Countdown to Halloween!

Here is my Halloween advent calendar! I used a ton of Halloween scrap paper and my circle cutter. I then glued them to two 12 X 12 scrapbook pages and strung them together. Each day we will open the circles and have a fun fall craft, recipe, or adventure to do!





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Hutch Shelves #30--DONE

The bottom cabinet of my hutch pretty much had become a place to toss things that I didn't have space for! Just a big mess. After reading this post at The Idea Room I decided I needed to clean it out and make it more functionable! I even had bought the same little drawer containers from Target (mine are black) and even though I had less space I was determined to make it usable!

Before:



Just a big random mess! So I cleared it out and labeled my bins. I feel so organized now:

Quick Fix #4 DONE

So I bought two of these frames at Target on clearance. I thought they were super cute and wanted to put them on either side of my hutch. The only problem is that they would only hang one way:



Its bothered me ever since I hung them up that they were facing the same way. I've wanted to change it every time I looked at them. I decided to just do it:



Awwwww so much better! I couldn't get good pictures though because of my dining room light fixture. It was hanging in my way but you get the idea :)

Cork Board LOVE

I found this four pack of 12X12 cork board at Rite-Aid when I was looking through the school supplies and I just HAD to have it:



I've been really unhappy with the space on the wall above my scrapbook table ever since I re-organized the area. So I decided to use the cork board to hang unused/duplicate pictures.

So I went through my scrapbook stash to find some inspiration. I decided to go very simple and just spelled out the word LOVE down one side. Then I used coordinating border stickers down the other side:



Close Up:



Really plain, simple, and easy but I LOVE the way it looks now:



P.S. I know the pictures are silly and put on funky but that is how I like it!

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Trip to the Beach---#62 DONE

Even though it was windy, cold, and rainy....we still had an awesome time at the beach!

Interview Your Toddler!

I don't know why it never occurred to me to do this before now! I had to interview Jaden for his "special day" at Pre-K and his responses surprised me. They also made me feel proud and laugh! I highly recommend interviewing your child! I think I will do this twice a year and put it in his scrapbook as the first page. Here are some questions to give you some ideas (plus my son's hilarious answers lol)!

Favorite thing to do with your feet (smell them)
Favorite thing to do in the kitchen (rocking around)
Favorite thing to do with your parents (sit on Dad's lap)
Favorite thing to do outside (play with our dog)
Favorite thing to do inside (play in my room with chewbaca, monkey, woody, and buzz)
What makes you giggle (when Dad tickles me and I tickle him too)
Favorite toy (monkey because I got him at the zoo)
Favorite food (peanut and butter jelly sandwich)

Summer Fun Week 12

Well we had skipped last week and I was determined not to skip this week! Our schedule is getting a bit busy but here is what we did this week:

Moon Sand (worst invention EVER lol):



Juice Ice cubes:



Learning how to swing (by pumping legs!):



Juice Cubes Taste Test:

Mt. Rainier Day Trip---#70 DONE!

We had an amazing day hiking at Mt. Rainier today!

Happy Campers---#60 DONE!

There is just something special about the great outdoors:


With no distractions, no electronics, and sleeping under the stars:



I wish we could camp every weekend!

Little Containers, Big Difference!

Ok so I have no before pictures but I promise these little containers have made a big improvement to my space! I LOVE containers. Any kind! Most of the time they are inexpensive and there are so many ways to use them! Here are some of the containers I have used to organize my bathroom better! This is all in an attempt to get #46 crossed off my 101 in 1001 list!

For cotton balls and Q-tips:




I found this for like $2 at Wal-Mart, not sure what it is supposed to be used for but I love it on top of the toilet to hold extra TP and Jaden's wipes in the bathroom:




My makeup drawer re-do, these white containers are two for a dollar and the perfect size to throw all my makeup and tools into. I also used one of my makeup bags (the animal print one) to hold all of my rubber bands/headbands/bobby pins:



For Jaden's bath toys, these were $1 each and hold many small bath toys. Also you can't see in the picture but they are not solid, they have circle holes. So after bath I can actually use the container to scoop up the toys and the water drains out. I also found a little mesh bag that had a Burts Bee gift set. I used it to put his washcloths in:




I bought one more container that I wasn't able to use in the bathroom as planned! It is a plastic hanging file folder thingy! I wanted to install it on the inside of the bathroom cabinet but the cabinet door is not wide enough. So now I get to find another use for that!

Linking Up With:

1 Down 100 to Go!

I added a new challenge to my blog on the side. I was inspired by a parenting board that I frequent to start a 101 in 1001 challenge! I have listed 101 tasks to complete in 1001 days! I am very excited to get these things DONE! My start date was yesterday, Sunday August 15th, and my end day will be May 12th, 2013!

My first project was to clean out my makeup drawer! After making my top 100 list it made me realize that I hang on to WAY too much junk! So it was nice to combine these two projects. Now my drawer is cleaned and organized (I even used one of my make up bags YAY) and I got rid of a ton of unused makeup. Even though I still own WAY more then just 10 items of makeup I did purge 35 items! Feels good!

