03Apr 2012 by holly

Spring Into Organization 2012: Cleaning Up Our Message Board

DIY, Organization 2012, Uncategorized
Wow!  This is what our message center looks like?  I had to do something about this. After having twins last year, my life honestly has been insane!   It has been a huge adjustment not only on me but my daughter (Doodle) too because I went from being an outside the home working Mom to staying at home full-time.    Organization 2012 is now my mission. Over a week ago I came across Laura from Orgjunkie.org's post about Spring Into Organization.  I've become addicted looking at some of these posts.  I've already started on organizing my laundry room,  my family room desk, and changing table. The best part being some of the ideas are so simple you can do it in an hour or a couple hours!  Plus, some of them like…
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01Apr 2012 by holly

Walmart: Fabric Clearance

crafts, DIY, Uncategorized, Walmart
Around the Washington D.C. metro area several Walmart stores are being upgraded to SuperCenters. I haven't been to Walmart in a couple weeks and I forgot how crazy the store is with the construction going on. This weekend we stopped in at the Walmart in Woodbridge, VA and discovered that they put ALL of the fabric on Clearance by the bolt. So whatever the bolt amount per yards X $3-$4 equals the cost. There were some bolts that had 10+ yards so they cost about $30 but most were less than that. If you are need of some fabric or are like me and love fabric, you might want to check out this Walmart or other Walmarts that are going under SuperCenter remodeling. I found these ranging from $4.97 -…
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03Jan 2012 by holly

Organization 2012

crafts, DIY, Organization 2012, Uncategorized
Organization 2012 My husband and I were talking about goals that we have for ourselves this year.  Our kids are young so just having a good time while they are little is important to us.    This means we need to be better about organization. Organization is constant with my 3 year old. Don't forget I have identical twin boys that are starting to crawl.  Babyproofing is never ending!   I've learned that if one system doesn't work right now, there will be another system that does work.  I'm still trying to figure out the right methods to get laundry done but I will find it!   I'll be talking about that too. This month I wanted to talk about kids crafts.   I love crafts.  We have everything to do crafts…
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17Dec 2011 by holly

Our Christmas Tree 2011 – Making our own decorations

Activities, DIY, Uncategorized
This year is my first year as a stay-at-home working Mom.  Since my daughter is a bit older and the twins are still infants I thought it would be best to make ornaments for the tree. We made stars, and snowflakes from paper.  Doodle had a great time cutting out different shapes and we talked about each of them.  We cut out diamonds, triangles,squares and circles.   We hung up some plastic icicles and wooden red garland that I had from our Christmas stash. For years I've wanted to make an Avent Calender that we could use every year.  The chocolate ones are yummy and the germany ones are so sweet but the last couple of years we kept forgetting the days.  Plus Doodle would tear the paper.  Oops!  Instead I…
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19Apr 2010 by holly

Ways to Save on 1.5 volt Batteries – Hacking Video

DIY, Uncategorized
Battery Hack on YouTube.  Have you seen this video? My hubby who loves to tinker with electronics sent me this as a frugal way to save money.  Hmmm...don't think we need 1.5 volt batteries right now but if we do we might think about doing this. Click HERE - 12 volt Energizer Batteries = 8 - 1.5 volt batteries
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19Apr 2010 by holly

Getting things done

DIY, general, Sewing, Uncategorized
This weekend has been a busy weekend.  After buying lots of fabric on Friday and even Saturday!  Yes, I went back and bought more.  I went WAY over my budget, but I have fabric to last me years and years.  Just like everything else I try not to ever buy my fabric at retail prices.  I bought loads of fabric a couple years ago when Hancock fabrics closed several of their stores in the area. That inspired me to work on some of my UFOs = Un-Finished Objects on Sunday.  My husband watched my daughter while I did some of them.  Then we all worked on organizing our office.  Perfect spring cleaning. Getting Things Done My goal for this year is to list out all the things that need to…
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10Apr 2010 by holly

Gardening 2010 – The Box, the Dirt, and the Seeds

DIY, Gardening 2010, Uncategorized
Last Saturday we put together "The Dirt" for my Square Foot Garden.   See my first post HERE. My hubby created the box a couple weekends ago.  He decided to use pre-treated wood for this project.  There is some controversy of using it because of the chemicals that are used such as extra copper so its up to you if you want to use it. It will last for many years which is a big benefit.  See more information HERE from Home Depot which is where we purchased it. Seed Starter Kit at Home Depot: $15.98 Strongly suggest stopping at Walmart and picking some up.  I saw them discounted down to $6!  I might pick up 2 for next year just to have the peat moss starters.  Not a bad price.…
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02Apr 2010 by holly

Gardening 2010 – Our first Garden

DIY, Gardening 2010, Uncategorized
[caption id="attachment_2824" align="aligncenter" width="291" caption="Lowes Trip 4/2/2010"][/caption] Gardening 2010.  I can't believe it.  I'm going to garden this year. This year my hubby and I have decided to try and grow a vegetable garden.   This is not only frugal but also healthy and educational too.   We live in the woods where the deer are plentiful, so that has caused us some doubt so we aren't getting our hopes up.    We decided a couple months ago to create a small garden in our front yard where it would be easy to maintain with our toddler daughter. Then earlier last month I was looking at my favorite organizer site DIYplanner.com and saw this Garden Planting List which is based on the Square Foot Gardening method, so I had to check it out. …
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17Feb 2010 by holly

DIYPlanner.com – Check it out! Get Organized for 2010!

DIY, Financial, Uncategorized
Organization is a never ending battle.  No matter what life throws at you, you will be disorganized at one time or another.  There have been times I have been so organized it felt great, but life does happen and that planner gets left at home, or the monthly to-do list gets misplaced on the kitchen table with the mail.  Now, that I'm a working outside the home Mom, being organized is a dream!  Even in my About Me I mention my struggle with organization - "I hope as time goes by I will have the opportunity to learn to organize my time better and post deals as well as shopping trips." I was a Day-Timer fan for years.  I still have a place in my heart for the Day-Timer concept,…
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05Feb 2010 by holly

How to Defrost Chicken

Food, Meal Planning, Recipes
I'm spending the day with my daughter today inside since it is snowing!  We're trying to relax but that's not easy when she wants to run around.   Right now she is napping and I'm taking a break! She wasn't interested in playing when I was preparing the crockpot for the  Slow Cooker Chicken Parmesan,  it took several attempts at distracting her in order to defrost the chicken and get all of the ingredients  into the pot.   I found a great tip on how to defrost chicken without making it rubbery. Tip: Check it out HERE! This is for one chicken breast. Put it on a piece of foil while you heat your oven to 200 degrees. When it reaches 200, turn off the heat, throw the chicken and foil in…
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