Spoonful of Imagination

Add it to a Family for Something Beautiful

When Life {and your floors} get messy!

By Leave a Comment

swiffer_sweep_trapLife gets messy, right!?

A close friend (and new mom) asked me this week, if it was normal to not want to get up in the middle of the night with your child. It is.

I am approaching year seven of being a mom, and I am still trying to figure it out. It is a daily learning experience! Life is a constant balance act. We try to figure it all out. Meeting the needs of our family and ourselves is a lot. Often our house is what falls apart the most. Or, maybe that is just mine.

I know if I have a choice to create a throw pillow or clean up house, I will choose the craft every-single-time. So, my floors constantly have crumbs, dog hair, dirty footprints, and burlap scraps all over.

dirty floors

dirty wood floorsI spared a little pride by not showing them at their worst state (AND with toys all over). You know what I am talking about. Having three young kids, two medium size dogs, and a crafting heart-everything shows on our dark hard woods.

There is good news, ya’ll.

New at Target is the Swiffer Sweep & Trap!

00_AD_coop_full_fsci_2v1_vFeb13This thing cleans it all. Big and small.

It uses rotating blades to pick up large particles and flicks them into a dirt bin while the attached Swiffer Sweeper dry cloth traps dirt, dust and hair that brooms can leave behind. This combination cleans up big and small messes in a single swipe, so you can embrace life’s little messes.

There are no batteries or power cords required, so it’s just as quick to use as a broom, but it’ll give you a much better clean. It is only intended for dry pick-up on hard floor surfaces, and the rotating blades are soft so they wont scratch your hardwood floors. Win! Win!

After I swiffered my floors, I made the comment they were clean enough to eat off of, and my little Reagan took that literally.

eating_off_the_floorOne of my favorite parts of the Swiffer Sweep & Trap is it is lightweight! My boys want in on the fun, and this mama is willing to take advantage of that eager offer!

Get $2 off of a Swiffer Sweep & Trap starter kit at Target.com by going to http://clvr.li/1dPxU3G and entering coupon code TGTBBAGU. This offer is only valid through 2/28/14 at Target.com (http://clvr.li/1dPxU3G)

signature

 

 

 

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

House Tour…messy style

By 6 Comments

You know how your house is right after you get back in town from a trip?  I know for us, it is pretty much a mess.  We have our bags from the trip half unpacked and strings of life strung all over.  I am going to give you a brief house tour…messy style.

I got back last night from my 56 hour Ohio Trip.  I left Friday morning about 8:00am with my boys.  I drove my mom (who worked all the previous night till-7:00am Friday down at Northside Hospital), my brother, Gus, and my two young boys to Ohio.  We were there for my grandparents auction on Saturday, and we drove home yesterday.  It was a quick trip, but more of that later.

Right now, I want to take you through my house at its current state.  I took these pictures about an hour ago, and there was no prep or staging of any items.

Here is my the den (should be dinning room but is kind of a toy/craft room)…

Included in this room is my five-year old, Caleb’s, office.  He wanted a desk like his dad and me, so he made himself a small desk.  We don’t have a toy room, so he has set it up right by my window bench and pillows (which is right by my desk).  He gets dressed most mornings and comes and sits here before doing anything else.  Often in the afternoons for “nap time”, he works quietly in his office as I work at mine.  I love this kid!

In that picture, it is pretty much “set” up.  You should see it after Reagan gets a hold of it.  Attached to this room is the living room.  Here is a floor view of it looking out from the kitchen.

Most of the boys small toys came out of their room today.  No joke.  I think all the superhero costumes were worn at some point, and “guys” (action figures) were getting strung from rope like a zipline across this room.  I was so tired from the weekend, that the “mess” never even registered with me really till now.  That realization gave me the idea for this post.  I was so happy they were all happy and didn’t need me to entertain them play-by-play (as some most days are), that the mess just unfolded.

After leaving the living room, you go down the hallway to our three bedrooms.  My house is a small 60+ years old ranch with three bedrooms.  

So, the hallway might have two of the sleeping bags we took to Ohio strung out in it.  We took sleeping bags, since my grandparents’ spare beds were getting auctioned off.  Hence, probably part of the reason for my “tiredness”.  I’m a lot older since the last time I slept two nights on a floor.

The first bedroom is my beautiful girl’s room.

I think they had fun in here today.  Going further down the hall you come to my boys’ room.

It isn’t that bad until you realize that might be a dirty pair of underwear and pull up from last night?!  I don’t know.  Maybe that is why they didn’t play with their toys in here today!?  Who knows, so we will just move along.

My room is next.  Here in the corner is my weekend bag and two pillows that are patiently waiting to be made into duvet covers for my new bed.

Beside my bed are bins that I keep throwing my consignment items in.  This week I have to price all my baby consignment sale items (this nowhere near all of it) to be ready to take to the sale next week.

My beautiful bed is unmade (like most days to be completely honest).

Going back down the hallway, you can turn to go into the kitchen instead of the livingroom.  You will see our newest family hobby along with all its necessities on the long counter, in the sitting area of the kitchen.

On the kitchen floor might be more sleeping bags, toys, and overnight bags.

