Christmas Fun - Part One

Hi everybody! I've been MIA for a little bit enjoying Thanksgiving with family and friends, but I'm back and excited to share some Christmastime fun ideas!

I love decorating for Christmas {all seasons, really} but I am a "wait until after Thanksgiving" gal because I love fall décor, too. Well, it's the last day of November and even though it is dreary and rainy and yucky outside, we are getting the inside all ready for the holidays! I will share some of our traditions and fun things we like to do, as well as a few other decorative ideas.

Today I'm showing how I hung our stockings...with care.
I removed our fall decorations and dusted the mantle really well. I let it dry.

Our mantle is sort of thick, so the typical wreath hangers don't really hang low enough over the side to be helpful. The thought of a child intentionally {child 3} or unintentionally {child 1 and child 2} pulling on a stocking and the holder falling down on them also makes me uneasy.

I use Command Strips. I chose clear so they don't stand out too much.

Peel the backing off the wall side and press it down into the mantle really well where you want your stocking to hang.

I spaced my three out evenly and then peeled the other side off and pressed the plastic hook down really well on top.

There they are, hanging nicely and no one will be injured if one gets pulled down. I always add a few things to the mantle, so the hooks will be covered up eventually.

I got the Command hooks at Kroger, but you can find them most anywhere. That pack had 6 hooks and 12 strips, costing $6.

Our stockings are from L.L.Bean.

There are lots of cute ideas for hanging stockings if you don't have a mantle, or prefer them hung elsewhere. I hung ours on a coat rack one year. I think hanging them on the staircase would be so cute. Here are some great ideas!

 

Where to hang your stockings

 



Stay tuned for more fun and festive holiday ideas!

Cleaning a chalkboard

Who doesn't love a good chalkboard these days?! I love small ones, gigantic ones, walls painted with chalkboard paint. I've done them all. BUT, when it's time to really clean them, this is what has worked for me.

First of all, I read that you are supposed to "season" a chalkboard. That means you take a piece of chalk, turn it sideways and completely cover the chalkboard. Then, you wipe it off with a paper towel or eraser. If you don't do this, it is likely that whatever you draw onto the board the first time will be very hard to remove. Read here all about How to Prep + Season a Chalkboard.

This is generic Windex. It is indeed called "L.A.'s Totally Awesome Window Clean". I buy it at Dollar Tree and it works as well or better than Windex.

You guys, this gigantic chalkboard makes me so happy. It is beautiful. And I did not have to make it. Or pay for it! I highly suggest you get yourself a talented, beautiful, generous, crafty sister-in-law (or 4 or 5 like me) and let them make pretty things for you. I LOVE THIS THING. One of my many sisters-in-law (AKA my best friends) made this for me just because she is sweet as pie. I believe my buddy used this tutorial here: How To Make Your Own Chalkboard.

 

I made sure to season this guy before I started writing on it. Then I used a chalkboard pen. And it still did not want to wipe off easily, so I panicked and then started trying to clean it off with all the stuff in our cabinet. The Totally Awesome (haha) window cleaner is the only thing that really worked. I used a dry washcloth and started wiping it all over from top to bottom. 

Here she is all dry. You cannot see where I originally wrote "This has all been wonderful." and it makes me feel wonderful. 

And now I can use it as part of a baby shower decorations, or whatever I feel like and the window cleaner does a good job cleaning it off. Hip Hip Hooray!

Chalkboards belong in multiple locations in every room, wouldn't you agree??

Lunchbox Thermos

Monday is here again! These weeks just seem to fly by.

Today, I'm sharing a lunchbox idea that my daughter loves. I bought this adorable thermos at Tuesday Morning over two years ago because it was cute. Guilty. It was $6.99 which turned out to be a great deal for this brand, but I really had no idea if we'd actually use it. Our daughter is in second grade and takes lunch to school most days. We use this thermos very often for all sorts of things, and today she took the meat and beans from one of our dinners this weekend. 

I put the meat (or soup, or spaghetti, or chicken) into a microwave safe bowl and heat it up at home. I heat it to a much warmer temperature than I would if she was eating it immediately. Then, I spoon it into the thermos.

I screw the top on and put it into her lunchbox. Today's lunch was burritos, so I put a large tortilla into a ziplock bag, and added shredded cheese into a separate snack bag. Then I put in a spoon so she could spoon the meat into the tortilla at lunchtime. We did not have any salsa this morning, but when we do I put it in a small container with a good top (that stuff is no fun when it spills).

I added a yogurt and juice box and there ya have it! Some lunches are healthier than others, but this one is hot and quick to put together. She loves Mexican food (not lunchroom Mexican food) so this will be such a treat for her.

In the past she has taken chili, taco soup, spaghetti, other pastas, and even chicken tenders. She says that the food is always still very warm at lunchtime (approximately 4.5 hours later), so that is pretty impressive!

