Organizational Frenzy

I have been in an organizing mood lately.  I guess it is just spring cleaning and all that getting to me because I am just like a whirlwind around this house, leaving clean and organized spaces behind me as I go.  First up, inspired by Nanette's post about pantry organization a while back, were my 2 pantries.  There is a cabinet in the kitchen and then a little closet around the corner from the kitchen and things just kind of floated between the two.  Now everything has a place.

I am kind of wishing I had taken the Coors Light box out before I photographed the second pantry but oh well.  Just keepin' it real.  Wal-Mart had all those little black storage tubs on clearance so I grabbed nearly every set of black ones they had.  Some of them are being used in the garage (another organization project currently under way) but most of them were used in here.  I also purchased the small trash can with lid to store all the grocery sacks because I am bad and don't take my own.  I used to and someday when I don't have to take a 3 year old and 1 year old with me to shop, I will use them again.  And we either reuse the plastic bags or I take them back to the store for recycling.  Anyhow, I love to just stand in front of the pantries now and look at how organized they are.  I also did our entryway closet.

It was all a jumble before but now umbrellas, Rob's hats, my hats, and my purses all have their own spot.  Gloves, scarves and the boys' beanies are in baskets on a small bookshelf across from this where they can get to their stuff easier.  There is also a coatrack there for them and when we are too lazy to open the door and hang ours up.  Keepin' it really real now.  And you can see from my previous post about cord organization that I am also working on the office.  The office and the garage are bigger projects that are taking a while and I haven't even started the two badboys yet- Rob's workshop and the laundry/storage area of the basement.   I need to order a Dumpster though when I get to those- no joke.

Anyhow, when we haven't been working on the garage and other organizing projects, we have been watching the NCAA tournament.  Rob and I each filled out a bracket and we have a bet going.  I also filled one out on ESPN and was doing really well for a while (top 1%) until Florida and Wisconsin broke my heart and lost close games.  My little underdogs lost and now my bracket's in the crapper.  Well, I'm still in the top 4% but my brackets were looking outstanding for a while there.

The boys are doing good.  Wyatt is getting so big and I can't believe he is almost two years old.  They are both so funny.  See what I mean?

Oh, they crack me up all the time.  I love those guys.

Cord Round-Up

I have been in an organization frenzy lately so I thought it would be good to combine that with my Pinteractive post for the week.  I saw a cute box for cord organization and knew that had to be my project.

Source: iheartorganizing.blogspot.com via Shelby on Pinterest

I didn't take a before picture of my cords and what a mess they were, but it basically looks just like Jen's did at I Heart Organizing who is the original maker of the adorable cord box that I pinned.  I dumped out my box of random cords, untangled them, put some in other places where they belonged and was left with 7 cords.  I decided to use an Ikea storage box I already had to store the cords from now on.  I used pieces of a diaper box to make the cardboard dividers then covered them with scrapbook paper.  Here it all is-

So if you notice the labels on the box, there are two compartments that are labeled "mystery cord" because I don't even know what they go to.  I figure when I solve the case of the mystery cords, I can just make new labels.  Since the box was pink and doesn't go with my new gray/cream/blue color scheme in the office, it found a new home in the closet.  I love the Q-Knot reusable cable ties she has and will definitely be getting some of those for around the house.  I have decided that I don't really need them for this however because they all are in their little compartments.  And that makes this project FREE which I really love!

Painted Enamel Vases

This weekend I pinned some painted enamel vases that I liked.

Source: sugarandcharmblog.com via Shelby on Pinterest

The project was from the Sugar and Charm Blog.  Anything that involves me painting is a little sketchy but this looked like something easy enough for me to handle.  I have a ton of old glass vases around the house that could use a little help so it was a cheap project too.  I picked up some enamel paint at Hobby Lobby- here are my supplies.

The way it was described, it seemed like the paint would just flow all over the vases and give it a nice smooth coat.  Maybe that is what the conditioner was for (I didn't use any- the instructions on the paint said to clean with alcohol and go so that was what I did).  I couldn't find any conditioner at the Hobby Lobby and since the paint directions didn't say anything about it, I skipped it.  My paint was thick and a little harder to work with though I am happy with the end result.

