My Mix of 6

I saw this great little tip on Pinterest a while back.  A long while ago.   It was all about folding laundry and t-shirts, etc.  I didn't think much about it.  Actually I thought, " Maybe someday, I will get around to it."   This weekend was that "someday".  This is a great tool!   Since I've been spending a lot of time organizing my son's room, I decided to try this out.  He had 2 very messy dresser drawers.  This is the draw back to the kids folding and putting away their own laundry. He has so many shirts, it was crazy.  I went through every single one.  And of course, wouldn't you know it, there were plenty that were too small for him.  In fact, one of my best friends was over and was just visiting with me in his room as I was doing this, and every time I got a shirt (or shorts) that were too small, I just handed it over to her, since her boys are younger than mine, and they would fit her...

One of my many 'goals' for the New Year was/is to be more organized.  We had also decided to curb our restaurant visits, from 1-2 times a week, down to once a month.  Yes, that is a drastic change.  Yes, a family of our size, eats out way too much.  We, (hubs and I), need to be more organized when it comes to our kids and their busy schedules, and planning dinner on those busy nights.  That is money down the drain, as far as I'm concerned.  Every time we do it, it's because we haven't planned accordingly for the night.  It's a last minute decision and there we are, eating out for convenience.  I've also noticed, that with this convenience our waist lines have been growing.  This all goes hand in hand... Poor Planning + Busy Schedules + Eating Out + Spending Too Much Money = Waste, Waste, Waste, Bad, Bad, Bad! I've decided that every Sunday, when the kids are still sleeping, I am waking up early and planning our dinner men...

When my son, Bubba (7) and I went through his room last weekend, we pretty much gutted it.  There were already so many piles of " stuff"  on the floor, which is usually a pretty good indication that he is overwhelmed on the idea of cleaning it.  So he just.  Doesn't.  And this is where I came in, and we organized it together.  8 long hours later. These are the steps that we took to get his room back on track. We took everything out of his closet . I prefer doing it this way because it gives us a blank slate to work with when putting things where they belong. The next thing we did was; we made individual piles . All the Lego's were in one pile. All the Lincoln Logs, all the Hot Wheels cars, Nerf items, you get the idea. We addressed every little thing!  Every single toy, stuffed animal, etc . as I had mentioned here and about where things go, and how we donate  or keep or trash.     Origin...

There are all kinds of tutorials out there on how to install Board and Batten.  Like the one that Shelley & Cason at House of Smith's did or like Emily over at Decor Chick did.   In fact, I did my son's room last year, so I honestly don't remember where I got the exact instructions from, but as I look at Emily's ,  I am beginning to think that I did follow her directions.  :)   Here is the progress of Bubba's room.  When we moved into the house, ALL the walls were white.  A nice blank canvas.  His nursery walls were inspired from his bedding. The colors and the patterns.  We didn't know what sex our baby was, so I didn't want to decorate until after the baby was born.   We washed the walls really good with some TSP: Pre-Paint Surface Preparation.  Then I did 3 coats of primer to cover up all the designs.  Stripes, polka dots, etc.   I put more effort into coveri...

Decraptification.  Love that word.  Love what it means.  Love what it's purpose is.   It gets my kids... and I ....in their rooms, together, and going through every single inch, nook and cranny of their rooms.  I like to do this every couple of months, to be completely honest with you.  It's something that just is needed.  Especially when a room, with a young creative mind...and messy little body....looks like this.   And yes, that is a closet door...on the top of his bed.  This was the easiest way to clean the entire closet, take the doors off.   (Just keepin' it real, folks) This last year for Christmas when we asked our kids, "What do you want for Christmas?" they actually couldn't come up with anything.  I'm not complaining.  My kids are not greedy kids.  They have seen us struggle, financially, in the past.  They are not spoiled.   They see needy families and ...

...Untie all the cables and ropes.   Step onto the astro turf..... I know that we are in the dead of winter and thinking of summer...or boats...is not part of the winter season.  But it is boat show season.  I love boats.  I love sports.   I love water.  I love water sports.  I lettered all 4 years in high school on the swim team.  My first water skiing trip was at my favorite lake...ever...in Central Oregon with my parent's friends on a camping trip, Lake Billy Chinook.  Ever since I learned how to ski, off the side of the boat, on a boom (good times there), I was hooked.   Here.  At this lake.  This. Is. My. Happy. Place. Lake Billy Chinook   This is probably the one area in our marriage where my hubby and I switch roles.   I start drooling over the pretty boats, and he likes them and all, but really, he's there to make his wife happy.  I have a good man, ladies. ...

Please tell me I'm not dating myself and you all have seen Forrest Gump.  With all love aside, for I think may be a classic, tell me if I'm wrong; I'm sharing with you my love for running.  Yup.  Me.  Running.  Loving it.  LUUUVE it!  I used to be a self proclaim hater for running, and I've found myself saying that I'm not a runner, but the fact of the matter is...I AM!  I may not be the fastest by any means, I may not have perfect strides, there may be days that I'm walking more than I am running, I have painful days (lots of them) when my shin splints kick in, and there are days that I think I'm not in the mood but force myself to do it and I'm so happy that I have. Last year, I did my very first 10k, along side my sweet friend "D" for the SHOC walk , in honor of my husband's two cousins who have since passed from ovarian cancer.  "D" was such a motivator, pusher, cheerleader, while being a great running partner.   ...