Bedroom Redo!

We have been slowly working on different areas of our home and updating our furniture/decor. Our living room has made the most progress with almost all new furniture that has been bought in the last 13 months. Some furniture was painted when we moved in to fit better so overall our living room looks finished {of course it is not!} Our dining room has also seen a lot of change with Ben's homemade table and mirror. Our kitchen has had a different type of makeover as we continue to go through drawers and cabinets getting rid of things and reorganizing. Our bedroom is virtually untouched, except for buying a bed when we moved in, a lampshade and little rug.

I started dusting one day and then this happened....

We have two long totes under our bed. One has two guest pillows. The other has my off season clothes. Clothes should be in the closet and I was bound and determined to make them fit. Out came everything from under the bed and most things in the closet. 

I went through all my clothes again and got rid of enough to put all our clothes neatly into the closet. There is actually growing room! There was a time when I almost bought more hangers and now we have more hangers than we know what to do with! 

I refolded a lot of my clothes {Ben did his a few months back and they looked so much better than mine!} and put the remaining clothes back neatly in their place. I also pulled out everything on the floor to sweep and mop. 

The final product! Everything fits in our closet! Yeah! 

Part 2... tomorrow.... 

OH: Week 29

Organize Your Home: Week Twenty-Nine

Attic Organization

We do have an attic but it creeps me out so... none of our belongings are up in the attic. We do have a few things in the basement (I'll get to that soon) and nothing in the attic. I'll still share the information for this challenge.

1. Get One or More Partners To Help With Attic Organizing: This is likely a big task for those who store items in the attic. You'll need someone to help moving things and since an attic may be a bit dangerous it is nice to have extra support.
2. Declutter Your Attic: Most of the items up there may have been forgotten. Time to find someone else to love them!
3. Categorize Items and Assess Where They Should Be Stored: Is the attic the best place to store the items or is there somewhere else that is better suited. 
4. Create Zones In Your Attic For Your Storage Categories: Think about what items you need most and put those closer to the attic entrance. 
5. Label and Inventory Your Attic Storage:  If you have items in containers, label them and put them in areas together. A free label can be found at the organizing website here.

Some day I hope my attic looks like this!!

This is a beautiful play room! Someday... my attic will look like this!! 

{source}

Bocce Ball

A bunch of Menominee High School Alumni {plus Ben} got together for an evening of delicious food, yummy drinks and fun games! 

We walked downtown for dinner at The Cottage Bar. Then continued the night with a rousing game of Bocce Ball. 

Justin

Ben

Chelsea

Tia

Lindsey

Jordan

Danny

Me

The beautiful ladies! 

The manly men!

The evening ended with an intense game of Killer Bunnies while everyone sipped some of Ben's homebrew beers and cider. 

A super fun night with some super fun people! 

Some of these guys haven't seen each other in 5 years. Funny how everyone slips back into friendship after so long apart. Thanks for the fun evening everyone! 

OH: Week 28

Organize Your Home: Week Twenty-Eight

Organize Photos

Whoa... I take A LOT of photos. And usually take multiple shots of one moment. This means I have tons of duplicates and because of my MASSIVE camera card I haven't taken any photos off my camera. (Terrible I know... if something went wrong goodbye memories of the last 8 months) This challenge will be a difficult and tedious one. But a very important one. I'm going to work hard on this one and will try to document what I've done along the way.

Steps recommended for this weeks' challenge:
1. Gather Loose Photos and Photo Albums From Around The House Into One Central Location
2. Sort Loose Photos Into Categories To Hole In Photo Storage Boxes
    a. Categorize Your Photos
    b. Declutter and Toss Certain Photos While You Sort, When Possible
    c. Label Dividers As Much As Possible
    d. Label The Outside Of Each Photo Box and Store Appropriately
3. Make Plans To Slowly Put Pictures Into Albums Or Scrapbooks From Boxes Over Time
4. Make Plans To Digitize Some or All Of Older Physical Photos (Optional)
5. Rotate and Add New Framed Photos Around Your Home
6. Properly Organize and Store Negatives and Slides
7. Organize Digital Photos and Back Them Up
8. Create Routines and Habits For How to Organize Photos from Now On

Alright.. let's get started.
1. Gather Loose Photos and Photo Albums From Around The House: I had some photos that didn't fit into the photo boxes I had. I went through them and put them into the photo boxes.

