29 Day Organizing Challenge: Day 10 Update

I can't believe it's already time for the ten-day update. This is going by faster than I thought. I had originally planned to do a little something every day, but it hasn't quite turned out that way.

On February 1, I went through a mail organizer that was filled to the brim with random paperwork.

Uh...that's about it.

It's not that I wasn't planning to do other things, but furniture needed to be moved, curtains had to be bought, things needed to be spray painted. I felt like I couldn't start until I had some nice weather so I could spray paint. I also needed a big chunk of time during which I could clear out the furniture so I could move it around. That wasn't happening.

I have gotten some little things accomplished.

On February 3, my friends came over and gave me some great ideas. That entailed 3 adults and 3 kids climbing all over each other in the room. That was interesting.

Remember that mail organizer I organized? On February 4, I transformed it from this:

to this:

I also moved it to the entrance and stashed it with envelopes, stamps and return address labels (all in the same place. That was a tip from my genius friend). It also holds a notepad with pen for grocery lists, and business cards I collect.


I made 2 burlap-covered cereal boxes to hold some of my paperwork. I'll add a tutorial for these soon. They were free, and I love the way they turned out! I have to make more to fill up the whole shelf.

While my friends, the kids and I were hanging out in the room last Friday, the blankets came off the windows. And then I saw: I actually do have curtains in the room! I had completely forgotten. I still need something to block the light. On Saturday, I bought some light-blocking curtain liners at Wal-mart, but they were too small. Great idea, but I need something that fits. I don't want to have to make new curtains, and I don't want to have to install the kind of shades that roll down. I'm looking for easy. And cheap. But that means I'm still looking.

Slowly but surely, I'm tackling the room. I pulled all my stationery out of the armoire and added most of the cards to the $5 box of multi-use cards I bought at Office Max (which has the cards organized by type). I pulled out some computer paper and put it where I really use it--next to my printer in the living room.

See that set of orange drawers on the middle shelf?

It now holds papers here:

Now I don't have to run across the house every time I need to use the printer! (Why are there q-tips on there, you ask? Well, they are there to erase the items I tackle on my dry-erase to-do list, which is hanging on the wall next to that buffet.) Ignore the situation on top of the printer:

Baby steps, right? See? There are boxes to organize. They just aren't being used yet.


I took all the small office supplies like paper clips and index cards out of range of visibility and organized them in the armoire drawer. I used the empty boxes left over from organizing the note cards to organize the little stuff:

This is what the inside of the armoire looks like now:

Emptier, but messier. Working on it.


This is what the file cabinet looked like last week:

This is what it looks like now:

Ok, it looks the same. But I assure you that I filed away a lot of paperwork!


This is what the bookshelf looked like last week:

This is what it looks like now:

And this is what it looks like when I back away a little bit:

Just so you know, after I took these pictures, I threw away that diaper, took out the trash, and put away those file folders and notepads you see on the right side of the bottom shelf.

This is what is still on my list to do:

• Do something with the garbage can (I don't think it needs to be bigger; it just needs to be less of an eyesore).*
• Organize armoire drawers*
• Get longer screw for armoire knob
• Cover cereal boxes with burlap for work paperwork*
• File/organize old documents (there is an empty beer case filled with old paperwork under the armoire).
• Rearrange room
• Spray paint the armoire
• Fix wire situation behind armoire
• Do something about the curtain situation*
• Fix the artwork in the room.**
• Put shelves on wall for photos**
• Cover pillow on glider**
• Organize armoire shelves*

What?! That list is exactly the same as last week! I swear I've been working diligently. I put one star next to the stuff I've been working on, and two stars next to the stuff that would be nice but is optional. We're rearranging the room this weekend, and once that's done, I feel like everything will fall into place.

So stay tuned. I promise, this space is going to be awesome when I'm done. {starts to sweat} At least I still have 19 days to go.

Does anyone else feel like they have been working diligently but don't have much to show for it?

Dry Erase To Do List Tutorial

I'm getting ready for the new year, and one of my resolutions is to be more organized. One of the conclusions I've come to in 2011 is that although my mind is all over the place, I can rein it in by keeping a to do list. For the past several months, I've kept a list on extra sheets of used paper hung under my kitchen cabinets. But my newfound addiction to Pinterest gave me a better idea.

