The great iPod debacle

We got our first iPod by winning a raffle.  


No joke. This was about eight years ago. My husband--with his English/journalism background--subscribes to TIME magazine. Sidenote...I  got told by someone a while ago that since we read TIME,  I wouldn't enjoy humor like Forty Year-Old Virgin. Really?


But I digress. So, after we subscribed, I got a note in the mail saying I had won an iPod in a raffle. Keep in mind, this is about a year after the first iPod came out. I thought it was complete bull. I was skeptical at best. Never did I believe that an iPod would come through the mail.


But....then a little package came on the doorstep and there was our little iPod mini. It is crazy....compared to the iPods now, it is so heavy for its size!!! Well, we didn't have a computer that was sophisticated enough to run the iPod, so we upgraded to a new desktop computer and retired the computer that had put my husband through grad school.


And.....now, a few iPods later, we have come to a crossroads. You see, we have shared a library for quite some time now. Isn't that what nice, married couples do??? Share? Yeah, not so much anymore.


We didn't used to have so much stuff in there, but it's getting so large that it takes forever to check and uncheck all of the things I want to have loaded on my iPod from when he updated his. I started to do this on Saturday morning. I worked on it for about 25 minutes and gave up after I had gone through just the Gs.


Also, my dear husband had uploaded many of his CDs onto the iTunes library. Um, I really don't want Queensryche on my iPod. Have you ever heard any of their songs? They are so weird. No offense, of course, to any Queensryche fans out there.

This required a bit of online research. Home sharing? Transfer the library? I finally made the decision to back up the iTunes library on our external hard drive, which was purchased once our desktop went on the fritz and we nearly lost all of the stuff on our computer. Here is my little workspace.....with the hard drive in the middle of both computers. I chose this option because it would have the side benefit of backing up the iTunes in case of computer failure.

Here's my cup of joe......the cup is from Matt's Hamburgers, in South Minneapolis. If you're ever in the area, you must go. It's home of the Jucy Lucy. Fear the cheese! (this one's for you, Lauren!)

My mom and sister were just in MPLS this weekend and got me two more mugs. Score!

Once the iTunes library was backed up, I attached the hard drive to my laptop...it then went to town copying the files.

All that was left to do was to delete anything I didn't want! Then, I checked the songs I wanted to add to my iPod, hooked it up and declared victory. I'm not the most tech-savvy girl in the world.

I'm really glad I was able to do this, especially since I just bought the first season of Downton Abbey on iTunes and I wanted to make sure I could get it on my computer. Yee haw! You can read all about my Downton obsession here.

I guess I'm really a big girl....now that I have my own iTunes on my own computer for my very own iPod. : )

Where the magic happens

I cannot believe we have only four days until Christmas. Wow! December has been flying by. My last day of school was last Friday, so I have certainly been enjoying the time off and finishing up preparations for the holiday. 


I've also been living in sweats the last few days (and loving it....)! I had a student--who I'd seen at the grocery this fall--a few weeks ago that commented to me that I looked cute at school and I wore jewelry and stuff. So, I said, "And I guess at the grocery, I was wearing......sweats?" She nodded and it was like she did not want to say anything not very nice. Yeeeeaaaaah. Oh, well.....I've been known to rock sweats and no makeup on my days off. : )


So, I was working in my sewing room, wrapping presents and doing other general Christmas prep. The mess was getting to me and I started to frantically clean up when I thought, I should take a picture of this. It's where the magic happens.....

Wow! I hope no one wants to come over and spend the night.

Oooh, there are some essential items there on the ironing board. Phone? Check. Coffee (at 3pm)? Check.

Ugh. And I'm itching to vacuum......

Hope you're enjoying some holiday prep as well! I've got some cool presents I've made that I'll share next week (can't give them away now!) and I'm going to be featured over at {Ginger Snap Crafts}.  She is doing Christmas Break at Ginger Snap Crafts for the next two weeks....



Check it out! And hang in there this week!

Makeup solution

I fired up the glue gun recently to complete a project or two....

Before I could get to the project that was going to simplify my life, I had to make a repair to a certain t-ball trophy that had falled to the floor and smashed into a few pieces.

