How do you...

How do you donate?

I'm not talking about monetary donations, I'm wondering how you decide what/when/where to donate items you are no longer using.

I've got a little system.

I call it "The Bag."

I always have a used shopping bag, with a sheet of paper inside, hanging on a hook in the hall closet. As I find articles of clothing, knick knacks, and general stuff that I no longer love, I put them in the bag and inventory them on the piece of paper. When the bag is full I drop it off at the local GW. It's super easy because I already have a list of items I am donating, and I generally make a weekly stop at my GW. I always ask for a receipt, which I staple to my donated items list and file in the taxes file (then I let Hubs handle it).

putting items in The Bag

Sometimes I will list things on CL before I donate them - anything that requires me to have the GW truck stop by is listed first. Unwanted craft supplies are always listed, and so are items that I think the GW will have a hard time selling (like the sweaters that I felted and decided not to craft with). But I have a CL rule, I will only list the items twice, after that they leave my house. I also never list clothing - I don't know why not? Just a quirk.

How do you Donate? or Do you donate?

Information on donating to Goodwill.
iPhone app to help you track your donations.

I love a well-stocked pantry

Growing up, my mother had an amazing pantry.

When we were very young I remember canning applesauce, peaches, pears, tomatoes - all sorts of delicious things. Her peaches tasted like summer - even in February.

I guess she was sort of radical (for the early 80's) in how she looked at food. She didn't trust preservatives, food dyes, or HFCS. I remember finding carob-chip cookies in my lunchbox, when all I really wanted were Chips Ahoy. I remember eating wonder bread sandwiches made with grape jelly and Jiff with a side of Doritos at the house across the street - I can distinctly recall the shade of green my mother turned when I told her that's what we'd eaten for lunch ;)

Mom belonged to a natural foods co-op, and once a month we'd gather with other families in a church parking lot to unload the truck. It felt like playgroup for us kids. We would run around the church yard, playing tag and red rover among the hugs pine trees; our mothers would be busily dividing the bulk boxes of dried fruit, cheeses and pails of natural peanut butter. And when we got home, she would store it all away in the pantry.

I love my pantry. I'm pretty sure I could easily feed my family from my pantry/freezer for at least 2 weeks. After that we'd be down to some strange meal options, but we still wouldn't starve.

I just found a fascinating blog, The Prudent Homemaker, she has been feeding her family of seven (and she's due with her 6th child very soon - I love big families!) for two years. She does say that she's stocked up on certain items when she can, but for the majority of two years she has not had the luxury of going to the market every week and buying groceries. She also grows quite a bit of fresh food (makes me feel like the ultimate underachiever).

I'm going to follow some of her tips, and try some of her recipes, and see if I can't stretch my grocery money just a little bit further. All while padding my pantry.

blank walls

The other week I spruced up (a little bit) the buffet in my entryway.

Now the rest of the room is really starting to get on my nerves.

I think I have a plan for it, but I'd love some input. And I want that input to be totally unrelated to what I've been thinking, so I'm not going to share any parts of my plan until tomorrow - sounds like fun to me!

Here's the space from left to right - it's (very roughly) 6' x 8' with recessed lighting and a skylight.

left side
I like this for right now

front door
so boring

right side
hello ugly boot tray and preschool art project

What would you do to the right wall and door to add function and life? We don't use the front door very much (we generally enter from the garage), but it's nice to have a place for guests to place wet boots. How about my ugly white door; boring, isn't it? (and did you notice the green hinges? they confuse me) I like the mailbox basket, but the random plastic greenery that was leftover from an old arrangement? Totally not attached to that - I need some fun ideas.

I would love to put a rug in here, but the problem is the door has zero clearance over the floor. I've brought home more rugs than I care to think of, hoping that they will be thin enough to stay put and not curl up when I open the door - nothing has worked. What would you do if a rug wasn't an option?

I'm so excited to see your ideas! I promise to share mine tomorrow!

Want to join in the Decorating Dilemma fun? Head over to Serenity Now and meet our super-cute hostess Amanda. She's so fun!

It's a Full Little House

The last few days have been pretty full around here.

We've got two extra kids. We had a fog day. We had a snow emergency.

And we ran out of milk.

My little visitors will be heading home by Fri, and then I'm looking forward to getting a few things done around my little house :)

inspiration... FOUND!

It's no secret I've been working on the Great Room for quite a while. We painted it a buttery, summery yellow over Labor Day weekend, furniture has been moved in and out, arrangements have changed, there are huge gaping holes, and a few spots that i am actually starting to like.

This whole time, I've had a picture in my mind of what I want this room to be...I just haven't been able to find a visual representation. Not really a problem for me, after all I have a solid idea in my own head, for Hubs it's tough to just trust that I know what I want it to be.

He likes to second guess me. It's annoying.

But on Sunday I stopped by PK's inspiring blog and found it.

My inspiration room actually exists.

And there are pictures. Lovely, scrumptious, pictures.

source

A kitchen with creamy white cabinets. Lovely yellow walls.

source
white beams - although I won't be painting my ceiling blue

I, very excitedly, showed my husband these inspiring images.

He trusts my vision. And agrees that we should paint the island stools red :)

sideboard confessional

A few days ago the sideboard in my entryway looked like this:

it looked even worse in real life

All of the Christmas decor had been packed away (except for the advent candles), and random items had taken over. It made me feel gross to look at it. It also made me very glad that we don't have a lot of front door visitors.

On Thursday I decided something needed to be done. We were having a bit of a thaw here in NW Ohio (ok, it was in the upper 30's, but the snow was melting) and I really, really, really wanted to put out all of the spring decorations.

a hoarder doesn't live here, after all

As you can see, I used restraint and only added one little posy of yellow paper flowers. And then I decided to add a bunch of family photos that had been hiding in the linen closet (does anyone else store random decorating items in the "linen" closet?).

I like to see my family as I walk down the hallway :)

Adding this one to the Before and After party over at Thrifty Decor Chick.
Stop by for some before and after inspiration!

Every Sunday Needs

I'm pretty sure every Sunday needs a freshly baked Devil's Food cake with cream cheese icing.

I think this is the most perfect way to ice a layer cake.

The bast part? Monday morning breakfast...yum, yum!

Hope you all had a great weekend!