Bathroom/Laundry Room Storage

Every so often, I get a wild itch to just change something up. Either the thing is just not working as well as it could be, it isn't aesthetically pleasing or for whatever reason, it just bugs me. Well, this is what happened with our bathroom recently.

Our bathroom has the oddest layout I have ever seen. It looks something like this:

You can click on it to make it bigger if you want. It's just a very basic layout of out bathroom. You can see how the room is long and narrow. We didn't design this space, that is just the way it was when we bought the place and we are doing our best to make the best of it. The one area in question that was bothering me to no end was the area to the right of the toilet (when facing the far end of the bathroom). I had two sets of storage drawers in that spot. Two sets with drawers apiece to be exact. In white frames, clear drawers. The cabinet next to the drawers is black. Two of the drawers were actually broken and needed to be thrown out.

There drawers are where I store our extra toiletries and supplies. Extra toothpaste, toothbrushes, body wash, shampoos, conditioners, feminine products, etc. All of that stuff is stored in these drawers. But the problem wasn't really with the drawers themselves. It was with the stuff that would end up getting piled up on top of the drawers. It was driving me crazy. That and the fact that we didn't have any place to store dirty laundry.

So on one of our WalMart trips, I picked up one of those cheapy PVC piping plastic laundry dividers ($10) and brought it home to assemble it. My thought was that it could maybe go on the other side of the toilet, between the toilet and the wall where the furnace is. Except it was bigger than I thought it was. So, thus began the reorganization of the bathroom.

First step was to remove the drawers. Second step was to clear out the black cabinet. That was where I had originally had all the products but I cannot reach much past the front of two of the shelves so for storage purposes, it was okay, but I needed to figure out a different plan for those things. That was when I moved them into the drawers and put the drawers next to the toilet.

But now, I wanted the drawers out but I wanted the products to stay so I had to figure something out. On a whim, I took one of the drawers to see if it would fit into the cabinet on the shelf. It did! Then I had to see if two of the drawers would fit on the top shelf and on the main shelf (only one drawer fit on the middle shelf). And two drawers did fit!

So I had six white-framed drawers that I could divide up to put into the cabinet to keep the toiletries divided and organized and put away. But I also knew that I had a set of five black-framed storage drawers in our bedroom where I keep the kids' PJs... I am guessing you can see where this is going.

I had Hubby empty out the five drawers and bring them in to me. I transferred all of the products from the six drawers into the divided-up five drawers and put those drawers in the cabinet. It is beautiful and it works incredibly well. On the top shelf, in the top drawer, I have all of Hubby's shampoos and conditioners and body washes. In the bottom drawer on the top shelf, I have my feminine products. Next to the shelves is a gap that is the perfect size for the extra rolls of paper towels that we have on hand.

On the middle shelf, which can only hold drawer, I have our oral care supplies stored. Next to the drawer is the same gap as the upper shelf and that is where I have stored extra rolls of toilet paper.

On the lower shelf, there are two drawers. One is mine for lotions and cremes and body washes, etc and the other one is for shampoos and conditioners. The gap next to the drawers on this shelf is where I keep a basket of smaller items that are partially used. This is the basket that we go to first before opening something new.

I then put the laundry sorter where the drawers had been and loaded the sorter up with laundry that was on the floor of the bathroom in various places and moved the white-framed drawers to the front room. I wasn't sure exactly what to do with those, so we let them hang out in that room overnight.

This is the conversation that Hubby and I had that night about the drawers:
Me: You know, we could put those drawers in the front closet and use them to store the kids' shoes in there.
Hubby: Yeah, we could do that.
Me: Or we could use it to store winter stuff like mittens and gloves and hats and stuff.
Hubby: Yeah, I think that would work.
Me: Or we could put the drawers in the boys' room so that they can use it to store their toys.
Hubby: That would make sense, since they seem to be wanting to be more organized these days.
Me: Or I could give it to Oralee for her room. The boys already have some storage tubs in their room.
Hubby: Yeah, you could do that.
Me: Or we could have them in the living room and store the boys' music stuff in them near the keyboard.
Hubby; Whatever you'd like to do, I'm sure it will be fine.
Me: Ooooh! I bet we could put them in the dining room next to my desk so that the kids can put their special papers from school in them to go through at the end of the year and decide what they really want to keep from school.
Hubby: Well, whatever you decide, I am sure will look fine. Just let me know if you need me to move anything else. I'm going to go watch some T.V.

