DIY Decor Links

Not too long ago, I learned how to bookmark blog posts that I loved, so that I could go back and access them at a later time.

I can't believe that it took me so long to discover this, and there is no telling how many wonderful posts I have read and forgotten about over the years, but no more!

Delicious.com is my sweet friend now, and because of my new friend, I was able to quickly and easily find these great links to share with you today!  

I'm actually not a big DIY kind of girl, BUT, I love to save money, and these are some ideas that 

I AM IN LOVE WITH!

I am seriously wanting to make a drum shade like this one that Thrifty Decor Chick did!

It is exactly what we need to hang over our school table.  

She gives step by step instructions, and I think I just might be able to pull it off...for CHEAP!

That's in my budget!

And how about these pretty curtains that Kimba @ A Soft Place to Land pulled together?

You won't believe the bargain that you (or I!) will be able to get on these!

Looks like hanging the rods would be the hardest part!

I WANT THEM!

And just for a little inspiration, take a look at this pretty space...

Check out Carrie at Buzzings of a Queen Bee, and see what this space looked like "before".

It is a rental home, so no major fix ups were involved.

She and her "distraction decorating" philosophy, show us how to get busy using what we have!

Take a look around her site...she transforms space after space!

Amazing.

And last, but not least...how cute is this???

Jessica at Chapman Place has a tutorial on how to make one of these for your front door.

She has also done a heart for Valentines day.

I'm thinking that a big flower for spring would be fun!

Crock Pot Chicken Lasagna

I love crock pot recipes, and this one really is delicious!

My whole family loves it!

It is one of the more complicated crock pot recipes that I have tried, but very worth the effort

Even though it has spinach in it, my 4 year old loves it...

that's gotta tell you something! :)

I began making this last year, before we realized that Caylie can't have gluten.  

As with many recipes, this one could be modified to be gluten-free by substituting the pasta and the cream of chicken soup with gf versions.

2 cans Cream of Chicken
1/2 package of frozen chopped spinach...thawed, drained and squeezed
1 (9 oz.) pkg. of frozen, diced, cooked chicken
1 (8 oz.) sour cream
1C milk
1/2 C Parmesan cheese
1/3 C finely chopped onion
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
9 uncooked lasagna noodles
1C shredded mozzarella cheese

Stir together first 10 ingredients in a large bowl. Spray crock pot with Pam and place 3 lasagna pieces in bottom. Break pieces as necessary to cover the bottom. Spread 1/3 of the spinach mixture over the noodles. Sprinkle with 1/3 of the mozzarella. Repeat these 3 layers 2 more times. Cook on High for 1 hour and Low for about 5 hours.

Notes...
* I was kind of generous on my cheese measurements. :)
* My lasagna started getting pretty crispy around the edges after about the 4th hour (which actually ended up adding to the flavor!), but keep an eye on it toward the end if it is your first time to make it

Get Motivated

Sometimes I find myself just not wanting to get to work on laundry, or on dishes, or on picking up around the house, etc.

Does this ever happen to you?

I have a few little tricks that I sometimes use.  

The first one is setting my oven timer for 20 minutes.  

What happens with me, is that once I start moving, I keep going, but sometimes it is just 

that first spurt of energy and motivation that is hard to come by,

and my timer provides that spurt!

When I know that I am allowing myself to waste time, I often set my timer, and make myself start knocking things out.  Sometimes I have a list, other times, I just walk through the house, and can clearly see what needs to be done.  The game is that

for every 20 minutes of work that I accomplish,

I earn 20 minutes to do something that I am wanting to do

...computer time, reading, rest, etc.

Of course this really only works well during

Carson's nap time, or if he is not home!

I did this a couple of days ago, and was amazed at the difference a few 20 minute segments of work made!  The tasks that I was dreading, and avoiding, became much more manageable, and were taken care of painlessly...with a little bit of fun time mixed in!

Another trick that I play on myself involves TV time.

I am not a big TV watcher.  Occasionally I will DVR shows to watch after I go to bed (and skip through the commercials), but I rarely watch daytime TV.

One day this past weekend, Corey and the kids were all away, and although I had lots of things that I needed to get done, there was a Lifetime movie on that got my attention.  I made a deal with myself that

I could watch the show only if I worked during all of the commercials.

