corralling the legos

DieselBaby (or maybe I should start calling him DieselBigBoy as he's now 3...) got lots of Legos for his birthday. Decided it was time to break out the sewing machine and make some toys sacks to house them in.

Super simple idea. I sandwiched the vinyl between the two layers instead of making all those little seams. Those little seams would have bugged me b/c there is no way I could have lined up the patterns.

Love the details (opposite stripes on the inside and red trim)

The material to make the blue sack came from the remnant bin at the fabric store. Perfect place to pick up little bits of fabric.

I feel more sacks are in our future...

cheap pattern storage

I realize it isn't rocket science....

Recently, I have been drafting my own patterns for DieselBaby and myself. The papers were becoming a bit unruly and I needed some way to corral them. Out of desperation, I reached for an empty cereal box on it's way to the recycling area.

I folded all the little pattern pieces inside a large piece and tucked it in the box...instant "organization" On the outside piece, I wrote what the pattern was for so I could grab at a glance. In the future, I might pick up some manila envelopes to slip all the pieces into.

I could have taken the "classy" route and covered the cereal box with pretty papers. I've done that with some boxes for DieselBaby's color books. I was desperate (for organization). lazy. and cheap.

I opted not to cut one side down like a magazine holder. I feel like it hold the papers in better.

Reminds me of my old drafting days in college.

If I get a few projects going at the same time, I could use a box per project. Putting the pattern, fabric pieces and notions in the box. Then I could just grab the box and start working instead of trying to hunt down all the parts of the project.

everyday is a rainbow...

DieselDaddy and I were trying to help DieselBaby understand when things were going to happen - like church, swimming, treats. Unfortunately, toddlers can't really understand "you will go swimming on Sunday/4 days". So we came up with a chart so he could visually see when he would be able to do something.

I originally had the numbers 1-5 (the days he goes to school), but I found it easier to say "you have 3 more school days until...."

Now, we say "Today is Tuesday, Orange day. That means you will go swimming on Sunday. Pink day. How many days until swimming?" The visual has also helped cut down on the whining. "I want a treat" We tell him to go look at his calendar and tell us how many more days until he can have a treat.

After doing it for a few weeks, I actually found myself dressing him in the colors of the day. It doesn't always work that way, but....

Best of all...I used things I had on hand :)

Mission Organization - shoes

One of my daily blog reads, iHeart Organizing, is having a purge-a-thon. Since we recently moved halfway around the world and only took 7 suitcases worth of stuff, I didn't think I'd have much to "purge".

It's true...I don't. I only brought two pairs of work shoes, and trainers (I did bring back my beach shoes when we were home in January). Since I rotate my work shoes each day, can't get rid of those. And my trainers...what if I actually decided to work out. Gotta keep the beach shoes bc I don't want sand in my trainers or work shoes.

What I can do is organize our shoes. We have a little "nook" under the kitchen island as you walk into the apt. We always just chuck off the shoes, turning them into one big shoe pile. I see it as a learning tool - DieselBaby has to find a PAIR of shoes each morning. See...he's learning!

But seriously, the space needs some organization.


I had picked up some big foam letters and various wooden pictures when we were state-side. I put the foam letters up over the area DieselBaby would put his shoes. I added a little helicopter ("hell-i-doctor") and a hook for his school bag/hat.


For DieselDaddy and my shoes, I just lined them up. We'll see how long that lasts....


Oh...and I totally miss my shoe collection. I had 2 Ikea shoe organizers that I had filled with a rainbow's color of shoes. I loved my shoes. My pink shoes. My red shoes. My green shoes . But sadly, they didn't all make the cut to get their passport stamped...