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!

Mother Goose Paintings

My sister is due to have her third daughter in early February. She has decided to do a Mother Goose theme in the nursery this time around and asked if I would create some painting for the wall. Of course, I would! Anything for my niece (and sister ). She gave me this swatch of fabric that she made some bedding stuff out of so I could copy the style and colors.

She also found some drawings she liked online of each story that she wanted me to copy. So I had the colors from the fabric and the settings from the online pictures to go by. I painted them on 12x12 wrapped canvases with acrylic paint. Of course, I don’t think the pictures do them justice but in some cases you actually can’t see some of the flaws in the pics lol.

I really hope that she likes them! They are supposed to be “cartoony” (is that a word??) and not painted perfectly within the lines, as you can see from the fabric. Here’s the stories she chose:

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary

Little Miss Muffet

Hickory Dickory Dock

Hey Diddle Diddle

Humpty Dumpty

Jack and Jill Went Up the Hill

Rock-a-bye-baby

Mary Had A Little Lamb

There Once Was A Lady Who Lived In A Shoe

A Few Photo shoots

I have had the opportunity to do a few photo shoots lately and so I thought I would share some of my favorites.
Here is the newborn shoot I did for a childhood friend. Babies are soooooo hard and I have so much to learn but learning all part of the fun!

Here is a family session I did with another friend from ages ago. I love that my photography is reconnecting me to old friends and their families!

Another Family friend of ours

This is a collage I did for a newborn shoot back in May. I love this and I hope I can do it again for someone!

Going to see Santa

We took the girls to see Santa today. Here they are before getting in the car in their adorable Christmas outfits. I just love that Norah’s tutu practically swallows her! lol Avery was so sweet wanting to hold her sister’s hand for the picture.

*a side note on the outfits. I took them to Target to look for something since I figured it wouldn’t be much longer that I can get away with picking out what I want them to wear at a good price. Well, Avery proved me wrong. Apparently she DOES care! She actually found these tutus and insisted that she needed the pink one since pink is for princesses. Well, after some serious coaxing, I was able to get her to get the white one since that is at lease some-what “Christmasy”. I also wanted her to wear this long sleeve red jacket with a white collar; she hated it in the store and wanted the pink one. I thought that after we got home she would be fine with the red one and forget about the pink and we could just get dressed with no drama. I was wrong! she would not come any where near that red jacket and did not forget about the pink one at all! So, of course the morning we are planning to go see Santa, I make a mad dash back to Target to return the red and get the pink. I normally don’t like to admit when I let her have her way, but I can’t blame her cuz I am pretty picky with my clothes, too and it’s her Christmas outfit so I don’t mind letting her be involved in the decision. Lesson learned on my part, they actually do care more than I ever thought on what they wear! lol

Now, back to Santa. We went to this small toy store by our house that we love for it’s unique toys and atmosphere. Santa does free photos and all donations go to gifts for orphans. I love people that spend their lives doing things for other people. I need to be more like that!!  Avery got a little nervous but she did so incredibly well and sat on his lap by herself and told him all of what she wanted for Christmas. I was so proud of her! Norah, on the other hand, freaked out! lol I didn’t get a good group shot but I am still figuring out my new flash (details for another post) so most of them are too dark and needed some editing in Photoshop. Its so frustrating when I get crappy photos at something like this since we can’t go back and do it again. uuugh. I need to work on taking quick snap shots in the moment and still getting a perfect exposure. I am not so good at impromptu, on the spot photography…. but I digress. Here’s some of the shots, I did get.

Norah found the Teddy Bear that she always plays with when we go to this store! (PS, Norah got her first black eye this week. it looks a thousand times better today but it’s still not pretty! She managed to pull down her stocking along with the heavy brass stocking holder on her face. she is so lucky that it didn’t actually hit her eye ball! There were shards of metal on the floor when it shattered so she is lucky she didn’t get any in her eye. poor baby!)

Look at this face! It’s all fun and games till a man in a red suit come out saying “Ho Ho Ho”. She is not taking her eye off of that crazy man!

Look at the magic in Avery’s eyes! She was sooo excited! THIS is what it’s all about!

Talking to Santa

Attempt at a group shot. lol Santa looks like he just wants to get it over with hahaha!

Red Beans and Rice

Living in Louisiana for several years had some serious advantages. The food is one of the main ones; besides some wonderful friends, of course!

