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!