Leah's Room - The organisation continues!

Leah's bedroom was a place I've been dreading cleaning out. Babies accumulate a lot of stuff... and her room showed that. Here are some before pics.

As you can see there was just too much stuff. I don't have a photo (of before or after) but I big part of cleaning up Leah's room was working through her old clothes. When I was pregnant I was very lucky to have lovely friends gift us clothes from when their wee girls we under 1. So I had a range of clothes from Newborn to 12 months. I bought 4 60l plastic bins and organised the clothes into 0-3, 3-6, 6-9 and 9-12 months, they even had pretty labels. Unfortunately this just allowed me to pile clothes in there when they were too small and not be too discerning on whether we'd actually use them again with other children. So my first job was to hunt through these and purge.

Another thing I've been desperate to do for a while is get rid of the feeding chair as Leah no longer has a bottle at all. Luckily I needed a new teaching chair and it's gone into school - clever! So much more room now.

Here's how the room is organised now.

Another major thing I did was organise Leah's books. She has SO many already, we just love books, but I was getting frustrated with finding her in her room reading to herself and accidentally ripping pages. So I put all the rippable pages away (see closet org) and only left out board books and special favourites that mum and dad like reading. Clever mum. Looks so much more neater AND meant that one shelf was free for musical instruments!

I also got around to putting photos in the two animal photo frames that I bought BEFORE Leah was born. Jeez. 17 months to get them sorted. Shocking parenting! Here is the ladybird one, you can see the elephant frame on the top of her book shelf.

 Purging some of Leah's clothes has meant that I had an extra 60l container to play with. I popped all Leah's crib linen in there. Cleaned up one of the shelves a treat. All of Leah's big girl books are now kept at the top of the closet. Everything else just got a spruce up in here and looks good now.

I made Leah a clip holder.... she was way too many clips.

Leah's easel was moved and now with the blackboard facing out she's loving it! She also loves eating chalk which isn't ideal.

Lastly, I went through all of Leah's toys and organised them into the baskets a bit better.

Looks great! Wonder what I'll be purging next week?

5 Facts about my family

This post is inspired by a Mama Kat Prompt which was taken from Nice girl notes.

Here are 5 facts about our quirky little family.

1. We are a perfect triangle of earth signs - Me, capricorn; Damien, Taurus and Leah, Virgo. How cool is that? I often wonder if our imperfect balance will be thrown off when we throw another bubba or two into the mix.

2. Mr. Man and I bought our first house fairly young. I was 21 and he was 23. I have a habit of doing things at a young age - university at 17 and began my career as a teacher at 20, I don't like to wait around. We've lived in our house for 6 years in July, about time for a change I reckon!

3. We.are.coke.zero.fiends. We drink way too much of it. It's a bad habit but with very little calories I can never talk myself out of having it. Leah even loves coke zero, not that she ever gets much of it, she loves water a whole heap more. She is although allowed to drink little, teeny tiny bits when our cup is pretty much out, except for the last little Leah drops.

4. Mr. Man and I met at primary school. He does not remember me as I was two years younger than him but we were in the same class - a Standard 2/3/4 composite class. We even did a Flintstones drama sequence although I was Betty Rubble and he was Fred Flintstone.

5. We love to make up songs about what we're doing. Leah has taken to this with awesome gutso and sings along now and again. Mr. Man and I would sing little songs to each other when we were dating, we sing songs about housework, we make up songs when we're doing things with Leah - changing nappies, bedtime, bathtime....we sing about it all.

Lime and Galic Chicken

This was simple and surprisingly delicious.

Marinate chicken pieces in the juice from one lime, 1T olive oil, 10 - 12 cloves of garlic, crushed, salt and pepper for about 30 minutes (longer if possible).

Then heat 1T oil in a pan and toss it all in. Cook until chicken is brown and voila.

Silent Sunday

My beautiful boy <3 On long weekends Mondays always feel like Sundays.

Things I'm Loving

Not every day is good but there is something good in every day...or every week in this case!

This week we had our school retreat. Amazing learning, amazing view, amazing work mates. nuff said.

Loving my wonderful best friends and mum who spent some time with me for my birthday. Had this amazing cake made for me too. Spoilt!

I've been loving getting stuck into my classroom ready for our first day on the 4th. Excited!

Not much this week as I've been locked away learning for far too long and don't have many photos to share.

What are you loving this week?

Leah aged 16 months

Manifested by racket

Probing wonderment

Undulating emotions:

She chuckles,

She sobs,

She bubbles,

She jests, 

She coerces,

She loves.

A rainbow, kaleidoscope of vibrant, emerging colours

Hands 

plump, well-upholstered paws

Eyelashes - long, sable cloaks of night - veil piercing eyes, 

a myriad of hues from the sea.

Hair

long whispy, tendrils, springs awaiting release

She explores

Considered fascination

the messes, the chases, the dances, the places, 

the ‘oopsy daisy’ and the ‘ted-dy’.

