Adventures in Kindess

While perusing Pinterest I've come across several ideas for spreading joy.  I am so blessed in my life that I decided to take the little things that I already do a bit further.  I'm also using some of the ideas I find to plant seeds into the minds of my Webelos Den. (For those of you not familiar with Cub Scouts, Webelos are 4th and 5th graders; Webelos stands for We'll Be Loyal Scouts.) Webelos are preparing to become Boy Scouts, and since the Boy Scout Motto is "Do a Good Turn Daily" I've been talking about the phrase I have adopted "Random Acts of Kindness."  Check out this amazing blog entry about how one blogger spent her birthday doing random acts of kindness.  How I Celebrated my Birthday (aka 38 random acts of Robyn)

While this little project is not random; I often send this particular friend little mementos to brighten her day,  I thought this idea (once again, found on pinterest) was an idea that is easy for everyone to do.  As a matter of fact, the original blogger used these for her husband and children, I also saw a pin where it was used during Teacher Appreciation week. 

The original design used a 7 day pill box, but I couldn't find one of the large ones. What I did find was a 7 bin craft organizer that is about the same size as a large pill box. 

1.  Simply fill the compartments with little treats. For this particular gift I used individually wrapped items as, in this instance, I was concerned with even the smallest germs.  For others I have planned I plan on splitting bags of Skittles, M&M's etc.  among different boxes.  

2.  On top of the treat I have placed a hand written note of encouragement. The original design had printed them out on the computer, and even had a page to download for you to print off yourself.  If I ever find the website again I will add it to this post. But I think hand written sentiments are much more personal and uplifting.

3.  Since the box is pretty see through and I wanted the contents to be a surprise, I wrapped the bottom of the box in pretty paper.  I added stickers  to the top of each compartment for the days of the week since I wasn't using a pill box.  Then I added just a bit of embellishment. 

This is going out in the mail tomorrow, but since the recipient reads my blog, I'll have to hold this post for a few days so I don't ruin her surprise.  Update: upon receiving the box, my friend opened every compartment, so I was able to post this sooner than I expected.  By the way, she loved it so much she was in tears.

I hope you take some time to do a random act of kindness soon!

Adventures in Organization

One of my biggest goals for 2012 is to get my house organized.  It seems I've been moving from house to house for 6 years, never staying in one place long enough to get truly unpacked and organized and I'm tired of living out of boxes. 

I found a cleaning agenda on the Internet (sorry I can't find the blog now) that helps you get/keep your house clean, even deep cleaned, by doing a small project every day... Here's a synopsis of the agenda.  The actual print out has more detail. Let me know if you would like a copy and I can email it to you (I downloaded it from the blog).

Monday -  Laundry Day (This doesn't work for me, I have to do laundry every day)
                 Tidy the House
                 Vacuum main room (I sweep as I have hardwood floors)

Tuesday - Bathrooms

Wednesday - Surfaces (dusting, wiping things down etc)

Thursday - Organize/Clean out something. 

Friday - Tidy the house
              Vacuum all rooms including stairs.

This seems to work pretty well, I've only been doing it for a couple of weeks and don't hit it all every week, but at least I have a goal.  Now, back to organization.  Last Thursday I started an organization project that has taken me all week to complete (mainly due to my work schedule and other obligations), but I finished it this evening and I want to share it with you.  Not only is it something everyone can probably utilize somewhere, it is very inexpensive too!

Now, this is not the first time I've used this concept, (I will show you some other examples at the end) but it is the first time I've utilized it to this extent...  You see I have this kitchen drawer; it is huge 28" wide by 20" deep.  You can't find organizers for something that size, which makes it impossible to find the utensil you need when you need it.

I was discussing the problem with my 8 year old, running an idea by him that I had come up with. A quite complicated idea that involved buying wood and building a divider.  He said "Mom, why don't you just use boxes like you did for my desk?" Thank goodness children think simply. I couldn't believe I didn't think of that myself!  So I dug through the pantry and searched the house for boxes, and even found a box at work that would work for some of the bigger items.

