Sick Day

I was going to get my hair cut and colored today, I'd even looked around online last night to get some hairstyle ideas. Then I was going to swing by the insurance office and sign our new life insurance policies on my way to hang out with my friend Yvonne. Then it would've been time to head home in time to get the girls from the bus stop.

I would've done all those things had Kera, my youngest, not woken up at 2:30 a.m. and blew chunks all over her bed, floor and into the bathroom and around the toilet. So, instead of having a good night's sleep, I found myself doing laundry and getting Kera settled on the bathroom floor to sleep the rest of the night while Erik shop vacuumed the floor. Don't worry, she had enough blankets and her pillow to be comfortable, we just didn't want to have to repeat the whole carpet cleaning task.. Thankfully, she didn't throw up again, but there was no way I was sending her to school today.

So, what to do with a day at home that I hadn't planned on having? Organize and clean, of course! I haven't had much time to do that the past month, so I figured I could get some of it done today. It helped that Kera was content to watch movies all day. Luckily, she hasn't thrown up again (although she's had the runs, so I'm afraid my plans for tomorrow may just be thwarted, as well.) so she hasn't needed a ton of attention, and I have had a few little chunks of time for this project.

My first task was the paperwork stuff that I keep in the kitchen. It's a random collection of stationary, envelopes, bill paying stuff, electronics (i.e. digital camera, chargers, mp3 player) and school info for the girls stored in three seperate spots within the same area. It can get looking pretty unorganized and cluttered, so I really wanted to streamline it. Here's what it looked like with everything pulled out... this picture does not do the mess it was beforhand, justice. At least here its organized into piles.

You can see the little wooden stand there, my mom painted the front and I love it, I just haven't figured out exactly what to store in it and how. The top flips down and our phone books fit in there perfectly, it was just the bottom part that I was having trouble with.

You know how you always have a million different parts to the various electronics? There's the cell phone charger, the mp3 charger, the usb cords to connect those items to the computer, there's the flash drives, extra headphones and then the actual devices, digital camera, mp3, etc. It always seems like the cords get all tangled and I can't remember what goes to what. So, I went through and organized it, putting each like thing in a little ziploc baggie and labeled each bag. For example, my mp3 charger is with the connecting cord and the owners manual. Then, I found this basket downstairs, not being used, and found all this stuff fit perfectly in it.

Then, the basket, the video camera and my hubby's digital camera stuff all goes in the biggest cupboard, under the counter, kind of hidden but still accessible. The basket with the most used things just gets pulled out when I need something.

You'll notice the tins on the bottom shelf, that's my Christmas dish storage area. :-) You'll also see the floor between the cute wooden stand and the cupboard, that's where my purse lives when I'm home and the blue bag behind it is our public library bag.

Okay, so inside the wooden stand, I did this:

The top shelf holds my stationary, envelopes, stamps and extra blank paper. The bottom has my cards (bought them at Costco, love the holder so I use it for the cards I make too, just refilling it every so often), my coupon filer, and my "me" binder as well as the kids' school info.

This is what my counter looked like after I finished putting everything away. I got rid of a wicker organizer thing that I did have on the counter right next to the stereo, it was just too big and bulky and I ended up sticking things in there and not dealing with them. This silver organizer I also wasn't using and since it is smaller, I will have to handle the mail once (if you know what I mean) instead of shoving it aside. The little basket next to the intercom is for our Netflix movies, although I'm sure other things will eventually find their home in there as well.
The goldfish crackers don't live there, they are suppose to go to school with Kera tomorrow for her snack day. They are there so I remember to send them, if she goes to school, that is.

It looks so much more open and clean and organized. I'm so happy with it.

Next I tackled the hall closet...

dun, dun, dunnnnnnnnn

In this closet there are games, puzzles, sheets, cleaning supplies, extra toliet paper, kleenix, trash bags, candles, blankets, light bulbs.

I cleaned out some of the games and puzzles, put away the toliet paper (it really does help having it in the actual bathrooms) and refolded blankets and sheets.

And ta da!!

It doesn't look half bad. I can't fold sheets to save my life, so they look messy no matter what I do. Now, there is some extra space there, do you see it? On the middle shelf, between the games and little red sewing tin...that is where the back-up toiletries will live once I clean out these:

Hmmm, I might be able to do that tomorrow!