Organization On a Budget - DIY Daily System

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For about the last year or so, I have had my eye on Pottery Barn's Daily System (shown above). Unfortunately for me, I can't quite bring myself to cough up the money for this amazing system. For all the parts - yes, it is purchased in parts - that I want, would have me spending upwards of $200. I'm all for organization that is both attractive and functional - but I'm not down with dropping all my cash for that perk.

Which brings me to my first project to share!

It's not perfect or completely finished - but I couldn't hold back my excitement about my project any longer. I just had to share. So far I have invested a total $23 into my system and I'm pretty excited about that. In all fairness, I did have the giant sized cork board going unused in my basement already - as well as the paint - so I'm not including those in my total spent. You can find a cork board this size at discount stores for around $5-10 - still not a bad deal.

Here is what I did...

I have been wanting to do something with is awkward wall of mine since moving in 8 years ago (true story! Eight years and no ideas on my end). You can't see in the pictures, but there is only about 3 feet of walking space between that wall and another wall as well as the door to our basement. Nothing ever seemed to work. When I fell in love with the Daily System from Pottery Barn, Chris and I agreed that it would be a perfect fit for that wall. But neither one of us had any intention of actually buying the system - again - budget issues. So the wall remained empty and my fridge remained covered in papers.

Until.... A light bulb went off in my head and a realized I could use that old cork board and paint it the color of my walls with our tub of touch up paint! I ran right out into the garage and started painting. I decided to tape off the cork and paint the trim of the board white to add some contrast. Easy peasy. The whole painting part was finished in 30 minutes, start to finish.

Then I went on a search for hanging pocket folders that would mimic the style of the Daily Systems folders. It took a while but I finally found these!

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They were perfect! And at $9 a piece, worth it in my mind. They are heavy duty, match beautifully and work like a charm. I did have to attach them to the cork board with my glue gun because the adhesive backing was not sticky at all. You can also just use the giant push pins that come with it, but they are huge and sharp and I really don't want one of my children to accidentally come in contact with one of those ginormous sharp pins.

I found simple and easy to attach tiny command hooks for a key holder. This came about right when we "lost" our second set of keys. I think that helped drive home the importance of having a place for said keys so that didn't happen again in the future. Thankfully two weeks later the lost set magically appeared inside the pocket of a pink stroller. Hmmmnnn... Did I mention this is out of reach for the smaller people in our house?

This is in a high traffic area of our house, so we decided to drill it to the wall. I just painted over the screws.



When I finally get around to buying more ink for my printer, I will type out the labels to give this a nicer appearance. I'm also on the search for a pretty calendar and a way to hold pens to the board so I don't have to keep walking to the other side of the wall for them.

 All in all, I'm thrilled with this simple little system. My refrigerator is cleared off and looks awesome blank - my mom actually thought we bought a new one! It's amazing what a clear fridge does for the appearance of a kitchen. I also love that now all the paper work I need for each child is easy to find at a moments notice. When Stella starts school, I will just simply attach one more folder to the board.

Have a great day!
-Lisa

Did You Notice?

I took a summer hiatus.

First and foremost, I want to say thank you for still stopping by here! I am amazed at the amount of traffic this blog has had - even without activity on my end. I am hoping that the combination of school and baby napping will allow some regular posting.

 We have had a busier summer than I had anticipated. The funny part though, is that I can't really tell you exactly what consumed so much time - but in the blink of an eye, here we are, gearing up for school again. This upcoming school year is a big deal in our house. Miss Hannah will be in class five days a week - for the first time. I don't think I've mentioned this on the blog before, but our children are a part of a dual language program. The children spend half their day learning in English and the other half in Spanish. Prior to Austin starting the program, no one in our house spoke a word of Spanish. We (Chris and I) are learning slowly, however Austin, who will be entering second grade this year, can carry on simple conversations fluently. It's amazing! They will stay in this program until 8th grade and then they can choose to continue on into high school if they want. This year is the first time dual language is being offered to preschool children and 90% of the day is in Spanish - so it's going to be a big adjustment and I'm really hoping Hannah transitions well.

