Chalk Wall

This wall keeps us somewhat sane at my house. I got the calendar from a company that brought a bunch of free ones to my office. Underneath the calendar I write M-F, what's for dinner and who's keeping the kids what days that week (yes, it changes).  So it helps us all know what's going on at least tries to. It's helpful that it's right next to the door that goes into the garage and it's the one we generally use.

The Control Center

The kids get the bottom half to draw. My middle child is left handed so it's actually been easier for him to write on the wall to learn to write his name than on paper.

My little angel. She drew our family.

What-Iffer

I'm not sure what motivated me to post my GOALS the other day as I'm usually much more of a What-Iffer. Like if I'm thinking about doing something I don't post it all of Facebook and text everybody in my contacts with the news because WHAT IF it doesn't work out?! What if I don't continue on to get that degree that I never finished 15 years ago? What if I the Slow Poke Squad has to pick me up because I'm not moving fast enough? I mean they only give you 5 hours to finish 13.1 miles!  So now everybody that I advertised my goal to knows that I may or may not finish in the allotted time. Geez! It's easier to be a quitter to just myself. It's not as easy to be a quitter to other people. You catch my drift?

So, since I was temporarily insane and am now being held accountible my more people than just me I'd like to say that I really hate running.  I don't consider myself a runner but there is something about the accomplishment of a race that is super thrilling to me. So for the thrill of it, here I go.

Organized

Our house is lacking in storage spaces. We don't have a linen closet so we put our towels underneath the bathroom sinks. We don't have a pantry so we use the kitchen cabinets and we also have some Rubbermaid shelves in the garage for a my little stock pile of extras. I've used our coat closet for the past few years as a craft/catch all so today I tackled that thing and threw out two trash bags full of junk. I couldn't believe how much stuff we had crammed into that closet. Here are just a few of my little organizational ideas from that closet.

Here's an old spice rack that has tacks, beads, paper clips, pins, etc.

I love these things. I use this over the door shoe rack for scissors, ribbon, etc. inside the coat closet. I also use one of these in my bathroom. We keep medication up top so it's out of reach of the kids. It also has belts rolled up in it, slippers down in the bottom pockets. I have one on my boys' bedroom door that has gloves, hats, belts, scarves, sunglasses, etc.

Goals

I have a few goals. Two in particular are taking up a lot of time right now. One is short term, the other is long term. My short term goal is to finish a half marathon in April. That's 13.1 miles, nonstop. I just want to finish.

My long term goal is to finish school. I "took a semester off" after 5 semesters of college and have now returned. This is my second semester back since I was 20 years old. I'm not sure how long it's going to take me but when it's all said and done I'll have a BS in Communications from ECU!  My husband says it's fitting since I've mastered the art of communicating :)

Pretty pretzels

My "cooker helper" and I made these just for fun. I think she had more chocolate on her face than on the pretzels but they turned out cute. I dipped some for the boys with their favorite football team colors too.

All you need:
Chocolate chips (I used white)
Pretzel rods
Sprinkles