• Archive for January 2013

    Laundry

    Monday, January 28, 2013

    My laundry room looked like this last week

    It is a wonderful large space but
    very dark due to the window’s light being blocked by the deck, and
     
    It wasn’t finished,

    Before




    My goal list
    ~
    Mud and tape drywall
    Paint the walls white
    Paint the linoleum floors and the counter top a light gray
    Hang shelves above washer and dryer
    Cover the big blue tank (which is a backwash tank part of your water purification system)
    Paint the furniture
    Hang a shelf over the sewing desk
    Replace the lights
    Spray paint the cabinet knobs black on the built-ins  
    Hang a clothes line
    Make chalk board hearts to hang above laundry baskets to label darks and whites (for the kids)
    Reframe pictures
    Create a cleaning supply bucket for the laundry room
    Organize all my craft supplies ~ a place for everything and everything in its place!
    Decorate!
    After


    Mud and tape drywall

    Paint the walls white
    Paint the linoleum floors and the counter top a light gray
     
    Spray paint the cabinet knobs black on the built-ins  

    Paint the furniture


    Hang a shelf over the sewing desk





     
    Organize all my craft supplies
    ~
     a place for everything and everything in its place!
    ~


    Hang a clothes line

    Make chalk board hearts to hang above laundry baskets to label darks and whites (for the kids)


    Spray paint silver basket black, (I got it on sale for $2.00) hang by folding table for lost socks



    Hang shelves above washer and dryer


    Reframe pictures


    Liquid dispenser used for my laundry soap, and my precious linen water that touches my sheets with spring
     

     
    A basket to hide all the laundry supplies I need on hand (iron, dryer balls, stain remover) but do not want to look at all the time
     
     
    Create a cleaning supply bucket for the laundry room
     


    Organize all my craft supplies
    ~
     a place for everything and everything in its place!
    ~


     
    Cover the blue tank (which is a backwash tank part of your water purification system) 
      the wood we got from a pallet that was in our barns

     
     This is my cost breakdown.
    ~
     
    $300.00 Used furniture ~ desk and wardrobe
    $20.00 Mud and tape supplies
    $15.00 Wall paint
    $40.00 Floor paint
    $10.00 Black spray paint for cabinet knobs
    $60.00 Light Fixtures
    $29.00 Curtain to cover the blue tank ~ the wood we got from a pallet that was in our barns
    $80.00 Ikea shelves ~ above washer & dryer and desk
    $40.00 Ikea rod with storage buckets ~ above sewing desk
    $20.00 Drying rack
    $24.00 Burlap cork board ~ on shelf above sewing desk
    $15.00 Picture frames
    $10.00 Liquid dispenser ~ designed for drinks but I use for my laundry soap.
    $40.00 Cleaning bucket microfiber cloths and cleaning supplies
    $219.00 Baskets, storage containers and decoration
    $50.00 Gas (I will add my gas price into the total expense for my accurate detail oriented engineer husband!)
    Grand Total = $982.00
    ~
    It took me
      with help from Roger
    a week!
    I am so delighted with how this room turned out. I do so much laundry and spend so much time in this room. I now have a lovely laundry room to conquer the piles of dirty laundry! I am also thrilled to have a craft room, life never affords me the luxury of starting and completing a project in one sitting, yet I could not leave my project on the kitchen table with all my little people ‘helping out’. Now when I have a few free moments I can work on my project then leave it, all set up and close the door behind me!
    ~
    I am a blessed woman today as I work on my loads of love in my beautiful laundry room!
    ~
    

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    British Country

    Wednesday, January 23, 2013






     
    ~
    I love how the British decorate, everything pieced together in an uniform way. It is the look of undecorated charm, I like that.

    Every month I splurge on the British addition of County Living Magazine. I devour the picture and articles from cover to cover, while sipping tea under a comfy quilt of course!

    In the shop I buy this imported magazine, they also carry an array of tempting trinkets, I had my eye on two gorgeous organic blankets (made in Britain)   for months and month, and though I loved them I could not justify the price. Last week when I was in the shop the blankets were on sale, the price had fallen so low I could afford them! At fifteen dollars a piece I bought them guilt free! And my twinsy-babes have been swaddled snuggly in British style since.

