Race against time

So last nights post was short and sweet. I was racing to post before my laptop died as well as the hubby was beckoning me to come watch "Its a Wonderful Life" with him before it got to late. So I shared a few of the projects we worked on over the weekend. I woke up today looking around feeling really good at what we got done around the house. When I moved us into this house a year ago (a week before Christmas) while Shawn was deployed, I was determined to get us settled in before the end of the year. I pretty much did getting everything unpacked. But, after a year of day in and day out I have re evaluated some areas and have moved things around trying to make our day to day as efficient as possible. We have a room that is our in home gym and over time sorta became a storage unit and you could hardly see the carpet. Saturday night we cleaned up and cleared out and got the gym in working order... just in time! Shawn has been on a work out break since coming home 3 months ago from over seas and I have obviously been on one for 9 months now. We really want to jump into working out once Baby Adams gets here! I have a couple pictures to hang in there and a small pile of misc things that need to be put away then I will post a picture!

Today I started small, I actually try to every day if I get at least 1 thing done off my to do list then I accomplished something. Today I managed to vacuum all the furniture which is a huge chore since we have a hairy Jack Russell. It took one hour to finish thank goodness D takes a power nap every morning.  I managed to get 2 more organizing things done as well. I have been spending a quality amount of time on Pinterest and cant get enough of it and all the ideas it has to offer. I thinks its why we have been on a bigger than usual project drive. I am really loving the organizational ideas. I expanded on two I already had in place today.

I have a great bank that offers a money tracker online but is not as down to the penny as I would like. So, today I labeled a small accordion file of areas we spend money on and plan on really charting it every 30 days, to then at the end of the year compose the best budget for us. Before I was just keeping a box of all our receipts if we needed to find one for a return or something. I am really stoked to really see where all our money is going.

The other was a binder that I had been storing menus of restaurants in it and some business cards. Well I revamped it based of a few pins I had seen on Pinterest plus some ideas of my own. We now have a binder with tabs of: Sitter, City, Services, Menus with room for more later. Under Sitter I have a fire escape plan, instructions for the kiddos, dog and house as well as contact info for Shawn & I and Dr. hospital info. Under City I have our trash/recycle schedule, and local amenities such as the baseball stadium schedule. Under Services is all the business cards for auto or home repair type places that we have used or have been recommended to. Menus is pretty self explanatory but I did include a piece of paper with our address, phone number, housing development and cross roads. Things I know I could never remember when I was baby sitting so its there for a sitter or even family thats over watching the kids/house. The binder has been a great resource and now that its been expanded on I know it will be greatly appreciated and used often!

On a whim I decided to organize D's hair things. Santa and my Sister in Law helped to make that collection larger & brighter! So thanks to Ikea (bin) they were already just tossed in and 2 up cycled items I have a super easy accessible hair bin for her. A 6 egg holder carton and 2 microwavable dinner trays.

I am always stoked after something goes from useable to super efficient. I am always tell hubby that if things are easy to put away/find then we will be more inclined to put things away and not let stuff pile up. We are both amazed at how right I am at this. It also makes it easy for kids to jump in on this as well as anyone who comes into our home can find what they need with out digging.

Only 11 more days or 18 max before Baby Adams gets here and I am hoping that this week I can finish most of my projects to feel more than ready for Baby and can just enjoy her, D and family time! Hope you all had a great Monday! I sure have.

Project weekend

Been busy here. I am always thinking of new creative decor to put up or projects as my husband calls them to do around the house. Now that hes home I can do the crafty parts and he can do more of the manual labor which he is not a fan of lol! But hes a good sport about it all. I know that most people would think all the things I have been doing would be nesting but then they dont really know me. I am always re arranging furniture, organizing or cranking out some sort of project. I am one of those people who needs to stay busy. So starting with the organizing sort a lost steam on this one after the last post but I did manage to organize some linens. I took table clothes and cloth napkins and put them in the zipper sheet/curtain packaging. Super great idea and you just save the packaging when you purchase new sheets or curtains for later use. I used a name tag for labeling and put them all in a basket on a lower shelf in the kitchen!

