Endless Summer Activities as She Does Them

         Summer could be the most awaited season in the year round and not only that most activities are probably feasible during this times it is also the best opportunity to take advantage of time spent more outside of the house. Ya'ay!. Although our workloads could sometimes delay these 'musts' specially if you have a 3 year old toddler who would constantly ask for lots of outdoor plays and fun, it is and should never  be an excuse.
         This year since our princess had turned 3, she has not only developed her inquisitive thoughts but her physical stamina has sprung into a much stronger state. I couldn't have imagined that a 19-inch infant can grow as tall as she is now and when I carry her like she was an infant I could barely keep up with her for a minute. She was a heavyweight! (Could be an overacting thought but I sometimes feel she has built up some muscles in there...hahaha!)
         So since time is a great challenge in our home, traveling hasn't been in the to-do list lately not to mention budget. My other half and I decided that we should have one huge travel per year at the very least and we've done that in April. (Oh I know...and the sun hasn't been out then...but San Diego saved this family's urge. lol.)   Anyway, so enough said on what isn't available. Surprisingly, our very smart princess just found out on her own the best times and ways she can actually experience the summer just by staying at home and enjoying the backyard/garden alone if time restricts our outdoor escapades. 
       
         Here are her 5 most faves to-do (everyday) this summer without the sweat of  unending planning, thinking and prepping at all.

         1. Playing bubbles tops her list. She can certainly do this for a straight 3 hours without any signs of boredom. She gets too excited blowing up huge huge bubbles. It can be very addicting too for adults.

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         2.    Of course the bike is her all-time must-try whenever she sees it being played by kids playing in the other side of our fence. (There's a daycare neighbor we have beside our backyard).

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         3.  Watering plants is another irresistible thing that she likes to do especially when her lolo is outside doing the yard. She likes to take part in it and it's wonderful because she learns the importance of giving these plants their food.

        
           4.   Yes, she did that...she ultimately likes the rakes and the hardwork. hahaha. I remember seeing her grabbing that rake from my dad as he was trying to level the soils in the box. She certainly gets overjoyed doing this thing and mind you, it never bores her.

 

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         5. Lastly, is her painting sessions. She likes colors and she calls this 'art'. I will definitely have a post about all the artworks she created since she was 1 yr old. I have kept all these in a ring binder and I will for sure take time telling the story about it.  She just has a great taste in color combination.

  
         There could be millions of activities that kids can certainly enjoy this summer whilst in awe of the challenges of time and sometimes of budget. Summer isn't only about a one big travel outdoor activity. It can actually be an everyday to-do fun plays and games. In our case, the home is where we mostly enjoy the perks of this lovely season of the year when planning and preparing just won't work in the meantime.

         What's your ultimate summer getaway alternate for your little ones?
        
          
         
         

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Pinning my Future Creations

           I must profess that my current affair with the blog world has grown immensely wide and the more it gets a little challenging to squeeze in a few minutes to put these thoughts to words the greater it is my desire to write; all the more the excitement that I feel every time my head thinks of some projects to be done. Well, to be quite honest...those 15 lists of must-do stuffs could be very ambitious for me to even attempt to complete. But armed with this addiction and determination to do the change I have started  a few of those and I can't wait to show the world wide web how it turned out. Please bare with the  long wait...but I shall definitely have tons of do-it-yourself projects to share and post.

           With a busy busy schedule everyday, I must say that as how my last article showed...planning helps a lot.
So in addition to a listing monitor I have thought of sharing for now the visuals of these goals. This serves as my basic source of motivation and push in case the attack of procrastination will come my way.
           
            My current project at work is to redo our little toddler's cabinet in her room. Since books are becoming her staple everyday (and proud as parents...she has over 20 pieces borrowed and returned from the library for just about 3 weeks), I think that her own collection deserves some tender love and care so I am remaking her cabinet into an all-purpose function area.

         


Touching a part of her room basically will move the rest so part of this 'redo' is to rearrange her bed and create a spacious  room. With a bed a little bigger sure space is an issue but with the right angles this space challenge will not be an issue anymore.

