Being Organized: A Happy Day Challenge.

Alicia over at La Famille started the happy day project a few weeks ago!

This is my first chance to get to link up to this great motivator!

Her challenge for us this week was to organize something.

She claimed that it would add a bit of happy to our day.

Being that I'm a bit of a clean freak I didn't disagree.

I had a few pet projects that I'd been meaning to get to, but hadn't quite had the time until this past weekend.

Bud had a long weekend and that was a huge help.

Not only is he extra eyes for watching Bitsy, but he's extra hands to help and extra motivating once the task gets started!

First thing first we tackled my craft closet.

Maybe it doesn't look too bad, but I actually dreaded needing anything from the closet because of it's disarray!

Let me tell you...we had a $0 budget for this project.

Seriously....when times are tight it's possible to still get things done!

I brought in the last few boxes/crates from the garage and had Bud sort through that stuff.

In doing so we were able to repurpose our crates for the closet.

First I pulled everything out of well everything.

Containers were emptied and reorganized....

 The crates were stacked and what you see now is yarn on top.

Fabric folded.

My sewing box and quilting book.

All my cards within quick access (Christmas, birthday, misc), as well as my hole punches and cricket cartridges.

Finally the bottom shelf holds our extra ream of paper and all our binders that aren't currently being used.

Some of them have extra page protectors, one has lots of notebook paper, and another has dividers if we need them.

Now when I walk in here I know exactly where everything is.

There is room to get to it all and most importantly...I'm looking forward to crafting again!

The next day we decided it was time to tackle the garage.

It was a hodge podge of empty moving boxes, projects to be completed, and everything else!

Do you see Bitsy below...peeking out the door? 

 But after a few hours of purging, organizing, listing items on craigslist, and reshuffling...here is what we had.

Bud's boxing stuff in one corner, all his wood supplies in the back corner....

Those 2 blue chairs were ones that I got for free and had planned to recover, but I decided that I just don't have the time right now.  So we are going to sell them on craigslist!

 The car seat box (holding the infant car seat), our bins of hunting and camping gear, and our shelves packed with all the odds and ends that come with having a garage.

 And finally there is a shelf for shoes by the door, our mini fridge with beverages, followed quickly by the freezer and then al of our sporting equipment and pool/beach supplies.

Do you see the happy Bud in the doorway?

Anyways, I can say that I was grateful for this challenge this week because it really motivated us to get some work done.

Also by getting the garage organized it meant that Bud was motivated to get back to working on our table....He knows where all his equipment is now and much like my craft closet...it's easier and more enjoyable to do a task when you know where everything you need can be found!

So if you haven't been to Alicia's blog....you should?

If you haven't joined in on the happy day project....you should!

Thank you Alicia!

I hope you all have a Blessed Thursday!

Big Plans

Well that is one way to ring in the New Year....take a 1 week break from blogging and come back refreshed and ready to take on the world!
I'm back and things are a little different around these parts as of today.
Bud left this morning for 9 weeks of schooling for his job.
9 weeks without my hubby is a bummer, but Bitsy and I will take this time to develop a daily routine and schedule.

Also I'm going to take this time to tackle a few posts/projects/books that I've been considering for a while!
In order to keep myself accountable to these posts/projects/books I'm going to compile my lists here and link back each time I complete one of them!
It'll be a nice way to see how far I've come and how much I'm able to do while Bud is away.
So let's get started...

Posts I'd like to write:

• My Cleaning Routine
• My Super Savings Shaving Secret
• The Federal Trade Commission (Bud inspired this one so I need to do a little research before I tackle this beast)
• What I like to call ADD Mommy Syndrome

Books I'd like to read:

• Bonhoeffer (in the process and the process is slow)
• The Hunger Games
• Catching Fire
• Mockingjay
• Miracle for Jen (This one includes a give-away!)
• Heaven is for Real
• God Strong (The Military Wife's Spiritual Survival Guide)
• My So-Called Life as a Proverbs 31 Wife (A One-Year Experiment and Its Surprising Results)
• The Uncommon Life (this is a year long devotional that I'll be reviewing this week and guess what...There is a GIVEAWAY involved with it!)