I had to reattach the player and also the two corners. The result? Not perfect, but good enough for a six year-old. Globs of glue visible, but everyone's just happy to have the trophy back to trophy-like conditions.

Next up...makeup. I had a great makeup organizer that I bought at the department store several years ago. It was quite handy and I certainly put it to good use for many years. Problem? It got really dirty and the organizing pieces were breaking. This does not make me happy and make for good organizing.

One of the components was a piece that was magnetized and you could attach small metal powders to them directly, rather than having several bulky plastic containers that house your shadows/blushes, etc.

These colors you see are ones that I use often, as they are fairly neutral. I do have other shadows that I use, but just not every day. As you can see, the holes are meant for the rings in the makeup organizer.

So, I took some magnets I had at school and hot glued them to the back.....

And with the magnets, I am able to attach it to the inside of the door of my medicine cabinet...

I also have a few other magnets to put up pictures and tips. If you haven't tried using the inside of the medicine cab, I would definitely recommend it as a handy place for many things. To be honest, this is the first time I've ever had a medicine cabinet by my sink and I love it. I don't even have to share it with my husband!

As for the rest of my makeup, I've temporarily put my daily items in a little container and dedicated a spot for the bigger items.

Time will tell if those things will stay in that spot....or if I'll have another moment of inspiration for them. : )

Even if you don't have a medicine cabinet, you can still incorporate the idea of using magnets if you have a metal piece you can hang on the wall....it could even be framed out and painted.

Hmm....inspiration brewing....





May link to these parties....
Time Travel Thursday at The Brambleberry Cottage
Fridays Unfolded at Stuff and Nonsense
Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage
Show and Share Day at Just a Girl
Simply Creations Link Party at Simple Home Life
Addicts (not so) Anonymous Addicted to Decorating
Sunday Showcase Party at Under the Table and Dreaming
Project Parade at The DIY Showoff
Creative Bloggers' Party and Hop at Homemaker on a Dime
Tip-Toe Thru Tuesday at Crayon Freckles
Sunday Shake-up at Jacque's Soda Parlor
Fabulous Friday at Ohh Baby

Makeup brush storage

Happy weekend! It's been rainy and a bit on the chilly side here this week....definitely feeling like fall has arrived!
I was inspired by a picture I found on a blog and pinned on Pinterest...I'm always loving storage of practical items that looks artful.

The photo I pinned was of makeup brushes stored in a jar of coffee beans. The added benefit there would be the aroma of coffee beans to accompany you while you put your face on.

Do coffee beans smell? Or just ground coffee beans? I have no idea.

Well, I had on hand a square glass vase and some rounded pebbles....I happen to love these pebbles from IKEA. I use them to grow paperwhites in the wintertime and cover the soil of houseplants with them. And.....suspend makeup brushes in them.....

I love the look and the accessibility. How do you store your makeup wares?

Linking to these parties....
Time Travel Thursday at The Brambleberry Cottage
Fridays Unfolded at Stuff and Nonsense
Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage
Show and Share Day at Just a Girl
Simply Creations Link Party at Simple Home Life
Addicts (not so) Anonymous Addicted to Decorating
Flaunt Your Flowers at Tootsie Time
Sunday Showcase Party at Under the Table and Dreaming
Project Parade at The DIY Showoff
Creative Bloggers' Party and Hop at Homemaker on a Dime
Tip-Toe Thru Tuesday at Crayon Freckles

Legos are taking over my life....

I consider myself to be fairly skilled at solving organization problems.

Need a way to organize kids' art supplies? I got your back.

Paint chips and fabric swatches snowed you in? No problem....I've got a fix.

How big was that plant supposed to be? Just look in the plant label book!

So....if organizational answers come easily to me, why are Legos taking over my life?

They're in pots. In pans. In nearly every large plastic food container we own.

Here is a picture of me keeping it real. Legos all over the table....sweatshirt hanging on the banister. Our fleet under the table.

How can I say no to Legos and my little guy when they make him so happy?

Got any solutions?

S.O.S!

Deco book

Well, friends, I have to be honest when I admit that I have a bit of a Type A personality. I also label some of my posts as "organization," so I think I must have a problem. I actually had a moment recently when my husband was looking for something of which I should know the location...and I could not find it! Egads.

