Hope you’ll join me! I’ve done the 21 days challenges and it really got me going! And even went through some drawers at my mother’s house yesterday! That was really a good time. Got rid of junk cards and stuff and organized the pictures and crafts as best as we could. She has room in those drawers now! Proud of her!

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I took 3 big boxes of stuff from the bedroom, closet, kitchen and whatnots to Goodwill. I gotta tell you that it feels GREAT! I’m not an hoarder, thankfully! But seeing 3 boxes of stuff to give away… wow! I look forward to the new challenges to come!

This took us about 4 months of finishing the main floor. Then I moved in and continued to do few more projects around the house. I couldn’t move in because of the kitchen countertop were titled but cracked. Not safe. And the bathroom had to be completely gutted out.

Here’s the link to see my pictures, this is easier than uploading each pictures at a time and explaining them all. I already had this done and it also has some captions with the pictures too. So, here it is!

http://picasaweb.google.com/Blough3/MyHouse#     I hope you’re able to view the pictures! FINGERS CROSSED!!

Day 21- You pick!

As for my photos, extras are in a photo box. And I think I have like maybe 2 albums I could do. But for the last few years, I’ve gone digital. I mean I have done digital since 2003 or before. But I’ve already gotten behind on scrapbooking. I decided to stop printing them. I still have them all on disks. I use the book for music cds to have in the car. Well, I used that book for my picture on cds. I am going to have books printed out, not scrapbooking. It’s all done on the computer then order it to be printed and be shipped to me!

Day 21- you pick…   Now that’s a motivation…. (I’m being sarcastic).   Actually, I’ve bought some pegboard hooks for the garage to hang my yard tools. It’s cold!! I don’t want to spend 15 minutes doing that! LOL 

I admit I was gonna just leave the blog as it was but I thought to myself, why blog if I’m not gonna do it?? I don’t want you to nag me about it! So I stopped blogging and went ahead and get this challenge done.  That’s why it’s called a CHALLENGE! It was a challenge to just do it!  

I’m sorry about the picture…. I couldn’t get a straight ahead angle of this because my car is in the garage.

Here’s the BEFORE:

Now, the black painted on the pegboard is NOT my doing! Previous tenant. I don’t understand why they did that. Makes it look messy, and darker because not much of good light in the garage either. Seriously, the things I find around here from the previous tenant just amazes me! I think I’m gonna make that one of my “challenges” to blog the before/after of my house. There are many stories with this house.  Just amazing and some hilarious!  Oh, you can see just one thing being hung up on that. It’s three-pronged claw thingy.  And, I just may make the pegboard a quick project in the spring time….paint it white!

Here’s the AFTER:

I didn’t realize it until now… kinda blurry. My apologies! But you get the idea! They all were laying around by the board. The smaller tools were stacked up on the blue stool there. Now, all up there! YAY!  Now I’m SOOOOO READY for SPRING!!!! 

Courtesy of http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page   

He kept saying “must focus…. focus….  must focus.”  That got me motivated and get to it. I DID! Took a while though.

Here’s the BEFORE:   Now, this closet was not there when I moved in. Literally had no closet but used the coat closet for about 8 months. Thanks to my Jack-of-all-trades Dad, I have a closet in the bedroom! This is a very simple closet but nice enough. I even asked him to make shelves on the side which I LOVE!

If you’re really analyzing everything in this picture… you’ll see one shoe that doesn’t have its pair. It’s holding the right hand door to stay open. My dad isn’t perfect. OK?

I had the top shelf organized and over time it just got messy. I just got too lazy to straighten it out.

The messy shelves

Here are the AFTER:

Now, this closet holds my work clothes, nice clothes being hung. I just switched around some of the summer clothes to the back end of the closet. I know… overdue! The summer clothes will be back in no time. I WONT procasinate on that cuz I LOVE spring and summer! The way it’s set up are grouped up by pants, skirts, tops, jackets….  I also got rid of few of dockers slacks I guess what you may call them. I don’t like them anymore. No reasons hanging on to them.

