And Along Came a Spider

Okay so all the cute trash bags for Halloween are sold out...they always are by the time I get to buying them.  Anyway Noah and I decided we were going to make ourselves a spider.  

All we needed was:

black trash bags (we used 3)

duck tape

scissors

and lots of leaves...if you don't have leaves you can come get some of ours!

It's pretty simple and I am sure you guys can figure it out.  I will tell you for the legs we cut a trash bag into three parts, duck taped up the sides of each of those sections and turned it inside out making a sleeve, so you can't see the silver duck tape. Here he is:

Week 5: Laundry Room

I know I still haven't shown you the Office finished but to be honest I am still working on it.  I have a lot done but I am still organizing my preschool files and I don't want to post pics until it is DONE!  Last week though was the Laundry Room, and to tell you the truth it was nice to have an easy, no nonsense room after the Kitchen and the Office!  Our Laundry Room is in our finished basement and it part of a bathroom.  Nothing fancy, just functional and now CLEAN and ORGANIZED!

The orange bucket isn't pretty but I make our laundry detergent and that is big enough to hold it all.  One day I will find something that works and is pretty. 

 We don't have closets on our main floor so our folding chairs are stored in the corner there.

The bins are clothes waiting for our youngest to grow into, I moved those to his closet instead of taking up space in here.

 I moved in a table we had purchased from Ikea years ago when we lived in an apartment.  It has drop sides and drawers so it will be great for setting up for folding and when not in use just put the side down!

Added a few baskets from the Dollar Tree (need one more) and weeded out all the rags and all those little bottles of soaps, lotions, shampoos you get when traveling.

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to check out A Bowl Full of Lemons!

Week 4: The Office (Before)

The office in our home is shared by myself and my husband as well as all my scrapbooking/sewing/crafting!  Did I mention I am also a preschool teacher, do you know how much 'stuff' preschool teachers keep around!?!?  Let's just say there is a lot of 'stuff' in there and it has easily become dumping grounds this busy time of year. Before I go check out A Bowl Full of Lemons, she started me on this organizing rampage.

One thing we would like to change about our office space is it's location.  In the next year we hope to move the office space to a main floor bedroom that is currently our youngest bedroom and little guy will move upstairs with big brother but until then I need to make this room work.  So here are the before pics, you will have to wait for the results...I am still in the process.

You can guess that there is no work getting done at this desk.

My tools pegboard is a project in progress, can't wait until it is done and hanging up.

 

Ugh, so much stuff EVERYWHERE!

Hopefully in the next week you will come back and see my progress.

Mission Organization

Was it three weeks ago I told you about taking up the challenge to organize my home?  Well the challenge is intended to be done in 14 weeks...it might take me longer.  I can tell you all the excuses but I think what we should focus on is that even though I am a bit behind I am still soldiering on!  (Let's stay positive.)  So three weeks ago the challenge started with THE KITCHEN.  Before I go on to show you the progress I have made, check out the challenge over at A Bowl Full of Lemons.

I feel like I have taken A LOT of pictures so bare with me. :-)  And first of all I would like to thank my 'helpful' assistants and my husband who stayed out of the way.

Before:

 After:

Before:

 After:

Before:

 After:  And just think how much room I will have when I don't have sippy cups and bottles!  I am thinking the vases in the top left won't stay there, it just makes it look cluttered.

Before:

 After:  Purchased a dish rack for lids, thank you Pinterest.

Before:

 After:

 Before:

 After:  The dividers I purchased at the Dollar Tree, you will see some more of those.

 Before:

 After:

 Before:

 After: The drawers that have made the BIGGEST transformation in my mind.

 This is my 'Kid Drawer'.  Those little things that they don't get all the time:  Window Crayons, Tattoos, Chuck-E-Cheese tokens.  Oh and more of those Dollar Tree dividers.

Thanks for stopping by and letting me do a little bragging.  Next challenge is THE GARAGE.

The Challenge

Home Organization 101!  Anyone else want to take on the challenge over at A Bowl Full of Lemons as we sort out, clean up and organize our homes one space and one week at a time?  Let's see if I can keep up as the busy school year starts and young ones still running around.  

Check it out of yourself:

Bowl Full of Lemons

This week the challenge is THE KITCHEN!  By the end of the week I hope to have before and after pictures, so check back later.

Rhubarb Cake

I was gifted a large bag of rhubarb, I was excited the first bag of the season!  I chopped and froze several cups of rhubarb but wanted to use some right away AND wanted a new recipe.  When I mentioned to my mom wanting to make something using the rhubarb she recalled my aunt's recipe for rhubarb cake....I started digging into my recipe box and I found the recipe she was talking about!  I have no idea where the original recipe came from so if it's yours way to go because it is yummy and super EASY!  We actually ate some for breakfast.

Rhubarb Cake
Roughly 2-3 cups of chopped rhubarb, enough to layer the bottom of a 9x13
1 boxed white cake mix
1 stick butter, melted
1 cup hot water

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  I buttered my 9x13 pan and layered the chopped rhubarb on the bottom.  Sprinkle the white cake mix over the top of the rhubarb.

 (this is a pic from underneath)

Drizzle melted butter then water over the top of rhubarb and cake mix.  

Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes.  Check the center of the cake by inserting a toothpick until it comes out clean.
* Next time I will stir in those little peaks of dry cake mix that didn't get hit with the melted butter and water, they left a bit of dry cake mix after it was baked.

Unfortunately I didn't get a picture before we dug in.

Sensory Bins

Going through our pics I found some sensory bins that I have put out for the boys.

Dad got involved in this one, pulling icicles off our roof line.

Colored rice, toy trucks, containers, scoops.

Corn kernels, plastic eggs.  Not sure what the two have to do with each other but we had fun none the less.  The eggs did turn into some nice shakers. :-)

On the Cheap

While searching Pinterest I always come across great and simple ideas to do with the boys during our days at home.  Some of them I have seen before and even done and completely forgotten about.  Yesterday Big Brother and I sat down and did some salt painting.  Find the post here.  Yes, it is a bit messy BUT it is cheap and fun way to make some art.

All you need:

cardstock or cardboard

glue (liquid NOT a glue stick)

food coloring

salt

a container (we used baby food jars, I will get to that in a minute)

box lid or cookie sheet

1) Put maybe a 1/4 to a 1/2 cup of salt in each jar, add a couple drops of food coloring and mix.

2) Let your kiddo doodle a design, write their name or practice letters and/or numbers onto the cardstock. 

3) Now let your kiddo sprinkle/pour/dump the colored salt onto their glue masterpiece.

4) Pour off the excess and set aside to dry.

What I did:

For the containers I used Little Brother's cleaned out baby food jars that I had been hoarding (see honey I do have a use for all these little jars :-).  Using a hammer and a small nail I hammered holes into the tops of the baby jar lids making them into 'salt shakers'.

Do you know how much a spent on this little activity...? NOT A PENNY because I already had everything on hand, love it!  Plus it gave Big Brother and me a new activity to do.