Month O' Organizing-It's a Party!

My kids love to have a party.

Any kind of party.

It's Tuesday? Let's have a party!

The dog pooped in the floor? Let's have a party!

My oldest daughter REALLY wanted to have a Christmas party this year, but man, December gets so packed with family and school stuff it is hard to find another day that we can squeeze in another party.

That being said, we decided this year to have a Halloween party.

I'm not all about ghouls and haunted houses and other creepy Halloween things, I just wanted to satisfy my kids and have a good time.

So we handed out some invitations, I gathered up some crafts, thought of a few games, put some snacks out and I think it turned out pretty good.

When the kids arrived, they went into the dining room to decorate some bags for the "Candy Bounce." As soon as everyone got here, I had all the kids go outside and we started the games.

Game #1: Pumpkin Grab
I had about 20 mini pumpkins that we threw in a pile of leaves. The kids each took a turn and had 45 seconds to find as many pumpkins as they could.

I think the most pumpkins found by any one kid was 7.

It was a lot harder than I thought it would be!

After everyone had a turn, I had them all jump in and get all the pumpkins out. The kids had a ball!

Game #2: Candy Bounce
The kids and I blew up 4 bags of balloons and put them on the trampoline.

Then we added about 7 bags of candy.

Hubby got on the trampoline and bounced one kid at a time. They had 20 seconds to grab as much candy as they could. I could have let them go longer, but we ended up giving each kid 2 turns in the candy bouncer.

This was hysterical to watch. The kids had a great time.

After the games, the kids came inside for some craftiness. Of course, I had to make a cute presentation.

It's a sickness.

I'm sure there is some kind of fancy syndrome name for it like

HTMIC-Syndrome. (Have to make it cute).

There were two crafts ( I found them at Joanne's on sale awhile back):

Last but not least was the food.

Since I was entertaining kids from ages 6-10, it wasn't fancy (YooHoo, Bagel Bites, Doritos and Chex Mix) but it was cute! (HTMIC syndrome strikes again)

It was a blast and I think the kids (at least the girls) enjoyed it too!


Have a Happy Halloween!!

Month O' Organizing: Get out the Decorations!

For those of you who have been reading this blog for awhile, you well know that I am coming up on the one year anniversary of moving into this house.

What does that have to do with organizing? Okay it is probably a stretch but last year I couldn't decorate for Halloween much less fall because my life was in boxes and I didn't know where anything was.

Plus it didn't make any sense to decorate our old house since I was just going to have to pack it up.

This year, I was organized enough to actually put out some fall and Halloween decorations and even organize a Halloween party for my kids (which I will share about a little later).


I somewhat like Halloween, but Hubby's birthday is actually on Halloween so I feel like I need to be a little festive for him.

I don't do creepy stuff or gross stuff. We just don't want to celebrate or endorse that aspect of Halloween. If I do something "monstery" it is usually more

cartoon-esque than realistic.

Please don't get me wrong, I have enjoyed seeing pictures of some of the "creepier" decorations and the talent is incredible. It just isn't my style.

That being said, here are some areas in my house and how I have tried to fall and Halloween them up:

This is my foyer.

I don't know if I have shown my new vinyl that I finally put up:

It isn't EXACTLY the version I wanted, but the meaning is the same.

like that people who visit get a sense of who I am right as they walk in the door.

I also just got another vinyl piece from Leen the Graphics Queen and with it she sent me these little bats for FREE!

I thought they were a fun touch to the corner of the mirror.

Next you get a view of my mantle (now a gleaming white)

Here are some close ups:

I found this little owl at a local Flea Market and love him on my newly painted dresser.


Both these things were new additions to my Halloween decorations this year:

I know Frankenstein is a little monstery. But he is cute and not really scary.

The witch I COULD NOT resist. If you can't read the sign she is holding it says

"Forget the witches, beware of kids!"

Those of you who know me IRL know that I love my kids,

but I joke about them much like The Meanest Mom. I think she and I are kindred spirits.

Finally, downstairs where the new BLACK entertainment center lives is this mantle.

Keep checking back, I will show and tell about the Halloween party later!

Bathroom Organizing: Part 2

I showed you this teaser picture:

No I did not just clean out a drain. Yeah, kind of a gross thought. Sorry.

I wanted to make some labels for my bathroom cabinets. I found some chalkboard vinyl at HomeGoods and snatched it up.
There may or may not have been some snatching out of someone's hand; it's all a blur.
I'll deny it unless I see some video footage.
Just kidding, I don't behave THAT badly.

