"Oooooooh In Ma House"

This is the home I grew up in
Isn't it beautiful?
Houses have been on my mind for weeks.

My parents moved into a new home last week. I am so excited that they are happy and that they are getting settled someplace that they love.

Today on the phone, my mom said, "oh Meg, I can't wait for you to see my house. It's really cute and it has a craft room. You'll love it."

Of course I will love it, my mom is the queen hostess. It will be no surprise to anyone who's met her that her new place is just darling.

I lived in the same home (shown above) from birth until I left for college when I was 18. My parents did an excellent job of creating a home where everyone felt welcome, safe, and loved.

Since then, they have lived in large homes, small homes, rentals, and their RV. Even in stages of transition, their homes have all housed a Spirit that can be felt by anyone who enters.

I'm striving to develop this same feeling in my home.

The talk, Building Your Eternal Home by the Prophet, Thomas S Monson was just what I needed to read, today. It is right in tune with many of the recent thoughts I've been having about my home and what my aspirations as a wife, mother, and homemaker are for this new year, and forever.

Here's an excerpt from the intro
"the Master counseled, 'Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God.'

Where could any of us locate a more suitable blueprint whereby we could wisely and properly build a house to personally occupy throughout eternity? Such a house would meet the building code outlined in Matthew—even a house built “upon a rock,” a house capable of withstanding the rains of adversity, the floods of opposition, and the winds of doubt everywhere present in our challenging world."

Just what I need for my little family.
My goal is to create an environment that both envelopes and projects love.
I want my children to grow up feeling the same comforts of security, acceptance, affection, and safety, that Aaron and I were both blessed to be raised with. I found inspiration in the words from our Prophet and the scriptures he cited. The entire talk is wonderful.

"Organize". "Prepare". "Faith". "Learning". "Order". "Build".

These words are literary nuggets of chocolate to me, right now, and I cannot wait to begin my feast.

Happy New Year!

Finished Projects

I know It's kind of a buzz kill to post these Christmas crafts post Christmas, but I didn't actually finish them until after Christmas, so there you go.

I made two of each, so I could give them as gifts, but gave other gifts because I didn't finish these in time. Oh well, at least I have a head start on next year!

My friend, Katie, and I get together about once a month and make something crafty. Or sometimes we just sit, talk, laugh, and eat good food while our kids play. Either way, we always have fun. Here's what we made this month:

I love the double meaning of the word, "believe" at Christmas time. I can't wait to put this on my piano next year, and tuck little sprigs of greenery between the letters. Katie used different paper, and hers turned out super cute.

The best part about these crafts is that aside from the 3 sheets of paper I purchased, they were free! And how cute is that crusty weathered picture frame? I got it for free from someone's garage sale leftovers. I've got big plans for that bad boy. I might drill a few 1 inch holes in the top of the Merry Christmas block, so it can hold candles...but I dunno....it won't seem right if my "Merry Christmas" block ends up looking more like a menorah. I saw a craft on a decorating blog where there were holes drilled and numbered sticks stood inside them. It was used as an advent for the kids, with the number written on one side of the stick, and a christmas activity to do written on the back of each. Or, maybe I'll hammer a cute old fashioned nail or hook to the front and hang numbered tags from it to use as an advent. Not that the Merry Christmas message and cuteness aren't enough, but it seems like the block itself is big enough that it should serve an additional purpose if it's going to sit on someone's countertop. Any suggestions? It needs something.

Well this is good.

Meg: Come on girls, pick these toys up so I can vacuum in here.

Quincy: I'll vacuum for you, Mom! [runs to the kitchen and grabs the broom]

Reese: No, no, no, Quincy....that's for sweeping. Mom is going to vacuum. It's the big vacuum. The one she never uses.

Orderly Conduct {1}

1) Headbands. I kind of (really have a problem) love them.

My bathrooms are lacking in drawer space (meaning drawers are practically nonexistent) and there are too many of them to just leave them lying loose on the bathroom counter. My friend Jerushia suggested using a large oatmeal container. I was skeptical, at first, but found that the containter can't even be seen once the headbands are on it. And I love being able to see all of my options without having to dig through a drawer, so much, that I wouldn't care if the container showed.

I received about 7 new headbands as Christmas gifts and this one is getting a little crowded, so I'll probably start another one, soon. The photo is kind of washed out, but it's actually a cute little accessory on my dresser. I am thinking of covering one with cute paper to match the girls' bathroom and putting all of their headbands on it, and storing their loose accessories inside the container. The oatmeal container is the perfect size to hold the headbands so they don't slip, but not stretch them out, either.

Large oatmeal tubs for headbands.

As my nephew, Brock, would say, "See? It's Pohfect!"

Thanks, J-ru!

2) Baby Gear

The other day I was pulling the sheets from all of the beds to launder, and I discovered a sweet little hidey hole under Quincy's bed. The drawers on her captain's bed only go halfway under her mattress, leaving an 18in x 6ft pocket of wasted space behind it. It isn't super accessible, since I have to remove the mattress to get to it, but it is the perfect place to store the items I only need to get to every couple of years, like infant gear.

I busted out my mad packing skills that I inherited from my dad...the true Master Packer, and in that tiny space, I managed to squeeze in:

-the Jumperoo

-the bassinet and changing table attachments to the pack n play

-the cradle swing

-the infant carseat and base

-the high chair

-the boppy pillow

I'm mostly excited because zero of these items easily store any other place in my house. They are odd shaped and bulky, and end up floating all over the garage, blocking the way to things I actually do need to get to from time to time.

Have a captains bed or daybed in your house? The space below it is bigger than you think!

Do you have a storage tip you'd like to share that's "just pohfect"? send me an email

Reservations

Oh boy, am I excited.

I just booked my flight to California!!!

