Every good thing must come to an end.

Homeschoolblogger has been good to me. It got me blogging on a regular basis. I learned some html. I got the basics down.

Now I'm ready to take it up a notch and as much as I have enjoyed my time here, I also have been frustrated too often and have thus moved on to a more blog-friendly layout.

Please come by and see my new digs at: http://www.nowplayhappy.blogspot.com/

Thank you homeschoolblogger. You got me started, now I intend to keep climbing the blogger ladder. Thanks for the boost.

Janelle

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Hello Readers! I am now posting at my new blog site, http://nowplayhappy.blogspot.com/

Please jet on over and mark my new site in your daily favorites sites to visit! Though I don't have my layout completely done at my new site, I no longer want to post at two sites.

See you at my new site! Leave me a comment so I know you got there.

Janelle

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Thursdays is the day when I like to write about autism or special needs in general. I like to flutter my words with encouragement, some wise thing I learned or read about, or give some insight into being a special needs family. This is all well and good, but sometimes we special needs folks can just get too serious about whatever conditions were dealing with. Sometimes we need to see the joy, humor and silliness present in a child that would not otherwise be there without their condition.

So in honor of feeling a bit windy and wacky today, I will list a few 'fun' things about having a son with autism and a daughter with ADHD. (side note: yeah its really windy! Pray it calms down as last December we lost our power for 7 days due to a wind storm. Not fun.)

The Autism Fun List:

1. You get to flap and spin and open and close your eyes really quickly and no one things the better of you ( have you tried doing this? Its actually kind of fun!)

2. You learn to LOVE when your child says things like "I not no bedtime, I yes no bedtime!" Hey the kid is talking in a complete sentence and back-talking me all at once! SWEET!

3. You learn new games like "Lets squish each  other in all the pillow cases while hiding under the mattress of our beds". Yeah that's a fun one!

4. You learn that you can eat three corndogs and drink a coke and immediately go out and jump on the trampoline for 2 hours straight and not get sick.

5. You learn that running without looking is okay because you have ran this way all your life.

6. You learn that they can learn and you can teach them, and they play the same 'lazy' games with you as your typical kids! How fun! Another child to test me. :)

The ADHD Fun List:

1. You discover how sweet, wonderful and precious Concerta is and how you never, ever forget to give your child her meds because the one time you do, wow you suddenly remember how life used to be so hard.

2. You learn how to use ADHD to your advantage by giving your child just one task to do really well.

3. You learn that yes, you can sit and listen to a child speak nonstop for over 2 hours and live through it!

Well that is all fun and good! I hope you can laugh a bit with me - sometimes a good laugh can fix so many bad attitudes - ours and others. :)

Also, I will be posting this at my new blog site: http://www.nowplayhappy.blogspot.com/

I will be posting their on a permanent basis soon. Keep me in your daily favorites list, just switch my address!

Janelle

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I'm feeling worn out and gross today. I think I could get sick if I don't stay home and slow down for a few days, so I'm going to put my feet up in between laundry loads.

See you in a few days when I'm feeling better.

Janelle

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My husband just got a raise. Yahoo! No, we are not going to go out and blow it. It is just one more step for us to not count on overtime. We are getting close to not counting on overtime to meet our budget. We are down to needing very little a month now and I am looking forward to the day when all our overtime can go towards debt reduction, savings and investments. It will happen, IF we don't increase our expenses by accumulating debt.

I hate debt. God was right when he said that debt is a chain around us and we are enslaved to our debtor. That is why we are working hard to get rid of our debt. If you'd like more information about being debt free, check out Dave Ramsey's website. I've read all of his books (free from the library!) and wow he's got his cards right.

With every debt we've paid off, I feel more freedom and less bondage. That is a great feeling. Not only that but my husband gets a boost for knowing he is providing well for his family and that we are all being good stewards of what God has provided for us. This brings me to talk about the grocery budget.

