How do you...

How do you donate?

I'm not talking about monetary donations, I'm wondering how you decide what/when/where to donate items you are no longer using.

I've got a little system.

I call it "The Bag."

I always have a used shopping bag, with a sheet of paper inside, hanging on a hook in the hall closet. As I find articles of clothing, knick knacks, and general stuff that I no longer love, I put them in the bag and inventory them on the piece of paper. When the bag is full I drop it off at the local GW. It's super easy because I already have a list of items I am donating, and I generally make a weekly stop at my GW. I always ask for a receipt, which I staple to my donated items list and file in the taxes file (then I let Hubs handle it).

putting items in The Bag

Sometimes I will list things on CL before I donate them - anything that requires me to have the GW truck stop by is listed first. Unwanted craft supplies are always listed, and so are items that I think the GW will have a hard time selling (like the sweaters that I felted and decided not to craft with). But I have a CL rule, I will only list the items twice, after that they leave my house. I also never list clothing - I don't know why not? Just a quirk.

How do you Donate? or Do you donate?

Information on donating to Goodwill.
iPhone app to help you track your donations.

guess what?

Chicken butt.

Haha.

I'm at 27 weeks today, which means only 13 weeks left to get everything ready for Bun. I feel like we need to kick it into warp speed. Which is easier said than done with JJ running around. It's almost noon, and I've only managed to get him into a clean onesie and diaper so far.

The child who usually tells me his toes are "cold and sad" as soon as I take off his dirty socks is happily running around in underwear. And I keep the house cool, because I like to wear sweaters but hate to sweat. Go figure.

So anyway, this past weekend we headed up to Muskegon and I threw JJ a little party for his family there. And, although the invites clearly stated "no presents, please," he really raked it in. So add thank you notes to my list of things to do today:

1. get JJ dressed
2. sweep and mop the kitchen (and let JJ help) - I DID THIS!!!!
3. thank you notes, complete with 2 year old scribbles

blowing out the candles

This weekend we're having a party here, and my side of the family and some friends will be coming in for it, and since he's two I decided JJ could have two friends over - I think they were impressed by the dump truck invites!

We've also begun the great migration.

The office desk was chopped in two and moved to the den. I sold the old couch from the den (hello $50) and this weekend (when there will be many hands to help) the sofa bed will move from the office to the den, and then we will be able to paint JJ's big boy room. His new bed has been ordered, we're just waiting to have it delivered until after the room is painted.

And that's where we're at.

for reals

From my super-awesome local paper:

"Jewelry and an autographed photo of Dale Earnhardt Sr. were stolen recently from 424 Scarlet Oak Drive."

And, I promise to do a real post later - like during nap time - one with pictures! And more than 25 words!

I love a well-stocked pantry

Growing up, my mother had an amazing pantry.

When we were very young I remember canning applesauce, peaches, pears, tomatoes - all sorts of delicious things. Her peaches tasted like summer - even in February.

I guess she was sort of radical (for the early 80's) in how she looked at food. She didn't trust preservatives, food dyes, or HFCS. I remember finding carob-chip cookies in my lunchbox, when all I really wanted were Chips Ahoy. I remember eating wonder bread sandwiches made with grape jelly and Jiff with a side of Doritos at the house across the street - I can distinctly recall the shade of green my mother turned when I told her that's what we'd eaten for lunch ;)

Mom belonged to a natural foods co-op, and once a month we'd gather with other families in a church parking lot to unload the truck. It felt like playgroup for us kids. We would run around the church yard, playing tag and red rover among the hugs pine trees; our mothers would be busily dividing the bulk boxes of dried fruit, cheeses and pails of natural peanut butter. And when we got home, she would store it all away in the pantry.

I love my pantry. I'm pretty sure I could easily feed my family from my pantry/freezer for at least 2 weeks. After that we'd be down to some strange meal options, but we still wouldn't starve.

