What I'm Loving Wednesday

This is my first time doing a "What I'm Loving Wednesday" post and I'm so excited. 

So here we go...

I'm loving the concept of "What I'm Loving Wednesday" - it's reminds me of my random postings but with a theme!

I'm loving that my baby sis and her family are moving back to the family farm this weekend! Now she'll be just 5 minutes away from me instead of 2 hours. Add to that, my other two sisters now practically live next door (in separate homes) to my baby sister and you have pure sisterhood bliss! I'm looking forward to a lot of sister bonding times over the next 40 years or so.

I'm loving that ALL of my nephews and nieces will be within 5 minutes of their Aunt MeeMee now, including my niece who through a scheduled C-section should be arriving tomorrow! There is no other role I enjoy more than my role as Aunt MeeMee...who would blame me with kids this cute...check out the huge flower and the jeggings on that girl!

I'm loving my coworkers who when I'm having a bad day supply me with this...

no more words needed!

I'm loving that I can reach out to other bloggers with questions about "how they do that" on their blogs and they are willing to help me. Thank you!

I'm loving my community of blogging pals who in some cases are wonderful friends outside of cyberspace. I grew up on a farm, studied agriculture in college and continue to be involved in this great industry that feeds our community, country and world...and these women are wonderful representations of who and what agriculture is! The Real Farmwives of America and Friends are ALL actually either farmwives or somehow tied to farming...unlike those other "wives" out there some of whom are not wives...I don't get that.

I'm loving that after what seems like MONTHS of frigid temperatures, ice, snow and gloom, it's supposed to hit 40 degrees by Sunday. Bring on the sun!

What are you loving today? Visit this kind of love and join the fun!

Too Much is Never Enough: Camis

I was cruising through some blogs this morning when I ran across a post that I totally identified with!

The City Boy over at Life Through Preppy Glasses started a fun linky game party/series called...




He noted that Rugby shirts are his go-to fall/winter styles. His post immediately got me thinking of my closet and all of the "I like it so much, I'll buy one of every color" shirts, sweaters, pants, etc.

But there is one piece of clothing that I can NEVER have too many of...Camisoles!

This is my favorite kind by far...it's from the junior department of Kohl's.

I know what you are thinking, I'm totally not a "junior" but I just like the fit better than the ones in the women's department!

I wear these almost every day! I have had every color possible at one time or another, including black, white, blue and brown.

I counted at least 20 in this stack...

Notice all the white ones in the stack? I have an equal number of black ones but they are currently awaiting their turn in the washer!

Do you have multiples of a certain type of clothing? Head over to Life Through Preppy Glasses and join in the party!

21 Day Organizing Challenge...Day 2

When I started the 21 Days to getting Organized Challenge over at A bowl full of lemons, I never claimed I was going to do it over 21 consecutive days! However, I did accomplish Day 2's task - the Computer Desk - today between preparing some goodies to take to big sister's house to watch the Super Bowl (or at least the commercials) tonight.

I don't really have a computer desk. Most of my computer time is spent here...

And I do keep Big Red fairly neat so I decided to tackle the places where I keep the "computer desk" stuff.

Like on top of and inside the cute desk my parents found and my dad refinished for me...

I usually stash small items inside the desk if company is coming.

When I work from home, I turn my kitchen table (which my dad also refinished for me) into a work space. Please ignore the mismatched chairs...my parents are still on the look out for some.

I also have a great closet under my stairs that I store stuff in. It's also the nephews' toy closet so watch for it on Day 9 when it's time for toy organization!

In addition to cleaning all of these spaces, I also got my shredding done today! What does that have to do with this organization task? The shredder is stored in the closet so I got the idea to tackle the shredding while emptying the closet!

A couple of things I noticed today...1) my hoarding ways extend to scotch tape (found at least a dozen MORE rolls today to go with the 10 or so already in my junk drawer) and 2) it was time to recycle some phone books (I don't need two from 2009 and three from 2010!).

Here are the "after" photos...

The table shot was boring so I decided to show you what replaced the mess on the table. Some delicious white-chocolate candy mix with Valentine's M&Ms for the party tonight!

I even have some extra storage space in the closet now!

Now it's on to the next task...Tupperware Cabinet. Again, don't really have one of those so I'll tackle a couple of cabinets that hold Tupperware and other kitchen stuff next.

Musing from the Church Pew

Random Friday Thoughts

It's Friday.

Did you hear me?

It's FRIDAY!!

That's better. Even though I was only in the office two days this week because of a meeting at my Alma Mater (Go Boilers!) and the Great Icestorm of 2011, it's been a long week! Top it all off with a work event tomorrow, and I'm ready to wave the white flag.

So I'm going to be a little lazy on here today. Please forgive me.