The top shelf… All in groups:  FAR left end which is not in the picture are my cardigan sweaters, then next stack is my sweater vests. The next stack are my favorite team windbreakers (Cardinals and the Rams). The next stack are my hoodies. And the stack at the end are my sweatshirts that I don’t wear often but still my favorites.

My shelves are mostly sweaters that I wear for work or church, grouped mostly by colors. The bottom shelf holds my 3/4 sleeves tops that I use for work or church sometimes. I didn’t want to pack them away because some of them are thin sweaters and I like them too for everyday.

Now… since I rearranged my shelves, I needed to make room for some of the sweaters an found my short sleeves tops. I kept them out for such as wedding…. nice tops etc… I took them out and moved it somewhere else. I decided I oughta tackle this task while I had the motivation!  This cubed shelves (I don’t know what to call it) has my casusal clothes such as long sleeve tops, turtle necks, jeans…

Here’s the BEFORE:

Here’s the AFTER:

ALL CLEAN!!! I laid out my jeans on top so this way I won’t pile anything on top of  my jeans. Hopefully that does the trick. If it doesn’t, I’ll have to find something to put on the top of the shelf so I won’t pile anything on top, like pictures and such. 

Now my bedroom is completely all straighten up! Let’s see how long I keep up with that. Check with me in a month and I’ll take picture of the room.   OK….. I opened my mouth. Now I better keep my word but I’d rather you to ask me in a month instead of a year later. I don’t want to be overwhelmed like that again next year. So, one month should take 5 minutes to be cleaned up. And, actually, it will definitely be clean again when I pack away my long sleeves and bring out my summer tops to be put in there. So, I’ll have to do this again.

But as for any other areas, feel free to follow up with me such as my desk in the bedroom etc…

Now…. After 19 days… plus 2 more days to come…. Check this out….

The TJMaxx bag is what needs to be thrown away. Mostly papers that were piled up on my desk and plus few other things. The box on the chair is full, few things piled on that, and the green bin is full of clothes that I’m gonna give away. The bin was full from the dressers. Then that whole stack is from in the closet. So, I did pretty good!

Ahhhh…..

May the organizing force be with you.

Day 13: Medicine Cabinet-I just couldn’t wait and got that done the other day.

Day 14: Spice Cabinet- that got done yesterday.

Day 15: Medicine cabinet/vitamins- for those who keep some meds in the kitchen with their vitamins. I don’t have that. They’re all in the bathroom. That was today’s challenge for me if I go in order.

Day16: The Refridgerator- I did that the same day as the Freezer challenge.

Day 17: Mail Station. I don’t have a system for that and need to think on this one though.

Day 18: Keepsakes…. This was good to tackle today since it’s Saturday.

Here’s the pictures of my chests:

The black trunk is what I’ve had since high school!! I’m serious! I got my grandmother’s chest-she’s had it since she first got married! It isn’t worth much but still beautiful! It was sitting in the basement with junks sitting on top of it. It had my name on it for many years. I just finally asked for it now. My dad wanted to refinish the top of the chest which made it look so much healthier!  THANKS DAD!!  I got that about 6 months ago and never got around to swapping the things in the chest to the new chest. So, Bowl of Lemons got me motivated to get that done.

I’ll post two pictures of BEFORE:

TOP PICTURE: my stuffed animals. It’s silly, I know but they’re precious! Mickey Mouse from my first time going to the Disney World…every kid’s dream vacation! My bunnies- There’s a sentimental story with why I was obsessed with bunnies. I saved few of my favorites. My first baby doll. The brown teddy (you can see it better in the AFTER picture.) I have taken so much of abuse from my family on how ugly that teddy bear was. They just don’t know how sentimental I was about it. See, I went to Six Flags for the first time when I was maybe 6 years old. I went with my 2 oldest sisters, 2 cousins and my aunt n’ uncle in St Louis. On our way back to the parking lot since it was dark, this young lady (probably a teenager) came up to me with the teddy bear. Now, I’m Deaf and rely on light to be able to read lips but also rely on sign language more than I do lipreading. This lady, I couldn’t see what she was saying even though she squatted down and handed me the bear. I assumed she was asking if that belonged to me. I said no. My oldest sister came down and signed “She is asking you if you want it. She wants to give to you.” OOhhh, I took it. Just that it was a really generous thing she did. There was a guy with her. He probably won it for her but thought a kid should have it. I don’t know! But how generous she was just touched my heart. I just cannot get rid of this bear! As silly as it sounds, whenever I was down, I just loved holding that bear. I slept with it for a long time. Ok, enough confession. The white teddy bear, my second sister made the t-shirt for this one when I transferred to residential school, I think. 

BOTTOM PICTURE- memobilas of anything with the St Louis Cardinals sent my my grandmother in St  Louis. My high school year book from the local HS I attended, my elmentary yearbooks, Prom glasses… few things I kept that connects to my past.

Here’s one thing I found and that’s something that they don’t do anymore, I don’t think….

Here’s the AFTER:

I do have some space in this one! I could fill ‘em up some more as the years goes by.

Now, what to do with the black trunk? IDEA!!!! You can see my patterns now? I have an idea, I go for it so I don’t procastinate on this project.

Check out the area I need the trunk for:

These boxes holds my supplies, albums, pages for the scrapbooking…. It’s in the corner of my bedroom. Bit eyesore, I’d say. So, I cleared them all out of the boxes.

Here’s the AFTER:

Much better! The trunk was originally upstairs in the guest room. Now, there’s no heat going upstairs because one room is used as storage, and the other as guest room. I don’t get guests often. It is not good to store the scrapbooking stuff in hot/cold room. So, it’ll stay in my bedroom. It’s fine cuz it doesn’t look as bad as those cardboardboxes. Haha  I PROMISE I will get to clear off the papers that’s piled up on there. Just not today. I’ll do that instead of a challenge I don’t have such as mail station.

Off to the verizon to pay a bill. Their systems were down yesterday, so I couldn’t make my payment. FUN FUN FUN!

Have a SUPER CLEAN weekend!

Here’s the BEFORE:

Here’s the AFTER:

You can see the 3 green bins I got from Big Lots in this one.  Now, I saw this REALLLLLLLLY AWESOME idea as I surfed through other blogs.  http://www.theburtclan.com/2011/01/mission-organization-spice-cabinet.html   When I saw this, I absolutely fell in love with this idea! I researched on where in the world I could find this!! It is bit pricey. See, my cabinets is metal, ya know, from the 50′s?!? Retro kitchen I’d say! I LOVE IT!  Well, these magentic tins would go beautifully on the inside cabinet door!!  I’m in LOOOOOOOOOOVE!  I have a birthday coming up…. hint hint!! (That’s me hoping one of my sisters read this.     As I researched, some comes with the metal sheet for the wooden cabinets. That’s what makes it even more pricey. But I’ve also read some blogs that they got the sheet from places like Home Depot, Menard’s etc… I’m thinking… if ever I move to another house that has wooden cabinets, I could get the sheet and have my dad cut them out. OR I could put on the side of my fridge. Some fridge is next to the stove. Mine isn’t. But for now, the tins would do the trick. I’ve seen bunch of those tins on ebays. I think The container store too but I can’t remember.  That’s definitely an idea I’m gonna eventually get. But for now, they stay in the jars they came in.  Honestly, I have been keeping an eye on spice racks and haven’t found the ones that works for me until these tins!! The ones on the counter, that’s just steals spaces! Anyways, So, the jars goes in those green bins for now.  I’m putting away my tupperware spice carosel. It doesn’t work for me and for some reasons, it doesn’t keep my spices fresh. It hardens up in there. YUCK! So, I’m getting rid of them. Hopefully the magentic tins would do a better job.  On the second shelf, you may see a ziploc bag. I didn’t have a small ziploc bag at the time. See, my peppergrinder uhhmmmm  warped from the stove. OOPS!! So, I got the salt and pepper grinder set. Put the extra peppers in that large ziploc bag. Silly, I know. I knew I had one empty jar so I put the peppers in that. That’s placed on the spice shelf where it belongs.

