Bill discovered a new brush at the Pet Smart last weekend. With 3 cats and a dog, I have my fair share (and probably yours too!) worth of animal hair in my house. One of my cats is particularly hairy. She’s full-figured and has trouble cleaning herself so her hair is greasy and has more dander than the other cats. She does love to be brushed but I am most allergic to her so I don’t do it often. Bill tries, but he’s busy and so it just doesn’t get done. Anyhoo, at the pet store, Bill saw a new tool and decided to give it a try: The Furminator. It’s available on amazon for $22 (for the small, more for the medium and large) and change which is less than we paid, admitedly a lot for a brush for a pet. But let me tell you. The amount of hair that came off of her, and the other cats which we didn’t really think of as big shedders, was amazing. AMAZING, I tell you. That’s a picture of CJ and her hair, after only half of her had been brushed. We do have other brushes we use on CJ and get a lot of hair off, but I think this does a better job. For the cats, hands down it is better than anything we’ve used. For the dog it is as good but probably better, than other tools.

Let me show you a picture of what we now call The Widowmaker. Originally named The Divorcemaker, this little organizing tool let to a few arguments in my house. We bought it a few years ago because we didn’t have a good place for our foil, saran wrap and wax paper. (We need to stock up on parchment paper.) It’s one of those relatively easy jobs that never gets done. The roadblock was probably the disorganization of the garage which made it difficult, or at least very frustrating, to get to Bill’s tools, and I believe he did need a drill and a screwdriver. When we cleaned the garage last week, we came across The Divorcemaker. I asked Bill if we should just get rid of it. I joked about it’s name and we laughed and then he came up with the new name. He also said that he would put it up and I think we both knew if it didn’t end up in a cabinet soon, I would be a single woman. Good news, he’s still alive, and our little organizer is up. Isn’t it doing a good job?

Lastly, I thought I would share one of my favorite meals with you. Last week, on Admin’s Day, we had a special breakfast for our secretaries. Donuts. Bagels. Cinnamon Rolls. Fruit salad. Donut holes. Ugh. Of course I showed no resistance and came home from work feeling like garbage. I needed something nutritious and light. Perfect time for my tomato-mozzarella-basil salad. It’s very easy, simply spiced and tastes very “fresh” to me. I once ate this at a little cafe in Switzerland so when I have it at home, it takes me back. I get a container of cherry or grape tomatoes and slice them in half and put them in a big bowl. Slice up a hunk of fresh mozzarella cheese and put it in with the tomatoes. Chop up some fresh basil, add to the bowl. Coat with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Let sit in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to let the flavors set. I serve it with a hunk of crusty bread. It’s all to taste, there are no measurements. An optional ingredient is balsamic vinegar, but I usually don’t put it in. It’s got calcium, vegetables, good fats. It would probably be healthier without the bread, or with a whole grain bread.

Well, that’s all I have for today. Hope you enjoyed your weekends and that you have a good Monday!

Tags: recipe, kids, organization

It actually started in ‘07. On a trip to IKEA, I saw this cute little drawer set that I thought would be perfect for my sewing notions. Let’s just say, Some Assembly Required. Thankfully, Bill did not curse me all that much, though I stayed way out of his way which it got put together.

We (and really that means mostly Bill) finally got to the painting this week. The original green that I picked out was way to green. Not remotely what I had in mind. We switched to more of a sagey green which still isn’t exactly what I wanted, but it’s a great improvement. I wanted something more appley. I could have asked really nicely and Bill would have done a 5th and 6th coat, but I more wanted to get this bad boy in use. It stores my zippers, magnetic clips, bias tape, elastic. You name it, it’s in there. Except for threads. Those are elsewhere.

Didn’t my hubby do a great job? All that’s left is labeling the drawers.

Tags: organization

My pantry is pretty small.  Tiny, even.  And I don’t have a lot of other storage so I try and jam a lot into it.  And as you can see, it gets pretty messy.  I probably don’t have to tell you that finding things in here is quite a challenge.  I’ve tried to organize this space before, but I’m limited because of it’s size.  One of my first attempts was adding the shelving on the door.  It helped, but didn’t solve the problem. 

I’m always keeping my eyes open, looking for inspiration on what to do with this space.  A recent article in Real Simple, set off a lightbulb and I had hope.

