Lego Organization

My boys have a lot of Lego, it is definitely their favorite and most used toy. In fact, they don't have any toys anymore really. They just have Lego and Hot Wheels, the cars are rarely used. 

With Lego comes many many ongoing projects. I keep the bulk of their Lego in a rolling under-bed storage container, but their ongoing projects usually look like this.






Clearly, something needed to be done!
I found some brightly colored bins at the dollar store and created some labels for each which I printed onto Avery shipping labels. It took me all of 10 minutes to make and stick! I put all of their unfinished projects in their bins and set them back where their piles were. When they got home, they were not upset! Can you believe it!? I disturbed their projects, but they loved it! Unfortunately, the houses don't fit in there quite well. I'm OK with that sacrifice, though I wish we had the space for them to have some sort of Lego bench or such. As you can see from the before picture there is a drum set in my life, it takes up a lot of room.

So..what happened?

It's March 14th, the 29 day challenge ended on February 29th. Clearly, I missed the boat.
So what happened? Well, life happened..then procrastination kicked in..then I lost interest.

I started out strong, as you could see from my previous photos and this amazing purge pile!
I ordered new spice tins, painted the lids with chalkboard paint and filled them. I sold my old spice containers, which paid for half of the new ones!
I also sold that deep fryer, some Scentsy bars and a snow cone machine. In total I sold more than I paid for the tins! The rest went straight to the thrift store without a second thought.
I got busy with a new, really big project that I'm not going to give details about yet. We went away for a few days to visit family, when I got back I had two days to do SOMETHING and then had a few days with family at our home. SO in two days I emptied that darn pantry and reorganized the heck out of it!
I made chalkboard labels for all of the containers using cheap shipping labels and chalkboard paint.

Before

After

Does it look better? lol. It really is..mostly because I switched what went on what shelf, which you can't really see from the photos. I moved baking stuff up b/c I use it more, for instance. I actually have a shelf that if i took the empty glass jars off (I just need to fill them) it would be almost empty...EMPTY!

I took all of the boys' lunch making supplies out of the pantry and put it in an empty cupboard, so now they have one place to go for all of their lunch stuff and supplies. Granola bars, treats, thermos' and packaging.

It's definitely not a dramatic transformation, but it gave me room to breathe and an easier space to upkeep. 
So..not with a bang but with a fizzle..but at least I got it mostly done! I still need to put the spices on the rack (using sheet metal strips on the inside of the pantry door, the chore chart will be moved) and hang up my new chalkboard (if I find space, or I'll sell it. I made it, I can do what I want with it lol)

Previous posts here, here and here. Thank you Laura for the jumpstart! I wish I'd finished in time!

20 day challenge - link up #2

I missed last weeks link up, but better late than never!
I'm not much further than I was last link up, though I'm on my second re-organization of my cupboards.
I think I like the current way, so far.
I started making chalkboard labels for my Tupperware. I had used labels from my label maker, but I like that these are bigger and Changeable. I used blank address labels that I either already had or bought for $1/pkg and some chalkboard paint I got for $1.29 at the dollar store. A simple two coats of paint, priming with chalk and voila! If I can find some I think I'll use those chalkboard markers, but for now chalk works.





I am not home for 3 of the next 8 days so keep your fingers crossed for me!

Menu Plan Monday - February 20

Happy Family Day! At this very moment I am in my van, about 4 hours from home. Oh look, we just crossed the Alberta border!
We are on our way home from my inlaws farm. I love visiting there, it's so relaxing and peaceful. There is no TV and no neighbors for miles. We just visit and eat.
This weekend was particularly great because my brother inlaws girlfriend was visiting from Nippon (Japan to you lame-os) and my mother in law is celebrating getting off immune suppressants.
She was on them after having leukemia which required a bone marrow transplant. Unless you've been through this I won't take up your time with the details, but know that until 6months from now we haven't been able to quit worrying or being on edge since her diagnosis in April 2010. So this milestone was long awaited!

This week my brother inlaw an his girlfriend are coming out to our place to do some touristy stuff with us while the kids are off for teachers convention. My meals are mostly simple and quick as its a busy week!

Sunday: We had a fabulous ham dinner with cheesy potatoes (mil is famous for them!)
Monday: Sausage & Perogies (a fast dinner once we got home, at 5pm!)
Tuesday: Chicken w/bruschetta
Wednesday: quesadillas
Thursday: mushroom stroganoff
Friday: dinner out
Saturday: Egg rolls and noodles.

