{BEVERAGE CONTAINER CLEANING}

Once upon a time there were three little beverage containers.

They were used and loved by all the little ones in the kingdom. They held water, milk, juice, hot chocolate – all kinds of wonderful things the little ones loved to drink.

But they became dirty. Very dirty.

The King and Queen of the land didn’t know what to do to clean them because there were so many tiny parts that were hard to reach.

Well, actually the Queen knew what to do; she was pretty smart.

She used a small little brush (not the blue sponge) to reach the cracks, crevices and long parts that couldn’t be reached with anything else.

First the Queen cleaned the small thermos straw.

Then the Queen cleaned the long straw. And she wondered how her hands had gotten so red.

And finally the Queen cleaned the lid of the container using the same small brush.

The King and the rest of the kingdom rejoiced! The beverage containers were put back to use immediately and the little ones were filled with joy.

Where did the Queen get such a wonderful tool? From the cake supply section at her local craft market (store). She discovered the name of this tool and sent a proclamation out to her entire kingdom.

This, my subjects, is called a Tip Brush.

And they all lived happily ever after.

{THE WEBSITE THAT CHANGED A LOT OF THINGS}

I’ve been selfish.

This should have been my very first post. This website has changed the way I think about the daily grind of housework; that it really is a blessing we can give to our families.

I didn’t mean to be selfish; I was just waiting for the perfect moment to share it with you. But there is no perfect moment. I know this. I’m accepting this.

So without further ado…

flylady.net

Heard of it? If you have, are you doing it? If not, go check it out! Sign up for her emails; you won’t regret it!

{ORGANIZING DVD’s}

Do you have this problem?

source: reuters.com

DVD’s everywhere…falling on the floor, getting stepped on, broken, disorganized and lost.

Not a pretty sight. Nope. Not at all.

Wouldn’t it be nicer to have this instead?

source: halfagiraffe.tv

This is a step in the right direction, but still not good enough. And, to be honest, totally not realistic if you have children of any age.

I bet we all can, in 2 seconds flat, picture in our minds how this arrangement would end up as a total disaster.

What if I told you that you could have something even better? And what if I told you that it would take up hardly any space at all?

Would you believe me? Or would you think I’ve gone off my rocker?

Want a teaser?

Hmmm. A gigantic bookshelf or a small binder? I don’t know which I’d choose. It seems like such a hard decision – total chaos or organized peace of mind. I just don’t know.

Intrigued? Moving on.

Did you get any DVD’s for Christmas this year? Are they lying all over the place? Are they spilling out onto the floor, or in a drawer that won’t open because your kids stuffed them in there so tightly that the drawer is jammed shut, never to be opened again?

Phew – that was a run on sentence.

Are you done with the mess and hassle of DVD’s? Do you want them to be organized, neatly in place and even *gasp* alphabetized?

If this sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Oh wait – it’s not.

This is one of those things that’s entirely possible. But you have to be willing to give something up.

No, not your first-born. You can keep your children; I have plenty of my own.

You have to be willing to give up something else.

source: thetechgeek.com

These.

Yes, the DVD case.

What?!

But, but, but.

I know, I know. For some reason, the case is special. It holds and protects the DVD. It’s even got a nice cover on it and a bunch of information on the back and inside that I know you’ll never read.

I know it’s precious.

But we’ve got to think outside of the box, or case, in this matter.

Take a deep breath, because if you haven’t seen this before, you’re going to love it!

Are you salivating yet? No, not over my wonderful movie choices, but over the binder!

The above picture is the first page of the inside of this:

I am so in love with this way of organizing my DVD’s and it’s not even Valentine’s Day!

This particular binder has the capacity to store 208 DVD’s!! Two hundred and eight! Can you believe that? 208. 200 + 8.

Impressive, most impressive. (name the movie)

Now that I’ve rocked your socks, let’s get right to how:

#1. Decide how you want your movies organized…

Meaning, do you want them organized by title, genre, year, etc? I choose to arrange them alphabetically. And this binder is only for my kids’ movies. They know that they’re allowed to watch anything in that binder, so there’s no worry that they’ll put something on that’s too scary or grown-up for them.

I even have a separate binder for DVD’s we’ve recorded off of TV (we have a DVD recorder).

#2. Gather your DVD’s.

We’ll use Megamind as our example. So here’s the movie, untouched and a little blurry (sorry about that).

#3. Remove cover from case.

It’s easiest if you open the case all the way up. That loosens the paper cover and it just slides right out.

OK, here they are separated. Take another deep breath. I know that was hard. It was hard for me at first, too.

#4. Cut the cover to fit.

You’ll need to measure the DVD opening in your binder to get an exact fit. Then cut it slightly smaller so it’ll slip easier into the opening.

Did you notice I cut off the title? Guess what? It’s OK to do that. Especially for kids. They’ll know what the movie is by the picture; they don’t need the title. If you can fit the title, great. But it’s not essential.

#5. Insert the cover into the DVD binder.

