Pinterested

Did everyone have a Merry Christmas?!?!?!  We are still recovering from fun-filled family function after family function, with more to come this week!  Most years, by the time it’s all said and done, we have had 7 Christmas get-togethers!  (And, no we do not do gift exchanges at every one, thank goodness!)  I’ll tell you one thing, next week will be filled with naptimes and early bedtimes to get ready for school again!!! 🙂

   So, I recently joined Pinterest.  Oh my GOODNESS, there are so so many things on that I am interested in making, but let’s be honest, it’s just not going to happen until I have a bit more free time on my hands and some serious cash flow.  But, away I pin:  pinning it away for a future day with future extra time and future extra money, when my future kids are old enough to not need me to meet all their future basic needs.  🙂

  However,  balancing 3 different school schedules from 2 different school districts, has taken its toll on this ol’ brain, and when I forgot a school thing for the 2nd time, I knew it was time to up the Organization around here. 

  My calendar sits on my desk in the office/playroom at one end of the house:

  My laundry room, where all the kids lockers and school notes live, is allllll the way at the other end of our very long, ranch-style house. 

(Check out our laundry room makeover here.)  

  It is just not feasible to run to my office as they walk out the door, to make sure I didn’t forget “Bring a $1 day” or  some other event written on my desk calendar. 

  So, as I was thinking about what to do, I remembered a pin I had re-pinned to my “Home Sweet Home” board, shared by Makes and Takes.

Here is what I did:

Bought a Poster frame at Wal-Mart for around $7.50, it was a nice big 18 x 24 one, but naturally I didn’t take a photo of it, so here is the crumbled paper from inside the poster frame that I pulled out of the trash can. Nice, right!? 

  The “glass” (plastic) on these kind of poster frames will be perfect for writing on with a dry erase marker!  And they are much lighter than a regular frame for the hollow door I plan to hang this on.

  Next, I went to Hobby Lobby and got scrapbook paper at 50% off, spent around $3.  I picked brown, cream and deep red to match the laundry room colors.

I had Dale Spray paint the black metal frame a bronze color: this was free since we already had a can.

Then, I printed an empty Calendar page: found online for free.

  Next, I started working on paper layouts until I figured out how I wanted them.

  I decided to do a Calendar, Grocery list, To Do List and 4 Empty Squares: 1 for each kid.  I am excited about being able to easily keep track of each child’s needs for school that week, as they empty backpacks at the end of a school day. 

Here is the finished product:

(Yes, I am aware that I do not have pretty handwriting!)  LOL 🙂

Here it is in the laundry room:

  My new Organization Board aka “Brain Board” is on the door of the pantry, nice and accessible to me, but high enough to not get erased by little fingers.  Plus, clever Dale found me a WET erase marker for calendar dates and the children’s names, so when I erase notes, the “basics” don’t erase too.

  Cool, right?!  I was pretty proud of it!  {Pats self on back}

And all for around $10, too!  🙂

Find 4 little Fergusons on pinterest here, and don’t forget to “Like” our BRAND NEW PAGE on Facebook!  YAY!

Below is a little bloop from our welcome page, come see us and help us grow!

~T

4 little Fergusons

Chosen in Christ, Called to Influence

Family

Stories from the Fergusons home, where there is never a dull moment!

Read more!

Food

4 little Ferguson approved recipes that made the cut. Shared from our kitchen to yours…..

Read more!

4 little Fergusons Photography

A Stay At Home Mom, her first SLR Camera and a Passion to make life stand still.

Read more!

Copyright 2011, All Rights Reserved

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Saran Wrapped Christmas Tree

   Welcome to Works For Me Wednesday!

I had a reader and friend ask me about my Saran Wrapped Christmas Tree and I realized that some of you weren’t with us last year for “The Big Reveal”. 

   I saran wrapped my Christmas tree for the first time in 2009, and had Dale haul it out to the shed, where it spent the next year sitting in the corner.  Every time I saw it, I prayed that no spiders or mice were living inside it, waiting to spring out in my house next Christmas when I opened it. 

  So last year, 2010, when no spiders, mice, or other yucky creepy crawlers emerged with my lovely tree, from under the abyss of layer upon layer upon LAYER of giant restaurant quality Saran Wrap, I decided this was TOTALLY the way to do this “Tree with 4 kids thing”.  Someday I imagine us all working as a family to decorate the tree, but until then, I’ll take this fast method instead!  🙂  They like to help with the other stuff better anyways, like decorating their rooms or putting out snowman figurines.

  The only thing I did different at the end of Christmas last year, was I left ON all the breakables rather than removing them as we had done the year before, hoping none would get broken.  AGAIN, it worked.  I literally was done with my tree and the teeny bit of sprucing in 15 minutes this year.  NICE.

