Not my thing

So I've had these three green baskets since Kenny and I got married. Lately I've been using them for one of my "house stations" along with a couple of other black baskets I have. It was bugging me that the baskets were different colors and not looking cohesive so I thought to myself... "hmmm -- I'll just spray paint the green baskets black. A project. Fun! I've always wanted to do a little spray painting."

Three weeks later. 4 trips to the paint store. More time wasted than I actually want to admit. Two more smaller baskets thrown in for good measure. One trashed basket I ran over with my car. One trashed garage floor. One annoyed husband. And an ever so lovely set of black fingernails.

Yeah... don't think spray painting is my thing. Especially spray painting baskets. Too many nooks and crannies for my perfectionist nature to handle.

Finally finished them today and then spent my precious "baby is napping" time mopping the garage floor.

Next time I'll do what I usually do. I'll do what I'm good at.

Next time I'll shop for new baskets.

Sister love

These two girls of mine have been best friends from the start.

Sometimes they fight, but they are always quick to make up and carry on like nothing happened at all.

They do everything together.

And watch out for each other.

And are extremely affectionate with each other.

When they first started having individual playdates with friends I would always remind them "make sure you play with your sister too." That was never a problem. Now I remind them to make sure to include the friend.

They love to dance together.

And they really listen to each other.

And one of them is always laughing at what the other one has to say.

They especially love to act silly together.

A lot of silliness goes on between these two every day.

Sometimes they get laughing so hard over what seems to be absolutely nothing. They have their own little language and this reminds me for all the world of me and my sister.

The other day they were coloring and Ellie said out of the blue "Ad! That coloring is so good it looks like Kindergarten work!" You should have seen Addison's little face light up. She got off of her chair and walked over to Ellie and wrapped her arms around her. Ellie kept coloring with one hand and held her other arm around Addison. They stayed like that for a few minutes and I watched them from the kitchen with a great big lump in my throat.

These two are sisters. And the love they share is like nothing else.

A new do and the Patch

Did my hair this weekend. The rain ceased and so did the pony tail...temporarily any way.

I also mastered the best position to stand in when taking a full body self portrait. Side view with one leg bent is the most flattering hands down. Try it. Then try taking a picture straight on. WORLD of difference. I think from now on I'll just enter rooms sideways. :)

My hair actually doesn't look that much different but I did cut a lot off and it FEELS different.

Plus it's easier to straighten at this length to mix things up.

And much easier to wear in a pony tail. It was getting so long before I cut it that pony tails were giving me headaches from all the weight of my hair. Pony tails are an essential part of my life these days so all in all - I'm liking the new do. Kole doesn't care for it though. He misses having so much hair to grab in his tiny little fists. I won't miss his fists pulling my hair. And I won't miss taking pictures of my hair. Self portraits are way harder than they look!

Aside from doing my hair this weekend we also took the kiddos to the Pumpkin Patch.

We've gone to this Patch for several years now so it has become an October tradition. It's more like a mini carnival with a few pumpkins thrown in than an actual Pumpkin Patch, but seriously, my girls look forward to it all year. So while Kenny and the girls did their usual routine at the patch,

I propped up my littlest pumpkin and snapped a few photos --

and my favorite of the not so great shots -

What's wrong buddy? Straw not tasting as good as expected? :)

Broccoli and Bows

Ok - I am BEYOND excited that my posts are inspiring some of you to organize! It feels so good, doesn't it!? I'm quite addicted to say the least. :)

Seems I have another past time. I cooked again! Twice in one week! I know. Somebody stop me. ;) I had leftover diced chicken from the enchiladas so I threw in some General Tso's sauce to make cashew chicken. The broccoli was over cooked because I was a bit preoccupied taking pictures of it, but all in all, a decent quick meal that involved the stove (not the microwave). And pots and pans. Feeling good about that!

Someone asked me if I would share how I organize my girls' hair accessories and I had these pictures from past posts...

I hang all of their bows in their bathroom on a couple of long ribbons I bought on-line years ago. Wish I could remember where I bought them, but they would be so easy to make.

Their hair bows don't look quite this neat and color coordinated at the moment because lately my girls have been getting into them to use for their dolls hair. :)

The rest of their elastics, etc. are in little plastic containers on their bathroom shelves. I have some of them in my bathroom too because when I do Ellie's hair I use the straight or curling iron so she gets ready with me.

Hope that helps! Gotta run. I'm heading upstairs to go through my closet to find something fancy schmancy to wear to a dinner this weekend with Kenny, attorneys, clients, and more attorneys. Probably a good thing I have something that will force me to give up the sweat suits I've so enjoyed this week. :)

Hope you all have a great weekend!

A little of this and that

Hi everyone! Can I just say thank you to anyone who has ever commented on this blog and left me a sweet little hello. Your kind words always make my day! Really they do. I got several questions and e-mails after my first kitchen organization post so I'll take a quick minute to answer some of those. First of all...yes! I actually do have kitchen stuff in my kitchen. :)

{utensils} I always keep knives clear in the back so that little hands don't find them.

{cooking tools} See that rolling pin in the very back? When my parents came to my house for Thanksgiving a few years ago my mom was getting the meal ready and needed a rolling pin. I of course didn't own one. She was shocked. No rolling pin in sight along with my overall lacking of other necessary cooking tools sent her into quite a tail spin. She went on and on about how she had raised me better and how it was a good thing my grandma couldn't see this. We stopped mid meal and ran to the store where she bought me everything chef like we could find. And there it sits. Rolling pin and all. Until she comes for Thanksgiving once again. :)

{Tupperware} I'm quite obsessed with glad Tupperware containers. I use them for leftovers and the girls' lunches. This drawer is usually stuffed, but half of my containers are in my fridge and dishwasher at the moment.

