Not Such a 'Fraidy Cat

We were warned when we brought Libby home that Wilson might not adjust very well. We could expect him to cower in fright. Hide under the covers. Stop eating. Keep to himself.

Uhhhhh...not so much. Check out what these two do multiple times every single day. It is constant.

Hmmm - What Can I Organize Today?

I'm really not that organized. I just aspire and admire it. I'll be the one to compliment you on your pantry or neatly organized craft room. LOVE IT!

A friend once referred me to a woman who needed organizational help. That was very intimidating to me! I truly don't know that I could do it for someone else. Clutter is overwhelming to me and it would especially be hard if the person wasn't up to getting rid of things. I truly think about organizing more than I really do it. Usually it begins when I'm waking up (this is so shameful). I think about the cluttered Tupperware or medicine cabinet and vow to straighten it up. Usually the straightening involves throwing things away and/or giving them away (part of the process of keeping things clutter-free of course).

Having an extra day off, I conquered the guest room linen closet. You know the story - things start out neatly stacked. Then, some extra towels here, some blankets thrown there, some things that really should go to Goodwill... Next thing you know, you shamefully open the closet, start digging for what you need and ask yourself - how did this happen?

I wished I had taken a "before" shot, but I hadn't really planned to blog this. It was only when I finished up and proudly dragged Bill down the hall to show him and he joked, "Are you going to take a picture of this and blog it?" Oh, what a fabulous idea my dear one!

I like the idea of guests staying at our home, feeling very comfortable here and easily being able to find things they need.


See, the true perfectionist would have the towels folded precisely even and all turned the same way. Not me. They are folded decently, in the same place - it is enough to make me happy!

Plus, the labeling is also helpful to me. I was changing the bedding yesterday getting frustrated with pillow cases in between duvets - everything was such a mess.

Ahh, much better. I can see where everything is at!

Since I was in the bathroom with my camera, I snapped a shot of the bathroom drawer. This was actually an inspiration from my friend, Jeannie. I have been a guest at Jeannie's many times. If I forgot my hair dryer - just look in the cupboard. Oops, forgot my toothpaste - yep, she's got that too! I love that. Here is the "Jeannie Drawer" I've kept up since I owned my first home with a spare bathroom. It's got all the necessities - your own soap, toothpaste, lotion, floss, Q-tips and even emery boards. Love it.

Only problem was my friend Carin saw our friend OJ had her own toothbrush, so she had to make an even bigger label to mark one for her too! Love that!

Happy Organizing!

For Free?

I have to say, I love "free" and I love "winning." I've shared about working toward pairing cooking healthier and planning our meals with saving money. This has come to be quite the task - Have you priced 96 percent fat free ground beef lately? One night I showed my mother-in-law all the blogs I've been subscribing to where I've requested numbers of free samples, coupons and discounts. Now, I have a loooooong way to go to get to her status of coupon clipping and really I haven't been so good at that. But, I feel I am making progress at finding ways to cut our grocery bills that work for me and it has been fun. For instance, did you know you could load Proctor and Gamble coupons onto your Safeway Club Card? OK - I liked that idea!

I've added all of these coupon/money saving/freebie sites into Google Reader and I scan through them each day. One thing I've found is many of them post contests. Now, many of these sites are "mommy" blogs. I bypass all the contests for diaper bags, formulas and juice bag holders, but there are some that have piqued my interest. For instance, this is embarassing to admit, but each day of last week I commented on a blog trying to win an I-Touch. And, dang - didn't win.

But, look what I did win. Hello - it is pink, feminine, handmade, free and pretty cute! I don't feel like I ever win anything, so I admit - this felt great. Just yesterday I took a bunch of coupons for "free stuff" to the grocery store. I'm not even kidding when I tell you that I scanned all the checkers first to find someone who looked nice and wouldn't think I was a weirdo. Fortunately for me, she was actually impressed - Where did you get these? This is so cool! We got about $10 worth of free dog food, 100 calorie snack packs and even a 2-liter of Diet Dr. Pepper aside from the other savings we had on the rest of our bill from sticking to sale items.

What first seemed daunting is now kinda fun. I'm still not making my own laundry detergent like some of my other gal pals - but hey - we've all got to start somewhere, right?