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Kitchen assignment...

OK so back to project organize. Today, clean out the fridge and turn on the clean cycle of your oven...gotta love those self cleaners. Be sure to also take out the drawer at the bottom of the oven and clean out underneath...you'll be scared at what you find :o) but it'll be great to know it's cleaned out! Clean inside the drawer too...lots of crumbs were in mine.

The definition of cleaning out the fridge means that you take EVERYTHING OUT OF THE FRIDGE. You TAKE OUT the shelves and the drawers, you wipe down the sides. Here's a tip for the shelves...if possible, they're easier to clean in the bathtub, or if you have a wash tub sink in your laundry room. They're just big and akward so it's not the easiest thing to clean them in the kitchen sink.  Just a tip.

CHA make-n-take--updated

So yep, here it is 1:49 am and I'm finishing up some art...maybe this is how everyone does the whole blog/scrapbook thing

Anyhoo...If you're going to CHA here's what I'll be doing at the Therm O Web booth. They've got an amazing new product out--top secret for CHA! It's a vellum/transparency adhesive! So in other words it's what you DON'T see on this project that's COOL!

So stop by and say hi!

OK so some of the blog visitors may not know about CHA...so to answer your question April, CHA stands for Craft and Hobby Association. It's a HUGE convention being taken over by the scrapbooking industry. But it's not just for scrapbooking--all kinds of hobby and crafts. It's where everyone releases their new products. Busy Busy and lots of fun!

Update...

Kara! I found Shnucks stuff too!!! and I THREW it OUT! :o)

I got the three drawers at Organized Living...now that they've gone bankrupt I'm not sure where to find more. Here's what the drawers will be labeled: First Aid, Thermometers & dispensors (all those cups and syringes for giving medicene), cough medicene, Acid Reducers (got a lot of those when I was pregnant), Cold medicene, Pain Relievers (tylenol, advil etc.) So far the drawers are only holding the adult stuff. I seem to need the kid stuff more often so it's just sitting on the shelf. Now these drawers are not FULL of medicene (except the first aid drawer--you can never have too many band-aids :o) I just want each type of medicene to have a "home" so that I'm not constantly searching.

The font I used for the linen closet was Futura (i think it's a microsoft font--look on your computer)

Project Organize Week #4

You are going to love me....when it's OVER.

The dreaded KITCHEN. OK maybe for some it's not so dreaded. But you know there are things that you NEVER or RARELY get to when working in your kitchen. We're going to break it down a little so you'll have to check back throughout the week...if I posted everything it would be a novel and you'd never read it. So we're starting with the cabinets.

First off I know this is a little backwards but I want you to think about your zones first. There's no sense in destroying your kitchen only to have to rearrange everything later. My mom knew I was ready to leave the house when I was 16 and was telling her how she should re-organize her kitchen to make it more functional. At the time she just rolled her eyes but if you ask her now she'll tell you that I have one of the best organized kitchen's she's ever seen.

So you should have your spice/what you use at the stove zone. Now think about it...should this zone be three cabinets away from your stove...nnnooooo...it should be in the cabinet right next to the stove. What about your dishes? they should be located right above your silverware which if possible, should be easily accesible to the dishwasher. I can't really do that in my home because there are no cabinets above or even near my dishwasher. Then think about your appliances, all the electrical things should be in the same cabinet, pots and pans together--close to the stove. Casserole dishes also close to the stove area. The best laid out kitchens form a triangle from the refrigerator to the stove to the sink.

Now for food in the cabinets...I keep my canned goods together as much as possible right next to the stove. For me this is usually tomato sauce, paste, cream of chick soup...your "stock" type canned goods. Now SIMPLIFY. While I was sorting and purging through each cabinet I found stuff that EXPIRED two years ago...now that's just scary. Truth be told the food itself is fine to eat, but if I haven't eaten it in 2 years then I'm not going to, so I really didn't like it in the first place...so DONATE it somewhere. I have a big box of food to donate. Here's what I think happens....we feel guilty about throwing it out, after all it cost money in the first place. We rationalize that we'll use it so we leave it there to CLUTTER our kitchens. After seeing what I'm donating I've realized from now on I need to just buy what I'll use and what I know that we like.

OK so one at a time pull out what's in your cabinets (maybe for your dishes just a shelf at a time) so you can wipe them down. Your bottom cabinets are particularly bad because they tend to catch spills and crumbs from food. Here are some before and after pictures of my worst cabinets...

OK now this set of cabinets is the medicene zone...I had to rearrange the shelves to fit the drawers better and make them more accessible. I also need to buy two more sets of three drawers...it's on my LIST! :o)

If your medicene zone is also part of your kitchen be sure to throw out any questionable medication!

So I have 13 sets of cabinets that I went through and it took me about two hours. You can do it! I also wanted to mention remember to evaluate whether or not you really USE something and if not--get rid of it! My basement (you know the catch all) is looking pretty scary, I might have to do damage control after CHA....or I'm sure I could find some matches somewhere ;) just KIDDING!

We're in it together!

Belgium?

