Things I Crave: Spring Florals

 

This is the first Things I Crave post! I wanted to share with my readers awesome things I have found in the world. I will do a Things I Crave post at least once a month.

The "things" will range from products, music, TV shows or even things I find when I'm out & about in the world. I thought this would also be a great way to highlight great products, especially from small crafters selling their homemade goods.

How I Meal Plan

Life can be crazy sometimes. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that. Add in kids and/or a job and life gets even crazier. I know it's hard enough to take care of myself and make sure I eat a healthy meal, then add in that I’m making meals for other humans (big and small) and meals can get hectic. 

For years now I’ve been meal planning and it has made a huge difference in daily life. First, I don’t have to worry about what we are having for dinner. And I don’t have to worry about if I have all the ingredients for the planned dinner. Plus, I am saving money because I’m not running to the grocery store (or drive-thru) at the last minute. An added bonus is that if I plan well enough, I don’t buy multiples of items. If I ever get lax on my planning (which does happen, I am human) I always seem to end up buying too many bottles of soy sauce or jars of peanut butter. 

Alright, let’s do this!

Craft Room Unpacking - Organization

I'm super lazy. And I just now (three weeks after moving) started emptying boxes. Well, that's a slight lie... when I was in a frenzy looking for something that I hadn't seen since before we moved, then I would open a box (or three) and throw junk to the side. So if that counts as "emptying" then I guess I'm not that damn lazy.

Anyhow...

My first big project is my craft room... craft space. A little back story; I used to have a whole craft room to myself, but in this new house we decided to use one of three bedrooms as a guest room (just in case). So the other spare room will be split in half... my craft space on the left and my husband's office space on the right. Let this prove that I am nice and I can share!

So... only having space and not a whole room adds some challenges to my project. You don't know how much stuff I have, but you will soon see!!

This is post No. 1... I will probably post one more final look, but this one will focus mainly on organizing solutions I've come up with. 

So, without further ado... the BEFORE shot!

BEFORE! A damn mess in my craft space!

First and formost, I put two shelves above the sewing table. I mainly do sewing, so I want those bits & baubles to be very close!

I put the top shelf VERY high up (where I'll put things I won't access as much) and the one below will hold zippers, trims and machine cleaning tools. The bottom shelf will also hold a wooden dowel that I thread ribbon spools on to it.

Two basic shelves... I noticed later that one of my brackets was a little off.

Shopping time! I bought the shelves at Lowe's a long time ago. The plastic jars are wonderful! They hold my various zipper sizes (6", 9" and 12") and fit at least 20 at a time. I purchased them super-cheap at Oriental Trading (set of 3).

The next item was a little DIY project. You need the following:

Steel Sheet 8"x24" (bought at Lowe's)

Neodymium Magnets - 48

E-6000 Glue - Small Tube

Short Jars - 12 (Plastic 4.5")

Four Screws to Hang It!

Total should be less than $35 (I already had the glue and magnets, so at the time I just needed to buy the jars and the steel).

I had friends in high places, so I took my sheet of steel to a sign shop and had them round the corners and poke holes in each corner. This shouldn't cost you anything at most shops, but at the least prepare to pay a few dollars for their work (which took my shop 5 minutes).

Steel sheet with rounded corners & holes!

Next... you need to take the E-600 and carefully glue four magnets on the bottom of the plastic jars. I have a few tips to make this successful for you!

1. The magnets are very, very, very strong!! So carefully separate one from the stack at a time. See this website for more info. I'm not kidding on the strength... if you're not careful you can hurt yourself! But trust me, you need these magnets and not the usual black ones you see in the world. These need to me strong to hold the weight of what is going in the jars.

2. Make sure you put four per jar! Again, this helps hold the weight of the jar's contents.

3. Just a small pea-sized dab of glue will do per magnet.

4. Let the glue dry for 24-hours.

5. Do all of this in a well-ventilated area... the glue has a very strong smell.

Four magnets per jar... no more, no less. Love my decals?

After you glued the magnets and let dry for a day, attach the sheet to the wall (vertical or horizontal, I've done both) and attach the magnetic jars. I've put some very heavy magnetic snaps in the jars and it holds perfectly!

