2011: Better Organization, Really, this time I mean it!

I am a goal oriented person.  Nothing makes me feel better than to set and achieve goals.  My brother and sisters would consider me an over-achiever.  I am a planner, I like to plan out vacations, plan projects, plan meals, the works, but somehow staying on top of organization in my house seems to be just out of my reach.  There is nothing I hate more than going through closets and trying to decide what to get rid of.  It doesn't matter if it is my closet or my kids' closets, so they are constantly overflowing.  It doesn't help that I live in an old house with small closets but I should be able to get a handle on the situation.  For crying out loud, I am well educated and bright enough, I am even a hard worker.  The problem is with a husband, three kids and a dog, no matter how many times I try to organize things, it never stays that way.  I feel like since about the week before Christmas I have done nothing but throw things away.  You would not believe the amounts of garbage we have accumulated.  I am completely embarassed because my husband has become that person who sneaks around the neighborhood at 10 or 11 p.m. on garbage night looking for cans to fill.  I remember when we first got married we would watch out our window as one of our neighbors snuck around in his pajamas filling cans and we would laugh and laugh about how awful that was and now look at us!  Seriously and do you know what we have been filling the neighbors cans with all month?  Rocks!  I am not even joking.  You know all the awful lava rocks that were covering our fireplace?  They had to go somewhere and it was into all our neighbor's half full cans.  Lovely, I know, but I digress.  The problem with my organization is not entirely that I don't throw away, the real problem is junk is continuously coming in.  How do you fix it?  Any amazing ideas out there?  I am bound and determined to work my way through this house and junk more than I have ever done before, but how do I keep it that way?  Here's what I started with today:

For the entire month of November I had to have help everyday with my kids.  I have never been so embarassed.  Friends and family came in and helped me get my kids dressed, but they couldn't even get the drawers open.  Rather than have anyone see the drawers, I would try to make sure my husband picked out clothes for the baby who can't dress herself yet and put them on the bed.  Seriously, pathetic!  So a few days ago I cleaned out all of the clothes for my two daughters and got rid of a ton, boxed a bunch of outgrows up to put in the storage room and I thought I was set.  Now this morning, my 4 year old is complaining that the drawers won't shut, there's too much stuff.  AGAIN!  It hasn't even been a week and I haven't bought any clothes!  Is it just the folding?  Do I have the worst furniture ever (okay, so that could be part of the problem).  Someone tell me how you stay on top of it!

I am absolutely determined that 2011 will be the year that I SIMPLIFY.  Send me all of your tips, PLEASE!

Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart: A Novel by Beth Pattillo

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I really liked this book. It was a quick and easy read and I liked the twists at the end of the book. It was an all around good, fun read.
Perfect relaxed read for Christmas vacation.


View all my reviews

Gingerbread Houses and a Visit to the Doctor

Today the big kids got to go to Grandma's for a long anticipated chance to make gingerbread houses.  My 18 month old got to stay home and sleep off the effects of a shot to get rid of croup.  Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without someone needing a last minute trip to the pediatrician.  I'm just glad our trip was several days BEFORE Christmas!

Tips for Decorating Christmas Cookies with Young Kids

Nothing says holidays like decorating cookies, Christmas especially.  We decorate cookies for most holidays, usually with extended family, but this year it was just me and my older 2 kids and a friend and we had just as much fun.  That is one of the joys of cookie decorating, it is great for any size group.  Here are some tips I have learned over the years of decorating cookies with my students while I was teaching first grade and decorating cookies with my own family. 

1.  Know your limits!  Baking sugar cookies can be fairly difficult.  Don't try to start from scratch all in one day.  Make your cookies the day before you plan on decorating them.  If you are going to bake your own it is absolutely necessary that you chill the dough, it is best if it can chill overnight.  I am convinced this is the secret to getting the cookies to work and keeping yourself from tearing out your hair in frustration.  Realize, you can order unfrosted sugar cookies in almost any shape from nearly every grocery store bakery, all it takes is a simple phone call.  If you live in Utah, Macy's has them for super cheap.  That is all I have done for years.  This summer was the first time I was able to actually get a sugar cookie recipe to work.  My kids don't know the difference all they care about are the sprinkles.

2.  Make your life easy, buy the canned frosting.  I know the homemade usually tastes better, but honestly, by the time your toddler is done dumping sprinkles all over the thing and has licked his or her knife several times, taste is not really going to be a factor.  Simplify!  Buy several tubs of the Betty Crocker stuff and call it good.