For most shows, about 1/2 of the time slot seems to be taken up with commercials, so watching a 2 hour movie allowed me to get quite a bit of work done, while still watching a whole movie!

The last trick that has worked for me, I have only done once, but it really worked well!  

One morning, my BFF Teresa and I were talking on the phone.  Our youngest kiddos were not home that day, so we had quiet houses, and chores to get done.

We decided that we were going to give ourselves 2 hours, and told each other the chores that we wanted to accomplish in that time

We hung up the phone, and hit the ground running!

When we got back on the phone 2 hours later,

we were both exhausted from working so quickly for 2 whole hours...but excited to report to each other how motivated we had been...and that

we had gotten everything on our lists done!

We both laughed and talked about how it had really lit a fire under us!

(I just texted her and told her that we need to do it again!)

How do you get motivated to do house work?

School Room Reorganization

Saturday morning, I woke up wanting to tackle a project.  I didn't have anything specific in mind, I just knew that
I wanted to get something done, and check it off my list!

When I went downstairs into the school room/dining room, I decided that it was time to reorganize.

It wasn't horrible, but as the year has gone on, the shelves had gotten a little messier, and there were things that needed to be moved to new places and other things that just needed to be thrown away.

Here is the "before" of our school bookcase...getting kind of sloppy.



And "after"...much better.

Caylie's supplies.  (Many of her books and supplies are kept in her Co-Op backpack.)

Christian's school supplies.

Teacher resources for Christian's subjects.

Teacher resources for Caylie's subjects.

Reference books/ books that are not currently being used.

The trash pile.

The "move to a different spot" piles.

This is where we keep my old scrapbooking supplies, that are now great for school projects.  I also keep homeschool catalogs in here, as well as some of the curriculum that Caylie has finished with, that will be passed down to Christian.  This cabinet needed a little bit of work as well.

Before...

After...just neatened things up a little bit.

Top drawer is for pens, pencils, etc...

One side drawer is for our chalkboard supplies, and some guitar supplies.

And when I was finished...I had an empty cabinet on one side...

and an empty drawer right above it!

Love that!!!  :)

March 3 in 30 Challenge

I know that I am three, well ok, four days late in posting my goals for March,

but better late than never I hope!

(I almost decided to skip out, but I need to stay accountable!)

Before I reveal my March plan, I'll remind you what my February goals were...

1)  Have a daily quiet time.

     I started out really well, but hit a bump in the road, allowed it to sidetrack me, and never quite got        

     back into the routine again.

2)  Prepare four gluten free dinners at home each week.

     Again, I started off well, but I allowed that same dang bump in the road that I mentioned above, to throw       

     me off here as well.  We didn't necessarily eat out more than we should have, but some of the meals that    

     we had were just not as well planned as they should have been, so I'm not quite there yet on this one      

     either.

3)  Post on my blog three or four times a week.

     I think that I kept this one up pretty well!  That bump didn't zap me on this one because my     

     blog actually provided a much needed distraction for me when that hit...which was a good thing!

So, what I want to do for March is to continue working on my three previous goals, with more consistency.  Since I want to focus on these 3 goals again,

I am only going to add one new goal for March...

to make my bed each morning BEFORE leaving my room!

I go through phases where I discipline myself to do that, and strangely enough, it actually makes a big difference in how productive I feel that day.

Lately I have gotten out of that habit.

Sometimes my bed gets made in the morning, sometimes later in the day, and sometimes not at all.

It is a simple goal to add to the other three that I'm going to continue working on, but if I can get through the month having accomplished all of these goals, on a regular basis, then I will really feel like I am making some progress, and will be ready to take on more!

Stuff

While I do consider myself a bargain shopper, over the past several years, I have become more and more picky about what I want to come through the doors of our house.

I am strongly focused on finding the balance between nothing...

and too much...

In the early years of my marriage, I enthusiastically mastered the whole "feather the nest" thing by finding bargains at every store around.  I loved fixing up our house, and gathering things to make that possible.

Years went by, and at some point, that "gathering stage" ended.  I found that I

did not want more stuff...

it just made life more cluttered, and difficult to manage.

Since then, while I do like to tweak things and make improvements to our home when we can, I have become very intentional about what I want to add to our "stash".

