If I could spend all day organizing....I would.

Some items I ordered from Amazon came in yesterday.  So I spent the first half hour of being home putting them to good use.  I bought two of these separators (Better Houseware Large Organizer White).

I kind of wish I had bought more.  Because they are awesome.  I would just have to figure out where to put them.  Sometimes I love my cabinets, and other times, well, I loathe them.  We have the built-in slide out shelves and sometimes that prevents us from using that space appropriately.  But I will figure it out.  Maybe I'll look into a smaller (shorter) organizer to see if I can use it that way.  But here is what I did with two of the cabinets. (I only took pictures of one because I got so excited and forget on the first one.)

As you can see, or not see (that's the point) it was very crowded and not organized.  Well, besides the fact that it's all baking-type stuff.  I found out that I have 3 pie pans I have NEVER used.  I credit this to the fact that my loving husband bought me them, mistaking them for cake pans.  I prefer glass pie pans so I've never used them.  I'm thinking maybe I can save them for kid crafts or something.

So this is the "back".  All cake pans go in the back (except the bundt because well, it didn't fit nicely).  Then the mixer bowls sit in front and can easily be pulled out.

I have two mixing bowls because I got tired of having to quickly wash one if I wanted to make icing or another type of cookie.  I still think I need more.  I definitely need more paddles and whisk-type mixers.

So that is what I did.  I did other things, like start more baby laundry, starting putting clothes into the newly divided dresser for the baby, and put all cleaning supplies in a shoe organizer on the laundry room door.  But those didn't get pictures.  But the baby stuff will.  When I can do a really nice long post on how awesome it is.  Because it is.  Awesome. 

Nesting...I'm not crazy, I'm just nesting....Riiiight

So in all the hub bub that has been going on, I haven't had the time to write a decent entry.  I know, I'm a failure, but look pal, I'm growing a human.  You try that sometime.  See how much you get done.  But thankfully I have found the wonderful, blissful, amazing UNISOM.  And I am finally sleeping again.  At least in longer increments than the previous 30 minutes. 

But, let me catch you up on some stuff before I jump into the real reason for this entry.  Let's see.  Well, I'm still growing a human.  I'm still getting large.  I still can't see my feet unless I lean forward.  Shoes that tie are out of the question unless Hubbs is around.  Hmm, we took our baby care class and infant CPR class.  Nice information but I kind of knew a lot of it.  Not saying I'm perfect but being certified in CPR for the past 5 years and having 7 nieces and nephews kind of gives you a leg up on some things.

I finally had a shower.  It had been a long time coming.  I think people were starting to worry I was never going to have one and would continue smelling like I did forever.  But luckily, my amazing friend Jenn (over at http://rememberthepancakes.blogspot.com/), with the help of my family and friends, threw me an amazing shower.  Winnie the Pooh/fall themed.  It was wonderful.  And as some of you may know, I do not like being the center of attention but it still went well.  Here are a few pictures:

I am still trying to convince Jenn that she and I should go into business together.  It's a slow process.  She seems to be hesitant.  I will wear her down.

After the shower, we began detagging and washing everything.  It was a lot.  Four loads of laundry.  Millions of swing tags.  Then once we had it all done we had to figure out how to organize it all.  So I made Hubbs build me some drawer organizers.  He's awesome like that. (picture to come later)

But I still have to put everything away.  That is the goal for this weekend.  Along with organizing some other areas of the house (some kitchen space, laundry space, craft closet).  I may have overspent on some items from Amazon.  And will need to make a trip to the dollar store.  But I was told that this is all acceptable.  You know why?  It's because I'm nesting.  I'm not sure when I became a bird but apparently I am and will nest until I'm too tired to nest anymore.  I will be sure to post lots of pictures once the nesting begins (again, if you remember the earlier organizing posts) and completes (or at least when each project completes) so that you can all see my amazing, awesome skills and house.  Until the next time!

"Any closet is a walk-in if you try hard enough"

(Quote by Steve Connelly)

So this thing growing inside of me seems to make everyone want to nest.  And Hubbs got the lovely idea to redo the closet.  Now here I was just thinking that I would add a few cute boxes and get rid of some old clothes.  His idea involved a complete remodel.  Which is totally fine, we had discussed this previously.  But his mindset was that if we don't do it now, we won't do it when baby comes. 