Anyway, I found a cute stencil at Hobby Lobby (because I am like the only person left on the face of the earth that doesn't have a cricut) and traced out a design.

I wanted a swirly border and someplace to write with chalk markers.
This is what I came up with:

It was ALOT of cutting. I'm not even going to pretend like it wasn't tedious.
The mess in the first picture are all the swirls that I cut out.
I decided to separate the swirls from the rectangles because I wasn't sure how to cut it out otherwise.
Here is the finished product:

This is how they sat for like 3 months before I finally got around to organizing them.
Now that the inside is all spiffed up, I finally labeled them.

I told hubby that I organized the cabinets and he said

"You'll have to tell me where everything is."

I just said "Nope, should be self-explanatory."

I haven't had to tell anyone where anything is (at least stuff in the bathroom) since I've done this!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Month O' Organizing

September was the dubbed the "Month O' Painting."

October is the Month O' Organizing. I have already gotten some of it accomplished, but I am going to st-r-e-t-c-h the blogging about it as long as possible to get some good blog action from it.

Here are the super exciting posts you get to look forward to:

Bathroom (today's subject)
Kids' rooms
Decorating Closet (that is super scary)
Master Closet
Maybe the pantry

I don't want to get too carried away because I only have the first two items done and there are only two weeks of October left. I don't want to set myself up for failure you know.

Anyway, I think I can get two posts from the bathroom blog. (I have to think about that now because I have really stunk up the whole "keeping up the blog thing" this summer.)

My family has been quick to jump my case about it!

Disclaimer: This post is very embarassing because you are going to see how completely unorganized I have lived for the past year. But I am just going to be real and hopefully you won't go blind looking at the chaos.

I have TONS of storage in my bathroom. It's a little ridiculous really.

But here is how I have treated it thus far:

These are the upper cabinets.

You can see a couple UNUSED lazy susans and a small set of drawers.

Oh and you can also see my youngest daughter's "fake hair." Looks gross just sitting there, but looks pretty cute in her hair.

Except when it falls out in the middle of P.E. class and freaks her friends out!

(Really did happen)

This is the lower bank of cabinets. Pitiful isn't it.

I know. Don't scold me.

I still have one more area to reveal the pitifulness of.

This is the area below the sink. See more containers and drawers.

I totally do it backwards. I like to get the organizing stuff then try to put the junk in it.

It is more fun to find the cute stuff to organize with than to do the

actual organizing!
So I started out by setting the timer for 10 minutes and unloading the cabinets. As I unloaded I divided the junk into categories. You know, pool, guests, towels, bedding, medicine, spa, cleaning, stuff to go somewhere else and of course trash.
Next I wiped the cabinets out then tried to rationally think about where things should go. I had to consider what needed to be gotten at the most and what I needed to store but wouldn't need that often.

I told you all my categories. Here are the loverly afters.

The Upper Cabinets:

The lower cabinets:

Finally under the sink:

My categories were not just arbitrary. In fact, that is what the next post is about. There is a small clue in this blog, but I'm not going to tell. You just have to try to find it, come back and read the next installment and see if you are right.
I'm mean that way!

I'm linking up at Domestically Speaking for an Organization Party. Maybe some of the ideas will encourage you to do some things for those unmentionable areas in your house. They sure make me want to get to the decorating closet!

Month O' Paint Rages On...

I think this is my last installment for the Month O' Paint.

I have been looking for a chandelier for my dining room for awhile. I

didn't want anything fancy.

Just the typical crooked arm with 5-6 lights that I could put little shades on.
Surprisingly, the Lowe's in my town doesn't like that style.

They want me to go with something super fancy and super expensive.

However, they did finally get one in that was just what I was looking for.

It was about $150.

I was willing to buck up and pay that.

That is, until I went to a yard sale one day:

Total country, but it had the bones I was looking for.

Plus I got it for $30!!

I simply taped off all the electrical parts and sprayed it black with a little Oil Rubbed Bronze on top.

After I ripped the red leather trim (yes it was leather strips like shoelaces) off the shades, it is perfect in my dining room!

Seriously. Does it look like a $30 country-fied fixture to you??

Have you noticed that I love the word seriously? I bet if you go back and read all my posts from the past year you could find one in every one.

It just makes me want to break out in "Isn't She Lovely."

Sing with me...

Isn't she lovely. Isn't she wonderful.

Okay, that's all the words I know. Sing amongst yourselves.