That is a pretty typical conversation at our house when it comes to organizing and rearranging or whatever. Hubby is 100% supportive and will move things around for me. He just prefers that I am 100% sure where I want everything to go before he starts moving things around. This was a lesson he learned the hard way.

In the end, the white-framed drawers ended up under my desk, where they are out of the way, yet accessible and look neat and orderly.

Oh - wait, this was about the bathroom/laundry room storage though. So here is a picture of what the end result was:

I know it doesn't really look all that different, but it is a huge difference! What you cannot see from my aerial view drawing is the pile of stuff that cannot end up stored on top of the shelves. The cabinet is now fully functional. I can store things in the drawers, which actually go all the way to the back of the cabinet. I can reach everything and not worry about things getting knocked over and spilling in the cabinet. It will only spill in the drawer or the basket that I am using to store the items.

I also now have a place to sort and store our dirty laundry without it being on the floor in front of the washer. Extra bonus there! Plus, the cart is on casters, so if I were so inclined, I could even roll it over to the washer, but I have yet to do that. I just grab an armful from the sorter and walk over to the washer with them.

Well, thanks for reading. I am sure it wasn't the most riveting piece you have ever read, but it was a great thing to get done around here!

Thirty Thankful Days - Day 3

Today we went out to look for a new winter coat for me. I haven't had a winter coat for the past two or three winters because I have a very difficult time spending money on myself. But today, we decided that I was going to get a new coat because I needed one.

I had checked at WalMart and they didn't have anything in my size so I knew that was not an option. Their coats were around $50 so that was my rough base for a winter coat. I knew that JcPenney has decent coat prices so that is where I wanted to look. We met up with some friends who were shopping at the mall (for her) for clothes and we decided to just shop together. We went to Bath & Body Works (for her) and I picked up a $1 bottle of lotion for Oralee (in strawberry!) to give to her for Christmas and with it, I received a little flyer booklet that had coupons in it! (Yay for that!)

Then we went to Lane Bryant (for her) and while there, I decided to get a bra fitting. It's been awhile and I have actually been in need of some new ones. When I was measured, the sales lady measured me at a cup size that was 2-3 sizes larger than what I generally wear. But we went ahead and looked for some bras in my "normal" size and found them. I tried several on and ended up finding two of which I liked the fit and shape and support. They were also having a sale with 40% off AND they were also offering gift certificates for 1/2 of my purchase price along with the sale. So (for example) I buy 2 bras at $41.50 apiece (roughly) and there is the 40% off, making each one around $25.00. New total is $50.00 plus tax (around here, that would make it $53.50) and then you get a gift certificate for $25.00. Not too shabby, eh? It's like buy one, get one free. Or something like that.

Then we went over to JcPenny. I knew exactly what I wanted to get, knew the price I was willing to spend and bee-lined it for the coat section. That's the way I shop. I found what I wanted almost immediately. It was a black and purple 4-in-1 coat and it was seriously on sale. A little bit more than WalMart but this one a) fit me and b) I had a coupon at home that I could bring in within a week and they would give me back the difference in my cost, which would knock it down to roughly the same price as WalMart anyhow.

Actually, here is the link to their site. LOVE this jacket! Catalina's new coat. Isn't that great? Love it! There is actually more purple in the coat I believe and the purple isn't as dark as it shows in the picture on the site. I am so happy with it! I cannot believe I actually have a winter coat! So exciting!

