Living Organized

Keeping Up With Schedules

June 15, 2013 By Suzanne

Guess what I did on the beautiful summer day…

Matching Up School / Phone / Home Calendars

We’re taking it easy this weekend because my daughter had eye surgery on Thursday and has to stay pretty low-key. And last week the paperwork & calendar for the 2013-2014 school year arrived. So I took time today to transfer everything from the school district calendar to our home wall calendar and my iPhone calendar that syncs with my work Outlook.

For my wall calendar, I again ordered my favorite Fly Lady wall calendar because I love the size and large spaces. I can fit birthdays, activities, and school closures all in one space!

On my phone, I have my corporate Microsoft Outlook synced with my Google calendar. So on my phone both home and personal appointments show up together in different colors. And if I need it to be on my work calendar (so I’m marked as “busy”) I can do that too.

Don’t Get Caught Off-Guard This School Year!

I do realize that it seems premature to be filling out calendars for next school year. But I’ll admit that it gives me a sense of calm to know that I won’t be scrambling around surprised that the school is closed for in-service day in mid-November! And with my Fly Lady 17-month calendar I don’t have to have 2 calendars to fit it all in. It starts in August 2013 and goes all the way through December 2014. Brilliant!

What did I do with that original copy from the school? I stuffed it in the back pocket of the calendar so that I can still access it, just in case. In case of what, I’m not sure!

How do you keep your family’s schedules in sync? I’d love to hear your tips.

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1 Comment Filed Under: Children, Electronic Organization, Homekeeping, Living Organized, Routines, Stuff, Time, To Buy Tagged With: Back To School, back to school ideas, calendar, electronic organization, organizing, organizing for moms, organizing with kids, preparing for back to school, products, school, seasonal, summer, Time Management

Kids Bathroom Storage

June 6, 2013 By Suzanne

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We moved into a new-to-us home just about 1 year ago. We are very fortunate in this home that we really do have plenty of storage. But just because there is are a lot of place to put things does not mean those places are always where I want to put my things.

The children’s bathroom is a perfect example. Our three children currently occupy 2 bedrooms with the boys sharing. That means they all share a bathroom. We have a spare bedroom with an en suite but we’ve reserved that for our guests (i.e. parents) to visit.

The bathroom set up is with an outer room that has two sinks. These each have a cabinet underneath and there are three decent sized drawers. There is then an inner room with the toilet and bathtub. The truth is there is plenty of room in those cabinets and drawers to store all we need in this room. However, my little guy is not quite 3 years old yet and I’m not comfortable leaving cleaning supplies in his reach just yet. So I had two options. 1. store the cleaning items in another room (ugh!) 2. install cabinet locks (which he’d already mastered opening at our old house) or 3. find a way to store them up high enough to be out of reach.

I installed 2 Ikea EKBY JÄRPEN shelves above the toilet.

On the bottom shelf we keep:

wash cloths
pail for small odds & ends that turn up
basket with tub toys

On the top shelf we keep:

cleaning supplies in baskets
first aid kit

I feel most comfortable with the cleaning & medical supplies up high because they are harder to reach for kids. Not that MY kids would ever do something so adventuresome as to climb on the toilet to reach items on the shelves. Heavens, no! <insert biggest sarcastic look possible>. But visiting children may not be so well behaved.

A few other highlights of the bathroom. Because we are in potty-training mode with 2-year-old J I have a command hook on the wall to hang his potty seat.

In the outer room I hung the picture that used to be in the kids’ bath at our old house – my older two in a tub filling with water fully clothed. Yes, before popularized by Pinterest, I had this adorable tub photo of my kids hanging in the bathroom. And no, it was not staged, in the slightest. P was just 2 at the time and was so excited for bath time that he hopped in fully clothed. A (3 at the time) followed suit as soon as she saw him. I snapped the picture, had it printed as 8×10 and bought a frame and mat that matched the bathroom colors. It’s adorable and they hopefully won’t be too embarrassed when their friends see it since they are clothed!