I just found a fascinating blog, The Prudent Homemaker, she has been feeding her family of seven (and she's due with her 6th child very soon - I love big families!) for two years. She does say that she's stocked up on certain items when she can, but for the majority of two years she has not had the luxury of going to the market every week and buying groceries. She also grows quite a bit of fresh food (makes me feel like the ultimate underachiever).

I'm going to follow some of her tips, and try some of her recipes, and see if I can't stretch my grocery money just a little bit further. All while padding my pantry.

blank walls

The other week I spruced up (a little bit) the buffet in my entryway.

Now the rest of the room is really starting to get on my nerves.

I think I have a plan for it, but I'd love some input. And I want that input to be totally unrelated to what I've been thinking, so I'm not going to share any parts of my plan until tomorrow - sounds like fun to me!

Here's the space from left to right - it's (very roughly) 6' x 8' with recessed lighting and a skylight.

left side
I like this for right now

front door
so boring

right side
hello ugly boot tray and preschool art project

What would you do to the right wall and door to add function and life? We don't use the front door very much (we generally enter from the garage), but it's nice to have a place for guests to place wet boots. How about my ugly white door; boring, isn't it? (and did you notice the green hinges? they confuse me) I like the mailbox basket, but the random plastic greenery that was leftover from an old arrangement? Totally not attached to that - I need some fun ideas.

I would love to put a rug in here, but the problem is the door has zero clearance over the floor. I've brought home more rugs than I care to think of, hoping that they will be thin enough to stay put and not curl up when I open the door - nothing has worked. What would you do if a rug wasn't an option?

I'm so excited to see your ideas! I promise to share mine tomorrow!

Want to join in the Decorating Dilemma fun? Head over to Serenity Now and meet our super-cute hostess Amanda. She's so fun!

dokcet, docket

Some mornings, the public docket is my favorite thing to read:

"An inebriated man was arrested for disorderly conduct Sunday morning after he fell into a wall and rolled down a snowbank at Meijer. He believed aliens were after him and that all the people who had been with him earlier had been killed."

Classic.

It's a Full Little House

The last few days have been pretty full around here.

We've got two extra kids. We had a fog day. We had a snow emergency.

And we ran out of milk.

My little visitors will be heading home by Fri, and then I'm looking forward to getting a few things done around my little house :)

inspiration... FOUND!

It's no secret I've been working on the Great Room for quite a while. We painted it a buttery, summery yellow over Labor Day weekend, furniture has been moved in and out, arrangements have changed, there are huge gaping holes, and a few spots that i am actually starting to like.

This whole time, I've had a picture in my mind of what I want this room to be...I just haven't been able to find a visual representation. Not really a problem for me, after all I have a solid idea in my own head, for Hubs it's tough to just trust that I know what I want it to be.

He likes to second guess me. It's annoying.

But on Sunday I stopped by PK's inspiring blog and found it.

My inspiration room actually exists.

And there are pictures. Lovely, scrumptious, pictures.

source

A kitchen with creamy white cabinets. Lovely yellow walls.

source
white beams - although I won't be painting my ceiling blue

I, very excitedly, showed my husband these inspiring images.

He trusts my vision. And agrees that we should paint the island stools red :)

peep show

Tomorrow will be 23 weeks (I think - it's amazing how not obsessed with everything I am this time around).

I feel like I've finally hit the point where I look pregnant, and not just extra fat.


Like how the break in the mirror cuts off my butt?

Yeah, me too ;)

sideboard confessional

A few days ago the sideboard in my entryway looked like this:

it looked even worse in real life

All of the Christmas decor had been packed away (except for the advent candles), and random items had taken over. It made me feel gross to look at it. It also made me very glad that we don't have a lot of front door visitors.

On Thursday I decided something needed to be done. We were having a bit of a thaw here in NW Ohio (ok, it was in the upper 30's, but the snow was melting) and I really, really, really wanted to put out all of the spring decorations.

a hoarder doesn't live here, after all

As you can see, I used restraint and only added one little posy of yellow paper flowers. And then I decided to add a bunch of family photos that had been hiding in the linen closet (does anyone else store random decorating items in the "linen" closet?).

