Under the Kitchen Sink

Ok, back to this Loot and the Bang-for-my-Buck projects that stemmed from it all:

See that shelfie looking item and the pink command-strip hooks that are in the tray below it... these two items facilitated probably the most functioning update from my shopping trip.

That pesky space under the kitchen sink got a make-over.  This make over even got a "Nice job on that" comment from Mr. Man, so you know it had to be good!

We started with this:

It's not that it was disorganized per-se, but stuff was behind each other and it was very hard to reach anything but those 2 bottles that were right in the front.

So with a little bit of elbow grease, pulling everything out to see what I was working with, and adding in a shelf and 3 pink hooks we ended up with this:

The plastic drawer was all we needed at the condo to organize under the sink, and we were able to utilize it again here, but with the corner shape of this kitchen v. the rectangle of the last one, that drawer just wasn't enough.

I am thrilled with how this little update has made daily tasks so much easier.  I know what we have and can reach everything without having to move anything else out of the way.  Our Cascade Complete packets and garbage bags are easily accessible and not blocking access to anything else.

It's a win-win!

Little Updates

They say life isn't a destination, it's a journey... well, I feel like our house is also a journey.  We have been living here just over 2 months, and patterns have started to emerge.

I've heard people say that you should live in a new place for a few months before making any larger changes, and I 100% agree with that.

2 1/2 months in this house have showed us where the dust (i.e. dog hair) collect.  We know where we end up throwing our clothes (i.e. not always in the hamper).  We have discovered the paper-collection areas that we didn't necessarily want to have that title.  We know how much easier life is when we have the Dustbuster nearby, and we know which doors we use the most.

These little facts about our house and how we live in it help us to make better long-term decisions about how we live here long term.

This past weekend I did a "little" shopping and a couple "little" projects.  By "little" I mean that I literally bought Little things that would make the most difference for us.  The most Bang for our Buck, if you will.

Here's a picture of the loot from my trip...

(don't mind the mess in the background)

Some not-exactly-for-the-house doggy treats snuck into my basket... but we'll just ignore those for now :)

On the left, you can see a carpet rolled up.  This carpet now lives in front of my stove, and makes cooking for any length of time a much more enjoyable task now that there's some cushion under my toesies.

(Don't worry, I centered it on the cabinets right after taking this picture.  Just forgot to re-take it!)

The next Item from my shopping trip that I opened up was those blue scissors!  They are my new kitchen scissors and are totally awesome in my all black-handled knife block.

Why did I need new kitchen scissors you ask?  well, I have a dog, and he apparently really enjoys the soft rubbery handles of kitchen scissors.  So my black-handled matching nice kitchen scissors are no longer a part of the family, so this happy blue pair steps in to fill the void for a whopping $2.50!

That tray there found a home on top of our microwave to hide some of our paper collections that seem to congregate there even when there wasn't a bin.  So now we have a pretty bin, and it looks like they're supposed to be there.

The "littlest" project of the weekend was an un-screw, then re-screw project.  Remember that craft closet, with the awesome new wrapping paper holding towel bar in the craft room...?

Well, the mechanism in the door knob for that closet was installed backwards.  The angled part of the latch was facing out, so you could just pull the door open, but had to turn the knob in order to close the door...

So I switched it around for proper function.

And all is once again right in the land of door knobs.  (well except for that one that you see in my "loot" picture above, because that knob project was unfortunately not nearly as simple, nor successful... but more on that another time...)

Check back on Thursday for more about what I did with my "little" goodies.

Today..

Today is my Parents' Anniversary!

31 Years ago today, they were married and began in incredible journey together.

1 year ago today, we were in Rome Italy Celebrating their wedding day once again!

We love you Mom & Dad!!

Thanks for getting married and having us Kids :)

Happy Anniversary!!!

Showing Off

I really do love a good opportunity to show off our new house!

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has this feeling of pride when a new visitor comes to our house for the first time and we get to give them the tour.

I'm sure the excitement and eagerness will die down a little as time passes by, but even to us it's still a novelty that we own this house, it's ours, and we really do live here.

This past weekend we got a chance to show off our house to my Grandparents, all the way from Brooklyn.  Two people who have unwaveringly supported me in all of my endeavors, and are always proud of my accomplishments.

Thanks for coming to visit Grandma & Grandpa, your pride in us and love for us is a gift I never want to take for granted.

