Closet organizing & teenage weirdness…. huh?
My weekend was jam-packed which leads to my posting late on this Monday night. I started organizing my bedroom closet Friday along with allowing four girls spend the night at the house. Needless to say I was not able to get it finished. I’m still working on it and look forward to sharing before and afters. I had no idea that things in my closet could fill up my master bedroom. The great news is that so far I have 6 large bags full of clothes and shoes that we are donating for disabled veterans.
Now to the four girls spending the night. That was actually a breeze. It really is a lot less crazy now that their a bit older. The girls were pretty behaved. It wasn’t until the next day that things were crazy for a bit. We had plans to take our daughter to get a new bat, bat bag, new glove, and anything else we though she might need for softball. I let the girls know that we would have to take everyone home soon so that we could get some things done. It was then that things got crazy. My daughter came to me to let me know that I couldn’t take one of the girl’s home. Something about she couldn’t go home without her sister. I was just a bit confused by that. The sister didn’t spend the night at our home. I asked my daughter if her friend could call her parents and see if it would be okay if I take her home. It seemed to be a huge deal. So then I recommended that this girl call her parents to see if it would be okay if she went to another one of the girls houses so that we could run our errands. That didn’t seem to be an option either. At this point I have to admit that I am getting a little suspicious. My daughter said that her friend was going to be picked up by an older sister who would come get her when she woke up. I explained to my daughter that we cannot wait for her sister to wake up and come get her. We had to get errands done and it was already afternoon. Finally my daughter tells me that if I pick up the other sister that I could take them both home. It wasnt that I didn’t want to pick up the other sister but the other sister was not at my home. She was not my responsibility. I felt as though the situation was a bit odd. My daughter was so upset that I wouldn’t pick up the other sister that it caused a huge fight between us. I tried to explain my concern and why I felt the way I did about this but all my daughter couldn’t understand. The girl told us that her sister was on the way. We waited for a bit and I decided to take the dog for a walk. Next thing I see is this girl and another one of the girls that spent the night tell me they are walking to the house where the other sister is at so that they do not inconvenience their dad, who now is apparently the one picking them up, and didn’t want him to have to drive two places. At that moment I felt like someone slapped me in the face. Did they really just tell me that they were walking to where her sister was and that they didn’t want to inconvenience the person coming to pick them up. Why couldn’t I have just drove this girl over to the house that her sister was at? Is this bizarre to anyone else? Are teenagers just that inconsiderate? Was there something else going on?
Sunday came quickly and our daughters ball practice was cancelled due to rain. My husband and I decided to take my daughter and her friend to the batting cages for a couple of hours. There were only two time slots that I could get back to back so we really had to rush to get there. Would you believe that half way there I realized that I had forgotten my purse and my husband his wallet? We rushed around and forgot money. You have to have money to pay for the batting cages. We got there and they allowed us to go ahead and get started while my husband ran home to get his wallet and my purse. At least we didn’t forget the kids. I had to laugh. The girls had a great time and they came away from batting practice more confident.
This was also the weekend for setting our clocks forward. Although it was daylight a bit longer , Sunday night came quickly. I hoped to go to bed early and get a good start on the week but because of the change in time I found myself up until after two in the morning. I fell asleep tonight watching a movie with my daughter. I think it was around six thirty. I woke up around nine thirty so here I am at twelve thirty and I’m not sleeping.
I better call it a night. Just a reminder that I am still running the $25 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway. It will end this weekend so be sure to enter everyday.
Goodnight or Good Morning, which ever.
Kitchen Org Project Follow- Up
It has been a busy weekend for me. I had a lot of fun working on reorganizing my kitchen. I’ve come to love having my home in order. It makes it a lot more functional for the family. When you look at my kitchen at first glance you would never know the dysfunction behind the closed drawers and cabinets. Just take a look at this mess. How in the world did we find anything?
I cannot recall what finally made me say that enough is enough. Maybe I finally got tired of all the sifting through things. Half the time I never found what I was looking for.
So how did I do it? Well, let me just first say that I wanted to organize but I also wanted to organize on a low-budget. I ordered some items from Amazon to help on this organizing crusade. Sadly, because we got several inches of snow and ice it delayed my items. That’s okay though, they will be here tomorrow and I’ll be excited to put them in the places I have in mind for them.
So I started at my local Dollar General where I found some great plastic containers for organizing. I paid a $1 for each for most of the items but a couple of items I paid $3 for. I think that is very reasonable.
As you can see I found some other bargains while I was at the dollar store. I ended up with a box of super pretzels, some gain dryer sheets, and an organizer for my daughters shower.
I started with my drawers since they were the worst. I looked through and pitched stuff that it made no sense for me to keep anymore. I organized the junk drawers so that tools, nails, screws, etc. all have their own place. I thought about the things I would go looking for and never be able to find. I thought about the things that I would use most often and I made those items easier to get access to by placing them in the front.
I used the containers that I bought as some older Tupperware to separate my junk.
I went through each drawer, my food pantry, and each of my cabinets. I do still have a couple of cabinets left. The cabinets under my kitchen sink. I did decide to wait on those because one of the items I ordered from Amazon is specifically for underneath the kitchen sink. I think I put in 8 hours on Saturday. Probably not even 8 hours because I did some shopping in the afternoon, I took my daughter and her friend to the mall, picked them up from the mall, and went out to eat for dinner. I put in 6 hours today on finishing up. It wasn’t really a full 6 hours today either because I also re-potted my hibiscus and added new soil to 3 other plants in my home during that time. I get sidetracked sometimes. I’m laughing as I type that because it never fails, I start doing one thing and I end up doing at least 3 more things.
