Weathering the Storm ~ Checklist

Since living in Connecticut we have gone without power more here, in 1 ½ years, than we have living anywhere else. I’m not sure I could call myself an expert just yet but we are getting pretty good at weathering the storm.

When we first moved to CT, before we even had a place to live, we were crashing in a friends basement and lost power that weekend. When Abigail was two weeks old we lost power for nine days from Hurricane Irene. Last fall we went without power again and this time, I would say, was the hardest. We were on well water so when the power went out the water stopped as well, the stove was electric as well and Abigail was a rambunctious one {1} year old.

Paul and I love to camp so we had a number of items already that could help in a power outage situation. So, now I am going to share with you my list of things to have ready and other things to prepare right before the storm. I have also included other tips, some that we thought up and acted on before the storm and some that we figured out the hard way. I'm sharing my list but I think I will keep to myself which ones were added after the storm. Wink, Wink!

Click here and download the files for yourself. I will be printing off my list and put it in my Moving Binder, that has now become our home binder since we have moved.

This is her third {3rd} once-in-a-lifetime/record breaking storm. She had no idea what to do with so much snow. The older kids in the neighborhood were in heaven ... once they could go outside and play in.

Here are some of my other binder printables

Our Budget Binder

Start a Yearly Savings Plan with this printable

Check out our Moving Binder

Pipe Cleaner Toy

I love when the stuff that  i am going to buy already comes in containers that I can reuse. When we are done reusing it, into the garbage it goes. This is great because I am one of those that has a hard time paying for containers that don't last or that I know will be destroyed but little hands.

Today's reused packaging comes from ... the fridge! Originally I was going to do this project with a large juice jug and drill some holes in the lid but we finished off the Parmesan cheese first, and the lid works better too.

This little toy will be used to help with fine motor skills by placing the pipe cleaners into the holes of the lid. It can also help with counting and colors once she is old enough and talking!

Items needed:

Cleaned out jar

Pipe cleaners

Hot glue gun/glue sticks

Wire cutters

Place a little bit of glue in the groove and place one end of the pipe cleaner there.

Once that is set, wrap the pipe cleaner around the jar nice and tight. Put a bend in the pipe cleaner where it matches up with the beginning, this will 'mark' where you will cut the pipe cleaner.

Place another drop of glue and fasten the end. Be sure to pull it nice and snug. Repeat, and place pipe cleaners in all the grooves of the jar. Since the pipe cleaners are placed in the grooves you don't need to glue around the whole jar.

Cut a bunch of pipe cleaners in half so they can be placed inside.

Yea!! She likes it.

Valentine Chalkboard Printable

Here is my second attempt at making a chalkboard printable. I downloaded the chalkboard backgrounds from here. I put mine together in Photoshop but you can create it in Picasa just as well.

Simply open the chalkboard background in the color of your choice, then add your text on top. For Christmas I got a Samsung Note and absolutely love it. I wanted to have a bit of a hand drawn element to this one so I used the note to draw the heart. After a little bit of photoshop magic I was able to remove all the background and change the color to pink. If you would rather, you can download mine and print so you can add it to your own Valentine decor.

This is a 8.5"x11" so you can 'shrink to fit' if you are printing it to a smaller size. Enjoy!!

~Mindy

Conversation Heart Cell Phone Cover Tutorial

Aaahhhh!!! I am so excited. I have my first Guest Blogger Tutorial to share with you today.

Adiel from It's Because I think Too Much has done our tutorial for us. Adiel is a twenty-something woman originally from the Salt Lake City area of Utah. She moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2009 for a job in social shopping--a perfect fit for such a social-media enthusiast and shopaholic!

She likes rings, pleats, polka dots, stripes, lace, mascara, and bright lip colors. She also loves to wear bold jewelry, pretty dresses, and sky-high heels. Quirky and whimsical accessories make her happy.

Materials Needed:

Old phone case

Acrylic paints in dove grey, pastel pink, pastel green, pastel yellow, and pastel purple

One sponge brush

At least two paint brushes in assorted sizes

Red letter stickers

Mod Podge Gloss

Step 1: Use the sponge brush to paint thin coats of dove grey all over the phone case. Let each coat dry before painting the next one. Continue until you reach the desired opacity. 

Step 2: Use the pink paint to paint a large heart in the center of the case. Using all pastel paints, randomly paint hearts all over the case. If you paint incomplete hearts along the edges, the effect will be better. 

Step 3: Use your stickers to apply your desired conversation heart phrase. I chose "Be Mine" but you can do any of the old standbys; "True Love" "Sweet Talk" "I'm Yours" etc...

Step 4: Use a large paint brush to coat the entire case with Mod Podge in two to three layers, letting each dry in between.

Voila! You've just made your own custom conversation heart case!

 

Creating a New Me ~ Supplements

This past month I have been doing better with my portions, it was a challenge to really stick with it..... 