 I’m very pleased with how it turned out.  The drawers are a great tool and really fit a lot.  I have more space for my cereal which ended up creating room in my cabinets.  It really is amazing how much more you can fit in a small space when it’s well organized.  I even have room for my food processer freeing up space in a different cabinet!  I also utilized the floor space for some infrequently used small applicances, freeing up valuable space in yet another cabinet.  (I had a really hard time finding a storage container that would fit and still be large enough to be useful.)  There’s still work to be done in the kitchen, but this is a good first step.

Tags: organization

I came home from work last Thursday and was motivated to sort through our t-shirt collection.  The only reason we had room for all of them in the closet was because they all weren’t clean at the same time.  Normally I have a very difficult time getting rid of things, but as I mentioned, I was motivated.  I was very strict - anything with a hole or a stain was trash.  T-shirts that passed the test were sorted into three categories - dress (the nicer t-shirts that can be worn in public), exercise, and sleep.  The unofficial fourth category was Cubs.  I refolded and put the shirts back into labeled drawers in the closet.  And surprise of all surprises, there is room for more t-shirts!  Hurrah, because there’s at least five in the dirty clothes!

Now what to do with all the t-shirts on their way to the trash?  It seemed like such a waste.  Many of them were garbage because of a small dog-sized teeth holes.  (Our punkin loves to run around with a t-shirt in her mouth and because she looks so darn cute we let her.)  The logical choice was to make them into rags, but I never use the rags.  But then inspiration struck and I had a plan - a mitten rag.  Maybe it would be more functional than a square rag.

My first step was to  create a mitten template by putting my hand on a piece of paper and drawing around it in the shape of a mitten, giving myself a little extra space so my husbands big ‘ol hand could fit inside it too.  Then I laid out the t-shirt inside out, matching up the bottom edges, making sure to utilize the finished edge of the shirt.  I traced the pattern onto the t-shirt checking that I didn’t include any holes or stains in my mitt.  Next I pinned it, and then sewed around the pattern with a straight stitch.  I made another pass around the edge using a zig-zag stitch to prevent fraying.  I cut around the stitching, leaving a slight border.  Once that was complete, I flipped it inside out and had my completed mitt.  Not perfect, but good enough for a rag.  As you see below, Harrison approves.

Bill tested out the mitt when he scrubbed the cats’ litter boxes.  They worked well for both scrubbing and drying!  If you use a super soft t-shirt, it would also make a good pedicure mitten - slather on some lotion before bed and then put on your mittens.

I do realize that I put entirely too much time into making rags.  But it did make me feel less wasteful. Maybe I’ll even use less papertowels now too!

Tags: rags, organization

The laundry closet has actually been done for about 2 weeks, it’s just taken me awhile to take the pictures and update my blog. If you’re interested in the before pictures, check out the original laundry closet post.

We have a ton of storage now. Elfa shelving is awesome. We originally only bought 2 shelves for each side. After we put them up, we realized we would be able to comfortably fit three shelves. Because Elfa gives the flexibility to adjust the shelves, we went back to the Container Store for an extra row of shelves. Our top shelves give us room for growth. I’m storing my beach towels (in a plastic bag so they don’t get dusty) on the left top shelf because those don’t get used very often. On the right top shelf, I’ve store extra office supplies.

Previously, the ironing board was squeezed in the closet next to the dryer (on the right wall). While this maximized space, it was not easy to get the ironing board in and out of the close. Since our board has a cute cover, we bought an over the door ironing board holder and now store the board on the outside of the door where it is very easy to use. It makes a statement with it’s colorful cover. As convenient as this new location is, my husband still doesn’t put the ironing board away; we’ll have to work on that, Bill.

In place of the ironing board, we put up a small towel bar to hang a cleaning rag and my delicates bag.

All of the wash supplies we use regularly (bleach, detergent, baking soda, oxyclean, stain stick and woolite) are on the bottom shelf right above the washer. It is so easy to graph the detergent and bleach bottle. Bill said he didn’t realize how much energy he spent pulling those bottles before we put up the new shelves. I was always worried I was going to hurt my wrist. I put the baking soda and oxyclean in cute glass jars with scoops so that I can easily take the top off my jar and scoop the appropriate powder. No moving of the jar required (although I will have to move the jar when I get close to the bottom). I also put up an undershelf basket for my dryer sheets, color absorbtion sheets and garbage bags. I can easily grab the sheet and it uses space that would otherwise go unused; the lid to the washer easily clears this shelf. The second shelf on the left side is for extra laundry supplies.

