Laundry room touch up

While cleaning my much ignored but used laundry room (which is also a mudroom/breezeway from the garage to the house), I looked around and thought, it really needs….well a lot. lol

But, until we can gut it, if figured that it could use just a little tlc and some color. I had been using some shower curtains as curtains in the living room, but had taken them down and replaced them with some black out panels because of the heat. Soooo, what better place to use them than in the laundry room! ( the window is small, so the other panel I used in the kitchen, love it!)

Since I REALLY like blue, grey, brown (dark wood tone) and white, I decided I also needed some artwork to go with it.

I already had a fantastic piece I’d made above the dryer, but I wanted something that was white.

I saw this a while back on Pinterest, and decided to make my own version

.

So I came up with this:

I wanted something big, but didn’t have the right size wood, and beings it was sooooo hot today, I didn’t feel like cutting any down. So, I thought I would use a big piece of cloth and hang it with clothes pins off my clothes line! Fitting place in a laundry room, don’t you think?

That added to a shelf I put up in the other corner has really improved the space. (putting away the winter coats and boots kinda helped too, but we won’t go there, lol)

Then I had a FAMILY sign that I apparently left the L out of….

Um, hum.

Sooo, I re-painted it and am quite pleased with the out come AND I spelled it right this time….trust me, I made sure, lol.

It’s a little hard to tell from the picture, but the letters are grey and the background is a “white”wash of a pale slate blue. (disregard the awful textured walls, eventually those will go and a wonderful smooth surface with grace the hallway. Along with another wall color., lol)

Next up will be to put up some shelves in the boys room for all of their treasures and to hopefully give them a desk area.

Refab!

If you know me well enough, you know, I can’t leave well enough alone. At least when it comes to home décor!

I found these mirrors in the barn when we moved in.

(yes, those are clean dishes in the reflection! lol)

I really liked the shape and idea of mirror and picture, but I wasn’t crazy about the flannel like border. So I flipped them over and noticed you can open the back to just the picture part! I figure I will save the seed pic, trimming the border and use it some where else.

I’ve been eyeing the chalkboard printables on Pinterest since Christmas and always wanted to use some in the house. When I found these two prints, I was thrilled and knew what I was doing today!

Found at creatingkeepsakesblog.com. Art by: Dream Team Member Laina Lamb

Artwork by:    landeeseelandeedo.com

What do you think?! I love them.

Stepping into the unknown

It frustrates me to no end when something simple can’t be done. Especially, when it comes to my children.

I make it simple for everyone, especially those entrusted with their care at school. I send any and all food they need, I give out my phone number just in case there are ANY questions regarding food or anything else for that matter. Not to mention, they have someone IN THE BUILDING that knows the answers to any of said questions…my mom! What more can I do?!

Luke had a follow-up at the doctor’s today. He said that food is still the reason Luke is having problems and until I can control what he gets completely, he’s still going to struggle.

So, it looks like I have no other option but to medicate him. Because I CAN’T depend on anyone else at the school to understand or follow these simple rules. I have to give him chemicals to “help him” because they can’t follow directions. And these are the ones I’m entrusting with my children all day?! Seriously? I understand misreading labels, it’s happened to me before. But when you hand a dairy and wheat intolerant child an ice cream bar….please.

I’ve been praying on this, praying really, really, really, times infinity(!) hard on this. And I’m pretty sure Joe and I have come to a conclusion. We will give Luke the medication he needs to get him through the rest of this year. I will talk again with his teachers to remind them they are not to eat ANYTHING THAT I DON’T SEND!

And then next year we will enter into a world that scares me to pieces. But I’ve prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed on.

Homeschool.

It would take a book to hold all of the doubts, reasons not to, and fears I have about homeschooling. If you can ask it, I have already thought it in my mind. The time, the patience, the organization for Pete's Sake!!!

But how can I know there is another path, and not take it? When you feel as pushed as I do to get them out of public school as I am, you know you have to listen to Him. Because God’s the only one who I’ll trust to lead me there and through it. This is not some rash decision made out of frustration, it’s been a heavy thought of mine for quite some time.

Now, I'm not ignorant enough to think it's going to be easy. Aside from being a parent, this will probably be one of the biggest challenges I face.  Not only will I have to teach myself something people go to college for, it will change each year and I will be facing children who have special needs. I am still actively exploring what will best help the boys, be it just different teaching methods or a combination of multiple things. But I know that whatever I end up doing, it needs to have their best interest in mine. My comfort zone be damned. Their lives literally depend on it.

