Moving..onwards and upwards hopefully!!

Just a courtesy post to say I will be moving my blog over to Wordpress. I have already exported my posts from this blog, over to my new one, and you can find it HERE

Wordpress allows me to easily do a lot of the things that blogger tends to make difficult, so hopefully I will be able to expand my blog into to a little haven, where I can shine.

Please come and follow me over there, and keep an eye out for new posts soon :-)

Thanks

Tanya xx

Daydreaming....

As I embark on a another morning of (attempting) some tidying, I look at the state of my old, cluttered kitchen, and daydream about what I would do to it if I could (we rent, and actually, if we owned our own home, it certainly wouldn't be this one!).

*Sigh*....I'm in love!

PANTRIES:

image from:
 http://www.countryliving.com/homes/home-maintenance/kitchen-pantries-1106

image from
 http://oliviakcarter.blogspot.com/

image from
http://www.thehouseofsmiths.com/2010/07/pantry-remix.html

image from:
http://www.houzz.com/photos/kitchen

image from:
http://www.countryliving.com/cm/countryliving/images/Kitchen-Pantry-Organize-Storage-GTL1106-de.jpg

The harsh reality? I have a stand alone, melamine pantry (a.k.a wardrobe!), that isn't anywhere as big as it looks.....

ok, so from the outside, it doesn't look too bad.....

...but the inside? I lose a lot of usable space on the left had side, as this also
stores the mop and bucket, Dyson (not pictured), and whatever else gets dumped in there.

I try to keep it organised, but it never stays that way for long! I can't afford a new one, and I don't really have the cash to splash out on a pretty makeover, or buy more tupperware.......(cheap) suggestions please? It's driving me insane!!!

Edit: Just had to share this. While is was in the lounge room typing this blog post, my girls were having a bit of fun in the kitchen lol...(excuse the pic taken on my phone).

A timely reminder.

See this post at my new blog: http://amultifariousme.wordpress.com/2012/01/13/a-timely-reminder/



~Disclaimer: this post has ended up way bigger than I first intended, and has about a thousand photos (Ok, slight exaggeration)~

Just now, I was sitting here going through my Flickr account, and looking back over some projects from last year when I came across some photos of the great room swap of 2011. It was BIG, and involved all 5 of us moving bedrooms in only 1 day. 

Looking back, we were a bit crazy I think, but it was a desperate attempt to end the morning/afternoon bickering between 2 little girls as they got ready for school/daycare/baths/bed....ANYTHING, and finally put an end to the age old argument: "I didn't make the mess in our room, it was all her fault!!". (Hmmm, this has since been proven untrue....they are as bad as each other!). Of course, we made the girls do a lot of the work, and we just moved the furniture and heavier items, such as toy boxes.

Here are a couple (ok, a LOT) of before/progress shots:

Girls' room = mess/clutter

more clutter.....

My little man's old room

his bookcase and wardrobe

clothes hamper (a bit hidden); tallboy; (messy) changetable

As you can see, the room the girls were sharing was a bit of a disaster, and my baby boy was living in an untidy looking bedroom, for no real reason at all. BUT, the fighting between the girls over who was the messy one was our biggest issue, so we decided to separate them, and put our eldest in with the baby.......in the master bedroom.........so we had to move out too!!

This is how the kids' rooms looked at the end of that day, new doona covers and all for the 2 girls:

Miss C moved into Master E's old room

yes, we carried the books in there, on the shelves......hmmm

Miss K and Master E moved into our old room.....

......but E still had that messy looking change table

7 months on, they are still doing well in the current arrangement, but it is obvious that both girls are little hoarders, and both girls are a bit messy! There are still things that annoy me about the rooms, even though we have been through all their belongings and thrown away a lot of clutter. Clearly, they need more work.