I like to see my family as I walk down the hallway :)

Adding this one to the Before and After party over at Thrifty Decor Chick.
Stop by for some before and after inspiration!

this guy

Loves to eat PB sandwiches.

He's actually a really great little eater. He'll always try new foods (I'm not saying he doesn't spit out offensive foods). And he's addicted to fruits and veggies :)

But last week, fueled by pregnant-lady-food-cravings, I bought potato bread instead of the fabulously healthy, whole grain brown bread I usually buy. I accidentally created a monster.

He now refuses to eat brown bread. And he's too young to use the logic my mom used on us when we would ask for wonder bread at the store (she'd tell us we were "rich," and could afford to eat whole grain bread, weren't we so lucky?).

After this loaf is spent I think we're going PB sandwich free for a few weeks. Maybe he'll forget about the soft and sweet white bread and be more receptive to the nutty,chewy, brown bread he used to love. Maybe he'll also eat the crusts, and quit throwing them on the floor.

Here's to hoping.

Every Sunday Needs

I'm pretty sure every Sunday needs a freshly baked Devil's Food cake with cream cheese icing.

I think this is the most perfect way to ice a layer cake.

The bast part? Monday morning breakfast...yum, yum!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

halp, halp!

Yesterday I was busy cleaning and JJ was reading in his room.

Then I heard “Halp Momma! Halp! Halp!”

He climbed up the changing table and jumped into the hamper, and then he realized he was stuck :)

CL woes

I love to stalk our local CL, the problem is, it is generally rather disappointing.

I've sold a few things using it, but I have never made a purchase, maybe because gems like this * keep popping up.

But, I will continue to stalk CL daily, hoping to one day find the dresser, or pair of armchairs, or extremely large area rug of my dreams.

PS - check out what my friend Heather recently scored from her local CL, I am so jealous!

*If the listing disappears -it's for a barely-used stripper pole, but the listing is misspelled so it's actually a "striper" pole. Classic and classy.

photot tag

Kara tagged me :)

Here are the rules:

1. Open your first photo folder
2. Scroll down to the 10th picture in your folder (if you don't have 10 pictures, go to the next folder that does)
3. Post that photo and tell your story behind the photo
4. Tag 5 friends to do the same

Ready for this?

I love carbs.

I was six months pregnant with JJ here (Nov. 2007), J and I went to Gatlinburg for a little vacation. We saw this giant potato (pretty sure this is in Dollywood) and instantly thought - awesome photo op.

Tag you're it! - Laura, Stephie, Pam, Heather S and Randi

it's a work in progress

I couldn't leave the mantle alone after getting so much great feedback. Thank you so much for all of the ideas!

While I convince the hubs that we really need to paint it white (ten votes for going white!) I am also going to be searching the local architectural salvage for a pair of reclaimed corbels (Thanks Tidy Mom for the excellent link - I found the corbel idea there!).

Design-Aholic suggested I think about going chunkier and shorter with the mantle, which is funny because I have actually thought about that, and *might* have convinced Hubs to try and remove the mantle just so I could visualize it easier - and we discovered that removing the mantle = destroying the masonry. I'm think the corbel idea might work the same way, by visually beefing up the mantle and breaking up the vast expanse of wood.

I decided to start with the top half. Little hands can't get up there, so the one part that won't need to be adjusted every ten minutes ;)

Many of you suggested using darker (wrought iron/black) and larger accessories - love it! In fact, the picture I posted was a little misleading; I usually do have much larger objects on the mantle (a 2.5 foot high garden gnome usually keeps an eye on us), but I was in that "just put away the Christmas decorations, still have a few 'winter' items out" mode. So this morning I headed to Hobby Lobby and picked up a few items in the 66% off area, and a canvas for an Alanna Rose original (seven votes to add art on top!).

Here's a little preview:

excuse the ultra-poor photo quality - I was excited to show you the progress!

