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Santa did come to our town the other day. The city we live in graciously provided free Santa photos and provided a room with coloring pages, etc in which to wait. They handed out numbers and took groups in an orderly fashion based on 15 minute intervals so you could go run your toddler around outside if being confined is just not their thing. It was a long wait even though we got there fairly early but it was worth it to not have to wait in line at the mall and pay a ridiculous amount of money for a picture of my child with Santa in this horrible economy. We just would have skipped Santa pics this year if we hadn’t gotten in on this deal.

It went better than I expected. I wondered how she would deal with a larger-than-life old guy showing interest in her (she doesn’t really like strangers all that much) but she did fine. She wouldn’t look him in the eye, however, and, when asked “What do you want for Christmas?” she replied “Want Mommy to tell you.” So Mommy told Santa what Tater Tot wanted for Christmas and we escaped with a cute picture of Tater Tot with a huge smile on her face, looking away from the camera and leaning away from Santa. I did, however, snap a cute shot with my camera in which she is actually looking at the camera so it’s all good.

All in all, this has been an enjoyable holiday season so far. Despite working like a madwoman because I waited too long to start the Christmas presents I’m sewing this year. Once they’ve been opened, I’ll post some pictures of the finished product for you all to see.

If you’d like to see some more of my handiwork, check out www.SnugglebugDesigns.etsy.com .

The Daddy would agree with that statement for the simple reason that I actually clean my house before people come over. Vacuum, dust, sweep up the “floor food” that falls under Tater Tot’s chair. The works. Heck, I even cleaned out our coffee maker this morning just in case someone wanted a cup! My house hasn’t looked this good in months. How sad is that? And on the flip side: how normal is that? No, that’s not a rhetorical question, I really want to know! If you’ve got the answer, holler at me…

We did a cute Fall Placemat that was really pretty easy. You just cut a length of contact paper long enough that a piece of construction paper can fit between the two sides when you fold the contact paper over, put cut outs of leaves, Fall sayings (Autumn, Leaves, Harvest or whatever strikes your fancy) all over the construction paper, peel back one side of the contact paper, stick the construction paper on it, peel off the rest of the contact paper and fold it over. The biggest challenge is not getting bubbles when you fold the second side of the contact paper over.

I actually really enjoy hosting play dates. It does engage my perfectionistic tendencies, however, which isn’t the greatest (hence the cleaning of the coffee maker). But as long as I keep them under control, we’re good. Wish me luck with that…

Yes, as it turns out, September is National Sewing Month. There is a proclamation and everything. Ronald Reagan pronounced this to be so in the year of 1988. How did I not know this until now? *sarcasm* It’s all quite official. I believe the exact wording is: “Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim September 1988 as National Sewing Month. I call upon the people of the United States to observe this month with appropriate ceremonies and activities.” Well, then, I’m going to go out and have myself a parade! Well, probably not, but I am going to go check out the goodies they have over at Joann.com
. On their home page there’s a 50% off one item online only coupon!

And while you’re browsing, head on over to my etsy shop and check out the stroller blankets I’ve been working on! Custom orders are welcome!

As expected, insurance didn’t cover the damage to our other bathroom that I blogged about last. Since money’s tight, I am putting on another hat…Handywoman. The Daddy just isn’t handy. And I’ve got the interest so I guess I’ll develop the skill set. I’m about 2/3 of the way through the demolition. Tile flyin’ everywhere. Drywall chunks in my hair. Part of the reason that it’s going so slowly is that The Daddy is working long weekend shifts at a second job to make extra money. That means that time without the Tater Tot is almost non-existent. And demo is not something that can be done during nap time since the bathroom is right next to her room or while she’s awake because, well, there’s tile and drywall flying. So I have made progress but it is slow. I joked the other day that I promised I’d have it done by Christmas. I’m beginning to think that it’s not a joke…and that I should have said Easter! Oh well…what can ya’ do?

Hey, there…I’ve been sewing to stay sane lately and I’ve got a little shop over at Etsy.com with a few cute stroller blankets. I’ll be adding to it just as fast as I can so head on over and check it out!

It’s that time again! Time to think about holiday photo cards, if you do that sort of thing, and those calendars for the grandparents (and The Mommy and The Daddy!). Oh! And the photo gifts that show off your little one in all their cuteness. The Daddy kidnapped our photo calendar to put in his classroom. I miss it! I love seeing Tater Tot’s cute little self every day when I’m looking to see what’s going on for the day. But I get to see her cute little self all day every day and The Daddy only gets her for an hour or two so I use my organizer to schedule our stuff instead. Not as cute but…

I’ve got a bunch of deals that are running right now from the leading photo hosting sites and you can pick which ones work for you for your holiday card/gift needs! I’ve used several of these sites to create photo books and calendars based on who’s having the best deals. Although it can be some work to upload all the photos that you need to multiple sites, it can be worth it in savings. Keep in mind, too, that most photo sites give free prints for new members, so if all you need is some prints to go in your holiday cards, signing up for a photo site or two can get you prints for just shipping, which can be cheaper than your local drugstore. Keep in mind, too, that most of these offers cannot be combined.

