project reorg: kitchen cupboards

So my kitchen is driving me a batty. I need to reorganize it big time. It's being taken over by jars of bulk pantry items and they're starting to fall on my head when I open the doors. I'm in the kitchen all.the.time so I need to do this for my own sanity.

Also the placement of things just don't make sense. I was telling a friend of mine about people putting things away in different cupboards and had mentioned about how my measuring cup is in a different place all the time. She said "Yes I know - it goes with the other measuring things right?!" I said "Ya - right! Duh!" Except mine doesn't. The cups are in one place, while the spoons are in another. In my head it makes sense for some reason, but if someone were to go in my cupboards to look for them they'd be lost likely.

Which all leaves me on a quest to have it all make sense.

I was reading an article that Katie Bower wrote recently for Wayfair about organizing a pantry and the thing that stuck with me was to make stations for your things. So here are my stations (I will likely have to pare them down or bulk some together but this is basically what I need space for):

• bulk pantry items (all the jarred stuff!) and their leftovers
• baking/spices/oils station
• vitamins/hemp powders station
• cereals/snacks
• coffee/tea
• cleaning/paper towels/kitchen bags
• cookbooks
• potatoes/onions etc
• linens
• cat food
• recycling/garbage
• kids crap dishes/utensils/cups ;)
• misc glasses/plates/utensils
• canned goods/other boxed foods
• cooking/baking utensils/dishes
• pots, pans, storage/tupperware containers
• vases etc.

Did I miss anything?

task list (aka getting sh*t done)

I get questions now and again about how I get so much stuff done around the house. I have two kids who are 20 months apart, how do I have time to do X?

The honest truth is that I have no idea. Sometimes a weird thing in my brain takes over and when I come to stuff is done - ha! This happened once when I made a slip cover for one of my chairs. I have no idea how I did it, I just know that I was watching Anaconda one Sunday afternoon and by the time the movie was over, I had a new chair cover.

Even though I do tend to get a lot of things done, I'm still not overly efficient with my time (hello Internet time waster!). So a few weeks ago I was excited to discover the Reminders button on my iPhone. Yes I know it's just a task list (and I'm likely the last to know about it), but I'm not really a list maker and this one looked like it would be easy and fun to use.

As I think of things to do in my head, I add them to the list. It could be anything. You can see from my list that I have "Glue bottom to blue cup" (one of Leo's sippy cups needs fixing) so it literally could be anything. When I have five extra minutes, I look at my list and see what can be done in that five minutes. Then I check it off which is the best part!

Anyway I feel way more organized this way for some reason. It helps me feel like I'm accomplishing things throughout the day.

Of course, I could always just take a picture of my chalk board lists too which is what I did this morning on my way to the grocery store ;).

How do you keep things under control? Are you a list maker? Don't you just love checking things off?

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organization domination - the bedroom

Happy Monday y'all? Yes I say happy because it has to be a good week around here. Last week was not fun. Let's see. I had a touch of the flu, threw out my back and capped it off with a little cold. Thankfully the flu and cold were not as bad as what I've been hearing is going around, but it still sucked. And sucks even more when you have to take care of two kids! I'm lucky that Mark works close to home and was able to come home to help out.

Anyway.

Because last week was such a flop, I got into high gear with organizing over the weekend to start this week off right. 

Aww poor empty frame! Need a pic for that one!

Nothing makes me happier than starting off a week with a clean house, so when I was dusting the bedroom yesterday I decided to switch things up a bit. I don't have a before pic, but just picture a million things on the dresser and side tables and piles of clothes on the chair. I moved a few things here and there and I'm pretty happy with how it's looking. It just feels a bit more serene.

Here's the thing: there is a lot of brown in this room (aka matchy matchy furniture) so I'm going to see what I can do about softening it up a bit. I can't paint it, but I do have some ideas on accomplishing this.

I also want to get that nice little chair in the corner reupholstered and I've got my eye out for a new duvet cover. I want something a bit lighter.

Got any plans for your bedroom?

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small things

Sometimes it's the small things that make me the most happy. Yesterday I headed out the door to grab something for lunch and I ended up at Staples. After revealing the disaster nursery the other day I wanted to get started organizing the filing cabinet in the room. While at Staples I found a wall of Martha Stewart fun and grabbed a cute little document hanger thingamabob to hold all the crap we keep at the entrance into the kitchen.

I didn't take a before shot (I didn't think you needed to see more mess!), but here's the after. Ahhh I love how everything is off the counter and out of the way and the colour kind of blends in with the backsplash.

Neat and tidy.

I also picked up a bigger doc hanger for my take out menus! I got the idea from Maillardville Manor. Such a great idea. Now I just have to tackle the rest of the junk drawer :).

mmm pizza.

nursery progress

My best friend C was over the other week and the next day she mentioned that she didn't get to see the nursery while she was over and "How was the progress?"

"Wow, you didn't get to see it?" I replied? "It's done! I can't believe I didn't mention it!"

So I thought, why not show YOU the nursery progress!

oy.

This room has never been organized. When we moved in, it was my sewing room, but then I didn't really like sewing in here because I prefer being on the main floor of the house doing stuff. It's also a spare bedroom. We have another nicer spare bedroom, so this is the one that gets all the crappy leftovers from my university days.

It's also (obviously) the catch-all for everything.

Last night I decided to start organizing in there and this is the result after an hour or so:

I know it may not seem like there's much of a difference, I did a lot I swear! Here's what I did:

• Organized most of my baby clothes into two piles: 1. clothes that could possibly pass on a little girl baby; 2. BOY clothes that I've put in a bin to put in the garage a] in case I don't in fact have a girl baby for whatever reason and b] in the event that we decide to have a third kid and it is a boy (yes I know I'm crazy to be thinking like this).
• I also had a bunch of maternity clothes in boxes and bags in this room which was really annoying me so I went through those and switched out all of my pre-baby clothes so I don't get annoyed with myself every morning when I try to find a shirt to wear.
• Moved all of the books from this shelf to the other spare room bed (yes now the other room is starting to look like this room but at least there is a place for those books on a shelf in that room)
• Moved the ironing board and iron to the spare room. I bought a nifty hanger to store it on the inside door of the closet.

Ok so here's the list of things I need to do:

• Move the filing cabinet to the spare room (why we have a filing cabinet this size in the first place is beyond me!) and make a cover for it if time permits.
• Organize my fabric and store in the filing cabinet like this!
• Figure out if my sister needs her bed back/put it in storage.
• Paint the room. I was going to leave it as is, but it's more of a bluey grey and I'm not sure it's going to go with the colours I'm thinking of using.
• Set up the crib and get a mattress
• Make a crib sheet (My friend C is giving me her crib skirt which just happens to match my colour scheme!).
• Figure out curtains and rods (I got these from Ikea, but I don't think they're going to work after all).
• Paint the side table and get some new legs.
• Have the rug I have rolled up in there cleaned and figure out if it will work in the room.
  
• Get a dresser!
• Rework a mirror I painted that didn't work out.
• Make some artwork with some mini canvases I've had forever.
• Get a fun light for the room

Ok I need to stop making this list and get to work! Wow. Lots to do.

a menu from pinterest

Over the weekend, I found an ebook I've been slightly obsessed with since called One Bite at a Time by Simple Mom Author & Blogger Tsh Oxenreider. She goes through 52 projects (some bigger than others) that will help you simplify your life. I'll be honest, I don't feel that overwhelmed about things in general (I know, I know, wait 'til I have two kids!), but I just love reading about organizing (I could definitely use some organizing ideas) and life tips in general.

One of the bites (no pun intended!) she offers is around meal planning. I've tried this before, but haven't really stuck with it. My main goal for doing this is to get our food spending under control. I feel like I spend a lot on food.

Tsh mentioned that she goes through her Pinterest food board for menu planning ideas, so I thought I'd have a little fun with that this week.

Here's what I did: Every week, I get a fruit & veggie box delivered to my door, so I waited for the email to tell me what I was getting in my box; then went to my food board on Pinterest to see what I could find to make as part of my meal plan. The goal here is to only get what I need for these particular recipes at the grocery store. I tend to keep a good bulk of pantry items so I also considered those items in my search.

After I found a dish, I added it to my google calendar to keep track of what I'm making. I also added reminders about other things I need to do the day before like soak beans for the quinoa wraps and the sweet potato burgers.

Here's the menu I came up with for the week:

Monday:
Whole roast chicken, potatoes and 'The Best Broccoli of your life'

Source: amateurgourmet.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

Tuesday:
Southwestern Quinoa Wrap with a salad. We have some leftover chicken from last night so I'll add some of that to the wraps tonight.

Source: epicureanmom.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

Wednesday:
Lemon Quinoa Cilantro Chickpea Salad with pork loin chops

Source: thediva-dish.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

Thursday:
Sweet Potato Veggie Burgers with Avocado & mixed green salad

Source: kblog.lunchboxbunch.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

Friday:
Gnocchi With Roasted Cauliflower

Source: realsimple.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

I realize this all may seem a bit nerdy, but honestly I felt more organized the minute I started working on it. Now I know I have everything in the house to make these menu items so I don't have to stress about what to make as the dinnertime draws closer. Plus, who doesn't love an excuse to go to Pinterest? ;)

How about you - have you found any good tips when it comes to meal planning?

the bug

Ya I know I'm supposed to be sewing pillows (not to mention stuff from that summer sewing series I had blogged about awhile back) but I've got a weird bug right now - an organizing bug. I have this need to get house stuff done. So far this week I've organized my front closet and tidied my back mud room. Next up is my sewing room (finally!) and I have a little labels project I want to get started on pronto.

I'm even doing stuff for Leo's birthday which is still a month and a half away. Here's a little hint:

Ok better get back at it before the little one wakes up!

Happy Thursday y'all (and if you live in Ontario, I hope you all are getting out to vote!!)

-Steph

nesting

This is what happens when it's raining outside, the hubster is golfing (in the rain) and I'm 30 weeks pregnant.

bowled over

A good friend of mine gave Mark and me a box of these bowls for a wedding gift last year...

I set them up around the house for fun, and always looking for ways to reuse an empty box, I found the perfect spot for my jewelry that was in need of some serious organization.


Some might notice I have a slight obsession with earrings from sulu-design.