I find it amusing that I came across these pics, because with my current 'organising binge', one of the first places I dealt with was that change table!! Seriously, it looked atrocious!! So, a couple of baskets later, and it is now looking a LOT better (I still want one more basket for underneath though, to store wipes, spare nappy boosters, knitted covers etc).

Yep, it has certainly been a timely reminder of why I need to keep plugging away at sorting and organising around here......

Organised? What the.......?

Ok, so most people I know would tend to think I am a fairly organised person, and I can be, but the truth of the matter is I suck at sticking with the good habits!

I will have one week of being completely on top of everything, and then a week where it all just falls apart. 

I have come to the realisation that with our 2nd child starting school at the end of the month, and our 3rd starting daycare this week, things are going to be fairly hectic when I return to uni in Feb. I really need to get on top of things NOW!

Enter: The Organised Housewife!

Yes, that's right, a blog dedicated to getting organised! 

I stumbled across this brilliant site quite by chance, through her Facebook page, and LOVED what I saw there. So many tips, tricks, ideas, and inspiration. Exactly what I need.

As I browsed, I found this back to school post about how to organise papers that come home from school, and loved the simplicity of it and decided to adapt the idea to suit our needs, i.e. sort out the cluttered mess of papers that end up on the fridge, or pegged to the calendar!

Here is The Organised Housewife's version:

image source: The Organised Housewife

And this is my version:

Note the clutter in the reflection of the microwave door? I was also mid cleaning the
 microwave, thanks to another post I found on the blog!

Trays purchased from my local Big W

I chose to put the trays on top of the microwave, as it is in a handy location, and we don't have any other furniture close by to sit them on. There is a tray for each of the 3 kids to house their Blue Books (health check books/immunisation records), school bank books, swimming assessment books, notes from school/daycare and so on. The 4th tray is a miscellaneous tray for bills, messages, takeaway menus etc.

I am sure these will be revised at some stage as our needs change, but for now, they suit us fine. I will make some labels, laminate them, and attach them with blu-tack, so everyone knows who's tray is who's.

I also plan to get some magazine holders for the girls to go in their rooms for homework, home readers,  artwork, and school work that comes home with them, and one for colouring in books etc.

This is such a simple idea, and I am extremely happy that I stumbled across The Organised Housewife. I am already working towards implementing more of her ideas around our home.

How do you store your assorted papers/notes etc?

A moment in time...

I love little moments caught on camera, especially when they arouse the imagination and have you dreaming about where they might have been taken etc.

I snapped this 'self portrait' on my phone on the weekend, and I love how deceptive it is.

It looks so glamorous, and lavish....

....the reality? I was sitting in the passenger seat of our Commodore, 

in the Coles car park, 

waiting for the hubby to return with a card!

Ok, we were on our way to a wedding....but still, the front of our Commodore?

Would you have picked that? LOL.

New Year, New Look!

Image source:
 http://yumfoodiefoodie.blogspot.com/2011/05/under-construction.html

I like change.

I like drastic change.

I like to mix things up a bit.

I love a makeover!

As a result, my blog is currently under (re) construction....now look, new fonts, new layout, extra content, and soon, a new banner!......when I get time to sit and make it.

Stay tuned, and please pop back from time to time to see what I have been up to :-D

Adventures in baking....No Knead Artisan Bread

In the lead up to Christmas, I had a bit of fun experimenting with artisan bread, in particular, the no-knead variety. I stumbled across the concept on Pinterest, and decided to give it a go.

I followed the recipe and directions from The Italian Dish, and I must say, it really was super easy!

I decided to use my Tupperware Fridge Mate container as it has the air vents in it, and I assumed these would be enough to let the gases escape.

The dough was SUPER sticky, but I was quite pleased with how it turned out, even before baking!

The smell in my kitchen during baking was AMAZING! My mouth was watering, and I was super excited to try my bread. It must have been good, because I think it was gone within an hour or two of baking. The whole family enjoyed it, and the girls couldn't wait for me to make the next loaf :-D