I do not work anymore, but taking a thermos with leftovers would be a great idea for a quick, cheap lunch for those that do! This particular thermos has proven to be very easy to clean, as well. I don't think it's dishwasher safe, so I hand wash it, but it is nice and wide and is not tough to clean at all.

Here are some links to thermos options for lunches on the go.

Crocodile Creek Thermos - Amazon

Kids Konserve - Amazon

Thermos Food Jar - Amazon  Thermos Food Jar - Target

 

 

Have a wonderful day!

Snack Baskets

Happy Monday, everyone!

I'm here today talking all about our snack storage. I made my big Kroger run this morning, so the pantry is stocked for the rest of the week and this is how I go about storing snacks.

Those two maroon baskets are where I keep snacks.

I got my baskets at Dollar Tree, where everything is $1. I was in Dollar Tree Friday (Nov. 6, 2015) and here were some similar options in the store now. All for just $1 each.

These are the snack-ey foods I bought today to add to my basket.

First thing I do is dump out any leftover snacks that are still in there from the last time I filled 'er up.

Then, I start to portion out the snacks into "snack size" (AKA portion control) baggies.

My daughter is in elementary school, so I pack a lunch for her every day, as well as a morning snack. The boys go only one morning a week, so we eat at home for lunch most days. It is very helpful to already have a good bit of the food in snack bags so I can throw them into lunch boxes for school, or into my purse for a trip to the grocery store or even a visit to the park. When in doubt, always have a snack for kids (and you!). We do eat some of these snack-ey foods for lunches at home, so I don't portion them all out into baggies or I'd just be wasting the little bags. I stick the crackers that I know we'll probably eat for lunch in their full sleeves into the second snack box that I keep on the left side.

Here it is, and I this week it also has some chips leftover from a party.

I go ahead and make some peanut butter crackers and put those into the bags, and once they're all portioned out, I toss them into the basket. Then, I put the older snacks on top so we can eat those first. I am left with a few boxes that I cut Box Tops off of, then break down and take to the recycling bin.

My snack boxes are all filled up and ready to grab for lunches or just if we're zooming out the door and I think the kids might need something while we're out. I also will tell my daughter, who is tall enough to see in there, she can grab a snack after school and she can really just choose whatever she wants.

The snack boxes really come in handy and seem to save a little space in the pantry and a lot of time when I'm in a hurry. Hopefully this, or some version, can help you out as well!

Here are some similar ideas:

Organized Snack Cabinet

Kitchen Pantry Update - IHeart Organizing

Ducks In a Row

 

Have a wonderful week!!

The Case of the Missing Socks

Where are those missing socks????

I really don't have words of wisdom for not losing socks. I do have a few theories.

 

1. My husband washes his clothes. A lot. He never seems to misplace his socks. He is a great husband and some sort of wizard. Obviously. 

2. I blame the kids. They must steal my socks or shove them under couches or take them to a friend's house. They do the same thing with their own.

3. Maybe the dogs sneak them somewhere. I don't know. Homemade chew toys that they end up actually consuming? They just like to mess with me??

 

 What really happens is someone takes their socks off in the car and one falls out into the garage and stays there for weeks until I clean the garage out and I find a random sock that I throw in the wash with the next load. Or one ends up behind the laundry basket. And sometimes it really is our youngest who likes to hide things, specifically in the garbage can.

 

I have heard of people safety pinning socks together before they go into the wash. I don't care about socks THAT much. There are very few things I will go to that much effort for, and socks certainly don't fall into that category. Anyway, this is how I keep track of socks for my family.

 

Honestly, I don't have too much of an issue with losing socks. One here or there may go missing, but it's not a perpetual thing. I keep a cute little canvas bag hanging in our laundry room.

I love this bag!! My brother brought it back for me when he spent a year in Japan when I was a freshman in college. The front side is so funny. It says: "Do You Buy It? Elephant U.S. $2.00-!"
What on earth?
Well I love the bag, but it has a $2.00 elephant on it, so I just flip it around to hang and chuckle to myself when I take it down.

When I pull laundry out of the dryer and there is a sock with no mate, I toss it into this bag. Usually, once a week, at least every two weeks, I get completely caught up in laundry. That means everything is washed, dried and put away. It lasts about 11 seconds before someone gets yogurt all over their shirt or a diaper incident happens, but that's when I pull down my sock bag.

Most of the time, the mates are all in there together, so I fold/roll them up and put them where they belong. I bet they start singing "..so happy togeeetherr". Maybe not. Sometimes there are socks somewhere else (the garage floor..) and there are a few left in the bag without a mate. I hang the bag back up until next time I am caught up again on laundry. Typically, if the match for those same socks has not been found, I get rid of the single sock. I have NO REGRETS, PEOPLE! I use them to dust or sometimes put them in the craft area for sock puppets, but I don't keep single socks for long. Sorry, suckas!