The color is great and I can't wait to set them out in the living room.  They still need a little touching up but I wanted to get this post up to share for Pinteractive.

In case any of you are wondering how the fireplace scrap wood wall project is going, we have all the wood on the wall now.  Yay!!

We are going to caulk and paint it still and then I will do a big reveal for a future Pinteractive post, maybe even as soon as next week.  I think it would be a lot of fun to do this all over a full wall and leave unpainted too- I just don't know if we have the patience for that much scrap wood installation.  I am so very happy with how our project is turning out though.  Rob and I talk about it all the time, how it feels like a real fireplace now (even though it is electric) instead of some little toy.

Random Things

I was hoping to be able to post a final picture of our scrap wood fireplace wall project today but it isn't done yet.  I knew we had a lot to do still and it was a long shot and I was right.  Rob did make a lot of progress this weekend on it though and it's looking pretty good.

There is still a few more pieces to get nailed on, including the final board on top for the mantel.  Then there will be nail-hole-filling, caulking, priming and painting.  We have decided to paint it white because it is a lot of busy-ness with all the different wood and all the random carpet tiles.  Lots to do still but loving the way it is going so far.  It feels so much more like a fireplace now instead of looking like another tv that just plays a fireplace scene on all the time.

Last week, there was a little accident at our house while I was making the Pioneer Woman's Ranch Chicken recipe (it is very similar to Alice Springs Chicken at The Outback Steakhouse).  The recipe calls for you to cook the bacon and then combine a little of the bacon grease with some canola oil and then fry the chicken in the grease/oil mix quickly before baking it in the oven.  I don't think I ever fry anything which probably is what led to the disaster.  Saute- yes.  Fry- no.  Anyhow, the grease/oil mix got hot a lot faster than I thought it would and when I put the chicken in, I got a pretty nasty burn.  On my face.  It looked awful so no pictures to share.  It wasn't bad enough to go the doctor, just bad enough to be completely embarrassing and keep me in the house as much as possible so people wouldn't see me.  I tell you this story only to share two important lessons about burns.  First, don't put ice on it- which is totally what I did.  But who stops to look crap like that up right after they have been burned??  Not me.  So when I discovered it later, I felt like a dummy and was hoping I didn't make a bad situation worse.  Second lesson is that Vitamin E will greatly speed up recovery time of a burn.  This all happened Wednesday night.  It was taking forever to heal so Saturday morning Rob bought me some soft-gel Vitamin E caplets and by Sunday evening, the burn was almost totally healed.  Crazy.  I just had to cut open the caplet and squeeze out the gel and rub it on the burn.  So those are my two lessons to pass on about burn injuries.  And I do recommend that recipe despite all the trouble- that chicken was tasty.

We got a new washer and dryer recently, I think the week before last though the dryer wasn't delivered until last week.  That was another chore for Rob- he had to get the dryer hooked up which he did Saturday morning.  We had set aside some money for a new sectional or couch and chair for the family room when the washer died.  The dryer already had one foot in the grave so we decided it was better to replace the 10 year old washer and dryer and wait a while longer and save more money for a new couch.  I am so sad but these make it a little better-

They are so pretty and so wonderful.  And I didn't pay anything close to the price they have marked on them.  Best Buy had them on sale for way cheaper so I got Lowe's to price match that and then used my Lowe's card for another 5% off.  All the washers and dryers went on sale the next day for 10% off and I tried to get another 10% too but they told me no.  Oh well, a girl's gotta try, right?  I still got them for hundreds less than that sign says so I think I did pretty good.  I didn't take a picture of them in my basement because they look so sad down there.  One of our warmer weather projects is definitely cleaning and painting the laundry and storage area of the basement.  I can't wait to get that done and then share it.

I guess that is about it for us lately.  It snowed yesterday and then it is supposed to be like 60 degrees tomorrow.  Hello March, good to see you.  Oh yeah, I wanted to share these two things because they made me laugh so hard- hope you enjoy them too!

Disney Housewives on SNL- If you love the Real Housewives shows on Bravo, this will crack you up!



Jimmy Fallon with Bruuuuce!  Wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle...