Official Spring Cleaning Start

In order to kick my booty into gear to get this house organized, cleaned and maybe even a nice deep spring clean I signed up for the 30 Day Organizathon over at The Get Organized Wizard. I’ve missed the first 3 days, but hoped right in with the challenge today! The challenge today was to declutter your bathroom cabinets. You’re supposed to set a timer for 5 minutes and just go crazy, well I did my 5 minutes and was addicted so I just forgot about the timer and cleaned my entire bathroom from top to bottom. I threw out 2 full 22L kitchen garbage bags of junk (old makeup, old hair products, wrecked kids bath toys, stuff we don’t use at all)! It was freeing, but crazy to see how much crap was literally just chilling in my bathroom when it didn’t need to be.

This picture makes me happy! Since we moved into this house in October the top shelf (below the mirror) has been absolutely full all the way across. There has also been stuff stacked up under the bottom shelf all across the counter top. I can’t believe how much cleaner it is. I got rid of a lot of my own stuff, but also quite a bit of the mans, I don’t think I’ve seen him gel his hair in ages so why did we still have 8 different gels hanging out taking up space?

This cupboard used to have all the bath stuff in it, the girls and the babies. I got really sick of the girls going into it to get out all their bath toys and play  with them and then have them not be in the bathroom anymore. I moved their stuff, and then put all the extra baby wash and lotions in here as well. The drawer inside was disgusting, they had spilled bubble bath and tub paints all over it. Now there is a zipper travel bag with all the ponytails and barrettes and they each have their comb & brush.

There is still quite a bit of extra stuff in the high cupboard, but that is because this is where I keep nail polish remover, or any expensive creams that I don’t want dumped all  over the tub or floor. I also keep the extra toothbrushes up here because otherwise they would have every single one out all at once!

Ok, so this picture is embarrassing! I emptied out some boxes that had still been packed since we moved (because I knew they were bathroom things, and knew we had no room for them at the time.) I found soap. I opened a drawer, I found soap. I opened a cupboard, I found soap. Yes, we have 23 boxes of bar soap just laying around waiting to be used now. Won’t be needing to buy any for a while.

This cupboard gets kid-locked. I moved all the girls bath toys and bubble baths into here because I am sick of them being everywhere. This also has bathroom specific cleaning supplies, my unused nice bath products and a basket that has more razers and blades in it then I even know what to do with. Did you know it’s cheaper to buy a “starter pack” razer and blades then it is to keep replacing the blades on your current razer? We did, hence a basket of them!

So that is one room done, and boy does it feel good. I only have what feels like 8 billion more to go, and I’m sure by the time I’m done another one they will have destroyed the bathroom. Another reason I took the pictures! They are proof, proof that it really was done!

It’s Beginning to Look a lot Like Spring!!

It’s officially starting to be spring-like where I live. The sun is shining and attempting to melt the mass amounts of snow we accumulated over the long winter. As the temperature stays above 0 more consistently during daytime hours I get that taunting voice in my head, summer will be here before I know it and I won’t be hiding in hoodies and baggy jeans. I am seriously kicking my own butt into gear to make a final exercise push to lose as much baby related weight as possible before the season of shorts, skirts & bikini’s.

I’ve got a great set of workout routines that I’m hoping are going to kill me enough to make some noticeable changes before I’m baring too much of myself. I’ve got a diet that has eliminated as many extra junk foods and drinks as possible, but is more about incorporating more good food in than it is about cutting anything out. I did a pretty complete set of measurements, which I will be posting once a month under the pretty tape measure header above, to see if there are any major changes. I’m really hoping there are, there are some numbers that I’m more focused on changing than others! Some of these numbers have changed since I initially started watching what I eat and making an attempt to be more active in January, so yay!

April 2011 Starting Stats:

• Bust: 35.5”
• Chest: 32.5
• Natural Waist: 29”
• Pant Waist: 35”
• Hips: 38.5”
• Thighs: 22.5”
• Calves: 13.75”
• Upper Arm: 10.5”
• Forearm: 8”

Just so you don’t have to go looking, this brings my bust down 1/2”, my “pant waist” down 3”, and my hips are down 1”. I measured some extra places this time around, and measured some areas in different spots. I’m happy I went down in any of these area’s because while I tried to be more active, there were only a select few days that I was actually able to accomplish that. I’m hoping now if I put my full energy into it I will be able to bring some of those numbers even lower, while maybe building some up (umm hello chicken arms!)

