How I organize: My overflow pantry

Down in my basement, I have an overflow pantry.  This one is different from my regular pantry in the kitchen. 

I am not into Extreme Couponing or anything to necessitate an entire wing of my home for extra items. My hubby just likes me to have stuff "at the ready" anytime so we can have company over anytime! My kitchen pantry can't hold everything so between this and my basement freezer, we can have extra stuff here to feed anyone at any time!

 I keep lots and lots of drinks stocked for both my kids' lunches, afternoon snacks - we often travel to therapists offices right after school or to have packed up for them to drink while I'm teaching piano lessons after school.  These coffee cups {got them at Costco} with lids are especially nice to have when we have a smaller group of friends over so the adults can take their coffee to go or inside for our Bible Study time.  I also keep my roasting pan in there - since I pull it out only a few times a year - along with some soft-sided coolers for picnics or taking along lunch/dinner/snacks when we watch a baseball game or other sport.

I have lots of table cloths that I bought pretty cheap - both cloth and vinyl - to use for throwing a quick tablescape and if they get dirty I'm okay with it! They are long and rectangular so I can make them fit just about any table size.

I keep the regular overstock of foods and cleaners and paper goods down there, too.  One thing that I keep is lots and lots of extra "disposable" containers.  We have many needs in our church body for meals.  So, I bring a meal to one family a month {this is my limit, but I love to do it}.  So, I always bring the meal in disposable containers - butter tubs, restaurant take-out containers, jars - so that they don't have to wash OR return any dishes to me! I wash and stack them down here to use. How do you store overflow stuff?  


 

Are you crafty?

I'm not the craftiest person around, but my daughter is going to be.  I can tell already that she's going to be good at it and enjoy it a lot! A friend of mine told me about a website called Craftgawker.  Have you heard of it?

 There's also dwellgawker, weddinggawker, and foodgawker, too!  The Craftgawker has crafts that you can make.

Looks a little like Pinterest, right?  So, you click on the picture and it takes you to a tutorial of how to make it.

 So, I clicked on the "A" and a blog pulled up and showed the tutorial.  You can make stuff and be crafty!  Pretty neat, you think?

Parties:
Tidy Mom

Hole-y Mole-y!

I'm not exactly what you call an "environmental freak" or anything.  I don't constantly look for ways to be green.  But, I am always looking for ways to save money.  And one  VERY expensive thing in this house is our utility bill! Every September I get the bill {since August is typically our hottest month} and brace myself for the expense that I will incur from running our a/c all that month!

After seeing our neighbors do this and testifying how much they liked it {they ARE the environmental minded ones}, we decided we wanted to get insulation for our walls in our 1947 house! We were warned to take all our stuff off the walls the night before - only the outside walls, of course.

The truck showed up with this big vacuum pump in the back.

They drill holes every 16 inches all over the place. And yes, it's very loud inside {I took the kids away for most of the day}.

Then, they blow insulation into the walls. THAT sounds really weird inside the house, too!

They plug up the holes with styrofoam.

The house looked like we'd been targeted by something!

Under the eaves you can {barely} see all the holes and under the windows.

And then, they covered up all the holes.  They matched them so well, I can't even tell where they made the holes!

So, you are wondering if it's working?  Well, the HOT sun on the kitchen side - where I can literally feel heat come out in the later afternoon sun - is cool to the touch!! We haven't had a very hot summer yet here in Southern California, but I know it's coming and I know that it will have been money well spent!




Parties:
Remodelaholic
Ask Anna 
A Bowl Full of Lemons 
Handy Man, Crafty Woman

How I organize: Wrapping paper

I would love to have this wrapping station...it's lovely, isn't it?

Source

But, I don't. I used to have it in a coat closet at our old house - in a rolling bin.  But, this house has no coat closet. For awhile I kept it under my folding table in the the basement laundry room.  My sweet hubby decided to give me a cupboard in his workshop, near the laundry area, for my wrapping station! It looks like this:

Don't be jealous! I know it's prime location right above the clothes' dryer is to die for!  Ha, ha...hey, it's what I have to work with so it's what I use!  Here is where I keep all my wrapping paper:

Why, yes it IS wedged between the clothes' dryer and the work bench!  Again, I worked with what I had.  What IS great is just keeping things organized and labeled.  My daughter LOVES to wrap so she knows how to put everything back - pretty much without making a mess. 

Avoiding any massive difficulties:

Figuring out what goes where:

Or what goes there:

But, if you want fancy, here are some more great inspirations I have found with beautiful wrapping stations!

Source

Family photo time!

I am not crazy about buying my kids' photo from school.  I'm not usually a "control freak" kind of person, but I really would like to be there to make sure they at least look decent - no hair sticking up, looking at the camera, collar laying flat, etc.  Plus they are SO expensive!  

Oh, he's so handsome.  He looks so grown up!

So, I hired my own photographer.  Her name is Carly from Freckle Fotography.  She is a college student and has some great rates as a budding {future} professional photographer.  She charges reasonable rates, I get great photos!

Rachel and I - she really captured a great moment!

