$20 later…

I went by Wolf Camera today to get a cord.  Ended up, I bought a reader because they don’t carry Nikon cords.  It seemed like a good choice until I got home.  It wouldn’t show up on my computer.  Josh came home and tried and even called the number for assistance.  No answer except that it must be a faulty device.  Josh called Nikon, and he realized he could use another cord he already had.  So this whole miserable time the answer has been right here under this roof.  I am just glad it is resolved at this point.  I don’t look forward to having to drive back to the store to return the reader.  Oh well…..

I am breaking Family Fun Night code by being back here on the computer while everyone is watching a movie, BUT I got permission to post a few pictures, considering the circumstances of the last week or so.  🙂

Let’s start with what I did with my time when my computer wasn’t working…amazing what you can do when there are NO emails to read or return, NO way to pay online bills, and NO way to catch up on blogs and such.  I realized that I did myself a great disservice by not taking “before” pictures and “after” pictures.  I just have “after” pictures, which look good to me, but I know what it looked like before the changes.  To an overly OCD person, this may  not seem so great.  To me, a NOT overly OCD person, I am so happy with the little bit of changes that have been made around here.  I bought some of that roll-out rubbery stuff for a few of the drawers in the kitchen.  The knives don’t slide all around now.  The big cooking spoons and spatulas and stuff also stay put where you place them in the drawer.  I like it.

This is under the kitchen sink.  It wasn’t horrible before, but I could see where it was heading.  These cute little “mini laundry baskets” fit perfect under there.  They were only a $1.00 at Target and the Dollar Store.

They work well in the laundry room, too!

I found this stain chart on Martha Stewart’s website.  Very handy!

This cute LAUNDRY bag was found at TJ Maxx.  I keep it in the girl’s bathroom cabinets.  They throw their dirty clothes in there (after I tell them for the 5 millionth time to pick them up off the floor!), and I can just put it on my shoulder when it’s time to take their clothes downstairs.

This is my cosmetics drawer.  I used to have a bag/box thing that I dug through every time I put my make up on.  I love how this keeps things in their place and easy to put my hands on!  The sad thing is that I actually need such a contraption for all the things I have to put on my face.  I remember the days (many years ago) that some lipstick was all it took.  I also got my undergarments all organized, but I wasn’t about to take a picture of that!  The cosmetic drawer is vulnerable enough, don’t you think?!

Now this is switching gears-  Josh’s tool drawer.  Josh isn’t concerned about organization all that much.  I mean, he appreciates it, but he doesn’t spend time thinking about it.  His tool drawer just had a bunch of stuff all thrown in it.  I just used a tub and a container to get things in some kind of order.  I am sure tool BOX would probably work even better, but hey–this works!  All the batteries in one place.  Amazing.  I love it.

Take a look at my little Splenda holder.  I picked this up at The Container Store for a couple of dollars.

I could have used about 12 of these cute baskets with the handle.  Very handy!  This one is holding all of my baking/decorating kind of stuff.  The other ONE that Josh let me buy is holding sugar.  I have powdered sugar, brown sugar and a couple of regular sugar bags.  It keeps them all together.

Every beginning of a month I am always happy that I have my calendar from frillseekers.com.  It is very handy!

This is the most recent change I made.  My shoes.  These racks usually just had one row of shoes on them.  Now that I have these boxes, I can stack the shoes and fit more in the space.  I labeled them, too.  Some friends wondered if I had taken pictures and put them on the outside.  It is a great idea, but I did not do that.  Yet.

So that shows you some of the steps I have taken to get more organized around here.  We have more to do!  More containers to buy, more bins to label!  We can’t stop.  We must press on…..  Just a little dramatic….just a little.

Here is the picture of Ruby’s superhero drawing.  The one that I said looked a little busty, but they are intended to be wings.

Today we made Ruby’s Valentine’s box for school.  The party is on Tuesday.

Josh said, “It’s kind of big, isn’t it?”  I said, “Mrs. Honaker said to make a Valentine’s BOX.”  He said, “Yeah, a box–not a Valentine’s Puppet show.”

I thought it turned out really cute!

Molly and I made a Valentine’s Mobile after we finished with Ruby’s box.  It is for Sweetie and PawPaw when we go visit them next week.

It has Sweetie and PawPaw at the top.  All seven grandkid names are underneath.  Molly wrote their names and drew a little picture of them on the other side.  It turned out cute.

OK, my time here is really done.  I am glad to have pictures on my blog again!  And I hope to have more after tomorrow morning…I get to go to Ruby’s school for “Snowman Snuggles with Mama.”  I can’t wait!