Where does the time go??! {The Organisation Edition}

This week I think the terrible is beginning to happen! NOOOO! My delightful two are no longer a dream to put down for their day time sleep......I have been dreading the day.....How in the world am I going to get anything done now?! They don't even seem to need it - most days. So today I did spent a little time reading some posts in bloglines that I saved because I wanted to sit down and read them later. I thought I would share some with you....

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Firstly we have some Organising and Cleaning posts:

: Simple Mom has one great post about Starting your day off right and also these great post on 4 Simple Ideas to Help you Clean a Messy House, Weekly Home Managment at a glance, 40 Tips to go Greener in your home.

: Simple, Green, Frugal has 20 uses for Vinegar. What about giving the gift of an All Natural Cleaning Supply Basket! Or this post about living Frugal with Children.

: Jolly Mum shows us how to make Homemade Cleaners at a fraction of the cost!

: Organising Junkie has some brilliant information including this Free Grocery Template, or this Menu Planning Template,

: Virtually Organized has Bedroom Storage Tips

: Some Wardrobe Organizing Tips - and here!

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Decorating Posts:

: How about some Wall loveliness with A Sassy Affair

: Etch some glass with Create Studio

: Add some Silhouette's your walls with Home Sweet Home

: Domestic Fashionista teaches beginners how to get started in furniture painting

: Some DIY wall Art with EightCrazy Designs

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How about some Gift Giving Ideas or Just fun Crafting:

: Sew a Burp Cloth and Dummy Holder with Create Studio

: Diamonds, Fur and Laundry shows you how to sew a crayon and notebook cosy

: Make some lovely Bath Salts to give to Mum with Three Peas in a Pod!

: This is a fun idea! Rubber Band Prints with Pajamamama

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Lets Cook!

: Find out how to cook once and eat 10 times at MoneyWise Moms

: So many things to cook here at Fabulessly Frugal!

: A year of crock potting! Brilliant, what more can I say!

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My delightful two are getting up to some mischief so I better step in before someone gets hurt! Ashlee is back to school today and Mitchell is in Preschool. Think I better go and get something else done before everyone gets home.

Went to Canberra yesterday for Zach and also received my Mother's Day Pressie early so more on that soon......

There's more to the day

then just organising. So yesterday (and this morning) I took some time do some sewing and a bit of baking.

I've nearly completed the shirt I am sewing for Ashlee. Just down to sewing on the sleeves and a bit of hemming. I really hope it fits (it would be to large rather than to small) but more to the point I hope she likes it! Here is a peek....

Ashlee will be home on Wednesday!! Yippee!! (And I'm also looking forward to having Mum here for a few days) We have all missed her hugely here. Mitchell has even taken to sleeping with one of the teddies from her bed at night. He regularly asks when she will be home. Sweet.
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We have been doing a small amount of baking too, Mitchell and myself.

First we made some Yummy Apple Slice....

Image from here

Easy Apple Slice

340g pkt Vanilla Cake Mix
3/4 cup Melted Butter
400g Tin Pie Apple
200g Sour Cream
Cinnamon to taste

Preheat oven to 180c. Mix butter and cake mix to a dough. Spread evenly in a lined rectangular baking dish and bake for 15 minutes. Combine apple and sour cream. Spread evenly over base, sprinkle over cinnamon and return to oven for another 15 minutes. Cool in fridge. Serve cold.

Divine!

(You how I got that great Cook Book for Christmas - this recipe is from there.)
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This morning we made Devil's Food Cake. A packet mix this time but equally divine!



At least Miss Anna thought so!


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On a side note.....see this...

Little Miss got her very first hair cut (thanks to me!). Her fringe was just annoying me hanging in her eyes, so off it came!

Children running riot so better go check it out. Monday Plan Monday up next!

Link Love - Organising Edition

Check out some of these great 'Organising' Ideas:

1. A perfect place for all your patterns (or recipes or anything really!)
2. Cord Keeper
3. Thrifty Organisation Ideas

4. 18 Five Minute Decluttering Tips
5. Clean up the Bedroom in 15 minutes
6. Furniture Rehab - Blackboard dresser

7. Make a laundry Loader
8. Make a chalk board organiser
9. No-Sew Fabric covered boxes

10. A hidden Cork Pin Board
11. DIY Spice Rack

Lastly, not really an organising idea but I just had to show this! I love it! What a brilliant idea! I can just imagine my daughters room with this set....

Or this one....I love the wardrobe under the bed idea!

Check them out over at Tumidei

Operation Organise

Since I returned home from my lovely, relaxing trip away over the Christmas/New Years period I have decided to do some major reorganisation around the house. We have a lot of 'stuff' we just don't need anymore - or never needed to begin with....hahaha. As this house is only small I need all the extra space I can get!

On the first day of 'Operation Organise' I began with the Office/Craft Room.

This room does become a 'dumping ground' for a lot of things unfortunately. Thankfully we have recently added two double door cupboards to the room that has given me a lot more storage and things that were sitting around on shelves and the (ahem...) floor are now nicely stored away. Notice I didn't say neatly - well that's because it is not all that neat at the moment. OK, not really true. It is kind of neat but the arrangement of things could be a little better and I do have a couple of 'gotta sort that out later' boxes in there too. You know, those little things that just don't have a place to go - yet. I'm working on it. I also need to tidy and sort out the things on top of the cupboard but being short I can overlook that for a little while. Some other small things like cleaning out the plastic drawers need to be done too - I'm going to use them to store the kids craft things (e.g.: pencils, paints, paper, etc.) Currently they are full of 'need to file' papers and the like. Over all the room is much better and much more usable too. I'm loving that I can sew when ever I like as 'my craft space' and neat and tidy.