One of my friends had pinned a to-do chart made from sticky notes and a picture frame that she found on the blog Modern Parents Messy Kids. Cute and simple.

Of course, I had to take it one step further because I like to make things hard on myself. I made a dry-erase to do list from a picture frame, scrapbook paper, and sheets from a grocery list pad. It's super cute (even Big T swears he likes it as long as it gets used), it's attractive enough to hang in a busy part of the house where it will actually see some action, and it's big enough to fit all the stuff I have to do.

I created it from an extra 18" x 24" frame that was taking up space in the closet. Below is a tutorial in case you want to make one to get yourself organized in 2012.

Making a Dry Erase To Do List (A Tutorial)

Get your supplies: A frame of any size (mine has plexiglass in it, but glass would work even better); pretty paper, such as scrapbook paper, and post-it notes or pages from a grocery list pad. You'll also need some kind of adhesive. I used double-sided tape.

Decide how many categories you want. I wanted three different categories, plus an area for days of the week at the bottom. I laid it out in my head and cut three pieces of coordinating scrapbook paper to size for the categories at the top. You'll have to measure based on the size of your frame and the number of categories you have. I wanted two separate sub-categories within my categories: a list with the heading "soon" and a list with the heading "someday." I tore off pages from the grocery list notepad, then I cut plain beige scrapbook paper to put behind it as a background. (This is going on patterned paper, so I need something to break up the busy-ness.)

Write your headers on the "list" pages and adhere them to the background pages.

Now I had to figure out how to incorporate space for the separate days of the week across the bottom. I wanted to use Post-It notes, but I couldn't find them, so I cut pieces of bright orange paper to fit across the space. I also cut beige paper to create a neutral background. I used double-sided tape to stick the paper onto the background.

Now I just needed some blank space to write in the days of the week. I tore off strips of sage green paper and stuck them across the tops of the orange papers I had cut for the days of the week.

I decided not to write the To-Do List categories or the days of the week on the paper itself. Instead, I wrote them in dry-erase marker on the plexiglass after I assembled the frame. The categories may change, and I might change my mind about days of the week and change it to something else down the road. Now I can quickly add tasks I have to do to my to-do list, and Big T can join in when he has a project going on. This is what the final To-Do List frame looks like:

And it fits well with my decor. You can choose whatever colors and patterns you want and make it as complex or as simple as you need. It's really easy to make and totally flexible.

How to Make a Trash Bag Halloween Costume Tutorial

All you procrastinators--here is a quick tutorial for how to make a spherical Halloween costume--you know--if you're making a pumpkin costume, Mr. Potato Head costume, or trash bag costume. This costume basically transforms you or your child into a giant, stuffable ball. Use your imagination and go crazy.

Baby T is going to be a garbage man, so Little M is going to be a trash bag. This is how I made Little M's garbage bag costume.

Ergo Back Carry Instructions - Video Tutorial

I was inspired on Monday by a mom I met at the playground. I was chasing Baby T around while wearing Little M in an Ergo back carry. The mom is expecting her second child in February, and she mentioned that she was never able to figure out how to carry her baby on back on her own. I showed her. I gushed about how convenient it is to wear Little M on my back in the Ergo because it frees me up so much more than if I was wearing him in front or holding him.

The instructions that they give on the Ergo website for putting a baby on your back are fine, but they may not work for everyone. The baby Ergo instructions make it look so easy, but there’s a big window from the point where the baby is sitting on your hip to where your baby is safe and snug on your back where you have no idea what happened.

Sunday Surf: Food, Sleep, Cloth Diaper Covers, and Games for Kids

I've decided to go on the South Beach Diet. I always told myself those diets were silly, because diet should be about nutrition, calories, and portion control, but I'm having trouble with those three things. I got a craving for sweets with my first pregnancy, and it never went away. Now I'm addicted to sugar, and I have belly fat (which I never had before), dandruff, and other stomach woes. I really need to make a change. I have been exercising, but I need some more motivation because the scale isn't budging.