With less pressure financially around here, I can at times feel too at ease with my grocery budget. I find I don't try as hard to stay within the budgeted amount. I know I can do it, even when I don't want to. I know that money is better spent towards debt right now. We are by no means not able to feed ourselves well with lots of fresh fruits and veggies with what we have allotted weekly, but still I find myself tempted to overspend in this area.

It is when I am struggling like this that I pull up an old article from No Greater Joy. If you have never received this free magazine, I would highly recommend it. It is part of the ministry by Michael and Debbie Pearl. Many months ago Debbie wrote an article entitled 'Corny, Ten Different Ways.' It is about how they literally survived on corn during an extremely lean season of their lives.

When I need a fresh perspective, I pull it out and read it. When I need some motivation to be frugal, it is the first article I read. When I need to be thankful for our bounty, and need a creative touch to do with what I have, I pull out this article to inspire and convict me.

Read it. It will make you so thankful for what you have and challenge you to take on a fresh perspective with your bounty.

This is my Frugal Friday tip! I hope you enjoy it.

Janelle

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Play Happy - Formally The Special Needs Homeschool Family

I was really wondering what the heck to write about this morning for Works For Me Wednesday. So I decided to go with the obvious thing that is stuck all over my computer monitor: the post-it note.

Yeah I love the post-it. I have it in several different forms. I have your standard yellow square, then I have an array of colored ones too. I also have the larger pad type that is lined. Then I have the pullable tabs that are oh so handy for marking in my children's books where they left off last.

My post-its are with me wherever I go. I keep them in my purse to jot down things I need to remember (you know those things you only remember when you are driving somewhere). I have them around my computer to remind me to check certain sites, post certain things on certain days, email this or that person. I also use them in my daily organizer.

Right now I am using an organizer that doesn't have enough daily space in it for me to write. Since I bought the thing and don't want to waste money buying a new one, I use post-it notes in my organizer to write my daily to-do's on. Its very lo-tech, but that is part of the draw. I suppose with all the money I've spent on post-its I could have bought a new organizer by now.

By the way the best place to buy post-its is Costco. Anywhere else and they will charge you double or more.

Janelle

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Play Happy - Formally The Special Needs Homeschool Family

I have a few favorite cooking gadgets in my kitchen. I have a few others that I thought were incredibly cool and turned out to really be useless to me and ended up in a free box at a garage sale. But this little dandy is not in the free box. No, no this is my favorite little item - the Kitchen Scraper.

Yes my handy-dandy Pampered Chef scraper is something I really love. In fact my old one got lost by a little person so I spent way too much on shipping to buy another off of ebay. This little tool is so helpful in cleaning up messes, especially if you are baking and using flour.

I have had times when I didn't bake something specifically because I hated the mess caused by the flour and the cleanup of it. I hated how the flour would turn into goo when hit by your kitchen sponge or rag. It was gross, ruined my sponge, and there were always spots I missed due to the flour turning to glue and sticking to my counter.

My scraper makes cleanup so easy. All I do now is bring my garbage can to the edge and scrape the flour leftovers in the can. Presto, my counter is clean without a goo mess!

Next to my pastry tool, this is my must-have for baking. I'm sure that kitchen stores sell a generic version of this, but I personally love the Pampered Chef one.

Happy baking!

Janelle

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Play Happy - Formally The Special Needs Homeschool Family

Yes I missed Menu Monday's last week due to a late start in the day. So I'm back on track for this week.

Monday - Leftovers

Tuesday - Spagetti

Wednesday - Rolled Chicken Cutlets

Thursday - Huge Salad with Chicken

Friday - Homemade Pizza

Since we are right in the middle of a big remodel project, my meals over the next 3 weeks are going to be simple. Next week in particular I hope to be painting nearly every evening, so I imagine I'll be using my crockpot a lot.

Janelle

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Play Happy - Formally The Special Needs Homeschool Family

We have always had a budget. Before we were married I can remember sitting down with our wedding budget, narrowing down our expenses. Since then we've managed to always keep a budget one way or another.