Day two on 'Operation Organise' was a little less productive. I did get some major cleaning done though which I guess will help in the long run. The bathroom/toilet got a good scrub, the entire house got a through vacuum and the wet areas got a through mop. I reorganised the toys in the lounge room a little better too. Other than that I folded and put away clothes, did 3 loads of washing (including the couch covers), did dishes, organised dinner, went for a walk and scrapped - again!

Today is day three of 'Operation Organise'. The Twins have just gone done for a sleep so on today list we have:

* Firstly, go and jump in a shower while I can!!
* Reorganise the hallway linen closet/storage cupboard done this morning :) !!
* Clean and reorganise the kitchen cupboards (next on the list after I'm finished here)
* Fold the washing and put away


If I get time:

* Sort and organise my sewing print outs (patterns etc.) and my loose recipes in the folders I have purchased for this job.

That is probably something I can do tonight while I watch TV I guess.

I better get moving! These things won't do themselves and I need to get as much done while 'my helpers' are sleeping.

I'll leave you with a page I scrapped last night. (I don't know if I am completely finished with this but thought I would show you anyway. I'm also in the process of doing a similar one for Zach.)

Click to enlarge

(Credits to come)

P.S I'll also add, check out Works for me Wednesday over at Rocks In My Dryer! I'm a regular reader of this and there are always some great hints, tips and ideas with Mr Linky. One day I might even be able to participate!

My craft space

This month over at Organizing Junkie they rounding up the Craft Rooms - I hadn't planned on it but after spending some time doing a few things in our Office/Craft Room over the last few weeks (of my own accord and not just for the round up) I thought 'what the heck' I'll join in! This is my first time so be kind to me ... hahaha.

I don't have any before photos because as I said I had no intentions of doing this but I can show you a few after photos and you will just have to visualize the (terrible) before's.

This is one area that still needs more work...but it is a lot better because before this I didn't even have a cupboard to put it all in!

This is most of my fabric for the time being

Here I have my everyday use stuff. My 'Side Winder', my patterns (on the right) I picked up most of the tubs and boxes at places like GoLo etc. I still have some work to do on this. I'm always moving stuff around until it suits me to a T (drives my family crazy!)

This area still has room to move! I'm yet to decide completely about what I'm going to put here but for now it looks kinda tidy!


This space is pretty much finished. I have made use of (the top photo) an old chips box (that I do plan to cover and make pretty!) to hold all my fabric scraps that are still kinda large or I just can't let go of. Then we have a plastic container holding craft and decorating magazines that I have borrowed from my Mum (so I don't mix them up with mine) and some of the kids craft things (sitting in front). I have a box (the white one - bottom photo) with current projects in it. I can pick this up at the drop of a hat and take it with me if I go to visit Mum etc.

Notice the bag sitting on top?! I have made use of an old bag that one of the Twins sheepskins came in to hold my wool and needles. Its the perfect size and that I can grab to if needed.

Here is my crafting/sewing desk. Notice my pride and joy?! I don't know how I lived with out my Snap Press! I use it for everything! (Sorry the photo is dark - its that kind of day) My view from this window is great. Great light, our front garden and of course the mail box - some of you will understand that comment.

And because my boy is a photo crazy, take of a photo of anything anytime kinda guy here is a photo of his paint brushes that he 'requested' I take....

Ok, so overall I still have a bit of work to do but just visualize the worst case scenario for your before photos and you will see I have done quite a bit! Hahaha.

I hope you have enjoyed a small look into my craft room. Make sure you go and check out some of the other Craft Rooms that Organizing Junkie and currently roundin' up!

Cleaning up

Today was quite productive. I finally got into the Craft Room/Office and did a BIG tidy up. Brett finally moved a cupboard in there for me to store all my stuff in and you would not believe how much of a difference it has made! I now can get to all my supplies easily and my craft desk is cleaned off and ready to use. I now have no excuse not to finish my sewing projects, the first one being to sew up Anna's dungarees and then cut out Zach's and get them sewed up. I also now have in my hot little hand my patterns that Mum picked up for me while in Bairnsdale. One pattern for tops for me and one pattern that has unisex t-shirt, pants and shorts. They are next on the list.

Headed into Bombala this morning and went to the fabric store. I had to go while Mum was here as the stores in Bombala are VERY NON-BABY FRIENDLY let alone twin pram friendly. We had enough trouble getting two single strollers up the steps and into the store, I can only imagine the trouble I would have had with the twin pram. I picked up some cotton interlock in green and salmon (I guess you would call it) for the t-shirts for the kids and some elastic and buttons for other things I am making. I really should have cleaned up the room BEFORE going as when I did I found that I had an abundance of elastic already! Oh well, I'll use it I guess. Even though I did pick up some buttons I have decided to use the 'Make your own button kit' that I scored at the Op shop and cover them with some matching fabric. Excited!

Ok, pictures to come. I better head off and get this house vacuumed so I can get onto my sewing. Brett is currently down at his Dad's farm killing sheep. Looks like I will need to make room in the freezer. Have a great day!