Projects I'd like to tackle:

• A LARGE piece of Subway Art for the Livingroom
• A 'H' covered with Buttons for our gallery wall
• A floor covering for the kitchen inspired by this:



Source: shannonberrey.com via Biz on Pinterest

• A diningroom chalkboard...classroom size
• Upstairs hallway photo gallery

• Organize the office 
• Organize the garage (this is a lengthy process and I won't get much done here until Bud is home and can help, but I'll do what I can while he's away)
• Recover 2 chairs we rescued from the side of the road (a little dumpster diving)...these chairs are more child size wingback (ish), but they might be perfect for Bitsy.
• Refinish the dresser in Bitsy's Room....I need a paint sprayer for this and to get it down stairs in the garage so this might be on hold until summer!
• Refinish and recover the glider in Bitsy's room (might help if I get my sewing machine serviced first)
• Create these stars for our 1/2 bath downstairs

• 

  Source: greylustergirl.blogspot.com via June on Pinterest

• Bible Verse Subway Art Gallery like this one:



Source: bluevelvetchair.blogspot.com via Biz on Pinterest

• Paint a few baskets

So there it is.

My lists of posts/books/projects that I'd like to get started and some things finished before Bud returns mid-March.

Let's see how far I get.

Another thing I am hoping to get done this week is the finishing touches to send off for the complete of my blog makeover!

I'm so excited for the big reveal!

I hope you all had a Blessed Sunday!

Black & Brown

Black & Brown.  Those are the colors in our office area.  Nothing super fancy.  When we moved into this apartment Bud & I decided rather quickly that because we didn't have room to entertain we would eat in the living room or at the bar.  Our dining room we decided would be an office instead.  It's worked out rather well and although I can't wait until Bud commissions and we get a house again with an actual office and an actual dining room complete with a dining room table and chairs, etc., I can honestly say that I have been completely content as is.
A down fall of mine (well some may say it's a blessing) is that I have a DEEP desire to be organized.  I organize, reorganize, and then start all over again and purge and organize what is left.  Right now we are entering a stage of purging.  Bud & I are getting ready to set a date to empty our 2 drawers worth of files and condense it down to only 1 drawer.  We keep papers for far too long, we probably even keep papers we don't need to keep.  So any day now the purging will begin and the organizing will follow.
In the meantime I can start to control what comes into our home from here on out.  I don't handle Bud's mail.  I can never tell if it's important military paperwork or junk mail.  Thus, his mail tends to accumulate and pile up....this drives me crazy.
So after quite a bit of Google-ing and research I found something that I could use to organize papers as they come in.

This is a magazine holder, but I figured it could work as a paperwork organizer.
So far I only have the dogs records in the top (easily accessible if someone is watching them), and the bills are in the bottom.

So this is the beginning.  I bought the cute brown striped paper clips at Wal-mart (they will hold the labels).  Also at Wal-mart they have a ton of cute solid colored office supplies.  Well since our office area is all brown and black (with a few splashes of UT orange) I purchased 2 brown magazine holders to hold Bud's Scuba & Air Force Magazines.  I also purchased a cute little brown box to hold CDs.  We don't have but a couple now, but we do have a lot of burned CDs.  Anyways...here is to a more organized me!  I hope everyone sleeps and has a blessed evening!

P.S. I just finished Eat, Pray, Love.  Earlier today I messaged a few ladies and we are all going tomorrow night at 7pm to watch the movie.  One of the girls was almost done with the book as well..I hope she finishes!  Overall I will say that the book was very enjoyable.  I think I liked the 1st two countries best as they were the ones where most of my excerpts came from and they inspired me most.