I bought everything to the left of the canvas, I had the fun moss-covered-rattan-smokestack-thingies (PB sometime last year), and the bird house. For sure the birdhouse is not staying - it's too white and not organic enough. I'm pretty sure my gnome is coming back (I miss him.). I'm torn on the bird topped finial. In person it really blends into the stone; if I keep it I'm thinking of whitewashing it so it'll stand out more. And the arrangment isn't there yet, but it's getting there.

I think I have a plan for the canvas... but that's another post :)

Thanks again for all of the feedback!

warts

Just a little love from the docket.

"Two people were nabbed for shoplifting three DVDs and a wart removal kit from the Trenton Avenue Walmart."

meet my mantle

This is my fireplace and mantle.

boring and empty

It's sort of large (9 ft. across), and placed in the corner of the living room portion of the great room.

It needs something, and that's where you come in :)

The furniture is dark wood tones, and off-white slip-covered seating (just ordered the new slipcovers). The "drapes" are drop cloths (and are still in their temporary faze).

Should I paint the mantle? I go back and forth on this question. The trim throughout our home is white, and there are white beams on the ceiling in this room; but the ceiling and floor are both a light honey wood-grain and the mantle matches. I don't want to paint and then say "Crud. I should have left it."

Look behind the wreath, can you see the ugly beige vents? Because I sure can. And I hate them. I have thought about buying canvases on sale and doing some abstract-amateur painting, and then just leaning them against the wall. I'm hesitant to hang anything very heavy or breakable (like a framed picture) because when we have high winds a bit of air pushes through the vents and I don't want anything to come crashing down on us (or scaring us in the middle of the night).

Now look at the fireplace.

I love the screen (it came from Crate and Barrel, but I can't find it). My parents gave it to us as an anniversary gift :) I also like the basket (it's ancient and came from Target). But it needs something. PS - I have a two year old. So no fireplace tools or large ceramic horse sculptures.

Thanks for all of the suggestions!

Want to join the Decorating Dilemma Party?

Visit Amanda at Serenity Now and link up with your own problem area. See you there!

peanut butter ;)

The other day a thick Pottery Barn catalog arrived in the mail.

Nothing new there, it seems we get a new one every other week. But this time, I had a few minutes to study it, and I found quite a few things I would like.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, if you look at this from a thrifty standpoint), I cannot see spending $1500.00 on a new dresser when I can get a very nice one for half that at our locally owned (they actually live one house over from us) furniture store. I grew up with some beautiful furniture and, as far as I can tell, PB's prices are simply inflated to pay for all of those catalogs that they send. But I will take the ideas and run with them :)

I did spy this shelf, which would be great in my front entry.

image from Pottery Barn

I asked Hubs if he could maybe make one for less than $230? Of course he can, and we can save even more if he uses MDF - and since I'd like to paint it, I'm pretty sure that's the way we'll go.

So, we'll just add that to his ever expanding list o' projects, and I'll keep you posted.



Are you like me (read: not independently wealthy?); PB currently has a Dream Room Giveaway - but if you win you have to share with me ;)

Later tonight I'll be posting a Decorating Dilemma and participating in Amanda's party - come join in the fun!

guess what?

Today is the halfway point of my pregnancy!

I know. It feels way too fast for me, too.

I feel like we may never get anything done for this baby. The nursery is done, but we need to make JJ a big boy room so Bun can move in. And that is kind of a slow process, as it involves the moving of lots o furniture, selling of old furniture and acquisition of new, painting and general rearranging of life.

It's a lot to think about. I need a nap.

Which brings me to this - I am so incredibly tired this pregnancy! If I do not nap on the couch every afternoon I am a zombie. So, JJ has been watching way more TV than he should be, which gives me mommy-guilt and causes me to sleep even less. It's a terrible cycle (one I'm sure you know all too well).

While I'm complaining, let's talk about skin tags. All.over.my.neck.

And JJ thinks they are fun to pull and pick at. Which hurts and grosses me out. And I tell him that he might have given them to me, but that doesn't make them his, so HAND OFF mister!

I am calling the dermatologist and making an appointment for June 15, these nasty things have to go, because I cannot wear scarves and turtlenecks in the summer.