I am extremely proud of how my pantry turned out. I even made myself a homemade spice rack out of styrofoam I had in my basement and some colored construction paper. I wrapped the foam in construction paper and secured it with hot glue. I then glued the two pieces of foam together and “wah-la”. It took me 5 minutes to make and since it would be covered with my spices I was not to concerned with the overall look. It was functional that I was aiming for.
I took the plastic containers that I bought from the dollar store to separate out certain items. My goal is to make it easy for me when looking for a spice or a particular can good but also to keep it easy for my husband and daughter. If it is not functional for the everyone it will defeat the purpose and will not stay organized. Take a look at the before and after.
See my homemade spice rack. Didn’t even cost me a penny. Just 5 minutes of my time.
I labeled the containers to make it easier to find what you are hunting for. For the labels I actually cut the name of the product off the particular product box. Yes, I am a bit proud of this, I thought it turned out pretty awesome!
Overall, I am very satisfied with the outcome of this project. I’m still very excited to finish under the kitchen sink. I have to admit that having the kitchen organized this way has really added a nice feel.
I am still looking for ideas to make this project even better. Remember to enter the $25 Amazon gift card giveaway. I am also giving away a $10 Amazon gift card to the person that shares their own organizing idea with me. If I use your idea as part of my project, you win the $10 Amazon gift card. So you have two chances to win. One by entering the drawing itself and two if you also leave me an awesome idea in the comments . Don’t forget to enter everyday!
I will do a follow-up blog on this project so that I can show everyone what I do under my sink and to also show what the items I ordered look like and how they helped. The items I am referring to were in my earlier blog post if you are curious.
I hope everyone had a great weekend.
XOXO
$10 & $25 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway- Enter to Win
I am giving away a $25 Amazon Gift card and a $10 Amazon Gift Card. In order to win you must enter the raffle by: 1) Tweeting about the giveaway, 2) like my Facebook page, 3) follow me on twitter, 4) comment on my Kitchen Organization blog post. The winner of the raffle chosen by rafflecopter will receive the $25 Amazon Gift Card. The winner of the $10 Amazon Gift Card will be selected based on the submitted idea and if I use that submitted idea in my Kitchen Org Project. You must have a valid email and be willing to share that email with me if you are the winner. The raffle will start on February 22, 2013 at 12 midnight CST, The raffle will end on March 15, 2013 at 12 CST. The winner will be announced on Sunday March 17, 2013 by mention in my blog and will also be contacted via email. It is possible to win the $25 Amazon Gift Card and the $10 Amazon Gift Card if your name is randomly chosen as the raffle winner and your idea is also the idea I choose to use in my Kitchen Org Project. You must have a valid email. I will be sending the Amazon Gift Card via email unless otherwise discussed and agreed upon. If you have questions about this giveaway please use the Contact Me tab at the top of this page.
Who beat the hell out of me?
Today is going to be a very tough day. How do I know? As I was climbing out of bed this morning and I seriously think I heard my muscles scream “don’t move, I hurt”. Then I realized it was me that was screaming. Okay, so I am exaggerating a little but I want you to understand that every muscle in my body hurts. What have I done to myself ? We took our teenager and one of her friends to the ball field. The thing is I had a really great softball coach when I played ball and he worked us hard. He worked us hard and we became great. I could help but think about my old coach as I was taking my daughter through the old softball routine that I did when I played fast pitch softball. They were having a great time and my husband and I were having a great time. It turned out that we were having about two hours worth of a great time. Just so you know I’m lucky to complete a twenty-minute exercise routine. I should have already known that this would end badly for me.
I guess I could do the “On the bright side of things” saying. I think I will. On the bright side of things not only did we have an awesome time but my husband and I are getting our butts back in shape and it is a lot more fun than that twenty-minute work out I always think about doing each morning. Notice how I threw that think about doing in there.
The girls were whooped just as much as we were after our two-hour practice. My daughters friend told me that her previous practices didn’t work her as hard as we did. After our practice we still had to grocery shop. My body was already beginning to hurt. Don’t laugh! We started walking around collecting our groceries and I recall the girls went to grab something and my husband says to me “I think I need a wheel chair but don’t tell them I said that”. So as soon as the girls came back with whatever it was they had to have I told them what he said. He denied it. Now you can laugh.
As I sit here this morning drinking my coffee and although it feels like someone beat the hell out of me I can’t help but think how freaking awesome it is that I get to do something I really enjoy with the people I really love.
So if anyone finds me laying on the ground like in the graphic below. At least everyone will know that I went out happy.
Happy Monday!
XOXO
What your teen wants you to know. A Teenage Perspective- It’s not easy
Being a parent is hard and our children do not come with manuals. Being a teenager is hard and we parents do not come with manuals either.
The problem with being a teenager is that it is like a roller coaster. It is a bit exhausting being a teenager and just as exhausting for parents who have to live with one. One minute they are happy and the next minute they want to scream at the world. I recall seeing a television program that talked about teens and the program explained in-depth that the teen brain is still “under construction”. The impulsiveness, the mood swings, and all that other crazy stuff is an important process in the brains development. I am sure glad to know that there is a reason for all this madness. I have to laugh when my daughter tells me that I don’t know what it is like to be a teenager. Good lord, do you think I could forget. I remember it starting out all awkward and stressful but I also remember it getting better. That is what I want my daughter to understand. It gets better!
I asked my daughter to share some thoughts with us. Things that us “Parents” should know. If she feels this way I’m sure there are other teens that feel the same. I’m proud of my daughter for being a voice. Asking her to do the video is one more way for me to understand and to continue to stay connected with her. Parents talk to your teenagers and teenagers talk to your parents. We parents are not as lame as you think we are and we love you more than you could ever imagine.
Here what my teen has to say: