My Organized Garage!

I am finally done organizing my garage!  It has taken me about a month, but I'm done.  Not only did I manage to clean out the garage, but also every part of my house.  Every closet, cabinet, shelf and drawer.  Every room got decluttered!  It is like a breath of fresh air to have no clutter buried anywhere. 

Here is my stockpile.  This is where I keep all my products from couponing.

These containers are almost completely filled to the top.
The wooden shelf on the left was actually built into our garage when we moved in.  It was horizontal and had legs.  We ripped it from the wall, took off the legs, and now it is holding dog food and tiles for our laundry room floor.

My toy/book area.  We have a few more toys that are inside that are not in the picture.  But I think this is a good way to keep everything organized.  The boys are allowed to have 2-3 tubs out at a time and maybe a large toy.  When they get bored we clean up and come outside to the garage to pick out new.  It keeps their interest and my house clean.

I even have room for all the art supplies.  Makes life so much easier.



These are things that didn't really have a home inside the house.  Scrap booking materials, pictures, old towels, games and party supplies.  Can you believe that some of these totes are empty?

Giving Thanks

I am thankful for...

My two beautiful boys.
  Kaysen with his warm and loving hugs.  His little words, his quiet coos.  His wispy hair and his chubby knees.  His smiles and his giggles.  The calmness that he brings me when I'm having a rough day.
  Caleb with his intelligence and strong will.  His interests and his favorite things.  His gorgeous smile and short fingers.  His need to learn more each day.  The compassion that he feels towards me and his little brother. 

My husband
  The patience that he has for me when I struggle with day to day tasks.  The huge heart that he has for his family.  The wonderful father that he has become.  The one who always supports, loves, and cares for me no matter what we are going through.  I love you.

My Family
  My mom who supports me through thick and thin.  Who gives me a shoulder to cry on and footsteps to follow.  My dad who always lends a hand when we are in need.  My brother who is growing up into a man.  Although we are far away, I am thankful that you are always there.

My Friends 
  For those who I chat with on a day to day basis, or for those that I haven't seen in years.  For the friends that have come and gone, and the ones still to meet.  It makes me who I am today.  And I am thankful.

Knowledge
  The knowledge that pushes me to continuously improve our lives, both financially and mentally.  The ability to know that if there is something in my life that is making me unhappy, then I can change it.  Growing and learning more each and every day of my life.  

Confidence
  The force that allows me to be a confident mother, wife, and woman.  The security in knowing that I am doing a good job, I will make it through, and we are on the right path.  My confidence may sometimes be hidden, but it is always there.

Responsibility
  I am responsible for my actions and my life.  Only me.  No one else can take blame for my mistakes.  I am given opportunities to either fail or succeed.  If I fail, it is my responsibility to over come that and rise to success.  My boys, my family, and myself are all my responsibility.  For this, I am thankful.    

Jeans

I thought I would do some before and after pictures:

BEFORE

AFTER:

Total weight lost:  52 lbs (so far)

By the way, these jeans are ones that I found at Walmart about a month ago for A DOLLAR!!  You can not beat $1 Jeans!



Happy Thanksgiving!!

Our Menu:

Turkey (of course)

Stuffing

Green Beans (canned for my boys)

Mashed Potatoes w/ gravy

Cranberry sauce (canned for Steve)

Deviled Eggs

Dinner Rolls

Chocolate pudding dessert (for me)

Pina Colada Cake

I made the cake out of angel food cake mix, pineapple, whipped topping, and coconut.  Then I cut it all fancy and put a cherry on top.  It turned out great. 

 Caleb had two pieces of cake this evening.

Caleb and the turkey.  He kept saying "Hot turkey!"

Oh, do I need to explain these next pictures?  Well, the boys got to have chocolate pudding too.  And they are old enough that I give it to them and let them eat all by themselves.  They had a little too much fun.

At least the shirt wasn't a good shirt.