A cheeky grinned enchantress

She is a hurricane followed by a stunning sunset

She is quiet...if only fleeting

Cheesy Vege Pasta Bake

I'm at a course all of this week and having to travel about 3 hours a day to attend. Although I'm coming home everyday it doesn't leave me much time to make Leah nutritious meals. Next week I'm going to be busy with work again and won't be here one night, which the husband is a bit concerned about - so this recipe will be great to freeze so he can just grab one out ready for little miss. Bonus!

Cheesy Vege Pasta Bake
375g penne pasta
300g broccoli, cut into florets
500g cauliflower, cut into florets
2t vegetable oil
1 large brown onion chopped finely
2t mustard powder
1t sweet paprika
1/4 cup plain flour
1 1/2 cuos low fat milk
420g canned tomato soup
400g canned diced tomatoes
1 1/2 cups grated reduced fat cheese

1. Cook pasta in large saucepan of boiling water, uncovered, until just tender, drain through a colander then cover.

2. Cook broccoli and cauliflower in medium saucepan of boiling water, uncovered, until tender, drain and cover to keep warm.

3. Preheat grill.

4. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat; cook onion until softened. Add mustard, paprika and flour stirring over a low heat for two minutes. Gradually stir in milk and soup. Stir over heat until mixture boils and thickens. Add undrained tomatoes, cook, stirring until mixture is hot.

5. Stir pasta, broccoli and cauliflower into the tomato mixture along with 1 cup of the cheese. Spoon into over proof dishes and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Grill until cheese melts and it browns slightly. Sprinkle with parley before serving.

Week 2 - The Garage

The garage on our property is a 'No Kate Zone'. Mr. Man is an avid car enthusiast and his garage is where all this car enthusiasm goes. I go in now and again and help him give it a bit of a clean out, but nothing like I'd really like to do with the place. It's his little haven and I'm happy for it to stay that way.

The 'Man Cave' is another story. When we moved into this house the Man Cave was a place where we had the drum kit, a stereo, all of Mr. Man's car magazines and a couch. In between car ventures hubby would sit in there and dream and do whatever men do in their own company. Over time the man cave has become a storage area and has a bed, chilly bin, storage bins and all sorts of baby parafernalia. Poor Mr. Man, hopefully in our next house he will be able to have a space of his own.

So this is what the man cave looked like today when I got in there:

I couldn't even open the door completely and things were basically just piled on the bed in a haphazard way. Now I was under no illusions. We need most of this stuff to remain in storage, it's not just a general dumping ground but somewhere where we can store things that we will use in future. Because of this the finished product isn't exactly how I would like it but, as I've conceded in the past, we're having to make do with the space we have in this house and the plethora of knick knacks we have.

So after a shuffle round and getting rid of a few things - selling a couple of things and getting my mum to store a few things at her place (family bassinet), as well as pulling some things out that will be heading off to my classroom when I go back in the next couple of weeks. This is what I managed to get it looking like:

Not too bad really. We can walk in again at least. I also tried to make sure anything that we needed to get at to use was easily accesible. So this might help with it staying like this for longer. Fingers crossed!

Another week to cross off my 14 weeks of organising! YES!

Terracotta pot bird bath

I had a tonne of terracotta pots lying around doing nothing much at all and saw a great idea for what to do with them, so I did!

Here's what you need:

I cleaned the pots and bases with paint thinners and then went to work on spray painting two coats. 

After the first coat:

Then you pile the pots up and hot glue gun the bases on. Voila!

Lea is an avid birdwatcher so will love watching the birds come and drink. I just hope they don't eat my growing tomatoes!

Faves of 2012

It's 12 days into 2013 and I'm having a great one so far - how can it not be with a beautiful summer and holidays for the rest of January (or a little less holidays and a little more 'working on my terms' seeing I'm going on a course, having teacher's only days and setting up my classroom soon).

One of Mama Kat's writing prompts this week is to take a leaf out of Momsmack's book and write a Top Ten of 2012. So here we go.

1. Favorite 2012 Movie: The Hunger Games (although I'm sure once I see 'Hitchcock' it will rival it)
2. Favorite Album:  Ed Sheeran - +
3. Favorite Song: 'Somebody that I used to know' - Gotye and Kimbra
4. Favorite Tweeter: @kevinhoneycutt
5. Favorite Blog: Enjoying the small things
6. Favorite TV Show: Two Broke Girls
7. Favorite Instagramer: Modchick
8. Favorite Moment: Watching Leah blow my mind over and over again by how quickly she grows, learns, begins doing new things and by how much more beautiful she gets everyday. 
9. Favorite Conference: uLearn
10. Favorite Viral Video: Kony 2012. Whether it was a scam or not, it resonated with me. Scary stuff.

Alice Springs Chicken & Garlic Grilled Tomatoes

Made this delicious dinner tonight. Yum yum! Puts two of my pinterest recipes on to the completed board. Yus!