I realize, I'm an art major, not a teacher. But I have the time, I have the resources and it's ultimately my responsibility to educate and care for them. It's a daunting task, but I'm not going it alone, so it will be ok. God said so.

I heard once that the more right something is, the harder the devil works to make you doubt it's possibility of completion. And I have been through the ringer on this subject.

Luckily, I have the best husband in the world. And only through his support could I even attempt to do this. Not to mention, I've got the biggest thing in eternity, God. It's promised that He's got my back, so if this is what He wants me to do, I'll walk with the faith of a mustard seed.

 

Tip of the Week: Kitchen Cabinet Storage

Like most of us, I try to keep things organized. Especially in the kitchen, since I cook a lot. But since we moved into our new house, I have really had to re-think where and how I store things. (You’d think with more cabinets and storage space, it would be easy!)

If you remember in my last tip, Tip of the Week: The Closet Monster, I shared a link that focused on organizing with things from the Dollar Tree. Well, since then I’ve been eager to go shopping! Well, I went by Dollar Tree today and got some great finds!

 

These neat baskets, only $1 I might add!, fit perfectly in my kitchen cabinets! Since I didn’t know if they would fit when I bought them, I only got 2. I’ll be going back for more!

And what’s best, they have a handle so you can pull them down. Great for tall cabinets. I just took a dry erase marker and labeled the outside for easier identifying.

This would be great for snacks, especially if you have kids. Either assign a bin to each child, or have a general Ok snack bin.

I’ve also seen people who are dieting use these in their fridge. Filled with healthy choices when you just have to have something! AND, I’ve seen a woman use these in her freezers to organize pre-cooked meals.

I love the Dollar Tree.

Tip of the Week: The Closet Monster

I follow many organizational blogs on Pinterest, and recently came across something that I've been dealing with.

Outgrown clothes. Ugh, they are never ending!

I had, for a long time, just used a large shopping bag and had them put clothing that didn't fit any more in them. It hung or sat in their closet. But soon you have this horrible monster bag that is spewing clothing all over and gets mixed up with their current outfits. Not to mention, if you are a person who resells their outgrown clothing, most places won't accept them if they aren't in a tote or bin.

No good.

Then I saw this ridiculously simple idea of putting bins, labeled (this label movement is crazy man!), in the closet instead!

I followed the original pin back to CREATE-CELEBRATE-EXPLORE a lifestyle blog by tonya staab . She used bins from Target (for $5.99 each), a sheet of printer labels, and some chalkboard paint.

I think that with a less expensive bin from the Dollar Tree, you could recreate this project for much less! (In fact, here's a link to a blog post about organizing your house, with things from just the Dollar Tree!)

Follow this link to the post!

I hope this tip inspires you to get more organized this year! Or at least today. I won't judge, lol.

Command Center

With two growing boys in school, food allergies, and the daily grind of life, I've been needing a little bit of help getting it all to go smoothly. In fact, I keep ideas I've found on a Pin board completely devouted to Family and Home managment! And something I've really liked and wanted to make is a "command center" for the kitchen.
 Since it's a whole new year, I've FINALLY made up our own, lol!

 

 

I have three frames that hold our meal plan, a cleaning schedule and a bill tracker on the the top. With the glass, you can turn your plan/schedule into a dry erase board! Then we have a dry erase calendar and a misc. (Key hooks, cork board, and filing slots for markers/pens/hole punch for their tech. punch cards!)

Now, we aren't a super scheduled family, but life is so much easier when all of your to-dos are in one area. Even better, it can be reviewed at a glance and changed with a swipe of the dry eraser! I plan on adding a chore chart, so the boys (and I) can keep track of what they've done.

Tech Time

One of the things the boys spent their Christmas money on was some new games for our Wii and PS3. Which in turn brought a problem to light....again.

When school started, I placed a rule on the boys that they could have 30 min tv time everyday during the school week, and no video games except on the weekend. But since Christmas break, they have been enjoying the games much more and I thought it was time to come up with a better schedule for them.

I was looking in Pinterest for a reading schedule, when I came across this gem, technology punch cards! This particulary blog has some great ideas and free printables. I printed them off this morning and intend to use them when school starts back up (next week)

Each punch represents 30 min. of tech. time that they have to stretch out over a month. AND, they have to earn each punch by completeing a set amount of reading time! I'm hoping that this will help them (and me!) out. Luke especially needs more time reading and I think this may just be the ticket.