These were the random photos I had. 

2. a. Catergorize Photos: Mine are done by date and in photo boxes.
    b. Declutter and Toss: I got rid of more photos than I thought I would. I got rid of doubles, blurry photos, bad photos, etc. 
    c. Label Dividers: Most of my photos were sorted in chronological order and most were even labeled with the date of the event. 
    d. Label Box Outside: I haven't done this before and struggled remembering what box was for what year. A new label changed that! Each box got two address labels marked with what was inside. There was on label on the front and one on the side. 

Labeled by date. 

All of the photos after they have been decluttered and labeled. 

A close up of the label. 

3. Make Plans To Slowly Put Pictures Into Albums Or Scrapbooks From Boxes Over Time: I plan to scrapbook these photos and then start making photobooks online for the rest of the photos I haven't printed. 

4. Make Plans To Digitize Some or All Of Older Physical Photos (Optional): Almost all of my photos are already digitized. Except for photos from birth-middle school. I don't have plans of scanning them into my computer now. But maybe at some point just so I don't lose them. 
5. Rotate and Add New Framed Photos Around Your Home: I did that within the year. 
6. Properly Organize and Store Negatives and Slides: We don't have any. (yeah we are that young...)

7. Organize Digital Photos and Back Them Up: Phew... this one was intense! I'm still not done but I figured this was a good start! I spent quite a long time going through all the photos on my computer and organizing them by year and month. I also put them on my external hard drive. Photos safe! 

A big mess! I hadn't put pictures on my computer since January. Whoops! 

A closer look at the mess on my computer! So cluttered! 

SO MUCH BETTER!

I still need to go through the photos and delete the duplicates but this is a start. 

8. Create Routines and Habits For How to Organize Photos from Now On: For how many times I put my camera card in my computer I really need to start putting the photos on my computer on a bi-weekly basis! Let's see if I can do it! 

I'm still not done with photo organization but the rest will have to wait for another day. I've got some work to do! 

To Prove My House Isn't Always Clean....

I talk a lot about organization, a lot. I am passionate about this topic. I truly feel that an organized and clutter free home is a stress-free home. Ben feels the same. We both try hard to keep up on housework but there are some weeks that we are SO BUSY we can't do it! Sadly almost all of this mess is mine... thankfully by the end of a Saturday this was all cleaned up! This was one of the first weeks of the summer program and I was definitely in over my head! 

Without further ado ... my messy house..

My office space.. papers everywhere! Organized, yes, but looks so messy! 

The Dining Room became a dumping ground for Science materials, clothes and files. (Look I didn't even push in my chair!)

You can tell Ben wasn't as busy, the dishes were done! (That is usually his duty). I literally threw clothes everywhere. I put on some music and finally cleaned up after a long week! 

I brought so much junk from work home to go through, organize and bring back to school. It was crazy! And again... more clothes!! 

Sadly.. our house usually looks like this {well not this bad...} by Thursday afternoon but by Saturday afternoon it is back to normal! What can I say.. we are busy people! It's understandable.. except for the clothes all over. There is no excuse for that... I was apparently feeling quite lazy! :)

OH: Week 27

Organize Your Home: Week Twenty-Seven

Organize Pet Supplies

I am jumping around a bit. I am over a month behind in these challenges and a few will take me some time to complete. I am going to work hard to catch up in the next two weeks. I skipped ahead to a challenge I do not have to complete. Organizing Pet Supplies! But for those of you who do have pets.... time to get organizing. I also want to keep this as a record to reference when we do have pets! :) 

Steps for this weeks challenge:

1. Declutter Your Pet Supplies

2. Organize Your Pet Supplies Into Categories (for example: food/bowls, toys, grooming supplies, etc.)

3. Create A Pet Food Storage Area

4. Pet Toys Storage and Organization

5. Organize Miscellaneous Pet Supplies (pet medications, leashes, collars, grooming tools, etc.)

6. Organize Paperwork and Medical Information About Your Pets

When the time comes and we are able to adopt a dog (or two!) I'd love to be this organized! 