And thanks to my parents who came with them and provided dinner so I didn't have to cook :)

Easter Happenings

I always enjoy taking pictures... Pretty much everyone knows that about me.  I'm a very Novice photographer, I take pictures mostly of people, and most of the time I get the settings wrong.  I've tried some books to help me figure it out, and I follow a bunch of photographers' blogs to get pose ideas, but I really would love someone to sit down and teach me about MY camera, ya know?

Anyways, I digress...

Easter is always a fun time for me to take pictures, for a couple of reasons.  1: I always spend Easter with my family, and they usually tolerate my attempts at photography pretty well, 2: somehow the lighting always seems to be good on Easter weekend.  So without further ado, here are some photos from our holiday weekend.

Crazy colors in Flowers from my brother, with our Egg-Coloring masterpieces in the background:

Delicious baked clams for Good Friday dinner, courtesy of my dad.

Crafty project, all supplies and the idea of course provided by my mother!

The fruits of our Craftiness, or lack thereof.

And The Fam, smiling for the camera on Easter Sunday.

Hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend with your families and friends.

The Swap Shop

I don't know what I'd have done all my life without the Swap Shop at the local dump near my parent's house.

My first apartment was almost completely furnished by swap shop finds. And of course, now that we have an entire house to furnish, it's coming into play again in a big way.

Some of the items in our house that are from that very special place include a grandfather clock I've had for 6 years and moved with me twice, my favorite bookcase, and my husband's nightstand.

The latest addition to that list is this display cabinet!

When my mom found this guy he had only half of a backing board, and some cobwebs, but otherwise is in great shape.

He has become a great addition to the craft room to make it multi-purpose as an office too.  I can't wait to put a fun backing on it and fill it with my office supplies and files.

Thanks to Mom and her Swap Shop!

A Typical WeekNight at our House

Just thought I'd give you a glimpse into our lives on a weeknight after getting home from work and what the process looks like...

I arrive home from work after my 40 minute commute, Mr. Man has Brody on a walk, so I am alone for the moment.  My plan is to do laundry and grill pork chops for dinner for a low-key evening in our house.

• I hang my coat on the hooks we installed in the mud/laundry room and go upstairs for the laundry basket.
• Bring basket downstairs and start a load in the washing machine.While doing this I realize there's a load in the dryer from who remembers when, so I fold those clothes.
• The sun is out so I pull up the shade on the window as I fold and realize the window is filthy.
• I take the laundry upstairs and put it away before grabbing the Windex & paper towels to go downstairs and clean the window.
• After spraying the window and wiping it down I realize that the dirt i'm seeing is on the outside, so I head outside in my slippers to clean the window out there.
• Cleaning the window uses the last of the paper towel roll, so I head back inside to get a new roll and install it upstairs in the paper towel spot.
• As I passed by the door to the guest room downstairs I find a blanket crumpled on the floor.  As I start to fold it Mr. Man arrives home and asks me my plans for that room. (At this point we had literally done Nothing to that room, and it was completely empty but for a blow-up mattress.)
• I told him my plans, and he immediately got out his industrial demo-hammer and went to work taking apart the crooked crappy shelving while I headed upstairs to get dinner marinating.
• While that's marinating I pull up my bank's website and research auto-pay for a new bill of ours.
• After taking care of banking, I open the pantry and remember that stuffed peppers were part of my meal plan for the night, so I start throwing together a filling and stuffing it into the mini sweet peppers I had bought.
• I fire up the Grill! (I absolutely LOVE having the grill right outside the French doors on our porch!)
• I take advantage of this pre-heating moment to photograph my man during his Demo before putting our food on the grill.
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• When it's done I pry him away from his progress to eat dinner.  We finally have our few minutes of quiet together and enjoy our meal.

• After dinner I go to put dirty dishes in the dishwasher, but it's full of clean dishes, so that has to get emptied and all dishes put away.
• The leftover food gets put away, pans get washed, and the dishes get loaded into the dishwasher.
• The empty beer bottles were headed for the recycle bin when I realized it was full, so I take it down to the garage bins to wait for trash day.
• While downstairs, I realize that I never went back to switch the laundry, so the wash switches to the dryer, and Finally it's time to sit on the couch.
• Before long Brody needs to go out, so he starts talking and nudging my elbow as I sit on the couch. After our 20 minute walk around the neighborhood it is finally time to be horizontal, off my feet, and go to sleep!!!

I know there are many people out there who have evenings that look like this.  There is always something to do, and I try to follow the mantra "Don't be Lazy" when a chore comes up that I'm less than enthused about doing.

Life is busy, and there's always lots to do, and I wish you all enough energy and dedication to do it!