A Place For Everything . . .

I have spent the last week or two organizing pretty much our whole house and I love it! I know I am a little bit crazy, but I love to put things in order and get rid of old or hardly used stuff, paperwork & trash. My Mom will gasp when she reads this because she hates to get rid of anything- sorry Mom:) Anyway, I have organized almost all of our closets, bins, the basement, cupboards, & shelves. Now don't think my house is spotless because I have a lot of trouble spots still- mainly a never ending stack of paperwork I can't seem to get rid of, an unfinished utility room that is our junk room/catchall, and not enough bookshelves so we have piles of binders in the corner on the floor. Also, I give the closets a week before they are thrashed again. I think you get the picture:) Anyway, I also got our girls and family scrapbook & journaling completed- which is only updated for a short while but still feels great! I also got our home movies labeled- I love to keep up on this so I know what is on each one & which one to use (I got my different organizing system for this from Family Fun) & we updated the New Years Bucket:) What is this you ask? Well, it was an idea I got from Family Fun Magazine last year and I love it. At the beginning of every new year each family member puts something small in the bucket that represents something about each of them in the last year. It can be something (a picture, letter, artwork, or item) that represents a hobby, talent, vacation, a big change, or something new they learned . . . Each year you add to the bucket without going through the past items. Then when your kids are older at a time you all decide on- maybe when they are all graduated from High School or married- you go through the bucket together. I love the idea of having a sort of visual family journal in addition to our written ones. I guess it is our version of a time capsule:) The quote on the back says "Life gives us simple pleasures- it is up to us to make them into wonderful memories." I thought that was fitting.

Also, my friend Janae was talking about loving to redo old furniture & I told her I would put a pic of a few favorites of mine since I love to also. I think it comes from not having a ton of money to buy all brand new furniture & it's just plain fun to see a piece go from unusable (or just plain ugly:) to something you enjoy looking at & using. This is my bookcase that used to be stained an ugly dark orange oak color. After Greg had it all sanded down & restained it looked almost the exact same so we decided to paint it black & antique it. Now I love it- except that black shows every single speck of dust on it:)

I also love this old desk my Mom found for me at a yard sale but I still need an old chair to go with it.My sister, Krystle, gave me this great old trunk for my birthday last year that she fixed up for me- another favorite:)