Note...I will never, never profess to be able to find something that belongs to my husband. His domain is his black hole.

Anyway. So, I realized the other day that I started a system to organize the paints and fabrics I have used in my house. I know true designers most likely have more sophisticated systems than mine, but mine suits me and it was pretty easy to put together.

I had a little photo book. I'm not crazy about the pattern on the cover, but it works and I already had it.

I put my paint chips or labels in the clear pages. I also add fabric swatches that I have used or may use. This way, when I shop, I take along my little book and everything is right there.

Here are the chips for my son's room...

These pages are for the living room/kitchen. I have the green color, plus the white I used to paint the mirror. The fabric is what is on my valances.

Paint for the hall bath upstairs. I don't have the paint chip (lost it....), so I painted a sample and also included the label, so I have the numbers if I ever need more mixed.

Front dining room...two greys and a fabric I have used. Other fabric swatches are hanging on the wall.

Office colors and fabrics. I used the third shade down.

The $%^&* front door color. Bottom shade. The bane of my existence as of late (see post here).

I also added some paint chips that have caught my eye for use in other rooms.

The next two pics are pages of paints I used at our old house....I keep them so I can remember the names and just in case I'd like to use them again!

One thing I realized--it would also be helpful to have some notes with measurements if you need that also when you are shopping for window treatments or furniture. I haven't added these, but I should!

Do you have any ways that you organize your home dec stuff?

P.S. The Wall Project is making serious headway and now we need to order dirt. I'll post pictures next week. It has been a consuming project!!

DIY Silhouettes

Our living room has been going through a metamorphosis and I'm pleased to have finally completed my latest project. I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out, so it was definitely on the experimental side of the spectrum.

Here is our living room area before I added them. The walls are a green color that has a tinge of blue to it. We had bought the white couch and I had painted the mirror white. The mirror had been repurposed from our master bedroom and I'm loving how much light it brings into the room. It's on the wall opposite the windows. However, the mirror looked a little sparse in such a big space, so I was trying to think of what to add on the sides of the mirror....need to eliminate all of that negative space.

Sconces? Art?

I came up with the idea of silhouettes of our family. I looked around online and saw some really nice ones--especially on Etsy--but I decided to try my hand on my own.

The result...

I like the way they balance out the mirror and fill in the space.

These were pretty simple to make and I really like the personal touch it adds to the wall--without being too much! I like how the white balances the dark bookshelves to the left and the mantle is opposite the mirror, as well, so now there is a white statement on those opposite walls.

I'll post a tutorial on these later this week. ; )

When the spirit moves you

In the last few days, we have had a massive campaign to organize. Not sure from where this came, but I have been happy to oblige the feeling. My husband is taking a leave of absence from his teaching job next year, so we had about 12 boxes of classroom detritus to absorb. We worked on that over the weekend.

It's been rainy, so it was a good opportunity to purge a bit. I spent yesterday morning cleaning out the rest of our basement storage room and cleaning out the last part of the area where my old cat liked to sleep. He was put to sleep in February, so I'm ready to not be thinking of him every time I go in that room.

We made a trip to Goodwill last evening, so I would say it's been successful. I did take some pictures of my buffet that I have in our dining room. This buffet offers a multitude of storage! We don't dine in there, so I don't really use it for fancy dishes.

One of the drawers is really handy for storing our electronics-related stuff. Here is what it looked like before I started:

Ick. However, I do take heart in the fact that at least these things were all in one place. ; ) I took everything out. Everything that was not already in a baggie, I put in a baggie and labeled it.

I also took advantage of the Great Classroom Clean-out to use a plastic file folder to organize manuals and installation DVDs that didn't warrant a baggie.

I vacuumed out the drawer.

Then put everything back in. Much easier to see everything and to find the cords I need. I did throw out a few unidentified cords in there. Ta da!

I do love this buffet. The end cabinets are big enough to hold these photo albums.

I really would prefer for them to be on these bookshelves.....

but have no room for them due to toys on the lower shelves!

Whew. Not the sexiest post ever, but at least I'm organizing bit by bit. When the feeling hits ya, you gotta act.