Love the chalkboard to write notes regarding your pets, the place to hang the leashes and of course a picture frame of your beloved family member!

For $50 from Meijer this is a nice {simple} option! 

Place for food and a place for other pet goodies. 

Not as pretty but at least it keeps many pet supplies in one location. This wouldn't look bad in a garage or back entryway. 

Beautiful Soul

Our dear friend, Lauren, has 3 younger siblings. The 2nd oldest Meghan, has been mentioned a couple times on our blog because she is a cancer survivor.

I mentioned her here and here but her battle with cancer took place before I started this blog. I had only met Meghan twice before I found out that she had bone cancer. I took the news quite hard. My friendship with Lauren was growing so I felt extra connected to Meghan and after losing my Uncle, cancer was a sensitive topic for me. 

Meghan is an inspiration - not because she survived cancer but HOW she survived. Her complete trust in God at such a young age inspired me to grow closer to Him. About a week ago Meghan received the surprise of her life when Rob Bliss secretly worked with Meghan's school and others to create a two-story tall volleyball court on Lake Michigan to celebrate her! 

Grab some tissues and check out this beautiful video of a beautiful young woman. If you are interested check out the scholarship page at the bottom to support Meghan's dream of becoming a children's nurse. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiMZiWeSHE8

The college fund has been started here: http://gogetfunding.com/project/meghan-s-scholarship-fundraiser

Thanks for reading! I'm so excited to see what God has in store for Meghan! 

Date Night

I don't cook. I mean I do... just not often. I don't get home until 6:00pm most nights and Ben gets home a few hours earlier. For this reason Ben has taken on the role of family cook! Ben is a great cook! He can look at what is in the kitchen and make some random meal without referring to a recipe. Every time he whips up something it. is. delicious. I on the other hand am not as adventurous. I stick to the same recipes/meals so it really is ideal that Ben cooks. Occasionally Ben gets into a project so I make dinner instead of tearing him away from the project. 

Ben started cooking one night (about a month ago) but got distracted with cleaning his car. I took over and finished the meal and had everything laid out for him. He was surprised to see I took over and was even more surprised when he saw I grabbed a few beers out of the fridge. 

On the menu:

Lake Superior White Fish with Lemon Pepper Seasoning

Red Skinned Potatoes drizzled in EVOO and random spices (pepper, garlic, cumin, etc.)

Beans from our 2011 garden. 

Berry Weiss Beer

I can't forget to mention the beautiful flower we picked up at the Farmer's Market. 

After dinner we got back to our crazy lives but it was nice to just sit and relax for 20 minutes. We've been so busy that if we do get to eat a meal together it is usually a super fast one. 

OH: Week 26

Organize Your Home: Week Twenty-Six

CD and DVD Storage and Organization

Steps for Completing This Week's Challenge:

1. Gather All Your CDs and DVDs Together From Around Your Home, Car, Etc.

2. Declutter Your Music and Video Collections

3. Organize CDs

4. Organize DVDs

5. Organize Your CDs and DVDs for Your Computer

6. Consider A CD and DVD Storage Solution

Again, we frequently go through our movies and donate the ones we no longer care to keep. Our DVDs are in ABC order and our CDs are put into two CD cases. I got rid of the CD cases years ago and just kept the CDs and CD booklet. I haven't regretted this decision! The space it has saved it so valuable! 

Eventually I want a console table that houses all of our DVDS because right now only half of ours fit on our DVD bookshelf. 

The rest of our DVDs can be found in our entertainment center. 

Gaming supplies, Workout Videos and seasons of our favorite shows. 

All our CDs can be found here! Most are on our computer and backed up on our external hard drive (just in case)

We have a lot of CDs! I really have a hard time letting go of them!

Random Happenings

I had some images and stories I wanted to share but I didn't have enough to dedicate a whole post so here we go! I combined a few photos! Enjoy!

Beautiful "Baby"

I snapped this photo of a beautiful little lady. Erin is growing more beautiful each month and I was thankful to catch this moment. 