I have soooo realized that 

more stuff = more work = more stress.  

For the last several years, I have tried to have 2 yard sales each year...one in the spring, and one in the fall.  When the sale is over, we take anything that is left to Goodwill.

I have joked many times that my goal is to some day have one of those yard sales that people look at from their cars, and see that there is just one piddly little table with a few items sitting on it...

so they just drive on by!

Then I will know that I have won the war against stuff!

That hasn't happened yet...and as long as I have kids at home, it probably won't.

(I would rather have my kids, and the stuff that comes with them ANY day!),

So for now, being intentional about what comes IN, and making sure that things are regularly moving OUT, keeps me actively engaged in the battle!

This morning, Nester linked to this post, which I  L.O.V.E.D.

It is a must read.

What do you do to avoid too much stuff?

Writing the Waves,

Christi

A New Laundry System

I was just doing a little blog surfing, and came across a
new laundry system 

that I think I am going to try.

Laura, at orgjunkie.com,, wrote this post about how she has changed the way she does laundry.

Instead of doing what most of us do, and sorting all of the laundry by color, washing, and then separating each family member's clothing before returning it to their rooms, she has done something that 

I had never even thought of.

Each family member has a laundry hamper in their room, and each person has a day of the week for their laundry to be done.

Rather than separating laundry by color, 

each person's entire load gets washed together.

She adds 1/2 a cup of vinegar to the wash to keep the colors from running.  

(Red things are washed separately the first time.)

She says that none of her clothes have been damaged from not sorting by color.

I assume she is using cold water only.

I'm thinking that I will have a day each week (M-F) for each member of our family.

The older kids will do their own load on their day.

I would do a load of towels, and a load of sheets each week, for a total of 7 loads of laundry a week.

What I like about this system, is that it would save time by
eliminating the color sorting, and the family member sorting.

Socks might actually stay together, and be returned to the person that they belong to...as a set!  :)

The only part that I am hesitant about, is whites.  I like to wash my whites with bleach.
Maybe I could just do some whites that need to be bleached once a month or so. Hmmm.

There were lots of comments below Laura's post.
I skimmed over them, and they offer even more good tips.

Anything that might make laundry a little bit faster and easier, is worth a shot!

Do you have any tips for making laundry happen more smoothly at your house?

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Off To A Bumpy Start...

Yesterday, it was my day to drive Christian and some friends to Science CoOp.  

Everything went well.
I got them settled, and started the drive home.

As I passed over what looked like dirt in the road, I  suddenly felt a big bump!  

I slowed down, and quickly realized that something was wrong.

Thankfully I was just a few feet from a gas station, so I pulled in and called Corey.

To make a VERY long story short, we had to have the car towed to a dealership.  After FIVE hours, I finally drove away...only to return again today. Money that could have easily paid for some pretty window treatments, or a great entry table, or a beautiful new rug, 

was spent on a shiny new...

wheel and tire.

Ugh.

I just really dislike spending big money on such totally boring things, don't you?

When I got  home, for the first time all day, I started thinking about what I would make for dinner.  

I moped over to the refrigerator to take a look around, and before I knew it, I was pulling out everything, tossing this and that into the trash, and wiping down each of the shelves and drawers.  

 Almost an hour later, I had a very clean refrigerator!  

and a nice sense of accomplishment...

That is often the way projects end up getting tackled at my house..unexpectedly.  

One thing just leads to another.  

Today that unplanned little project was just what I needed!

Sometimes it is little things like this that make me feel better!

Writing the Waves,

Christi

3 Yummy (Gluten Free) Valentine's Treats

I have been searching for some cute ideas for Valentine's Day, that are also gluten free.  These are 3 great ideas that I found that are either already gluten free, or can easily be tweaked!  I think that one or two of these might show up at my house for Valentine's Day tomorrow!

Doesn't this Valentine Confetti from Kellie at This Blessed Nest, look great?! And all of the ingredients are already gluten free!

LOVE THAT!

I have made something similar to this before, and added peanuts...Mmmmm.

Chelsie Mae at Sweet Baby Hiccups 

(love that name!)

 made these cute cheesecake pops. 

 A couple of the toppings that she used have gluten... 

