WFMW . . . Mom "I'm Bored" summer edition - Free movies

Many of you know that during the summer movie theaters offer free and cheap movies once or twice a week. You can click here to see a list of theaters. If you are in or around Indy, here are a few local links:

Canary Creek (Franklin, IN)

Movies 8 (Greewnood, IN)

Anyone know of some others?

For other summer fun activities, please visit We are THAT Family!

WFMW: DIY Shelving

It's another edition of Works-For-Me-Wednesday! A day when I can brag about my accomplishments in life! I mean, umm...a day when I hope to give you some ideas for your life. It's all about you. Really, it is.

Last year I saw a great shelving system on the Better Homes and Gardens website. Last month I designed a similar shelving system for our laundry room. And last night we finally got it built and put up!

Considering how quickly our family keeps growing, I am always in search of new storage spaces and solutions. When I realized last year that our laundry room was just FULL of empty wall space, I set it on my heart to transform that empty space into storage space. I decided to design the system myself rather than purchasing a pre-made one for two reasons:

1. It would give me exactly what I wanted, and
2. I thought it would be cheaper.

I never did really do much pricing for shelving systems, so I don't know if we saved any money, but I don't think we spent any more than if we had bought one. The whole thing cost us around $65.

When I started designing, the first thing I did was measure EVERYTHING. I measured the wall space. I measured the folded towels. I measured the laundry detergents. I measured the trash can. You get the idea. After everything was measured, I drew up the plans with exact inches. Since I'm not the math genius in the family, I had my husband figure out exactly how to divide up the boards to get the best use of them.

We purchased 8 pieces of 6ft 1" x 12"s, measured them out, cut them, and pieced them together. (Okay, so most of that was my husband. But whatever. I totally helped.)

When we finally got it upstairs and installed, I was so pleased! But I was also wishing I had painted it. Oh well. I can always paint it later.

Here is the before, middle, and after of our brand spanking new USEFUL storage space in our laundry room:

BEFORE:

See how pitiful? I know. And to think that our builder didn't put any shelving up. We had to do that sad job ourselves.

MIDDLE:





Much better! Oh, and see my new ironing board?

AFTER:





Oh how I love thee, beautiful storage space! And yes, all those bags at the top are diapers. (We have always liked to stock up before our little ones arrived.)

Works For Me Wednesday - The Laundry Table

In light on our recent decision to turn our dining room into a small studio space for me, we've been reorganizing and moving around all sorts of things in our home. One of the things we moved what a 6-ft long table from our kitchen to our loft.

My husband made the table a few years ago to match the design of our real kitchen table. It's beautiful, really. But I guess I should explain that it's more of a bar than a table. It's only 2 feet wide, but it's perfect for large group seating. Anyway, we moved it upstairs into our absolutely empty loft.

Why is our loft empty, you ask? Well, because. We have 3 small toddlers in our home and, with an open loft, you really can't put any furniture there without fear that they will climb over the edge and...well....you know. But since there are NO portable chairs upstairs, we thought it would be safe to put this rather tall table in the loft.

It's been there for 2 days and let me just say - it's been a HUGE blessing when it comes to folding laundry!

Previously (and by that, I mean, for the past 4 years), I've always just thrown the laundry on the floor of the loft until I was ready to fold it. And since it was soooo easy to just push it off to the side, we oftentimes wound up with 4 or 5 loads of laundry there on the floor, making folding time about 45 minutes long. (Eek.)

The fact that we are capable of having 4 or 5 loads of laundry in one place without folding it for a day or two is surely a sign that we all have waaayy too many clothes. But I digress.

In the past 2 days, I've folded 4 loads of laundry as they came out of the dryer on the table. No bending down. No reaching across the loft for the matching sock. And my husband's personal favorite, no falling asleep in the loft after folding clothes for nearly an hour straight. :) I'm sure my success has something to do with the fact that I'm beginning to FINALLY come out of my sick pregnant stage and feel energetic again, but I think some of it probably has to do with the ease of the table too. :)

So now I'm wondering...is having a laundry table a common thing for most Americans? Or am I the only one? If you have the space and don't have one already, I highly recommend giving it a try! It's been wonderful!

Works For Me Wednesday - Less Is More

On Monday, I decided enough was enough. Keaton moved into his new room a few months ago but we never really made a full transition from guest room/extra room to little boy room. We still had lots of our own (me and my husband) books as well as some loose movies and a game system lying around in there. I kept getting frustrated with the kids when they would play with those things.

But then I realized this morning that that's really not fair. If I don't want them to touch those things, I should move them out of his room. After all, it's no longer a guest room. It's his room. So we pulled the toys out of the closet and put them in his room and moved all the non-kid books into the closet.