   

Crafts and Cooking

 We've been pretty busy over the past few days.  Steve and I bought a new set of pots and pans.  Inside the box were some really neat cardboard pieces.  So we made them into stars, moons, and the sun for the boys.  I never knew two toddlers could be so fascinated with stars and the moon.

Then we made a little feather head band.  This was the boys' favorite.

Steve decided that he wanted to make cookies and the boys wanted to help.  They each got a turn to stir with a spoon, and then mix with the mixer.  I grabbed my camera in time to catch the mixing part.

 

Wouldn't you think with everything we do to keep them busy that they would be better behaved?  Ummmm, NO.  Not these past few days.  **sigh**

Good Morning!!

This morning for breakfast we had grapes, apple slices, and peanut butter on whole wheat raisin bread.

The boys picked out their favorite blocks to play with.  Kasen was more into destroying things this morning rather than building.  But he did do a few tall towers.

Caleb wanted cars to add to the blocks.  He built a road on top of the block container and drove the cars around and around.

 When block time was over, the boys started getting bored.  So I brought out their balls and push toys. 

Here's Caleb sitting inside the ball container.

And here's Caleb falling out of the container!

BOOM

By this time, Kaysen was getting sleepy.  He snuggled up to his caterpillar and played with the letters printed on it.  I knew it was about time for bed.

Good night my little ones!!

 

STARS & MOON

My boys are OBSESSED with STARS.  One night Caleb was looking out the window when he spotted a light in the sky.  He brought daddy over to look, and Steve told him that it was a star.  Caleb was so excited he started running around the house, going from door to door looking for stars.  He'd scream "star...star".  A few days ago while we were driving around (it gets dark at 4:30pm now) he noticed the moon and called it a star.  We explained to him that it was the moon.  (he loves to say MOON too)  Kaysen started copying his brother, and now they point and pick out "star" and "moon" everywhere.

Yesterday I brought out some plastic cups and star decorations from Kaysen's party.  Kaysen picked up the star, looked at me, and said "sta-sta".  I was so proud!  Here's some pictures that I took. 

I set the cups up in a tower to make everything more interesting.  I put stars on top of the towers and on the ground with little sea creatures sitting on them.

Caleb dove right in and went for the cups first.  He knocked down the towers and then started to build one of his own.

He sat the cups up on top, shook his head "no" to himself, and then stacked them nesting inside each other. 

Of course, Kaysen went right for the stars.  He liked looking at his reflection.  I thought this was a great picture because you can see his little face inside the star.

No TV: Month #1

It has been a month since we cancelled our Directv service.  We haven't been completely without TV because we do have a converter box.  However, the chances of actually getting anything to come in around here is very slim.  When you do find a channel that works it fades in and out.  It makes me so annoyed that I just shut off the entire thing.

To me it hasn't been a big change.  I never really watched TV in the first place.  I listen to a lot of radio stations online now while I go about my daily routine.   Caleb took it hard in the beginning.  His TV time was limited before, but he still watched his daily dose of Seseme Street, Yo Gabba Gabba, and sometimes Dora.  I brought out the older Disney movies that Steve had on DVD.  Caleb likes to play and listen instead of just sitting and watching.  Which is fine by me!  He even asks for some of them by name.  "BUG" for Bug's Life, and "FISH" for Finding Nemo. 
Steve is ok with the change too as long as he is able to catch some of his shows on the Internet.  He also re-discovered his play station that has been buried away for months.  As long as he is happy, I am happy.

I think it's been a good change for our family. 

De-cluttering STUFF

I never knew how much "STUFF" I have.  A few days ago I took one look at my cluttered garage and decided it was time to make a change!  Before I knew it I was waist deep in stuff.  Stuff that I have been holding on to for no real purpose.  Baby clothes that are stained and ruined.  Dishes and containers that were replaced, but yet still kept.  Toys galore!  Nothing but STUFF!

