Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Fav Blog -- Delightful Order -- Organizing a Linen Closet

I love to find blogs and websites where I can LEARN something useful, such as simple tutorials for craft making, how to simply my life, but most of all, my absolute FAV'S are the ones about organization, on the cheap. But I really hit the mother-lode when I came across the Delightful Order Blog. Oh yes I did!!!


Authored by DaNita, her blog combines all my favs...and apparently her's too, here is just a snippet on her "About" page..."Along with being a Christian, the wife to an amazing man & the mother of four boys, a few of my other favorite things are Simplifying, Creating, Organizing & Decorating."



One of the best aspects of her blog is that she not only shows you the before and after pics of every project, she gives you a step by step tutorial about how she did it, along with many many pics AND where she found all her budget friendly materials.


I was so excited this morning when I saw her post titled Bringing Delightful Order to my Linen Closet, isn't it fun and cute AND oh so organized!!!!


I've only included a couple of her pics, so head on over to her blog for the full article and tutorial. Once you see it, you're gonna wanna check out the rest of her diy projects...be sure to let her know how you found her blog, then come on back her and let me know what you think.



Do you have any organizational tips, I'd love to hear about them...


And don't forget about our Giveaway ending Thursay night!

Monday, April 11, 2011

My Favorite Things -- Baby Girl Gifts & Baby Shower Decor

I figure if Oprah can recommend her favorite things, then so can I...of course, I can't GIVE away to everyone everything on my list, but I can at least do the shopping for you.


The plan is to try and do this as a weekly feature, with a different theme each week. And since babies and baby showers are uppermost in my mind right now, that's my theme...AND since the doc "thinks" she's having a "girl", that's what I featured.


So scroll down for some truly awesome baby gift ideas for new moms and baby showers, and if you're planning a baby shower, there's a few ideas for that as well. Check out the sellers shops as well for lots of other ideas.

(You'll probably notice that I'm having trouble getting my fonts and spacing even, I'll keep working on it, but I do apologize for the "messy" look)



Thursday, April 7, 2011

Giveaway Time!!!!



I previously posted about having a "giveaway" this week...and today is the day. I've included a couple of other items for you to see, but the giveaway item is at the bottom of this post.

The wonderful Liz of MyBellasBeads has graciously offered to giveaway a necklace to one of my followers. The gorgeous Simple Sterling Love Silver Necklace.

Her work is amazing, she offers personalization on many of the items in her shop. You'll find dog tags, luggage tags, mom necklaces, inspirational and spiritual quotes, earrings, necklaces, bracelets and even more so you really need to hop on over and check her out.




We wanted to keep the rules simple, so here they are:

1) "Like" her facebook page MyBella By Liz Lollar

2) Check out her etsy shop

3) Come back here and leave a comment in this post about your favorite item from her shop


* Giveaway closes Thursday, April 14th at 9:00pm EST Random winner will be drawn Friday, April 15th


And here's the giveaway necklace....drum roll..





Ta Daaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE it! Too bad I can't enter...

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Potty Mouth....



I'm embarrassed to admit that one of my many, many daily struggles is with a.....potty mouth. (hanging head in shame) There, I've admited it publicly.


Have you ever noticed that when you are struggling and praying about something, someone or something comes along and it's as though God is speaking directly to you or that He is showing you a way to deal with it? Well, that happens to me a lot...just yesterday in fact.


I've really been doing my best to "clean up" my language, just when I'd start to think that I was conquering it, out pops something causing me to cringe and immediately ask for forgiveness...then feeling quilty, cause I just know it's gonna happen again. A vicious circle.


Back to yesterday....browsing through my fav blogs I follow, and here's the title that caught my eye: "I so don't have it all together" by Melinda Todd of Trailing after God


If you struggle with this or really, with anything, just go read her article, there is nothing I can say here that would do any justice to this subject like she does, it's really an awesome article, it even made me giggle a few times. She's an honest and real Christian and she made me feel better about not being anywhere close to perfect!


Is there something you struggle with daily? I'd love to hear about it...

Monday, April 4, 2011

Daily Housekeeping Routines...