I'm pretty pleased with the transition, so I thought I'd share some pictures with you:

You can see that my son does not have an entire room devoted to his toys. In fact, this is the pile of toys for my son and my two daughters. I'm a firm believer that children NEED less in order to appreciate what they have. Plus, it's also a lot easier to get them to pick up their toys when there aren't so many to pick up. We have a tub of toys downstairs in the living room, but other than that, this is the extent of our toys.

What is your opinion about "less is more"? Do your kids have a lot of toys or just a few? How about you? Do you have a lot of "toys"? And do you find that what you have or don't have plays into how you care for and appreciate your things?

Works For Me Wednesday - Making My Christmas Presents

Okay, I admit.....it had nothing to do with Christmas. It was just a present that I happened to make in December. And Christmas is a good deadline for getting things done. And I need deadlines. Hence, the post title.

Anyway.....on to the good stuff....

A while back, Gretchen posted on her other blog that she was going to make some of these aprons for Christmas presents this year. Now, I cannot personally wear an apron. It makes me feel old and like I belong in the 1950s. BUT I did fall in love with this particular apron. I could not stop looking at the adorableness of the pattern and decided that I must make one...whether I would wear it or not.

Then I started thinking, I have a friend who wears an apron often. She also just happens to have 3 young'ns in her home - a 3 year-old and 1 1/2 year-old twins - ALL GIRLS. It sounded like the perfect project to me, so I hit up Gretchen for her sewing expertise (I assure you she's laughing right now) and she helped me out with my plan.

Last night, I delivered the aprons to my friend. It was great. I don't think I've ever seen her cry (and I still haven't), but she did say, "I might cry", which is pretty darn close! No, it's not that I really desire to see her cry, but it was just a happy moment for me that she was pleased with my handiwork. I admit - I'm totally proud of these. But not TOO proud, because I could not have done these without Gretchen's help!

Ok, onto the pictures....

The lovely adult pattern and one of the kids aprons...

It's reversible. Isn't it lovely?

I had to make the child's straps a little differently. Here's the back:

Can you tell how totally proud I am of my work? Did I mention that I haven't touched a sewing machine in about 10 years?

On an entirely separate note, it's my birthday today and I'm really excited. :)

Are you making any of your Christmas presents this year? All of them? Some of them? If so, what are you making? And does anyone have any ideas for a MALE hand-made Christmas present??

Women are SO much easier, don't you think? :)

WFMW! Little Buckets and Closet Sleepers

Dear Internet, I would like to preface this post by telling you that I am NOT an abusive mother; I simply like to utilize space as best I can. :)

Now, having said that, let me show you my youngest child's bedroom:

Yes, that's right, ladies and gentlemen. My daughter's room is actually a closet. But a closet with a window, which I'm pretty sure technically makes it a room....right?! (Yes, that is a blanket being used as a curtain.)

And seriously....who needs a closet that big?? I know it sounds funny when I say my daughter sleeps in a closet, but now at least all of you know how spacious her closet really is. :)

In case you're wondering why she sleeps in a closet, let me explain. Our children are 3, 2, and 1. When one of them wakes up, they ALL wake up. And considering there is at least one child awake every morning around 6....well....three children being up at that time is just not conducive to my life or their sleep schedule. Apparently the door being cracked is closed enough that she does not hear the commotion of them getting out of bed. So hence, the closet.

In fact, all three of our children have, at one time in their life, slept in a closet. All of our closets are ridiculously big and we just don't need all that closet space. Our oldest slept in our master closet when he was an infant. Our middle child slept in what is now the toy room closet. And now this one, our youngest, sleeps here. :) We have exhausted all three of our closets now, so if we have another child, they won't be able to experience their own closet. Although now that I think about it, maybe they'll be happy about that.....

Anyway, on to the baskets. We only have two dressers for the kids. The girls had been sharing one, but it was getting pretty stuffed. So I decided to "basket" Reagan's clothes in her room and it's working out just fine! (After all, baby clothes don't take up all that much space). I got these baskets at the Dollar Tree for - you guessed it - $1 each. A pretty cheap "dresser", if you ask me!

I also store a few things (diapers, wipes, etc.) under her changing table.

Now will someone else PLEASE tell me they have slept their child(ren) in an abnormal place?? :)

Works for Me Wednesday . . . Netflix

I realize I may be the last person to get on the Netflix train. We just recently started our Netflix subscription after my mother-in-law sent us a free trial. Also, after my husband wrote down exactly what we had been spending at Redbox and Blockbuster. We will definitely save some money. You know the drill - you sign up, list movies that you want to see in your queue and they mail them to you. We have had a couple that wouldn't play, but they will replace them quickly. I like that I can sign up online and I don't have to leave my house. We get the 2 at a time - one for us and a family (kid) friendly movie. You can also watch some things online at Netflix, but I have yet to do that.