And today, I am thankful for a few things. I am thankful for the ability to buy a coat and new bras. I am thankful for a wonderful husband who encouraged me to do so, even though I was questioning whether or not I should get them. It is so so so hard for me to buy stuff for myself!

And those are a couple of the things that I am thankful for today!

Home Visit

Yesterday was our "home visit" with Jeriah's classroom teacher, Miss Cari. I put home visit in parentheses because it wasn't held at home. It was held at the school in the hallway outside of Jeriah's classroom.

We worked on a set of Opposites puzzles with Jeriah. He understood which pictures went together to make the puzzle but had some difficulty deciding what each picture was or being able to verbalize "The opposite of hot is cold." It is something that we are going to continue to work on though. We had the opportunity to share with Miss Cari our pictures from when we made homemade pizza for our movie night and some from Halloween and we told her about Jeriah and Oralee singing karaoke way late into the night. It was a great visit!

We set mini goals at each home visit. One for Jeriah and one for us as parents. Our goal for Jeriah was to continue working on opposites until he is able to identify and vocalize what the opposites are. Our goal as parents was to establish a bedtime routine for Jeriah. He is our most difficult child to get to sleep. It used to be that Cephas was our most difficult but Jeriah has clearly taken over that position. We also have the option of meeting with the school psychologist to work on it as well, but I passed on that. I'd rather try to get it all settled myself and if there isn't significant progress in the next month when we have our next visit, then I will request her input. But until then, I am going to do what I can to establish a good bedtime routine for Jeriah.

Jeriah took a photograph of his Opposites puzzles that he put together today. We will be adding this to his Family Literacy Portfolio that we turn in at the end of the year.

Thirty Thankful Days - Day 2

I came across this just a little bit ago and I am doing a retrospective post. I am sitting here typing the post up at 4:44 am on Thursday, December 3, 2011 but will be posting it as Wednesday, November 2, 2011.

Today I am thankful for a wonderful workplace. They have just offered me the opportunity to be home with my kids during the week and maybe just work weekend overnights. By working overnight shifts, I am able to be home with my kids and be there for their activities and everything else that we have going on from week to week while still being able to earn money to help support the family.

This will not even take away much time from the family on the weekends either because I will be able to sleep while I am working. That is a deal that I just cannot turn down! I love that part of it!

It also allows Hubby more time to be able to work without needing to rely on childcare from his parents. We try to work our schedules out so that we are the ones that have the kids but every so often, we end up needing to have someone watch the kids and when that happens, we turn to my mother-in-law to watch the kids.

This will also give me more time to get the house into the kind of shape that I want for it to be in and will also allow me time to get through our storage unit and figure out what we are going to do with all of that stuff!

You can click the picture above to link up to the Thirty Thankful Days as well. Or just click over and read what others are thankful for today.

Halloween Day and Evening

What a great day all around! Hubby didn't get home until almost 2 am from work but he was willing to get up and get the kids off to school this morning, which was great for me because I had fallen asleep for about 20 minutes earlier in the night and could not fall back to sleep until close to 5 am. Since he let me continue to lay and rest/sleep while he took the kids to school, I was able to get some additional much needed rest. Then I got up and took care of Jeriah and we played and watched TV and did housework together while Hubby went and laid down. I let him sleep through until almost 4 pm.

I got Jeriah ready for school and onto the school bus and then I took myself out for Chinese food. There is this place close to my work that I absolutely love but haven't had much lately and I have really been wanting to get something from there and I decided that today would be the perfect day for it.

After getting my food from there, I went over to the kids' school and helped out in the classroom for a couple of hours. All I needed to do for the first hour and a half or so was assemble the fifth graders' academic skills testing packets. There are four booklets and their scantrons that needed to go into folders. I took care of them for one teacher (Cephas' teacher) and then moved on to another fifth grade teacher's packets. I got those almost done but was not able to get them completely finished because I ran out of folders and sticky labels. I marked my spot though so that I could pick back up where I left off. I plan to go back in later this week to finish those up for that teacher. That teacher is currently out of school right now. She has a new grandbaby and is taking a few days off from teaching to help the new mama. I think that's really sweet and I'm glad to hear that she was able to do that.

