Where have I been for the past two months?! Forgetting to post updates about the family of course! I'll do better, I swear! It has been a crazy couple of months. James was away for six weeks for training and then we picked up the boys for the summer on July 1st. A lot has happened, and I will provide information on what we have been up to...which is quite a lot!
Well, Saturday was laundry day and I asked the boys to strip their beds and bring the sheets down for washing. Joe and Jaime come sheepishly down the stairs and Joe looks particularly concerned. He declares that he has broken Jaime's bed. Really? We go up stairs and sure enough a side rail is completely broken in half, a clean break. Joe says that he only sat down on the bed.....
We bought a set of bunk beds in 2007 which we were smart enough to buy knowing that they could turn into single beds, which is what we did when we moved into the new house and gave each boy a room. Well, there was no way around having to purchase a new bed. I was planning on bringing back a bed frame from my parents for Jaime anyway. But we needed a bed now and not in a month. It was to late in the day to make it to Ikea with traffic so we faced the wrath that is Ikea on a Sunday afternoon. We found a bed, made the purchase and hauled it home. As with any Ikea purchase it took about two hours to assemble.
The boys did great with helping putting it together, but about an hour into the project they were both bored. But they stuck through it. The bed has two drawers under the mattress which is great and Jaime is completely thrilled with the new bed.
I'd post a photo, but I broke the camera during a hike in North Carolina two weeks ago when it fell out of my pocket, hit a rock, and fell about ten feet. That is another story.....
Showing posts with label household projects. Show all posts
Showing posts with label household projects. Show all posts
Monday, July 23, 2012
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Bundles of organization
Last year before we moved, or maybe even in 2010, I probably did the most Martha Stewart-est thing of my life. I organized the boys clothes. But not just any sort of organizational way. I believe I was inspired by a Martha Stewart organizational segment I saw On Demand two years ago. But I can't be sure. But it was working for me.
We don't have that much room for the boys clothing, which we don't have that much of since we only see them two weekends a month during the fall, winter, and spring. It is during the summer that we need a lot more clothes. Joe is growing every month it seems while Jaime is starting to grow, but at 11 he is still wearing size 8. I had been organizing their clothes by each boy and then by season. I have found this to be troublesome when trying to understand what we had for each boy in terms of clothes. We would buy clothing that we didn't need. And the clothes that were to small for Joe but to big for Jaime were mixed in with all the clothes. Well, I believe I have found a system that will hopefully save time and money! At first, I just took my left over Christmas wrapping supplies, a pen, scissors, and a couple of bins.
Instead of dividing the clothing by boy, I divided it by size. All "large" long sleeve shirts went to a pile. All "10" shorts went into another pile. Then using curly ribbon I wrapped them up like a bundle of clothes of yore. I tied the ribbon and left a little room so the bundle could be picked up from the top. I labeled each bundle by using a gift tag writing the size in the "To" space and then type of clothing in the "From" space. I punched a hole through the tag (I always like the self adhesive kind which would just fall off the clothing eventually) and slipped a end of the ribbon through the hole taking the tag all the way to the knot and then tying the ribbon in a bow. Viola! A organized bundle of clothing! Then I divided the clothing into bins labeled either "summer" or "winter." Now when I need larger clothing for Jaime I can easily find them by sorting through the bundles! A couple of snips with scissors and the bundle will be released. And when Joe outgrow his 16's (yes, the soon to be 13 year old is wearing small men's clothing) I can bundle them up and store them until Jaime is wearing 16's (if that every happens!).
Several of months ago I purchased twine and pre-strung shipping tags to make the effort even more organized. With the warm weather here a couple of weeks ago I was able to reorganize and update the bins. I was much more impressed with what I came up with:
Sometimes I scare James with my organizational fits. But it always pays off in the end.....
We don't have that much room for the boys clothing, which we don't have that much of since we only see them two weekends a month during the fall, winter, and spring. It is during the summer that we need a lot more clothes. Joe is growing every month it seems while Jaime is starting to grow, but at 11 he is still wearing size 8. I had been organizing their clothes by each boy and then by season. I have found this to be troublesome when trying to understand what we had for each boy in terms of clothes. We would buy clothing that we didn't need. And the clothes that were to small for Joe but to big for Jaime were mixed in with all the clothes. Well, I believe I have found a system that will hopefully save time and money! At first, I just took my left over Christmas wrapping supplies, a pen, scissors, and a couple of bins.