For more Works for Me Wednesday ideas, please visit Rocks in My Dryer.
-Gretchen

Works for Me Wednesday!

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was going to do a post on how to wrap shoe boxes, but then life got crazy and I failed to remember. So it's hitting the press today!

For those of you who have no idea WHY you would need to have this information, let me give you two reasons:

1. It's an easy reusable gift box. That is, so long as you can keep the receiver from tearing it to shreds (or *gulp* throwing it away)!

2. Operation Christmas Child. This is a GREAT organization. Our church does hundreds of these every year. You fill a shoebox with toys, school supplies, hygiene products, candy, etc., drop it off at one of the designated locations, and your gift is on its way to a needy child somewhere in the world! You can click the link for more details.

Ok, now onto the good stuff. HOW TO WRAP. I have figured out quite the system for these little guys and I want to share it with you. I wrapped 8 boxes in about an hour at church last month, which I think is pretty good considering these were somewhat of a challenge to me at one point in time. So here goes....

Step 1. Separate box from lid. Cut your paper to fit approx 1 inch over inside edges of box. Tape two opposing sides in middle.

Step 2. Snip corner edges in all 4 corners.

Step 3. Fold untaped sides in one half at a time, forming a triangle.

Step 4. Pull triangle up and over box edge to inside. Tape in place.

Step 5. Observe box. Beautiful, isn't it?

Step 6. Cut paper to fit approx 1 inch over inside edges of led.
(The lid is much easier if you are precise.)
Tape in two opposing edges, just like you did with the box.

Step 7. Follow same procudure for sides...although this time you won't
have enough paper for it to make a triangle, but rather a pentagon-ish shape.
Anyway, it doesn't matter.
You can see the picture, so you know what I mean.

Step 8. Fold ends in and tape.
Place small pieces of tape in any areas that are sticking out.
(This is more common on the lid, plus you want it to close tightly.)

Step 9. Put your box together and view it in its entirety!
Give yourself a pat on the back!

Step 10. Add ribbon if desired. Wah-lah!

I do hope that wasn't terribly difficult to understand. Have fun box-wrapping!

Works for Me Wednesday - Plan Ahead....Or Don't!

Before you get your toga all up in a bunch, let me first say that I do NOT recommend adopting the "planning ahead...or not" lethargic attitude for every aspect of your life. But when it comes to gift-giving, this is pretty much a template for my life!

First of all, are gifts important? Yes and no. Yes, gifts are important in that they show love for another person and a desire to give them something that will please them. God gives us many gifts each day and the greatest gift of all was His Son, so God is clearly the beginning of all gift-giving. On the other hand, no, gifts are not all that necessary. While it is nice to be able to give tangible gifts, sometimes people are just unable to do so due to finances or other circumstances and that's okay too. It's all a matter of the heart.

That being said, let me share with you how I *try* to plan for birthdays and Christmas....

I have four nieces and nephews under the age of four (well, now four and under), three of whom all have birthdays in September. I also have a daugther with a birthday in September. So last weekend, my sister-in-law threw a cake party for all four of the September-birthday kids. Here is what I did for gifts:

I shopped the Old Navy winter clearance sale last January. Lol. Seriously. That's the beauty of having a fall birthday - winter clearance clothes from the previous year! Come on, you know styles don't change THAT much in 9 months!

Nephew #1: An adorable red sweater as well as a hat/mitten set. Total cost: $7.

Nephew #2: A green zip-up sweater (also adorable). Total cost: $5

Neice: The cutest pair of pink pants I've ever seen and a black turtleneck shirt. Total cost: $9.

We didn't actually give our daughter her presents yet since her birthday is on Sunday, but I'll tell you what she's getting. My friend Gretchen (yeah, co-author Gretchen) threw a Fisher Price toys party (like a Pampered Chef party but without all the buying pressure) a few weeks ago. We brought home three toys in gift bags suitable for a baby. Yay for free baby toys and free birthday gifts! She will be opening a little toy train, one of those stackable rings sets, and some other conjoining blocks for her birthday. And what did I fork over for all that? About $5 in gas and a great morning of fun! :)

While I am pretty good at planning ahead for the actual gift, I am NOT so good at planning ahead for what the gift will be given in. Gift bags are so overrated in my opinion. They take up space in my garage and besides, I like wrapping presents! But of course, in today's society, wrapping presents just takes WAYYYYY too much time. (I'll try to refrain from a "today's society" rant.)