My main problem is that I am busy during the day and don't usually take the time to eat a large breakfast so in the evening I am starving and that is when I usually eat my largest meal {at the end of the day when I am my least active.}

What's the text step? I have been thinking my next step will be finding supplements to help me. About 3 1/2 years ago I had an incident that required me to take iron and other supplements. Lately I have been feeling a bit sluggish, the same as then, so I'll go back on the iron pills. I know that there are other supplements I can be taking that will help me to increase my metabolism and help with my everyday health and wellness. If you have any suggestions on what to take, leave me a note, I would love to look into and see if it is right for me.

Our Moving Binder

After first getting married Paul and I stayed in the same place for 4 1/2 years. It was just a little Town Home but it was perfect for us. After Paul graduated we started moving and haven't stopped. We are moving again at the end of the month, this will be our 5th move in 2 years. Our biggest move was in my third trimester, from Utah to Connecticut, and the last three moves have been with our baby.

I have come up with a couple of tools to help me stay organized during my moves. Here is my moving binder and box labeling tabs.

Here are the sections for my binder:

Home 4 Sale {Out with the Old...}

Home 2 Buy {In with the New...}

Moving Costs

Moving Checklist {Out with the Old...}

Moving Checklist {In with the New...}

New Area Info

Contact List

Receipts

 

Every section has a opening page and a few more blank pages for all my notes. I have filled in a few spots for the basics but left plenty of room for you to fill in your own list of "To Do." The Moving Checklist has one page of suggestions and a completely blank one, this way you can print off as many as you need and fill it in with your own list.

For the receipts section I included a pencil pouch to hold my receipts.

There are a few things that are necessities when moving into a new place and having to search through a bunch of boxes looking for those few items can get a little frustrating. So I have developed a list of things that we need to have 'First on the Scene' when we get to our new place. There are also box labels included. These can simply be printed out on a sheet and cut out using the trim marks or printed onto label sheets. They have an assigned room and space to include a description of what is in the box. We all have different spaces and places so there is a blank sheet of labels as well so you can print out as many as you need for what ever the size of your move. If you choose to print and cut out the labels you can place them in the pencil pouch to hold them until you are ready to tape them to the boxes.

If you want to download my pdf's simply click here. In short there are 9 binder pages with 2 blank 'To Do' lists, 5 box labels sheets with rooms listed and 1 blank box labels sheet.

UPDATE: The moving binder and pages worked out great!! Everything was kept together and right where I needed them. I must say my favorite part was the boxing labels. For every box I put a label on top of the box, back left corner and another on the front of the box, top right corner. This way, however the box was packed in the truck, one of the corners would be visible so we could now what was in it and where it needed to be put in the new place. LOVED IT!!! This will be used every time we move from now on.

***UPDATE***

{4 June 2013}

I am really feeling the love. This has been my most popular post and a huge number of you have downloaded my Moving Binder pages. {I didn't think it would be this big of a hit.} 

I went back over the box labels and added some color, so now your boxes will be color coded as well. YEA!! There are even separate colors for three different bedrooms and bathrooms and two blank colors. Here is the link for the new labels and pages. If you want the original, click on the link further up the page.

Happy Move!!

Here are some of my other binder printables

Our Budget Binder

Start a Yearly Savings Plan with this printable

Here is my Checklist for Weathering the Storms 

Mega Bloks Box into a Tote

While we were out in Pennsylvania visiting family for Thanksgiving Abigail was introduced to Lego's, she loved them! Her first tantrum we ever experienced was one night when we took the Lego's away to get ready for bed. We were all thrown for a loop, this was not a regular thing for Abigail, we couldn't help but just sit and watch.

Since she seemed to have such a love for them and they are the perfect size for her little hands, she got some for Christmas. Lately she has also been trying to stack items, put lids on stuff and put anything that fits - into something else. This little bucket of Mega Bloks does it all: building blocks, lid, room to put more stuff in.

To help keep the lid with the bucket I came up with a way to attach it.

Now, I'm sure I could have just taken a photo of the finished project and you could have figured out exactly what I did.....but I got a new camera for Christmas and so I have step by step photos. Tee~hee~hee.

The Mega Bloks bucket has holes on both sides where the zip ties were placed to keep it closed at the store.

I used 16" {inches} of 1/4" ribbon and a couple of random beads.

String the bead onto the middle of the ribbon. Fold the ribbon and put the two ends together then lace through the hole in the lid and the bucket from top to bottom.

Once the ribbon is laced put the lid in place so that there will be as much slack as possible. I singed the ends of the ribbon but you can use some type of fray glue. Then tie a knot with the ends of the ribbon.

The beads on the ribbon help keep the ribbon from just slipping all the way through the holes and keep it all attached.

Boom!! Now the lid will stay with the bucket and she has a handle to drag it all over, bang it into walls and ram the corners.