The Lucky One

The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Of course, this was wonderful. I did start to wonder as I read the book because I wasn't crying, but I wasn't disappointed. I did cry. It just wasn't when I thought it would be. Definitely a good one to recommend to others.


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First Attempt and Hopefully Last Attempt

This is my try at scheduling a post. Hopefully, I have figured this out so that I can post a little more regularly. This way I will not have to take the time each day, which I don't, but will be able to do a few posts at a time. Here goes nothing.

Laundry Room Organization

Once again another month of organization has gone by and once again I have participated in Organizational Junkie's Monthly organizaing Round-Up. Tommy and I completed the Laundry Room Organization at the beginning of the month. We purchased a freezer and needed to make room for it. Hence, the organization at the beginning of the month. Our laundry room is in the basement. It is a combination room with our mud room. This is the room you enter from the garage which is how we enter our house.
This is a before shot. The door is to the left of the refrigerater, then an old dresser, dryer and washer. Nothing fancy and nothing too terrible. But this is what we started with. Now the mud room portion was organized last month, so only minor changes were made to it. Here is the post about the mud room organization.

Now we have the door, refrigerater, freezer (isn't it beautiful?), washer dryer, and utility sink. We moved the shelf from where the freezer is now located to above the washer and utility sink. This was done because it wouldn't fit anywhere else and this way if the laundry detergent drips, it goes in the sink.

Here is a close up of the shelf, looking much better now that it is organized. The basket has the lingerie bags for washing the unmentionables, easy to access, but yet keeps them contained. The laundry sign is from Kohls. It will finally be hung when the room is finished.

This is to the right of the laundry facilities. Someday this will be bathroom and then we will have to figure out where to put all of this stuff. The black shelf holds the extras that I have gotten through couponing. The mass of boxes and containers is holiday decorations. We really have to get that area organized.

Here is a close up of the shelf. The three containers in front are laundry organizers from Ikea. They make it easy to sort laundry, even for 4 year olds like Brooke. Black is for the colored clothing and of course the white is for whites. The bonus is that the have wheels and roll to the washer. The wheels do have to be purchased separately, but well worth it. Another bonus is that Brooke loves to sort laundry using these containers. She really thinks it's a game and we'll let her think that if we get to have laundry sorted without a fuss.

Here is the mudroom area. I moved the Ikea shelf so it is closer to the door. This way the hats, gloves, and scarves are close to the door and may even get put away.

Here are the coats with the shoe racks underneath. The rubbermaid bins have things that need to be donated. We just haven't taken them in yet. The red thing with the reflective tape is a winter coat for our dog, Bogo. We got it from Lands End last year and it really does keep him warm.

This is the utility sink. We put the cat's litter box underneath it and it just fit. The cat is actually making less of a mess with the litter getting out of the box now that it is here. We did put a Command hook on the side of the washer to hang the scooper for the litter box. Easy for Melodye to get to in order to scoop the litter box. In the process of this organization, we moved the cat, Princess (a boy cat), food and water upstairs. We did this so that Brooke can start being in charge of that job, which she is now loving.

Nothing fancy, just little changes that make it feel nicer to me. Now I don't dread walking through that room. And I LOVED and APPRECIATE all the help my husband did with this room Thank you, sweetie pie.

Twilight Movie Review

Friday night Tommy and I went to see Twilight. The girls stayed with Noel and Jill. We went to the last showing at 10:00. I am so glad that we went to a later showing. The theater wasn't too packed and it was mostly people my age or older. There were a few teens there that squealed at different times, but nothing like it could have been.

Going in I was expecting to be disappointed. I rarely like a movie that is based on a book with the exception of the Harry Potter movies. I had to promise Tommy that I would not say "Watch this" or "That's not how it was in the book." I glanced at one review, just the stars not the words, and it was not a good review. So I was pleasantly surprised. The movie was much better than I thought it would be. Now I still think that this Edward does not look like I pictured in my head, but I did find myself believing in him. I think that Edward and Carlisle had way TOO much white make-up. They are supposed to be gorgeous not look like they fell in a vat of flour. Alice was perfect. Just like I pictured and even sounded as I imagined. I thought the whole field and sunlight scene could have had better graphics. It didn't really come off as this magnificent looking thing.

