Week 32 of the Weekly Organization Challenge

This is week 32 of The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenge! This week focused on the kids' room. 

A while back, I talked about how I updated The Good Daughter's room from a nursery to a woodland critter themed big girl room. Before the room just had white walls, her crib and wardrobe which is a hand me down that I have had since junior high.

I wanted to keep her room fun and functional. Shit, I even painted it pink. Growing up I never had a bedroom that I decorated. My mom would just get some furniture and then put it in my room and I would have to work around it. I had the wardrobe and a teeny, tiny single bed, a desk, a tv stand and a cabinet for dolls I didn't really like. So I thought it would be awesome if TGD could have something that she got to help create and she can live with for a few years.

But since we moved the crib out of her room and had another baby to put in that crib, that shit had to go somewhere too. What was once my home office became the new nursery. Once I found out I was pregnant, The Good Husband busted ass and got my office finished in the basement. There is no before photo of the hell that was my office.

Since I have two kids' rooms, each with separate functions {baby v pre-k'er}, each room as to serve a different purpose.

TGD's room has to be fun and colorful and give her a place to play, to sleep and offer storage for all her shit. TGS' room is basically there to keep his clothes and change his diaper, since he sleeps with us and doesn't play in his room at all. 

We also have to keep our personal computer in there until we can finish the rest of the basement. For now, since no one sleeps in there it is ok, but as soon as The Good Son can play in there, it will have to move downstairs.

One thing that I did do differently this time is I added a changing pad. I use the top of the dresser for a changing table and keep a small container, similar to the one I use for my new mother breastfeeding survival kit, to help with diaper changes. That way I can have lotion, diaper area wash, rash cream and other essentials within reach at diaper change. I also have the dirty clothes hamper at one end of the dresser and the dirty diaper pail at the other.

 

TGS has a small box of baby toys in his room for when he can play with them. Right now TGD likes to get into it and pretend to be the baby again.
 

Another thing I added this time was a rocking chair. Now I can savor the 20 minutes I get each night rocking TGS to sleep. I get to snuggle in, rub my nose on TGS's little bald head and take 20 minutes to reflect on the day, to prepare for the next day and relish the last time I will probably have a baby in the house.

 

TGS also got all of TGD's nursery stuff - crib and bedding and decor. When it is time for his big boy room I will paint and give him some stuff that is all his.

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Week 31 of the Weekly Organization Challenge

This is week 31 of The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenge! This week focused on purses.  

Like everything else even tangentially related to fashion or style, I have a basic (read - ugly) purse and wallet. I chose function over fashion more than a few years ago and have had this purse ever since.

Since I have the personal emergency car kit, I need to carry very little in my actual purse.

Starting from the outside pockets, I have pens and my checkbook.

I also have one of the most important cards I can carry in the outside pocket for easy access. This card allows me to whip out a tit when I need to and not get arrested for it either. Not that I have ever had any problems nursing in public but I still carry this on the off chance I can go all Nora Rea on someone's ass one day when they make a stink about my boobs in public.

The inside of my purse is divided into personal and business.

In the business side of things, I have my wallet, a notepad and some tissues.

And of course I have an ugly wallet to match my purse. It contains no cash, one too many credit cards, my drivers license and my voter's registration card.

On the personal side, I have some powder makeup and this clear plastic bag to contain small beauty products like lip gloss and lotion.

Maybe for Christmas I will get a new purse, but for now, it is organized and functional.

And with this post the bedroom should be organized. Next we move on to kid bedrooms which are normally harder to keep organized. Stay tuned!

Organize along with me in The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenges

Week 30 of the Weekly Organization Challenge

This is week 30 of The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenge! This week focused on jewelry.

Much like my clothes and shoes, I don't have a lot of jewelry. I blame 12 years of Catholic school for my lack of fashion sense.  

What I do have, I keep in a jewelry box The Good Husband gave me a few years ago. You saw it when I posted about our master bedroom. 

For me, I like the uncluttered look of a simple box on top of my dresser. It holds everything I have now - some ear rings, necklaces, broaches, bracelets, a watch - plus has room for when I get something new.

I know there are prettier ways to display jewelry, but I am a traditionalist when it comes to this area. Besides, I wouldn't know where to put any cute display anyway. Also by having all my jewelry inside of a box, it stays untangled and dust free. And since I only wear some of these things a few times a year, the rest of the time it would spend collecting dust and tempt the little fingers of The Good Daughter.

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The Good Daughter's Big Girl Room

The Good Daughter turned 3 in June. A month later The Good Son was due. We thought it would be a good idea to make a new big girl room for her so that she could have her own space that was all hers and that she could have something special before her world was about to get ugly with the addition of a new baby. 

The theme of her room is woodland friends. 

And it all started with this:

TGD needed a nightlight for her room. I saw this little one at Target a long time ago and picked it up b/c I love hedgehogs. I mean look how cute he is. ~Awwwwww~

Then I found out that it was part of a larger line of bedroom stuff at Target that had all sorts of woodland critters. But it only had bedding for a twin bed and TGH has a toddler bed. And then everyone and their mother jumped on the owl trend and soon everywhere I looked every little girl had an owl room.

Shit, that won't do.

So I started collecting ideas on Pinterest. You should know how much of a Pinterest whore I am by now.

And now her room is this pink and yellow wonderland:

She picked the wall colors. Well, she said she wanted pink and yellow. I picked out the actual colors.