Aside from attempting to work out, finding new recipes to try out (apparently I have to improve my sad cooking skills) and looking at paint colors/home décor for house makeover this summer; I’ve been busy with the kids. Specifically this little man:

I swear he’s going to be walking any day. He climbs everything in sight like a monkey, loves to bounce around in his jolly jumper and has acquired his 2 middle bottom teeth within 1 day of each other! Things are very busy around here now that he is so mobile, I feel like I’m constantly chasing kids everywhere! His sisters are pretty good with him most of the time, but at 2 and 4 years old I can’t really rely on them to all wear each other out every single day. It makes all those mundane tasks like cleaning, laundry and errands a whole lot more, ummm, exciting. (Insert any variety of other words in there though. Stressful, rushed, hard to accomplish; they all fit into that sentence one day or another. I’m hanging in there however, always hanging in there.

Happy Saturday folks!

Spring Wardrobe: Clothing Additions

With spring weather still really about a month away where I live, I decided I should maybe start dealing with my spring wardrobe. Then I realized I didn’t really have one, or much of a wardrobe at all. We still have a good 4 or so feet of snow, so I have lots of time to fix this situation!

Behold the first batch of my Spring/Summer 2011 wardrobe! Total cost with tax and shipping included was just under $148. I’m pretty happy with my picks so far, I am a big fan of skirts and summer dresses, but because of the majority population of where I live being horribly unfashionable and underdressed all the time I felt stupid wearing them. I started wearing the norm uniform around here, believe me that involves going to get groceries in pj pants, or sweat pants that probably shouldn’t be worn outside your house.

Everything above I ordered online from Beyond the Rack, seriously if you like to shop but don’t like paying full price and you aren’t already a member of this site you should go JOIN NOW! I’ve ordered a couple pairs of shoes and some nice wool coats off the site already since I joined and I’ve so far been nothing but happy with my purchases. I live in a town with very little aside from Walmart, Warehouse One, and Bootlegger to shop in and it leaves it wide open to be wearing almost the exact same thing as someone else every time you go out. I’m totally willing to pay $11 in shipping to have cute, different clothing delivered to my door without the hassle of taking my brood with me. (Also it’s not just clothing, there are trips, furniture, jewelry, kids stuff, housewares, seriously it’s like my own personal online heaven!)

I’m hoping to be blogging more now, it’s been a rough month or so here in my little world and I just haven’t felt inspired or like I had the energy to do anything but the bare minimum required of me. Things might not actually be better here, but I guess that doesn’t mean I have to let it affect me so badly. Hope everyone in blog land is doing alright and that you all have a fantastic weekend!

Some Scrap Related Catch Up

No boring updates with this post tonight, I’m just uploading some files and figured I’d catch the old blog up to speed with my layouts while I’m sitting here. Life’s been pretty insane lately, but I think it’s calming down a bit, so I will be around more again.

**These will not be in any sort of order they were done in either, they will be alphabetical by file name, because I’m too lazy to go more in depth than that!**

This is a layout I had to do, because I’m sure that this is just the start of the girls dressing this poor boy up! Super fun kit is Shine by Geek Chic Scraps.

This layout shows babies doing what they do best…sleeping. My favorite time of each and every day is when kids are sleeping . This used a kit called Sleepy Town by Sugar Pie Scraps. (It had been an ESS create a collab kit, so I don’t think it’s available in her new store.)

This layout started out as a Speed Scrap layout, but then I stopped following the directions of the speed scrap and just went with it in my own direction! I like how it turned out, and looking back I know if I’d continued to follow the directions I probably would have been less than happy with it. The kit is It’s All Me by Victoria Feemster and Spinky Dink Scraps.

I finally took some updated pictures of myself, so I decided I would scrap one. Hence this layout. I used a template from the Sunday Brunch Crunch at Gotta Pixel for it. Kit is called Celebrate the Moments by Colie’s Corner.

I love the picture in this layout! He looks so awake and the expression on his face really just rocks. It is still a challenge to scrap boy layouts, but I’m getting much more comfortable with it. I used a great boy geared Valentine’s Day kit called My Sugar Pie by Sugar Pie Scraps to do this layout. I ADORE the grey heart background paper.

I still love how this layout turned out! I really like trying to layer papers in different ways so it’s not always just strips here and there. And yes, my youngest daughter does have a black eye in this picture. They are kids, it happens. This pink kit was just awesome to work with, it’s called Precious by Victoria Feemster!

I think that will be it for tonight. I’ve finished uploading and have a frantic baby crawling half on my arm making it very hard to type or do much of anything. Oh yeah, it’s bedtime for me too!

Creepy...

So I took this color test online just to see what it would be all about and it was creepily accurate in a lot of parts. This is what it told me:

Keira's Existing Situation

Constantly moving forward in her life and career in order to gain a higher position and more recognition. Unhappy with current circumstances and needs to constantly make changes to herself in order to become a better person.

Keira's Stress Sources

"Wants the freedom to follow her own heart, goals, and dreams and to earn the respect as a unique individual. Desires to pursue every possible opportunity without limitations or things standing in her way."

Keira's Restrained Characteristics

"Has high emotional expectations and desires to be the center of attention, which makes it difficult to find a satisfying relationship. her reserved, cautious nature makes her emotionally distant. "

Emotionally demanding and will involve herself in close relationships but won't get too involved or give too much of himself.

Is feeling emotionally drained from stressful and tense situations. she is in need of peace and quiet in order to overcome her lack of energy and may become irritable if she does not recover.

"Feels she is carry more than her share of problems. she is flexible and laid back, sticking to her goals and working to overcome any difficulty."

Current events have her feeling forced to make bargains and put aside her own desires for now. she is able to find satisfaction and happiness through sexual activity.

Keira's Desired Objective

Seeks to be known for something she has accomplished and uses her social abilities to win people over. Emotional and sensitive and romantic.

Keira's Actual Problem

Longs the freedom to make her own decisions and plans without the criticism and restrictions of others. Uses her charm to deal with others and get what she wants.

Keira's Actual Problem #2

"Impressed by unique and one of a kind things, and by people with exceptional personalities. Tries to takes the characteristics she likes in other people and apply it to herself as well as coming across as a unique individual."

I don't really know how they do it, but if you have some free bored time you should give it a go. See if it comes up with an accurate response for you too!

Keira took the free ColorQuiz.com personality test! "Seeks to be known for something she has accomplish..." Click here to read the rest of the results.

Just the Basics Released!!

Well it’s Friday and that means new releases at Enchanted Studio Scraps

I *shock and awe* have a new release this week! I love neutral colored additions to pages and pages done fully in neutral colors, so I created this somewhere between mini and full size kit for you. Just the Basics has 9 papers and 18 elements for all you digital scrapbooking needs!

It’s available for PU and S4H and right now you can grab it for 30% off! The sale will only be on until Sunday and then it will go back up to full price. This would be a great stash builder since you’d be able to snag elements and papers from it to help complete almost any layout you may be working on. You can pick it up HERE or by clicking the preview above!

Happy Friday and hope you all have a great weekend.

A Layout and A Sneak Peek!

I scrapped yesterday for the first time in a bit and it was nice! I’m trying to get things all settled down in the house and back to a scheduled peaceful existence, but it’s definitely not easy going! The girls are doing better give or take a few tantrums, but this week has definitely made me want to scrap a “happy and joyful” memory of them. For this I used the kit A Fresh Start by Sugar Pie Scraps.

And I have a sneak peek of a new kit from me that will be releasing tomorrow!! I’m excited to have it release, and I’m excited for some of my upcoming releases as well

Tomorrow I will post the reveal of it and it will be released into the world!

A Fashion Inspired Post?

So this may seem weird since it’s really the first time I’ve done one, but it’s my blog and I’ll do whatever I want. Hahaha. Just kidding, I’ve been hearing a lot of that “I’ll do whatever I want” from my 4 year old the last few days. I’m going to start sharing more of the other things (aside from scrapbooking) that I’m interested in. The last month I’ve been getting into the shopping/fashion interested side of me, which had died with the birth of my kids and a sinking feeling that I’d never be able to do anything I liked again and never be able to spend money on myself ever again. Yes, I was over dramatic maybe, but oh well. I was looking through some of the ready to wear collections for Spring 2011 yesterday and I fell in love with a few of the styles I saw. I’m going to share one with you today from the Burberry:

Ummm yeah. LOVE <3! So I searched etsy for some cute neutral coats and bright belts and purses and came up with 3 different variations on this look, for what I’m sure would be much cheaper than the Burberry version.

Outfit 1

1. Vintage Butter Car Coat 2. Vintage Liz Claiborne Neon Yellow Belt 3. It’s Electric – Vintage Yellow Clutch 4. 1950’s Black Risqué Pointy Toe Stilettos

Outfit 2

1. Black Cashmere Military Trench Coat 2. Extra Wide Bright Pink Woven Belt 3. 80’s Bright Pink Purse or Clutch 4. 50’s/60’s Black Suede Heels

Outfit 3

1. Retro Bone Colored Trench 2. Electric Blue Liz Claiborne Skinny Belt 3. Vintage 60’s/70’s Electric Blue Mod Handbag 4. Black Bow Vintage High Heel Pumps

Of course there are tons of ways you could wear this look and make it your own, so have some fun with it!

BAD Blogger

Wow folks! I’ve been a very bad blogger this month Bad bad Keira. In my defense I was dealing with the man leaving for 6 months, a very unhappy teething baby and an insane cold snap that made me very bleh and depressed. I went through a couple weeks of “woe is me”-ness. It sucked.

The kids are all kind of settled and ok with daddy not being here now, I ‘m armed with baby Orajel and infant tylenol. I have medicine for the 2 older kids should any kind of cold infiltrate the house the rest of the winter. I also went through a really horrible phase of post holiday sugar and caffeine withdrawal which lead to headaches that could very possibly be the worst I’d ever had in my life. The headaches are gone, my sugar intake has been limited to a point where as long as I don’t go on a crazy sugar kick I should be ok.

Today I started a 10 week long training program to try and help me to lose the “little extra of me to love” before I have to stop wearing sweaters and hoodies and am expected to be comfortable in more revealing clothing. So I did an 8.5x11 layout as my starting point, with stats (no weight though. I’m not really at all worried about what I weigh, I just want to lose some inches in a few spots.) I’m hoping to do one at the start of each month, but there likely will not be a whole lot of change between this months stats and next months. Also, I know it’s the wrong way to measure, but I don’t measure my waist at it’s slimmest spot, I measure my waist an inch below my bellybutton since that is usually where my pants are sitting and is therefore MY waist.

So that is January’s layout, February’s will be posted hopefully by the first weekend of the month. Like I said, since really I did just start (but had hoped to start earlier) I don’t really plan on seeing much change. Also there was a set of questions sent to us that we were told to journal about, so I’m going to do that now too.

1) Do you remember how great you felt both physically and mentally when you were at your peak physical condition?

I remember feeling so confident about myself no matter what situation I was in, like I could do everything and anything. Physically I remember feeling great. I didn’t get tired on walks, I could rollerblade for hours, I could go for runs and jogs down the highway. I had so much energy it was crazy.

2) List 3 specific things (solutions) you have to change about your current daily habits to attain results like that again?

First off I have to actually start exercising again. I guess you can’t count chasing the kids around the house as enough exercise forever and I’m afraid I’ve got to be done milking that cow. I’d like to workout 5 times a week for at least a half hour, if not more. The second thing I have to change is my diet. Badly. I eat such crap, especially when the man is away. I do a whole lot of take out or fast food or deepfry goodies. I also snack. A LOT. On things like chips, chocolate bars, chocolate chips, etc. I need to eat much better meals, I need to eat more vegetables and I need to start snacking on better things and cut back on the candy and chips. The third thing I need to do is to stay focused and on track with it. Since I spend most of my time at home with the kids, who don’t care if I workout that day or not, I have never really been accountable before and have always ended up giving up easily and saying “ok you tried.” I can’t do that anymore. It’s not just about looking ok at the beach, it’s about feeling ok. I’m far to lethargic and out of shape for someone my age and with my background. I NEED to change it.

3) What is your #1 goal for the next 10 weeks?  What is the “#1 solution” you must stay focused upon in order to attain that goal?

My number one goal is too stay focused. Too keep it up and to stay on the path. In order to do that I need to continually remind myself why I’m doing this. What I want out of this experience and why. Of course I want to look cute in a bikini this summer, but I want to be able to chase the kids around outside without needing a nap. Heck, I want to be able to do anything without feeling like I need a nap after!

Well that’s it for today folks, the baby woke up and I should get a start on supper now or it will never be ready. Darn those supper fairies for not showing up!

ESS Birthday Blog Train!

ESS is 2 years old!! To celebrate we are having some fun birthday themed challenges and all of us designers got together to do a blog train. It’s an All Seasons blog train, so throughout the blogs you’ll hop to you will pick up a mini kit based on one of the 4 seasons. We’ve got ‘em all covered so in the end you can have 4 nice full kits for all your seasonal scrapping needs!