Here are the recipes for Alice Springs Chicken and Garlic Grilled Tomatoes.

Things I'm Loving - It's back!

Not every day is good but there is something good in every day...or every week in this case!

It's been so long since I've done a 'Things I'm loving' and I'm glad to be back. I've missed it.

Firstly, I'm loving my 52 goals in 52 weeks! I especially like that a lot of my things focus on pinterest, I spend a bit of time on there at night so it's only fair that something actually gets done about it.It has meant that I'm able to stop being a bit of a digital hoarder and actually doing some of the things that I've pinned - fancy that! 

One of those things is something I'm in love with this week - Leah's 1 year manifesto.

I loved this that I saw last night. Thanks Fat Mum Slim.

I've been really trying to figure out what the purpose of my blog is over the last week. I put lots of stuff on here but I don't really hone in on anything and be an expert in it. Should I be? Should I try to be an 'expert' blog. Then I thought, nah, I'm not an expert on anything and some of my favourite posts I've written definitely aren't instructional. So this little quote summed things up nicely and has put that inner debate to rest.

Speaking of Fat Mum Slim, I'm loving doing a photo 365 again. It fell off last year. I'd decided to take the images with my iPad and half way through I chucked it in, I like my real camera. I'm not sharing the photos on here but my facebook family can see them. Here are a few of the goodies from this last week.

Thanks to my bestest friend Rachael. By doing this herself she gave me the push I need to start up again. Yay!

Still loving punkbaby.co.nz Leah's new Thing 1 and Thing 2 dress is gorgeous...

..even if she isn't always a lady.

And it scores us cute dudes. Totally loving goodbye kisses.

And lastly, while we were on holiday I loved seeing Leah interacting with her two big cousins - Renee and Nikki as well as my other family members. They were awesome and Leah absolutely adores them.

My youngest niece Nikki is moving away with her Dad to Australia on Monday. I'm going to miss her smile and her wacky sense of humour. I'll miss her laugh and her constant talking and even miss some of her chocolate fish moments. You're totes pro as amazeballs Nikki and we love you! Can't wait to see you when you come over for a visit.

What are you loving this week?

ORG-AN-ISED

52 goals in 52 weeks is cranking along. Here's the before and after of my closet...

...and my donate pile:

 The chuck outs:

And the selling pile:

Boom. Hope this purging never leaves my system. Feels good to get rid of stuff I'm not using!

A week of organising the Kitchen

One of my 52 goals in 52 Weeks is to complete the 14 week of home organisation from a Bowl Full of Lemons.

I have said that I may take a little bit longer than 14 weeks but we'll see how we go. Once I get in the cleaning (and purging) mood it's good to run with it.

Week 1 is The Kitchen. Here are some before photos of our kitchen.

I do try to keep my kitchen (and whole house) as clean as possible and I also like to think I'm a very organised person, but I suffer from something many people do, over buying. I like things. I have the means to buy some of it, and boy do I!

The first thing I needed to do was de-clutter. So today I have got stuck into the drawers and cupboards. I got everything (or as much as I could as a time) out onto the dining table and then reorganised the cupboards and drawers. Was an all day job but I'm happy with the progress. I wiped out all the surfaces, threw lots of unused things away and am going to sell some things we no longer use to start my 'kitchenaide fund'.

Here are some before and after photos;

This isn't even half of it!

Leah 'helped' to get the bottom drawers done.

Day Two has seen me cleaning out the pantry and fridge/freezer. I do this fairly often too, but again, with such a small space, I'm never going to have a kitchen that is as elegant as the one from 'A bowl full of Lemons'.

Here is the before of my pantry - see, not so bad;

And here is the after, much less chaos;

And even though I do clean out my pantry periodically there were things I needed to throw out that just got lost in the back of the cupboard or not checked recently enough.

What I like about the new organisation is the spice and baking bits and bobs shelf, second down on the left as before I was always searching for my spices and herbs, or buying ones I already had hiding away.

It also gave me a chance to secure the labels on my baking items as they were looking like this;

And I must admit. I have a junk spot in my pantry. This is where I put packets of things that won't completely fit into containers, like a half emptied caster sugar bag.

Again, the fridge and freezer are something I've recently cleaned too, so there is nothing expired etc in there. Yay! Just a quick wipe out. Here's the freezer make over.

One other thing that I've done recently is something else The Bowl full of Lemons blog talks about in the kitchen post, so thought I better cover it too. Our sickie drawers. Even with pretty labels, go me!

The last day of our kitchen clean up (today) saw us wiping down all surfaces. The place is sparkling. One issue I have just moved for another day though (and is also another 52 in 52 goal) is the cook books. Oh boy.

Here are the finished pictures of our kitchen.

I'm super happy with the amount of stuff I was able to part with and I'm keen as to get stuck into the other areas of the house. It makes things a lot easier to clean when you don't have as much. Something I'm still wanting to do is clean the curtain above the windows and clean the windows, but that's for another focus :).