a little linen closet organization

Last week y’all saw what we did in the laundry room.
I’m going to share a peek at the linen closet this week.

When we first moved in and began unpacking, I simply crammed stuff into the linen closet. All I cared about in that moment was getting it out of boxes and (for the most part) where it belonged.
I don’t have any photos of the towels and bins and random supplies, but I can assure it it was somewhere between hot mess and shit show, but not as bad as a cluster fuck.

Once I got the laundry room the way I wanted it, and necessities appropriate stored in bathrooms, I went after the linen closet.

I began by taking everything out.

Then after I had an idea about what I was looking to put back in, I got on my Target app and bought a load of gray bins.
Had to pick them up and two different stores, but one is only a bit further from home than the other so it wasn’t that big of a deal.
That was the day the remnants of Ida came our way so I swung by YBW’s office to pick him up so he didn’t have to walk home in the pouring rain.
When he got in the car and saw all the bins he said:

As we do…

I sat on Baby K’s little bathroom stool in the middle of the hall refolding towels and sheets. Putting all manner of necessities in bins and finally loaded everything back in a way that made sense to me.

So far so good.

While I was getting all those gray bins for the linen closet, I got more white ones to use in the laundry room, so here’s a photo update of that for your ‘house porn’ viewing pleasure.

Categories: around the house | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

a tune for Tuesday vol 136

I love how Su Lee is playfully addressing some brutally honest feels in this song.
She says this song is: What my mental breakdown sounds like

Sometimes when you’re suffering you don’t have the ability to feel playful or create art. Sometimes when you’re suffering, even breathing is difficult.

Even if you experience constantly stellar mental health, the last year and however many months might have put that to the test. Perhaps you’ve had some of these feels and didn’t know what to do with them.

This is I’ll Just Dance.
Let me know what you think.

Please listen responsibly.

Categories: music | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

“B-Papa house”

We had our first Baby K weekend.
Well, it was more of a trial run. She spent one night instead of two.

Saturday morning she spent her time waffling between eating her breakfast and rushing to the window to see if I was there to get her yet.
When I came down the hill to their house, she and her mommy were on the front porch waiting. I beeped the horn and she threw her hands in the air and said, “BEEEE!”

On the way home she talked excitedly about seeing her Papa. When we pulled into the garage, I sent her inside to find Papa while I got her bag and mine from the car.
Of course Baby K was immediately distracted by all the pumpkins I placed around the house. The search for Papa was temporarily postponed while she went everywhere she could reach them and brought them to a central location in the living room.


She systematically gathered them all around her.


Then cracked up with laughter!

Papa had to wait patiently for her to be ready to greet him. It was worth the wait though, she flung herself at him and squeezed him tightly.

Sunday we went to the little playground in our neighborhood.

This girl climbed and slid and climbed and slid and went in and under and over as much of the entire structure as possible!

She went into the little house and announced it was hers then began to say, “Arf arf!”
I asked her if she was a dog and she said, “Mm-HMM!”

She even barked out the window to her Papa.

We were able to play nearly half an hour before it began to sprinkle and we had to head home.

She’s really into creating family groups. Pulling together three things and calling it the baby, mommy and daddy. Whenever she groups these things, she says, “Awww” and kind of hugs herself.
She was doing it here with us too. “B-Papa, Awww”
When we were both near enough to each other and her, she would put her arms out and say, B-Papa. We would lean into her and she would make the sweetest mmmm sound and whisper the word home.
The fact that we are her home as much as her parents are overwhelms my heart. That we’re a place she feels comfortable and safe is powerful stuff, y’all.
The fact that I have seasonal decor she can play with doesn’t hurt either…

Categories: love | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

“that is actual house porn”

(how it started)

We’d lived here all of three days when I announced I wanted to stack the washer and dryer and build a cabinet in the laundry room.
YBW said, “You haven’t even done any laundry yet.”
While I completely agreed with him on that I just knew that’s how it had to be.
He knows that when ‘I know’ I actually do know, and he’s learned to trust that. So he quickly got on my page.
He bought the cabinet.
(which sat in the box for two and a half weeks before we were ready to build and install it)
I bought the laundry stacking kit.
(and we waited until we both had availability at the same time)

Sunday when we got home from Baby K’s house, we got after it.
We got the dryer on the washer without too much trouble.
We built the cabinet on the floor in our bedroom without too much trouble.
We installed the cabinet in the laundry room with great heaping loads of trouble.

(Y’all my husband has patience coming out his ears! After three failed attempts of me planning how to get the cabinet in the laundry room and installed, he came up with the simple plan that worked.)