On the left wall I have my dustbuster and a bulletin board with laundry instructions and a bag for buttons. The laundry instructions are care of Martha Stewart Living and helpful for deciphering the little graphics on some care tags. I can also pin things that come out of pockets so that one of my cats doesn’t bat it off the dryer.

The shelves on the right side hold ironing supplies, rags, dryel supplies, garbage bags, miscellaneous cleaning supplies and extra hangers. Everything is in a labeled container making easy to know where to find things, or where to put them when I’m done.

There are only 2 things on top of my dryer - a little garbage can and a money jar. The little garbage can collects garbage, mostly dryer lint and tissues from my pockets. All money from our pockets, usually mine, goes in the money jar. I figure every six months or so we’ll empty it. It’s taking all my willpower not to dig the bills out right now. I think there’s about $10 of mine in there. Drats!

Last but not least is the fun orange color. I love it. You make think it’s too bright, but everytime I look in there, I smile.

Bill and I are really happy with our new laundry area. It’s well-organized, colorful and functional.

Tags: laundry room, organization

Painting is complete. The walls are pretty orange, but I like it. If you look up the stairs from the third floor, you see an orange glow.

It has toned down now that the appliances are in place. Bill also hung the main support for the Elfa shelving. Not the easiest installation he’s had. We’re hoping that we didn’t drill through our neighbors wall or puncture anything that shouldn’t have been punctured.

The doors are back on and I’m pleased with my color choice. It makes me smile which is what I wanted. I’m looking forward to putting up the shelves next weekend and getting everything off my floor! The paint is still pretty fresh and we don’t want to leave any marks from the shelves or face plates, etc.

I’ll post pictures once everything is done!

Tags: laundry room, organization

I’ve spent a lot of time the last two weeks working on our fourth floor which is our office/laundry room. I’ve been trying to organize my endless supply of craft items, as well as my books, office supplies and desk. Then there’s Bill’s side of the room and the laundry area.

Yesterday, my side of the room was pretty much done so I tackled the laundry area. I decided that the closet could be better organized and that an extra row of shelves would make a difference. To make sure, I started by pulling everything off the shelves to see what I had, what I needed and what I could get rid of. I determined I needed the following:

• Above the washer - a lower shelf for all my detergent, bleach, baking sode, oxyclean, etc. (things I use regularly) and a higher shelf for extra supplies.
• Above the dryer - a lower shelf and a rod for extra hangers and my ironing supplies, other misc. supplies and then a higher shelf for extra things like beach towels.

I took inventory of all my stuff and figured out what kind of containers I needed and then took measurements of the closet. Off to the Container Store, I went (dragging Bill with me)! I’m addicted to Elfa Shelving so we met with a planner and designed our closet. I already knew what I wanted so that made it easier, but the Elfa planners are knowledgeable and can help you if you’re not sure what you need. The other great thing is that Elfa is adjustable, interchangeable and extremely easy to install.

While waiting for an Elfa planner, we shopped for our containers and I broke the news to Bill that I wanted to paint the closet. I batted my eyes a few times and he couldn’t say no. I’ve had it in my head that I wanted to paint a room a fun shade of orange and thought the laundry room would be the prefect place for such a happy color. I am not a fan of doing laundry and I figured that the right shade of orange would make me smile when I opened the doors. When I was picking out the color my dad asked what was wrong with more conventional colors and joke about doing my laundry closet in all Home Depot.

Then last night we started to clean out the closet, taking everything out and removing the shelves and ironing board holder. Next was pulling out the washer and dryer. I can’t even describe the amount of dust. Once the washer was moved we found some serious mold growing. Majorly disgusting and made us realize that the area needs to be cleaned out annually. You never know what you might find. We washed, dusted, patched holes and went to sleep, exhausted.

This morning we woke up, painted the ceiling and sanded and primed the patched holes. I’m waiting for the ceiling and primed areas to dry so that I can paint the walls. I want to get the washer and dryer back in place and then later in the week we can install the shelves and put everything back.

Tags: laundry room, organization