We've done the envelope method, a stint using Microsoft Money, a full-size ledger notebook, an excel spreadsheet, and a written budget in Word. No matter what method we try, we keep coming back to the simple one-page sheet in Word.

Our budget lists every category of expense in a home, plus additional line items for birthdays, Christmas, vacations, fun money, car expenses and clothing. I'm sure there are more than that but those are the ones that I can think of at this moment.

The top half of our budget sheet lists the actual bills that must be paid. After that is all the extras which get cut back to $0 more often than I'd wish.

For variable expenses we simply figure our weekly amount and multiply by the number of weeks within that month. For groceries, I have a note next to the line item of my weekly allowance.

We copy this budget off and keep it in our checkbook. This is the real reason I like it. I always have my budget with me so I can always see if I have funds for an item when I am shopping. It helps us to not go outside of our budget and has served us well over the years.

If you are new to budgetting I wouldn't recommend this method. Its just too easy to overspend. I think for newbies the envelope method is best.

Anyhow my Frugal Friday tip is keeping a budget! It has helped me to stay home all these years and I hope it will continue to keep me home where I love.

Janelle

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Play Happy - Formally The Special Needs Homeschool Family

When our son Noah was diagnosed with autism 4 years ago we immediately became part of the special needs club. Its not a club anyone wishes to join, but many of us find ourselves in. Shortly after that my daughter was diagnosed with ADHD and our youngest son was diagnosed with PDD-NOS (which is under the autism spectrum). Suddenly I had three kids with special needs and I felt very inadequate.

The first thing I did was to get on the internet. I read so many sites on autism and ADHD that I began to feel like I knew what I was talking about. I put holds on about 20 million tapes and books from our library and read most of them. For over 2 years all I read about was these two disorders. Basically, I got myself educated.

I was also fortunate to get involved in a moms support group for special needs kids. This group turned out to be my best resource for coping with our new family situation. Not only was I encouraged, I got first-hand experience on therapies, doctors, therapists, the public school system, DDD and other resources available in the community. This group of moms and their knowledge were better than any book I had ever read. They were my lifeline and my encouragement, especially in those first two years.

Now that it has been 4 years since diagnosis, I find myself on the other side of the tracks. I've been walking this path for a while and I've learned a few things. I've learned that us moms and dads know a lot more than we think, that the experts can be helpful, but they do not know our children like we do. That we can do so much teaching on our own without expensive therapies and that we can teach our children with special needs at home.

I like this side of the tracks a lot better than those first two years. The beginning of the special needs walk was so overwhelming. So full of emotions, decisions, logistics, financial burdens and information that its not uncommon to shut down for a while and hide in the bubble of denial. That is not a good choice by the way because your children will suffer for it. Your special kids will get worse and your typical kids will feel forgotten. Not good.

All of this comes down to my new position title in the special needs club. Instead of a newbie to the club, I now am a seasoned member. That means I have women calling me now, wanting advice and encouragement as they have recently joined the club and they are feeling the need to slip into the denial bubble. I also am getting some women wanting my input because we did so much of the therapy with our kids on our own and we have them home with us, teaching them here at home where they belong. I got a lot of suspicion and flack from the other seasoned members of the special needs club when I pulled my autism-spectrum kids home from the school. Even though our intent was to only keep them there until their language improved, apprantly the other special needs moms didn't think we'd actually pull them home. But really that is another long story.

I write all of this to encourage those of you out there who are seasoned in this walk of special needs to take the time to talk to the newbies. They are feeling overwhelmed, stretched beyond their means physically, emotionally and financially and most of their marriages are on the rocks. They would be happy to get the laundry caught up and their homes clean, and to sit down for a homemade meal. It is like they are first-time moms again, except it doesn't get better after 6 months. They can't find their mothering groove and the chaos of being a first-time mom won't end for them for a few years. These moms need us to encourage them, bring them a meal and let them know they are not alone.