I’ve also moved up the flour and sugar boxes up closer to the edge so I won’t be throwing things in front of them. I find myself having to remove few things before taking out the containers. WHAT A HASSLE!! I’m learning to find ways to stop me from doing that again.  

The top shelf holds the things I don’t use very often. The bottom shelf, too bad that the left side has the vent taking over that whole half bottom shelf. Not even half inch of space I could put items in front of it. Oh well!  Not a pretty sight, I know.  

So, not as much of changes in this one but it works for me.

Have fun organizing!!

Day 16: Refridgerator

I knew this was gonna be an easy task, both of them. So I tackled both challenges today.  Now, before you check the pictures, don’t judge on what I eat. LOL! I do not like leftovers. If I do have some, it gets eaten the very next day. I went to the store about 2 weeks ago, or 3. I’m good with that. I probably have one more week before going to the store again.

Here’s the BEFORE:

Here’s the AFTER:

The Freezer now has two bins from Big Lots. One on the left holds quick meals, like chicken patties, enchildas, etc… The one on the right end holds all kinds of meats. As for the containers in the middle, I got those to freeze my chilis then ate them up. I made some soups and used that again.

TIP: I’m gonna try this idea I saw on someone else’s blog: Soup Files. When I make chili or soup, I’d use freezer bag, lay them flat and when it’s frozen, place them up. I thought that was pretty clever. Less space taken up by the bowls. You can see my bowls, they aren’t FULL. One container holds about 2 bowls of chili or soup. Enough for me.  I’m gonna try the File thing whenever I make more.

I took out the ice box. I don’t use it. If I needed ice, I end up using the frosty mugs that’s in the door. So, I felt that the icebox was useless. I’m keeping that closeby so I have that ready whenever I throw a party and need some ice. But then again, I’d be using a cooler instead. I’m not getting rid of it anyway.

I have a confession…. since I’m on a roll and I had bought some bins from Big Lots, I couldn’t wait for Day 13 and Day 14. So, I spent the afternoon doing those challenges.

Day 13: Medicine Cabinet

Day 14: Under the Bathroom Sink

Here’s the BEFORE:

I already had some bins in there to keep me organized… Kinda failed at that. So, that’s why I knew I could some of the bins for this cabinet. I went to Marshall’s the other day only to find it had closed down!   I went on over to TJMaxx which was just down the strip.  I found these bins!

The wastebasket was in my bedroom. As I was looking for practical bins and see through because the ones I have up in there was not a good idea. I found this and it matches my wastebasket! The wastebasket in the bathroom is small and light brown which matches my bedroom….. SCORE!!!! 

Here’s the AFTER:

Top shelf bin holds the bug repellent spray, sun screens. (Do they go bad after time? I couldn’t find any expiration date.)

Middle shelf: in back left corner holds my first aids-bandaids, tape. in front of it is a small container that holds my cough drops. I oughta take them all out and dump in there. Anyways, second bin holds my medicines for allergies, sinus, cough syrups etc… the little one holds my most used make-ups. next to it are my face soap and cream. The two bins that are stacked up (isn’t that NEAT??) bottom holds my eye make-ups, and the top one holds my face make-ups such as lipsticks, extra face creams etc…

Bottom shelf: Left back corner holds my travel bag and I have bunch of travel size shampoos, soaps and lotions. I use those for short trips. And even for my week long mission trips out of the country. Easier to pack.  In front of it holds my extra toothbrushes and flossings. Middle bin holds my extra shampoo and conditioner. In the bin in  the back right corner holds my lotions ( I get lotions as gift.  UGH! But okay, I won’t have to go buy some. Haha) The little bin in front of it holds my extra disposable contact lenses, one extra contact containers if I lose or break my current one or when it’s time for a clean one and it also has my cleaner for my glasses.

