Time Off

I'm starting to get a little depressed.  I was so excited to have a month off of work during our move and now that month is rapidly coming to a close.  I had such high hopes to explore the area and spend time with Munchkie but I have been dwelling on the fact that I have to go back to work soon.  I think that since Munchkie has started her childcare, I am spending my days alone and it makes me sad.  I am here with time off so that I can spend it with her.  But instead, I am home, and she is under the care of someone else. 

I know that she is having a lot of fun and talks about all of the kids that she plays with.  I know that she needs the interaction with other kids and the time away from family to learn in other ways.  However, I also know that I like to spend time with Munchkie.   I think she's getting tired of my "lovin" but she still gives me hugs and kisses when I ask.  We also have been snuggling on the couch when she gets home. 

I'm hoping that by writing out my fears here, I can get past them and get my behind into gear.  I have just over a week left of my time off and I need to make the most of it instead of dwelling on the time that I don't have off.  I need to stick to my room a day organization and do things like make it to the DMV to get a new license.  Hopefully tomorrow's post will have pictures of my completed bedroom.

New Home: "Bathroom"

I can not begin to describe how small our bathroom is.  It's small.  Like claustrophobic small.  I have to go to the bathroom with the door open so that my knees won't hit the door.  Poor Munchkie's Daddy has hit his head more times than he can count because of the slanted ceilings.  All of these have created some obstacles in creating a functioning bathroom.  I put the bathroom in quotations because the contents of the bathroom are spread out.

 Here is our very small bathroom.  My kind mother-in-law took our shower curtains, cut them and sewed them to fit the small and curved curtain rod. 

Munchkie's Daddy is pretending to take a shower so that you can see just how close his head is to the ceiling.

 If you come to visit me, I have, for the first time, a selection for guests who might have forgotten something.

 A Lazy Susan under the sink is able to hold some items to keep them close to the area of use.

 I found this corner shelving at Ikea to hold a few more items.

 This mirror was also from Ikea, because as you notice there is not a mirror by the sink, it's across the room which is incredibly inconvenient.

 If you need a bandaid or something more than a motrin, you'll have to go digging in our bedroom closet.  Another Ikea organizer is holding everything that couldn't fit in the bathroom.

And lastly, in the hallway between our bedroom and the living room are the bathroom towels in another shelving unit.

So there is my bathroom.  In it's tiny little glory.

New Home: Kitchen

The kitchen is really important to have unpacked so that you can start to feed your family at your own home.  I was so ready to have fresh, homecooked food that I really wanted to get my kitchen functioning.  Munchkie's Daddy said that once we had a functioning house I could start decorating and crafting out the projects I wanted to do.  With the help of my mother-in-law and sister-in-law we got my kitchen to working order in no time!  Here it is.  I actually am going to include before and after shots.

Before

 These are when the landlord was still working on the place.

 

After

 I love that I have this big open space and large counter.  I am going to try to keep it cleared off so that it is available for work space.  I do really like this part of my kitchen.

 This is the cluttered space, the kennel will hopefully be replaced soon with a mobile dishwasher.

 The sink area, had to put the plates on the counter because there just wasn't any good place to put them.  The silverware drawer is just below them.  My refrigerator may not look that small, but trust me, it's SMALL.

 These are my coffee and tea drawers.  My mother-in-law says to me, "maybe you should avoid buying any more tea until you drink what you already have."  If only she could see my own mother's tea cabinet- yes a full cabinet of tea.

 The cabinet is one big long cabinet, had to stuff as much stuff in there as I could.

 Another cabinet full of stuff.

 We had to put our glasses, mugs, travel mugs and water bottles in the bottom drawer, then above that are storage containers and Munchkie's plates, bowls and cups.

A peak inside my refrigerator just to show you how small it is.  I'm not even sure that a gallon of milk will fit.  I have to be organized with it as well.  I am trying out the green bags for my farmer's market produce and have fridge binz from Habitat for Humanity Restore warehouse for more organization. 

New Home: Munchkie's Room

My goal is to post a room a day this week.  This means that I need to get a room a day organized and decorated.  I am starting with Munchkie's room because it's so important for her to feel some normalcy in her life.  We've noticed that while she is one of the most adaptable kids you'll ever meet, she has been showing signs of the stress in our lives.  We have been having quite a few laying on the ground screaming moments and as we understand, it's usually due to a loss of control.  The busier we were, the more these moments reared their ugly faces which was incredibly inconvenient since we would be busy, but it was a very important reminder that we need to provide more normalcy.  So I did all I could to get her room together first. Here is the completed for now room.

The New NonMom 'Do

**You don't have to be a mom to take advantage of this great hair idea!**
My wonderful friend from Our Tiny House passed along a link to me on how to create curly/wavy hair in literally no time.  I tried it overnight last night and it truly was amazing.  Many times I have talked about my hair and so you know that I am always striving to find something fast and easy.

The Busy Mom Hair Trick That Changed My Life

It was so easy and after watching the video once I did what she said.  Here are the pictures that I took along the way.

 This was my hair air dried- not so great looking.

 All wrapped up and ready to go

 Side view

 This was what it looked like after sleeping on it all night.  Still pretty much the same as the day before.

 On a walk this morning to the farmer's market.

This was what the back looked like when we got back from the farmer's market.

UPDATE 9/6/11

I tried the hair thing a little differently.  I didn't like the way the back didn't get much wave.  So I put one headband on and took a top section of the back of my hair and wrapped it around the headband.  Then I wrapped my bangs around this headband the other direction.  Then I took the rest of my hair and wrapped it around a second headband.  I like these results much better.  It's just so easy! 

Even though I have been working to get unpacked and organized, last night I decided to use my newly purchased fabric scissors to see how quickly I could make a t shirt scarf with a functioning pair of scissors.  I sat on the living room floor and before Munchkie's Daddy could finish an email I had cut out the pieces and was showing off my new scarf to my in-laws and sister in law.  I'm not even kidding when I say that this took me under ten minutes.

T-Shirt Scarf Tutorial

This is the blog that I used for direction.  I used a large white undershirt of Munchkie's Daddy's.

One Room Down

I have one room completed in our move.  One room to satisfaction and it's by far the smallest room, with the bathroom coming in a close second.  My pantry is organized and hopefully it will stay that way.  It proved to take some creative planning and organization due to the fact that it was a furnace room with shelves.

I already showed my spice rack yesterday but today I completed the rest of my organization.

Thank you Walmart for having bins for under $2 that fit perfectly in the shelves.  The bottom bins were from Ikea.  I have all my nonperishables organized into different bins, I need to label them so we know what is in each bin while we get used to everything. 

Then, within each bin I tried to organize things as well.  I got these plastic containers for around $2 at Ikea and have all my "sides" in one bin- rice, pasta, lentils, and the powdered potatoes that Munchkie's Daddy has to have for the nights when I work.

Then I have some wire organization things, also from Walmart that I have baking supplies, snacks and breakfast foods.  Then another pull out basket thing from Target that i have vinegars, oils and other things that don't fit in other places.

This isn't part of my pantry, but I used some ideas from Pinterest for my organization here.  I got 5 magazine organizers for $1.50 at Ikea and used them to organize all of those bags, plastic wraps and foils.  Then a couple more bins for cleaning supplies.

With all of these things out of boxes, boxes out of my kitchen and everything in a place, it makes me feel much better.  I always feel much better when messes are hidden, organization is working and everything is clean.  I'm still working on the rest of the apartment.  But there is order in one part of my life right now, and that makes me happy.