Got 2 small projects done in the guest bathroom that has been a piece meal project from day one. I cant wait until its transformation is complete it will end up being 1 blog on its own its been big.

1st picture is of 3 pictures I got hung... originally a post card that I cut up matted on scrapping paper and hung in cheap small frames for a nice big impact. Total cost only $13.00

This pic is of iron hooks that were off white that I painted black. Found a salvaged gold frame and you have creative eye catching towel hangers!

Then I did 2 small projects in the girls room total cost for the ribbon wreath $10.00 and the hoop wall art about $10.00 as well. Both I have seen on many sights but my colors and display are unique and not over paid for something every store has. Home made is my favorite!

The mirrors where plain I added the rhinestones for some girly glam! Pretty proud of all these projects this weekend. This was just a quick post gotta go join the family for family movie night on the sofa.

January 2012

January 2012!! Cant get over how fast 2011 flew by... it was one heck of a year full of all sorts of challenges but I think that 2011 helped me grow a bunch in so many ways and I couldn't be more thankful for the experiences. I have a feeling 2012 will be just as challenging but I am ready for it!

We spent the 1st day of the new year busy but relaxed. We got up and went to Church, walked around the mall, came home took a nap, watched a Disney movie as a family and did a few little chores around the house. Over all it was a perfect day and a great start to the New Year.

Yesterday was a super productive day! I started the day cleaning out our junk drawers on a whim, actually I had been wanting to for a while and I figured new year and all the consumerism/advertising for organization I better jump on it. I wouldnt call it nesting because I am an organizing freak and am always looking for something to organize. Outwardly it annoys the hubby but inwardly he loves it cause he can find things on his own, most everything is in clear bins/containers and labeled too so its pretty hard NOT to find what you are looking for. After the junk drawers I got our tax paper work together... well it was already together I just went thru it to organize it better and double check were good to go. Then I recalculated our budget, paid a few bills and my favorite part... paid off a small loan, great feeling! Then I decided to 1/2 gut our master closet to fine tune its everyday use. Its a GIANT closet so I recently ditched the dressers in our bedroom and moved every piece of our clothes and the kids into our closet. When I did it though I didnt really map it all out, so yesterday I literally sat in our closet for a good 20-30 minutes configuring in my head where the best place for everything to go would be. The end result... not bad. One of these days I am going to go all out and have the closet professionally done but until then what I managed to accomplish will work for some time.

Today the quest to organize continues. But, I thought I would share some of my organizing mania with you all, feel free to steal the ideas some I have some are original but I have always been one to share. Happy organizing!!

Couple junk drawer tips... office drawer dividers work well but if your on a budget I have found that microwave meal dishes work well. After you enjoy your meal wash the plastic dish in the dishwasher and then into the junk drawer it goes to hold just about anything. I have 2 in the back of the drawer on the left! Laundry soap lids work great for all sorts of things I have one in the front of the drawer on the right holding misc nails and such. Be creative I have seen egg cartons used, muffin tins all sorts of things. I love it when I can re use/recycle things!!

I learned the hard way but plastic bins are the best. I used to use all sorts of decorative cloth, cardboard metal etc but I finally realized that they are not exactly cleanable friendly. Plastic can be wiped out and washed out. Plus with a man in the house to SEE what's inside AND label it its guaranteed he will be more inclined to put things away and take initiative to find things on his own!

For a closet this is great this one is from Target there are much nicer more durable ones at Ikea but for the closet this works just fine and is cheaper. each cubby has 2 purses in it... yes I have an addiction! Since most of my purses are Coach and come in purse bags cloth storage seems to be ok. Since you cant see whats inside I opted to label the wood right underneath each bin. Another option is to take a picture of the items inside and attach to a tag putting the tags on a ring on the handle of the bin.