The party was on Sunday at 4pm, so at 1pm I went into the garage and found 4 small boxes perfectly suitable for each of the gifts I needed to give. I then pulled a roll of gold paper from my wrapping paper box under our bed. (Yes yes, it is Christmas paper, but hey, birthday paper never goes on sale!!) I grabbed some ribbons from my craft box, a pair of scissors, and some tape and got to work. After about 45 minutes, here is what I came up with:


I was originally going to give a play-by-play for how to wrap shoe boxes (you know, so they can be opened without tearing the paper), but since this post seems to be getting pretty long already, I think I'll save that for next week. :)

So let's sum up....

Gifts for three children (purchased on clearance last year): $21
Wrapping paper (purchased on clearance after Christmas): 50 cents/roll
Boxes to wrap gifts: FREE
TOTAL: Under $21.50

So about $7/child. Not bad, if you ask me! Now let's see what I *could* have spent if I had bought those same things when they were NOT on sale....

Gifts for three children: $54
Three gift bags w/ tissue paper: $6
TOTAL: $60

So $20/child. See what planning ahead (or not!) can do for you?? :)

With Christmas coming (and with birthdays always being "just around the corner"), I want to encourage you to plan ahead and save (either with the gift or the wrapping - or both)!

For more WFMW ideas, visit Rocks in My Dryer.

Works for Me Wednesday . . . Hiding Veggies in Food

Hiding veggies in everyday food, how do you do it? I have the book The Sneaky Chef. I have experimented and tried different things, but it doesn't seem to completely work. I hid some butternut squash in our mac n cheese and my husband was not thrilled (to say the least). So my dilemma is, how to you hide your veggies in your food so that your kids cannot tell?

For more problem solving Works-for-me-Wednesdays, please visit Rocks in My Dryer.

-Gretchen

Works-For-Me Wednesday

One word:

CAFFEINE.

:)

Works-For-Me Wednesday!

Ugh! I'm totally slacking this week! Well, not really. My main priority this week is to get my photography website completed and my blog has just fallen a little bit further down the list of things to do.

At any rate, I still want to pipe in for Works-For-Me Wednesday!

One of my favorite utensils in my kitchen HAS to be my cookie scoop! I used to feel really important when I used my small melon baller to scoop out my cookie dough balls but then someone got ahead of me and actually patented the little sucker as a "cookie scoop".


Whatever. I still had the idea first.

I use my cookie scoop all the time! Muffins (way cleaner than any other method!), melons (the original purpose), cookies (obviously) and lots of other things are made so easy and less messy with a cookie scoop!

I also scoop out my cookie dough and then freeze it into little dough balls. That way, if we have unexpected company (or I'm in the mood for a little treat), I can just pop a few in the oven without having to go through all the hassle of making the whole batch. Now I do know a few people who freeze their cookie dough in tubs or "logs" to be cut later, but I have to tell you that I've tried them all and this way is THE BEST! Super easy!

If you don't have a cookie scoop, it comes HIGHLY recommended by yours truly! So go get one!

Seriously...do it.

Works-For-Me Wednesday!

I was originally going to continue on with last week's theme and talk about some more kitchen utensils that I use for many different things but then, as oftentimes happens, something else came up! :)

I'm SO excited about this, I could pee my pants. Or maybe that's just all that water I drank this morning. Well, either way, here's my Works-For-Me Wednesday trick for this week:

VINEGAR!!!

I have heard that many people use vinegar for lots of things around the house but I had never tried it myself. I mean, vinegar smells bad, right?

Well, we've been having a problem for quite a while with our laundry smelling kind of...well....sour. Mostly just the kitchen towels/rags and the kids clothes. I know, it's gross. You can say it. Anyway, after a prompting from my hubby this weekend, I looked online to see what other people had to say about this issue. Vinegar in the washing machine was one of the solutions I found. It was the least expensive solution proposed and I already had it on hand. I heard it worked as a fabric softener too so I thought I'd give it a try. I mean, what could it hurt?

My clothes came out smelling....like....FRESHNESS! I couldn't believe the difference! And they were soft! Softer than usual!

Our laundry will no longer smell bad! I will no longer be purchasing fabric softener but rather vinegar! BY THE CASE. I have yet to see what it will do for any other aspect of cleaning around the house, but I'm anxious to try it out!

What other uses have you found for vinegar??

Works-For-Me Wednesday!

No, I'm not completely abandoning Wacky Wednesdays (for those of you who just THRIVE on my humor), but I do want to give "Works For Me Wednesdays" a try! I really enjoy reading other people's posts on this topic and have decided to give it a whirl myself!

You know those bottle brushes you use when you have a baby in the house?


Well, I use those for LOTS of things - not just baby bottles! Bottle brushes are good for cleaning any sort of reusable water bottle or tall glass. I also use them to swirl around in muffin tins (which I otherwise HATE cleaning) or anything else that has small shallow opening and is difficult to clean.

I have a few more kitchen utensils that I will likely mention in the weeks to come. What multi-purpose utensils do you have in your kitchen??