I was able to find fabric that had owls, deer and hedgehogs on it. My grandma and I made the bed skirt, the sheets, the pillow cases and pillows, a summer comforter and a winter quilt.

One great thing about giving TGD her own room is that I was finally able to get her toys out of the living room. She still has the fucking pink play kitchen.

I wanted to set her room up so that she has different areas for different kinds of play. I also wanted a large area in the middle of the room to allow her to space out with all her stuff and play.

She has the imaginative play area above.

By the window, for the best light, is the art center. She can color with markers and crayons and well as chalk here.

Next to her wardrobe is where most of her toys are. I got her a fox storage bin (sources at the end of post) to keep most of her toys. The bigger toys and the ones she plays with the most are kept on top of her bookcase.

  
Next to her bookcase is a reading corner with a pillow and blanket. She also has a music corner with her play piano.

I tried to incorporate different styles of woodland creature. The terrarium features a tiny hedgehog. She has a fox print of a family as well as a fox on her toy box. She has an owl blanket as well as an owl hanging with her name on it. 

I still have some odds and ends I want to add to the room but for now it is mostly complete and makes me smile like a 3 year old.

~source list~ 

Fox  Storage Box - 3 Sprouts

Good Manners Cards - Abe's Market

Bookcase - Target

Fabric - Doohikey Designs for Riley Blake - Hoo's in the Forest {most of this line is sold out but you can still find some on etsy and ebay}

Owl Blanket - Kohls

Floating Shelves - IKEA

Fox Family Artwork -Etsy, seller Lulu Froot

You Are So Loved Artwork - Etsy, seller The Wheatfield
My Favorite Weather Artwork - Etsy, seller The Wheatfield

Hedgehog Terrarium - Etsy, seller Lovely Terrariums

Paint Colors -  Valspar Fairytale Pink and Star Bright

Personal Emergency Car Kit

Now that I have kids, I have a lot of shit I need to haul around. 

My purse, a diaper bag, The Good Daughter's backpack, my pump. This is just a normal day. In the course of a normal day it is also not unreasonable for TGH to need some tissues or her hair brushed and for me to need deodorant, since for some strange reason post-pregnancy, I am forgetting to put it on in the morning.

So instead of carrying all that shit around in my purse or have it split between the diaper bag and my purse and my pump bag and TGD's backpack, I decided to make a kit for the car full of things we need in the event of a personal emergency.
 

I started with an empty wipes container. They purty them up now, so I had one with flowers on it. I did glue the pop-up lid shut and painted it with some left over paint I had from making my organization board.

Then I filled that fucker with everything I could think of when dealing with personal emergencies.

I included:

Travel wet wipes
Hand sanitizer
Pain relief antiseptic spray
Bandages
Tissues
Deodorant
Heartburn meds
Contact case filled with solution
Mini nail kit
Lip balm
Hair tie and hair clip
Mints
Cotton swabs
Brush
Lint roller
Eye drops 
Lotion

Now when I am bribing TGD with cookies to be good while I load the groceries in the car and she gets chocolate all over herself, I can wipe her down with a wet wipe before she gets it all over the car. Or when I have to go to a last minute work meeting and realize I now have dog hair all over my ass, I can use the lint roller to look semi-decent before I meet with clients.

I got most of the supplies at the travel section at Target {where I love to hold all the tiny stuff and pretend I am a fucking giant} for less than $15.

I think I included everything I would need in the event of a zombieless emergency, but if you can think of something just let me know.

Week 29 of the Weekly Organization Challenge

This is week 29 of The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenge! This week focused on shoes.

Since I don't have any fancy closet system and my closet is just a hot mess, my shoes just live on the floor of my side of the closet, under my clothes. I have them turned with one heel out b.c I saw it in a magazine once and it just looked pretty. I am sure that if I had any fashion sense {and let's be pretty fucking honest here, these shoes show that in no way do I have any fashion sense what.so.ever} storing your shoes with one heel out would help in outfit development.

But since I have few shoes {a pair of tennies and flats are here too but out of frame. I couldn't take any more shame} I can keep them on the floor with relative organization. The Good Husband has exactly 4 pairs of shoes. We are some sad sacks over here.

If I had more shoes, I would get something like this to help organize them. Or even this. For now they are happy at the bottom on my closet.

Organize along with me in The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenges

Mixed Bean Salad

As the days of summer were winding down, I got both soy beans and green beans in our CSA one week. I had a recipe saved on Pinterest for a while about a mixed bean salad and I thought it would be the perfect use for the produce I got. 

It also doesn't hurt that green beans are The Good Daughter's favorite. I love fresh green beans only, refusing to eat canned or frozen. And I will confess that eating cooked green beans with bacon and onions can get old after a while. 

I liked the fresh summer taste to this salad and it made a great side dish with some baked white fish.  

Ingredients:  
1/2 pound green beans, trimmed and halved crosswise 
2 tablespoons cider vinegar 
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 
1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves, finely chopped 
1 shallot, thinly sliced 
2 teaspoons grainy mustard 
2 teaspoons honey 
1 cup shelled soy beans 
1 can light red kidney beans, rinsed and drained 
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained 
salt and pepper to taste  

Directions: 
~Bring a large pot of water to a full boil. Add a hearty pinch of salt. Cook green beans until tender crisp, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from water and submerge in ice water. Drain and rinse until cold. 

~In a large bowl add vinegar, oil, oregano, shallot, mustard and honey. Whisk to combine. Add all of the beans and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper. 

recipe modified from:Martha