Instead of dividing the clothing by boy, I divided it by size. All "large" long sleeve shirts went to a pile. All "10" shorts went into another pile. Then using curly ribbon I wrapped them up like a bundle of clothes of yore. I tied the ribbon and left a little room so the bundle could be picked up from the top. I labeled each bundle by using a gift tag writing the size in the "To" space and then type of clothing in the "From" space. I punched a hole through the tag (I always like the self adhesive kind which would just fall off the clothing eventually) and slipped a end of the ribbon through the hole taking the tag all the way to the knot and then tying the ribbon in a bow. Viola! A organized bundle of clothing! Then I divided the clothing into bins labeled either "summer" or "winter." Now when I need larger clothing for Jaime I can easily find them by sorting through the bundles! A couple of snips with scissors and the bundle will be released. And when Joe outgrow his 16's (yes, the soon to be 13 year old is wearing small men's clothing) I can bundle them up and store them until Jaime is wearing 16's (if that every happens!).
Several of months ago I purchased twine and pre-strung shipping tags to make the effort even more organized. With the warm weather here a couple of weeks ago I was able to reorganize and update the bins. I was much more impressed with what I came up with:
Sometimes I scare James with my organizational fits. But it always pays off in the end.....
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Doggie Dooley
This past Christmas my sister bought Lulu a Christmas present. I thought it was just a toy or something small. The biggest box she brought over was for the dog. I had no idea what would be inside of it. And when I opened the box on Christmas morning on behalf of Lulu, I started to laugh....it was a poo composter!
What is a poo composter? It is an in-ground pet waste toilet of sorts. The dog isn't expected to use the composter. It just breaks down the dog's poo naturally instead of using plastic bags going to a land fill. I've been talking about one for two years but didn't really find anything; apparently if I had searched "in-ground pet waste" instead of "poo composter" I would have found it much sooner. Regardless, the Doggie Dooley was installed last weekend.
The directions suggested installing the "toilet" away from the house, but with the size of our back yard that wasn't really an option, but this corner worked quite nicely.
Why did we wait so long? The "toilet" must be installed in a four foot hole. A four foot hole. So we had to wait for the ground to warm up and an extra pair of hands. James' brother-in-law John came in handy.
John and James made quick work of the four foot hole. However, it left a big pile of dirt in my backyard for a week.
To get it started you add 6 gallons of water and the digester power (which is added weekly).
Lulu wasn't that excited about the installation as much as I was. No more plastic bags! Except when we are in public and when the ground temperature falls below 40 degrees. Regardless I am very excited about this latest addition!
What is a poo composter? It is an in-ground pet waste toilet of sorts. The dog isn't expected to use the composter. It just breaks down the dog's poo naturally instead of using plastic bags going to a land fill. I've been talking about one for two years but didn't really find anything; apparently if I had searched "in-ground pet waste" instead of "poo composter" I would have found it much sooner. Regardless, the Doggie Dooley was installed last weekend.
The directions suggested installing the "toilet" away from the house, but with the size of our back yard that wasn't really an option, but this corner worked quite nicely.
Monday, March 12, 2012
An itch to see some changes
Now that James and I are coming up on our first year in our first home, we have started to finally make changes. I sort of focused on furniture first (bookshelves, pie safes, dressers, etc.) and now I'm ready for paint and updates. Last weekend was the first major change we've made. And it was just because a got a bug up my butt to see something different for a change.
We painted and updated the fixtures in the master bathroom. I'm only talking about two and a half walls so it was really easy to tackle being so small and having paint left over from the old house. I wish I had thought to do a before and after photo. But alas, I'll only be able to provide an after photo....later. We need to touch up the ceiling and clean it first!
I really like it and it makes me feel like we've accomplished something. Especially since we also updated the light fixture over our vanity (which is outside the bathroom itself) from a horrible 1980s "modern" monstrosity to a simple bronze finished beauty. That was an adventure. And one that I hope doesn't repeat itself as we slowly replace the light fixtures throughout the house.I even went a little wild by replacing the switches and plugs with brown units instead of the traditional white or almond color and used bronzed plate covers! My sister graciously helped us out by replacing those outlets and switches, including those in the guest bedroom, guest bath, and in Jaime's room. We haven't figured out which breaker controls the outlets in Joe's room yet so they remain on the list to do. That breaker box is a blog post on its own.
The last new change we made was by rearranging our bedroom furniture so that we have easy access to our sole window. The cats and James absolutely love this new layout. You can now find Benning pretty much on the ottoman under the window catching the morning sun. Alexander loves to look out over the neighborhood.
The updated electrical flare will look really great once we get all the rooms painted. We've picked out all of the colors for the rooms except for a couple that we're still debating about. But that will take some time as the painting supplies are currently being used by Molly and Chris as they update their own house. A couple of years ago Molly and I combined our painting supplies to save on costs, so I'll have to time our projects in between their own painting projects.
We painted and updated the fixtures in the master bathroom. I'm only talking about two and a half walls so it was really easy to tackle being so small and having paint left over from the old house. I wish I had thought to do a before and after photo. But alas, I'll only be able to provide an after photo....later. We need to touch up the ceiling and clean it first!