Megamind goes right after Mary Poppins and right before Milo and Otis. Alphabetical order is so soothing to me.

#6. Slide the DVD behind the cover.

#7. Enjoy the freedom and peace.

It’s so easy for even little children to flip the pages and pick a movie.

And it’s just as easy for them to put the movie away because they can match the movie with the picture.

#8. Take it a step further.

My sister Heidi recently did this and she laminated the DVD covers. She has a lamination machine so it was really easy. But you can take the covers to a local copy center and have it done there.

I plan on doing that because my baby likes to rip the covers. That doesn’t make me happy. Nope. Not at all.

#9. Other issues.

What do I do if I don’t have the DVD cover?
Heidi also solved this problem. She didn’t have DVD covers for some of her movies. So she used google images to bring up pictures of the movies, printed them out and used those as the DVD covers.

What if I have a 2-disc version?
I cut the front of the DVD cover to use for the main DVD – the one that has the movie on it. I cut the back of the DVD cover to use for the bonus disc that has the special features. Then I put both of them in the binder.

So what are you waiting for? Go buy a DVD binder and get rid of those cases! You’ll be totally amazed at the space you freed up for other things.

{I DON’T KNOW HOW they DO IT}

How do they do it? How do they post something on their blogs every single day? How is it even possible?

I don’t know, obviously, because I’m not there yet. I don’t know if I’ll ever be. And I’m supposed to be the organized one. Ha ha.

Maybe they have help. Maybe they just have it prioritized so high that other things must fall by the wayside. I know many of them write a bunch of posts and schedule them throughout the week.

I know for some it’s their livelihood, so obviously they must take the time to do it.

Oh well. I can’t say I’m not a teensy bit jealous.

We all have our strengths and weaknesses, don’t we? Mine is not in posting every day. Mine is not in a lot of things.

Oh man – I’m so horrible. I’m not good at this or that or that other thing.

** Pause **

Do you do this? Do you compare yourself to others?

Someone told me the other day that my house is always clean. She said it like it was a fact.

I laughed.  She doesn’t have a clue. She admitted to struggling with keeping her house clean. But she assumed that because my living room was clean the one time she came over that my entire house was clean. All. The. Time.

We must stop doing this to ourselves. We must stop comparing our weaknesses with others’ strengths.

I happen to love organizing. But just because I may have a knack, talent or gift for it doesn’t mean I’m perfect at it, or that my house is always clean, or that someone else is lame because they struggle with it more.

As this year closes and a new one begins, let’s start today to make a change. Let’s start now to not compare ourselves with others. We don’t need to wait until the new year (although I know it’s only a day away) to make changes.

Are you with me? Let’s do this together! And along the way we’ll help each other get more organized, too.

It’s a win-win all around. What could be better than that?

This is Google’s New Year’s Eve logo. They look like they’re having a lot of fun. They’re all different, but together they make something wonderful!

So enjoy your New Year’s Eve. Celebrate the strengths you have and the strengths others have!

{MERRY CHRISTMAS}

From all of us to all of you…

Have a very, Merry Christmas!

{DECEMBER DILEMMAS}

Happy December everyone! And Merry Christmas!!

I love this time of year. It’s so festive, so magical, so inspiring, so, so…

CRAZY! And it can be stressful, lonely and hard. And we have dilemmas to face, ranging from what to buy, what to make, where to shop, how to do this, where to put that, and on and on and on.

Each year we say (or at least I do) that this year is going to be different. I don’t know how yet, but it will be. And then we do the same thing again and vow that next year will be different.

Well, this year is different. It’s never been December 2011 before, and never will be again. That makes it different! So even if nothing else changes, at least we have that.

Lame attempt at making us all feel better, but at least I tried.

So let’s make this December different in a good way. Let’s discuss our December Dilemmas and help each other do it differently.

You with me on making this the best December to date?

Submit your December Dilemmas, be it organizing, scheduling, planning, cleaning, cooking, traveling, etc.

I know I don’t have all the answers, but together I bet we can come up with great solutions.

(Only 18 days left ’til Christmas! – my children remind me every day)

{CHRISTMAS CONTAINERS}

These are the storage containers I use. Oh, how I love them. Let me count the ways:

They are see-through. I’m a big fan of this because it’s easy to see what’s inside. No more guessing. This is especially helpful when you’re looking for something in particular but can’t remember what box it’s in. Note: right now they’re holding my normal home decor, not my Christmas decor (because my Christmas decor is on display)

They are sturdy. Tough plastic. Not as tough as Rubbermaid (but Rubbermaid doesn’t have see-through containers, except for their food ones) but tough enough. I wouldn’t go throwing them down the stairs, however! But my 3 and 1 year olds have climbed up on them, jumped on them and yes, they have been pushed down the stairs before.

They stack nicely. I really like this. I still have different types of storage containers and it’s hard to stack all of them on top of each other because they aren’t the same size or type. So I’m slowly transferring everything over to these containers. The lids are designed to be stacked and that makes them hard to fall over, too.