3.  When you buy your frosting, always buy the "whipped" frosting for decorating with kids.  It is soooo... much easier to spread.  My personal favorite is the whipped cream cheese frosting.  Then when you get it home, divide it up into multiple bowls and use food coloring to dye it different colors. 

4.  When setting up an area to decorate, realize it will be messy, if you are worried put a dropcloth or old tablecloth under your table.  Sprinkles go everywhere and at least one kid will dump an entire bottle on their cookie.  

5.  Don't buy the peppermint sprinkles, they look cute but are nasty, same with the really cute mini candy pieces they make in holidays shapes.  Stick to tastier things, regular sprinkles and colored sugar, mini chocolate chips (my personal favorite), and m&m's.

6.  When you start, give each child a paper plate with a cookie on it.  Give them their own plastic knife, or if they are really little, use a popsicle stick and then put spoonfuls of frosting on their plate.  This helps prevent licked knives from going into the main bowl of frosting multiple times.

7.  Lower your expectations.  Most little kids will love decorating one, maybe two cookies, then they will either want to eat it or eat the m&m's and be done.  Be okay with that.  Get your camera out right when your child starts decorating and get a couple of good pictures and take a picture of the finished product.  Your child has had a great time and you have the pictures to prove it.  This is the reason I suggest taking the easy way when it comes to the cookies and frosting.  If you haven't spent hours and hours slaving over making the cookies and making the perfect frosting, then you are not going to be mad that only a few cookies got decorated.  If you like baking from scratch and have a recipe you like, then go for it, but realize kids are not really going to appreciate that part and be okay with that, recognize the from scratch part is for you, not for the kids.

Kids Christmas Craft

My four year old is obsessed with crafts.  All day long she begs for crafts to make and if I don't help her come up with things she takes matters into her own hands.  I am all for creativity and I love crafting myself, but when I am not looking the supplies are left everywhere and lets just say crayons, markers, and scissors don't go terrifically with an 18 month old.  Lately I have been going to Hobby Lobby and Michaels and looking for their cheap-o kids craft kits because they require little supervision and any leftover supplies can be tossed in the trash with no guilt.  These beaded candy cane ornaments have been one of the better kits I have found.  I got them at Hobby Lobby, but you don't need the kit at all. 

Supplies:
pipe cleaners
red and white plastic beads (ones that have a similar size hole as the width of the pipe cleaners)
wire cutters (scissors will work, but it dulls them and is harder work)

Instructions:  Fold the bottom of your pipe cleaner so that the beads can't fall off.  String beads onto pipe cleaner in a pattern alternating between red and white.  Fill to almost the top and then bend last little piece of pipe cleaner to hold the beads on and twist into a candy cane shape.  Add to the Christmas tree!

December Daily Album

I saw Ali Edwards "December Daily" scrapbook project last year and thought it was a great idea, but decided I was way too busy to attempt it.  I saw her posts again this year during the weeks before December began and it got me thinking.  I was worrying a lot about how my broken leg was affecting our holidays and was frustrated with the way it was holding us back from a lot of the activities we normal enjoy.  I was worried that my kids would feel cheated and that I would feel cheated.  Then I started thinking that maybe the craziness of my leg being broken was going to make this one of those Christmas' my kids would never forget, so I decided if that was the case I was going to make it full of as many happy memories as I could and since we were going to be required to take everything more slowly than usual because of my leg, then I was going to make the most of it.  I hurried and put together this simple album.  I bought Ali Edwards' downloadable overlays with each day on them and using paper and supplies that I already had in my stash did a little bit of decorating.  It is not at all fancy, my goal was to make this easy enough that I would actually follow through with it.  I bought a cute 1 inch binder at Target and have tried to make sure I take a picture of something we do for Christmas each day.  If I forget to take a picture, then I make sure I write enough to fill the whole page.  We haven't done big things, but as we are reaching the halfway point of the month of December I am realizing that we have more family traditions than I realized.  I love the fact that when this Christmas is over, my kids will be able to look at this album and actually remember what we did.  Next year we will be able to sit down at a family home evening before the month of December hits and look through our album from 2010 and talk about what things we want to make sure we do again in 2011 and then add any new things we think of.  I am so glad I took the time to do this, I think it will quickly become a family treasure!

A Little Embroidery

Here's a sneak peak at some embroidery I've been working on lately.  I'm pretty excited about how it is turning out.