Clear drawers! They are stackable and hold things like my socks, tights, work out clothes etc. Shoe storage I have had these for some time and they work decent of course who wouldn't love a Sex in the City closet but on a more affordable everyday use this works and looks pretty good. This of course isn't even 1/2 my shoe collection. For the most part I try to keep them in there shoe box if its a decently durable one those are stacked on the one built in bookcase in our closet just to the left of these. These I would say I really great for kids shoes cause as you can tell some of my sets of shoes don't fit so they take up two cubby holes. VERTICAL is key and personally so is a LABELER!! 

One of my favorite ideas. These are supposed to be for belts... as you can tell they work super for necklaces. I have a send one hanging right underneath this one for all my costume jewelry to hang on. Super cheap! Other options are peg board which we have hanging over head but have hats hooked on. I have seen wood hangers with plastic shower rings as another option. 

Thats it from yesterdays organizing day... more to come tomorrow.

Happy Holidays!

This month has zipped by so fast already... its Christmas this weekend. I am prepped for it with presents wrapped & under the tree, decorations up, lights up, cards out etc. But I am not mentally feeling prepped. I am hoping this weekend once in the midst of it all it will finally sink in... its Christmas! This year has been an amazing one to say the least. This time last year I was moving us into our new house by myself with two kids and didnt really get to enjoy the Holidays. This year Shawn is safely home from over seas, we have our beautiful 10 month old Foster Daughter "D" in our lives, in about 30 days we will be holding our first in our arms, we are healthy, both have jobs... I am feeling blessed thats for sure. With all thats gone on this year I am anxious to see what 2012 holds for the Adams family, I have a feeling some pretty amazing things! Thank you to everyone who has stood by us and helped us out over the obstacles this last year with Shawn being deployed we are so lucky to have such wonderful Friends and Family supporting us. Shawn has 5 years left in the Army and we are hoping he wont have to deploy but once if at all, that will be nice once he retires for only one of us to be in still. By then I will only have 5-6 years left myself, then we can just focus 100% on our family! I hope everyone has a safe and Happy Holiday season, enjoy the time with your Friends and Family and reflecting on the past year good and bad and looking to next year to be a great year! Love to you all!!

Happy Holidays from the Adams Family
Shawn, Tara, "D", Baby Adams and Fo

Non Stop...

If you are on Facebook then you will have seen some of the things we have been up to lately, if not, its been non stop since Shawn got home. A few days of relaxing and just hanging out at home but then it was time to jump into life. First up, we got maternity pictures done. Yes, a bit early but with the Holidays so close to the delivery date it was the best time to do them. Here are a few of my favorites...

We absolutely LOVE how they came out. We had an amazing photographer, you can check her out at: vickilynnphoto.com

We had a Halloween/Welcome Home Party for Shawn which was tons of fun. Shawn dressed up appropriately as Rambo and I was just "pregnant" lol!

A couple days later we had our Baby shower for little Baby Adams. Surrounded by so many friends & family it was a blast! We were overwhelmed with Baby & pink everything!

Shawn got a total of maybe two weeks off before heading back to teaching. His choice for many reasons. So, together as a team we worked hard to set up his classroom and other things to set him up for a successful school year. He is teaching 4th grade this year, and so far he loves it. Hes been back in the classroom for about 2 weeks now. I went thru the official screening process and became a district volunteer so that I could be assigned to him to volunteer in his classroom. I have already logged 14 hours of volunteer time for him. Well, unless you count the hours at home cutting things out and helping him plan things. Last time he was teaching he was going in for a couple hours on the weekend and it was a bummer for me. So, I wised up and am volunteering during the week to help him make copies, set up display boards etc so that he doesnt have to go in on the weekends and we can spend that time together instead.

