Quick and Easy Drawer Organization

Remember when I said there are only 3 drawers in our kitchen? Um, yeah, they were a mess.

They weren't terrible when we first moved in, but over time, they just got messier and messier. Time for some organization! 

I knew I needed some drawer dividers to corral all my cooking utensils and give everything a home. I headed out to one of my favorite stores, The Container Store, to pick up the dividers. I really liked the clear ones, but even on sale, they were a lot more expensive than the basic white dividers. Cost won out and I picked out a few different sizes of the basic white dividers. The Container Store had a drawer with dividers on display which was super helpful when trying to decide which configuration would fit into my drawers and would make the most use of the space. 

I came home, gave them a quick wash, then popped them into the drawers. I purged what I could, then filled up the drawers!

My silverware drawer was already organized with a utensil tray and a medium drawer divider in the back for knives. 

This project definitely qualifies for a speedy award. Seriously, it only took a few minutes to do. Now tell me why it took me almost a year to do this???

Springing up the Front Door

I know it's not technically spring yet, but I'm pretending, ok? I ditched our Christmas/winter wreath and the door has been naked ever since, screaming for a new wreath. After searching Pinterest for inspiration, I mashed a couple ideas together to come up with my wreath. I gotta say, I pretty much love how my new wreath turned out and keep opening the door to look at it. That's not weird at all, right? ;)

Please excuse all the weird angles. I had to crouch and shoot from the side to avoid being in the reflection of the glass. I promise my doors are straight. Haha!

I wanted something with some color, but had a really hard time finding something that matched our coral colored door. I tried to bring in some blue with blue felt flowers, but the shade of blue felt I had bought just didn't jive well with the coral door. My inspiration was this gorgeous wreath with coral, peach, and ivory felt flowers that I found through Pinterest, but I could not find any coral or peach colored felt anywhere local. On a whim, I stopped at an upholstery fabric outlet close to my home to see if they carried felt. No luck in the felt department, but I found a large bin of fabric samples for $.50-$1.50! I found 4 fabrics that had various shades of coral and ivory in them and snatched them up for $4 total. Score for cheap! I picked up some ivory felt and a grapevine wreath at the craft store and was ready to go.

I started by making a few ivory felt flowers. I used Paper & Stitch's tutorial to make felt looped flowers and wavy rosettes. Then, I used Bower Power's tutorial to make flowers out of my fabric samples. Because my fabric was thick upholstery fabric, it was a little trickier to get it to stay together. I used dabs of hot glue every couple of twists to keep it all together and to finish off my flowers. I added a pearl to the center of each fabric flower, just for fun. :)

To finish up, I just hot glued my flowers onto my wreath and hung it up! Really, this project was very easy, inexpensive, and not too terribly time consuming. Here's the cost break down:

2 sheets ivory felt--$.75
Fabric samples--$4
Grapevine wreath--$3 (I used a 40% off coupon)
Pearls--free since I had them on hand already

Total Cost: $7.75

I'm planning to make a similar wreath for the back door with the rest of the fabric scraps. I'm going to use a different wreath style, though, to change it up a bit. I'll update when I get it done! Are you ready for spring? What things are you doing to add color to your home these days?

Linking up to the Pinterest Challenge hosted by Young House Love, Bower Power, The Remodeled Life, and Decor and the Dog as well as Thrifty Decor Chick and Simply Designing's link party!

Tater Tot Soup

One of my favorite bloggers, Mel at The Larson Lingo, is doing a Soup's On link party this week and she posted a fabulous looking broccoli soup recipe! Can't wait to try it! I had to add this potato soup recipe that I found on Meg Duerksen's blog and had posted on my old blog. It uses tater tots, so no peeling and dicing prep work is required! It's easy and SO yummy! I can't wait to see all the other soup recipes that get posted! I hardly have any soup recipes, so I'm stoked to get some new ideas. 

This recipe was originally called “Cheesy Potato Soup”, but when my husband found out how it was made, he renamed it “Tater Tot Soup”. Kinda gives my cheater secret away, but it’s cute. 

This is my cool weather quickie meal. It makes a ton, so you won’t have to cook the next day!