I spent some time on Pinterest and floating around blogland just trying to figure out what our family should wear.  I have an entire category on there named family photo so I could figure out what we should wear. This picture was my inspiration - based on the clothes we had in our closets.  My hubby and I had pretty much every color, but it was my daughter's casual dress that helped me figure it out.  I went with the bottom row of blues and purples.

Source

I also found a great post on coordinating family clothing at Blue Cricket Design.  It has some great tips!

Source

Carly took photography classes in high school and studied it, and it shows!  She was able to capture my son beautifully.  He is HARD to get a good photograph from.  He never wants to look directly at the lense. My daughter is a natural, but even her smile and beauty radiate.  

And all of us together with our "coordinating" colors:

Do you recognize that chair in the pictures???  Why, yes, it's my favorite vintage chair!  It was a perfect prop!

And last, of me and my hubby! My only big request was that she make me look young and thin! 

If you are in the Los Angeles area...you might want to check her out!  Freckle Fotography!

Table scape and succulents

Today I bring you a mish-mash of things!  I did this back in April but haven't shared it with you yet. 

I have mentioned before that our deck gets pretty hot, so I have grown to love succulents more and more each year. They can handle so much heat here, and survived our FREAK snow fall we had here in Burbank last February - seriously, we just don't get snow! {It only lasted 1/2 a day, but we'll take what we can get}.

By the morning, it was all ice! It looked pretty, though!

Anyway, that being said I try to plant a few pots each year.  They are easy to maintain -I only water them once a week. In the heat of summer, maybe twice a week. 

These are my recent additions.  We had company over that night so I set up this cutey on the table and took some pictures.  

That's it!  We just love having company over. Not fancy, but still fun and enjoyable!

Parties:

DIY Showoff

How I organize: for Backyard Thursdays!

I've mentioned our "Backyard Thursdays" here at OMF a few times.  I told you last summer about this ministry we do at our house.  Well, many of you were not even around on my blog last year, so I'll fill you in again!

Here are my kids, sifting the sandbox of the bark in it, in preparation for Backyard Thursdays.

Our yard, for Los Angeles standards, is pretty big!  I became burdened with the many families at our church who had NO yard at all back in 2006 {when we first moved in}.  Those that lived in apartments and their kids couldn't just run outside and play.  So, I started Backyard Thursdays and opened up my yard to all those who had no yard to come over and let the kids run around for each Thursday in the summer.  I have now opened it up to anyone I know who wants to come over.

It has been an amazing ministry that my kids absolutely love to be a part of.  They love having lots of kids over - it's like a gigantic playdate very week!   

But, they have to help out too - and sacrifice some of their play stuff.  You see, not everything gets well taken care of, so sometimes their stuff gets broken. It's taught them to share and not be concerned about things - they have no eternal value. But, their service to others, does!

So, we got ready for our summer Backyard Thursdays by re-organizing all the stuff.  I buy helmets at garage sales and some have been donated - so we have lots of helmets when the kids come over.  We sorted them by size {we'll see how long this works}.

We also got rid of many old balls that were cracked or broken and pumped up the ones that were flat.

Then, we sorted everything again. We did it last year but the labels were a bit worn out.  So, I took pictures of the contents inside of the bins and made new labels.  I went to Kinko's and laminated them for durability.

I cut them out and then I use cable ties to secure them to the bins.

The children {and Moms} never wonder what goes where.  It's easy to read and to see the picture!

 We also have the attached "shed" {that's what we call it} to our garage, but the little ones can get in there with the big tools and such and it's just dangerous.  We used left-over lattice and attached a couple of screws and now we have a way to keep them out!

So, we can slide it out of the way, but when the little ones come we slide it and hook it up! Now it's safe! Below, you can see this old shelf - this was in our son's closet before we put in his new closet system.  It works great in the garage and my hubby has it screwed into the studs.

And I even put my signs up around the yard with our rules.

We have one strange rule, which is we don't allow the boys in the playhouse {I know it's weird, but trust me when I say we have good reasons} so I tried to make the playhouse less appealing to boys...plus, there is plenty of other stuff for the boys to do without needing to be in the playhouse.

...without being nasty and saying "no boys allowed" or "boys, get out!"  Anyway, I have a definite beginning and ending time - 10 AM to 12:30 PM.  This way you can be prepared for everyone to come, and then everyone knows when it's time to leave and don't impose on the rest of your day.

This is a friend's pool who invites lots of Moms over one day a week for swimming during the summer, too!

If you have a space like this - a yard or even a pool - really think about opening it up to your friends or church on a regular basis, even if it's not fancy or huge.  Share what you have with others.  We Mommies have a WONDERFUL time - we sit back and relax and talk and enjoy sweet fellowship under our large avocado trees! I send them expectations and rules before the day comes - put sunscreen on your children, bring snacks/lunch, go over rules with kids, what time to come, etc. - and all that stuff is out in the open.  No one is mad or weird about it.  It's just wonderful and relaxing.

Isn't this the neatest bike rack we got last year? I just roll it out for Backyard Thursdays and help the kids take off the bike they need, then roll it back and it fits a LOT of bikes in a small area of the garage!

I am just getting back from a week on vacation with my family in the mountains. I am so relaxed now and ready to get back to Backyard Thursdays and get some projects done around the house! What will you be doing this summer?