Organization 101

For some time now, I've had a dry erase board on the wall of our office. It is conveniently located to the right of where I sit to surf the net. When I first put it up, I tried to be good and jot down reminder notes, but more often than not, I didn't.

So beginning this year I decided to tighten up and write myself reminder notes on the board. Now, every day when I get on the computer, I take a look at my reminders and check them off as I go along. I have to admit it has done wonders with keeping up with my "to do" list. I'm even writing things down for the rest of the fam.

Although it has always been in my nature to want to be organized, I have miserably failed over the years. It took moving into this house and designating a space for a home office that has made me want to be better organized. It is just so nice to go to look for something and find it without tearing up the place "trying to find it".

There is, after all beauty in organization. Yesterday, I decided to file our taxes. I pulled out our tax folder and away I went! Done! Then I did Trev's taxes and filed his FAFSA. Done!

Ohhh what a feeling! You know what I mean?

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Wedding favor idea!

One of the girls I work with is helping plan her stepson's wedding and came up with the idea of placing these pedestal candles at each place setting on the reception dining tables for guest wedding favors. She wanted to dress them up a bit so I made these little tags for inspiration. She bought ribbon and scrapbook paper to match the color scheme of the wedding. We came up with several sayings for the tags. I also played around with the "initial" tag using different styles of fonts. I then dressed them up a little further by gluing the paper to a rim tag. I love the results. The rim of the tag brings an understated elegance to the candles, perfect for the tablescapes. The place settings with silverware, white candle center pieces, flower petals and these little candles will surely dress each table beautifully!

It was really easy to do on the computer. I just typed the sayings or initial, then printed and punched each one. I played around with the best color combination and decided green on navy looked the best(IMO). Gluing them together was a breeze! The rim tag came with the wire hanger which was perfect to attach to the slip knot as I tied each one. She only needs 50, so it should be an easy afternoon project!

So simple! I love it!!

Other ways to use this tag? Well, I can see using the initial tag done in pink paper with jewels and attached to teen gift bags filled with bath stuff, makeup, etc. How about childrens party bags filled with goodies...ohh the possiblilites are endless!

Supply List
Candles(AC Moore)
Ribbon
Scrapbook paper
punch round 1"
punch scallop 1.5"
rim tag 1 1/4" ( you can get 50 of these from staples for $7.99)

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A little known fact....

I'm not sure why I thought of this, at this very moment, on this particular Sunday in January, but I did. I used to have a clothesline. Yes, a real one, made from metal poles from which two lines were strung. I hung my clothes out to dry for 22 yrs. Then we moved into the new house. I figured it was time to move into the 20th century, so I bought a dryer. You would have thought I would have sprung much earlier in our marriage, when the kids were young and dirty laundry plentiful. I held firm through those years, washing every Saturday. I would start in the morning, dilligently hanging each washed load on the line. Sometimes if I was lucky, and it was a hot day, when the last load was hung, I could take the 1st load off. The only bad thing in summer was the humidity. If it was really humid, the clothes sometimes soured and I would have to wash them over again. That was a pain for sure. When winter came, I just hung them up in our little mud room. Winter was different, as I would have to start on Friday so they could dry overnight. Now, that was a pain too. Clothes hanging up for 3 days tends to make you somewhat ill. Especially if you had to push them aside to get out the back door.

I don't think my kids knew about "soft towels" until they had the good fortune of showering over at a friends house. That's when they would ask why ours were so rough. HeHe. And the jeans, on cold days, they practically stood up by themselves. So, in my way of thinking it was actually a good thing we never had a dryer. Those rough feeling clothes and towels were actually natural exfoliants. Plus, we never had to worry about shrinking anything and our clothes lasted forever!

So, my point here is the dryer has not really made my life any easier. I do know my electric bill is higher. Sunshine is free. The DH once had a guy ask him, "How do you dry your clothes when you don't have a dryer"? (Duh). He said, "We hang them on the line". The guy was amazed. I do plan to start hanging my clothes back out when we finish the porch so once again, I'll be able to see clean clothes fluttering in the wind. And, if I'm lucky between now and then, I can score me a couple of old clothesline poles.

