You've Got Mail!

My daughter loves getting cards in the mail. Who doesn’t love mail? Especially the unexpected card? I get excited and make a big deal out of it so it becomes a big deal. There is something about opening an envelope, not knowing what is inside- the suspense, the anticipation, lifting the flap on the envelope to open it… Can you tell I love the Hallmark commercials? This is also what spurred the idea for our Annual Christmas Card Contest.

My little girl loves her cards. She reads them over and over and knows who most of them came from. There is the Valentines card that accompanied a dancing sock monkey from our good friends. There are the teddy bear postcards from her Geegee and Papa. There is the homemade card from her cousin. There is the Elmo card she got from her Yaya, the cards from her birthday. She reads them all. She can pick out some of the letters and points to them. They are getting a bit tattered. These cards are loved.

I am not a saver. I don’t attach a value to stuff. As much as I value getting cards, I don’t save them all. I am constantly trying to simplify and organize. My first instinct was to file the cards my little girl has received away in her box of keepsakes to store. But she loves them so much, I couldn’t bear to do that. Why not enjoy them now? Feel the love behind the cards? Read them and be reminded of the people that cared enough to send them?

So that is exactly what we are doing. We enjoy them now. Over and over…
~Angela

Ribbon Memo Board {Homemade!}

I am a note person. A list maker. Not a digital note/list person either (I have downloaded so many Note/List Apps and realize I get satisfaction from crossing things out (with a pen) way more than deleting from a digital list. Therefore, we have notes on our calendar and on the inside of our cabinets.

I saw a tutorial for a Ribbon Memo Board here and thought it was perfect to contain these little notes of mine.  A bonus was that I had all the materials on hand. Although I suspect this would cost under $5 to make even if you had to purchase everything.

I am always excited to put to use the ribbons from my Ribbon Basket (these are all recycled/leftover from other projects)

My finished product!

I hung it with 3m Command Strips and a piece of ribbon duct-taped to the back to create a hook.


~Angela

linking up to:

Ivy Cottage

Practically Functional

Truly Lovely

Six Sisters Stuff

Serenity Now

Alderberry Hill

Bowl Full of Lemons

Simplify your Day-to-Day Tasks

We have taken a few small steps to simplify our day to day tasks and they have made a drastic difference in how much smoother our weeks ago:

1. Having a family calendar!!!! And using it. The separate planners/online calendars did not work for us. At all. We now have one spot to keep track of everyone’s activities.



2.  Delegating meal preparation- I am in charge of meals during the week; my husband is in charge of meals on the weekend. (this is why I have become an advocate of eating out during the weekJ). Being that each of us is rather competitive, we are each looking for tasty new ideas to try and share. It has made cooking a bit more fun!

 Here are a few of my favorite go-to recipes:

Thai Curry Chicken Noodle Soup



Sausage & Broccoli & Egg Muffins



Crock Pot Taco Casserole

Bloody Mary Chili

3. If we cannot all get outside as a family to bike/run together, I work out in the morning; my husband in the evening.

None of these ideas are earth shattering new ideas, but they are new to us and have seriously saved us so much time because we understand the expectations and can plan ahead. For us, it works. And if you can benefit from any of these ideas, please do so!!

And for my husband’s help in raising our little girl together, making our house a home I am always grateful.

~Angela

Bookcase gets a facelift

I bought this bookshelf at an auction in college for $2.50 and have used it for mutliple purposes over the years. It housed college textbooks back in the day (obvious choice), photo albums, serving dishes in a previous dining room and a TV/DVD player in a workout room. It has been painted several colors as its purpose changed over time, but most recently it has been in my art room to hold scrapbook supplies and other crafts. Although it was not expensive, it is such a sturdy piece of furniture since it is sold wood, that I can't bear to part with it.

 Before the redo, there was a gaping hole in the back, courtesy of yours truly, when I ran a cord through for the DVD player I mentioned earlier.

 Supplies needed:  ruler for straight edge, double sided tape, exacto knife, scissors and wrapping paper

 This was super easy. Remove shelves and cut paper to the size needed. Attach the tape and press onto the back of the bookshelf:

I used the exacto knife to trim up the corners and put extra tape there

Voila! I am very happy with this inexpensive fix and I think the paper added some pizazz to the bookshelf as well.

~Angela

Drawer Organization

I am not sure how I acquired quite so many socks, but it was to the point that I could barely shut the dresser drawer. It may have something to do with having socks for so many different purposes: I have dress socks, biking socks, summer running socks and winter running socks, every day socks, slipper socks and holidays socks. TOO MANY SOCKS.  I had been looking for some time to find a way to organize these without having to line my socks up. I still wanted to be able to throw them in the drawer when it came time to put them away.

Before- organized by color

Before- random

Container Store $14.99 for 2

Left side= dress socks   Right side=workout socks

Left side= everyday socks   Right side=slipper socks

This has made it so much easier to find the socks I am looking for! I ended up buying 4 more of the organizers for my daughter's dresser as well.

~Angela

Scarf Organization

I love scarves. Therefore, I have a lot of them. So many, in fact, that I forgot what I had because most of them were in a bin in our closet. Then I also had some on a hanger in our coat closet. So, they were in 2 places and not organized.

On a recent trip to Container Store (one of my faves), I scored this scarf organizer:

Not only does  hold all my scarves, it is much simpler to see what I have. It was like Christmas because I discovered some long lost favorites. A bonus is that they take up much less room stored this way.

Ah...the mission to simply my life is in full swing:)

~Angela