I know that my time in the special needs club has been a whirlwind ride and I am glad that I have more to learn, but even so I remember the first days. I hope we can all encourage another mom who is feeling she is at the brink of losing it, and lead her out of the bubble of denial.

Janelle

Our sweet children, full of special talents and special needs :)

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Play Happy - Formally The Special Needs Homeschool Family

Today is Backwards Day for Works-For-Me Wednesday. Instead of me giving you a nice idea, you are going to help me with my dillema!

So, here goes. My youngest son is unwilling to to potty train. He is our 4th child and yes the baby of the group. He is now pushing 4.5 years old and still wearing a pull up. The boy is just not interested in using the potty. He isn't afraid of it as he will on occasion want to go when his brother is going, but to consistantly go is another story.

I have tried treats with the timer, bribes, 'big boy' talk, special undies, etc., but the boy just isn't interested. I really don't want to force him but I am thinking that I'm going to have to just say 'your done!' one day and make him go and have lots of accidents.

Now let me say that his older brother who is 6 and has autism, took over 2 YEARS to potty train. It was a long, long haul for us but now his is completely dry day and night. So yes, I must admit I'm not all gung ho about potty training right now. Maybe I'm the one who needs some training and not him?! :)

Your ideas are welcome! Leave me a comment will ya?! Make sure to check out the other Backwards Day questions at Rocks In My Dryer who hosts Works-For-Me Wednesdays.

Janelle

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Play Happy - Formally The Special Needs Homeschool Family

Here is a newbie for me to try out - Kitchen Tips Tuesdays. I love these daily idea sharing things. I hope to host one myself one of these days.

Anyhow my kitchen Tip for today is dealing with not having a garbage disposal. We haven't had one for years and my husband would become frustrated with clogs. As hard has I would try, food would still end up down the drain.

I ended up finding some wire filters to fit my drain. I think I got them at Home Depot, but I'm willing to bet most kitchen supply stores would carry them. They work great. They catch the smallest amounts of food and I simply give them a good whack on the inside of the garbage can and they empty out. I wash them periodically in the dishwasher too. I liked them so much I got another one for the bathroom sink, which has stopped hair from going down as well as cotton balls that my son shoved down in there once before.

Check out Tammy's Recipe site for more kitchen tips.

Janelle

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Play Happy - Formally The Special Needs Homeschool Family

One of my favorite blogs is at Large Family Logistics. Kim has had a blog connected to her retail store there for some time. I have learned so much from Kim over the years. She is the one who taught me to assign a task to each day of the week. Even though I have always been organized, her system streamlined my thinking of when to do what.

Kim and her family have really been through some challenges over the last few months. Her baby was born premature and they were in the ICU at a hospital away from home for months. Thankfully God is faithful and good and they are home now with their healthy new baby, though he has premie issues to still overcome.

Because of all of these challenges and refocus in her life, she has shut down her store and her blog. I will miss learning from her. She had a great way of sharing Jesus with such compassion mixed with repentance.

Kim still has lots of saved posts and her home organizing system still up. Check out her site at Large Family Logistics.

I have been a visitor of many other blogs that have since been shut down, but this one really hits me. Kim, if you ever read this, know that you have touched my heart and blessed my family.

Janelle

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Play Happy - Formally The Special Needs Homeschool Family

About two weeks ago I went through the kids' closets and put up the summer clothing. In the process, I sorted through the winter clothing and made my list of needs for the upcoming cold weather. I've had some ask how I keep this system and I thought I'd share it today because it has saved me so much money!