But all-in-all I enjoyed myself and left the theater wanting to reread Twilight and wanting the next movie to come out soon, very soon.

Dark Summer

Dark Summer by Iris Johansen

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
As always, Iris Johansen rocks and leaves multiple opportunites for new characters and always comes back to visit previous characters.


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New Books Read

Here's the Story by Maureen McCormick

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was an eye opener and really reaffirms the saying that "no one is perfect." It may seem like someone has everything, but no one really does.


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Code Name: Princess by Christina Skye

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
Enjoyed this. Really makes me want to read the others in the series. I really do hope that she publishes a book on Izzy. I have become attached in just two books.


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To Catch A Thief & Silent Run

To Catch A Thief by Christina Skye

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I can't wait to find her other books since the characters carry over. I didn't want to put this one down.


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Silent Run by Barbara Freethy

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book pulls you in from the very beginning.


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Scrapbook Room Organization

Another room organized. I have to say that I am not completely done, but it is functional and I won't have any problems adjusting as I go along.



Once again this organization was inspired by Organizational Junkie and her monthly round up.

Here is the scrapbook room as you enter. Before I go any further, I want to give props out to my dear husband. He is the one who finished this room. This room had studs and that is all when he started and it looks amazing now due to his hard work.

Behind the door are some shelves from Ikea that hold the little bit of stamps that I own, but at least there is some room to grow.

This shelf has my Ipod dock, knitting stuff, knitting books, knitting needles and the drawers at the bottom are empty waiting for me to decide what I will be using it for. Above the shelf is a strip of metal with magnets from Ikea that will hold pages I want to see. The clock is from Target.

This is the corner of my two tables. A little TV. The drawers from Ikea hold my embellishments. I am still trying to figure out how I want to label the drawers. The book that is in the Book holder is left from when I was making an apron. My sewing machine is at the left edge of the left table. I forgot to take a picture of it.

Underneath the left table are my Sterlite drawers that hold my scraps. They are divided into Red Scraps, Red Pattern Scraps, Pink Scraps, Pink Pattern Scraps, Orange Scraps, Orange Pattern Scraps, Yellow Scraps, Yellow Pattern Scraps, Green Scraps, Green Pattern Scraps, Blue Scraps, Blue Pattern Scraps, Purple Scraps, Purple Pattern Scraps, Brown Scraps, Brown Pattern Scraps, Black Scraps, Black Pattern Scraps, White Scraps, White Pattern Scraps, and Specialty Paper Scraps.

This is my main work area. There is usually a pile to the left of the table. This is where I put things that I need to deal with and just have not. The tools are in the Making Memories cauresol.

This is my Ikea Expedit shelf. I love it. Between the work table and this shelf are two cabinets that I got from Costco, but didn't take a picture. I do have pictures later that show some of the drawer insides.

This is the closet. I am so glad that my husband put that light in the closet. It really helps late at night.

• The top shelf has a laminator, a little heater, page protectors, garbage bags, and 12X12 albums.


• The second shelf has some empty boxes that I used at one time and don't want to get rid of because I might use them again. The green boxes have a variety of small albums.


• The third shelf has cards, two Becky Higgins school kits, and fabric.


• The fourth shelf has magazines and books.


• The floor has things for work, like centers that need to be finished and resource books.


• Next to the filing cabinet are two file boxes that hold the previous years tax information.
  
  
  
  
  

Here are the top two shelves of the Epedit shelves. The top has photo albums that are sorted by date. The second shelves have all of the cardstock and patterned paper which I have way more than I can use in my lifetime, but I still would love more.

The third shelves has a variety of things like albums, and Quickutz. The fourth shelf has Revolution, the white basket has rub-ons, and the blue basket has letter stickers. The bootom shelves has jewelry kits, foam stamps, and embellishment folders.

