A purse/wallet set and birthday dress

I made my niece's second birthday dress. She's obsessed with Minnie Mouse, and this dress took a TON of work. So you can imagine that I was SUPER excited to hear that it fit (they don't live near here!) and that she loved it.

In addition to the dress, I had my little sister a wallet and purse set. She graduated this year, and I had no idea what to do for her. Thankfully she loved the gift, and brags to everyone about it. These sets will be the main focus at my new store (opening at the end of next week!)

Day 3: The kitchen sink is made to be empty?

If you're like us, you just have a hard time keeping up with the dishes. Its a constant flow of things, and I hate that they can't ever all be clean. Plus, there are days when I just don't want to do them! So sometimes they sit out... which is actually worse, because then they're harder to clean. And I have to say that my dear husband is amazing, and usually does the dishes. Anyway, one of the goals should be to make sure that at the end of the day the kitchen sink is empty! Or at least, make sure you've done some dishes before the day is over.

In addition to doing your dishes, pick up the living room (which I'm sure is dirty again) and straighten up the dining area. Part of this is about creating good habits!

Day 2: The kitchen table is for eating!

I know I'm not the only one who has this problem with the table. Its automatically a catch-all. My family very rarely eats dinner at the kitchen table (partially because my husband isn't comfortable with it, and partially because it's always cluttered) but just because we don't use it for eating doesn't mean its okay to be messy. Someday my daughter will be big enough to sit in a chair at the table, and I want her to get into the healthy habit of eating in a room designed specifically for that purpose. I don't want her to run around with food, or sit on the couch or in front of the TV. Lunch time is devoted to eating and calming down. So, day two is about cleaning off the kitchen table (and the surrounding area). I'm feeling a little bit tired, but I'm still going to plow through it!

As always, when you pick something up put it away. Don't lay it down to clutter another area, because that defeats the purpose. C'mon, we can do this!

Before:

After:

Don't forget to pick up the living room again once you're through! Push through it, you can do it. I know there are things you'd rather be doing, but this is rewarding!

Day 1: The living room floor is for furniture!

Do you ever look around and just feel discouraged? You feel like no matter how much you work, your house will never be clean? Ah, so is the life of a parent! I hear you, because I often feel the same way. Some nights I go to bed thinking "did I even clean today?" I know, sometimes you don't have time to clean. Sometimes the laundry has to take a backseat to everything else. Sometimes dishes do sit in the sink for two days, and yes, sometimes the vacuum doesn't get run for a week (or two). You are not alone! Together we can beat this monster! Join me?

Cleaning Day One: The Living Room Floor Is For Furniture!
Today will simply consist of one thing: pick up everything off the living room floor. Make a list of things that should be on the floor, and then eliminate everything else. My list is as follows:

• Couches
• Telivision stand
• Baby exersaucer
• Baby jumperoo
• Xbox

Everything else should be picked up and stored elsewhere. The key here is not to move the random misplaced things to another part of the house, but to really be put away. I know its tempting to pick up the scissors and random papers and just set them on the table instead, but really, the goal is to put it away. Can't find a place? Stack everything neatly in one pile (or in a box) and google ways to store those certain items.
Before:

After:
TADA! I know, it looked awful before, right? But I bet my husband will be so happy to see it when he gets home from work tonight!

And I do have to add that I made a little pile in front of Abby's door of stuff to put away after she wakes up from her nap.

Lunch Boxes

I've been thinking about selling these, but I'm still a little intimidated. Anyway, here's the first
one I made:

Homemade Poptarts

I made homemade poptarts! Its still a little bit of a work in progress... but you can find the recipe here . I think I'll put about 1/4 cup of sugar in the dough next time, because I didn't frost them. I also tripled the recipe so I had enough to freeze. The original only makes enough for 5 or 6. So if you want to make them one morning for breakfast, then its perfect. But I wanted to freeze them and pop them in Matthew's lunches. Anyway, the recipe was SUPER easy to follow. Its just a basic pie crust recipe. I put Strawberry preserves in mine, but now I'm wanting to be creative. Chocolate fudge sauce...Nutella....cinnamon sugar... the possibilities are endless!

What I'll Be Selling

This could be the beginning of something beautiful.
...Or I could fail miserably. But I'm going to try it anyway!
First up: the snack bags (these were my first attempt, and I have waterproof fabric coming in, so the liner will not be cotton)

I'm working on making matching lunch boxes/bags and you can buy them separate or as a set. These ones are drawstring with yarn, but I could also put ribbon in place of the yarn, or velcro on the top instead.
The corners are rounded instead of square, so pesky little crumbs don't get stuck down there! And, of course, they are machine washable.

I'm also thinking of trying to make reusable trash bags/can for the car. It would hang on the backseat, and be stiff enough to stay open without struggling to get your garbage in there. And it would be easily removed, so you could empty it an a jiffy. And, like everything else, have a waterproof liner just in case!