That's right--I nurse all day and night, chase a toddler, wear a baby 50% of the time, and I still weigh 170 pounds. That might be ok for some people, but it's not for me. I feel fat. I don't fit into my clothes and I look like I'm six months pregnant.

So I've been doing a lot of research about food and nutrition these days. It's funny how most diet advice is the same, though: cut back on sugar, non-nutritional grains (like wheat, corn, white flour, etc).

I've also been researching baby sleep for an upcoming blog post I'm doing, and I've found some great links. And then there's just the crafty stuff and the good information about activities you can do with your toddler. This is what I've come across this week:

Go Vegan: Create rather than Re-Create
We so often remember the comfort food of our childhood and feel like, "If only I could still eat {mac and cheese, bagels, lasagna} my diet would be successful." Then we try to recreate it, whether we try to make it vegan, fat free, or whatever. And it's nasty. And we are all disappointed, unsatisfied, and craving something unhealthy. If we try to work with fresh ingredients and stay away from processed food (even soy crumbles and veggie cheese), we'll end up making tastier, more satisfying meals.

Five South Beach Diet Phase One Breakfast Recipes
These are great breakfast recipes, even if you're not on a diet. Starting the day off with savory meals filled with protein and vegetables can really stave off cravings for carbs all day long.

Coconutty Paleo Fudge Recipe
The paleo diet is similar to South Beach: It's all about fresh food and limiting sugar and grains. I found this recipe, which looks amazing. I can't wait to try it in a couple of weeks (when I can add some sugar to my diet).

My Date with Dr. Ferber
We've all been awake in the middle of the night, nursing or rocking our babies to sleep, wondering if we're doing the right thing. We read the advice: don't soothe your baby to sleep. But how can you not? This article describes a woman at her wit's end with the whole sleep thing, who made an appointment with Dr. Ferber because she thought sleep training was her only option. And then time went on, and things naturally progressed, and she realized she didn't need sleep training: her kids were developing their own healthy sleep habits, and she realized they didn't need to be forced into them. It's refreshing to hear sleep stories from parents who are confident that they are doing the right thing by not letting their kids scream their heads off in the wee hours of the morning. Because there is so much information out there that makes you feel like a bad parent for soothing your baby when he or she wakes up.

Cloth Diaper Cover Tutorial with Gussets
I have a bunch of PUL and two kids who are in between sizes. I am either squeezing Little M into small diaper covers, which make him get heat rash, or putting him in the next size up, which means he pees all over his clothes. I need some better fitting diaper covers. Nothing fancy--I use prefolds, so I just want something waterproof to put over them. Sometimes I use wool, but I like waterproof PUL covers too. So I'm going to make them. According to this cloth diaper cover tutorial, it can't be that hard.

23 Gross Motor Games and Activities for Preschoolers
Dionna from Code Name: Mama put together a great article about games you can play with your preschooler that exercise their gross motor skills. Baby T loves games like these. He usually cracks up the whole time we play them. We play Ring around the Rosie already, and just yesterday, we started playing Red Light, Green Light (he loves to tell me when the light is green at stoplights anyway. Probably because I do too much texting at red lights.). Try some of these games with your kid. I'll bet you'll get some amazing toddler belly laughs.

Halloween Costume Part I

Tiered Skirt/Petticoat Tutorial

Since I'm going to be a milkmaid for Halloween, I needed a tiered, ruffled skirt to show underneath the main part of the skirt. I was a little overwhelmed by the idea of making it from scratch. It seemed like it would take a lot of fabric--I wasn't sure how much, or how expensive it would be. So I went to goodwill and bought a dust ruffle. I would use the center of the dust ruffle (the part that goes under the mattress, which is just cream colored fabric) for the skirt, and use the ruffles for the ruffles on the skirt! For $1.99 it would be fine if it didn't work out. Especially since I had measured nothing and just figured this would be enough fabric. The dust ruffle had 3 layers of ruffles, in cream and green, and it seemed like plenty to go around. This is what I started with:

I figured I would make 3 tiers so it wouldn't get too complicated, and I would put the ruffles between the tiers.