The big 4-0
When I stepped on the scale today, I saw a very exciting number!
I’ve lost 40 pounds since the day I had Baby C, back on April 25!
(Granted, some of those pounds were obviously the baby, assorted baby goo, etc.)
A good chunk of the weight came off in the first six weeks. And then, since joining Weight Watchers when C was six weeks old, I’ve lost 16.4 of those pounds.
It feels great to be 40 lbs. lighter than I was four months ago, and while I’m feeling a lot better about my body, I’m not done yet!
Stay tuned for a post this week about how Weight Watchers has been going, and how easy/hard it’s been to lose these first 40 lbs!
xoxo
I have a little label problem
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| Welcome to my linen closet. Please make yourself at home, and let me show you around. |
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| I keep the quilts stacked on the top shelf, and I LOVE saving comforter bags to store them in. I think I might just go out and buy a few comforter bags, just because I love having the quilts all individually packaged. I’m crazy, I know. I also keep the queen and double sheets separately “binned,” so it would be easy for company to grab their own sheets, if I suddenly dropped dead while making toast or something. |
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| I didn’t make labels for the towels, but I probably will. I’m cray-cray that way.
Oh, and you’ll notice that I keep a little container labeled “Nighttime diapers” for C and D’s disposables. I like to specifically label them that way so if someone new were to change them (not that it really happens too often), they would know that those are off-limits during the day. I don’t know about you other cloth-diapering mamas, but the idea of using a disposable during the day kind of makes me twitchy. I can practically SEE them peeing on the money, you know? |
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| Our cloth diaper collection is divided into two separate bins — one for “all-in-one” diapers, and one for “pocket” diapers. I’ll confess — I used to carefully sort and stuff every single diaper when they came out of the dryer, and line them up by colour. Then I had a second kid, and realized THERE IS NO TIME FOR THAT NONSENSE. So now I literally just chuck them into the bins, straight from the laundry basket, and assemble them when I need them. It’s a LOT easier. Lesson learned. |
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| I toss all of the cloth wipes in this bin. There’s a spray bottle to wet them, too, but Darling Husband is the only one to use it. I prefer to run them under the taps for a second instead. Wow, this is probably the most interesting post I’ve ever written! |
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| These bins (a.k.a. Dollar Store dishpans!) store our beach towels, extra pillowcases (because we somehow have a bunch that don’t belong to sheet-sets?) and twin sheets for D’s beds. |
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| There’s some extra nighttime diapers, and a bin of maternity clothes, and then! … See the two bins in the centre? This is probably the most HELPFUL section of my linen closet.
Let’s zoom in for a closer look … |
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| Ahhhh, these bins make my life so much better. One is for “clothes to be donated,” and one is for “outgrown clothes to be stored.”
When I’m sorting the clean laundry and see a stain or rip on something, I can toss it immediately into the bin to be donated. Before? I would have probably started a random bag somewhere in my closet, and then forgotten all about it. When C or D have an item of clothing that I love, but it no longer fits them, I just toss it into the “to be stored” bin. That way I’m not constantly dragging out my massive storage crates so I can “file” the item. I can just do everything once a month. Win! |
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| That’s a wrap on Mrs. Linen Closet. Thanks for visiting! |
Cleaning out my closet
It was a jumble of clothes. A clothing explosion, if you will. And see that big overflowing basket near the door? That’s outgrown kiddie-clothing. In MY closet! The nerve!
Normally when I’d clean my closet, I would just kind of tidy it up and then move on. But this time I decided to be hard-core!
I took every. single. thing. out.
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| Everything was tossed onto our bed. This picture probably doesn’t do it justice. It was a MOUND of clothing. Like H&M and Smart Set threw up in my room. Seriously. |
I knew I wanted some storage baskets for the shelves in my closet, but I also knew that storage baskets are expennnnnnnsive, yo.
So I headed for my BFF: the Dollar Store. Seriously, I should change the name of this blog to “Things I Bought at the Dollar Store This Week.”
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| $1.50 storage bins! Hello! I grabbed six. |
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| Yes, this is a $1.50 dishpan! Otherwise known as a SUPER-STUDY STORAGE BIN. Do you know how much this would cost at a regular store, if it was displayed in the storage bin section. Like $10. I KNOW, RIGHT? |
I got busy (whooooo!) with my $1.50 storage bins, and sorted out every last item of clothing (donating several garbage bags in the process).