Then we had the fifth grade class party. It was a low-key affair. The teacher, Mrs. P, and her practicum student, Mr. H, another parent and I just kind of oversaw the festivities. Mrs. P bought sugar cookies, frosting and sprinkles and let the kids come up to a central table to decorate the cookies and they also had chips and water and were able to sit and watch some movies she had projected onto the white board from her laptop. Then they played hangman. It was nice and the kids enjoyed it immensely.

Mr. H had been having a hard time getting some of the kids to listen in his math group and I so wanted to be able to help him out. But I didn't. I have been there and done that with students and while I knew that I could get them to listen and follow along, he really needs to develop those skills himself. I think he will be a great teacher. One of the hardest parts though, honestly, is getting the kids to respect you as a teacher when you aren't confident about your abilities.

For the first time ever today, I let the older boys walk home from school. At our old house, they had walked to and from school every day, but with living in a new neighborhood and being so close to such a major arterial street, I have been reluctant to let them walk home. But today was absolutely gorgeous, I knew I had the time and the patience to allow them to do it and so I did. I also circled the route twice checking up on them (but couldn't find them!). They ended up walking home with our next door neighbors (who walk to and from school EVERY day of the week!) so it worked out pretty well. And, as it turns out, those two kids know a path that keeps them off of the main arterial street. One of these days, I am going to have to get the boys to show me this route so that I know where it is. If I'm comfortable with it, there is a good chance that I will let them walk home from school in the spring. Maybe. It seems kind of pointless though, because we still have to go to the school to pick up Oralee. But the boys have been wanting to walk home from school so badly that I agreed to it today. We'll figure it all out eventually.

Once home, they buckled down and got right to work on their chores and then decided on some last minute changes to their Halloween costumes. I ended up waking Hubby so that he could be up with the kids and awake to get Jeriah from the school bus and I ran over to our friends' house to pick up an bright orange vest and hat for Koren, who decided that instead of being a pirate wanted to be a hunter. It worked out. He had a camouflage turtle neck and a NERF gun. That plus the oversized (to him) hunting vest and stocking cap, made for a decent hunting outfit.

Cephas had planned to go as a robot but was having some difficulties with his costume design so we changed it up at the last minute and he wore a set of my scrubs (too big for him) and some gloves and a mask and we called him a doctor/surgeon/whatever.

Once they were set, we had to dash over to the other side of town for their music lessons, only to realize that we had not had them practice this past week AT ALL. It's been crazy busy/hectic, what can I say? Ooops. We'll do better this week, I promise!

I dropped the boys off at the studio and ran over to the inlaw's house to do some last minute things that I hadn't gotten around to yet. Cleaning out my mother-in-law's car, putting some camping gear back in the basement, starting a load of laundry in the washing machine, general tidying up and also trying to get Oralee and Jeriah's costumes together. Oralee was on the fence about what she wanted to be. MIL has a stash of dress up clothes and Oralee couldn't decide between a cat (all black clothing, plus ears, tail and collar to match), the water fairy (complete with tiara and wand) or a different fairy (forgot which one - but without the extra accessories). Oralee couldn't find the water fairy outfit or the cat outfit and had settled on the other fairy outfit when I found the water fairy outfit and she ended up going with that option.

Jeriah wanted to be a painter. I had planned to make him a little painter's palette out of cardboard but I couldn't find any over there (and I was in such a mad dash to get over to that side of town that I didn't grab cardboard from our house) so I just took some sheets of computer paper and glue stick-ed them together and then used a marker to draw in the paint circles. We got a brush from the garage and a washcloth to tuck into his waistband and he was good to go. He wouldn't dress up any further than that.