Here is a close up of the embellishment folders. Each folder has sections for die cuts, stickers, titles, etc.

This is the left side of the closet where the iron and ironing board are hung up.

This is the right side of the closet where my sewing tools are hung using Command Hooks. I love those things!

This is the paint materials drawer. The little baskets are from Walmart.

Here are the punches.

Here is the stamping drawer. The Quickutz Sillouhette is on top of the cabinets.

This is my yarn drawer. I need to make changes to this organization, but I haven't decided what yet.

And just so you don't think I am so organized. This is stuff I still have to deal with at some point. This is outside of my scrapbook room and still has been for awhile.

Entry Way Organization

I am a little late in posting this. Organizational Junkie has a monthly organizational goal. Now we didn't meet this goal on time. But late is better than never.

In this first picture is when you walk in the front door. We only use the front door for the girls when they get off the bus and for company. The hooks are from Ikea. The girls keep their backpacks and umbrellas here. There sometimes are jackets hanging here, but we do try to keep it to one jacket per girl here. We try to not have our shoes here, but sometimes it happens. I have boots here because I was carrying things in and didn't feel like going back in the basement to put the boots away. Brooke has her slippers there for a reason only she knows.

As a family we enter the house through the garage into the basement. This is the corner of the laundry room area. This area is not finished, but will be as Tommy has time. We also are not sure how we want the whole mudroom/laundryroom. Whether it will be one big room or two rooms or 1 1/2 rooms.

Here are the shoe racks. The spinning rack is from Costco. The top two tiers are for Melodye and and bottom two are for Brooke. We just took all the summer shoes off and the girls' feet just grew so that is the reason for the sparse amount of shoes. The white racks are from Walmart. This has the girls boots, mine, and Tommy's shoes. The blue chair was from Target. There are a few spots for us to sit an put our shoes on.

This is the right side of the closet area. This is where we keep all of our jackets and coats at all times. The rubbermaid containers on the floor are the summer shoes that we packed up recently. The file box on the top shelf with the maroon lid is a "School Stuff" box. Each girl has a box that I keep their school work filed in.

Here you can see that we have 2 "School Stuff" boxes. The shelf has the winter boots on it. The rack to the left is empty. It used to hold our hats, gloves, and scarves, but I wasn't happy with it. I am not sure whether we are going to use it or donate it yet.

This is our Ikea container that I love. The girls can sit on the left side to put their shoes on. The containers are for Hats, Gloves, Scarves, Mel's Soccer Stuff, Brooke's Soccer Stuff, and two empty ones. I, of course, plan on labeling the containers, but I haven't taken the time yet.

Halloween Recap

A good time was had by all on Halloween. We started trick-or-treating, went around a little over one block, and the girls decided that they were done. They weren't tired or anything. They just wanted to be at home passing out candy. A few arguments over who and how the candy was going to be passed out occurred, of course. But it really was enjoyable being at home and passing out the candy. While the girls passed out the candy, I knitted. I was working on a pair of fingerless gloves for Nonnie. I finished one and need to get started on the next one.

I love this photo of Brooke. I definitely want to scrapbook this one. She was showing what a Transformer does.
Another Transformer action shot. I love how cute the costume and mask look with her little ponytails sticking out.

One last action shot. We had to tell Brooke "That's enough" because she was getting a little crazy with her actions.

Here are my little Transformer and Snow Princess.

I told them to look like they love each other and this is what I got.

Brooke excited about some treat while trying to put her mask back on for a picture.

I love this photo of Melodye showing the true joy she was feeling and not just a fake smile which is waht we usually get.

Melodye felt the need to skip the entire time. I think the dress and how it belled out made her want to skip.

And here are this year's pumpkins. Melodye painted the Black Cat. Brooke painted the little Easter Egg as she called her pumpkin. The other pumpkin is a craft pumpkin from last year that we carved.

The girls got so much candy in the short time that they trick-or-treated. Then we didn't even hand out all of the candy that we had. So this means that the girls are in "Candy Heaven."