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All done! And looking fine!!

I prefer putting this near where I seat, so I can grab button and snaps easily! 

Okay... what's next? Oh! Yes, more holes in the wall!

Poor wall.

Next, under the steel sheet, I put up a very tiny shelf with hooks. 

The shelf is only 5"x16" and really can't hold much EXCEPT these little plastic jars (about 3" tall) I got from Oriental Trading. They are perfect for small things like key rings & hooks. 

I will use the hooks underneath for something later (check back).

So small, yet so useful!

Doesn't it look great so far! Except for my crappy labels... I'm gonna redo those!

A big thumbs up for getting these level!

Okay! Two last things.

The item on the left is a plain ol' peg board that I spray painted purple. I use this to hang tall/long things (like yard sticks) and sort tools I don't use too often.

The item on the right is a thread rack. It's meant to sit on a table, but because I'm a rebel, I drilled two holes through the wood and screwed it to the wall. BAM!

Don't worry... I've got plenty of stuff to fill these up!

Alright... I'm done for now. This is the organizing part of my craft space. 

Note how it's ALL on the wall! That's important because floor space is sacred here. 

Yes, there are a ton of holes in the wall now, but those are patchable. I've even considered putting more shelves up above the peg board if the closet sorting doesn't go well (and I need space).

After... for now!! It already looks better.

Next up on the menu, is finding all my damn stuff. I'm not sure where my thread is... or my scissors. So once I find all my stuff I'll show you what this looks like filled up. 

Also, I'm gonna organize the closet in the room for the other craft stuff (I don't just sew, you know). I'll post more details then!

Herbal Blast

I had a blast from the past today while I was organizing a box of "stuff." Almost none of this "stuff" was worth keeping and I have no idea why it's been around this long. But that is a whole other post.

Anyhow, amongst the stuff (ah, hell, let's just call it junk)... was a bunch of bottled herbal meds. Back when I was trying to conceive using herbals, I took a lot of this stuff daily.

Now if you've never heard of this way of TTC, then you'll think I'm crazy, but I'm not the first woman to do this crap.
And for some, it's worked!!

Just not for me.

I don't exactly remember my regimen or how much I took of what, but I can at least give you the review of what they can do.

From back to front, left to right, these are the ones I tried (and three not pictured):

• Magnesium: I took this to relieve headaches. I've always had headaches due to hormones spikes & dips, so the magnesium helps a little. I also read that any magnesium deficiency is bad for you if you are TTC. So anty up!
• Fish Oil: Fish Oil is just good for you! It can help with cancer, cardio health, mental health, Alzheimer's, Lupus and Parkinson's! I'm sure you've heard of this one before, so this was a big part of my regimen way back when. And now I'm wondering why I still don't take it...
• Vitex/Chaste Berry: Vitex is popular option for infertility because it's suppose to help balance out any wacky hormones. Many people with PCOS have raved about it. It worked a little for me and definitely caused some of those hormone headaches I mentioned earlier.
• Cinnamon: Many PCOS'ers use cinnamon to help with insulin resistance. It is similar to the popular PCOS drug, Metformin.
• Soy Isoflavones: Soy Isoflavones has been called the herbal clomid. And it's taken in a similar manner, usually cycle day (CD) 5-9 then stopped for the rest of the cycle. If you take it the entire cycle it can do the opposite of what you want.
• Evening Primrose Oil: EPO helps produce more fertile quality cervical mucus. EPO should only be taken from menstruation to ovulation. This is because EPO can cause uterine contractions in pregnancy.
• Calcium/Vitamin D: These two are similar to the Fish Oil... they are both just plain-out good for you! And if you're trying to get pregnant, then you obviously want to be your healthiest.
• Wild Yam: Some say that Wild Yam and help increase progesterone. And many others say that it doesn't. I took this for a while but then I switched to Natural Progesterone Cream.
• Natural Progesterone Cream: I did have some luck and my period started a few times with this stuff. It's super thick and you have to rub it into your skin for like two weeks (I forget now, please look it up) and then stop. Then your period will start. And like I said... sometimes, mine did. It has also been used to prevent miscarriage.
• Black Cohosh: This is used toward the beginning of a cycle to balance hormones (estrogen). It should not be used during the luteal phase because of possible miscarriage.

