Handy Mommy

So today I didn’t have a lot of motivation to do anything productive. All I really wanted to do was lay around in my pjs drinking coffee and watching TV.  After much thought I realized I couldn’t waste the day doing nothing even though I really, really, really wanted to.  But instead of cleaning bathrooms or mopping floors I decided I needed to bust out my tools and build two scrapbook storage cubes that I purchased about 4 months ago.  I already have 4 of them but I have accumulated so many more scrapbook supplies that I needed to buy 2 more.  They have been sitting in my bedroom this whole time. I had hopes of Mr. G assembling them for me but no. He just walked by them day after day after day after day.  So today I took matters into my own hands, literally.  I wasn’t sure how much time it would take or weather or not I would give up half way through but I figured I would at least attempt to put them together.  I am so proud of myself.  I put them together in no time and got all of my scrapbook stuff organized and looking all pretty.  

Here is the first cube.  Easy enough right. 

Not too many pieces. I got this. 

I had a helper.

Checking our work.

TADA!! All done!!

Cube #2.  Looks a little more complicated.

Um yeah. That's  a lot of stuff.

No worries. My helper has got it covered.

The easy part is done.

The first drawer is done. These suckers took some time to build and my hand was hurting by the fourth one.

All done!!! YAY me!!

Here they are all lined up with their friends.  Don't you just love them?  

From Picture Books to Chapter Books

I was feeling a little better today so I thought I would tackle Isabella's room. She had laundry piled high that needed to be put away and a bookcase that was in dire need of attention.  Books were falling out of every shelf and stacked to the high heavens on the top shelf.  As I began to go through her books I realized that it had been a long time since any of those picture books had been read.  She hasn't shown any interest in Dora or Little Quack for some time.  She hasn't asked about Harry the Dirty Dog or why those Five Monkeys keep jumping on the bed.  No, she no longer chooses a picture book from her shelf at night for a bedtime story.  She spends most of her time reading chapter books.  Books about that rambunctious Junie B. Jones or that pesty Ramona Quimby.  She loves reading about Ralph Mouse and his awesome motorcyle and we've collected books about the fairies of Pixie Hollow. When we do have time for a bedtime story we now take turms reading pages from said chapter books.  The same books I read as a child. The same books I cherished and loved and could read over and over.  Now I get to read them again and share them with my sweet girl.  She loves being read to and I truly believe it's because I was still teaching kindergarten when she was growing in my belly and I read to my students every day. As I read to them she was also able to hear the words and enjoy those stories.  She loved books as a toddler and would sit in my lap and let me read to her over and over the same stories.  She would also make me read to her when she was in the bathtub.  She also likes to enjoy a good read while she takes care of her business on the toilet (don't tell her I shared that with you, she would kill me).  Books are always gifts around here for birthdays, Christmas and Easter.  She gets excited for each new book and it quickly becomes her favorite.  I'm thrilled she loves books as much as I do. I can't wait until she comes home today and sees all of her books lined up and ready for her to choose as her next read.  Here are some pics of some of our favorite books.

Getting Organized

I have been busy trying to get myself more organized. Most people who know me would say that I am an organized person. I keep a color coded daily planner, color coded family calendar, I LOVE binders, page protectors and file folders. Baskets and bins are my BFF.  So it would only make sense that I tackle the one area in our house that seems to have gone unorganized for far too long.  Our closet.  I tackled the closet a couple of weeks ago and I was able to get rid of 14 garbage sized bags of clothes. Yes you read that right. 14 bags.  It felt really good to purge so much stuff from my life. I felt lighter and less stressed out when I walked into my closet to choose an outfit the next day.  But dear blog friends that was not the end of the closet cleaning. I decided that in order to maximize the space we had I was going to buy some of those awesome Huggable Hangers.  I love them!! They really do hug the clothes and keep them from falling off and they just look so fancy.  I was on the lookout for some bins to store my purses. We found some at Ikea but when we got them home they were too big for our shelf so I am still on the lookout for the right sized bins or baskets.  The closet is far from done. I have big plans to make it a functional organized place. Which of course takes time and with a 3 year old to keep entertained all day time for big projects is rare.  But if I plan my days right I can carve out an hour here and there to get it done.  After the big clean sweep of the closet Mr.G and I decided on a rule to keep us from getting into such a mess again. Our rule is: for every new thing that comes into the house, one thing must go.  It's a good rule but one I'm sure will take some discipline to get used to.  At least on my part. I'm great at the bringing in the new stuff, it's the getting rid of the old stuff that's the problem.  I hope that if there is an area of your home that you want to get organized you are encouraged to tackle it head on.  There is nothing better than having a place for everything and having everything in its place.