Am I the only one who has trouble donating things, because you keep thinking of how expensive it was when you bought it, or how it’s reeeeeeeally nice, and you MIGHT wear it again? I have a huge problem with that.
I solve the problem by donating everything to my mom! She probably only keeps a couple of items (usually just shoes and bras, maybe the odd top), and then she turns around and donates the rest. But it makes me feel better giving it to her, rather than thinking of my NICE CLOTHES (not actually that nice) ending up in a $1 bin somewhere.
Anyway, back to what we’re all here to see! The gloriously organized after photos!
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| Oooooh .. Ahhhhh! |
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| $1.50 dishpans become cute handbag storage bins, amiright? |
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| The sight of all those beautiful white bins kind of melts my heart.
Oh, make sure to say hi to Billy Bunny. He’s kind of been my bestie since I was like eight months old. He used to sleep with me every night, until I had kids and he started falling behind the bed (escaping?) and I couldn’t reach him, and I was too tired to bother rescuing him, but I always felt guilty about it. So now he lives in his little chair my Grandpa built for him. Hi, Billy! |
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| I also decided to make fresh new labels for all of my bins of outgrown and not-yet-grown-into kiddie clothes. Nothing better than a fresh label. |
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| Ahhh, more storage bin love … |
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| Fresh labels on the kiddie bins! |
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| Yes, we have a LOT of kiddie clothes. No, I’m not positive we’re having more kids. Yes, I’m going to keep the clothes until I’m SURE. No, I do not enjoy having them in my closet. (You can see the dilemna here?) |
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| The only clothes pictured are the clothes I actually WEAR (or will wear, once the weather is cooler). |
I’m happy to report that I did this two weeks ago, and my* closet is still looking fantastic! Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post, where I’ll show you … drumroll, please … my linen closet.
I know, I know. The excitement is too much to handle!
*If you noticed that I keep saying “my” closet, it’s not because Darling Husband moved out. He didn’t! I promise! He just only has about five “hang-up” items, and everything else lives in his dresser. He’s a casual kind of guy, you know?
How to keep your toddler quiet in church
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| Here’s the haul! It includes sticks, an activity book, crayons, little toy animals, and his very own lip balm. (You can see flash cards in this picture, but I ultimately decided to keep them at home, because mess = ugh) |
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| This is the bag I bought to store everything in. I actually think it’s really cute. Can you believe it was $2 at a Dollar Store??? You can? Oh. Maybe it’s not that cute? |
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| I also added these gems we already owned (but they were also originally from the Dollar Store). Hooray for snack cups and sippy cups! |
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| We already owned this mini-magnadoodle and Elmo book, too. |
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| I took all of the stickers and the activity book and put them in this cute Toy Story folder. This eliminated all of the crinkly noisy packaging, so D won’t disrupt his fellow parishoners. I can also add a few new pages ripped from a colouring book every week. |
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| I stored all of the little plastic farm animals in this fun fuzzy pencil case. It has a beanbag sort of thing happening on one side of it, so D loves to use it as a pretend pillow. |
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| This little boy LOVES makeup, so he was thrilled to get his very own Cars lipbalm. And he’s been really into combing his hair lately, so I bought a big $1 package of combs and tossed one in the bag. It’s adorable to see him combing his hair in church. |
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| Busy Bag all packed and ready to go! |
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| It’s light enough that he can easily carry it into church. I think he’s proud to lug it around. |
Easy closet dividers
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| Get some craft foam (scrapbook paper would work, too) and trace circles that are at least four-ish inches in diameter. Look at me, with the fancy math words! |
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| Cut out the circles. Yes, I know those are two different shades of red. That’s what happens when you are using old scraps of craft foam. Don’t worry — I plan on putting them in different spots in the closet, so people won’t notice. Shhhh. |
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| Cut a slit into the middle of the circle … um, radius? Or something? I’m bad at geometry. |
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| Cut a circle in the middle of the foam-circle — big enough for a closet rod. You wait exact measurements? Uh … like an inch and a half? I don’t know. We’re centimetre people here in Canada. |
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| See! Circle within a circle, with a little slit leading to it! |
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| Now grab your favourite Sharpie* and write all of the categories out!
*No, Sharpie did not sponsor this post. But I wish they did. I freaking love them. |
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| D’s completed closet! |
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| Adorable, isn’t it? You wouldn’t think it was the same closet in which he has smeared poop on the walls … on several occassions … Sorry for that visual! |
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