Tater Tot Soup

One bag of frozen tater tots (32oz) or 12 hashbrown patties
2 cans chicken broth
1 stick butter or margarine
6 slices American cheese
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup green onions, sliced with tops
1 tsp minced garlic
2 cups sour cream
2 cups milk
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Real bacon bits

In a large pot, combine tater tots and broth over medium heat until combined and the tater tots are crumbled. Add remaining ingredients except the bacon. Stir well, then cover and cook on low for 20 minutes or until hot. Do not boil. Garnish with bacon bits and extra shredded cheese (if desired). Enjoy!

Makes about 10-12 servings.

Original recipe found here. The original recipe calls for all sliced cheese, but I like to use both sliced and shredded cheese. Either way, I don't think you can go wrong!

Clothing Purge

I did something today that I've been trying to do for about 10 years--literally. I purged my closet. But not just any ordinary purge. A brutally honest, brutally realistic purge.

I've purged my closet multiple times before and have gotten rid of trash bags full of clothing, but have never been able to part with certain items of clothing. You know the ones...the I-love-it-and-will-fit-into-it-again-one-day clothes. The ones you can't part with because you're convinced if you just lost a couple more pounds, you'd be able to wear them again. Then they sit in your closet so long that they are now out of style. Sigh.

Today, I finally snapped and just did it. I started pulling out the clothes that I knew didn't fit, piece by piece, and tossed them onto the bed. After one round, I got gutsier and went through a second time. The second time was harder, but the most freeing. The second round is when I quit hoarding and got brutally honest. Then I just couldn't stop! I kept going back for more until I was finally left with ONLY the clothes that I actually wear. It.was.awesome!

The best part? My hubby wants me to go shopping! Ummm, ok! :)

Here's my see-ya-later pile! Our plan is to sell the clothes at our yard sale and use the money we earn for new clothes. Want to know something disgusting? I purged my clothes before we moved and got rid of multiple trash bags full. And I was STILL left with this! Gross.

(Again with the phone pictures...when will I ever learn?!) ;)

I did save two small piles of clothes. The first pile is my post-baby clothes. If we are ever blessed with another baby, I know I'll be glad I saved these for the first couple months after giving birth. They are baggy, saggy on me now, so I'm putting them in a space bag in the attic until they are needed again.

Now, you may think I'm cheating with the second pile I kept, but let me explain. This pile is my treat if I lose 5 or 10 pounds. These are clothes that are still in style and that I really love and will actually wear again. I am currently trying to drop 5-10 pounds and once I reach that goal, I will get this pile out and try them on. Whatever still doesn't work is getting the boot. I'm putting myself on a timer, though. If I don't drop the weight in 3 months (let's hope it doesn't take me that long! Geesh!) then I am getting rid of this pile, too. 

Here's what I'm left with!

Now that I can actually see what I have and use, it's really easy to assess what I need. I only own 3 pairs of jeans and two dress pants. Because of this, I can be spotted multiple days of the week in gym pants and a t-shirt. One of my goals this year is to stop wearing gym clothes other than when I'm actually working out or--drum roll--when I'm at the gym! Haha! ;) I don't think gym clothes are bad or anything, I just know that I'm in a rut and am looking quite frumpy these days.

Here's where I need your help! Please comment and tell me what you would consider to be the top 3 clothing items every girl needs AND tell me where your favorite place is to buy jeans! I have exhausted my usual clothing store stops and feel overwhelmed at the thought of building a new wardrobe! Can't wait to hear your input! 

Breakin' Up is Hard to Do

Sorry for the silence...rough few weeks. But, trying to get back into a normal routine and start posting again!

Remember my last post about our new rug? Well, it was nice while it lasted, but we had to break up. Boo. It was great at first, but after a couple weeks, it started shedding worse than 10 hairy dogs. I was finding balls of rug fibers all over the house. It was on our clothes, the couch...everywhere. Then to top it off, the edges were already starting to look worn. Sigh.

Thankfully, Overstock is amazing, and is refunding our money and paying return shipping (even picking it up at our house!) with no hassle! I didn't even have to call! I just went through the return process online. Very happy with Overstock and will definitely order from them again. Just not the same rug. Duh. ;)

Soooooooooo, back to square one. I am thinking of going uber boring and basic. Maybe something similar to this Pottery Barn rug.

Unless any of you have a better idea? We need at least a 6x9 and really don't want to pay more than $200. Thoughts? Ideas?