At the end of January, Corbin and I are going to take a quickie extended weekend trip to visit my family.



On the agenda:

1) a stop at Pink Berries. Like as soon as we leave the airport.

I'm going to need it after 6 hours of flying with an angry elf on my lap.

I'll probably insist that we hit In-N-Out burger on the way to Hollister, as well. Since we'll be passing a few of them anyway.



2) Mi Familia! My parents (hollah!) just moved into a new house. I can't wait to get my hands on my mom's closets and cabinets and organize them for her. I love arranging other people's furniture. It's like playing dollhouse for grown ups. I'm actually planning to spend most of my weekend helping them get unpacked and tucked into their new place. I also can't wait to get my hot little hands on my Grandma Lawrence's antique iron and convex glass picture frame. I'm saving room in my suitcase for both of them, Mom. Don't worry.



3) RUN! It was freezing here, today. Freezing. And on Facebook, all of my Ca peeps are whining things like "dang, I can't run today. it might rain." I love to run in the rain. Know what's not fun? Running a 1 mile lap around a shopping mall 8 times, because that's all you could find that didn't have any ice on it. Ok...that's sort of fun, too. But I'm really looking forward to running in short sleeves. maybe even shorts, if I'm real lucky. Shorts! No gloves, no hat, no underarmour, no jacket, no tights under my pants. no water bottles that start to turn into ice by the end of a long run. Just gimme some California sunshine! Everything is super green in Ca at this time of year, because it rains so much. I'll take rain. I'll definitely take green scenery.
I'll take anything if my family is there.



We're running the Rotary Club San Juan Bautista Mission 10 miler.


The San Juan Mission and grounds are gorgeous, and I have some great memories singing there. I'm super excited that the start and finish line of the race will be this rockin' building. Fabulous scenery. And 10 miles is a perfect race distance for me. I'm stoked, and hope to hit a PR at this one. San Juan and Hollister friends, come run with us! Or come watch and cheer so we run faster. Or just come to show support for Rotary and their worldwide efforts to fight Polio.

4) Super Taq will be consumed post-race. I can't risk eating there beforehand, because....well I don't live in Ca anymore. Sadly, this means I no longer have the necessary tolerance built up for a pre-race super taco. I'll make up for it by eating there several times on Saturday. I'm sure this is also a risk, since I fly home Sunday...but I'm willing to sacrifice the comfort of everyone else on my flight home to get my carne asada on.

5) The Oakland TempleI've said this 1,000 times before, but I'll say it again.

Driving 4 hours each way to our closest temple is not easy. The winter months make it a particularly difficult trip to plan. Two of our temple trips that we planned last year were shut down because of inclement weather. At best, the drive to OKC is an exhausting trip to make, but once we attend the temple....wow. The service that is done, the Spirit that is felt, and the feeling I leave with confirms my testimony that any sacrifices I have made, and more, are worth it. I love the temple.

My family is SO lucky to live only an hour and a half away from a temple. Local friends, can you imagine?! That's close enough to go and be home with time to spare before the kids are home from school! Amazing.

The Oakland Temple was closed for renovation the last time I was there, so I really hope to go this time, especially since I'll have unlimited access to a fazillion family members who will be begging to watch little Corbin for me while I sneak away for a few hours. That alone is a huge blessing in and of itself.

6) Color my mom's hair.

I am 100% certain that this will somehow end up on my agenda, so I'm just going to add it now. Mom, you should be prepared to A) color my hair in return, and B) have your picture taken whilst your hair is full of solution and you look like CindyLou Who. I can't resist. Plus, you have a birthday coming up, and I'm out of embarassing photos of you to post on this here blog.

Correction: I'm out of embarassing photos of you that don't also include an embarassing photo of me in them. We need to work on that.

Yay for California.

New Feature

I'm pretty excited about 2011.
It's going to be a fab year for our family. I have a lot to look forward to, and even more to be grateful for.

The week before the New Year begins, I often freak out and have an unrestrainable urge to declutter and organize everything in my life. Gotta make room in our lives for new goals, new toys, new adventures, etc. We live in a 1700 sqft home. There are three bedrooms and 1 and 3/4 baths. There is no attic space, no basement, no laundry "room", and no pantry. I have two closets for storage, a tiny closet with shelves and a tiny door that Aaron refers to as my "Messy Monica Closet", and a 2' x 2' coat closet. And there's a fugly boat eating up half of my garage, so storage space is minimal in the is place.

But still, 1700 sqft should be plenty of room for a family of 5. Especially when most of those people are tiny. Our problem is stuff. We are 'stuffed to the muff' with stuff!

So where do I put everything?

I'm starting a new segment on the bloggie for organization ideas. I'll start with some things that have worked for me, but if you have an organizing tip or method to help keep something in your life in order, send me an email @ leggo_my_meg-o(at)juno(dot)com and I'll feature it. Attach a picture of your brilliant idea if you have one. It can be anything from to how you store your recipies, to bills and paper organization, to a handy way to stack cups in the cupboard. Little tricks like this can be life changing.
Don't laugh at me, they can! Less time spent picking up after someone, or looking for a lost something or other means more time for the important things in your lives. Like Facebook.

Hopefully, everyone will get a little inspiration and a little motivation to simplify, or give order to unorderly corners of our lives.

Cool, yeah? I think so.

Speaking of cool things....guess what? Blogger has eliminated the limit on invites for private blogs...or at least it eliminated it on my blog...because I just checked and there are like 120 readers. What? When? How did this happen? Who cares! No limit! Yay!

Email me your storage/organizing ideas...

Only family will find this funny...

Yesterday:

Aaron: Whoa Ho Ho! These stockings are 'stuffed to the muff!'

Merry Christmas, guys!
Love and miss you all.