  If you can get your hands on some commercial size saran wrap and have a shed for storage, Saran wrapped, fully decorated Christmas trees are the way to go!  (we have a skinny tree by the way, not sure how you’d carry a full size one out your door)

    It may not work for you, but IT WORKS FOR ME!

~T

This post linked to:

Works for Me Wednesday

It Works For Me!

    I’d like to jump in here on my previously scheduled post, to touch on a little issue I am currently dealing with:  

  If there is a recipe on my site that is “yours” and I have not cited you as the source, first let me apologize, it is never done intentionally.  If I find a post on a fellow bloggers site, I am SURE to link us up!  In fact, most of the time I’ll email you and say, “I am sharing a recipe of yours today! Thanks for a keeper!” 

   2nd, you have to remember, I have been collecting recipes for over 10 years, some from emails, some from family recipe cards, some I have no idea where they came from….the source is NOT always passed along with the recipe to me. 

The fact of the matter is: 

People love food and they love to share food…PERIOD. 

   I have been turned in for copyright infringement over a cookie, A COOKIE!  to a favorite recipe site of mine.  I have taken care of it, and they understood my side of the story.  They were actually VERY nice about it, saying sorry she is being threatening, and to please not let this stop me from continuing to share recipes on their site. 

  Contrary to what this woman said, I just want you to know I have NEVER EVER claimed to have invented the recipes on my site, I don’t enjoy that side of recipes. Sure, I’ll tweak a recipe, but I don’t like to start from ground zero and create my own, EVER.  Not my thing.  So, when I share a recipe with you, its because we have found a “winner” at our house, end of story. 

  I am sad people have to take such self-seeking paths, like scowering the internet for “Their Recipe” to see if they were mentioned as the creator or not.   Since there are 417,000 sites with this particular cookie mentioned, that is a lot of time and work to contact all those people to make sure they are giving her credit, and using threatening comments and hateful words to demand it, REALLY?!  Asking nicely sure goes a lot further!

  Here ‘s the thing about recipes, they all come from someone, sometime “inventing it”.  I can give you our FAVORITE casserole from my Aunt Regena, and credit her because she gave it to me, but who knows how many people ago the recipe was created!  I can give my best friend credit for Bestie Banana Bread, but who knows how many years ago the inventors name was dropped, as recipe passed from friend to friend! It is my understanding, that copyright laws protect the recipe INVENTOR, not the recipe share-er.

  After Dale shared this verse with me:  Romans 12:18 “Do all you can to live at peace with everyone….”  I knew what I was being asked to do, so I linked up my blog to hers to keep the peace, even though she was not the one that gave me the recipe.  If I have to scout out recipe inventors just to share our “keeper” recipes on here, I am done with the food part of this blog! That is WAY too much to ask!!!!! 

  Anyhow, lets all choose happy sunshine, and get on to the regularly scheduled post!!!! 🙂

I’ve always wanted to do a Works For Me Wednesday Post, but most of the time I can’t think of anything clever that works for me.

  Then it hit me…..LAUNDRY! I can tell what works for us with laundry x 6 people;  5 who are VERY VERY messy, but I will not name names or anything…..daledestinytylanaverypaxton.

  Sooo, I’ve tried folding laundry on the dinner table, super annoying to deal with in the supper/homework rush.

  I’ve tried folding laundry onto the living room furniture, which worked great until kids 2, 3 and 4 arrived. After that, I ran out of furniture!

  I’ve heard of people folding on the bed, but if you know my house, you know that my laundry room is a bazillion feet away from the master bedroom. 

  So, instead, I just take a few extra minutes after the dryer is done, to stand there at the dryer door, and fold directly into the 6 baskets on the laundry room floor.  Each person has their own basket, so once the last load is folded, it’s totally ready to go to each child’s room, to be put away as part of after school or weekend chores.

BEFORE:

DURING:

AFTER:

The stuff you see flopped over the edges are hanging clothes, they will get put on hangers ASAP.  This is a very wrinkle free way to do laundry since it goes straight from the dryer to neatly folded in, or draped over a basket.

  Also, don’t give into temptation to re-start the dryer just to give yourself some more time (GUILTY!)….did you know that running your washer and dryer accounts for around $30 of your electric bill as it is?  Also, did you know if you shake each item out before you throw it in, that it will dry better, faster?! (Thanks for the tip, Mrs. Baker!)

  This method may not work for you,  but it works for me!  (which is why they call it “Works for ME Wednesday” instead of “Works for YOU Wednesday”!)  🙂

~T

This post linked to:

Works For Me Wednesday