Here are just a few thoughts I have had over the last week...

1.  I can no longer kid myself that I can pass for a college co-ed. While on campus on Monday, the signs were clear. As more than a decade (gosh, that sounds like forever) has passed since I got my college diploma, I am woefully out of touch with the college set from fashion to vocabulary. A co-worker did an unscientific study and declared 7 out of 11 co-eds were wearing Uggs (in their defense it was FREEZING). I also saw WAY too many sock hats in the shape of monkeys, bears and even raccoons!

2.  I love living in a community where they take care of snow/ice removal! I know I pay for it monthly, but after hearing about how many people fell this past week while trying to remove the inches of ice from their driveways, cars and sidewalks I'll gladly hand over my HOA fees!

3.  Along that line, I am grateful for my garage! Here's one of my favorite Tweets from the Great Icestorm of 2011...

SpaldoBusiness: Looks like the #Indy AM commute was icy but back to full swing. You also can tell the haves (garages) from the have nots.

4.  Sticking with the winter weather theme, isn't she adorable?

My baby sister posted the photo on her blog Frugalista Farm Life.

5.  While iced in at home this week, I realized that I need a couple of overnight work trips soon because I'm almost out of coffee! What? You don't take the coffee packs from the hotel room to use at home? I don't believe you! They are perfect for a single gal wanting to brew up a cup or two!

6. You never realize how nice it is for the gals at the Starbucks drive-thru to recognize you until those said gals are not there and you get the wrong drink! Boy, I hope Pam is back on Monday.

Off to get some work done! Happy Friday all.

21 Day Organizing Challenge...Day 1 Continued

Well yesterday, I decided to take the 21 Day Organizing Challenge over at A bowl full of lemons.

Since yesterday was technically Day 1 of the challenge, I jumped right in and tackled my junk drawers and my countertop which I hate to admit is more of a junk drawer than a workspace!

Here are a couple of before photos...

My dad refinished the great dry sink above a couple of years ago. It was languishing in my grandparent's shed when Dad found it. Now it looks great in my kitchen...when it's not covered in STUFF. Unfortunately that's not often!

The drawers aren't much better. I keep my kitchen towels in one of them but the other two are my official junk drawers.

Here's a shot of my kitchen counter.

Now, I just did a quick sweep of the counter a couple of weeks ago so it wasn't as bad as it has been in the past. But it's amazing how quickly it can get cluttered again.

As I was cleaning out my junk drawers, I found that I had put several of the pieces I brought home from my grandparent's home months ago when my grandma passed away. It's not that I don't value these pieces but I think I just didn't want to deal with them at the time.

I LOVE the blue knit purse in the back. We think Grandma or one of her friends made it. My boss even borrowed it to look at the pattern!

The box in the middle is one I brought back for her from my semester abroad in Poland during college. It still has two decks of cards of hers in it. She and my grandpa LOVED to play cards. She was still an awesome Euchre player in her late 80s.

I also realized that I have a slight obsession with notepads...

and chapstick, pens, bandaids and sunglasses. It's a bit scary!
Here's a shot of the finished project...

Notice the full trash can...in addition to organizing I even managed to get rid of some stuff!

It feels great to mark off one task of the Challenge! I don't really have a computer desk so I need to decide what to tackle in its place.

21 Day Organizing Challenge...Day 1

Since I've been stuck in the house for the last two days because of the Great Ice Storm of 2011, I started checking out some new blogs. There are SO MANY out there that I just can't get to all of them on a regular basis.

I was over at Beth's Blog...musings of my everyday life and her posts about getting organized intrigued me.

It's not a secret to my family and friends that I am not a very organized person and not the best housekeeper! It's not that I enjoy living in a mess...I'm just used to it.

So I am going to try and do the 21 Day Organizing Challenge over at A bowl full of lemons.




Here's a run down of the daily tasks...

Join the Challenge (at any time)
Day 1 - Junk Drawer
Day 2 - Computer Desk
Day 3 - Tupperware Cabinet
Day 4 - Linen Closet
Day 5 - Under kitchen sink
Day 6 - Dresser Drawers
Day 7 - The Pantry
Day 8 - Coat Closet
Day 9 - Toy organization
Day 10 - Laundry Room
Day 11 - The Freezer
Day 12 - Spice Cabinet
Day 13 - Medicine Cabinet
Day 14 - Under bathroom sink
Day 15 - Medicine/Vitamin Storage
Day 16 - The Fridge
Day 17 - The Mail
Day 18 - Keepsakes
Day 19 - Master Closet
Day 20 - Photos
Day 21 - You pick!

I'm off to tackle the Junk Drawer...probably should include the "Junk Counter" too!

Stay tuned...