KODAK GALLERY

Register at Kodak and get 20 Free Prints

Get 20% OFF photo products at Kodak Gallery.
This includes photobooks and cards along with other photo gifts. Coupon Code: ANYONE. Expires 11/16/07.

20% OFF Martha Stewart Cards at the Gallery!
Coupon Code: HOLIDAYS07. Expires 12/31/07.

SNAPFISH
Upload your digital photos and get 20 FREE prints with your first order! Sign-up today!

Site-Wide FREE SHIPPING on any order $15+ at Snapfish (coupon code: SHIPALL)
Expires 11/30/07.

25% OFF on duplicate gift orders at Snapfish
Does not include prints, photo notebooks, notepads or cards but DOES include photo books. This is great if you’re planning on doing photo books for two sets of grandparents! Expires 12/31/07.

Great Deals Under $15 At Snapfish by HP

Save 20% on all photo cards at Snapfish. (coupon code: GOCARDCRAZY)
Expires 11/30/07.

30% OFF orders $30+ at Snapfish (coupon code: AFFORDER30)
Expires 12/1/07.

Here are some weekly specials they are running through November:

Buy 2 sets of photo cards, Get 1 set FREE at Snapfish! Valid Nov. 9 – 15 (coupon code: BECARDCRAZY)

Free Shipping on photo cards at Snapfish. Valid Nov. 16-22 (coupon code: GETCARDCRAZY)

4 FREE premium folded photo cards at Snapfish! Valid Nov. 23 – 30 (new customers only, no coupon necessary).

CLARK COLOR LABS
Digital Photo Prints for as low as 9¢: Register for free with Clark Color, get 20 free 4×6 prints with your first order.

Visit Clark Color
to get $8 off 60 photo slimline greeting cards (code: 8OFFCARDS through 11/19/07) and $2 off their best sellers (code: 2OFFBEST through 11/19/07). To give you an idea about price, 60 4×8 cards are $20.47 and 60 5×7 cards are $27.97.

SHUTTERFLY
Shutterfly – New member’s special offer: 12 Free 4×8 photo cards.(Expires 11-13-07)

Shutterfly – 20% off orders $40.  Use coupon code: 32AF-11DR (Expires 12-04-07)

I have to say, from experience, both the Shutterfly and Kodak photo books are amazing! They are very well-made and a great way to commemorate events or time periods in your child’s life. You can choose from a variety of styles and backgrounds, covers, fonts, and font colors. If you like the idea of scrapbooking but think you lack the creativity/time/whatever, try this! It will quench your thirst for creativity without the need for all those little decorative punches, stencils, glue, etc.!

I have also made Shutterfly and Kodak calendars and, not only are they fun to make, but they come out so well! Even The Daddy was impressed with the photo books and calendars, and he’s not easily impressed!

Check back here as I will be updating some of the offers through November!

My closet remodel is “done”. It’s done but it doesn’t feel “finished” if you know what I mean. There is a place for everything. It is neat and organized. But it doesn’t look “pretty”. Like “Mission Organization” pretty. And I wonder if I’m expecting too much. Especially since I tried to use containers I already had to save money. And I think I still have too much stuff. But it’s definitely better than it was before. What you won’t see in the pictures below is that the mess of toys that is now in the closet was spread all over the room and in a little cubby hole in my desk. So just that change makes a huge difference in the rest of the room. Anywhoo…on to the pics.

This is the Big Ugly File Cabinet that was on the sewing/scrapbooking side of the closet before I remodeled. I forgot to take “before” pics of that side so use your imaginations!

This is the new, ultra-organized sewing and scrapbooking part of the closet! In case you have clicked on the pic to enlarge it, the photo that is partially obscured on the left side is of The Daddy’s water polo picture from high school. I don’t really know why it was hanging there, I just know that I was too lazy to take it down when I put the shelves up. Now that’s lazy.

Here’s the “before” from the other side of the closet:

“During”:

And “after”:

Here’s the project breakdown:
1) It’s good to sketch out what you’ve got in your Mommy Brain about how you want the work/storage space to look. Think about the things you want to store, how much you need/want to store, and the weight that the shelving will need to bear. What you want it to look like. Take notes on your ideas.

