit it (unless there's a secret way of doing so that I have not yet discovered).  Stupidly, it took me 45 minutes to realize I could edit the text in Microsoft Office before copying it into the text box in Paint.  I'll remember that for next time.

Now we just have to figure out the cake and party favors.  Send cheap party favor ideas my way!

Here's the picture before I edited it

Here's what the final product looks like with personal information blocked out
(Can't risk a student finding this page and trying to crash)