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Birthday Boy

I climbed the steps up to his bedroom this morning at 0750. I leaned over, gave him a kiss and wished him Happy 18th Birthday. Then, I leaned over again and gave him another kiss, wishing I could keep him this way forever. Wishing, we could go back to the days of kindergarden and do it all over again when we'd play "our" game, "popajay, popajay", or he would place his feet atop mine, so we could walk together. Since we've moved to the country, one of my favorite things for him to say in the evenings has been, "Let's go outside and survey the ranch", and we would, walking arm in arm or hand in hand, looking over the property, dreaming of what we'd build and not caring what passerbys might think of us. Ahh, such good times and happy memories!

So, today is the day. #18. This coming year will be so exciting for him as he starts his little cabin in the woods, works on the boat with his Dad and plans his next hunting season.

Yep, a new day to start making more fun memories!

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Carpooling, week 3

Well, as most of you know or maybe you don't, I am now into week 3 of my carpooling experiment.

What, you ask...carpooling? If you can believe it, yes. It all started after reading the book, Ishmael over the Christmas holiday. This story was written to make you think, be aware of how we came to be and how we have become insensitive to what is happening on our earth; how we only have one earth, and so forth. It was very inspiring and I decided I should do what I could to lessen my impact on "mother earth" so to speak.

We began to think about how many miles Monty drives to work(16 miles one way)and how many I drive(11 miles one way)to get to work. We figured it really wasn't that much out of his way to drop me off first and since we work the same hours, it was a no brainer to at least give it a shot. Funny thing is, total mileage one way is 17 miles. So, in essence we are saving 20 miles a day, therefore reducing at least one car's toxic emissions into our air, not to mention the gas saved.

We're settling into a routine of sorts, and even on the days I'm not working he still drives the car since it gets the best gas mileage. The only problem is I have to wait on him in the evening. I rationalize this wasted time as being no different, as if I were waiting to catch a bus to take me home.

With several successful weeks behind us, we are now looking at how we can combine shopping trips to save even more miles driven. But, to stay organized I am going to need to purchase a weekly planner so I can keep up with our route. After several months I hope to be able to see if it also will positively affect our budget, which will be a nice little kickback.

Sometimes being "green" just takes a little effort on our part and yes, we are feeling pretty good here at the ranch.

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Left over...

Tostados.

Thank goodness we had the forethought to cook extra the other night, keeping totally in mind that we'd have round two later in the week. We've been doing the "fix extra" meat for some time, and now we're starting to see the benefit of fixing fast and easy meals. With just a little planning, you'll too, be able to prepare a meal that's practically stress free.

You really should give it a whirl!

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Clothespin Project

I have always loved clothespins, and over the years I have made quite a few things from them. They are not, just for hanging clothes out on a clothesline, you know.

The first thing I ever made was the famous clothespin reindeer, and that was way back in probably 1983-84.

Next, came little Christmas bears, sitting on lace positioned atop a clothespin. I loved this idea, because they could be placed at the end of a tree branch where nothing else seemed to fit. I'd say I probably did those somewhere around 1994-95.

Years passed before I thought of something else to do with the trusty clothespin. In 2000-2001, I came up with the idea of gluing a poinsettia to the top of the pin. These were used to fill in those "holes" every Christmas tree seems to have. I loved them, and I still put poinsettia's on my tree to this day.

My latest project, actually has nothing to do with Christmas. I had bought a pack of clothespins a while back with the intention of using them on my clothes line. Then we had to take down the line when we started on the back porch. So, there they were, in an unopened package just begging to be made into something useful. So, I copied an idea from a craft project site and came up with these. Using scrapbook paper, I cut and glued the strips to the pins. I added the punched flower, finishing it off with a button. I took them to work and clipped them on my co-workers wall pockets, where they are perfect for keeping notes or reminders. I think they would be great for holding together bills needing to be paid, vegetable or flower seed packets, things to do, etc. I'm thinking of doing me a little set for my office. So, there you go, a project you can complete in 20 minutes or less!