And one last bit of bathroom fun… we usually don’t use this tub for bath time because we have a large soaker in the master. So it’s not uncommon for a few days to lapse before Mr. Brown or I go into this bathroom. While cleaning a few months ago my husband found a nearly empty carton of melted Blue Bell Rocky Road in the tub – with 2 spoons inside. I didn’t know whether to be mad that they snuck around eating ice cream, impressed at their creativity, or glad to know they were sharing.

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Leave a Comment Filed Under: Bathroom, Children, Homekeeping, Living Organized, Simple Solutions, Storage, Stuff, To Buy Tagged With: Bathroom, cabinet, decorating, organizing, organizing with kids, products, storage

Open The (car) Doors With Confidence

January 1, 2013 By Suzanne

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Happy New Year! I hope that this day finds you excited for a year of possibility.

January is National Get Organized (GO) month. In honor of that, we’re going to spend the next 30 days focusing on decluttering and organizing those spaces of your home and life that you usually just shut the door on. Out of sight, out of mind? Not anymore. Let’s open the drawers, fling open the doors, and expose them to the light! Stop worrying that when your mother-in-law comes to visit that she’ll open the wrong closet and have something fall on her head.

We’re going to start in a place you probably don’t think about often but you see every day – the center console of your car. This space is a challenge because it’s small so it won’t hold much. But if stocked with a little bit of planning it can be extremely helpful!

The type of vehicle you have will determine how much space you have available. I personally have a minivan. Yes, I know, the ultimate mom-mobile – you either love it or hate it. Let me tell you that as a mother of 3 kids under the age of 6 it is my saving grace in having enough space for easily sitting 3 car seats and getting kids in and out. As a result I have a pretty large center console so what I can fit in mine, you may not be able to in yours.

Yes – I did take mine out of the car to photgraph for you. Another advantage of the van! It was about 15 degrees when I went out to take pictures!

Don’t worry if you don’t have a monster space like mine – just think about what you really need and will use and find the right size for your space. This isn’t the place to keep every piece of paper or stray sock (hey – it happens!) that makes its way into your car.

Here’s what is in each of my 3 compartments:

Hand Sanitizer
Phone charger (not pictured)
Eye Drops – for my contact lenses
Lip Balm for these dry Colorado winters
Coins for parking. I only have a few but if you live in a city where you park at meters a lot or drive toll roads you might want a lot more
Hair rubber bands for myself and my daughter
Band-aids
Pen & Paper (courtesy of my realtor)
Gym/Rec Center Card
Napkins/tissue – usually I have a small package but I’m out right now.
Eye Patches for my daughter. She wears one at school each day for her vision and sometimes in the shuffle of getting out of the house she doesn’t grab one so I keep some in the car.

Below the upper container is a larger bottom section.

Small, long shelf-life snack – comes in handy when the kids or I just can’t wait until we get home and keeps us from making a drive-thru pit stop
Small zip top bag. Kind of random, I know but at least once a month I find myself with my hands full of something that I need somewhere to stash without it getting lost.
Diapers – I still have 1 left in diapers and don’t carry a diaper bag anymore but keeping 1-2 on hand is essential

And the last part is the front opening. This is a deep space where small things can easily get lost so I don’t keep much here.

Glasses/Sunglasses cases
Lotion

A few other things you might want to add:

Small flashlight
Breath mints or gum
Ibuprofen

The key is to keep only things you actually need and to replace them when you use them up. Spending just 5-10 minutes on preparing this space will make a huge difference. Then you can confidently send your passenger in after a stick of gum without worrying what they might encounter.

What do you keep in your car that I don’t have?

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Leave a Comment Filed Under: Closet, Garage, Storage, Vacation and Travel Tagged With: car, garage, minivan, organizing, organizing for moms, organizing with kids, travel

Independence

July 4, 2012 By Suzanne

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I owe you all a slew of posts. But you’re not getting them today. Instead I’m going to share with you some of my favorite images of our Independence Day celebration.

This week is always busy in our house because both Mr Brown and my middle child celebrate their birthdays right before the 4th.