Second to my primary project is the master's bedroom. I have admired the idea of designing the wall when painting is not feasible at the moment. As you can remember from my previous article here our walls are built with some uneven surface and painting it could not be easier plus I like white for now so we'll probably stick to it at the moment.  Thus, my way of putting change is to accentuate the key areas. 

Next is our fireplace molding.  For some reason the whole house (when we bought it) was painted with white. Indeed, it's cleaner and smooth to sightings but sometimes it feels boring and bland. So, painting or maybe just staining our molding with something that brings out the colors of the primary furnitures will bring out even the better view of whites in the living room.

Well, there are those friends. ;-) The visuals of my major remakes for our home. It'll be requiring a little more of our extra time and budget but I know it shall be done. ;-)

What's your visuals for your own home??



note: all pictures attached were copied from pins in www.pinterest.com www.pinterest.com

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Project Management: Constructing My Plans

        As I was overwhelmed with this weekend's little projects I did with our office table and the sink cabinets in the kitchen and bathrooms my head just keeps on thinking endlessly of future projects to do. It's like an automatic routine requiring nothing but a glance of whatever is seen in the house. Oh boy, this could be an early sign of addiction wouldn't you agree? Well, if it is...I don't want to stop. 
        Every single spot in our lovely home seemed to be a potential candidate for a make-over or an upgrade or a replacement. It's just fantastic to visualize the goals in seconds. It sounds a little creepy but it's true. This adrenaline is so motivated I could only stop when I need to sleep or tend to our toddler or cook for our meal or clean the house. Oh..and of course when I'm at work. (But even at work, this lady's brain cells just keep going.) 
         Not that it's a super genius idea but I thought a good listing will definitely set the first steps. This is my way of instilling in my head that they MUST be done. 
         I absolutely have a long way to go but smiles to those that I have struck through. Yipee!!! That's what my productivity rate is. ;-) 


Here is my goals' list. 

1. Create a menu plan (DIY  recipe cards from sister-in-law Lanie...thanks much for this...I finally thought of where and how to use and make it)

2. Re-categorize the filed documents (get rid of that old filing cabinet) 

3. Re-arrange the bed in the master's bedroom to create more space. De-clutter the office.

4. Re-arrange Jaida's books. Buy  bookends from Ikea or create a new one.   (another make-over is yet to come for her room...stay tuned on this....i am uber excited for it!)

5. Buy the hang-in shoe rack from Walmart 

6. Remove installed hanging caddy (the one used for hanging towels)  in the master's restroom and replace with 

that wood one in the shed. Paint it gold. 

7. (Maybe)  install a holding wood on top of the toilet bowl to put in some face towels/or small towels.

8. Paint the inside of the medicine cabinet? or maybe take the medicine cabinet out? 

9. Take cabinets out of Jaida's room?  (probably not) 

10. Re-make the document filing (print out new labels and re-file documents...update...place old docs in the ring binder and file in the garage) 

11. Create the picture collage on the cork board posted in the garage by the wall  (this is another DIY project I can't wait to show...I will make that cork board a nice treat.) 

13. Print out current pictures to put on the new collage picture frame that was a gift a year ago. (This should definitely be a 'must do'...that frame has been sitting for the longest time) 

14. Re-paint dining chairs and table. (I can't hide this excitement but this could be 2nd to my major project) 

15. Put handles on the clothes drawers in the master's bedroom. (A nice hardware it is...I've looked at Home Depot and they have lost of very good choices) 

....and my head just keeps on going. ;-) Planning could be very difficult at first specially when you look at the listing but...what's nice about it is it becomes my motivating factor that drives me to be consistent with the plan.  This may not show when exactly I shall start or finish but I am guided all through out and reminded of the things I need to work on.  

Do you have your own list of goals?? ;-) 

     

     

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Rethinking under-the-sink cabinets' look

         Having felt better from that two-day ordeal of pain I must say my urge to move and do something for the home never ceases since last night. And one thing that I noticed needing magic touch were our cabinets under the sinks (bathrooms and the kitchen). Unsurprisingly, these areas are the most cluttered space in the house that are never seen on a daily basis.  Unconsciously, it becomes a semi-dumping site and before we know it it's getting messier and messier every single day. So then, after taking a nice bath this morning I saw how bad our cabinets were and how guilty they've made me felt. Alas, there's that 'lighting bulb' moment I had and I needed to do it as soon as I could. 