Now... listen carefully here... I am not a doctor! Don't be stupid and take all these pills just because I mentioned them in my blog. Many woman use these herbals sucessfully, but they use them correctly.
If you're interested in trying any of these, do your research!! I spent hours and hours looking up each of these to make sure I was taking them at the right time during my cycle and at the right dose. And there are still allergy issues! So don't be stupid.
If you have any concerns, talk to a doctor. A real one... not an internet one.

Ok, back to my organizing.

What's Happening?

Howdy!

I haven't posted in a while and I figured it's time to wax into some poetry or something. Or not.

Well if you're following my TTC videos on YouTube then you know the gist of what I've been up to. We're trying to make a person! I will upload another video tomorrow so you can see where we are. Check out the videos if you're still behind!

Also I've been cleaning and organizing. We moved into this house in June and right after that we went to Nebraska for my cousin's beautiful wedding... so I didn't start any unpacking until after we got back.

My cousin and her new husband!

So I unpacked the basics and now I'm getting into a cleaning routine and organizing along the way.

We live in a small house. It's a three-bedroom brick and it's set on some nice land in the country... but it's small.

So I'm pulling out all the tricks for making it efficient and clean.

I've been tracking these improvements and over the next few weeks I'll share them here!


Otherwise, I'm just going to my doctor's appointments, cleaning, organizing and trying to conceive (again).

My two dogs (left to right) Hal the Shar-Pit and Cy the Bassett Hound. This is what we do every day... take a long walk to the mailbox & back. They love to go out and run around the place sniffing out critters.

 

Confessions of a Stay-At-Home Wife

Well... this is it. This is my new life.
I don't work outside the home. I am now a stay-at-home wife.

And that new role is very strange and difficult for me to get used to living. Prior to the wedding, I used the excuse of the "wedding coming up" to not get into a routine. And last week, I used the excuse of needing to "rest" after our trip to Nebraska for the wedding. But, I can't make excuses any longer. This is my new life... I have to get the hang of it.

So today I spent a good deal of time researching and brainstorming to finally develop a schedule for myself.

In my research, I came across so many great posts from women who were in the same situation and I felt some relief when I learned that they, also, had trouble settling into their new role (especially since I've worked my whole life so far).
If you think about it, when you work for a living (outside the home) you are working on someone else's schedule. You're suppose to show up at a certain time and accomplish certain tasks throughout the day before leaving at a certain time. The next day you do it again.
I got used to that.
Now, I can wake up whenever I want and do whatever I want. It's so easy to go crazy and, in the end, not get a damn thing done. I'm a smart girl... I could see how this much freedom can cause trouble!

So, I've created myself a system to follow. I'll be honest, I have no idea if it will work. Trying it for a while will help and I can always adjust and reformat this system to better fit.

First, I reviewed why I am staying home/what my purpose is in staying home. Then I made goals. Lastly, I worked out the details (mapping out my available time). I figured this out using this blog post from Pursuing Titus 2.

After realizing what I needed to do, I created a few ways to organize my days. I made myself a daily agenda (with checklists) to fill out everyday. I found SO MUCH inspiration for this checklist on Pinterest & other great sites.
I included a morning, afternoon and before bed checklist, menu planner, appointment reminder, exercise log and water intake log. A lot of this is necessary to remind me to do certain things in order to achieve my personal goals (having a clean house, taking care of myself inside & out and saving money).

And I updated a cleaning checklist (the older one was used when I worked full-time... now I do all the cleaning myself) to coordinate with my daily agenda.
Lastly, I made some goals for creating bags and accessories for my Etsy shop... which I'd like to open back up by the end of this week.

So, all in all, I think I'm ready to take this new life on. Again, I'll just see how my new tools work for me and make adjustments as needed. 

DOWNLOAD a PDF version of my daily agenda by clicking on the DOWLOADS tab.

LOVE MY DAILY AGENDA but want a customized one?
E-mail me and we'll work out all the details, including cost.