Graham Crackers and Oreos,

but there are gf versions of both available. 

The Butterfingers, Reece's, and MnM's are all gluten free!

My crew loves cheesecake, so I might have to give these a try!

And finally, this luscious looking Creme Brulee from Jamie at Sophistimom, is naturally gluten free.  

Love the idea of preparing it in the heart shaped ramekins!  

Who wouldn't love these?

I think that this is a wonderful idea, but I don't think I am going to tackle this one since my sweet mom makes a KILLER creme brulee, and I just couldn't compete

...but I still wanted to pass it along!  :)

If you, like me, have procrastinated just a bit

(I think I just work well under pressure!)

...maybe I just helped bail you out!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Writing the Waves,

Christi

3 in 30 Week 2 Check In

The 3 goals that I set for February were...

1) Have a short morning quiet time using my devotional book, "Jesus Calling".

2) Prepare gluten free dinners 4 nights a week.

3) Post 3-4 times a week on my blog.

So far, I think that I have done pretty well.  We had snow this week, and routines were thrown off, but overall, I'm happy with my progress.

Next week, I would like to continue with my progress in each of these areas, but find more balance in other areas.  I have let laundry get ahead of me this week, and I hate having the laundry monster waiting for me around every turn.  Ugh.

Also, I've been needing to clean out the fridge and organize a couple of areas in my kitchen that have been catching piles of clutter lately.  Clutter in the house makes clutter in my brain, and I know that living with some clutter is reality, but I sure would feel better if I could come back next week and say that I have been able to accomplish my 3 in 30 goals AND manage these things a little better. 

If not, then a more consistent laundry routine and kitchen reorganization can be included in my 3 in 30 goals for March! 

I'll let you know how it goes!  :)

Writing the Waves,

Christi

Let It Snow!

This is the peaceful view from our porch today.

We are lovin' it.

Since we have already had a few snow days this year, the kids weren't in such a rush to play outside.

That will come tomorrow.  

Today we enjoyed being warm and having a nice lazy day inside.

I treasure these times.

Boys and their games.

And some warm apple crisp to wind up the evening.

Mmmm.

You can find my super easy, and yummy recipe here on my recipe blog if you want some for yourself!  

What's happening today at your house?

Writing the Waves,

Christi

An Almost Empty Nest...

This weekend, Caylie and Christian are both away on a church retreat.

They are with the 6th through 8th graders from our new church. Caylie went to serve as kind of a high school mentor for the middle school girls. They were both very excited about the trip. They are at the same retreat center that Caylie attended last weekend with the high school kids from our previous church. I'm praying that they both have a wonderful weekend!

This evening, after we dropped Caylie and Christian off, Corey, Carson and I went to Chip's BBQ, one of our favorite, very casual restaurants. Although I have been trying to eat a little bit healthier lately, I had to have a piece of Chip's delicious chocolate pie tonight. Chip's is one of the very few restaurants where I always want to order dessert. Thankfully, we don't go too terribly often!

We got home a few hours ago, and have been watching the Olympics all evening. This is really my first night to spend much time watching the Olympics. It has been nice to just have an evening to relax, and not allow myself to worry about getting anything done. Right now, we are watching curling. I've gotta say...Corey and I both think that it is a very weird sport! We don't quite get it. :)

Anyway, tomorrow is supposed to be a beautiful day. After Corey goes to a short meeting in the morning, we might get out and do some work in our garage. It is screaming for some organization!

If the weather will cooperate, we would like to plan a yard sale within the next few weeks. It is amazing how quickly things accumulate! I think that my last yard sale was not much more than 6 months ago, but already, I feel like I'm drowning in extra "stuff". I can't wait to get rid of some things!

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Changing Things Up A Bit...

When I began homeschooling this year, I planned to do my lesson plans at the beginning of each week. I had heard arguments for and against planning way ahead, and so I just had to make my own judgement call. My thought was that I could be more flexible by planning weekly...if we missed a day of school for a trip, etc., then it would be easier (or so I thought), to just tweak things accordingly, and keep on rolling.

Well, after one semester of doing lesson plans every Sunday night (or first thing Monday morning!), with our many books surrounding me, I decided that we would try a different approach this semester.

