Errands and Swim suits

I did a ton of running around today. I was able to accomplish a few things that I needed to do before I leave for vacation on Monday. I am also trying (key word) to save some of my bathing suits. You know the padding that they just stick in there and eventually it gets mangled, or falls out  and the top never looks just as good again? I am going to start tacking those suckers into place as soon as I buy a new suit. I have 5 bathing suits with tops without the inserts. I feel I am a modest mommy, I don't need my nipples (yea I said it) viewable through my suit. I went to the craft store and bought some new ones in the hope of getting some more use out of my suits. I have to go to work before I could fool around with them, but I'll let you know how they turn out.

The Great Basement Transformation!

As you may know from reading my blog, I had a PO come over and help me with the stuff that was in my little corner of the basement. We did great unloading and making sure this stuff was out the door. I gave myself a timeline of one month to get rid of everything in that second picture. Well 4 weeks is up on Friday and I am happy to report that after a donation made to Goodwill on Sunday, and getting the rest of the baby clothes off to friends, my basement is empty! Not a thing from the laundry area went back into my storage in the basement. I'm pretty sure I announced the day I broke even with what I paid for the PO and how much I sold on Craigslist and elsewhere. I am happy to announce that I made back an additional $300, and everything is gone. I am celebrating and doing the happy dance now! HUNDREDS of lbs have been shed, and I don't miss a thing!

 Before: (one month ago)

 Today: (25 days later)

Scuba Gear

I had a meeting at the Dive Shop I go to tonight about how to pack scuba equipment for my trip next week. Of course, that meant that I needed all of my scuba gear together to take there and fit in a suitcase. So my boyfriend and I rounded up the stuff to take. We need better storage for our scuba stuff. I want to be able to have it for a long time, so we will decide on the best storage for that after our trip. Right now it resides in big plastic bins, which is ok, but we need to find out a better way to do it than just throwing everything in. I would love to get the scuba travel suitcase, everything fits in and is nice and protected. We shall see. For now my mind is swimming with ways to make our scuba gear work (nice pun, right?!)

Under the Kitchen Sink

Under the sink had become a disgusting collection of garbage bags, vases, and various cleaning products. I also say disgusting because it needed a good old fashioned scrub down with heavy amounts of elbow grease. If it were my house, I would have painted it too, but it is not my house, so I left it at, "I know that stain is a clean stain". I took everything out from underneath the sink and scrubbed it out. No wonder I can never quite get the kitchen smelling fresh, the dirty water stunk! But there was never really an odor coming from under the sink, nothing that you would notice upon opening the door. I must say after scrubbing out the underneath of the sink, the kitchen doesn't hold any odor at all now. Once I dried out the cabinet and put everything back where it belonged, I found the rest of the supplies that hid in another cabinet because they had lost their home under the sink. Nothing is homeless now, and although I would never expect a guest to say, "My what a organized under the sink cabinet you have", I feel a little better if I ever have to tell them where the trash can is and they open the right door instead of the left!

Before:

 After:

Physical Photo Organization

So if you are not a regular follower of my blog, or missed the entry, I did a huge part of my photo project when I scanned my negatives and saved them to CD's. I have also found a way to organize my photo CD's  in a binder that I made for quick and easy access and also for backup protection. What I could not do, however, was find the motivation to go through the beach bag (yes, you heard right) of photos that were loose, in envelopes and a complete mess. At least they were all in the same place, right?! So this afternoon, I set out to get as much of this beach bag done as I could. Suprisingly, I got the whole thing emptied, and a majority of the photos sorted! I went on a major purge of photos that just didn't make the cut. Photos of places/scenery that I didn't care about, photo's of ex's (who wants a reminder of that?), any blurry photos or pixelated ones and finally the ones that shouldn't have been printed in the first place! Now all of my photos are in a photo box, organized by sections. Some include- high school, college, pregnancy, birth, baby's first year, baby's first birthday, Easter and Christmas of various years, and various months or seasons Summer 09 or October 2010. Now that they have all been put in their various sections or categories, I can pick out a section at a time to chronologically put them in order. Eventually I would like them to all make it into photo albums, but I want everything sorted and saved first. I spent about 2 hours and about 20 minutes cleaning up on this project. Something I was dreading taking hours longer. So any ideas what I should do with the beach bag? :)

Cord Calm

I saw another person in the 52 week challenge who tackled the cords in her space. While I was at the TV project, I took a quick intermission to move the stand and clean behind it and saw the mess of unnecessary cords behind there. 5 minutes was all it took to go from chaotic to cord calm.
I also re-programed the universal remote in my room so that I can watch TV, switch the channels or pause a movie. :::Sigh:::: Sometimes it is the little things.

Bedroom TV stand

I have a TV in my room which I barely use. The area is so cluttered, and I don't watch any regularly programed TV, unless you count Disney Junior every morning! I never watch my DVDs  in my own room because it is usually cluttered, messy, and overwhelming. Which leads me to falling asleep in the living room and waking up with a neck ache. I took everything off the stand, gave it and the tv a nice scrubbing, and organized books and DVDs. Photos and CDs don't belong here so they were put in their own homes. My DVD player is once again hooked up to the TV, and I enjoyed an afternoon nap to the sounds of RENT, waking up pain free and refreshed and accomplished!

Before:

 Emptied:

 After:

"Keep" Box

So I'm going a bit crazy this weekend! I have a snow day today so I decided to go full force with some of the projects on my list. I had a rubbermaid tub just sitting in the basement. It was full of stuff from when I lived with my dad (ie, hasn't been gone through since before college?!). I emptied it out, most of the stuff was old/garbage. The rubbermaid tub is so old it is yellowed. I gave it a good scrub down. The things that I kept from my "keep" box are a few pendants, jewelry, and trinkets that made the cut, THIS TIME. If I feel I can part with these items the next time I do this tub, they will be gone. I'm sure I don't need them, but I do still love them, and they may be transfered to my permanent keep box at my moms house.

The Before's:

 Cleaned out and After Picture:

Card Collection

First off I would like all of my friends and family to know that I love my birthday, Christmas, baby, graduation cards etc. but I finally went through the gift bag full of them and only chose to save a few. Mostly ones written by my mom or dad, or grandparents that had a message that I wanted to save. I don't know why I have kept them, except for the guilt of throwing them away. Cards are expensive, but it doesn't mean I have to save them.  I am happy to have saved some very special cards, but adios to the other ones taking up space. I know how much you all love me, I don't need a card to remember that!

Photos to put away, cards to keep, cards to pitch!

Shower Solution

I finally found the shower organizer I wanted! I went to Big Lots and searched and searched hoping they had one but to no avail. Bed Bath and Beyond had one but it was more expensive that I wanted to spend. Went the next day because my boyfriend liked the hanger caddy I got and saw it in the same section I was looking for over half an hour. It is the kind that goes in the corner with four shelves and a tension pole. I hate when my shampoo and shave gel and everything else falls in the tub, and sometimes on my toe (OUCH). This also allows us all to have our own shelf and keep the tub free of product. It is amazing how something so simple makes our space so much happier.