At one point I had even tried to persuade him to be a cowboy (MIL has a cowboy hat and a vest - it actually goes to a pirate costume but looks really cute with the cowboy hat) but he was adamant about not changing his clothing.

We had to run back to the studio to pick up the boys and then head back to MIL's house to park the van so we could hit up the neighborhood over there. We did it and ended when pretty much all four kids were ready to quit. I cannot believe that it happened around the same time for all of them! How awesome was that!

We then packed up and left. At this point, it was 8:30, the kids still hadn't eaten (so busy getting ready for music lessons and trick or treating and then actually doing those things) and while we were out, I had gotten a message from the restaurant where Hubby works saying that for a Halloween special, kids could eat free with an adult purchase. That sounded like a winner to me so that's what we did. We did not go to Hubby's work though. We went to a different location for our favorite server.

Our server, Jay, was dressed up as Charlie Sheen. My kids totally missed the reference (because they are really too young to know the difference) and there was karaoke going on. Let me slow this down for you. Favorite restaurant + favorite server + cheap food + karaoke. My kids were in HEAVEN!

My kids sang karaoke. Oh yes, they did! I finally pulled them away from the restaurant around 10:30. Our normal bedtime on a school night is 8:00 (ideally asleep by 8:30). But. It was a special occasion, the kids were being unbelievably well-behaved, they were enjoying themselves and quite honestly, I lost track of time.

Oralee started the karaoke singing for our family tonight by singing the ABC's. Yes, the karaoke guy had that. Then Oralee and Jeriah and some random kid (one of our server's regular customer's kid - didja follow that one?) sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star together. And then Cephas and Koren got up and sang More (by Usher - yes, they know the words. They are HUGE Usher fans!). They were going to do a few more songs after that but that was when I realized how late it was and had them go up and pull their requests. I had joked around with Jay, telling him that I was pretty sure if left to their own devices my kids would close the restaurant. But the restaurant doesn't close til like, 1 am? (I should know this actually!) and there was NO WAY my kids were going to be up THAT late on a school night. It was bad enough that we wouldn't be home til 11 pm as it was.

Before we left though, we had to get a picture of the kids and Jay in their costumes. It was so cute! Jay was sitting on a chair, Koren and Jeriah to his right, Cephas and Oralee to his left. It was quite cute and cheesy. I, of course, promptly posted it to facebook and tagged Jay as well.

We drove home and I warned the kids that it was time to go STRAIGHT to bed when we got there. Bathroom stuff then bed. I wanted them in bed within 15 minutes of getting home and asleep as soon as possible after that. They promptly obeyed. Well, all but Jeriah. He was up til 1:30 am. And he was the one who was the MOST tired at the restaurant. Guess the boy hit his second wind or something. He literally fell asleep when Hubby was walking across our front porch to come inside. Stinker!

And that, my friends, was our Halloween. What did your family do?

Menu Plan Monday - 10/31

This will be a challenging week to make a menu plan for due to the fact that I don't get paid until Wednesday (which also happens to be my day off) and I hadn't had a chance to do meal prep this weekend. But here goes anyhow:

Monday - we have to get the kids' costumes ready and they have homework and then they have music lessons and then Trick or Treating. I honestly think that this day may be made up of frozen burritos or fast food.

Tuesday - I work and Hubby will be in charge of dinner on this night. I honestly foresee Mac N Cheese and hot dogs for the meal this night as Cephas has Scouts after dinner time.

Wednesday - I am home this day and it is also payday. I plan to put some time in on this day to get some meals made for the remainder of the week. This evening I am making lasagna.

Thursday - I work this day and Hubby will be in charge of dinner on this night as well. I plan to have a tuna noodle casserole in the fridge for him to just reheat in the oven.

Friday - I work this day as well and Hubby once again will be in charge of dinner. I plan to have enchiladas in the fridge for him to just reheat in the oven.

Saturday - Homemade pizza has been a favorite for the kids on their movie night, so that may be a good option for this evening.