    As for my laundry room overhaul all is well... I am covered in dust and paint and excitement!  
    As the dust settles I can see glimpses of beauty and charm!
    ~
     


    A (Pre) Coat of Charm

    Saturday, January 19, 2013


     


     
    I had to pop in here this weekend and share my ever so exciting weekend plans!
    I decided sometime this week that I need to finish my laundry room/ craft room. It is the one room I have not renovated since moving in two years ago.
    I have plans to do the bulk of work on my own, so we will see how this all goes over!
    I have the drywall mud…
    Some paint…
    And furniture!
    I bought these gems yesterday used from Kijiji, for three-hundred dollars (both pieces) solid pine, and all the detail fixings I like!
    A few coats of crisp white and these two darlings r’gonna be looking charm!   
    I’m off  painting!

    Lip Love

    Wednesday, January 16, 2013


     
    ~
     
    Winter has a way with our lips - her chill cuts and blisters. With a lot of lips and a lot of little people who can never remember where they left their balm, I realized I needed to find an economic way of keeping my families lips all a- luster.   

    It was easy


    ~
    Two & Half cup oil. I used
    Olive
    Coconut
    Almond
    Vitamin E
    Jojoba
    A generous quarter cup of beeswax.
    Gently warm the oils and beeswax until the beeswax melts. The add a bit essential oil to give a scent.
    While warm pour into container.
    Let cool until the oils have hardened.
    ~

    The day I made this all my kids lips were cracked and parched, with a day of application all their lips are healed.

    Looks like our lips will be in good smucking order for the rest of this winter!
    ~


     

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    Schedule

    Monday, January 14, 2013

    ~ 
    I woke with a host of intentions,
     to write as the wisps of dawn filled my morning
    and now with the sun deeply set behind the rocky cascade
     I find those moments I wished for at the new of this day.
     
     A lot of living happens within the life we call ours.
     
    With five children three of whom are two and a half and younger
      many of my mothering moments are spent
    nursing,
    feeding,
     changing a diaper,
     ‘wearing’ a baby in a sling,
    laying a baby down for a nap or getting one up,
     occupying a toddler
    all awhile
     nurturing
     these sweet babies of mine.
     

    Running along those constant baby needs are so many other duties that call,
    my older darlings are being educated at home,
     and my toddler loves nothing more than to be mommies ‘helper’ slowing every job preciously down to a snail pace.
     Laundry loads runs in the double digits these weeks, a marriage to cherish, creativity to stimulate  and...
      I like a tidy house!  
    All this smothered in love,
    laughter,
     kissing and cuddling these babes that are growing frightfully fast,
    I desire a map for my duties,
     so that my
    Life
     the spending time exploring God’s nature,
    reading a good book all curled together,
    nourished by tastes of home,
    memories built into the everyday,
    can be given.
    My schedule is only that, a map.
     A guide I need.
     
    My brain is written into blocks, laminated and hung, and I am happy!
     I have a system; I have order,
    a peaceful busy, that settles into our days.
     I cherish this. I am thankful!
    This is what has helped me.  
     
    With the handy little tool Microsoft Office I custom built a very promising schedule, I have one for me and one for each of my older girls.

    It is printed twice, one for my wall, one for my home management book.
     
    I have everything I frequently need to see on the wall, everything else gets inserted into clear paper covers and stored in my home management book.
    Such as monthly menus, grocery lists, weekly school plans, contact numbers, appointments.
    I like that everything is in a book so I can haul my ‘brain’ around with me. 


     
    I then have a smaller journal.
    At the front it has our family calendar, than there are blank pages to fill in my ‘notes to self’.
    At the back I have some clear zipped envelops one for mail, one for recites.
    This journal is the one I take ‘out and about’ it fits nicely into my purse.
     
     
    Also on my wall are our ‘Family Filled with Love’ goals, our house cleaning schedule, and a personal goal list for the three oldest children. 
     As goals change, we conquer some or become aware of others, I make new ones.
     
    To make these pages a little less ‘military’ I have pasted clip art found through the internet onto the pages.
     My kids love this.
    I have laminated them so they have a bit of strength against little fingers.
     I often ask my kids to take their own goals and sit some-where quiet and think on what is written just for them.
    I have found this a great way to reinforce (lecture free) what you hope of them personally (and also reminds me of what I am focusing on parenting them through).
     Even Lachlan who is at that wonderful age of 2.5 will sit on the stairs with his little list in hand repeating to himself “yes mom, my pleasure” “pee in potty”!
     
     
     
    On the opposite wall we have a chalk board calendar with a basket hanging from it,
     we fill in the calendar as needed there is a blank spot there to write momentary notes to self or the kids.
     The basket is a catch all for those things you need nearby but that drives me nuts hanging out on my counter tops. All this hangs out on the wall by our kitchen.

     
    It’s a system. It’s a map. It’s a guide. It works for me! 
    ~

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