So he ordered all of the stuff (we went with Martha) (from Home Depot http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZc1vx/h_d2/Navigation?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&storeId=10051#/?c=1&1z0yja9=1z0yja9) in case you want to see the stuff.  And it arrived.  In boxes.  Tons and tons of boxes.  I'm not kidding, there were like 30 boxes in our living room.  Let me remind you that we are having the baby shower at our house, next weekend.  So he had two weeks tops to get this thing done.

This is what the closet used to look like (I can't find a real photo):

It was the really crappy wire bracket shelving and it was going to fall down.  We had too much weight on it and the bars were bowing.

So first we moved all the clothes out and put them in other closets.  This took some time.  Hubbs did most of the work though because he is awesome like that.

Then he ripped everything out.  This was the only photo I got of that process.

Then he patched and sanded the holes from the old brackets.  He's so handy.

Then he painted.  That picture is on the tablet so, you are going to have to wait.  But we just painted it white.  Then he installed.  And installed.  And installed.  And finished!  YAY!

This is Hubbs side.

This is my side.  I have more to the left but couldn't get the whole wall.

A whole system for shoes.  Just shoes.  Can you believe it?

And this is the whole closet.  Sort of.  You miss out on the shoe side but that's ok.  We have already filled it with clothes.  Hubbs finished all of his side but it's taking me quite a bit longer due to the fact that I'm large and have a ton of clothes.  And it's not as simple as work shirts, t-shirts, sweaters.  As it is for some people.  So once it is completely full and I am satisfied with how it turned out, I'll take another set of photos. 

Isn't it purrrty?



If only you were a little bigger...then I would love you more

Oh pantry.  When we were house shopping, my dream kitchen would have a large walk-in pantry.  But we found the dream house with only a little tiny pantry.  I know I shouldn't complain.  At least we have a pantry.  But I just think that we would have more space in other places (i.e., cabinets, counters, etc.) if you were a walk-in.  My all time favorite pantry is the one at my grandparents house in southern VA.  It was HUUUGE! And red.  And had a light.  It was so big you had to have a step stool to reach some shelves.  But alas, as it stands, right now we have a tiny pantry.

So it is a huge problem for me and my CDO-ness when it gets crowded and unorganized.  Saturday morning I spent some time at one of my favorite stores, Target.  I can't walk in there without buying something.  And well, I bought stuff.  Roughly $320 of stuff.  Granted this wasn't all for the pantry.  I also got some new sleep shirts, a maternity dress, some baby outfits, and organization for other rooms.  So don't think I'm that crazy.

But here is a list of some of the items I bought for the pantry:

1.  Lazy susan.  Just one.  That's all they had.  I was disappointed because I wanted to use these in a cabinet too.  But that's ok.
2.  Ice cube bins.  I bought three.  Little did I know, that would not be enough.
3.  2 small baskets.
4.  A wire shelving thing.  It's hard to explain but I'll point it out in the pictures.  I also only bought one.  I wanted to see how it would work before I got more than one.
5.  Dog food bin.  We don't have a dog, but we buy our dry cat food in bulk and it was taking up tooooo much space in my pantry.
6.  Tupperware thingies.  (Great vocab over here).  Storage containers for flour, cereal, etc.

I also went to the dollar store and bought some other little bins.  They weren't as strong as the ones at Target but they were only a dollar and weren't going to hold too much.

So first things first.  I took pictures of the pantry.  Everyone always needs a before look.

Then, I started taking out EVERYTHING (well, except the spices, they were pretty organized already). Silly me thought I could fit it all on the island.  Well, that didn't work and all the stuff took over the island and an entire counter.

Then I went through and threw out all the old food.  I had hoped it wouldn't be that much, but well, I was wrong.  Here are some of the things I threw out:

1.  Three UNOPENED boxes of crackers - 4 months old.
2.  Three bottles of dressing.
3.  Soup.
4.  Opened boxes of crackers.
5.  Chips (two bags) - opened but old and stale.

Just tossing these thing created three bags of trash.

Then I started planning.  And consolidating.  And getting rid of boxes and using storage containers.  There was minimal moving once I started placing things in the pantry and thankfully I finished in one day.  Which also included a lunch with my aunt and mother.  I also reorganized the baking cabinet.  This included tossing old items and reorganizing.  But more on that later.

So I used the lazy susan for canned veggies (Hubbs first question, well what if we get more?....My response, we should use what we have first.  I'm tired of throwing out old food....I continued my rant but it's not important.)  I then used the wire shelving thing for soups.  On Sunday I bought another one and used that for cream of soups and condensed soups. 

I put all sauce mixes into an ice cube bin.  I also used one of those for popcorn.  And grouped my vinegars in one as well.  Who knew I had four different kinds of vinegar?