For P’s birthday celebration at school I took in a platter of fruit skewers for him to share. His old school didn’t allow sugary treats. The new one does but I still feel better about taking something a bit more healthy but still fun. For kids (grown-ups too, really) anything on a stick is fun! These have been all over Pinterest but we’ve been making fruit skewers for birthday celebrations for a few years now because of the no-cake rule at the old school.

Some decorations around the house.

I hope you enjoyed a fantastic holiday and had a chance to celebrate our nation’s birth.

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2 Comments Filed Under: Cooking, Holidays, Make It Beautiful, Party Planning, To Inspire

Birthday Party – Tailgate Style!

September 22, 2011 By Suzanne

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I’ve been absent from blogging for a few weeks. Between a birthday party for my 1 year old, back-to-back grandparent visits, back-to-school for my two older ones and soaking up the last few days of summer things have been busy around the Brown house. Hopefully you’ve been enjoying the craziness that comes with the end of summer.

In a break from my usual blog topics today I’m going to show you my 1 year old’s birthday party. Since his birthday this year landed on the opening day of college football we decided to take advantage and go with a football tailgate party.

The Menu

Chicken Wings with ranch
Fried Chicken
Veggie Tray
Grapes

The above were all courtesy of our local supermarket. The rest I made.

Pizza Bites

I found this recipe on Pinterest and it’s one of my new favorites. I did not make my own dough. Instead I spent $3 on a fresh whole-wheat dough ball from Whole Foods. This saved a lot of time. I went with the very simple pepperoni and a cube of mozzerlla for the filling but I suppose you could add whatever your favorite toppings are. A can of warmed pizza sauce for dipping and there wasn’t a single one left.

This recipe is courtesy of Annie’s Eats

Ingredients:
½ batch pizza dough (enough for 1 pizza)
4 oz. mozzarella cheese, cubed (about 20-24 pieces)
Sliced pepperoni

For topping:
Olive oil
Italian seasoning
Grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400˚ F. Lightly grease (Suzanne’s Note: I heavily greased my pan: aka Crisco to ensure they wouldn’t stick. I didn’t want to take chances) a 9-inch pie plate or cake pan. Divide the pizza dough into 20-24 roughly equal sized pieces. Take one of the dough pieces, top with a cube of cheese and a slice or two of pepperoni. Pull the edges of the dough around the fillings and pinch closed. Place seam-side down in the baking dish. Repeat with the remaining dough pieces.

Lightly brush the tops of the dough balls with olive oil. Sprinkle with Italian seasoning and grated Parmesan cheese. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown. Serve warm, with dipping sauce as desired.

Chips & Salsa

One of the moms in my playgroup shared this salsa recipe for me and I love how light and simple it is:

1 can black beans, drained & rinsed
1 can sweet corn, drained
1 can Rotel Original tomatoes with chilis – I half drained this. I wanted some of the liquid but not too much
fresh cilantro, loosely chopped
lime juice – this is to taste. I like the juice from one whole small lime

Combine and serve. Yum!

Taco Dip

This is my version of a 7-layer dip

1 can refried bean
1 lb ground beef, cooked & seasoned with taco seasoning
lettuce, shredded in the food processor
tomatoes, chopped
cheddar cheese, shredded in the food processor
Rotele & green onions (chopped) to garnish

Buckeyes

I first discovered Buckeyes when I went to college in Indiana. Having grown up in California I had never heard of them. But one bite of these little balls of yum and I was hooked. This year I finally decided to learn to make my own. There are a lot of recipes out there but I used this one from All Recipes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar

6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips (Suzanne Note: I used 6oz of chocolate candy coating instead of chocolate chips)

2 tablespoons shortening

Directions

Line a baking sheet with waxed paper; set aside.

In a medium bowl, mix peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and confectioners’ sugar with hands to form a smooth stiff dough. Shape into balls using 2 teaspoons of dough for each ball. Place on prepared pan, and refrigerate. (Suzanne’s Note: This is a good stopping place if you need to do something else. These will keep in the fridge covered in cling wrap for quite awhile)

Melt shortening and chocolate together in a metal bowl over a pan of lightly simmering water. Stir occasionally until smooth, and remove from heat. (Suzanne’s Note: You can also melt in the microwave. Melt 1 minute, stir then continue melting 30 seconds at a time and stirring afterward until the consistency is right.)