In an effort to prep for the upcoming busy mornings and evenings, as well as multiple piles of paperwork, artwork and projects, I have been organizing, baking and cooking like crazy. Some of which I am excited to share with all of you and will do so over the rest of this week.

Are you doing anything to get ready for the school year? Do you have any time saving tips or ideas to share? Please do!

Happy Monday!
Lisa

Lavender Infused Wine

A while back, while flipping threw a Martha Stewart magazine, I came across rose infused wine. I was instantly captivated. Ooh did I want to try it, but, of course the bottle was priced around $60. Ummm, no thank you. I think at that price point, it just wouldn't taste that great to me, no matter how good it was.

It did get me thinking though. I've made infused lemonades before with easy success. So who's to say it couldn't be done with wine? I did a quick Google search and came up close to empty handed, which not only surprised me, but also left me a little wary about trying it.

My solution? Try making just one glass first to see if it works - easy peasy.

With one of my durable little mason jars in hand, I quickly set to work. To my surprise, it was wonderful! Not something to make regularly, but definitely great to try - especially with a themed spring or summer gathering. Yum!

Please make sure that when you make this, you use culinary flowers. I get mine from Mountain Rose Herbs because it's a source I can not only trust but also respect. I'm sure you don't want to be sipping on pesticides, so again, please check that your source (if you don't use mine), is organic.

Lavender Infused Wine1 Bottle of sweet white wine (I recommend either a Riesling or Muscato)
4.5 tsp of dried organic lavender

Cheese cloth or Fine mesh strainer
Small Funnel

1. Uncork your bottle of wine and pour a small amount out to make room for your flowers.

2. Using a funnel, pour in your flowers.

3. Re-cork and place in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

4. After about 12 hours, give the bottle a little swirl and put back in the refrigerator.

5. Pour your now infused wine threw either cheese cloth or a fine mesh strainer and into a wine glass. If small bits of lavender won't bother you, then just use the strainer - otherwise you'll need the cheese cloth to ensure you don't have little bits floating in your glass.

That's it! If you don't want to commit to a full bottle at first, just pour 6 ounces into a mason jar, add 1 tsp of lavender and then follow the same directions listed above.

I will be ordering organic rose petals soon to finally try that. And I won't be shelling out $60.

Have a great day!

Spiced Coffee

There's a popular breakfast restaurant in our area that has the most delicious coffee. It's not a sugar laden froo-froo drink (though those most definitely have their time and their place), but a warm, subtly flavored rich brew. I love that coffee, and always look forward to our rare visits there because of it.

Well, my friends, I happened across a rather simple tip to enhance your home brewed coffee the other day and thought I'd give it a try. Imagine my surprise when I took that first sip and realized, my goodness, it's almost the same taste as my favorite, and rarely rarely visited breakfast house coffee.

I tinkered with it a bit, and am proud to say I found the perfect ratio (well, perfect to me anyway).

So here it, simple as can be and oh so yummy...

Spiced Coffee
Unflavored Coffee
1 Tbsp Ground Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Ground nutmeg

These measurements are based on a full 12 cup coffee pot. If you're using a smaller pot or a single brew type machine, just divide it out and it should work.

1) Place your coffee grounds in the filter, then sprinkle the cinnamon and nutmeg on top of the grounds. Brew as usual.

Enjoy!

Homemade Throat Lozenges

For the last few weeks, a cold has been slowly sneaking from one tiny body to the next, and has ended with me. It always seems to work that way, doesn't it? As soon as your little ones start feeling better and are back to bouncing around the room, the virus smacks you in the face. As if to say "haha, no rest for you!" - yes my colds are out to get me - the few times a year they show up.
I typically don't take anything when I get sick, because I'm never "that" bad. But with my recent fascination with holistic/natural health, I thought I would give something a try. I came across a recipe in the book, The Rhythm of Family by Amanda Blake Soule - Homemade throat lozenges by Amy Karol. Amy has her own blog that you can check out here.

So, armed with herbal tea, honey and organic powdered slippery elm, I set to work on making my own natural throat soothers.