Sunday - baked chicken and pasta

I think that sounds like a good menu overall. We'll go with it. Even with the parts where the kids are eating junky food at home or from a drive thru. But since I haven't prepared ahead of time, I am okay with planning for this in advance.

Kids Movie Night

I wasn't sure that it was going to happen this week because we have had some major issues with defiance and attitude. But the kids buckled down and got their chores done so that they could enjoy their night of a movie with homemade pizza and popcorn. The kids settled in to watch "It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" while I worked on some projects myself and while Hubby was at work. I don't think my children have ever seen this movie before. I had to have them watch it. Just on principle. Although, I did notice a few things in it that I don't allow my kids to say. Koren (who is 8, mind you) gasped and said, "Mom! They said a bad thing! They said the S word!" I rewinded the movie (is that even the correct term when it's on DVR?) and played the scene over again. "See Mom!" he insisted. "They said the S-T-U word!" (Hint: The S-T-U word ends in P-I-D and that is a word we do not allow in our home. Whoops.)

Other than the mishap with some questionable (to our children) language and situations, they LOVED the movie! All four kids sat through the movie and watched it very nicely. I heard some discussion between them about Lucy and Charlie Brown and how she would pull the football away when he was about to kick it. They said that it wasn't nice of Lucy and that she should apologize. They found it funny but realized that the actions were not desirable. I like the way the movie made them think and the discussions they had about them.

Going back to the topic of work, I currently work 3 days a week and Hubby works 2-3 as well. I work 12 hour shifts and Hubby's shifts are 5-8 hours. I found another job that I am tempted to apply for. It is early morning hours (though if I were able to get the job, I would see if I could actually start a full hour earlier) and I would be cleaning a bowling alley. It's an every day of the week kind of deal but I would be done and back before the kids would need to get ready for school or even be awake possibly. Some of the things that I like about the job prospect are the hours and the pay, the fact that I can do it WHILE still working my other job (no issues there!) and I'd be able to be there for the major part of the kids', well, everything. And if Hubby picks up more hours at work, I'd like to cut back at MY work and be able to be home for/with the kids more. Ideally, I would still work my 12 hour shift every Friday and work the morning shift cleaning the bowling alley instead. It's a job where I'd be working on my own. I kind of like that to be perfectly honest. I do have the option to have someone help me out with the work but it couldn't/wouldn't be Hubby because he would need to be home with sleeping kiddos. I have a couple of people in mind. One of them is actually Cephas. He is such an early riser and he can really buckle down and get right to work when he wants to. Of course, I'd compensate him for the work. I just don't know if the company would allow me to have him help me out there. Guess there is only one way to find out.

Cephas and Koren have a lawn job lined up for next weekend already. They need to mow and rake and do general picking up of a postage stamp yard that belongs to my mother. And Grandma is going to pay them more than I think they should get for that job, but I guess until the boys are comfortable setting their own prices, they will take the amount offered them or pass on the job. What should the going rate for a lawn job be? I figured $2.00 per mulched lawn bag. If they are raking and not using the mower, I think it should be around $2.25 per lawn bag. Does that seem reasonable?

For instance, the first job that Cephas had, he made $20 and had 9 bags of leaves. That would have averaged out to about $2.25 per bag. But he was also having to fight against long grass in his attempt to rake the leaves. But had he been able to mulch and use our bag mower and get the grass as well, it probably would have been around 7-8 bags worth. The leaves would have been compacted down quite a bit more than they were but there would have been grass added to it too. Then there is also the gas for the mower to figure in as well. So, for a mulched bag at $2.00, it would have been somewhere in the neighborhood of $15.00, which I think would have been fitting for the job had he been able to use the mower. Just some thoughts I've been having in regards to this. I am hoping that he can get some repeat business soon. He really enjoys the extra work (and the extra money!) and I think it's good for him.

Well, it's time to get some more things done before Hubby comes home so I will post again tomorrow maybe?