Making a Home

One Bite at a Time: Project 22 {Declutter (and Rotate) Your Children’s Toys}

March 19, 2012 By Sheila Leave a Comment

Project 22, Declutter (and Rotate) Children’s Toys, is another one of those projects that I think need to be done over and over and over again.

I’ve decluttered the toys, and separated them into boxes that can be easily rotated. And it all works well, for a few days, or weeks even. And then slowly I realize that the toy explosion has taken over the play room again and the rotation has stopped rotating so it’s time to get it going again.

That doesn’t even take into account the endless influx of toys thanks to birthdays and holidays and general grandparent generosity, so it really is a neverending project to keep the toys under control.

And that’s ok, because the toy rotation thing? It works. The boy is so delighted to see some of those toys again after they’ve been put away for a week or two, and he plays much better when he has a more limited amount to choose from. Plus cleanup? Is so much nicer when everything he owns isn’t strewn across the house.

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Filed Under: One Bite, Organizing

One Bite at a Time: Project 21 {Organize Your Files}

March 12, 2012 By Sheila Leave a Comment

Project 21, Organize Your Files, goes along so well with Project 17, Create an Essential Papers File, that working on the latter helped with the former.

And actually, our move last year helped quite a bit with this project too. As I got ready for us to move I worked very hard on purging the papers that had accumulated in the house. We had the file cabinet space so I hadn’t worried about culling things regularly until I thought about having to move those papers. The thought of having to carry it all was very motivating!

I’m still working through a bit of a backlog of papers that piled up post-baby and post-move, but overall I feel like creating the essential papers file was the main thing I needed to do related to my files, and other than that it’s just maintenance.

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Filed Under: One Bite, Organizing

One Bite at a Time: Project 20 {Plan In Advance For Holidays}

March 5, 2012 By Sheila Leave a Comment

Project 20, Plan in Advance for Holidays, is another one that’s fairly easy for me to address.

We just don’t do all that much for any holidays. I already have a line in our budget for birthdays and Special Occasions (my catch-all category for any Holiday or other rare event spending), so the money aspect is handled. I keep a running Amazon wish list for the kids with ideas of things to get for them and my husband (it’s a private list, so no worries that he’ll see what I’m thinking.)

I’m sure it will have to change as the kids get older and have opinions of what they want, but for this stage, I feel like I’ve got a good handle on dealing with any holidays.

It’s so nice when I recognize that there are areas of my life that are organized and under control. It’s so easy to always notice the areas where I need to work, and gloss over that there are areas where I’m doing well.

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Filed Under: Holidays, One Bite

Where I Write

February 29, 2012 By Sheila 10 Comments

Jennifer Fulwiler from Conversion Diary is having a link-up of a tour of where people write.

Most of the time I write at my desk, which is in the bonus room over the garage. It’s reached through the master bedroom, and the previous owner used it as a dressing room. It’s an amazing amount of space that I couldn’t use just for clothes, so of course I took it over for my hideaway. My husband has a dedicated office (he works from home full-time), and a man cave in the basement, so don’t worry that I am making him suffer by using this space for myself.

I wish I could say I have a really exciting desk, but I don’t. It’s a assemble-it-yourself job we bought years ago. It used to have a top, but that’s been left off now so that I have room for both computers. Yes, I have a Mac and a PC laptop. I usually use the laptop for blogging (and that’s what I’m writing on right now). I use the Mac for not a whole lot right now. It does have all my pictures on it, and all of my music.

The mountain of papers to the left of the laptop is mostly tax-related. Once I finish doing our taxes I’ll file them away, but for now it keeps me working on them.

Flanking my desk I have two bookcases. They don’t match, and it kind of drives me crazy. I’m not sure why, because it’s not like anything else in the room matches.

I have one mug with pens and pencils. And a nail file. I’m not entirely sure why I have this mug – it was my mom’s but obviously it made the move up to Indiana with me. I keep my paper planner next on my desk, and it also has whatever random stuff my son has brought me. Today it’s kiddie nail clippers and a rubber band.

Underneath my desk is a box for recycling. Doesn’t everyone keep their paper recycling in a diaper box?

My chair is a disaster. Ripped and falling apart, it even has a bit of a list to it. Replacing it is definitely on my list of things to buy, but somehow it’s never a high enough priority to actually do it. One of these days I’m going to be annoyed enough by tilting to the right every time I sit down that I’ll end up insisting that I need a new chair IMMEDIATELY. And my husband will laugh because he’s been telling me to get a new one for years.

The best part of the room is the two skylights. I positioned the desk right in between them, because at certain times of day the sun that comes in is fierce, and I wanted to be out of the direct path. This is my current view when I look out the skylights (it’s basically the same from each one, lots of sky and a few branches.)