Difficult? No. Do they work? Yes, they actually do help. Not like the in your face menthol blasts you find in the store, but they are soothing both to my throat and my peace of mind. Would I give them to my kids? Why sure! Though the odds of my little ones spitting them out with wrinkled noses is high. These don't taste bad, however, they don't taste like much of anything and the texture takes some getting used to.

Overall, I deem this a natural remedy success. I'm happy with the outcome, and this one little recipe made over 60 lozenges that should last for quite some time.

Catch Up

Wow, it has been so long...

I thought it would be nice to do a quick catch up with photos from the last couple months. I stopped the photo 365 thing. Life happened, as it so often does, and I lost track of a few projects. I decided to just let it go - no sense in getting worked up over the little stuff. I may pick up where I left off and just do it in my own way - though it might take me three years, eh emm...

Anyway, back to the pictures. What better way to start than my obviously annoyed seven year old? He's not such a fan of the camera lately - though that is not about to stop me. He took second place in the pinewood derby a while back, which put him in the running for the "big" derby up north. We had a good time, and in the end, he won 4 out of 5 races.

We have been having lots of "firsts" around here lately too. Stella loved her first Easter and not more than three days later, cut her first two teeth, started sitting up all on her own, and started scooting around the room. My little overachiever - she looks kind of like a sea turtle propelling herself across the carpet with her little feet.
We had a few egg hunts as well...


And a lot of regular days...

Miss Hannah had her first haircut - at three years old! She absolutely loved her trip to the "beauty salon".




All in all, there has just been a lot of life being lived, and not a lot of pictures being snapped. I do have some fun recipes and tutorials to share with you all. I'm really excited about them, so hopefully it won't take me too long to post. I have also been working on a much bigger project that I will definitely be posting about within the next month or so.

Wishing you a wonderful week!

Wood Polish for Diaper Cream?

No, not really. Well.... Actually, sort of, but let me explain...



A few weeks ago I went looking for a simple conditioner for my wooden kitchen utensils. They were getting dried out and needed something, I just didn't know what. I ended up finding a really simple recipe that consisted of just olive oil and beeswax. Within 10 minutes, I had my new wood conditioner or "polish". I had quite a bit too, just a little bit goes a long way.

The kids and I rubbed the polish into all of our utensils and cutting boards. Then we gathered all of their wood toys and gave them a once over as well. During this, our hands got coated in the polish, but since it was just organic olive oil and beeswax, we rubbed it in like lotion. Later that day when I was changing Stella's diaper, she looked a little red so grabbed the tin of natural diaper cream. I scooped a bit out and then had a realization. It looked and felt exactly like the polish I had made earlier. Low and behold, I turned the tin over and that's basically what it was. This had a few different carrier oils in it, but ultimately it was just oil and beeswax. You can bet I won't be spending $7 on a tiny tin of butt cream again.

And the best part, in my opinion, is that by the end of the day, my hands were soooo soft. A few months before Stella was born, our dishwasher broke down and we have been hand washing ever since. Combine that with the dry hot air in the house, and I'm sure you can imagine the sad shape my hands have been in. Since that day, I have been moisturizing my super dry skin with the polish.

I made another batch with essential oils specifically for chest congestion and stuffy noses. We rub a little on our chest and put a dab under our nose when we have a cold or cough. I love it because I don't have to worry about goofy chemicals. I have been spending a lot of time researching natural alternatives to common medicine lately. I'm learning a lot, and hopefully will be able to share some of that with all of you once I feel like I have a good grasp on it.

I plan on making a lavender rub for the kids to use before bedtime. I will share that recipe when I find the perfect mix for us.

I put the olive oil and beeswax in a glass measure cup and just melted it in that.
Let it cool, and give it a stir a few times in 5 minute increments if you don't want it to fully harden. Otherwise just pour it directly into your container to cool completely.
To the left is our "polish" and in the middle is the vapor rub. I stirred the polish before letting it dry completely so it would be easier it scoop out.

Do you use natural alternatives to anything? Please share!

Have a great day!

My Week In Photos

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** A photo from each day of the prior week. If you have photos of your own you would like to share, please feel free to leave a link in the comments section for all to see. Wishing you a wonderful to start to a beautiful week... **