February 2013 – No Chaos No Order

{this moment}

Posted on February 24, 2013 by nochaosnoorder_lkd0dk Posted in heart .

**I did not take any photos this week! ACK! My husband, however, did. To find a photo for this post and to finish my “hospital stay” scrapbook for Robin, I am trying to get our computers to talk to each other, but his is being aloof and uncooperative. :/

{this moment} – A [Sunday] ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. As inspired by Collecting the Moments … One by One and SouleMama

Paperless manuals

Posted on February 22, 2013 by nochaosnoorder_lkd0dk Posted in home .

Remember my adventure in going through my files? I had alluded to my manuals in a post about my household notebook where I made a tab for them. Well, while going through my files, I found so many I had to put them all into their own notebook. Well … I don’t like the notebook. The manuals are often too big and bulky for the page protectors I used. Also, I have a whole bunch of them! And finally, I am rarely going to look at any of them, ever. SO. I went through the notebook and found all the manuals in pdf format on the internet. There were only a few that I couldn’t find on the manufacturer’s website, but a short email to their customer service quickly resolved that. The pile on the right are the manuals that are being recycled. On the left are the five manuals that are being kept. And they now fit in the Household Notebook! Yay!

Undersink cleaning!

Posted on February 20, 2013 by nochaosnoorder_lkd0dk Posted in home .

I got to start a little on the Spring Cleaning/Organizing of the Kitchen. I went through all the cupboards and culled what I could and I found new homes for things that don’t belong in the kitchen. I asked my husband to resolve all the items in the “to return” basket which he did and he went through his stuff that accumulated in his adopted corner of the counter. It’s not done enough to share, but one thing I did get done was cleaning and organizing under the sink! Yay!

I forgot the before photo again, but here is the cupboard empty of things:

All the stuff under there went on the counter for sorting:

Here’s what will go back in after it’s cleaned:

I cut a hole in the lid of this plastic container and stuffed all the plastic bags into it:

I used Command hooks to hang our gloves (after they’ve dried) and put the dish washing supplies in neatly:

And then I put the cleaned plastic bag holder, garbage can, and recycling bins back in:

I debated about trying to label things, or put them into matching containers, but I decided that I usually don’t keep a lot down there. And the only things that get out of hand down there are bags and sponges and they both seem well corralled now. I would like matching and labeled trash/recycling containers, but I have no budget for those types of things right now. Maybe I’ll take a Sharpie to them! And the plastic bag container needs some love, to…

Quilt Run 101

Posted on February 18, 2013 by nochaosnoorder_lkd0dk Posted in heart, relationship .

A random, just for fun adventure! Quilt Run 101 is a Spring event held by 15 coastal quilt stores. There were several ways to participate:
1) The passport. No purchase necessary, just be sure to get your passport stamped at each store you visit. Get at least 6 stamps to qualify for a $25 gift certificate drawing. More stamps qualifies you for more prizes. The Grand Prize is a Janome 6600 sewing machine! You need all 15 stamps to qualify and that was my goal.

2) 2013 Quilt Run 101 quilt. Each store picks a unique quilt block for you to put together as a commemorative souvenir. I decided just to get the pattern for each block (free), but you could have gotten a kit of pre-cut pieces ($3. Pretty reasonable, really!) I might do the actual quilt if I was making the event a big one – rent a beach house for the week with girlfriends, hit a couple shops a day, but play at the beach, too. And, of course, be sewing each day! Basically, building memories, rather than driving the whole time. 🙂
3) The Challenge Quilt. Each store picks a fabric and you have a couple months to make a quilt that has all 15 fabrics in it. The fabrics are SO different, getting them to play nice would definitely be a challenge. I wish I had gotten a picture of the sample board. Each entrant gets a yard of fabric and qualifies for more prizes. You have to buy a fat quarter of each fabric, so at $3/each would cost you at least $45.

I went as cheap as I could (since I spent so much on gas) and got 1/8th of a yard at most all of the stores. There were two who wouldn’t cut 8ths, so I skipped them. It took me three whole days to get to all the stores.

Day one: Florence to Billings by myself. A great time to reconnect with me and joyful singing. 11am – 11pm

Day two: Astoria to Cloverdale with my husband and our baby. Another great opportunity – time to reconnect with the hubby. Robin slept most of the trip and was such a good boy most of the time he was awake! 🙂 9am – 8pm

Day 3: Waldport to Toledo with my Mom and Robin. More connecting! And Robin was more awake and interested in the stores and shopkeepers. I turned in my passport, but didn’t win anything! 🙁 11am – 5pm

{this moment}

Posted on February 17, 2013 by nochaosnoorder_lkd0dk Posted in heart .

This nephew didn’t sit still long enough to be in focus!

{this moment} – A [Sunday] ritual. A single photo capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. As inspired by Collecting the Moments … One by One and SouleMama

Homemade deoderant

Posted on February 17, 2013 by nochaosnoorder_lkd0dk Posted in Uncategorized .

I was inspired by a Pinterest post and used a recipe like this one to try making my own deodorant/antiperspirant. I like the idea of using fewer chemicals in my cleaning and hygiene products, but I am a fan of antiperspirant. All the alternative products I’ve tried so far are only deodorant and never quite made the grade.

I packed my concoction in an old deodorant tube and tried it for a week. It controlling my odor well, but the baking soda left my armpits feeling gritty and I started getting all red and raw. The other draw back was the coconut oil kept melting, so if I wanted it solid I had to store it in the fridge.

So, a good try, but not successful for me.

Next project!

Drawer labels/decore

Posted on February 16, 2013 by nochaosnoorder_lkd0dk Posted in heart, home .

I wanted to make these drawers a little more uniform and interesting while hiding the random jumbles inside.

With a little bit of paper and my printer I made labels so I’m not searching for the drawer I want.

I debated putting all of the labels on the left side, but I decided that it would be easier to look at them if they were all together.

I love how a little bit of work ends with such satisfaction! Yay!

Paper box

Posted on February 16, 2013 by nochaosnoorder_lkd0dk Posted in heart, home .

Continuing on my scrapbooking shelf organization and prettification journey, I made a box to hold ugly and off-sized paper in a neat and attractive manner.

Here is the shelf with no organization or prettiness:

ICK! Using scrap cardboard, Elmer’s glue, fabric, and spray adhesive, I made a divided box to sort this paper pile. It may not be decorated inside (I ran out of fabric),

but the organization is attractive enough for me!

And the outside makes up for it!

Ahhh … I am almost done with the shelf!!

Cake stand – abandoned! For now…

Posted on February 16, 2013 by nochaosnoorder_lkd0dk Posted in home .

I love these recycled glass dishes from Fire and Light – so pretty! And, usually, durable! The only drawback is they say they are not microwave safe. 🙁

For our wedding, we got a few goblets and, sadly the cup part breaks pretty easily. The stem is still really sturdy, so I was going to make a cake stand with the most recent broken glass.

Except I broke the base when I was using my hammer to chip off more of the cup. Next time I’ll be less greedy and break out the grinder sooner!

I must admit, I am looking forward to a nice cake stand! ;D

Swallow study

Posted on February 12, 2013 by nochaosnoorder_lkd0dk Posted in health, heart .

Robin had a swallow study today that didn’t go so well. It wasn’t horrible, but he cried a lot and we didn’t get the information we wanted. We wanted to see if he was still aspirating liquid. And since we didn’t see it well, they want us to keep thickening his food. Blah. But the trip and everything else went well.