It's up to us.

Another school shooting.
Another suicide

You know, everyone says, "If you're depressed, tell someone! 

If you're feeling suicidal, reach out! 

Get help!" The problem is... this kid *did* reach out. 

He tweeted and posted FB posts that, to me, scream depression and suicide.

People *are* reaching out. They *are* telling people. 

The problem is... many people are, literally, too busy to care.
People are not taking this seriously. 

It's the truth. 

I have experienced too much suicide in my family and friends that I even want to think about.

People will stop and listen and "be there" for *maybe* one day, and then what? 

It's out of their hands? They don't have time? What about following up? 

What about keeping up with them on a daily/weekly basis?
This is an *EVERY DAY* struggle.
Depression is real, and it doesn't usually go away.

We are failing our children and our friends here. 

People suffer in silence until it's too late. 

We're the only ones who can save them.

Getting the Look for Less.

I'll admit it. 

When I love something, I usually just find a coupon or wait till it goes on sale.

I never check other stores to see if they have something similar for cheaper.

I should.

*sigh*

Anywho... 

I love J Crew (again, I only buy on sale, clearance or with coupon codes! ;-) )

I found this sweater a few weeks ago and fell in LOVE with it.

It's so very me. 

So very, very me.

However...

It's merino wool. I'm allergic to merino wool. And cashmere, for that matter. :-(

I actually purchased it (on sale, PLUS a 20% off coupon! ;-) ) and had to return it.
Sad day.

BUT THEN!

In a stroke of amazingness,

a friend asked me to stop by H&M for her to see if they had some shirts for her daughter.

And I found this:

Okay, it wasn't this *exact* one.
They don't seem to have it on their website. LOL.
But it pretty much looks like this, 

but a different material. And more flowy.
And for $2 more.
But you know, the same stripey pattern with solid white top. ;-)

And hey, for under $20?
Yes, please. :-)

Organizing the Kitchen!

I thought it would be fun to show how I organize my kitchen cabinets.

We've been in our house for four and a half years now,

and I actually just rearranged this week 

when we re-did our pantry.

Only the island cupboards and cupboards 

on each side of the stove/oven got rearranged.

But I much prefer this set up now. :-)

First off, to the upper right of the stove,

here is our everyday dishware.

We use Fiesta, and I LOVE them.

It took me forever to decide if I should get colors...

all one color, many colors, two colors, four colors, or solid white.

LOL. I ultimately decided that it would be very fun and very...

"not me" to get eight different colors.

SO glad we did. I just love them. :D

Ivory mugs are from Starbucks, but they are discontinued.

These alternatives are cute though! :)

Patterned dishes (also discontinued)

and all kids' dishes on bottom shelf are from Target. :)

'

And to the right:

(some glasses are in the dishwasher ;) )

*Find cabinet shelves here.

To organize kids' sippy lids and straws,

I use this container. Works great. :-)

Upper left of the stove...

Extra Kitchen Aid mixing bowl.

Shelf of protein powders, drink mixes, honey, and molasses.

Pyrex and measuring cups

... and then measuring spoons in this 2-section container

(everything 1tsp and under goes in a small jar).

Bottom shelf is some baking stuff, plus salt and pepper. :-)

Baking stuff and oils, over stove.

Lower left of oven. Juicer (usually stays on counter), VitaMix,

and the grater and nut-chopper. ;-)

Lower right.

Rice cooker and slow cooker.

Lower left of sink.

Food storage containers.
(And popsicle molds!)

Waffle maker and toaster. :)

Under sink.

Probably the messiest cupboard in my house. LOL.
Some grocery bags in righthand corner.
Lefthand corner, I keep some shopping bags/old gift bags

for when I need to deliver something (random stuff) to people. ;-)

*Find shelf here.

Top of fridge:

Bins hold plastic/paper cups, plates, napkins, silverware.
And there are some extra food storage containers

that I use when I make meals to bring to people. :)

Baking utensils.

"Things that cut" utensils in a drawer. Haha.

Silverware.

Ice cream scoops/spades.

Slotted spoons.
Non-slotted spoons (and salad tossers).

Seasoning drawer (in island)

(I actually rearranged after taking this photo. :-p )
Mostly Wildtree. LOVE Wildtree. (I'm a rep.)

Also in island: 

Cutting boards, egg stuff, tongs, random utensils actually. LOL. :-p

(extra fridge water filter)

Under island:

 

This drawer pulls out and holds mixing bowls, popcorn bowls, and strainers.

And that's what I have in my kitchen cupboards and drawers!

Riveting, yes? ;-)

The Beginning! Well... the *New* Beginning.

I miss blogging. A lot.

So... I'm going to start blogging again. 

This blog turned into an "only photos of my kids" blog, 

and even though I love my kids and love showing them off (hee hee ;-) ), 

I miss blogging for *me*... and gosh darn it, 

I don't have anything that is for *me* anymore, so here goes... 

My blogging hiatus is over! :D

I'll be posting organization tips/photos. 

And some tasty (and easy!) recipes.
DIY projects.
Decorating endeavors.

Hopefully, some scrapbooking. ;-)
Some kids stuff.
Favorite products.
A review here and there.
Favorite things, clothes, can't-live-without-products, etc.
And maybe some... dare I say it... fashion. *gasp*
(Let's face it... jeans, a tee, and TOMS shoes is "fashion" to me. ;-) )

First off, my pantry!

It's no surprise I love The Container Store.
I love containers. I love organizing.
And well, I worked there for two years. LOL. ;-)
Truth be told, I had never stepped foot in a Container Store

until the day of my interview.
True story.
I had *seen* one.
I had looked in the windows,

but I never really had time to go. *sigh*
(I regret that now. :-/ )

Anyway, I adore their products, but especially elfa.
We now have elfa in SIX rooms in our house.
(Okay, seven if you want to count 

the cabinet-sized drawer unit in our master bath's linen closet. ;-) )

Our pantry was the 7th space, and boy, was I excited!

I forgot to take a "before" shot, but here is the "during" shot (taken with my crappy phone camera)! LOL. ;-) 

Here's the completed, full-pantry shot that I posted on Instagram. :-)

We already had the Door & Wall rack, but I did rearrange that just a bit, 

since our new shelves created a more efficient space.

And here's the top half of the pantry:

Product list:

Stackable handled basket (discontinued, but looks like this item replaced it).
(That basket holds lunch bags and extra water bottles.)

Reduce WaterWeek bottles.
Stack baskets.

Cereal/Snack dispensers.

Handled baskets.
Snack container (similar one here or here).

Bottom half:

Acrylic canisters.

Tea bag storage container.

Same handled basket above. Holds recycling.
Pet food container.

Small crunch can (holds dirty linens, hand towels, bibs, etc).
Behind the crunch can, I have the food processor and coffee maker 

(two things i really don't use anymore...
coffee maker is for guests and food processor doesn't get much love, now that i have a VitaMix).

I'm glad it's done,

and I love the way it turned out. :-)

I'll be posting a "kitchen cabinet tour" tomorrow! :-)