And(!!) I got two loads of laundry finished before we went to bed that night!

(how it’s going)

I sent this photo in the group chat.
Thing 1 said, “OMG that looks awesome!!!”
Thing 2 said, “That is actual house porn”
They ain’t lyin’, y’all!

Three days in I knew what I needed.
One month later I have it.
That laundry room is absolute perfection.
Well, almost…
It will be when I get the wallpaper up in there!

Categories: around the house | Tags: , , , , , , | 5 Comments

all the Sunday dinner vibes

They delivered our custom made dining table last Thursday morning.
All.
Ten.
Feet.
Of.
It.

I have ALL the Sunday dinner vibes!
YBW and Thing 1 are already talking about Thanksgiving.

I’m so excited for our friends and fam to come feast with us at this ginormous table!
I’m also pretty excited about deciding how to style it…

This house becomes our home a little more each day, y’all!

Categories: around the house | Tags: , , , , , , | 5 Comments

a tune for Tuesday vol 135

I absolutely adore this Sarah and the Sundays song!
Check out Take Your Time and let me know what you think.

Please listen responsibly.

Categories: music | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

I’m cool with that

School started last week and for the first time since February of 2020, I’ve spend more time in a school building than out of one.
I subbed in French I and II for eighth graders.
The trickiest bit was there’s no teacher. No lesson plans.
Just me and thirty kids, and I don’t actually speak the language. My knowledge of French exists because Thing 1 and Thing 2 took French in high school.

The first day of school we did some get-to-know-you activities. Each subsequent day, I flew by the seat of my pants finding all the English speaking bits from the textbook.
Writing lesson plans isn’t actually under the job description of a substitute teacher…I’m just sayin’.
But, I survived!
At the end of the week, I met the retired French teacher who will be taking over the class until they can hire someone permanently. She reassured me I managed beautifully, and even showed me in the standard of learning that I’d already covered required material.
Go me!
But really, go those kids!
They were patient and engaged and perfectly willing to adapt.
I’ll see them twice more this week and two more times in September and already have more than enough lessons planned.

I’m heading over to ‘my old school’ this afternoon to teach in a fourth grade class, and they’ve already asked me if I’m willing to work temporarily in the front office.
I’m over here like, here’s my availability, let’s see what we can work out.

What’s great about all this is that I’m feeling good about being back to school.
What’s not great about all this is that I’m not getting as much done at home.
I am so close to being settled and feeling at home in this house…
We’ve already scheduled Baby K’s Birdie and Papa weekends through December. We need to do a few more things to ensure her safety here for extended periods of time.
She’s SO ready! When we were at her house yesterday, she kept saying, “B-Papa house!”

We’re going to make it work, because we’re just as enthusiastic about her being here with us as she is.

I’m making time for the important things.
Creating a home.
Being at school.
Writing these words.

Making time to do what I love.
I’m cool with that.

Categories: me | Tags: , , , , | 6 Comments

a tune for Tuesday vol 134

Y’all! I’m absolutely mad about this Italian band Måneskin!
For about three weeks, I WANNA BE YOUR SLAVE has lived in my brain rent free.
Check it out and let me know what you think.

Please listen responsibly.

Categories: music | Tags: , , , , | 2 Comments

creating a home in the house we built

Whoa!
We’ve lived here two weeks and five days.
The kitchen was a shit-show.
Oh, who am I kidding, the whole damn house was a shit-show!

How it started.

and

How it’s going.

Sunset bubbly on the roof!

I’ve been working so hard and feeling super overwhelmed. But I’m creating a home and that takes hard work and a great deal of patience.
I’ve got loads of hard work in me. I seem to be a bit short on patience…
I’m eager to feel settled here in our beautiful ’empty nest’!

Categories: around the house | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

a tune for Tuesday vol 133

Y’all know why this Saint Motel song is this week’s tune for Tuesday.
It’s All Happening.

These lyrics though!

I came, I saw, I conquered, never got no prize
I went and faced my monsters, looked ’em straight in their eyes
Now look around, it’s beautiful as far as we can see
The past has turned to history and it’s all happening, finally
It’s happening
It’s happening
(It’s happening)
Take five, take care, take cover, here comes our chance
Find time, find friends, find lovers, gotta make this last
Now look around, it’s beautiful as far as we can see
The past has turned to history and it’s all happening, finally
It’s happening
It’s happening
Finally
Finally
(It’s happening)

Please listen responsibly.

Categories: music | Tags: , , , , | 2 Comments

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