Spring cleaning

Streamlining vs. organizing.

Organizing is put your things in order...however in about two weeks the house once again looks cluttered and messy. Streamlining is going through every single item in your house that is yours or you are in charge of and asking your self....do I need, want, use, like, or have room for this? Have bins/bags/boxes with you to help sort through your things. Have a garbage, DI/other charity/yard sale, file later (for all of those important papers you find in odd places), and doesn't belong in this room bins. Work in a clockwise pattern in each room. Go through EVERYTHING, touch EVERYTHING.

Tips for children: 7 (+1 extra incase something gets dirty) shirts, pants, socks, underwear (depending on the stage of potty training you may need more); and 2 Sunday outfits. To make the closet practically empty, fold the shirt, socks, underwear inside the pants to make a outfit pack and store in dresser. This way clothes match and you don't have a sock drawer, a underwear drawer, a pants drawer, etc.

The motto: LESS IS BEST!

You don't want clutter you want empty spaces. Our homes should look and feel like the temple. You should feel at peace! By clearing out the things that we don't need, want, like, use or have room for we give ourselves more time (we aren't spending so much time looking for things we can't find or spending money on something we already have because we are tired for looking for it), energy (not searching for lost items, easy to find an outfit with the outfit pack, etc.).

A tip from Opera...if you aren't sure which clothes you wear turn all the hangers backwards on the rod and when you wear something put the hanger the correct way in a few months you can tell which clothes you wear and which ones you don't.

You only need 2 pairs of sheets (get rid of the linen closet: store sheets and extra blankets between mattress and box-frame), one towel (if you want one hand towel and wash cloth as well) per person in your family (we don't really work with the cows everyday an more, so we really are bathing clean bodies).

Going through clothes is the hardest thing; remember you only wear about 25% of your clothes: they are your favorites so you know which ones I am talking about. Get ride of the other 75%. A lot of room was just made in your closet! Get ride of the clothes that aren't in style, are old and warn out, have holes in the knees, have frayed edges, stained (arm pits, oil) etc. Be careful though, if you are like me and on a budget don't get rid of every pair of pants because you have had them since high school and they are fraying...you won't be able to replace them. Perhaps you could set aside a few dollars each month in your clothes budget to buy some more down the road. Store winter/summer clothes under your bed/couch.

When you are getting ready to start your streamlining you may want to let someone babysit your younger children...this can take a long time and it will be hard to give your attention to them. Shut your teenagers door...don't touch their stuff. Don't touch your spouses stuff...let everyone know that you are only going to be streamlining your things and the things you are in charge of (which is basically the whole house). Let the older children help; they are more than willing to help. Children love to clean and be helpful...use them! A smart mom does less chores!!!

It is time for the embarrassment to stop when you have unexpected guests show up...streamline!

GOOD LUCK EVERYBODY!!!! HAVE FUN!!!!

LDS General Conference

Don't forget this weekend: April 2nd & 3rd is General Conference!

I found an article on classiclds.org called Conference: It's for the whole family. I found lots of interesting points and tips in how to get the family involved in conference. To read more go here.

1. Plan a family project or outing between Saturday sessions

2. Do Saturday duties on Friday

3. Note taking for older children: speaker's name, speaker's topic, and at least one story

4. Have children/teens add pictures of the speaker in their notes

5. Discuss conference talks and what each person learned during the FHE after conference

Our family makes crepes for breakfast on Sunday. What are you family traditions?

I also found some printable packets for youth and primary children at Sugar Doodle; go here to check it out..

Staches & Tiaras: bridal shower game

Oh how I wish I could take the credit for this super cute bridal shower game. But truth be told I found it at Craftaholics Anonymous.

Staches & Tiaras: an adorable twist on the bridal shower game "The Newly Wed".

These are super easy to make and are so fun to use at the shower. All you need is paper, scissors (if you don't have a silhouette or cricut), popsicle sticks and hot glue gun. I also used my i rock and gems to make the tiara's a bit more elegant!

Unfortunately, I don't have a silhouette or cricut so I made my own patterns. Then I cut out my staches and tiaras. I glued them to tongue depressors, because I didn't have any popsicle sticks. Then I added the gems.

What do you think? Pretty cute?! I think so!