I’m going to be making some labels for the bins so I won’t have to mess with “which basket is it in?” I got the green bins from Big Lots.

So, I got the two white bins, and all bins (two is gonna be for something in the kitchen. You’ll see…)  All that for $8 at Big Lots! Thanks to Bowl of Lemons for the tip of where she got her bins!

Now, While I was already in the bathroom cleaning out the medicine cabinet.. now I think about it, it isn’t realy actually ALL medicine but my Misc cabinet. Haha I had some things in there that could go in  my under the sink.) Before I show you the picture, I need to explain a bit about the bathroom. It  is long and narrow bathroom. It has two sinks, or should I say that it HAD two sinks. As I mentioned way back in one of my blogs that the previous tenant were NASTY! The basement were full of junk too. Before moving in, we renovated the whole main floor of the house. It HAD to be replaced. Imagine this… using the white berber carpet as ashtray. SERIOUSLY NASTY! I had to clean the windows like 10 times before the papertowels were clear which mean the windows finally were clean.  NASTY!  Anyways, as we (my dad and I) cleaned out the basement, we found a brand new pedestal sink sitting in the way back corner!!!  SCORE!!!   To save money, I decided that I really do not need two sinks! So, I had my dad put a cap on the plumbing. We had to gut out the whole bathroom but the walls!! So, obviously I don’t have an under the sink type of cabinet. I already had this white cabinet I used to use as night stand YEARS YEARS YEARS ago. Cheap cabinet but really useful! I use that cabinet for my hair stuff.  And it hids the plumbing cap, and it’s right under the other mirror. Can’t leave a hole in that wall!

Here’s what my bathroom looks like, then I’ll be show the before/after.

I stood in the tub to get this picture. HAHA!

My mirror cabinets… I didn’t do anything different with them except to wipe down the cabinets.

This is above the sink. This holds what I need the sink for… brushing teeth, putting in my contact lenses, my allergy meds I take daily and the Tylenol PM is for whenever I’m hurting before going to bed such as headache, backache etc.

This cabinet is above my make-shift under the sink cabinet. This holds all kinds of hair products for my hair along with my brush, pick and comb. And my deodrant. Again, I didn’t do anything different, so there are no before/after for those cabinets.

Here’s the BEFORE: (Under the sink cabinet)

This holds all of the things for my hair- hair dryer (I got lazy and didn’t put away), flat iron, curling iron, extra hairspray, headbands and such….

Here’s the AFTER:

Didn’t really change anything because this works for me. I only added a drawer bin in there because it was too long to fit in the cabinet! That holds all of my feet stuff- nailpolishs, toe clippers, feet scrubber etc… I use that lot in the summertime! That fit in the bottom of shelf. The ones I don’t use often.  So, that works for me. I’m a bit stumped at how to store my headbands. I never could find that is as functional to hold my bands. Oh well, One day I shall find something!    The middle shelf holds my bin and extra hair products. The bin holds my hairdryer. But I tend to just leave it on the top of the cabinet. The top shelf holds my irons. And my cotton balls and qtips.  I cleaned my ears while I was clearing out the cabinet. Now my ears are clean as the cabinet!      The top nautical shelfing thing, the two drawers holds my hair rubberbands and few of my barrettes since I have long hair. Small drawers , it works and doesn’t get lost in a big container.

This is how I spent my day off: cleaning the Freezer and Refridgerator and the bathroom cabinets! Hahaha Well, at least I can say I was productive on my day off.   I guess I am realy getting the hang of thinking of how to be as organized and all that. So, I got a bit excited with finishing 4 challenges today.

I don’t want you to feel discouraged that you couldn’t do all 4 in one day or anything like that. I know everyone is doing this at their own paces. That’s great, at least you ARE getting organized! I just have a bit trouble with having patience sometimes. I let that get the best of me today. Hahaha.  