First, I have two large rubbermaid bins for out-of-season or too large clothes. Most of these I have gotten via hand-me-downs or through garage sales. Yes, I do keep some clothing that my kids currently can't wear, even if its in season. My rule of thumb is if I think they can wear it in 18 months and its in great condition, I keep it. My only exception with this rule is with snowsuits. Snowsuits are expensive, wether new or used, and our snow normally doesn't stay too long here, so I don't like to spend a lot on clothing for what is a short period of time that they will wear it. Even so I want my kids to enjoy the snow while we have it and stay warm too! Most of this comes from my own experience as a kid where one winter all I had to wear was clogs and I can remember playing in the snow in clogs, freezing my feet off. Yikes.

Anyhow here in Western Washington we have only two season - 9 months of wet and 50 degrees or under, and 3 months of summer. Consequently I only go through these large bins two times a year. If I lived in a different climate I would have to adapt my system to the weather.

With that said here is how it works. At the end of spring and the beginning of fall, I drag out my two large rubbermaid out-of-season clothing buckets from the garage. I go through these items, which is kind of like a treasure hunt of sorts. I often will get rid of things in these bins as well as sort out what we'll need for the upcoming season. Once that is done I move the clothes to the laundry room to be washed. I then take one empty bin and go through each kids' rooms, removing all of the previous seasons clothing and putting them in the bin. I keep this bin in the laundry for a week or so until any dirty or missed soon out-of-season clothing has been washed and thrown in the bucket. After this the bucket goes back in the garage for the next season.

Its very simple but in the process I truely see what is needed for the next season and what is not. Since I do this right before or at the beginning of the new season, I have some time to buy what we'll need before the new weather hits full force. This allows me to shop any garage sales, second-hand stores and sales.

On average we spend about $700 a year on clothing for a family of 6. I think that is pretty good. Between storing away some things, garage sales, and using clothing for birthday gifts, we come out saving a bundle.

Janelle 

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Play Happy - Formally The Special Needs Homeschool Family

"Body Clutter", written by Marla Cilley and Leanne Elly, the friends over at FlyLady.com. Yes, the authors are the Flylady and her friend the Menu Diva. Since I find I have much in common with these two perfectionist moms, I knew their take on weight loss would hit a cord with me.

I have been reading "Body Clutter" for a few months now. It is one of those books you get mad at. You have to read it a bit, then put it down and digest the words or maybe even allow yourself to throw the book across the room a few times. Yeah, its a soul searcher. Even so I kept finding myself returning to its pages, eager to see what area of gluttony sin I would be found guilty of next.

I must admit one of my main attractions to this book was the fact that both of these gals were really overweight. I'm not talking the lousy 20 to 40 pounds like most folks out there, we're talking those gals who are well over 200 pounds and just getting under that number would make them feel like beauty queens. Okay, I can relate to that. Sorry if this offends some of you with just a bit of weight to lose, as I know your 20 pound struggle is ever bit as difficult as my 100. Yet until you've worn a size 22, you can't be in the big fat lady club. Not that I'd wish that on anyone but I can tell you we have different struggles than you. Not just physical, but emotional struggles. And that is what this book is all about.

Marla and Leanne do an excellent job of getting down to why we eat. Its not about the food, its about healing up your Stinkin' Thinkin' as they call it. Its getting to the root of the problem, our emotional healing. Call is psycho-babble but its all true. I have the weight on my body to prove it.

Marla and Leanne also do a great job of basic nutritional guideance and setting up baby steps to wellness. This is why so many of us perfectionist types have never suceeded with our weight. If we mess up even once, we quit. I know its a lame excuse but its the truth. The baby step method that Marla and Leanne talk of not only works but it helps you overcome the perfectionist trap. It can consequently take you years to drop your body clutter, but with each month you are becoming healthier and that is the main goal here, to get healthy. The looking better is just a bystandard to having a healthy heart and body.

I would recommend this book for anyone but especially the woman out there who have struggled with weight since they were 4 years old, as I have. This book will speak to you and hopefully will bring you into some new ways of thinking about food and you.

