Jewelry Organization

My daughter, Hannah has accumulated quite a bit of jewelry.  It seems Santa thought she should be blinged out this year.  Not enough room in your jewelry box?  I saw this idea somewhere and decided it was the way to go with keeping up with her jewelry.  She's not the best person about returning her jewelry to the proper place, but this idea made it a bit easier.

 I found these 2 boards at Goodwill some time ago.  I bought the 2 boards on 2 different occasions.   Trust me, these boards are ALWAYS at our Goodwill from time to time.  After the first board on top was filled, I bought board number 2 and begin using it for Hannah's Christmas bling.  I keep it hid behind her room door.  Her jewelry is always handy and she knows exactly what she has at one glance.  Ummm...see the big, ugly white cord....don't ask, this is hubs bright idea.  Mmmmkay?!

 I still have to "straighten out" the boards to my satisfaction from time to time, but it's proven to be the best way to store her jewelry.  I've noticed since we pulled everything out of her jewelry boxes, she is wearing the jewelry more often now.  You know the old saying, "out of sight, out of mind".  This freed up tons of room on her dresser!

There's room for a couple of more boards behind her door if need be.  Please kill me if she needs them.  This idea would work well in a walk in closet totally out of site.  But for her...for now, I find that it's a "good thing".  

There's An Elephant In The Room!!

If you have followed my blog at all....you know my family room has Lions, Tigers and Bears...OH MY!  Not really....more like, monkeys and dogs (chinese dogs at that)....mmmkay?  So....a couple of weeks ago while Hannah and I were on our Saturday morning thrifting adventure, I found this great elephant lamp.  I know, right?!  

Lookey....Lookey....

and what did this little treasure cost me you ask?  $6.  

 Since I made no New Years resolutions that will eventually fail if I actually call them that.  I am here to report that I've lost 10lbs and my blood sugar is down to 126.  (takes a bow)  I hope I can keep this up.

My daughter, Christina gave me a new website to take a peek at and I thought I would share it with you.  She's a health FREAK...so she knows.

The World's Healthiest Foods

I'll be incorporating these recipes into my grocery list and come up with a better healthy eating plan.  Hopefully I can cook some of these recipes and share the really good ones with you.  Wish me luck!

Now to go stare at my family room and see if there is anything I can change in there.....what?!

What To Do First....

I ended last year with not completing the laundry room project.  It's like this tire around my neck.  I HATE TO PAINT.  Any volunteers??  It's a must do soon though.  I've got to get this monkey off my back.  The laundry room would look so much better with a coat of fresh paint.  I think this room has so much stuff in it, that just looking at it makes it a neverending all weekend job.  I haven't been able to want to even give up my weekend for it yet.  

The holidays left me not in touch with my cozi.com cleaning schedule.  I randomly cleaned throughout the month of December, which meant...some of my weekends were days filled with cleaning again.  There was just to much going on!!  I printed my schedule off last week and somewhat did what it said.  I am in hopes this week I can tune back in and not find myself cleaning on my weekend off.

My son turns 28 on Friday.  Friday the 13th!  The exact day this 2 lb. 15 oz. guy was born.  Three days prior to the 13th,  I found myself on an ambulance headed about 3 hours from here to Columbus, GA.  Preemies back then were not something our hospital here could deal with.  Can I just say that I love him!  He's went through alot in his 28 years and I'm so proud of him.  We'll be celebrating this weekend!

Hannah and I did our Saturday morning thrifting adventure.  The places we go now...KNOW US well.  Heh.  I found Ryder a really cool hooded towel that looks like a dinosaur.  I can see him now running around growling.  I can't wait to show him.  I found a Bob the Builder toy that actually makes this very annoying noise...he'll love it...me....not so much!  

Hannah found another LP at Goodwill.  She has quite the collection now.  Here's a blast from the past!

 If you recognize some of these faces....well...yeah, you ARE that old.  Sorry.

I stumbled across this little item.  It was brand new...still in its plastic wrap...waiting on moi.

The writing on the top of each sheet says....To Do List.  Yeah.  I needed it.  I have lots to do!  Plus...the paper is just cute, right?

I'd like to share a site with you.  It's called www.fitday.com.  Go check it out.  I hate making New Year's Resolutions...so I won't say this is one of them.  I'll just say, I went to my doctor on Friday...started some new meds....got a tongue lashing about my out of control blood sugar and found this site.  I am officially on a diet.  I know.  I KNOW.  What's great about this site is that it helps you count your calories during the day.  It has a journal.....a place to record any exercise that you do and will calculate calories used and much more.  Hannah and I are both doing this...well because she has to do everything I do.  So...yesterday we spent the day logging every single item that we ate.  I hope we can keep this up.  It does make you aware of what you are eating for sure.  We'll see how it goes!  Keep your fingers crossed for me.  I'm not a very good dieter.