This might be a good time to say that my awesome husband stayed home this weekend with Reagan.  He had to work some, so he stayed back and kept her.  She would have HATED this trip.  There was way too much time trapped in a van.  He picked the house up before we came home.  All these wonderful places were created this way today.  🙂

Do you get back from a trip and just need a day to decompress??  That was today for me.  We had a great day just laying low and “rediscovering” all our toys.

I did have one success from today.  I did four loads of laundry and folded them!  Now to just put them away at some point soon…

Yes, our washing machine and dryer are under the kitchen counters in the kitchen. 🙂  I love our little house and all its special “charm” and “characteristics”.

So, that was me being open and raw about our house.  I hope you enjoyed your tour and maybe you can relate to some of our mess!  I’m gonna go sit on the couch with my hubby and drink a beer…and just ignore the mess a little bit longer 🙂

How was YOUR day!?!?

My Creative Spot

By 4 Comments

Creating can be a messy, messy process. My little craft corner in the house had grown and grown into a monster since my last post about it.  Printers, books, supplies, food, toys, finished and unfinished projects literally covered my table.  This is what I am talking about…

Lately, I have just grabbed whatever I needed from this mess and took it over to the coffee table or kitchen table to have room to actually craft!  I got some christmas money in December that I have been saving to help organize this area!  I have been scouting pinterest and stores for ideas and slowly have bought a few things to try to help me.  Although, I had started this updo process, I had not given it the time it needed.

I read one of my favorite blogs the other day, DIYonthecheap.  Erin is trying to decide what she wants to do in her creative spot-which is a gorgeous space!!  I’m so jealous of her little workshop!  Her post was the little spur I needed to get back to my project!  Haha it is May after all!  This is not a task that should still be going on five months later!  I have been so excited about this process, yet I have been afraid to do anything!  There are so many possibilities that it has been over whelming and paralyzing.  That is my excuse at least!  Here is a another shot of my mess.

Such a mess.  I love that my favorite purple cup is right there.  That is my little sidekick and not ever very far away:).  In this shot you can see some changes that I had started since that post almost a year ago.  I put a wire note board on the far side of the door way.  Shhhh Secret!  I am slowly oozing my space further into my living room.  Also, I bought those cute little hanging buckets from Ikea.  I have been throwing just random stuff into them.  They have not been the “home” to any particular item.  Another Ikea purchase were the four cute spice jars on the first shelf.  The last change that I have added so far is the square cork board to the right of the doorway.    I still have some things I want to do, but I started by cleaning it up!

There is now a “home” for everything.  I LOVE the new little Ikea light next to the computer screen.  I’m all about “mood” lighting while I craft.  Oh! One thing that is not captured in these pictures are the bins of fabric and other goodies under this table, and I went through those too!  Success!  I’m kind of limited with what to do in this space because of it being in my living room, but my goal was to get more organized.  I’m getting there!

Scissors, hole punchers, glues, and feathers now live in my four metal buckets from Ikea.  The only thing that should EVER be stacked on top of my three drawer organizer is my current project.  That way the project can sit there out-of-the-way of grimy, sweet kid hands on the table until it is being worked on.  The current project resting there is a rag quilt for MY bed!  I am so excited!  Caleb’s quilt inspired me to redo my bed!  Hopefully, I’ll finish it soon and can post pics!

I love color and have tried to eliminate some of the almost empty bottles of paint, but I can’t bring myself to throwing any out!  I always think “it doesn’t take much paint on certain things!”  Might be a little hording?  That is a possibility.  I want to think of it as resourceful. 🙂

I have most of my fabric stored below the table in bins or in a cupboard on the other side of the room, but I keep my favorite hair bow fabrics out in that wire basket.  I think they are pretty, and I use them too often to have them buried.  Also, in one of those spice jars is the home for my snaps.  I go through those like crazy between all my superhero capes and making bibs or something like that.  Snaps are one of my favorite supplies to have on hand!

All my felt, ribbons, buttons are stored on this top shelf.  I love the little frame that holds a picture of my three cuties labeled as “my inspiration” because they really are.  Some of my thread is stored here too.  I really need another thread “store-er” but I don’t want that stack to get higher and cover up the beautiful painting my sister, Joni, did for me as a graduation gift from KSU.  Crazy that’s been 5 1/2 years.

Below the cork board I want to put some kind of hook board.  Maybe like the bird ones I have made before…

For those of you wondering about my CA jar.  It is still out on my craft table, but I have booked my ticket to CA to see my best friend for her birthday!  I can’t wait!  I’ll be leaving on a jet plane June 8.

Now being real, I actually moved some items for that last picture.  Here is the current state of that area…

The hair bows are out to take pictures of and put on etsy.  The cork and hook board was a possibility to go under my current cork board, but I think I have ruled it out.  The three spice jars are going to go to the left of this board…

I also want to embroider some cool, creative quote onto a piece of fabric and hang it in an embroidered hoop for this area.  (Next post will be whats clipped to this board)!  I think after those few additions I will be pretty much done, but can you ever be fully be done as a creator!?  I think not!  I’ll be done until I get bored or something else catches my fancy!

Please check out my friend Erin’s post who has examples of LOTS of cool ideas for a craft room!  I hope you enjoyed a small tour of my creative spot!