For the last couple of days, I have worked to lay out the rest of the lesson plans for the year. I know that we will have some unexpected disruptions, but I will still be able to tweak things. I THINK that this be much easier. I can't wait to feel the freedom that this will create on Sunday nights!

On a completely different note, another idea that I think I will try, is making my own washing detergent! Never, in a million years, would I have pictured myself doing such a thing, but after reading today that a friend has only spent $7 on detergent since April, and that the "recipe" only takes 20 minutes to make, I decided that it might be worth a shot! I will have Caylie help me do it. It will probably be kind of fun...at least the first time! :)

Here is a link to Jennifer's blog, where she describes how to make the detergent.

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Yard Sale Fun

Although I hate the days leading up to having a yard sale, I love clearing out the junk! I also love adding up the money after all of the junk is gone...a nice trade off!

It is amazing that although my last yard sale was only about six months ago, I still look around and see way too much stuff that we do not need or use!

Yesterday, when attempting to get some order to our garage, I decided that it was time for another sale.

The next 3 days will be full of all kinds of yard sale fun...pulling junk from every corner of the house, getting it priced, rounding up tables, borrowing racks, hanging up clothes, posting signs in the neighborhood, etc., etc..

Such fun!

Writing the Waves,
Christi

The Best of Intentions

We started out this day with the best of intentions.

We were going to buy the shelves for the garage, like I was supposed to do last weekend.

And then we were going to organize the garage, like I was supposed to do this week.

Well, we went and bought the shelves, but when we got home, we realized that they were not deep enough to hold the boxes that we need them to hold.

Below is a picture of what we need. Seems simple enough, but we could only find the 18 inch deep shelves, not the 24 inch deep shelves, like we need.

(By the way, this is NOT a picture of our garage...that would be way too embarrassing to post at this point!)

So we are on hold.

I don't know where to find the shelves that we need...that match the one that we already have in there, so this could get frustrating.

I'm at least going to go out there and organize SOMETHING.

Before Carson wakes up and starts UNorganizing EVERYTHING.

Oops! Too late!

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Talent Show and V-Ball

Tonight Caylie participated in her school talent show. She sang, "I Wanna to Go Home", by Michael Buble. One of her good friends accompanied her on the piano.

They sounded great! I was so proud of them!

Here is a picture that I took of them right before they headed out. Don't they look great?

Tomorrow, which is actually "today", since I can't sleep, and am writing this in the wee hours of the morning, Caylie has to be at a volleyball tournament 30-45 minutes away by 7am...which means leaving at 6:15, which means waking up at about 5:45!

That is SO not cool on a Saturday morning!

Volleyball is great and all, but please!

It is her last tournament of the season. She is about to start having a lot more free time...and we will all start having more free weekends!

Christian decided that he was just not game for it, so he is getting to spend the night with Mimi! I think that she has a day of working in her yard planned for tomorrow, so maybe she can get Christian out there to learn some landscaping skills!

Speaking of landscaping skills...Mimi came over today and helped me clean out our two front flower beds, pulling weeds, trimming back monkey grass, and pruning the crepe myrtles! I felt sooo much better after getting that knocked out!

She says that doing yard work feels like therapy for her. How nice! For me, not so much. That is why I am always happy when she comes over and lights a fire under me!

Better sign off and try to squeeze in an hour or two of sleep before we are off and running again!

Writing the Waves,
Christi

A Whole Lot Of Laundry Going On!

Well, I said yesterday that I was going to have to dig myself out of a pile of laundry today, and I'm almost there! So far...6 loads!

Looks like I won't be having the "Mom, I don't have anything to wear" conversation in the morning! Yea!

I hate when it gets out of hand, but that happens around here from time to time. Each time I dig out, I swear that I will never get behind again, but...well, you know. Don't you??? (Please say yes...just to make me feel better!)

Tonight, we sat out in the front yard watching the kids play. As I sat there, I sketched out my master plan for a total garage makeover. I think that when we decide to dish out the $200 on new shelving, that it will be fabulous! We would have room to park, or for the kids to play around, while still having easy access to everything! I am getting quite a bit of satisfaction out of just the thought of it!

Well, off to put away my piles of wonderfully clean laundry before I get ready for bed, and watch me some Dancing With The Stars!

Writing the Waves,

Christi