          These cabinets, although they are not visible to our sights most often, deserve to have a nice neat organized disposition.  

        

          So here's another walk through of my second project this weekend....un-cluttering our under-the-sink cabinets. 

           This  is my favorite piece. I know I know...crates could be an over-action but they just happen to be the most flexible item you can use to almost anything AND this was what I did to it for our cleaning stuffs in the kitchen cabinets.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take some snapshots of how it looked like before I had the touch. I was so adamant to finish the project soon I kind of forgot I need some documentation. But visualize all these cleaning tools scattered in that cabinet. Yes oh yes..that was how bad it was. ;-) 

The next one is our bathroom. It's really small and the cabinet underneath is too. So, it's really hard to think of how to organize and put together all the stuffs that were there before.  Yep...that's how it was...:(

The first thing thought was to find a storage solution for those cleaning materials and bath supplies. Luckily, the old owner of our house left us some stuffs I never thought I could use.  I found this plastic crate and I painted it with a satin stain to give it a good look.

I used a birthday paper bag as a liner to this crate.

And....voila! I think it looks sooo much better. ;-)

Last but certainly not the least....this cabinet in the master's restroom had a total hands-on rearranging.

Turning it to this! (wink wink!)

I did have a great time doing these today and I feel so productive on a weekend!

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Some Do-It-Yourself Projects

So I have been ecstatic to write about this blog a few days ago when I have finally collated all pictures from some projects I did myself and with my dad. It's been a very busy week for us at home and at work so to be able to finish all these just makes my day just awesome! 

Many of the self-made project blogs I have read were so irresistibly mouthwatering and the only consolation to satisfy the cravings to do the same is to actually do-it-myself. :-) But I was one lucky girl for those days because my loving dad helped me out all the way to make some of these projects perfect. 

My theme was to create some storage without having to spend lots of money to buy the storage system itself. 

One of the gazillion stuff I absolutely wished to have was a filing storage of documents. At first, when I saw this office boxes I instantly thought that this will be the perfect alternate. So, I decided to wrap it with fun colors so it won't be a dull and bland as this. 

Wrapping it was not a sweat at all. It was just like wrapping a gift box. I bought the paper covers from Ikea for about 97 cents per roll. I took the lime green and blue green colors. They are really nice because the texture were somewhat glossy and silky finish.  See the difference?  The colors of wonders.

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The next one is our 5-year old pigeon hole storage that we bought from Ikea in 2007. This was my love-at-first-sight item when I first got into that wonderful store. Since then, I never really had the chance to make it visually enticing.  I always thought that a storage's purpose will never change even with flowers and rainbow colors in it. But of course it was not true. Giving it a nice touch of color just made it a whole lot different. 

Wouldn't you agree? From a boring wood to a chic and lively wine red. 

I wasn't contented with red. Five years is a very long time to be such a bore. I thought it deserved better.  I bought some metal plate label from Jo-Ann's Store and screwed them on each of the boxes.  

I then cut small pieces of construction paper to write on the labels for each of the holes and insert each one into the metal label plates.

Tah! duh!  Our home-made pigeon hole storage make-over. 

Indeed looks a lot better than the old one.

***

This is another Ikea love we bought a few months ago. A silver letter tray where I put and collate most current files. 

Here it is now after spray painting with red wine shade we found in Lowe's. Isn't that lovely? 

We painted it about two days ago...and that was the same day I found my new best friend.  Please welcome 

'Rust-O-Leum'. 

***

Lastly, is my ultimate crush of all these hand-made redos we did. My own version of crate toy box as seen on iheartorganizing blogpage. The first time I read that article about crates and how Jen Jones conquer the world of absolute creativity I, without a blink of an eye, promised myself that I will soon make our own. I wanted Jaida's toys to be very accessible. We don't have an extra room as her play area so the living room is usually her haven of fun. I wanted for her to be able to get her toys right away and keep them as near as possible that she wouldn't have to go into her room and bring her toys back in their bins. 

