Everything but the kitchen sink...well, at least everything under it.

Boy, have I been busy with some of the YUCKY tasks this week. No, not the toilets thankfully. Its like Toni (over at A bowl full of lemons) is taunting me with my most avoided chores of all time through this challenge. My husband on the other hand is lovin' it. Get ready for some quick photo blogging peeps- I've got more organizing and cleaning to do!


Here's what I was up to on Day #5 of  the "Getting Organized Challenge": Under the Kitchen Sink  


I have been avoiding this spot since we moved in due to some water damage that has since been "repaired". It is still needing a bit more attention that won't happen until we begin refinishing the cabinets. Also, well, because its just UGLY.  My expectations are just on this side of not UGLY for the after results but at least it will not be on the "Throw it in there with your eyes closed and close the cabinet -QUICK!" list
BEFORE:(still can't believe I am showing you all this)

After a good scrubbing, some organizing, and some shelf liner- It's better. It's still not pretty but at least I am not avoiding it anymore.And....it is just under the kitchen sink right?!
AFTER:

 

Now what about you? C'mon you can do it too!

The Dreaded Desk Blog

Although my posts the next few days won't be as "thrilling" as my creative side would like, or as thought provoking as my intellectual side would prefer, they are EXTREMELY helpful to the practical/don't-go-crazy-over-little-things-that-don't-matter-as-much-as-the-people-I-love side of me. Thanks for sticking with us:)

Challenge #2 was to conquer the desktop clutter a.k.a my arch-nemesis.  Important note: Paper clutter is overwhelming to me. I run from it, intentionally avoiding it every time. Its the old "friend" that I avoid eye contact with across a crowed room OR if we are the only two in the room. You get the picture. 

I spend a lot of time at my desk studying, writing, blogging, face-booking, etc *usually*. This Christmas break I tried to be intentional with the time I spent with my husband and kiddos while they were home. Cuddling, watching movies, just watching them grow and growing us together as a family too. So my home sweet desk didn't get much attention other than to dump stacks of mail and a brief check of the calender now and again and RUN!

It was time to face my fear. Mission Accomplished!*with an addendum  to clean the monitor after :)

 

Junk in the Trunk (er, I mean drawer)

I have been challenged by a fellow blogger to a 21 day "Get Organized" Challenge.  I love being organized. Well, I love the IDEA of being organized. Almost as much as I love the IDEA of being on time everywhere we go. It's just the making it happen consistently with 6 people living in 1 space. Not to mention my ongoing "projects".......and I did say not to mention them so.....we won't ;)

Basically the challenge goes like this: Every day for the next 21 days (with the exception of Sunday's) she posts a new challenge to complete within the next 24 hours (or longer if necessary). I then take a before pic to post(Eeeek!), complete the task and then post the after pic of my results. If nothing else I will have started the 2011 with 21 organized spaces in my home. Honestly, I don't like the idea of showing "my mess" but I don't back down from a challenge well either. So here it goes....

Day 1 a.k.a Junk in the Trunk  Drawer
Eeeek!
This is my before.  This is the one drawer that we ALL drop our misc stuff in. It. is. scary. We're talking monsters in the bed, don't really know how long it's been since I've seen the back of the drawer scary. I may have been known to do an arm sweep of the counter into this drawer in panic over the ring of an unexpected doorbell kind of s.c.a.r.y. I will never admit to it ...but it may have happened (more than once) I will not back down from a challenge.... so I dumped it all in a basket and sat myself down to sort said "junk" and most of it was just that.


And the After.........

...............(insert *angels singing* here)

Much prettier now.
I think I'm going to enjoy the next 20 days!

  

Feeling inspired??? You can take the challenge too!!Just follow the daily challenges over at A bowl full of lemons 21 day challenge for more details!!

Making Christmas Beautiful

I love making fun things with the kids at Christmas... cut out Christmas cookies the kitchen covered in flour and the house smelling of sweetness....glittered adorned cards sent out to those we love....and lots and lots of popsicle sticks, foam stickers, pipe-cleaners and painted hand-prints crafted into ornaments, reindeer, and any other celebratory symbol of the holidays. This year as we were cleaning out the craft closet (yes we have an entire closet full of craft supplies...that's another post) and noticing our abundance of crayons we decided to reinvent the Christmas craft.

We decided to take some old and broken things and make them new again.  Crayons. I cannot tell you how many crayons this family with 4 children and 2 former preschool teacher parents have accumulated!

We sorted out all our broken crayons from the ones that still had good life left and then sorted again by color and broke any larger pieces into smaller ones. 

They weren't always the same shade but as long as they were in he same color family it was fine.  

 We preheated the oven to 350, then we got a silicone baking tray, ours were in the shape of snowflakes, and  places all the broken pieces in a section. After the oven was preheated we placed the silicone baking tray onto a metal sheet and popped them in the oven. Turn the oven down to 250 for about 10 minutes or until the crayons started to look a little soupy. Then we took them out. I stirred each section with a plastic knife to even out the color in each section. After they cooled a bit I stuck them in the freezer for another 30 minutes to harden.

 After that we peeled them out of our snowflake mold and Ta-Da!! Snowflake Christmas crayons Super easy and so cute. Package these up with a cute bow and new coloring book and these would make cute stocking stuffer! What's some of your favorite Christmas/Holiday crafts to do with your kids?

who we are

Being a "Chase" is an amazing thing. We love with our whole hearts, laugh with our whole selves, and live with our whole souls- like no other family I have ever experienced. We are in this for life, good times and bad. We are crazy and quiet, not to mention those moments where we are quite crazy too.  We're inclusive not exclusive. We believe friends can become family. Come along with us on this journey, and experience our antics, the things we make, bake, the crazy things we say, the people we meet when we're walking down the street, and The Thrill of being a Chase.