Office/Playroom Clean Up Part 1

Ok, so this room is going to take a few months to complete since I have some large ideas in mind. Today, I started small. Our desk has looked like it vomited cords and wires since we moved in and got our internet hooked up! It’s been a year and a half and I still have not done anything about it. Today, I just couldn’t take it anymore!!
Here is the ‘before’ picture:

Not pretty and Not functional!!!

The first problem is that the outlets are above the desktop instead of under it so everything was just sitting on the desk and the cords were winding everywhere. I decided that the desk needed a hole in the middle so the cords could go under the desk and the flow into the cabinet to the left.
I packed the girls up and we went to Ace hardware and I got a hole saw attachment for our drill.

Then, I came to a stand still. I was getting so stinking frustrated that I could not figure out how to get the stupid hole saw bit attached to the drill! I texted Jeff, my husband, several times asking questions but he didn’t seem to know why it wasn’t working. I hate having to wait on him to get home to work on stuff!! So, what does a girl do? Call her daddy! Of course, he figured it out over the phone and I got it attached. Now, about an hour later, I could move on!

I went to clean off the desk. I unplugged everything and started to pull every electronic device off the counter when I found this:

There was already a hold drilled in the desk!!! I am SOOOOOO ashamed that I have lived here this long and the desk has stayed that cluttered and dirty (notice all of the nasty dust) that I never noticed this! I could have done this A LONG TIME AGO! Jeff didn’t even know it was there when I called him lol. UGH, well, I guess that is 1 less step I had to take and probably saved some time but I sure wasted a lot by this point.

So, I continued to clean everything off, disconnect all of the cords and put everything underneath and pulled only the necessary plugs up through the hole. I originally was going to put the components in the cabinet but then decided that it would get too hot without air circulation so the just went on the floor. I hope to get a little shelf or something to put it all up on, but for now “out of sight, out of mind.” Here is what it looks like now. I feel so much better; you have no idea how stressful clutter is to me (probably why I am stressed out all the time with 2 toddlers) and how much pleasure this gives me to get it all cleaned off the desk top!

I am so ready for the day everything is wireless!

Now, on to the shelves above!

Super Easy, Quick, and Cheap Christmas Wrapping

The decisions I make these days are pretty much based on what’s the easiest and quickest yet cheap and pretty. Christmas wrapping is no different! I used to go WAY over the top wrapping my Christmas presents; using cinnamon sticks, pine cones, gorgeous ribbon, and even hot glue! Let me say, they were gorgeous but that took me FOREVER to wrap each present. So, this year I have chosen to use a Pinterest inspired design using brown packaging paper, stamps, and some simple green ribbon. I personally love the way it turned out and I love how quick and easy it was!
Each one has a snowflake stamp, too!

Even used some brown lunch bags for the dog’s gifts

It all looks great under the tree!

 

I really wish Santa could wrap in the same wrapping paper!