The handles are great. I love that the handles are built into the box and not the lid; the handles fold up around the lid and not down around the box. This is wonderful because with other storage containers, time and time again when I’ve picked up the “other” kinds of containers, the lids have popped off and I’ve almost dropped them. Not good.

They’re NOT cardboard. Don’t even get me started on this topic. This will be another post for another time because I will definitely be on my soap box about this one. Let’s just say we’ve had a rough past (me and cardboard).

If you haven’t tried these containers, give them a try. They come in many different sizes. I buy mine at Target. The brand name is Sterilite.

Love them. Period.

{CHRISTMAS LIGHTS}

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Did you?

Did you stuff yourselves silly and regret it later? Did you take too many pictures (is that possible) or not take enough?

We had so many pies that I couldn’t even fit them all in this picture. Oh – deliciousness!

Did you play games, watch sports or other fun family things?

Did you start a warm fuzzy jar? Or gratitude jar or whatever-you-want-to-call-it jar?

Oh good. My work here is done.

Haha.

Well, I don’t know about you, but we’re getting ready to put up Christmas decorations around here.

I’ve already got the Christmas boxes out…just waiting until November 30th. I’m weird that way.

And today we put the lights up on the outside of our house. We meaning me and my oldest child, Grant. It was super fast and super easy.

Of course our house is small and not a 2-story house.

That’s why it was easy.

But you know what was even easier?

Knowing where the strand of lights started and ended.

Does that ever happen to you? You pull out the Christmas lights and spend a good 30 minutes just trying to find the ends while also trying not to get them tangled up?

In the above picture, can you even see any kind of end anywhere?

Yeah. Been there, done that.

But not any more. And this is why.

Notice anything different? (please say yes)

Hopefully you noticed the black electrical tape on both ends of the Christmas lights. If not, look again. Look in the bottom left area of the picture.

See it now?

Here’s a close-up view:

Now do you see it?

By putting black electrical tape on my white strands of Christmas lights, I now can spot where they begin and end with ease.

With ease, I tell you!

If your strands of Christmas lights are dark green, as many of them are, try using masking tape, or buy some light-colored tape to put at the ends.

You could even use ribbon, string, rope, anything that will get your attention and scream, “Here I am. Here’s the end! Grab here!”

Trust me, it’s really cool when your Christmas lights start talking to you like that.

{WARM FUZZIES}

Thanksgiving is almost here – who’s excited?!

I know I am. I love Thanksgiving. I love everything about it.

I love that our focus is on being grateful, acknowledging the things we do have and not focusing on the things we don’t have. We also focus on family, on giving service and on being kinder to everyone.

And then there’s the food. Mmmm…I can taste it all right now. My mouth is actually salivating as I type this. Turkey, ham, homemade mashed potatoes with homemade gravy, homemade stuffing, homemade rolls, homemade pies, vegetables, ice cream, cool whip…

Sounds perfect, doesn’t it?

And let’s not forget the traditions. Some people watch football games all day. Some play games. Others put up their Christmas trees and decorations. Lots of people travel.

Many people have the tradition of taking turns saying what they’re grateful for before eating the Thanksgiving meal.

What a wonderful thing.

Let’s take that one step further.

Why not do that every night for the entire month of November?

Yes, I realize that November is almost over. I’m a big time slacker. I should’ve posted this right after Halloween.

Will you forgive me?

Still, there’s 9 days left in November. It’s not too late. So let’s do it!

We started this tradition a couple of years ago and the kids love it so much that if I forget to do it, they remind me. We call it our Warm Fuzzy Jar.

Here’s our jar. Nothing fancy or exciting. Just a plain jar with a bit of ribbon and a tag. Super simple, super easy.

I bought a couple of packages of these puff balls at Robert’s Crafts (I used my 40% off coupon – gotta love that). That’s all there is to it to be ready to go.

Every night when we sit down for dinner, each person has the chance to throw in 2 “warm fuzzies”. One for what we’re thankful for, and one if we did an act of service for someone.

Our goal is to fill the Warm Fuzzy Jar by the end of November.

Maybe I should buy bigger puff balls.

Just a thought.

I challenge you to do this for the remainder of this month. I think it’ll help add to the wonderful spirit of the season.

{SHE DID IT AGAIN}

My darling Dana did it again.

She took organizational matters into her own hands.

But I’m thankful. It’s nice to have an extra set of hands around here, especially when it comes to organizing.

You see, we’ve had this problem with the downstairs bathroom. Everyone has a different part that they’re responsible for cleaning. And that rotates every week. But there wasn’t a chart or anything to help us remember who did what and when.

Enter Dana.

She finally got sick of me being unorganized about it and did something about it.

Don’t you love her comment at the end? I love it.

All she did was print this out, stick it in a sheet protector and hang it on the bathroom wall. We use a dry erase marker to write the initial of the person in the box and voila! We’re done.

Now there’s no more forgetting.

Thank you, Dana.

Isn’t she a doll?