Thank You

I complained about the intense heat we got this summer but I was aware that many people had it worse than I did. I left a little note for our Mail Carrier to thank him for all he does! 

Ben said he talked to the Mail Carrier the next day and he said the note was so nice and made his day. I really want to start doing more of these random acts of kindness to others! 

Bye Truck

We said goodbye to Ben's truck. It was time for an upgrade! 

Craft Time

It had been a long time since I got crafty but I had a good excuse. Addison's 3rd birthday! I made her a tutu! I used this piece of cardboard to cut the tulle in equal pieces. 

A work in progress!

The finished project!! I loved how it turned out but would have done more tulle and longer tulle if I did this again for this age group. 

The back. 

Added a cute little boa!

Farmer's Market

A good haul from the Farmer's Market: pickling cucumbers, bagels, peppers, tomatoes, flowers and sausage. 

A fridge full of delicious fruits and veggies!

OH: Week 25

Organize Your Home: Week Twenty-Five

Organize Books

Steps for This Week's Challenge:

1. Declutter and Donate Unwanted Books

2. Organize Books in a Logical Manner

3. Consider Book Organizers and Storage Solutions

4. Create a System to Keep Track of Library Books

Steps I completed:

1. Ben and I frequently wander through the house grabbing items we no longer need/use and toss them in a tote to take to Goodwill. A few months back I went through the bookshelf and a number of books left our home and a few others were packed up (my educational books I am not ready to part with). 

2. With our funky shelf I am limited to how I can organize the books. Ideally I want something more functional but for now the short books go on top, tall books on the middle shelf and old school books, religious books, school supplies, work binders, etc. on the bottom. It is in our plan to find a new storage solution for books. This bookshelf is HUGE and HEAVY and doesn't fit well in our decor. 

3. We are considering a new book shelf - someday..

4. Our library books go in a basket right outside our front door or they are next to our bed. 

Again, not a lot of action this week. I apologize. I am constantly organizing and cleaning some area of my house and can't always wait for it to come up in the challenges. Ben is doing the same now so we are really ahead of the game! :) 

Vacation!

We crammed A LOT into our vacation to Marquette. We arrived in Marquette on Thursday, July 5th and left that Sunday, July 8th. We spent the beginning of the week relaxing and doing a whole lot of NOTHING so we felt refreshed and ready to be extra busy during the second part of our vacation! I took MANY pictures but tried to pick out a few to summarize our visit!

Classic Bridge Photo

We quickly found our way to Lake Superior to dip our toes in the cool water!

Alyssa (Ben's old resident, now our downstairs neighbor) and I 

So happy to be HOME!

The sights of Marquette never get old!

Ben and I tried to visit all our favorite locations: Donckers, Border Grill, Marquette Food Co-Op, NMU, Lil' Presque, Sugarloaf, Presque Isle, etc. 

We made multiple trips to Presque Isle!

We also visited the church we were married in and celebrated 2 years of wedded bliss!

Our pals, Elizabeth and Taylor got married! The boys had a pre-wedding huddle!

I thee wed!

YOU DID IT!!

There was a slight boat malfunction that was corrected with help from some wedding guests. (of course Ben helped too!)

The BEST guest "book." I seriously love this idea!

My old resident, Parker! He was one of my feisty kids when I was a Resident Adviser. Gave me some trouble but turned out alright... :)

Congrats Elizabeth and Taylor!

Their first day as husband and wife was spent rock climbing, cliff jumping and hiking! 

Ben and I left the group for a bit and found "our tree." The photographers took photos here on our wedding day. We have stopped at this tree twice since we left Marquette. 

Two days after the wedding we all got together at the newlywed's home to eat reception leftovers and to play a game. Ben made salsa to contribute to the lunch. 

On our hikes Ben and I found some blueberries! YUM!

Ben and I went for one last hike before we left Marquette. Right before we left we hiked Sugarloaf Mountain. 

Honestly for how busy the trip was, it was PERFECT! We did just about everything we wanted to do and accomplished what we set out to do - celebrate with our dear friends. And we did just that!