How I Organize...

We are moving this summer...either to a different house, or a different city altogether.
I can't really start packing now, because that would be silly when we have 4 whole months left here.  Packing things away for 4-5 months means they aren't things we need on a day to day basis which is cause for throwing them out!
I started with the garage.  Mainly because we bought a new car.  Well, Ricky did.  It will be his daily driver, now that his new job requires a commute.  He's always driving me crazy about cleaning out the garage because there are things out there that just move from one house to the next but never get sorted through.  So I successfully hauled a bunch of things off to the recycling center with his dad and him and cleaned the garage out!
Then I got this crazy idea to tackle the office/guest room/ my sewing room.  I went completely OCD in there.  Printed labels for everything, sorted through every single drawer and the closet.  I impressed myself, haha.
Then I reorganized some of the kitchen cabinets and cleaned out the cabinets in our small laundry room.
Today, I sorted all the laundry...which feels like moving mountains to me.
I went through our master closet and pulled out a ton of clothes to toss or donate.  I did that mainly because my husband has lost 70 lbs. this past year and it was high time to clear out his bigger clothes in celebration of such a huge accomplishment.
Then I did most of the laundry (its still going) from wash, to dry, to folded & hung.
Finally, Gavin and I went crazy cleaning out his room.  I was very proud of him...he cleared out 3 large trash bags worth of junk!  
We are going to rearrange it tonight as soon as I come up with a plan to fix his platform bed which I messed up while moving it.  Anytime you tackle a clean up in Gavin's room its a HUGE task so to just toss that in randomly & finish (for the most part) felt great!!
Tonight and/or tomorrow I think I'll work on the bathroom & linen closets, the china cabinet, and our "junk drawers."
My goal is to have gone through every room from top to bottom and at least have everything sorted & decluttered by Friday.
Then I can enlist Ricky's help cleaning up the yard & hauling things away this weekend!
*whew*  Even this post was exhausting.

Here are some photos of the cleanup in my sewing room!

Busy Days.

This morning I woke up after a much needed 8 hours of sleep & got Gavin off to school.  He's such a little champ in the mornings.  Gets himself ready right on schedule.  Awesome kiddo I'm raising. ;)

Right after I drop Gav off at school its my morning ritual to just sit down for a bit and relax with some caffeine and last night's DVR'd shows.  A slow start to my day.  But today, I woke up anxious because I have SO MUCH to do over the next few days!  So I started with a to do list...a massive one.
I'm probably only halfway through my list and its already after 4pm!  So I've just been busy, busy, busy.

My Dad is visiting us from Colorado and arrives in Florida on this upcoming Sunday!  I'm so excited!!
Of course anytime a guest is coming my OCD kicks into overdrive.
So back to cleaning I must go!
I hope you are all having a great week!  If you're not, at least its halfway over!
Happy Wednesday!!

-Beth

Lions & Tigers and...DRAGONS, oh my!

Yesterday Gavin and I were bored at home and I realized that out of all this sewing I've been doing...I haven't done anything for him other than a quick handkerchief apron!  Throughout my many searches for patterns online I've bookmarked several sites for things I want to try eventually and I decided yesterday was the perfect day to make Gavin a dragon tail!

You can find the original brilliant Mom who designed it here: Tatertots & Jello

 Helping me add a little stuffing to the spikes because the orange fabric was an old sheet and very thin.  He even pinned after stuffing!!

 He loves it, acting silly as usual!

We used green flannel and an old orange sheet for the spikes.

RAWR!!!

The only thing I'd do differently next time (because you know he wants them in all different colors now, haha)...is make my strips for the straps a little longer.  Gavin is 7 and its really tight around his waist.  I might have to add extenders to the straps down the road.  Oh well, he loves it & that's all that matters!