2) Measure, measure, measure. The width of your closets. The height of the area that needs shelf tracking. The depth of your closet. The circumference of your head so you can track it’s growth as your brain swells with all of the measuring. Naw, really, this was the easy part. But remember to write it down in case your memory is as bad as mine is. There’s no use going to the hardware store if you can’t remember the size of the closet you are outfitting…

3) Check out the different materials and prices at your favorite Do-It-Yourself or hardware store. I just happen to live quite close to a Home Depot so that’s where I went. Ask questions about the different materials and how appropriate they are for your particular project. I told them exactly what I wanted to do and they helped me figure out what to get. They can even cut the shelving for you! This is a bonus if you are sans power tools like I am.

4) Buy your materials. I went with California Closets adjustable shelving tracks with 12 inch brackets for the shelves. I went with adjustable shelving because I wanted to be able to move things around and adjust the shelving up or down to accomodate over/under-sized things. And I went with California Closets because they are double-tracked, look more sturdy and are designed for standard closet sizes. For the shelving I went with natural, unfinished wood. I didn’t sand, stain, or polyurethane it because I like the light wood and I’m lazy. Mostly because I’m lazy. If I had done any of that, the project still wouldn’t be finished. Home Depot sells varying lengths and widths of natural, unfinished wood shelving as well as laminate, MDF, and other particle-board-type shelving. Make sure that you know where the studs are in your closet and, if they are not where you will be attaching the shelving tracks, buy drywall anchors. The studs in my closet were not where I was attaching the shelving tracks so I used drywall anchors. The ones that held the most weight that I could find.

5) Now the fun part! One side of the closet was going to be a desk so I positioned the 2 drawer file cabinet that I already had so that the outside edge was at the halfway point of the closet. I measured from that outside edge to the end of the closet as well as how far out I wanted the desk to extend. Luckily, I found a pretty standard-sized piece of wood that would fit. I just had to have it trimmed two inches on one end. One end rests on the file cabinet and the other end is stabilized by 1 x 4’s that I screwed into the wall on the other side and along the back of the closet at the specified height. I put the anchors into the wall, attached the shelving tracks above the “desk”, stuck the brackets in, and threw the shelving on top. There’s a little hole to screw the board into place on the bracket and I did that so that the board won’t slide. Super-easy!

The right side that is all shelves was even easier. California Closets sells a bracket that goes along the top on which the shelving track hangs and it helps absorb some of the weight of the stuff on your shelves. I marked the circles in the bracket where the screws would go, put the anchors in the wall and attached the bracket. I hung the shelving track off of the bracket, positioned it, and tacked it in place by screwing it to the wall in the pre-determined holes. Stuck the brackets on and threw up the shelving, screwed the boards in place and, viola! Shelves!

Honestly, if I can do this, you can do this. It was very easy. I just needed The Daddy to watch Tater Tot so I could work on it. Once I got a (relatively) uninterrupted block of time, it went really, really fast. The only tools I used were a manual screwdriver and a drill (I pre-drilled the holes in the 1×4’s that stabilize the desk before I screwed them into the wall).

So there you have it! My re-”done” closet! I am very pleased with it but I’m continuing to try and figure out what it needs to feel “finished”…

I have a new sewing/scrapbooking/work/whatever area in my closet and I did it myself! It’s not quite finished yet because I wasn’t able to get everything that I needed in our two trips to Home Depot yesterday (a subject for another post altogether….they were “interesting” to say the least!) but the main “construction” is done. I just need to decide whether I want the pre-sized laminate shelving they sell or to have lumber cut to size for shelving. Later, when I have more money, I’m doing floor-to-ceiling shelves on the other side of the closet so I’d like to have everything match.

I decided a couple of weeks ago to reorganize my office and I’ve been “decluttering” ever since. I’m pretty much down to what needs to stay, although I’m probably hanging onto at least a few things that could go. Sometimes I have a hard time letting go of stuff. But I think I’ve done pretty darn well so far. Maybe I’ll be more inclined to get rid of stuff if it doesn’t fit in my new closet storage dealie. We’ll see.

Let me tell you, if I can do this project, you can too. Suffice it to say, I am not the most handy person in the universe. But I was able to do this by asking a lot of questions at Home Depot and using tools that we have laying around (literally…we never use them!) in the garage.

So, what did I do? I bought a piece of lumber and had them cut it to my specifications, screwed 2×3 studs into the wall on the left side and back of the closet, and rested the right side on a 2-drawer filing cabinet. Installed ClosetMaid shelving tracks above the desk and put the little arm-thingies that the shelves will rest on in their little tracks. All done and just waiting for the shelves. I probably should sand the “desktop” down but I’m just not quite in the mood yet. It’s not very rough so it will work as-is if I end up not ever wanting to sand it. That’s the more likely scenario. Unless I get a splinter, I probably won’t be real motivated to sand it. Just keepin’ it real. I’ll post pictures and give a detailed description of the project after I’ve got the shelving in.