Behind my desk are two closets. The first one holds all my hanging clothes and shoes. The second has lots of shelves and it has folded clothes, more books, office supplies, knitting supplies, makeup, snacks I hide from my son, and various other random stuff that doesn’t have any other home.

I’m not taking a picture of that because I do have some pride and it is not remotely attractive.

In between those closet doors (so directly behind my desk) is my lingerie dresser. Doesn’t that sound fancy? It holds all my socks and undies.

At the end of the room is a big chair that I use to nurse the baby, and occasionally I even get to read in it. Yes, that’s a file cabinet next to it. There wasn’t any other good spot in the room for it thanks to the wall heater and wall vents. It does serve as a nice spot for a drink though.

Someday I’d like to replace the overhead light with something pretty. Because this is not pretty:

~~My biggest complaint~~ What I like the least about the space is that it is cold in the winter and it was stuffy in the summer. And I wish it had a window that opened so I could get some fresh air in the room. Other than that, I am thrilled to have it and love when I can spend some time in it alone. With two small children that doesn’t happen all too often, but it’s extra sweet when it does.

Thanks Jennifer for asking to see our writing spaces. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone else’s!

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Filed Under: House, Personal

House Progress

February 28, 2012 By Sheila 2 Comments

Since I last updated:

Mr. SJ has painted his office, and it looks FANTASTIC. The paint color, not the office. It’s still a mess with lots of unpacked boxes and computer parts.
We have also decided that we’re going to use that same paint color (Sherwin Williams Rock Candy) in the downstairs bathroom, to change it from the dark cave that it is currently.
I’ve started using my pot rack as a pot rack, but haven’t decided if I like it or not. It is handy having them right there, but it’s also more visual clutter in a house that doesn’t need any help looking cluttered.
We also moved the keyboard into the basement, which helped open up the dining room quite a bit.
Mr. SJ has gotten his new TV hooked up in the basement and added a furnace vent into the room to help get the temperature down there a bit warmer.
He’s also practiced his electrician skills and fixed the messed up wiring in the basement. I am so impressed with him – between helpful internet articles and pictures, and talking to his brother the general contractor, he diagnosed the problems, and fixed them. That just saved us some money now that we don’t have to hire an electrician to do all that! He’s thinking he might even tackle adding the ceiling outlets so we can add overhead lights to the kids’ rooms. His brother has him convinced that it’s not that hard, assuming he can get to the correct spot in the attic.
He also hung up my ironing board in the laundry room, and I added some DIY art to the wall. I need to finish it off a little more neatly, but I wasn’t sure if I liked it enough to do the finishing touches yet. I’m still debating with myself over it.

And he finally added brackets to the shelves I put up in my closet, so I can clean up the disaster that is the bonus room.
I unpacked all the boxes that had been put into storage, so I found lots of picture and other personal items. I’ve started filling in the living room shelves.
The guest room is put back into order, more or less. I need to change the sheets on the bed to a set that doesn’t clash with the comforter and decorative pillows, but I’m too lazy to want to do that just for looks. After our next overnight guest leaves, I’ll remake the bed with the correct sheets and add the bedskirt. The sheet set that’s currently on the bed will go back into the linen closet to be used when we have lots of houseguests and we use air mattresses. I do still need to figure out what to do about the curtains in that room, because of the extra-high windows.

I think we’ve done pretty well for what we’ve managed to accomplish this month! Has anyone else been working on their homes, painting or organizing or decorating?

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Filed Under: House

One Bite at a Time: Project 19 {Dump Your Brain}

February 27, 2012 By Sheila 1 Comment

Project 19, Dump Your Brain, is a familiar one to this Getting Things Done fan.

But that doesn’t mean that I don’t need a reminder to move beyond knowing what I should do into actually doing it. Actually, that’s the overall theme for my working through this entire book.

So I started a new Master List, and wrote down everything I could think of that I needed to do. Big projects like “Make a Will.” Fun projects like “Plan Vacation.” Small projects like “Buy New Socks.” Important projects like “Finish Taxes.” I even reviewed a Trigger List to help make sure I’d caught everything.

They’re all listed. Now I just need to break them down into Next Actions and add them to my To Do list. Or my shopping list.

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Filed Under: One Bite, Organizing

One Bite at a Time: Project 18 {Get More Sleep}

February 20, 2012 By Sheila Leave a Comment

Project 18, Get More Sleep, just seems like a cruel joke to this mama who would like nothing more than to do exactly that.

So, if someone could please convince my daughter to sleep through the night that would be great. Thanks.

My son doesn’t nap anymore, so getting a nap during the day isn’t an option either. I already go to bed after the kids do, and sleep as late as I can, so at this stage I’m not sure that there is much more I can do.

Someday…

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Filed Under: One Bite