Remove balls from refrigerator. Insert a wooden toothpick into a ball, and dip into melted chocolate. Return to wax paper, chocolate side down, and remove toothpick. Repeat with remaining balls. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to set.

Muddy Buddies / Puppy Chow

This is an old favorite from junior high. My friend Sarah’s mom used to make it occasionally and whenever Sarah brought it in her lunch she was very popular with our lunch crowd. As a kid we always called in Puppy Chow but I prefer the name Muddy Buddies.

9 cups Rice Chex® cereal

Peanuts (optional)

8 oz chocolate candy coating

1/2 cup peanut butter

2 Tbsp shortening

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Measure cereal into a large bowl. Add nuts if desired. Put into a 2-gallon zip top bag. If you don’t have a 2-gallon bag, split it into 2 1-gallon bags.

Melt shortening, chocolate & peanut butter together in the microwave 1 minute. Stir. Continue melting 30 seconds at a time and stirring afterward until the consistency is right.

Pour melted chocolate into zip top bag (or divided into the 2 1-gallon bags)

Zip bag and mix to coat.

Add powdered sugar. Seal bag and shake until well coated.

Spread onto waxed paper to cool.

Store in airtight container in refrigerator.

Chocolate Pretzel Bites

Another recipe I found on Pinterest. But it’s originally from the blog Megster Meter.

Hershey’s Kisses
M&Ms – I pulled out just the blue, yellow & green ones
Pretzel Twists

Layout the pretzels on a cookie sheet sprayed with non-stick spray. Top with one Hershey’s Kiss. Heat 5 minutes at 275*. Remove from oven and gently push an M&M into the center. Let cool. Refrigerate to harden completely and keep them from melting before eating.

Football Cupcake Cake

Courtesy of Sam’s Club but if you have the patience it would be super easy to make your own.

The Decorations

Play Like A Champion Today sign

This greeted guests on our front door upon arrival. I promise it looked much nicer before being manhandled by my kids after the party. Big thanks to my dad who freehanded the letters

A House Divided wreath

In this house we are split between rooting for the Irish of the University of Notre Dame and the University of Michigan Wolverines. I made this wreath to reflect that. To make this I used:

1 Wreath form
Wooden letters
Navy spray paint
Gold spray paint
Ribbon – Navy, gold, yellow
Wooden footballs

First I spray painted the letters and let dry (actually my dad did this!)

While those were drying I laid out the ribbon and used a small bit of fabric glue to attach the navy/gold and navy/yellow near the centers. I wanted the ends of the ribbons to hang separate but wanted the middles where they were getting tied to always stay together.

Once the fabric glue dried I tied them on the wreath and used hot glue to secure them down.

Next I hot glued on the letters and wooden footballs.

Finally I made a hanger out of the navy ribbon by tieing it it some loose branches on the back of the wreath and looping it at the top to make the hook. The wooden football on the hook (hot glued) keeps it in place.

Pennant Flags

These served as both decor and party favors. They were super easy to make.

Felt “squares” (they are really more like 8.5×11) in school colors of your choice
Iron-On letters
Felt sticky-back footballs and helments
Wooden dowels
Hot glue gun

Cut the felt into the triangular pennant shape. Cut out the letters and iron them on – leave enough room to wrap the far end around the dowel. Wrap the felt around the dowel and secure with hot glue. Add footballs, helmets or other decorations.

Pennant Birthday Banner

To make this I used the same “varsity style” iron-on letters as from the pennants. Cut out triangles out of a piece of blue fabric I bought as a remnant. And attached them to leftover gold ribbon to make it hang. I have to give credit to my awesome parents who actually made this for me. It was my idea but they actually did all the work!

All in all the party turned out well and the kids had a good time. My baby loved his first cake (unlike his older sister) and the weather cooperated with a nice crisp fall-feeling kind of day. HUGE thanks to my parents who were visiting and were very patient in helping me create all the ideas in my head.

What’s your favorite tailgate food?