I have a winter mini (well not so mini I guess) kit here for you all. I got a bit carried away so the kit ended up being 8 papers and 18 elements of free wintery goodness for you! I hope you enjoy and would love to see anything you create with this mini.

Papers

Elements (ok and 1 paper!)

***Edited to fix the links, they have now been uploaded to 4shared because you wonderful people loved it and downloaded my box.net bandwidth to death!! Thanks you!!! Sorry if you have slow wait times with 4shared, that's why I'd uploaded to box.net in the first place.***

Now you can hop on the (or back on) the train and head off to visit the other ESS Designers and snag their goodies! Don’t forget to stop by ESS and participate in some of the fun birthday activities…you never know, you might win yourself a few nice things

Kat's Creations - http://princessk316.blogspot.com
Jusme Digital - http://jusmedigital.blogspot.com
My 4 Princesses Designs - http://www.my4princessesdesigns.blogspot.com
MDK Scraps - http://mdkscraps.blogspot.com
Blueheart Scraps - http://www.blueheartscraps.com/
Missy's Bits - http://melissas-place.blogspot.com/
Knittinjen Designs - http://knittinjen.blogspot.com
Circle of Life Scraps - http://circleoflifescraps.blogspot.com
Elaine Therese Designs - http://elainetherese.blogspot.com/
Designs by Keira - http://thislifewithkeira.blogspot.com/ (you’re here!)
Get Digi With It - http://getdigiwithitdesigns.blogspot.com/
Sugar Pie Scraps - http://www.sugarpiescrapping.blogspot.com
Starry Eyed Designs - http://starryeyeddesignsbyamy.blogspot.com/
Designs by Tina - http://www.digiscraptina.blogspot.com/
Wildcat Designs - http://www.wildcatdesigns.blogspot.com
What's All the Scrap About - http://whatsallthescrapabout.blogspot.com/
Happy Scrap Arts - http://happyscraparts.blogspot.com/

Don’t forget to keep in mind that we all live in different time zones, so if a part isn’t up yet, just check back later and it will be there.

Happy downloading and Happy Birthday ESS!!!

Welcome 2011!!!!!

So we are starting a brand new year! Yay!! I hope everyone had a great time celebrating the ringing in of the new year. We went to the house of the girl who babysits for us occasionally, her mom and Kurt work together. There were lots of other kids there for the girls to play with and Kale kept the women pretty entertained. It was nice, rather low key and the kids had a blast, so that is what matters most!

I have a couple layouts, 1 from 2010 still and then some new stuff for 2011, plus an exciting new project from me will be revealed today. There are a couple other ones in the works, but they still need some tweaking.

This first layout uses a really cutesy kit from Kats Creations and Starry Eyed Designs called Wobble and Toddle. The variety of toys in there made it perfect for scrapping the mess I like to call the kids playroom! This is also the color palette for the January Color challenge at ESS.

I did another layout for my Journal challenge at ESS as well, this time I used the elements and papers from Kats Creations contribution to the January CAC (Create a Collab) which she called Brand New Year.

I also decided to go on an art journal journey this year, so I signed up with a class of sorts and have completed my 2011 cover and my first page as of today! It’s really fun, because I’ll be doing the majority of mine digi style, I get to play around in digi in a way that isn’t traditional digi scrapping. I really enjoy it so far. I like using your imagery to paint a deeper picture. I like art journaling to calm my mind and relax me so that I can be creative in other parts of my life. The class/workshop/whatever I’m taking is called Art Journal Caravan, so my cover shows my new trusty camel (who of course is with me in a caravan.) I’m doing my art journal small for this year 5x7, for ease of printing if I feel so inclined, and so that I don’t overwhelm myself with something so new to me!

And here is my first page, it is about my word for 2011. My word is “self” because I feel like I spend so much time doing things for everyone else. Even my scrapping is more for the kids to remember things. I need to start taking better care of me so I can continue to take care of everyone else! I will have a regular scrap page going into more details about my word and why I chose it and what I hope to accomplish with it this year too. It should be started soon.

Everything so far for my journal pages has been from Tangie Baxter, some parts are from a collaboration between her and SherrieJD. I’m not listing regular credits because there are so many different products used in a single art journal page that I would stop doing it.

So that’s a quick peek at one of my new projects this year. Hopefully tomorrow or the next day you will get your first peek at one or two of the other new projects coming into my life. Have a great 2011 everyone!!!