OK someone from Belgium's been all over this blog! :o)

Look! A Donna book--updated

OK so I made a book...got the idea from Donna Downey it's not quite finished...still need to "fill" it. I would like to add a few more tips to making the book. First, there is a fine line between too much Mod Podge and not enough. I've used too much before and had my paper warp on me. So this time I used less and the edges started peeling back. Now some of that may have to do with the fact that the 3-ring binder material is slick I don't know? The other thing is there are pros and cons to initially working with paper that is bigger than you need. Donna has the paper bigger than the binder and then sands the edges until it comes off. But if you're edges are weak because there wasn't enough mod podge then the paper doesn't sand off very well. The other thing is that I think your sanding block should be a low grit block...meaning coarse to initially get the paper oops gotta pick up Alexa...I'll write more later

OK I'm back...and ooo how fun Kara's already posted comments! OK first back to my tips, you need a lower grit sand paper to initially remove the paper and then maybe a finer grit to smooth out the distressing. Also, work slow once you start to see the paper wearing away.

I also wished I'd tried this from Therm O Web. The new packaging looks different...there is the MOST DARLING little girl in a picture frame on the cover with a cute little lamp :o) But seriously, I think this would've worked better for holding the paper down, but I don't know how it would've reacted to the sanding. And beware this stuff is STICKY once the paper hits it--it's stuck. You can use un-do but it would take a LOT.

To address Kara: The little tab thing that you see sticking out will actually be attached to a piece of cardstock (with eyelets) within the book. The tab is a die cut from Sizzex (and I thought I'd never use that machine ;) So far my tabs say "rules, schedule, and Ph. numbers" Donna also made one for "Take Out" where she kept menus of the local resturants they would call for take out. This will be like our family book of info. Containing everything a babysitter would need to know (address ph #'s, neighbors, the girls daily activities etc.) I've been planning on doing it for YEARS (another looming project) the kick in the pants is that my MIL is coming on Friday to watch the kids while I'm at CHA and I'm hoping this will be helpful for her. I'll finish it up tonight and post more pictures.

Before and After

(first off if you're looking for BIG BEAR poll...scroll down)

OK so I thought I'd share a few "before" and "after" pictures of my Organizing issues...how are you all doing? Linen closet before:

Line closet "After": Notice all the toilet paper? Well you know how there are things that you remember about growing up..good or bad they're just things you recall as strong memories of growing up...well here's one of mine...I remember feeling like we never had enough toilet paper...we were always running out. I remember having to use napkins instead! It was the same thing with soap..always running out. So now that I'm the adult in charge of buying the toilet paper and the soap...we always have it. And with regards to the toilet paper...I buy the best. Not because I have to have the best, but because my mom ALWAYS bought the CHEAPEST toilet paper EVER made. It's a running joke in the house. She says she's changed her ways but I was there at Thanksgiving and it's just not the same as squeezin' the Charmin.

I made labels from cardstock, ran them through the xyron and stuck them to the shelf...I'm not sure how long it will last. I thought about mod podge...but then they'd never come off.  OK so back in the day I used to work at Linens N Things so I learned how to fold linens. Here's a tip: Think in thirds, if you want your linens to fit perfectly on the shelf you have to play with how to fold them. These are over-sized bath towels. I folded them in half, then in half again. Then in thirds. It's kind-of hard to describe. But if you can't figure it out and really some help just ask....

Scrapper's Retreat--interested?

So I'm taking an informal poll here...would you be interested in a "Scrapper's Retreat" in Big Bear California? What amenities would you expect? How much would you pay? What if it could include: accomadations for 6-8 people, a kitchen and be centrally located to resturaunts, grocery stores, etc. What else would you like to see? Would it need a TV/DVD player? Couches? (OK so I ask this because technically you're supposed to be going to SCRAP, not lounge around on the couch.) CD player? What would be important to you?

Let me know...

Very Thankful...

Yesterday Nate finally took my car into the dealership. It's been having problems...really it's a piece of junk but as long as it's working it means no car payment. He told them the symptoms and basically they thought it was going to cost $2000 or more. Well the car is over 10 years old...it's only worth $1000 or LESS. So Nate came home and told me we would have to buy a new car. Thankfully they were able to fix it for around $300. Today was the first day I drove it and yippee...I could actually drive more than 20 miles/hour. I kid you not...that's the fastest I could go on a street 55mph on Wed. It took me 25 minutes to get to Alexa's school to pick her up.

My Rooms...

OK so I just wanted to share my mudroom/laundry room: Here's where I have the kids baskets and hooks (and my purse). Eventually I will paint this room and I'd love to have a counter top installed on this wall--like bar height. All the hooks are kid height. They would still be able to get to them if I installed a counter. But the counter would allow me to have a message station above it. A place to keep school papers and announcements. etc.

Here's where the washer and dryer are: directly across from the baskets and hooks. Someday I want cabinets mounted on the wall so that everything would be OFF the dryer. Until then, I do the best I can...and yes...there's still stuff that needs a "home" see those things on the right side of the washer and the left side of the dryer? Those are mirrow window things that need to be hung up...maybe that's today's project...