My dad will have to take the credit of perfectly painting the crate. His hands are just so great. 

I went to Home Depot and looked for some spray paint that are fun. These were what I got. I was a bit surprised that this brand carries almost all colors. Name it and the rack has it. Awesome!

Here it is....Jaida's crate toy box.

But because I was so inspired by Jen's crate project I too decided to put some casters on it. This way it will appear to be like a cart that can be easily pulled and pushed.

Once again compliments to my dad who perfectly screwed all four casters at 9:00 in the evening...because he's so excited to finish it up. ;-)

And here it is!

So this is where her toys played in the living room are placed after playing. Worst, I will have to put all these back in her room and in their corresponding bins.

But because that crate was just so fantastic...she now learns how to keep all toys played during the day in this box.
Makes the living room neat every night before we all go to bed. Isn't that terrific?!!!

With a little goal and some determination..it's always good to end the day looking back at simple projects and enjoying a winning moment! 

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Sectional Reorganizing (Part 2)

Whew!

Totally done with part 2! ya'ay!

Now I am ready to present to you the little things I did organize the past days.

So remember that last picture I showed you on the previous article about that small side table we put in our master's restroom? It seriously needed some love.

Now here it is. Nothing too fancy but since my major concern was to put all those itsy bitsy stuffs in that section of the table,  some sort of a hiding place was necessary.

         I bought these two video boxes for $5 at JoAnn's and this was where I placed the things I didn't wanna see outside.

        All in all I think it turned out really nice. Very neat and well arranged.

        So then I moved on to our office table, which is also in our master's bedroom. Since the house does not have an extra room where we can consider an office room the bedroom was the only option we have. It's a challenging part since the area isn't too big for everything. We have a dresser, a queen size bed, a side table, and an office table which is really long.  Sure space was a big issue but I couldn't really whine over it because the area will never expand. Now, the project was to clean up the cluttered table and create an oasis of space; somewhere we can actually put our laptop and sit nicely on the chair, which by the way never happened for about 4 years now. Our idea of computer use is literally in our laps. Anyway, so much for that here's the before and after photos.

           Nevertheless, it boosted a feel of a little space possibility. We were able to get rid of the many unimportant objects cluttering the table. If you look at the corner of that table on the left you'll see an obvious crowd of storage cabinets that shouldn't even be there at all. And because we had a choice to let go of old documents we are zeroing in to a few folders now for our current files. My husband isn't a 100% fan of paperless documentation just yet (I too am not totally but I appreciate electronic filing) but we agreed to just use one bin for all important notes. (This is another huge huge project that I can't wait to start....document filing). The tray is our processing zone so-to-speak and it's a great help working out your daily mails with this kind of segregation. 

            Basically, these were my major organizing projects for the week and in between are my little favorites I thought would be good idea to keep neat and well arranged.  I hope you'll find sense in these. ;-) 

       I never realized how important it is to give care to your make-up brushes until now. I was once told by a friend that the secret to a great fantabulous make-up is not with the brand of what you use  but with your brushes...so better invest in them and get those that are really really good.  I am a late bloomer and I didn't wear make-up until I was about 22 and I have always kept my brushes in a ziplock. ugh! Can you just imagine how brutal I was to these loving creatures that kept my eyeshadows gorgeous?  I thought they deserve a major major make-over. Voila! I bought this fabric from Walmart in one of their daily clearance racks. I scored a $3/yard cut. Not bad.

             So I asked my mom to sew me a little bigger version of a brush holder that I have to give the rest of my brush collection their new home.

***

              I must say my daughter's room is still a work in progress. Recently, I decided to use this shoe rack as her toys' rack.

              Practically, the main reason is her easy access of toys plus a good training of being clean all the time after play. So she's not allowed to keep the toys in the floor. She needs to put them back when done playing.  

I also changed the old hanging rack to this cute find I saw in Ross. 

Just loved how her purses are hung this way. 

There it is everyone! I hope you liked my simple projects this week. 

I am still in this organizing fever so stay tuned for more! 

Inspired by Jen Jone's crate projects I am creating my own version of crate toy box for Jaida.  That and many more stuffs to share with you in my new found world...;-) 

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