The bonus part of this all is that I’m paying for it with money that I’ve earned doing online surveys or gift cards that I’ve won or that have been given to me. That way we can continue to buy groceries and/or not go into further debt just because I want my office organized!

Thirty hours post-oral-surgery and The Mommy is just about good as new! No pain and only a teeny bit lethargic from the pain meds I took yesterday. I still have to eat soft foods and start the 48-hours-after post-op instructions tomorrow but I’m feeling 100% better today! I am so relieved. Especially about the lack of pain. I only had to take the prescription pain meds twice yesterday and a little bit of ibuprofen this morning. The Daddy got to surf this morning while Tater Tot and I spent some time together but I was pretty wiped out by the time he got home. Drifted in and out of sleep for a while and relaxed on the couch while they played outside. It was nice. I expect I’ll be back to normal tomorrow.

Speaking of back to normal, I almost feel back to normal in all the other ways that I was falling apart, too. The foot’s better. The hamstring doesn’t tweak when I do normal things (haven’t tried running on it yet…trying to give it time to heal). The hip hasn’t hurt the past two days. Imagine that. Of course I haven’t exercised in a week and a half. Oh, except that one day Tater Tot and I went on a morning stroll. Not really exercise. More just getting out of the house. I’m crossing my fingers that, starting Monday or Tuesday, I’ll be able to resume running. I’d better be able to because, sitting here on the couch, I’m eating everything in the house and turning into a Tub-O-Goo! But it does feel good to rest. I needed a rest. I’m grateful for the rest because I know that many of you Mommies out there never get one. I do not take it for granted.

The office project is on hold until tomorrow or Monday because I’ve been resting but I have so many ideas! It involves installation of adjustable shelving in the closet and desk for my sewing machine and scrapbooking hidden in the closet. And, hopefully, a better play set up for The Tot. I’m continuing to purge all the clutter I’ve got. Sometimes I feel like just tossing everything and starting over. Maybe I should! How freeing would that feel?! I just know, though, that I’ll throw a particular thing out and then, a month later, be looking for that very thing. Even though I hadn’t needed it for the previous 3 years, a month after I throw it out, I will need it. Unlikely, but that’s the scenario that plays out in my head while making decisions about what to keep. I think I just need to go into it with the mentality “Since I haven’t needed this in so long, if I end up needing another one, I’ll buy one.” For some reason that’s hard for me to do. But I need to. And I’m going to. Just watch me. But not tonight. Tonight I am going to go downstairs where the air conditioning is on and fall asleep on the couch. G’nite all…

Yeah, I’ve jumped from one project to another again. Remember the balcony I was fixing up? I’m kind of stalled on that one. It’s cute and a good place to hang out but definitely not finished yet. Imagine me moving on from a project before it’s finished. Typical for me. I’ve wanted to get things under control in my office for a while now but the inspiration just hasn’t struck me. And between the have-to’s and the other want-to’s in my life, I just haven’t gotten around to it. But, for some who-knows-what reason, I have gotten a burst of motivation for this project. Maybe because I’m tired of walking in and feeling overwhelmed by it. Maybe it’s because Tater Tot’s toys are multiplying while she sleeps and I’d like a better play space for her. Maybe it’s because The Daddy and I have had more trouble finding keys, wallets and other essentials over the past three weeks than the whole rest of our marriage. It’s never so bad that I can’t shove everything in a closet in a pinch if someone’s coming over but it’s just a niggling in the back of my mind that I would feel so much more like creating in here if things were in order. If I knew exactly what I had and where it was. If I got rid of all the stuff that I’ve been hanging onto “just in case”.

So I am utilizing Flylady’s mantra “you can do anything for 15 minutes” and slowly but surely getting rid of the stuff. Stuff we’ve had so long I don’t even see it anymore. Stuff that is shoved in drawers that are not opened on a regular basis. Stuff that I don’t even remember what it goes to. You know those wierd-shaped plastic pieces that you think might be a clip for a cell phone you no longer have but you just can’t be sure? Those keys that probably belong to an apartment you rented 10 years ago but who knows? The stuff that I can give away, I do. Freecycle can be good, although I encourage you to screen who you give things to. More people flake on me than don’t, unfortunately. Mommy Tip: If you can find a charity that picks the stuff up from you, it’s really a bonus! It’s a total time and energy-saver! And you don’t have to worry about a freecycler flaking on you. Generally, if I can give it to a charity that will pick up, I do. If it’s something they won’t take, I Freecycle it because I just can’t get with throwing stuff away that can be recycled or used by someone else. It’s just not right!

After I’m done “de-cluttering”, I’ll take stock of what items I have left and the space that I have to house them. Move some furniture. Maybe buy or create some new storage items and, voila! Office organization! Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Not so much. Is there an Office Organization Fairy I can call on here? If only…