Janelle

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Play Happy - Formally The Special Needs Homeschool Family

Yes I have chosen a new name. I even had a subtitle to include, but as you can see from my template it doesn't work so well. But I'm not worrying about that. I am corresponding with a gal who will be updating my layout and design. I am finding that to do this the way I want, I may have to change hosts for my blog. But not to worry, it is a few months out and if I do that I'll be giving you lots of notice.

Onto Menu Plan Monday!

It is now offically fall. I am, like a lot of folks I know, a very seasonal eater. Not only that but I also am seasonal in how I cook and bake. Fall signifies that time of year when I cook a lot. Though I also love to bake, I also love to eat and the two just don't mix. So I try to limit my baking of yummy, white-flour treats to November and December, and I do my best to not overindulge. I have slowly been losing weight over the last two years and baking monthly would sabotage my efforts. So instead I turn to cooking.

I have been scanning through a few of my favorite cookbooks. One was given to me by my sis a few years back. Its a Goosebury Patch Fall themed cookbook. The other is my 'Fix It And Forget It' crockpot fav. From these I'm gleaning some recipes that I hope will fill my weekly menus in the weeks to come.

Monday - Homemade Turkey Noodle Soup (store some stock away in the freezer for winter sickness), fresh beans from the garden, breadmachine bread

Tuesday - Pork Chops (there's a new recipe in Oct/Nov Taste Of Home I'm going to try), more fresh green beans, rice side dish

Wednesday - Apricot Honey Chicken, salad

Thursday - Baked fish, strawberry spinach salad

Friday - Homegroup night. We do dinner and I'm to bring a dessert. Try something new from Taste of Home (not sure what yet!)

Enjoy!

Janelle

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Yes I am still here! I took a few days off from blogging. I have been spending my time instead looking at other blogs and I have layout envy. Yeah, pathetic I know. I have been learning how to change my layout but I have a long way to go. I hope to get some time over the next month to do some layout changes here. Oh yeah and I want that to correspond with my name change, but that is all for another post.

I have left you all in suspense because it is Works-For-Me Wednesday! I thought I would share my weekly plan. I hint at it on my sidebar under the 'Front Porch' section, but I haven't explained the process, so here goes. This is a very condensed version by the way. One of these days I'll do a home management series and go more in depth with it.

First off, let me tell you that I love order, schedules, organizing and all those things that drive so many people nuts. Yes God has been good to loosen me up a bit. Children have a way of doing that. You know in Winnie The Pooh there is this episode where Rabbit is following his list of to-do's for spring cleaning and he says, "Happiness is a schedule and sticking to it." Well my brother happened to be in my home when this line just seemed to jump out of the television to which he replied, laughing, "You are Rabbit!" He and my hubby had a good laugh and ever since I have often been referred to as Rabbit. Lets just hope I can dial it down a notch from Rabbits' compulsiveness.

Also let me give credit to Kim over at the Large Family Logistics site and her take on this outline. I took her daily list and tweaked it to fit my own. Check out her site! She has great stuff and a deeper explanation of this plan. Anyhow, here's my weekly list:

Monday - Cleaning  & Laundry Day

Tuesday - Cleaning & Laundry Day

Wednesday - Kitchen Day

Thursday - Office Day

Friday - Town Day

Saturday - Gardening/Home Projects Day

Sunday - Rest

Sounds simple, eh? Well this little plan has really helped me to streamline my housework. Obviously you could assign cleaning and laundry to their own days, but that was overwhelming me so now I split it into two days. This is not to say that I don't do any cleaning or laundry on other days, but these are the days that the deep cleaning and load after load of laundry get done.

Kitchen Day is for extra cleaning, baking treats and extras, and for adding meals to your freezer.

Office Day is for filing, paying bills and keeping up on the endless papers that come into our homes.

Town Day is for as many errands, grocery shopping and the like that you can fit into one day.

Garden Day is for maintaining the outside of your home and for us that includes remodeling projects as well.

This is, like I said a very concise explanation of my weekly schedule. There are cleaning chores I rotate on Kitchen and Cleaning Days, and I have a detailed list for each day. But that is for another post. This post is long now as it is!