I hope to bake some muffins and cookies but I won't hold my breath!

Valentine's Day Cards

This is a quickie of a post. I just wanted to share the Valentine's Day cards I made for my youngest this year. My older two are in middle school and Valentine's Day cards are taboo!
I didn't want to give out candy as kids get so much candy and so much sweet stuff in this one day that I didn't want to add to that. At New Years, I had made the countdown bags which included Glow Bracelets. They were such a hit I figured I'd make something with that!
Coming up with a pun-ny card isn't too hard. Kids love puns and silly humor and really don't like the mushy stuff.  I used Picnik to create the card, making two cards per 4x6 print. Then I simply printed out on card stock. I used a standard hole punch to create the bracelet holder and carefully slid through after my son had signed all of his cards. The one I am showing is made by me for a little friend who gave me a Valentine this weekend.
Cute, huh? If I still had photoshop (moment of silence for my expired license) I would've done a bit more, but lack of layers frustrates me!

For the kids' teachers and anyone else I think of, I'm making these birdseed ornaments, though with cookie cutters instead of donut trays. I'm winding some twine through the holes.

This recipe is SUPER simple and really easy to mold. I'll be using it a lot!

29 Day Organizing Challenge- Week 1 Progress

The contents of 3 cupboards

Well the first week (and a bit) is over. I started out great, but I sort of fizzled a little. I spent all of Day 3 pulling the contents of my cupboards out and laying it all out on my freshly washed floor. I created a little purge pile and even sold a few items I haven't used in a long time.
I put some items back into the cupboards, in new spots, but am not enjoying how I've set them up so far. I wanted to put all of my baking items in an eye level cupboard, but they're on the wrong side of the kitchen now!

The baking/serving cupboard before

Baking cupboard after-it will change

One big decision I made was to redo my spice collection. In our previous house I had a large pantry plus ample cupboard space. I spent months collecting little jars to hold generous amounts of spices. This house doesn't have that much space, though it may seem like it. My decision is to put some metal strips on the inside of my pantry door and use 4oz magnetic tins. I found the tins on eBay and will hopefully get them in the next week. For now my spices are in a cardboard box!

Purge Pile!

I got my cupboard contents put away and then I moved on to the buffet cupboards. Inside I store the kids' art supplies and projects. I had three shoe boxes of crayons, markers and pencil crayons. I took the best of the three, built some dividers out of cereal box cardboard and purged all of the coloring items until I had enough to fit in ONE box. The boys helped me out by picking what coloring books and drawing pads they wanted to keep. They got rid of a lot, these kids like the purge!
This week I want to keep working on reorganizing cupboards and shifting things around, I really need to think about where things would be best placed. Did you see Modern Family this week? I need a Cameron!

The coloring cupboards

Thank you for all of the kind words posted in my comments, it's great knowing I'm not alone. I hear there are more than 100 of us in this challenge!

29 Day Challenge- Day 1

I am taking part in a 20 Day Organizational Challenge that starts today! I am to choose one room and spend 29 days trying to make it the space I want it to be. In the end there are prizes, but I like that I'm giving myself ONE month (and a short month!) to spend on this and then I can move on. I've chosen a room I'm constantly having problems with, I can never get it tidy and I'm sure I'm not using my space effectively.

I have chosen...the kitchen. *insert horror movie sounds here*  Be afraid, be very afraid.

My kitchen and living room are open to each other. When you walk in my front door you can see straight through the living room into the kitchen.
Now, as I was taking these photos I realized that you are seeing my kitchen at its absolute worst. Unwashed dishes, counters not fit for food preparation and unwashed floors.
Immediately after taking them, I completely emptied and washed this counter. Then I tried my new calcium and magnesium supplements and promptly spit it out. Gross. Note to self: Always ask if the powdered supplements are flavored. I will never take them and neither will the boys (whom I give calcium to for growing pains). Now what!?
Ah, but I digress. My kitchen is always cluttered. I am always trying to figure out how to rearrange and reconfigure it. While I didn't take pictures of them, my kitchen organization will also include inside all cupboards. I will take photos as I go.
The china cabinet was reorganized a few weeks ago and I'm happy with it, but the cabinets underneath are so poorly utilized. Two of the drawers are craft supplies!
The boys love making model cars and clearly we have no space to house incomplete projects. I think giving them a shelf in the cupboard would help.
I redid my pantry in the summer, but I don't like how it turned out. It's still messy.







OK, back to cleaning my counter tops off, I have some baking to do today. I can't wait to see the photos I take in 29 (er..28) days!