I am home during the day with only 1 Foster kiddo right now. But this is a good thing since as of today I am 32 weeks 4 days pregnant, I have started to slow down doing things just a little bit. I have been so incredibly blessed with a smooth pregnancy, no sickness, maintained pretty high energy and no real abnormal ailments. We are due January 20th which will be here before we know it. I like to be prepared for things whenever I can so we are more than ready for this Baby to arrive. I have all her clothes washed and prepped. Shawn fixed the cradle we had which was hand made by my Grandpa, I slept in it, my siblings and my nephews slept in it and now our daughter will sleep in it. So amazing! I have an over night bag for Shawn, Baby and myself packed and sitting by the door. As well as the car seat it prepped and ready to go. I AM READY!! 

We have fallen back into a pretty good routine at home. I was expecting Shawn to come home and just pick up the reins with 1/2 the load. But, with him jumping back into working so soon it didnt quite happen like that. I am still carrying quite a bit of the load but am slowly letting him take things over as he is ready. I know that by the time Baby Adams makes her appearance we will be settled into a solid routine. We are only nervous about the actual labor, since we have raised 2 babies already we know exactly what to expect once we are home.

In between welcoming Shawn home, celebrating the baby, the Holidays, getting Shawn back into the classroom, and trying to get a routine down at home... I have still be playing Army 1 weekend a month as well as I am going thru the application process to get into Arizona State University to start on a double Masters degree... Non Profit Administration and Social Work. They are just waiting on one last thing from me, a 4.5 hour long test I am taking this Friday that is required. All this while pregnant, there is no slowing me down lol! If I am accepted I will be starting School again in Jan/Feb time, I am super anxious to find out if they accept me or not. This is a big thing I never thought I would go as far as Masters degree, I guess I have my persistent Husband to blame. 

Well I think that covers just about everything that has been going on since Shawn has been back home. It feels like forever ago some days but its only been about 7 weeks. I am just thankful to have him back at my side. Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, we had a nice quiet relaxing one with my Dad and Step Mom.

Today I have spent the day pulling out all the Christmas things and decorating the inside of the house. Hopefully next week a little every night we can get the lights up seeing as this weekend is booked with Army for Shawn and next weekend Army for me. No rest for the wicked I suppose, on the bright side its helping the days tick on by and we will be holding our precious little daughter in our arms in no time!!

Picture follow up post

First up... my AWESOME new (well new to me) chairs! Second hand but I am very selective and I even go as far as to spot and sniff check, I know that sounds kinda funny and weird but not really if you think about it. They look almost brand new, they are now one of my top 5 favorite 2nd hand finds!

One of my Fall projects if hanging from the mirror. Just a bunch of scrap ribbon pieces I had in Fall colors tied in a row for instant, cheap and easy Fall color!

This punch of Halloween color was super simple and again very cheap. Its made with a wire hanger left over from the dry cleaners. I bent it into a circle and tied black heavy duty cloth that I cut into strips all the way around. I then decided it needed some orange so I used a thicker orange ribbon and randomly tied them on!

One of a slew of my recent organizing projects. Kid toys tucked away but easily accessible. Dummy proof really clear see thru bins AND labeled!! I LOVE my labeler!

Good bye cluttered counter! I mentioned I had three metal canisters on my counter containing flour, sugar and powdered sugar but that they did not hold the whole package and the rest was stored in the cupboard. I got smart and its all in the cupboard now nice and LABELED lol! Plus my counters look less cluttered, more room for prepping when cooking and baking!

Many more projects have been in the works especially in the organizing category so stay tuned!

Nightmare Before Christmas...

