Those Angels are Singing Again?

After digging through several of my OH SO messy drawers...just looking for 1 (frickin') item, I decided that I could not take it another day!  Last Friday, I drove directly to The Container Store and purchased a boat load of "Interdesign" clear drawer organizing bins. I decided on this brand, since they had both a 2 and 3 inch deep version of these bins. From past experience, I was tired of shallow drawer organizing bins that hold maybe one brush or tube of toothpaste and leave a lot of wasted space remaining up to the top of each drawer. Since we could fit the deeper bins in our drawers, I bought these in several different sizes and shapes.
Over the weekend, I tried different bin combinations to find the best way to utilize each drawer and the items that I kept in them.  I organized the top drawers in 3 bathrooms (5 drawers total) and our huge junk drawer in the kitchen.
Now that it is completed, I find myself wandering around the house randomly opening drawers...just to feel the rush of happiness when I see how tidy they look.  My husband even noticed and gave me a compliment on how nicely organized everything is.
As you might see in the pictures below, I got so excited I forgot to remove the tags/packaging from a few of the bins.  I will have to go back and do that.  I also have to return the bins that I didn't end up using.

I AM IN LOVE!!!

Here are picture of just of few of my bathroom drawers.

 And 2 pictures of my junk drawer.

Whoo Hoo!!! My drawers look amazing!

If you decide to do this, search the web for coupons before heading out.  I found a 10% off coupon, just for signing up to The Container Store's website.  I use a secondary email address for things like this.  This way my main email mailbox doesn't get clogged up with sale ads and advertisements.

Blessings, Tracy

Daily Reminder!

I recently purchased this charming print by Katie Daisy.  It is bright and colorful and makes me happy when I look at it. We framed and hung it by the door we walk out each day.  It's always nice to have this daily reminder to keep you in check, as you make your way out in the world.

This print hangs in a dark hallway, so these photos really don't do the artwork or beautifully ornate frame justice.

Blessings, Tracy

Let it snow. Let it snow. Let it snow!

I used the Picnik website to edit this photo of my mom's house.  I like the Picnik site for the days I'm not into dealing with the complexities of my  photo editing programs. The site is so quick and easy to use! 

To edit this photo, I converted it to black and white, then popped just the colors of the house and, last but not least, added the effect of falling snow. I think it looks so pretty. 

Blessings, Tracy

Damn You Old Man Winter!!!

The old SOB arrived at our house in the middle of the night, so we woke up to THIS!

This isn't bad, but it is still snowing heavily at this point and it is going to continue until tomorrow morning!

Excuse me, while I weep gently for a moment...

We are on track to get 7 to 12 inches; most likely in the 10 inch range. It is really heavy wet snow, so the poor trees are just hanging from the weight of the snow. I love the 4 seasons and all, but I like to ease into winter gently, not be thrown in full force!

Our poor birch tree is leaning from the weight of the snow.

It is really BEAUTIFUL...

...if you don't have to DRIVE in it!

OH YES!  I am one of the lucky few that has to work this weekend.  The drive alone will make for an exciting day.  Fingers crossed!  Wish me luck!

Blessings, Tracy

Do You Hear The Angels Singing?

I have to admit that we occasionally waste money on things that are not that important, but when it comes to the items that makes every day life easier...we are tight fisted with the cash.  Not sure what that says about us, but I know it probably means we have some deep seated issues that I'm not sure I want to know about.  We generally keep things FOREVER!!  We have a hard time replacing something if the one we have works perfectly fine or at least is serving the purpose. So, making a new purchase is a big fat hair deal for us!   
We finally got tired of playing the mismatched food storage container game.  This game has two parts.  The first part of this challenge is to try to get ONE food storage container out of the cupboard without every single piece popping out.  Note - you can earn extra points for actually retrieving the exact size you need.  The second part, is to try and find a matching lid to this container.  OK, you have five minutes to complete this task...GO!  
After years of discussing us getting some new food storage containers, we finally took the plunge (a.k.a. - I had an unstable moment in Target).  I purchased the new Rubbermaid "Easy Find Lids" food storage system.  The beauty of this set, is the lids snap on to the bottom of the container and each other, so they STACK and NEST neatly.  I checked out the box sets and settled on the 20 piece set (10 containers with matching tops), which came with a bonus 11th "Produce Saver" container and lid.  Be careful when purchasing box sets.  Take note what size containers and how many of each size are included in the different sets.  I found the larger set (at Target) just gave you additional ultra tiny containers that most people rarely use.  To supplement the set I purchased, I bought a mix of 4 commonly used larger sized container (7, 9 & 14 cup).  The total was about $30 for 15 pieces.  You can find these cheaper if you shop around...which I did not, since I lost my ever living mind in isle 32 at Target.  
I can't believe how nice our cabinet looks.  It created room for us to move some items around, thus freeing up storage space in other cabinets.

                                              

Before

Believe me, the items on the bottom two shelves are CRAMMED in there tightly. One wrong move and they will all spring out of like one of those joke cans filled with snakes. You know, the ones that scare the hell out of you when you take the lid off and they all pop out! Does anyone else remember this practical joke back from days of yore?

After

Yep, I hear those angels singing too.

Blessings, Tracy

So pretty!

Just returned home from work late this evening, to see this out our front window.  Not the best picture, but it really shows how stunning our Prairie Fire Crap tree is each spring!  We up light our front trees, columns and the architectural peaks of our house with landscape lighting.  This lighting really accents our home and landscaping, but for about a week each spring...all anyone can focus on is the beauty of this crab tree's spring blossoms.

Blessing, Tracy

I guess we had a storm last night?

I woke up to find small piles of hail all over our yard.  When I called my husband at work this morning, he informed me that we had a storm while I was working last evening.  Hello...I guess we had a storm!  I couldn't believe all of the hail that was still unmelted 15+ hours later.

We are lucky, since over the past three years (each time in May), we have been hit by damaging hail storms TWICE!  We're talking serious hail...the size of baseballs!  We have had to replace our siding & shakes, our roof (twice), our screens on our screened in porch, window screens, air conditioning repairs, garage doors repairs, chipped cedar columns, damaged plants, etc.  We can pretty much tell you from experience, not much is left undamaged when you have hail that size.
We have also been very fortunate in the weather department.  In the past 8 years, there have been two tornados that hit within 2-3 miles of our house.  Both were serious storms that caused a lot of damage, but the most recent tornado (5 yrs. ago) destroyed many homes and ended up killing one person.  Because of this, I know that we are lucky just to wake up every morning and still have our health and home (hail damaged or not)!

I know you must be thinking, "What kind of Bermuda Triangle of weather did you people move into?!"  I think the same thing every time a storm is in our forecast.
Just so you know....I will be holding my breath and keeping my fingers crossed for the rest of this month!

Blessings, Tracy

How does our garden grow?

Spring is definitely here!  Our plant beds are coming to life and our crab tree is starting to bloom.  Everything looks so fresh, healthy and new!

Blessing, Tracy