I really like it and it makes me feel like we've accomplished something. Especially since we also updated the light fixture over our vanity (which is outside the bathroom itself) from a horrible 1980s "modern" monstrosity to a simple bronze finished beauty. That was an adventure. And one that I hope doesn't repeat itself as we slowly replace the light fixtures throughout the house.I even went a little wild by replacing the switches and plugs with brown units instead of the traditional white or almond color and used bronzed plate covers! My sister graciously helped us out by replacing those outlets and switches, including those in the guest bedroom, guest bath, and in Jaime's room. We haven't figured out which breaker controls the outlets in Joe's room yet so they remain on the list to do. That breaker box is a blog post on its own.
The last new change we made was by rearranging our bedroom furniture so that we have easy access to our sole window. The cats and James absolutely love this new layout. You can now find Benning pretty much on the ottoman under the window catching the morning sun. Alexander loves to look out over the neighborhood.
The updated electrical flare will look really great once we get all the rooms painted. We've picked out all of the colors for the rooms except for a couple that we're still debating about. But that will take some time as the painting supplies are currently being used by Molly and Chris as they update their own house. A couple of years ago Molly and I combined our painting supplies to save on costs, so I'll have to time our projects in between their own painting projects.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Creature of habits....
Routines. We all have them. Some more strict than others I suppose. I secretly envy the strict routine that Sheldon has on "The Big Bang Theory" for the comfort of knowing what will be happening next but knowing that I could never have such a routine. Except for when it comes to the animals. That is a routine that is almost never broken. And it is funny how one house guest can change things.
My sister Nancy is staying with us for a few days and helping James and I out by replacing our 30+ year old outlets and light switches. Gives her something to do and saves us some time. Nancy loves Lulu and Lulu loves Nancy. About as much as she loves our other sister Molly. And it is funny how she loves each of my sisters in a different way. Just like a human even. She knows what she can get away with depending on which sister is around.
So the weekday routine starts at 5:00 AM when I crawl/force myself out of bed to give Lulu a bathroom break, feed all the animals, prepare coffee/lunches for James and I, get James out the door, and then spend the next hour and a half trying to get myself out the door for work. Normally after Lulu has finished her breakfast she'll hang out with me downstairs until I go upstairs and then she is hanging out on the bed having a post-breakfast nap. We always go outside one more time and then back to the kitchen to clean up bowls, coffee pot, and any utensils used to prepare lunch which are the last activities I undertake before leaving for work. Now, Lulu usually hangs out with me while this is happening knowing that as soon as I dry my hands I'll go for the bag of big bones and she knows its time to go in her crate. However, with Nancy staying with us Lulu knows there is going to be a different routine.
This morning as I was cleaning up the kitchen I realized that Lulu wasn't on the first floor. And then I knew exactly where I would find her: outside the door to the guest bedroom waiting to be let in and lifted up onto the bed so she could shower her Aunt Nancy with kisses and settle down for post-breakfast nap #2. And sure enough that is exactly where I found her.
So I opened the door, where she immediately went and put her paws on the bed and looked at me with those "Okay Mom! Lift me up! I get to spend the day with Aunt Nancy!!!" eyes
Such a funny dog.....
My sister Nancy is staying with us for a few days and helping James and I out by replacing our 30+ year old outlets and light switches. Gives her something to do and saves us some time. Nancy loves Lulu and Lulu loves Nancy. About as much as she loves our other sister Molly. And it is funny how she loves each of my sisters in a different way. Just like a human even. She knows what she can get away with depending on which sister is around.
So the weekday routine starts at 5:00 AM when I crawl/force myself out of bed to give Lulu a bathroom break, feed all the animals, prepare coffee/lunches for James and I, get James out the door, and then spend the next hour and a half trying to get myself out the door for work. Normally after Lulu has finished her breakfast she'll hang out with me downstairs until I go upstairs and then she is hanging out on the bed having a post-breakfast nap. We always go outside one more time and then back to the kitchen to clean up bowls, coffee pot, and any utensils used to prepare lunch which are the last activities I undertake before leaving for work. Now, Lulu usually hangs out with me while this is happening knowing that as soon as I dry my hands I'll go for the bag of big bones and she knows its time to go in her crate. However, with Nancy staying with us Lulu knows there is going to be a different routine.
This morning as I was cleaning up the kitchen I realized that Lulu wasn't on the first floor. And then I knew exactly where I would find her: outside the door to the guest bedroom waiting to be let in and lifted up onto the bed so she could shower her Aunt Nancy with kisses and settle down for post-breakfast nap #2. And sure enough that is exactly where I found her.
So I opened the door, where she immediately went and put her paws on the bed and looked at me with those "Okay Mom! Lift me up! I get to spend the day with Aunt Nancy!!!" eyes
Such a funny dog.....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)