BUSY!

Sorry for the lack of posts. We've been busy busy! 


From this past Friday from 6am - Sunday 11:30pm Ben worked 54ish hours! When he is not working this week he is completing the dining room table he is making, running errands and cleaning up the house.


I am equally busy. Today I am working, while doing laundry, cleaning the house, packing for our weekend away and then later today I am volunteering, working the after school program, helping out Lauren, and going to Raena's Art Show. 


I will get back to blogging when I can! I'll have some fun posts after this upcoming weekend! Stay tuned!

Perfection

Life is crazy and as the end of the year/beginning of summer creeps closer, life has gotten even busier. Some days I take life for granted but tonight was not one of those nights....


as my eyelids grew heavier I took in my surroundings, the last bit of daylight was still shinning through the curtains, birds sat singing oblivious to the knowledge that the day was over and my hand was wrapped around the hand of the love of my life. It is moments like this when I realized my life is truly blessed. 

Will you...

...Be My Bridesmaid?

I received this beautiful card in the mail last week.

Inside was a beautiful poem.

Will you be my bridesmaid?

Will you also be my wedding planner, cake tester, interior decorator, envelope sealer, and guest list creator for the next year? Will you listen to me obsessively talk about wedding things until it's all over? Will you help me pick out the perfect dress, even if it means wasting several hours of your Saturday? Will you stay with me the night before the wedding and reassure me that everything will be perfect? Will you get in all those uncomfortable positions to make sure my dress fits exactly the way it should? Will you stay by my side and hold my dress when I have to pee? Will you check my hair 300 times to make sure every single piece is curled? Will you stand at the front of the church, smiling back at me, as I walk down the aisle to my best friend? Will you spend the entire day of 08.17.2013 getting ready with me; then spending the entire evening toasting, eating, drinking, and on the dance floor with me probably dancing to nontraditional music? Lastly, will you be my friend through all of this and after? 

With tears in my eyes I called my future-sister-in-law, Tia, and said "I DO!!" I am excited to stand next to Tia as she marries my brother! 

Scrapbooking Keepsakes

Embarrassing secret time... 

See the plastic drawer organizer on the far right. It is huge and heavy and filled with keepsakes (mostly paper keepsakes). 

As part of my attempt clean and organize the office I want to work on clearing out this closet. 

I decided to use the scrapbooks located in another closet to scrapbook all the keepsakes. I had hoped to print all the pictures I have and scrapbook them super nice along with the paper keepsakes (ticket stubs, cards, letters, etc.) But we all know that life isn't that simple so I decided to just move forward and scrapbook the keepsakes and then hopefully later do something with the pictures. 

 I started off with my college years. Every semester I had a separate folder for my keepsakes. I started off by separating and organizing all the keepsakes from the beginning of the school year through the summer. For example; Freshman year includes August 2006-August 2007

Then I got to work! I did things simply and didn't spend a lot of time on each page. 

My goal was to get as much done as possible.

These pages are from my Freshman Year. 

This was my work station! How I Met Your Mother Marathon, cucumbers, ranch, chocolate,  and tea could usually be found on my work table! I am currently in the middle of my Junior year and hoping to get the college years done before summer starts. Then I have keepsakes from birth through high school to scrapbook. But there is less materials from those years then my college years. 

Teacher Appreciation Week

Happy Teacher's Appreciation Week!

I appreciate the teachers who spend 8 hours with our kids and I appreciate the teachers on my staff who spend the next three hours with our kids. I wanted to let these teacher's know I do appreciate their hard work and patience.

The Milky Way, M&Ms and 100 Grand were put into two bowls for the two schools I oversee. I put a sign next to it explaining why I picked those 3 chocolate bars and the staff signed the Thank You Sign. 


1. M&Ms because you are "marvelous and magnificent."
2. Milky Ways because you are "out of this world."
3. 100 Grand because no amount of "money" could replace all you do!

All the goodies!

For my staffs I put goodies into a bag and labeled them. Each day they get to open one and receive their treat. 

Monday: Thanks for sticking to the PRIDE pledge!

Tuesday: You are o-FISH-ally awesome!

Wednesday: Thanks for helping Champions to shine!

Thursday: You deserve an extra PAYDAY!

Friday: You are one in a million. Each staff member got a lottery ticket. (not pictured)

All ready to surprise my staff!

OH: Week Sixteen

Organize Your Home: Week 16

Create a House Cleaning Schedule & Organize Cleaning Supplies

When I told Ben about the challenge for this week he said, "You don't need to do this one." I agreed. Making a cleaning schedule sounds wonderful and totally up my alley (being a lover of To-Do lists and all..) but with our our crazy schedules it would be too difficult to keep-up. We do a decent job right now and if the time comes when I want to start a cleaning schedule I have this post to look back to! :)


Step 1: Consider What Chores and Cleaning Tasks Need To Be Performed Daily and Weekly In Your Home.
Step 2: Create Two House Cleaning Schedules: A Daily and a Weekly Schedule
Step 3: Get In The Habit Of Working Your House Cleaning Schedule Daily and Weekly
Step 4: Organize Cleaning Supplies In Your Home


To get a free ebook that provides checklists for your daily, weekly, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom cleaning schedules (and more!) please click here. Then click "free ebook" tab to claim your copy of this book. 


I did complete Step 4 of this challenge and here are the steps I completed.
1. Clear out cabinet under the sink.
2. Clean the cabinet and wipe down the pipes. 
3. Go through everything, donate unused items, and wipe down what is left. 
4. Hang cheap curtain rod under sink.
5. Put everything back - organized! 


Before: 

After:

I also have cleaning supplies under the bathroom sink but that is already organized. Under that sink is a 7th generation toilet bowl cleaner, sponge and spray bottle with a bleach/water combination (for the pesky mold that I can't get rid of in the shower).