Why do humans keep stuff?  There has to be some psychological reasoning behind it.  If you don't use it, don't need it, will never use it again, and it has no real purpose, then why do we hold onto it?  Is there some desire deep down to hoard things?  Is that feeling is more pronounced in some than in others?  I was shocked by the amount of things that I have buried inside every corner of my house.  And the more I searched, the more I found.  Paperwork from 5+ years ago, coats in my hall closet that I never wear, pants in my bedroom that don't fit, shoes that I've never seen, scraps of paper 'just in case'.  Really?  Why do I need all this stuff?

I started to de-clutter.  It was difficult at first getting rid of all those extra things laying around.  But the more I searched, the more I found, and it was easier to get rid of all the pointless items.  I wish I would have taken a picture of my garage a few days ago.  You couldn't even walk through it without falling over something.  Of course, this was because I started dumping container after container on the floor determined to really see all the JUNK I was holding onto.

My goal is simple:  

 Hold onto only what I need

Have a place for everything

Make use of the old things by donating or selling

I started by choosing my shelves.  I have 4 shelving units in my garage.  Everything has to fit on those 4 units (within reason of course!  Obviously the stroller can't fit on there)  So I have to be picky about what stays and what goes.  Then I grouped together items and found a container.  If it did not fit in the container, out it went!  My favorite things went into the container first, then the next things I wanted to keep, and if I ran out of space, I had to get rid of it.  This was SO MUCH EASIER instead of trying to find containers I had laying around to fit all my STUFF.  And it helped me stay on task.

There is something refreshing about purging your life of everything that is unnecessary.  It is like a make over.  Get rid of the old stuff to make way for the new.  And this time, the new is not going to be a whole bunch of useless things.  It will have a purpose and a point if it steps into my household.  And if it doesn't, then I will not hesitate to get rid of it. 

Steve and I are at a good place right now.  We are cleansing our lives.  We are improving our finances and knocking out the things that are tying us down.  We are clearing the physical junk that surrounds our home.  We are making steps to become a healthier family.  We are growing, improving, and learning more each day.  And it feels great.

Hiding Out

Today Caleb and Kaysen built a fort (with my help of course).  They had so much fun!!

I love this last picture.  Doesn't he look just like an angel?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVE

We love you Daddy!!

The boys helped to make hand made decorations for Steve's birthday.  He has to work, but tonight I'm going to get take out Chinese food to celebrate.  We are putting the boys to bed, sitting back with some wine, and watching a movie.  It should be a nice evening.

SNOW

We woke up to SNOW this morning.  Caleb and Kaysen were so excited!  The first thing they do in the morning is look out the window.  Today they stood in front of the patio door shouting "ohhhhh....ahhhhhh..." Then Caleb ran to the closet and got out his shoes.  He wanted to go outside.  So here we were, 7:30am, and we took the boys outside to touch the snow.

Caleb didn't understand where the car went.  He kept signing "car" and pointing over to where the car used to be.  He looked worried, until we explained to him that the snow covered everything, including the car.  We showed him the neighbor's car and the trees, and showed him the grass under the snow.  Once he realized that everything was still there, just covered up, he relaxed.

Kaysen didn't know what to think either.  He touched the snow with his foot, and then wanted to go inside.  He was more excited to stand at the screen door and scream "ohhhhhh" at all the snowflakes falling down.

Later on in the morning we gave Caleb a brush and he helped daddy clean off the car.  He's such a big helper.  Kaysen wanted to help too, but he's still too little.  Maybe one of these days soon.

The best soup EVER

Creamy Ham, Potato, Carrot Soup

**YUMMY**

 4 Potatoes (peeled and diced)

4 carrots (peeled and diced)

Ham (I used turkey/ham ~ cubed)

Cream of Chicken (1 can)

Cream of Celery (1 can)

Skim Milk (2 cans)

Mix everything together in a crock pot and cook on low for

5-6 hours

It is the best creamy potato soup!  Promise!!