Next post...I've got an elephant I want to introduce you to!

Lookey What I found!

Goodwill never fails me.  It's kinda scary.  I watch the hoarding shows on television and I'm in hopes 20 years from now I won't be actually ON the show.  

 Whatever have I found?  Are they just the cutest things ever??  Who could have resisted this find!!!  

 A pillow!!  I paid $3 for this at Goodwill.  I just love this pillow.  I was a little sad it didn't have my dachshund on it, but  I'll learn to deal with it.  Dachshunds probably have their own pillows anyway!

This landed in my family room.  I love it!

Blog Break Ovah!!

I know!  I've been MIA for a couple of weeks now.  I've enjoyed the holidays with my family.  I had 2 short work weeks and I've enjoyed every minute of the time off.  There was LOTS of cooking going on here.  All the way into New Year's Day.  I cooked the traditional New Year's dinner and we should all have lots of money and luck this year!

I'm happy to say that with many of the "deal sites" that I'm connected with, I was able to be really frugal this year with Christmas gifts.  EXTREMELY frugal!  I so appreciate these ladies that search the internet and post the deals for all us slackers dedicated followers  to save money!

I was finally able to clear the house of all the Christmas decor and get things back to some sort of normality.  This is a job I totally do not enjoy doing.  I had very little help.  It seems that everyone Hannah was on board to put everything up...but was no where to be found for the clean up.  This is the time when hub never fails to say "you wanted all this up...take it down".  That statement can make me turn into a "broom rider" quickly.


Funny thing that happened is that I forgot what my fireplace looked like before Fall and Christmas decor went up.  So....I went on line and checked out my pictures and was able to find exactly what the mantle looked like and decided to change things up once again.  Here's a pic of the newly decorated mantle using things I had around the house.  Don't we tend to do that?  Move things around?!  or is that just "me".  Ahem.

I sort of kept things simple on the mantle.  As you can tell...the sunlight was pouring in this morning.


Did all the excitement of Christmas and New Years keep me away from the Thrift Stores?  Indeed NOT!

Here's some great finds from Goodwill and Thrift Stores!

 Can we just say that I did a little dance when I saw this at Goodwill!!  $2.99 and cha-ching in the cart it went.  We received some "moose munch" for a Christmas gift this year and what a perfect container to store it in!!  There was a larger one to match this one, that I clearly did not need....so thankfully it had a chip on it orrr....well....who knows, right??

 This also landed in my shopping cart.  I looked at it for a while before I decided why I needed it.  See how practical I am?!  Ahem.  Anyhoo....Hannah's black & white DIY desk in our family room was the perfect place.  She can fill these drawers with her junk valuable trinkets and be happy.

  Can we just sit and stare at the beautiful picture for a while.  The colors practically jumped off the wall.  For $5.99....it was mine.  It matched the kitchen perfectly and all I had to do was move some pictures around and it had its place in my kitchen.

Ya'll know there is more, right?  No time today!!  Next post!!  Goodwill is busting at the seams this time of the year!!  Go check it out!

Thrift Store Break

I have come to the realization that thrifting is the key to my sanity.  I had not been in a couple of weeks and I needed to slow down and enjoy a little thrifting.  

Saturday morning was a much needed day to thrift.  Hannah and I headed to a couple of thrift stores here before we went to Walmart to do some grocery shopping.  Which in itself is very stressful!!  I was ready to see what these stores had to offer during the holiday season.  Do people donate during this time?  Oh yes they do!

I was able to pick up several things.  

Remember this find at our local Goodwill a week before Thanksgiving?  Pumpkin salt and pepper shakers!!

 Goodwill did not fail me.  I found these adorable Christmas salt and pepper shakers.  The 3 piece set was $1.99!

We then traveled over to a local thrift store here that always has wonderful treasures in it.  This day was no exception.  I found this for $2!  I decorated with a ribbon I had...I know! the ribbon should be red and my mind is spinning about it, but for now....here's the find!

 This will be a permanent decoration on my fireplace.  (for now!)  I'm thinking of tackling some red ribbon in the middle of this ribbon.  I'll play around with it today.  For $2...had to have it!!  This store also had a box of ornaments...12 for $1.00 and oh yes I did.  They were all mostly handmade...the egg style with colorful pins and ribbons.  I can't wait to share them with you!

So...if you need a break from the Christmas race....check out your local thrift store!!  I found much more...but I can't share right now!  Later...taters! 

UPDATE:

I couldn't stand it any longer...

It'll have to do for now!  ;)

I changed it....hated this.....left it without anything on it....yes, I am delirious!!

I'm joining these parties!!
Coastal Charm
At Home with K 
 Creating A House of Grace
The Thrifty Home