The other day I called my Cajun friend, Tisha, and got her recipe for Red Beans and Rice. True to a good cook, she didn’t have any measurements for the spices, but that’s ok since I rarely follow a recipe word-for-word anyways. These beans turned out so good I told her they were “blog worthy” and I had to share. Here’s the list of ingredients and some steps to follow. (my additions and tips are in red)
Red Beans and Rice
1 small bag of red beans
onion (I used 1/2 of a large one)
Minced garlic (about 2)
Smoked Sausage or Ham (I used 2 links of Andouille sausage and some cubed ham)
salt and pepper
1 cap liquid crab boil (I only had powdered crab boil so I used about 1 tsp)
green onion (I didn’t have any green onions so I used 1/2 of a green bell pepper)
garlic powder
Tony Chachere’s
Worcestershire sauce
Soak the beans overnight with lots of water for at least 12 hours. Dump all of the ingredients in the crock pot seasoning to taste. For everything without a measurement, add a little in the beginning and you can add as it cooks through the day. I sprinkled enough of everything to lightly cover the top of the beans. Half way through cooking, I added some more salt and pepper but everything else seemed to be good. Fill the crock pot with water just enough to barely get to the top of the beans. Set the crock pot on low for 6-8 hours. If you feel like it needs thickening, you can either add some spicy Blue Runner beans, mash some of the beans up, or add flour slowly to create a paste then adding directly into the crock pot. Make some Rice, and enjoy!
I hope you try these because they are amazing and feeds us for a long time!!
Thanks Tisha!!

Pantry Makeover

I am so thankful to have my energy back and to be feeling 1000x better! I really did not intend on going this far but I got a little carried away. I really just wanted to clean out the pantry enough to get rid of any expired cans/cereals/etc and to find some appliances for my in-laws garage sale this weekend. I really wish I would have taken a before picture; You could hardly walk in our large walk-in pantry, let alone find anything you wanted. It was bad!!
I still have a little to do since Target didn’t have enough baskets for me but this is good enough for me to be proud of. My first accomplishment in several weeks needs recognition!! Oh the things I get excited about these days…. I have kind of a boring life lol.

Here is a shot looking into the pantry. (I really want a wide angle lens, by the way!)

Notice a few things that I love 1. the baskets. I found the big ones at Target on sale for $8 and the metal mesh and bushel style ones at Hobby Lobby 50% off. Score!! 2. I also stocked up on plastic storage for the cereal and the pop up lid OXO kind for pasta and baking stuff. 3. all of the appliances are unwrapped and lined up nicely on the top shelf. I love being able to easily and quickly access the food processer, griddle, crock pot so easily! 4. My other favorite is out of view but it’s how I organize my spice packs. Ill show a picture below.

Here is the awesome spice rack that is attached to the door. It is so nice and sturdy and the horizontal rods that keep the spices from falling are adjustable for skinny to fat spice bottles. I was able to get rid of tons of spices that we NEVER use (some are were even from our wedding gift spice rack thing. I think if I have not used it in 5 years I don't really need it) and narrow it down to just what fit in the door and a few on the shelf.

As you can see in the picture I have a large Target bag full of cookie cutters that I still need to figure out what to do with. maybe another basket . Remember my “Treats” letters?

*(excuse this HORRIBLE picture above. I couldn’t get a good exposure without the flash. An external speedlight is on my very near wish list!)
Here’s a close up of my cereal just for kicks

And, My pop-up OXO containers for backing stuff and pasta. Avery loves to pick out what shape noodles she wants at meal time. Whatever it takes to get her to eat!!

Here’s a close up of the wire baskets from Hobby Lobby. This is not what I originally had in mind but when I saw these on a display by the check out I HAD to have them! I love that they came in round and rectangle and I love the lace on the edge of the lining along with the bows. The handles on the rectangles are super cute, too!

I used these to organize the kid snacks. Candy, fruit snacks, cookies and cake mixes, nuts and peanut butter/nutella, crackers and pretzels, baking stuff like sprinkles and icings and food colors, etc.

These are the baskets from Target. I have a 3rd with breads in it out of view. I need to get 2 more; 1 for more coffee stuff and other drink mixes.

These are the bushel style baskets I intend for potatoes and onions. I don’t have any at the moment but it will be real cute filled with produce!

I got rid of the huge paper box from Sam’s Club full of plastic silverware that was full of plastic silverware we have accumulated from birthday parties, showers, vacations, and just every day. I had to sacrifice 3 of my large Tupperware but I couldn’t find a better solution at the store. Good enough! Now I can easily find a fork if I need one, or a spoon, or a knife! ahhh bliss lol

Here’s is my solution to all those packets of spices that get tossed around and lost between other things. A clear over-the-door shoe organizer! I’ve actually had this up for a long time but never really talked about it. I feel like a genius for coming up with this one (even though I am sure I am not the first)! lol

I even use one of the slots for clips and twist ties!

Here’s my plastic bag holder and spot for my aprons to hang. nothing real special here, but it’s functional!

And, finally, my open floor!! I hate that I don’t have anywhere else to store my empty china boxes but they are pretty much out of the way, so oh well. Also, that purple bag on the floor is a large insulated bag that is full of smaller ice chest bags and such for bottles. I think I threw about 10 in the garage sale stack, too! I had WAY too many!! lol