I then used a basket for snacks and condiments.  Flours got poured into storage containers.  I already had old Folgers containers for flour and bread flour but needed something for self-rising and wheat.  Used some storage containers for already popped popcorn and rice (not already cooked).  I also used some wicker baskets that were left over from our wedding to store our onions and potatoes.  I read online that this kept them fresh longer.  Plus it looks super cute.

With the baking cabinet, I put cake/brownie mix (after tossing a few) into a basket so that I can easily pull it out and pick one. I also put cookie mix in one. I then put decorating items in a Tupperware container. I took out the old hand mixer for donation. And then just generally reorganized things so that they fit better.

Not pictured here are the lazy susans I purchased on Sunday and used for oils and sauces in another cabinet.  That one really got cleaned up and they are much easier to find now.

All in all I think it turned out really well.  Now the hard part will be keeping hubbs in line.  Until next time, when I tackle the next organizational nightmare.

Get ready...set...organize!

As many of you may know, I tend to be a little OCD, or as some of us say CDO (it's the letters in alpha order).  And with a baby on the way (it's really hard not to use her name) I know that things will be crazy and hectic and dirty and well, there just won't be time to do any of this awesome organization that I need to do.  So, what better time than, well, now?  Hopefully I can remember to do before and after pictures and remember to blog about it, but the real goal is to make things easier for when baby comes, get rid of stuff we are no longer using, wearing, or need, and to get clean. 

Places/things to organize (some big, some small, some will take a greater power (aka $$) and may not happen:

1.  Pantry.  This is the first on my list.  I had previously organized everything by shelf but since there was no real system or baskets/boxes to keep things in their place, it got messed up.  Now, I'm not blaming hubs, but someone in the household can't put things back where they got them.  And well the cats don't have thumbs.  So I am hoping to add some labels, baskets, boxes, and lazy susans (poor Susan, she got a bad rap).

2.  Kitchen cabinets/drawers.  We have a lot of items (pots, pans, forks, etc.) and we probably use the majority of it, but some we don't.  And those will be donated.  For the ones we do use, we need to keep them better organized so that we don't end up breaking, losing, or yelling at each other when one of us can't find the damn pot lid.

3.  Drawers at kitchen desk (do you sense a theme...?).  We have four drawers at our kitchen desk that contain various desk-type items:  address book, envelopes to be put into address book, batteries, notepads, pens, cords.  You name it, we probably have it.  So we just need to figure out what goes in what drawer and get a little more organized.

4.  Linen closet.  We have a TINY weird shaped linen closet.  No seriously.  It's tiny.  So I would like to adopt Martha's way of folding sheets and placing them INSIDE the pillow case.  But first, I will have to get rid of the old, stained, crap sheets.  At some point, hubbs will be building a slide out shelf for the laundry room and then we'll move extra linens to the top of the laundry room shelves.  Or so the plan is now.  But we shall see.

5.  Master bathroom vanity.  This just needs to get straightened up.  Along with the medicine cabinet (which doesn't have medicine - they say to not keep it in your bathroom due to humidity).

6.  Closet.  We have a ton of clothes.  We currently have three dressers and a walk-in closet.  Plus some of my non-pregnant clothes have moved to other closets.  So we need to figure out what we need, what we can re-purpose, or get rid of.  At some point we want to actually redo the closet with shelves and rods but that requires moolah.  So for now, we will clean up and hopefully reduce.

7.  Baby room.  This one will probably wait until after the baby shower in Oct.  There isn't much to organize yet.

8.  Office.  This one just needs to be cleaned and things need to be filed.  The closet needs to be reorganized.  But that requires putting together some shelving and well it's down here at number 8.

9.  Medicine/recipe cabinet in the kitchen.  Our medicine cabinet is actually in our kitchen.  We like.  But it needs to be revamped.  Old meds tossed and keepers reorganized.  The recipe cabinet hates me.  I am currently in the process of putting all magazine/printed recipes into sheet savers and then into binders.  Once I get the majority of them into binders I will actually organize the binders.  But well the whole second shelf is magazines so this may take awhile.  The good thing is that if we try a recipe and don't like it, we just toss it.  So we don't end up with tons of recipes we don't like.

10.  Basement.  This is more of a hubbs project.

11.  And then just a general cleaning.  We accumulate dust like nobody.  So that will be done.  And I think we will have a final clean in December (most likely by a service) to get a really good deep clean before baby.

So, first thing on the list...pantry...I tackle you this weekend.