I have spent this past week making and decorating the house for Halloween and fall in general. My dinning room table has been covered in paper, ribbon and all sorts of fun stuff. With a bigger house to decorate I felt like the decorations from the hold house just didnt make any kind of statement. But, I didnt want to have to spend an arm and a leg to buy more. So, I got creative... one of my most favorite things to do! I made 2 ribbon wreaths, a ribbon banner, and a small laboratory display. I need to upload the photos to my lap top so will post those later this afternoon! I have also been listening to Christmas music while doing thins... I am so stoked for the Holidays this year. I usually am anyway its my favorite time of the year I get to wear 2 clothing obsessions... boots and scarfs, I love the time with family, good food, down time from work and just the over all splendor of it all. Starting with Halloween, then Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. Being in the military and married to the military some Holidays arent as fun when a loved on is not home but this year not only are we both home, but were spending our 1st Holidays TOGETHER in our new home, while waiting for the much anticipated arrival of our 1st child and a baby girl at that!! I feel like I might actually bubble over with excitement!!
Not only have I been busy with Holiday projects but house projects too. We have almost been in the house for a year now and I thought I better go thru closets, cupboards, nooks and crannies and clear anything out we havent used with a few small exceptions. In this process I ended up organizing even further than things already were. I am an organizing freak, I find that if everything has a place and you dont have to move anything to put things away the house will stay much cleaner. Its been a great philosophy. One I struggled with at the old house cause we never seemed to have enough room. Not the case any more, I even have empty cupboards which I love and will work hard to keep clear for kids later. My husband is one of those guys who has a hard time finding things but I have gone out of my way to put things in clear, cleanable labeled bins. Hes getting used to my organizing tactics and is more inclined to go look and find something on his own rather than pester me. Its come in great handy with kids, I can find things quickly and have even had a 2 year old who helped pick up his toys because it was so easy!! So, everyone benefits from this OCD thing I have. I will have to post a few pics of some of the newest nooks and crannies that have been cleaned up and cleared out. I recently decided less is more. Shawn has been sorta [reaching this to me for a long time and I have tried but I think I have finally embraced the spirit of it finally! I am working on less THINGS around the house and before I purchase something I really think long and hard about do we need this, and will it serve more than one purpose, last us a long time etc. For example in the kitchen I have had these 3 containers that were holding flour, sugar and powdered sugar but they couldnt hold the whole package so I had to store the rest in the pantry... it suddenly hit me that this was the dumbest thing ever. I grew up w this concept my Mom even does it now but I decided that it made more sense to just store it all in the pantry in clear labeled air tight sealed containers. (found some awesome ones at Kohles) So I now have more counter space and it actually makes my kitchen look even cleaner... Loving it!! You get the idea I have been on a mission and there is no stopping me. These happen occasionally and Shawn loves them but this one has been going on for over a month and I am almost upset that I am running out of things to organize lol! Other projects have been prepping the "pink room" (we thinks its cool to call our rooms by the colors they are painted, they do it in the White House so why not?!) The pink room is going to be our baby girls room once she turns two. Its upstairs and raising 2 babies already I have learned some valuable tools like stumbling past my bedroom door for a bottle, or a crying baby SUCKS! So instead of a nursery kiddos sleep in a crib in our room until they are 2 when they can then move upstairs into twin sized beds, we even have a mini fridge in our room for bottles so we literally role out of bed, feed & change baby and climb right back in all without turning on anything but a small nightlight! Genius really! Anyway in the pink room I have been arranging furniture and the closet, made some small wall art arrangements etc, its coming together so awesomely will post pictures soon!!
BUSY, BUSY, BUSY... but all fun and exciting ventures. Shawn should be home in 2 weeks or less I am praying for less. I am planning for less so spending the weekend trying to finish up projects. I am actually headed out the door to go 2nd hand furniture shopping and estate sailing with my Mom. I stumbled onto two glorious chairs yesterday for about $230 each... this is a steal because they look very similar to two I fell in love with about 2 years ago that were $1,000 a piece. I will post pictures of these two awesome finds later this afternoon with all my project pictures.
See you back here later for a quick pictures only post. Im off to get coffee and shop.... what a wonderful Saturday!!