Moving

Hey all!

So we are in the process of moving to our next Army post, and with that, it means that I won't be posting for a lil bit :( I have tons of organizing, moving, and crafting goodies to share once I'm back up and running in our next abode!! Please stick with me, and I'll see ya back here in a month or so ;)

*huggs*

- Shauna

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Being Irish, this is one of my favorite holidays! I made a little wall decor recently, but unfortunately the frame didn't have a hook to hang it horizontally, so it's my "mantle" decor {but unfortunately we don't actually have a mantle, so it's actually on our server in the dining room, hehe}.

Check out my crafting blog post {HERE} for the DIY instructions!!

And here's the rest of my "mantle," which I plan on adding to hopefully in the next week :) For the record, the playing card is a picture of the Cliffs of Moher on Ireland's coast. The deck it's from features different images from all around Ireland- and I bought it in Ireland! :) Also, the cute puppy in the corner has a shamrock on his rump and a bright green collar :) Oh, and the Snoopy sticker in the frame corner says "I'm one-eighth Irish setter" hehe, gotta love The Peanuts!

.: linking up at :.

dvd storage

So this was our DVD storage... pretty typical. Actually, not even all of it is pictured above. We're movie people, if you didn't already guess ;) Unfortunately, as you can see, we maxed out our storage, so I was faced with a choice- buy another DVD cabinet and figure out where to squeeze it into our living room... or seek out an alternative DVD storage system...

Well it just so happened that recently I had read Kristina's post about her DVD storage {here}. Bingo! That system is what I need!

So enter a few thing things...

{1} Delicious Library 1 software @ $20 {optional}

{2} three clear storage bins @ $7.50 total

{3} a few packs of storage sleeves @ $22 total

{4} a few rolls of tape @ $5ish

And here's what I ended up with! Our VHSs take up half a drawer in our entertainment center.

I scanned the barcode of each DVD with my laptop built-in camera, which enters the DVD into Delicious Library.

Then I cut out the title of each DVD, the rating, and runtime, and also any special features- taped those to the front and back of each sleeve.

Now this ended up costing about $10 more than just buying another storage unit, not to mention it would have saved a LOT of time {it took about 3-4 days of on and off working}, but here are the reasons why this system really works for us, many of which are due to DH being in the Army and thus moving frequently...

{1} SPACE:: we can actually store these DVD bins all in our entertainment center, which gives us two freed up storage units- they now function as a buffet in the dining room!

{2} INSURANCE:: with the frequent moves, we have a higher chance of stuff getting lost. In the event that some DVDs do get lost, with Delicious Library, we now have a full listing of all our DVDs {and books!}

{3} TIME:: with each move, the movers are required to check that each DVD is in its case before they pack them... this takes a while when you have as many movies as we do, not to mention they could easily take a movie or two and claim it's not in the case. Now, all they have to do is peer through the clear sleeve front and make sure there's a disc in each sleeve!

{4} LISTS:: now I am a list person! I must have my DVDs alphabetized, but usually DH and I will be in the mood for an "action" flick or "comedy" but not have a specific movie in mind. So I often wished I could have my DVDs arranged by genre, but then what do you do about say "romantic comedies" which fit into two categories? This is where Delicious Library comes in again- I have "shelves" set up within my library, where I just drag and drop a movie title into a "shelf" {aka. a list} and so now I have a Comedy shelf, Romance shelf, Action shelf, etc. and each movie can be put on multiple shelves. Perfect! Best of both worlds- I have my alphabetizing but also my genre lists available at a click of a button :)

Keep in mind, you can always skip buying the software, which cuts the cost almost in half... and you could skip cutting out all the titles and movie info which would cut out much of the time involved with how I did it!!

I made some simple tags to show which titles are in which bin... A through J, K through R, and S through Z. The numeric ones are in the very front, but I didn't add that to the tags :)

I'll show you what I did with all the no longer needed DVD cases in another post, so stay tuned ;)

.: linking up to :.

I'm an Organizing Junkie

Show Me What Ya Got @ Not Just a Housewife

Organizing Mission Monday @ Organize with Sandy

My Crafty Weekend @ Until Wednesday Calls

Inspire Me Monday @ Singing Three Little Birds

All Things Inspired @ All Things Heart and Home

Catch A Glimpse @ A Glimpse Inside

We're Organized Wednesday @ Organize and Decorate Everything

the power of baking soda

Ewwww! Yup... that's what happens to cups when you drink a LOT of tea and they're only handwashable. But, do not despair, there's baking soda!

So what exactly am I rambling about? Well, I have a lot of coffee/tea mugs that are not dishwasher safe. No biggie- I just wash them by hand... but the stains don't always come off by a simple sponge and soap. Now when I found out about baking soda as a stain remover, the above mug {and a few others} had about 2-3 years of stains on them! So take the above staining at the bottom of the mug, and imagine the entire mug stained like that. Ewww! I know....

Enter the baking soda!! Just sprinkle a little in the bottom of stained coffee mugs {or most any normal dish... double check about special surfaces though}, put in enough baking soda to make a bit of a paste, scrub it around the cup, and voila!
Presto, chango, clean cup-o! Yup, baking soda instantly washed away years of stain build up! {OK, so maybe not "instantly" as it did require a few minutes of scrubbing!} Again, if you have special surfaces, double check that baking soda won't do them any harm before you sprinkle away. As far as I know, most surfaces should be fine, and I use it on all of my dishes that need a little extra scrubbing power :)