I'm always interested in how other people keep up with housework.. their routines, little tips and tricks, organization, cleaning strategies...basically anything that makes a house look neat, clean and organized. I'll admit, cleaning and organizing are not my strong suits, so to improve myself, I started researching online and what I found was a "wealth" of information and thought I'd share some of it with you.


In my email yesterday morning I received an article from Melissa of The Inspired Room (I subscribe to her postings). I have found lots of great tips from her site, my favorite is how to deal with C.H.A.O.S. (can't have anyone over syndrome). Go on over to Flylady to find out all the details on that (Flylady's tips and tricks are AWESOME). I'll include more links at the end of this article.






I thought it would be fun share everyone's daily morning routines (this does not include deep cleaning routines, we'll talk about those another time)...so here's my quick daily morning routine:


-Let the dogs out


-Feed the dogs and cats


-A quick glance at the horses in the fields (just to make sure everyone's okay)


-Check my etsy store, answer questions, email, blog (okay, this one takes the "quick" out of my quick routine, but it has to be done)


-Make my bed


-Wash face, brush teeth, get dressed


-Breakfast


-Put in a load of laundry


-Put away clean dishes and reload dishwasher


-rid up kitchen and family room and run the sweeper in these rooms and on traffic areas on the first floor (I don't always get to the sweeping everyday, but I try)


I have found that if I do this routine every day, then I'm not embarrassed if anyone stops unexpectedly. There may be a little dust here and there, but who doesn't have dust somewhere in their house???


My sister-in-law Kim sent me her quick quick cleaning routine:


-making beds


-lint rolling dog hair off of the furniture


-a quick dusting with my swiffer duster


-always wipe off kitchen counters and get most of my dishes to the dishwasher


-I always have to clean off the bathroom sink and mirror


-And every few days I use my Bissel sweeper to pick up a few things until I get the big sweeper out (about once a month)


-a load of laundry every few days, instead of it piling up all week


"This made my life so much easier!!!!! So when it comes time for the BIG clean-it doesn't seem so overwhelming. And my house is definitely not spotless, but I feel better just knowing that it is somewhat in order, and I can focus on more important things!!!!" -- Thanks for sharing Kim!


I feel as though I learn something from everyone and every article...so please feel free to share your routines in the comments section so I can learn from you too!!!


Here are some of my fav links and blogs...hope you find some of them helpful.


creativeorganizing The Inspired Room creative organizing ideas for every room desingingdomesticity -- living up to Martha bottosblog -- sos home office needs help prioritywindows -- how to organize your home Scissors and Spatulas Keswick and Country Tidy Mom

Saturday, April 2, 2011

BAD Dog!!!

An example of what happens when you ignore an adolescent hyper dog...


A few days ago, Hubby & I were working on some of his paperwork and computer work, not paying attention to Gus for too long apparently, and we turned around to THIS site in our family room... Sorry for the poor quality pic, it was dark outside. You'll notice he chewed the corner off Duchess' bed (that's her back you can see, she was completely oblivious that Gus was destroying her bed), he then proceeded to pull a good portion of the stuffing out, he was pretty proud of himself until his scolding began, which went something like this...

-GUS!

-WHAT were you thinking

-Bad Dog

-That is very BAD Gus

-Bad boy

And THIS was his response...

I'm pretty sure he got the message...HA!


Keep an eye out next week for a Giveaway!

Friday, April 1, 2011

Faith & Forgiveness


from


Spring is all about renewal to me, and what's better to renew than one's faith. I rarely struggle with my faith per say, but one of the things I do struggle with is "Forgiveness". I am a very forgiving person towards others, it's the forgiveness for myself and my transgressions I'm talking about.

I know I am to repent, I have no problem with that, and I'm to be sincere in my repentance, I am...what I struggle with is letting go of the guilt. I know we are to repent to God, then trust that He forgives us and let it go...THAT'S the part I have trouble with.


I found an article on one of my favorite blogs that really spoke to me about forgiveness towards others and I know a lot of people struggle with exactly that so I wanted to share it with you, as the author, Melinda Todd, does an amazing job with this subject.


So....ENJOY!!!


Trailing After God with Melinda Todd