{kitchen wash rags and towels}

See! Kitchen stuff!

A run down of how I organize my kitchen -

I don't think I have more cupboard/drawer space then most. The thing is - I don't keep anything I'm not using (other than my mom's rolling pin) so I have room for the girls' homework and crafts and other things.

Other questions.... yes, I am totally planning on sharing my paper system. I have several other "house stations" to share. I just need to take pictures of everything. I've been waiting to take a lot of pictures because these rainy, dark, cloudy days we've been having aren't helping in the lighting department. I need my sunshine! Organizers in all of my drawers are from Target. You can buy them in all sorts of shapes and sizes and they are really cheap (like 4-7 bucks each). They have rubber on the bottom of them and really don't slide much. I've had them for years.

I can't believe how much rain we've had lately! My pumpkin lights in the front are drenched and my little back yard looks like it's going to wash away! There have been so many car accidents. Nobody here knows how to act when the weather isn't 70 degrees and sunny (like now when the weather is 68 degrees and rainy). We're all so spoiled! I can't imagine what would happen if we ever got an inch of snow. Total disaster.

So guess what was at my grocery store today? Pomegranates! (I had to buy one) And you know what that means. Thanksgiving is right around the corner. And you know what that means. CHRISTMAS is right around the corner! I am so excited for December! I feel bad this year but I'm kind of over Halloween already. I just want to put up my Christmas decor and lights and sit in front of my fireplace and Christmas tree and watch It's a Wonderful Life for the millionth time. I put my decor up after Thanksgiving last year (I have a lot to be grateful for and didn't want to rush past that important holiday) but before I knew it Christmas was over and it was time to take it all down. I'm thinking this year I'm going to put things up a lot earlier so I have plenty of time to enjoy it all.

Speaking of Thanksgiving and being grateful...the other day in Ellie's class they were sharing what they were each grateful for and guess what Ellie said when it was her turn?

"I'm grateful for Happy Meals."

Not her family. Not her friends. Happy Meals from McDonalds.

I'll take my mother of the year award in high gloss gold, thank you very much.

Some other random news - I cut my hair last week! Nothing too drastic, but it is a lot shorter. Right below my shoulders. I keep thinking I need to share a picture of it, but I haven't done my hair all week. The rain has inspired nothing but quick pony tails and my various sweat suits.

And here's the sweet little face that greets me after nap time these days -

He thinks he is just too cool now that he can roll.

What a stud. :)

House Stations #1

Yesterday was a wet, rainy day. I'm quite enjoying the wet, rainy days we've been having lately.

I got the girls ready and off to school and then Kole I did a little house work, exercised, and made chicken enchiladas so that everything would be ready at dinner time.

That's right. You heard me. I cooked and I'm feeling pretty good about it! So good in fact that I think I'm done for the week in that department.

Then I ate lunch - the same thing I eat for lunch every day and have for oh... about 10 years. My turkey sandwich and baked lays and strawberries. I have such a weakness for baked lays chips! I like to convince myself that since they are "baked" I can eat as many as I want.

And then I did a little organizing. Rainy days are the very best days for organizing. :)

I finally finished my new system for any and all paper in this household! Feels so good! I've also set up several different little "stations" throughout my house I'll share over the next week or so. Here are a few of the stations in my kitchen...

This drawer was always our catch all drawer for paper. I used to have about 10 folders in here attempting to make sense of our paper work, but now that I have a new paper system, this drawer is just for a few miscellaneous things.

The only folders I kept in this drawer are the folders that hold all of our phone directories/numbers and the folder I have for all of my recipes. I know. There are so many better ways to organize recipes, but for someone who only uses a few recipes, this little red folder works just fine.

This drawer also holds these cute little notebooks I got in the dollar bins at Michael's (I'm such a sucker for those dollar bins! And for cute little notebooks). I use one of them to jot down all of the girls latest quotes, one of them to jot down songs I like (I'm always listening to music and writing down songs I want to download) and the other one I'm using to write down little things about Kole at 3 months, 4 months, 5 months, etc. so I have that info. for his scrapbook. Very handy indeed. :)

Simple pen/scissors/tape drawer

A little drawer for our arts and crafts station. We have several through out the house. I'd love to have all of this stuff in one location, but the girls like to create downstairs and upstairs and I've just found it's easier to keep supplies in both places.

Baby station which holds all of Kole's bibs, spoons, binkies, etc. This drawer is right by the sink so I also use it for tooth brushes and tooth paste. Once I get my girls down the stairs in the morning we are so NOT going back upstairs. If they come down to eat and then go back upstairs to brush their teeth before school I'd loose them to their toys. They are too easily distracted so in the mornings we get completely ready upstairs, come down to eat and then stay down until it's time to go. Which means brushing their teeth in the kitchen sink. Works for us.

And last but not least, our homework station. I have had this set up for several weeks now and I'm loving it! It's so nice to have everything we need for homework in one drawer. Ellie's stuff is on the left, and Addison's is right next to it. There are always plenty sharp pencils, and plenty crayons for coloring. Pretty stressful homework at this age. :)

It's raining again today and aside from running a few errands, we don't have much on our agenda. Love days like this. Think I'll switch gears and catch up on a little laundry and scrapbooking.

Happy Tuesday!