Epic Fail...

Well this year has been a huge bust when it comes to my dreams of blogging this year.   I was thinking about writing posts about being pregnant and preparing for maternity leave, that didn't happen.  Then our little Abigail was born and I thought that I would be good and write about being in the hospital for almost 24 hours before having here and then monthly posts about what she has accomplished, that didn't happen.  (On a side note she is almost 5 months old already!).  Then I can back to work and then I thought that I would write posts about being a working mother and trying to find a good balance of everything, that hasn't happened.  You might be able to see where this is going, I had many ideas and never followed through with any of them.

I had all of these dreams for me blogging in 2014 but as of yet it hasn't happened.  Actually I don't think that I have posted since January when I talked about my goals... Cue the epic fail music.  I got so buried in work that I didn't seem to have time to write anything and then I would go home and be with my little family.  I also started to over analyze everything and started to think that I needed this whole business plan before I really committed to this blogging idea.  Instead I just read blogs and started to read more and more.

But today I want to come out of the hole that I have been in since January and really start working on my background plans for my future as a blogger.  As a business major I don't think that I can get around not having a plan.  There are many ideas going around in my head and to do something successfully, I believe, that you need a good plan and ideas before you start something.  I don't want to have a half baked cake.  So maybe this will all come together by 2015, maybe sooner.  Life is a bit unpredictable right now, while it is exciting it is also nerve wracking.

So no, I haven't forgotten about my blog.  I just become a victim of overthinking it.

I have just been busy with this little one :-)
who can say no to that face?

Organizing in a rental

We have been living on our house for over 6 months now.  Travis moved in back last April and then I did after we got married.  But while it is a wonderful house, it isn't our long term home.  We rent our house from the church, and we never really planned on putting too many holes in the wall that we will later have to fill in.

But, there have been a few things that I have gotten Travis to hang.  (He got a Dewalt drill for Christmas so now I tell him that he gets to use his new 'toy' and I get something hung).  I call that a win-win.

My first big thing that I got Travis to hang was my organization wall in the kitchen hallway.  I got the idea from the blog "One Creative Housewife" (thanks to Pinterest!).  While not exactly the same I am really happy how it turned out.

my inspiration on the left and mine on the right

I love to be organized, so when I have the opportunity to, I have fun with it.  First I had to accumulate all of the items for my wall.  I already have the calendar wipe-off board (it was a gift from my younger sister at some point, maybe for graduation).

It was next to impossible to find the exact items that the blog had, but I found some items that worked for me.  The pegboard is from Office Depot, and I believe that I got the "H" from Hobby Lobby.  The harder part was to find the baskets and the letter holder.

When it came to the hanging files, I didn't want the plastic ones that you find in an office, I wanted something nicer since it was going to be in my house.  So I searched and searched and found these wire mesh wall files on Amazon.  I really liked what the blog had for the receipts and coupons, but I was not able to find anything similar, so I found this wooden letter rack on Amazon as well.  While it wasn't perfect, it worked for in my price range (Travis says the woodworking is horrible).

Then I went through the process of cutting newspaper in the size of the items.  Therefor I could place the newspaper on the wall and have it correct by the time I wanted Travis to hang everything.  It helps me now stay more organized than I was before.

Right now we are using the calendar for my meal planning, one of my goals for 2014 in attempt to save money at the grocery store.  The top wall pocket holds Travis' items (since he is tall enough to reach it!), the middle one is mine, and right now the bottom one is our shred mail folder. We get so much junk mail and Travis prefers to shred anything with our name on it, so this fills up rather fast and makes it so that we don't have to go to the basement office every time that we need to shred something.  The letter rack hold any receipt and also the coupons that I accumulate before I organize them.

I keep thinking about spray painting the letter rack, but it is something that I will have to do when Travis isn't home.  He thinks that painting a good wood is an abomination.  While it is a nice finish, I think that it would patch everything better if it was black.

I do have some square picture frames like my inspiration blog did, but we are holding off on that until we are in our own home to make more holes in the wall.

Getting organized in 2014 (and staying organized) is a big goal of mine and my organization wall was just my first step!