I have come across a match for a sock months later that I knew I already threw out. Guess what? BuhBye.

Remember, we don't really lose socks that much, so throwing a few stragglers out feels just fine. We have some very nice socks that I would certainly investigate further to retrieve before I just started trashing those. I would let them hang out in the elephant bag for a while longer. Most of the nice socks are my husbands, though, and he's a wizard that knows how to keep his socks together. 

Y'all know by now I like to give you links to other options, so here ya go:

It Socks to Be Lonely – FREE Laundry Room Art

Hide Loose Items

A Mom’s Solution to ‘The Missing Sock’ Dilemma

Creative Laundry Room Storage + Free Labels

Have a great day!

Gross Armrests

Slobber, snot, Papa John's garlic sauce, apple juice..all of it's gross on the armrest of your couch. I love our kids so much. They are messy. I am clumsy and also drop things (including food) a lot. We love our house and we LIVE in our house. So we make messes in our house, and sometimes on the furniture. We typically eat at the table, but food is certainly allowed in the living room, so it gets dirty. If you keep your furniture spotless I am seriously so proud of you. It is just not the case here. The cushion covers of our couch and love seat zip off and I wash them in the washing machine about once a month. The arm rests are a different story. 

Gross.

I have used upholstery spray cleaner before and it did a good job. This time I just sprayed stain pre treater on there. This is what we had:

Spray the entire area. It will leave a ring if you just spray a small section.

Use a damp washcloth and work it into the fabric. Scrub extra gross areas a couple of times.

The next morning:

If you have some delicate fabric or your furniture has no pattern, I would be super careful cleaning it. Ours fits neither of those categories, and it cleans our armrests very well. 

A slipcover is also a nice choice!

Sock Drawer Organization

My husband has to wear a suit most days to work, and that means he has to wear dress socks. He read somewhere that rolling dress socks instead of folding them would make the elastic in the tops last longer and let me tell you, that it has proven to be the case at our house. Even if your man only wears dress socks on Sundays, this is a nice way to organize them. Most of our socks are stored this way, so here ya go!
We have a good bit of closet space and storage elsewhere, so our 5 drawer dresser only holds undershirts, underwear, socks and my pajamas.

You're not seeing things. The drawer pulls are all different. Just one of the 53 projects I have going on. Don't worry about it, ok? Also, don't worry about the fact that one of the only five dresser drawers that we have is JAM PACKED with my pajamas. I have priorities. See previous Robe post.

 It's very important to keep black and blue dress socks separated, so we keep those in two separate drawers. Sometimes when rolling these socks, I have to move to a room with really good light, or grab something I know is black to be able to compare the colors. I'm not colorblind, but sometimes it's hard to tell for sure whether they're black or navy!

I usually start at the elastic top, and roll toward the toes.

I cannot remember where I actually bought these plastic drawer inserts, but they were not expensive. They have held up great. Here is an example on Amazon. There are all kinds of drawer organizers out there, so you can choose what works best for the depth and width of your drawers, as well as what you plan to store in there. We have a drawer full of hiking, hunting and athletic socks. I also roll those socks up, but since the drawer is full, I only use one of the plastic organizers in there and the socks all stay rolled up well.

I keep my socks, underwear and tights all in the same drawer. I got this big cloth organizer somewhere for very cheap, but here is a sample of something similar. I also have two of the cheaper plastic rectangles in there. I roll up all my socks and tights, and only fold over athletic socks. I took my underwear out of the drawer before I took a picture. You're welcome.

Our kids have socks, too! This is our daughter's top drawer in her desk. I roll all her socks and tights, and her little undies.

This is how I roll up those tiny lil undies.

I took the drawer all the way out to show how it is organized.

I have another of the plastic organizers to the left, and that middle box is the bottom part of a Melissa and Doug floor puzzle. Use what fits your space! And if it happens to be free, even better!!

Last up, I do not roll up the little boys' socks. I fold them up together like most people traditionally fold socks. They each have a $1 plastic bin in the top of their closets. Out of their reach!

Here are some other great ideas for drawer organization.

DIY Drawer Dividers (using what you’ve got!)

This Sock-Folding Technique Is Basically Life-Changing

(I used this one in our junk drawer:) DIY Cereal Box Drawer Dividers

Organize Your Drawer W/empty Baby Wipes Plastic Boxes

If you have socks with holes, if you have 14 pairs of the same sock, if you haven't worn a pair of
socks in 3 years -- toss them in the dusting rag pile, go dust some ceiling fans, and throw those suckers out! Every so often, all of our underwear needs to be reevaluated. Throw out ones that look gross or make you feel gross, or if you cannot remember the last time you purchased unmentionables for yourself, budget in some new undies. And have a great day!
 

Stay tuned! Next up is my take on The case of the Missing Socks!