Direct from Clutter-ville

Let's talk about my closets....there are six in this house and at the moment, I feel like they are about to explode.

clutter to the right
perhaps I have a third child living in there?

It's not that they are too full (although, they do contain a ridiculous amount of randomness). It's that they are so unorganized. It drives me nuts. So I've decided to make closet organization a priority for the next few weeks.

Hooray!

Actually, the timing is perfect because in about a month my service organization is having a garage sale fundraiser. So I can clean out the clutter, and instead of just dropping everything at the GW I'll send it to the garage sale. Two birds, I'm all about it :)

I had a little time yesterday (double nap!!), so I tackled the hall closet.

clutter way up high

wasted space below

I decided the easiest way to do it was old-school, Clean Sweep style (I loved that show!). So I labeled three areas in my hallway "Garage Sale," "Keep," and "Craig's List" (CL was for the few items that weren't GS worthy, but still not garbage), and I had a small bag for any trash I might find.

yep, that was all mashed in my closet. yikes.

The only trash I came across was an ancient package of plastic knives which had spilled all over the floor. Knowing that I wasn't storing actual garbage made me feel much less like a hoarder :)

About an hour later I had a clean and shiny hall closet!

holy cow! there was a kid in my closet! ;)

breathing room

organized, and there is nothing on the floor!

What are your current organizing goals?

Today's Mommy Must Haves

I woke up at 3:00 to nurse* Bun this morning, he went right back to sleep but I just couldn't.

So today I am relying on some of my favorite things to keep me going.

Headbands - so I don't have to "do" my hair

Giant Coffee - it's called caffeine, it is my friend

Hotsling - currently my favorite sling for Bun, it allows me to get work done (or blog), and play with Peanut all while cuddling the bebe :)

I'm rocking this sling today, and wishing I was as cute as this model!

Crock pot - I was up at 3 AM, I can only assume I'll be completely useless by dinner time. Enter crock pot, pot roast and veggies. Hello healthy dinner!

Happy day everyone!

*speaking of nursing, Ameda is giving away a nursery makeover, check it out.

of course I don't work for any of these companies, but you knew that ;)

Ready for the Weekend!

I've got almost everything ready for a baby shower I am throwing on Sunday.

I'm not quite sure how I'll fit everything in the Jeep...

And, just like I wanted, Hemnes has a new home in the master bedroom.

I'm really happy with the way the grey and blue play together :)

Now, if I could just find the time to organize my clothing...

Have a great weekend!

Regaining Control

Today I feel completely out-of-control.

There's just SO MUCH to do.

*children are still both in pajamas
*the house feels about one-step away from a CPS nightmare
*I feel completely unprepared for a baby shower I am throwing on Sunday
*I have yet to cook a decent meal for anyone this week (we had frozen pizza for lunch yesterday, and SPAGHETTIO'S today (that's how desperate I was))
*the baby is 10 weeks old and I still haven't mailed out his birth announcements
*and so much more....

So I decided to start at the beginning and gain control of ONE little thing.

I cleaned out my purse. And I consumed a healthy dose of caffeine. And the Heavens parted and the Angels sang :)

Now that I feel better, I am ready to get some things done!

Happy Thursday! I hope it's productive!

PS - super article from Simon Doonan - enjoy!

Clampett-Mobile

First - A huge thank you is in order for all of the sweet comments on my last post :) I wanted to write back to each of you, but the children have been needy - and I need my sleep - but I really appreciate all of your positive and loving comments!

We took a little trip to IKEA on Sat...

And by the time we left, our Jeep pretty much looked like this:

source

with a few diaper boxes (there was a great sale at BRU!), a stroller, and two car seats for good measure.

Hubs has been honing his Allen-wrench skills - I should have pics to share soon (need to remember to charge the camera).

I hope you all had an equally exciting weekend!

I'm a Work in Progress

It's Progress Party time at Serenity Now!

I wish I could show you some major before and after photos of my home. But I can't, because not much has changed around here. Today I did order some art to hang over the piano, though...so that's a little progress.

The biggest project at the moment is me. I'm not changing dramatically, but I'm trying to make sure I don't lose myself in all the wonderful-ness of motherhood. And I mean that in the nicest way possible. You see, back in 2008, after Peanut was born I was not very happy.

I was ecstatic that I was a mother (Peanut's arrival answered many years worth of prayers), but I felt lost and lonely. Looking back I'm sure I had at least a touch of PPD, and it was very easy to forget about myself (which made everything worse). Now that I have two boys I don;t have time to be sad; so while taking care of them is my number one priority, I am working on taking care of me, too.

The first thing I did was promise myself that if I felt sad to tell my OB - and to do it right away (thankfully I have been so HAPPY!). I realize PPD doesn't necessarily surface in the first few weeks after baby is born, so I'll continue to monitor my feelings.

Then I had my hair cut :) It had gotten ridiculously long, and the ends were super-straggly.

pay no attention to my double chin

There was a silver lining to the long-hair-due-to-neglect -- I had enough length taken off (and the ends weren't really very bad) that my hair was donated to Locks of Love. So I felt pretty good about that (although, after doing some research, if I donate again, it won't be to LoL). I feel much sassier now.

omg - I got bangs!

Last night (wait for it) I went to the gym. I have a secret plan (which I guess is now public) to run a 5K in the fall with Hubs. I'll be pushing the double jogging stroller, so we'll see how long I can actually run for, but it's a goal :) I plan on starting the Couch to 5K plan within the next two weeks.

The next part is going to take a real leap for me, I'm seriously thinking about going back to school in January. That would mean putting the kids in day care, and taking out a student loan, and probably cutting back on some of my volunteering. But I know the longer I put it off, the harder it will be to go back. I'm not sure if I'm going to finish the STC degree I started at Tech, or if I will switch to Interior Design (that's what I really want to do) - either way it's going to be slow going. Not to mention I will be a "non-traditional student." Ugh. But I need to earn a degree.

The last bit is far less important and way more fun. I'm updating our master bedroom!

This is how it looks today (the bassinet will be gone within a few weeks, but it's a pain to move):






Right now I'm thinking - new dresser for me (the one pictured is Hubs, he found it at a farm auction and I love it!). Possibly this one from IKEA, I love it in grey. Maybe a stencil (similar to this) on the wall behind the bed. New bedside lamps. Finally do something about that awful bedskirt (a remnant from bedding which was replaced 2 years ago). And a new sitting area in front of the window - I would love two rattan chairs, but would really need to luck out and find them at the thrift store or on CL.

So that's my "progress," my totally selfish, all about me progress :)

A Good Weekend

We had a great weekend!

We were able to relax and play with the boys, and I was able to finish a few small projects. Hooray!

Also, I realized that since Bun is 8 weeks old, it had been 8 weeks since we'd had freshly baked cookies in the house. Tragic, isn't it?

So I decided to make a quick batch of bar cookies. I used a recipe handed down to me from my French Aunt, Nestle Toll House ;) (remember that episode of Friends?)

But the butter was frozen, so I set it outside in the heat to thaw faster.

butter, noms.

And pretty soon we had cookies!

that's a large cookie

It was a good weekend!