For the game ask the bride and groom the same set of questions. I did about 15 questions. Here are some ideas:

1. TP roll over or under?

2. Which would you rather do? A-clean the toilet B-clean the refrigerator C-clean the shower

3. Perfect vacation spot?

4. What was your first job?

5. What was your most memorable Halloween costume?

6. What color is your toothbrush?

7. What is your biggest pet peeve?

Pick your favorite answers; one for each question. Repeat the questions you asked to the bride and groom to the guests at your party. Have them guess who answered the question with the answer you picked. They will hold up the tiara by their forehead if they think it is the bride or the stach by their upper lip if they think it is the groom or both if they think it was both the bride and groom. To find more information about Staches and Tiaras go here.

Burp cloth tutorial

These burp cloths are super easy to make. I found the material at a yard sale and I bought the batting at Jo-Ann's with a coupon! For a free printable pattern and step by step directions go here.

With the scrap fabric I cut out a whale and sewed it on with a tight zig-zag stitch.

Race for the Cure

Get involved and make a difference here!

We can fight breast cancer together!

Trip to the zoo

Spring is almost here! I can't wait to get outside. I feel like I have been stuck inside for so long.

This is a great activity for children and adults. The ZOO! Put the stroller in the car, pack a lunch and the camera because you are going to have a fun outing at the zoo.

Balloons!!!

I am sure that many boys who are in high school won't be interested in reading this type of blog. But I figured they have mom's who would. So this is for all of you mother's with teenage boys.

In Idaho and Utah the teenagers like to ask out their dates with a little creativity.

My sister was asked to Homecoming with a lot of balloons! And she loved it! She had to pop all of the balloons to find out who had asker her to homecoming!

So here is to a super cheap, super fun, low on breath way to ask your date to a dance.

Dinosaur Nursery

Well, my family and I are in the midst of moving. So, I am just adding to the blog with old pictures of projects I have. When we get all settled in and I have time to work on new things I will have more updated posts.

This is the dinosaur nursery I made for my son in our old cinder-block apartment using what I had available (we were poor college students).

I painted three pictures: two dinosaur and one volcano. Mind you I have never painted anything for fun in my life and thought I would start a new hobby. I think they turned out pretty well. We also hung a picture of a waterfall that we took on our summer trip to Hawaii.

I was so frustrated that I could find the perfect material to make his bumper and blanket out of. So on our trip to Idaho my mom and I spent 4 hours searching stores to find the perfect fabric. We finally went to Wal-mart and there we found it!

Tie dye tutorial

There are probably tons of different tutorials on how to tie dye your clothes. This is how we did it.

First you soak your cotton shirt (or whatever article of clothing you would like to tie dye) in a water/baking soda solution for about 10 minutes. We used one box of soda with about 2 galons of water. This process helps the cotton fiber absorb the color better.

Then you pick were you want your spiral(s) to start. Twist, fold, etc. There are many patterns that can be found online.

Then secure your shirt with three rubber bands. These form the sections that you will dye.

We bought many different colors. Follow the mixing instructions and put the dye into squeeze bottles. We were a little more creative with water bottles and a nail hole in the lid (not recommended). The squeeze bottles worked much better.

Let your shirt rest in a plastic bag for 24 hours.

Rinse under cold water with ties still on. Switch to warm water while you until the folds. You want to keep rinsing your shirt until the water runs fairly clear. Put your shirt in the washing machine (hot water). We washed 3 times before wearing them. We washed them separately from our other clothes for a while. We didn't want to chance ruining our other clothes with the dye.

All done!

Wedding Cakes

Yes these two cakes are professionally made and frosted. But here are some ways to decorate your cake; hopefully saving a few more dollars on your big day!

This first cake is decorated with fake flowers (from Roberts Arts and Crafts) put together in little bunches to give some color to the cake.

And this cake is on a mirror adding a little bit of elegance to it.

Cleaning Tip

This might be obvious to many of you but I would just like to share with you the power of vinegar. Plain old vinegar. We recently moved and my sweet mother-in-law helped me clean up our home. I could not get the bottom of the tub clean. Hard water! We let the tub soak for a while and presto. It was spotless. Vinegar also works on your shower heads. Just put it into a sandwich baggie and hang it on the shower head. Your water will come out great after that!

Room to Room Bridal Shower

Well, I have successfully thrown my first bridal shower. Inspired by my extremely talented friend!

A room to room shower; perfect in helping the couple get settled into their new home.

As guests arrive they put their address down on an envelope (for thank you cards to be sent out later). The bride-to-be drew two envelopes; the two guest received a prize! The guests also had a chance to write down their favorite recipe for our bride-to-be!

The guests each received a bag with the bride-to-be's favorite cookie recipe and of course a few sample cookies!