I forgot to mention that I threw away a Wal-Mart bag full of stuff from the cabinet! Expired medicines, few razor handles  (in one of those metal bins and didn’t know I had them! I have one I use often now. So to the trash off they go! I also threw away some make-ups I never used. Two lipsticks wouldn’t even twist to open. Lot got thrown away. I feel great about that now!

Well, have a FANASTIC day!

Here’s the BEFORE:

All I need is soap, bounce, and bleach. No need for organized shelfing. And when I need laundry done, it’s done and folded and put away all in the same day! So, I don’t dump clothes on the floor there because of the leaking problem.

Here’s the AFTER:

Basically all I did was wipe down the dust from lint filter. Not much of difference.

Now, to be fair since this took me only 2 minutes. I decided yesterday that I’ll tackle something else. Since I do not have a toy organizer area, I tackled my bookshelf. As I was doing that, I remembered I had few books on my nightstand that should go on the bookshelf. Seeing my nightstand gave me an idea!

Here’s the BEFORE:

You can see few books sitting on the nightstand, along with some used kleenex, dust, coughdrops, loose papers… Messy!

Here’s the AFTER:

ALL CLEAN!! Threw away the loose papers, three magazines thrown away, one I kept but it’s on the bookshelf now. I had my nailfile, shoe helper thingy, and few coughdrops I’d like to keep it there. I remembered I had a candle voltive up in the guest room, sitting on the window sill because it gives the room a bit of color. I went and got that, washed it out and put those things in there. That should keep my nightstand from being a mess. I have another nightstand but nothing really on it. I just wiped it down and looks cleaner.

Now, off to visit a dear friend in ICU, then pick up a friend’s son from school, and teach at 6. Crazy day! But glad I got my challenge done and out of the way for today.  Have a great day!!

It’s the Toy Organizer. I do not have playstation/xbox/wii or anything like that. No game closet either. So, I posted on the Organizer Challenge page via Facebook, asking for suggestion of what I could do that isn’t on the list. One suggested books… I have a small one and thought it could use a bit of straightening up. That’s what I did! That also gave me an idea for tomorrow but that’s tomorrow.

Here’s the BEFORE:

Here’s the AFTER:

Straighten up… I did a bit of moving around. I took 5 books off of my nightstands and moved them to the bookshelf. I took three books off of the shelf and will be either donating or taking it to the used bookstore. Not really the books I’d recommend or read again (the Christian store was closing and had bunch of books for $3 or so. It was okay. Not worth $15 though.) And I had a St. Louis magazine featuring the Cardinals and a historical, limited edition about the old Busch Stadium. I moved them upstairs to my box of Cardinals memorbillas. GO CARDINALS!!  I have this dream of my basement displaying my love for the Cardinals. Right now, my basement is in no shape for displaying them.

AFTER PICTURE: Top shelf: Left side- Those are 3 magazines, 3  books I’ve read and wouldn’t mind reading again!  The ones that are laying down are the books I WILL read. The books on the Right side are my Deaf-related novels.

Bottom shelf: Left side are my journals from my mission trips and few books that are I guess what you may call “self-help” religion/devotional books. Really good ones and I go back to them for lessons when I go on mission trips etc. USEFUL! The books that are stacked up are my Yada-Yada novel series. AWESOME books! My youngest sister got me started on that series, then my mom, then the other sisters! Awesome books. FYI, the author started a new series of Yada Yada: House of Hope. I’m reading #3 right now. #4 comes out in March. CANT WAIT!  Anyway, the right side are my Christian books including an autographed Kirk Cameron autobiogaphy book! AWESOME book. I met him. His eyes and smile…. I still MELT!  *ahhhhh* 

I feel better doing something instead of skipping today. It keeps me going. It even gave me an idea of what to do tomorrow instead of tomorrow’s challenge. You’ll see why tomorrow.   Thanks Julie, for the idea of doing the books.

Y’all… if you do the toy organizer… suggestion: throw out the ones that the child/children don’t play with anymore.