I placed each box in the drawer and drew lines around it with a sharpie.  (Please excuse the dye mark on my hand, I had been helping my husband in the shop that day).

Next, using a box cutter (you could also use a Stanley knife) I cut along the lines.

Then I test fit the boxes in the drawer and went looking for more boxes to fill in the holes.


In most cases you can stop at this point, but since this is a heavily used kitchen drawer, I decided it needed a little more attention. So I wrapped each box in contact paper. This step will make the boxes sturdier and make it easy to wipe them out and keep the drawer clean. If you are planning to cover your boxes in contact paper, I highly recommend and abstract pattern, I used the "granite" pattern and it worked great because I didn't have to worry about lining things up and could patch any mistakes with scraps. It took two 9 foot rolls of contact paper to complete this project. That was the only expense.



Viola! The finished project.  Now, I said I've done this before, The following drawers need a little attention as they haven't been redone since the last move and some of the boxes are missing. 

Dominic's desk is actually a computer desk without a drawer, we utilized boxes on the keyboard tray to make cubbies for all his school supplies.

We also have a hutch that has been utilized as a catch-all and TV stand in the past but now holds the vivarium for Dominic's bearded dragon, Dexter. In the past this drawer held mostly batteries and candles, and I'm thinking the batteries will again call this drawer home once I begin to organize the drawers in the laundry room.

I hope you found this idea helpful.  Stay tuned to follow me on more organizational adventures as I work toward my whole house organization goal this year!



A Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Hodgepodge

Finally getting back into the swing of things by joining Joyce and friends for the Wednesday Hodgepodge.

1. A new Miss America was crowned on Saturday night-did you watch? If you were a contestant what would your talent be?

I did not watch the pagent, I was working, but if I had been home I probably wouldn't have watched it anyway... I don't watch much TV.  If I was a contestant my talent would be.... hmmm. Back in the days when I actually could have been a contestant I probably would have played the saxophone. Now maybe some type of target shooting. I don't really know.

2. Do you have houseplants? Real or fake?

I do not currently have houseplants, I got rid of them all when Dominic started to crawl. I didnt want him dumping them, eating them or eating the dirt.  I've thought about getting some more, but they are just so expensive and my house doesn't have much natural light.  Oh, I guess I do have one fake one... I have an antique fern planter that I have full of fake ferns.

3. When you were in school did you speak up or were you more of the hide your face, avoid eye contact, and pray the teacher didn't call on you type of student?

I'd say I was pretty much the hide my face and avoid eye contact type of person, especially in math.

4. Next Monday marks the Chinese New Year...what do you order when someone suggests
Chinese food?
My favorite entre is sesame chicken, I also enjoy egg drop soup,  crab rangoons and a good egg roll, though it is quite difficult to find a good egg roll anymore.  Ya know, I could really go for some PF Changs lettuce wraps right now... I really miss PF Changs.

5. How would you define a miracle? What would it take for you to consider something a miracle?
Something that can be explained other than through the intervention of God.

6. What's your favorite Disney song? If you're stuck you'll find a list here. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious from Mary Poppins. If you think the sound of it is something quite atrocious, you should try to spell it.

7. I should have _____________ yesterday.
Cleaned the bathrooms... I woke with a headache, Dominic was sick too... I slept most of the day then went to work.  Tuesday is my bathroom cleaning day, it's the only chore that I make sure I do to keep myself on schedule. But thats ok, I am having a good day today so I'll be able to fit them in.

8. Insert your own random thought here.
Life has been crazy busy and I can't even tell you with what.  I've sorely neglected my blog and I think about it usually on Thursday when its too late to do the Wednesday Hodgepodge.  Good news is, I have a few topics rattling around in my head and as soon as those bathrooms are done, I think I have time to compose at least one.