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Christmas Packaging

Well, here you go, my nifty packaging idea that can be modified for a variety of uses, other than what it was originally intended, which of course, is a gift card tin.

I bought 10 of these tins at Halloween, from Michael's, with the intention of filling them with candy and giving them out to my coworkers. I just couldn't motivate myself at Halloween, so I put them away with the idea I would have to come up with another use for them. Right after Halloween, of course Micheal's started putting out Christmas ribbon and I happened to find a very cool ribbon with the same color as the tins. Right then, I knew what I would use the tins as packaging for my handmade tags, tying the tins up with the ribbon. So, I purchased several rolls. I was glad I did, because as October rolled into November, the ribbon sold out.

The tags fit perfectly inside the tins and with the ribbon they turned out pretty cute. Even the handmade tags ended up matching that same green color as the tins. Nice little coincidence.

Other uses :

Fill them with peppermint candy, Reece cups, Hershey candy or other festive wrapped candy.

How about chap stick, cough drops, etc for someone under the weather?

What about filling them with handmade hair ties and little clippies, for cute little girls?

I could keep on thinking and coming up with ideas, but you get my drift. But hey, if you come up with a really cool idea, you have to share. OK?

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Hunting and Fishing

If he could, he would, on a daily basis.




It makes me want to buy hundreds of acres.

Build a cabin.

Live in the woods.

And let him fish and hunt to his heart's content. Plus, he's so cute in his camo jacket.

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Chicken Parmigiana...Pioneer style

Tonight, we tried The Pioneer Womans's version of Chicken Parmigiana. It was such a simple recipe and her directions along with step by step photo's made the whole process so easy. Dinner, including the prep time was 45 mins from start to plate on the table. Now, that's my idea of a quick and simple meal. We had a nice little spinach salad to compliment the meal and I have to say it was delicious.

So, if you need a new recipe to add to your collection, this is definitely one you should try.

MMmmmm, mmmmm, good!


PS: the recipe link is currently on thepioneerwoman.com home page

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Scrap-tastic Cards and Tags

You know how I've loved using up my scraps of left over scrapbook paper from the projects I've done over the last year. Well, I'm finishing up the year with a few cards I made to thank people for their lovely gifts. I also made lots of tags from bits and pieces of paper, paper that had stamping boo-boo's, and even packing paper that came with cardstock to use as gift tags. Not only did I do these tags for me, but I gave them away as presents too. I'll have to find the pictures I took of the tags in a package idea I came up with to contain them. I'll try to find the pictures and do a post tomorrow. I have to admit the tags were really very pretty on my gifts and presents.

The cards were so simple to do, punching snowflakes, adding a button and sentiment and DONE! Same for the tags, punched a bunch of scallop circles, stamped the sentiments, punched them out, glued them together, added leftover rhinestones, the ribbon hang tag and DOUBLE DONE! My kind of project, fast and easy.

As you know, there's no time like the present to start gathering ideas for the next holiday season. It'll be here again before we know it!

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Happy New Year!

2010. What will it bring.....mmm

Don't know.

I have only one Resolution for the coming year and that is to save more money.

And get the back lot cleared. Well, forget the one resolution, I have now thought of several.

Ohh, would like to finish the top of the garage into an apt...rent and save more money. I've been saying we were going to do that all of last year and didn't happen, so, will it happen in 2010? I'll have to wait and see on this one.

Maybe get the driveway paved, but that's spending more money...mmm, have to think on this one too.

Redo my bedroom. That's been on prior resolution lists and still isn't done. Could be done for next to nothing if I repurposed the old furniture. Need to dwell on this one.

Ohh, here's another one. I want Monty to make me a Dining Room table, but that doesn't fit into my resolution category, should go in his though...lol.

Could work more, so I could save more, but don't want too. So, what was the point of even bringing it up...random thought only.

Ok, that's pretty much sums it up. 2010, I hope it's gonna be a good one!

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