So...1 down (item #35)...100 to go!

Summer Fun Week 10

We had another busy week and I tried to fit in some activities! Most of these were NOT from our Summer Fun Container but just things I tried to fit in to other things I needed to do or get done!

Name in Magazines: I had a stack of magazines/junk mail to go through so I sat Jaden on my lap and asked him to point out the letters of his name when he saw them.

Cook Breakfast: Jaden wanted to help so I let him stir the butter and crack the eggs. He had so much fun "cooking" his breakfast!

Bowling:




Spaghetti Bath:

Declutter Makeup Round 1

Making my 100 things list really inspired me! This is the makeup portion from my list:

Foundation
Powder
Sephora Makeup Kit
Eyeliner
Mascara
Tweezers
Burtsbees Chap Stick
Tinted Lip Gloss
Compact Mirror
Make-Up Bag

That is IT, 10 things....So I started with my Make-Up Bags...I wrote 1 down on my list but look how many I found:



EIGHT! Why do I have 8 make up bags??? So I decided to get rid of all but 1 of them...however..which one? They are all so cute!! But because its ridiculous to keep all of them I was able to semi-easily pick three to donate. I had a harder time with the other 5. So I decided to keep 1 for my bathroom/purse and 1 will go into my suitcase for when I travel. The other 3...well I can't decide. I don't need them but I don't want to just get rid of them :)

My brilliant plan is to start a December box. I am going to throw these 3 bags (and anything else that I can't decide on) into my December box and if I haven't used them by December..they are out of here!!!!

Off to find unique ways to use these bags so I can keep them!

100 Things Challenge

I came across a news article yesterday about a lady who decided to get rid of all of her possessions except for 100 items. I stumbled upon this blog of the man who started this challenge. I find the concept really interesting!

I really don't think that I could do it though! BUT it did inspire me to make a list of the 100 most important personal material items that I own. I thought that by writing it down it would inspire me to really think about the rest of the junk that I own and whether or not I really NEED those items!

Here is what I came up with (I am not counting things that my family owns together like furniture, dishes, etc):

Car
Laptop
Wedding Ring
Cell Phone
Glasses
Contacts
Wallet
Scrapbook Collection
PJ's
Blank Tank
White Tank
Grey Tank
Undergarments
Gym Shoes
Yoga Pants
Running Pants
Jeans (2 Pairs, Taking Up 2 Items)
Dress Pants (3 Pairs, Taking Up 3 Items)
Skirt Suit
Toothbrush
Face Wash
Lotion
Body wash/Loofah
Shampoo/Conditioner
Razor
Pumice Stone
Deodorant
Foundation
Powder
Sephora Makeup Kit
Eyeliner
Mascara
Tweezers
Burtsbees Chap Stick
Tinted Lip Gloss
Rubber Band
Head Band
Brush
Blow Dryer
Hair Straightener
Nail Polish
Polish Remover
Cotton Balls
Planner Notebook
Camera
Flip Flops (2 Pairs, Taking Up 2 Items)
Winter Boots
Black Flats
Black High Heel Boots
Black Hoodie
Light Jacket
Linen Pants
Black Dress
Grey Scarf
Wedding Dress (boxed)
Magazine Subscription
Floss
Wax (candles)
Partylite Trio Candle Holders
Christmas Decorations
Halloween Decorations
School Years Momento Box
Ipod
T-Shirt
Sweatshirt
Yoga Matt
Shirt (I'd Keep At Least 7, Taking Up 7 Items)
Suitcase
Bobby Pins
Shorts
Childhood Blanket
Hair Gel
Fingernail Clippers
Recipe Box
Cookie Cutter Set
Paint Supplies
Compact Mirror
Silver Cuff Bracelet
Winter Coat
Sigg Water Bottle
Travel Coffee Mug
Stationary
Gloves
Make-Up Bag
Movie Collection
Blue Beaded Necklace
Teddy Bear (husband gave me when I had our son)
Blouse (2, Taking Up 2 Items)

So there you have it, my 100 top items I own :) The rest of my material possessions better watch out because my next list is going to be of the things that this list has inspired me to get rid of!

Summer Fun Week 9

Playdate with cousins-I was off on Monday and so was my Aunt so she brought my cousins over and we had a whole day of games, fun, and food!

Pictionary-This is such a hilarious game to play with a preschooler! I love to see him guess the simple pictures I am drawing and then try to guess what each of his "blobs" are :)

Sponge Painting-Just sponges and paint-so simple!

Lunch at the lake:



Thank-You note to Grandma-We used our sponge painting to make a card for Grandma!

Yearly Photo Wall

My mom actually did this with our school photos when I lived at home. She proudly displayed my sisters and I yearly photos in the hallway. I secretly called it the wall of shame as I hated looking at all of my awkward grade school to High School pictures. But now I love the idea of displaying every year of my sons life. I love to see how much he has grown and changed. I also love to actually use them instead of storing them away each year to display the new photo!



Sorry the pictures aren't that great, the lighting in the hallway isn't very good plus I don't have alot of space to take a picture :) Linking up to:



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