This is what Works For Me!

Have a blessed week -

Janelle

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Hello fellow readers. Yes its time for another edition of Frugal Fridays! Gotta love it.

My frugal tip isn't a newbie, but I fling in an organizational element to it. I'd like to bring up the old yard sale. You know, next to freecycle and generous friends and relatives passing along their quality stuff for nothing, its the best thing for getting what you need cheap. Now notice I said what you NEED, not to pile junk in your house! I hope my organizational tip will help you decipher need from want.

I have an ongoing garage sale list. I put things on it that most folks would put on a Walmart or Target list, such as cookware, basic clothing (or not so basic), lamp shades, furniture, etc. Garage sales can be magnets for this kind of stuff at unbeatable prices. I keep this list in my kitchen and make notes on it as needed.

Now the next question is when and where to garage sale. I prefer to garage sale alone, without kids. If you bring the kids you will always come home with junk. You know, stuff from the free boxes? The quarter toy that will eventually end up in your garbage, that kind of stuff. When that isn't an option, I limit one item to each kid from the free box (that means one item no matter how many garage sales we hit), and they must spend their own money on stuff.

The best place to garage sale in my area is at a large community garage sale. We have a, lets say, more affluent neighborhood up on the hill that has a twice a year community garage sale. One of them is today and tomorrow. I hope to get out and look at what's up there, but we'll see. My garage sale list is short right now so I'm reluctant to go. Again, getting what you need verses what you want - i.e. the accumulation of junk.

Most areas of the country tend to have garage sales from May through September. This is the 'season' as it may. So, if you get the bug to go out and hit some of the last sales of the season, keep your head open for these items: (okay think fall/winter now) rubber boots, rain gear, snowsuits, sleds/outdoor winter toys, nice items for Christmas gifts or Christmas decor, Fall decor, Thanksgiving/Christmas dishes, winter coats.

One note on the garage sale items as gifts. Personally, I don't have issue with giving a garage sale item as a gift IF it doesn't look like it was purchased and used over and over for 20 years. Yeah, its got to look new or you need to dress it up enough at home for it to look new. I've gotten brand new clothes, stationary, toys and the like at garage sales. Some of them have turned into nice gifts and no one is the wiser (okay, well my youngest daughter did once tell a cousin that I bought her birthday gift at a garage sale, but it made for a good laugh and you know, the cousins are frugal too and thought it was cute.) Lets chaulk that up for yet another reason to garage sale without the kids! :)

Janelle

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I'm getting a late start on my blog today, but it has been one of those days. I've been running since I got up and am happy to be home now.

Even so it is yet another Works For Me Wednesday, so I must add my idea to the mix.

I love to organize and rearrange things. One area that I have tried several different organizational methods with is the entry. We are fortunate to have a rather large entry, so I have some room to work with. About 3 years ago I put up some cubbies for our entry. Since then I have added to my cubbie wall and have a cubbie for not only everyone's shoes, but for backpacks, library, things to return, seasonal clothing, dad's lunchbox, misc., and guest shoes.

Here is what my cubby wall looks like:

To make the tags, I made some tags on my Microsoft Works program. I printed them out on cardstock, cut them out, laminated them, punched holes in them and hung them with small zipties. Here is a picture:

This method has worked out really well for us. It is easy to add more cubbies and they are light enough to move and vacuum under. They are also strong enough to hold 2 baskets of seasonal shoes (show boots, etc.) and slippers in, and one basket for large books for the library. I have had a few of the cubbies wear down after some time but only after about 2 or 3 years, and they still worked fine even though they were wearing down. Plus for the price, wearing out after that long of a time is no big deal. You can purchase a large pack of these cubbies at Costco.

This works for me! I love these cubbies and use them in my laundry room and in some bedroom closets too. But that is for another Works For Me Wednesday.

Janelle

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 In remembrance of those fallen on 9/11/01.

May we never forget.

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