Truly in Love

Spring Cleaning for Dummies Part: 2 (Pantry/Food Storage)

2009-03-14T10:07:00.000-07:00

So for those of you that have been to my apartment before you know how small my kitchen is and the lack of storage. And to complicate things there is a utility closet in the kitchen that is huge. You would think it was a pantry but it really is just a wasted space that stores the water heater & furnace. It's kinda of an awkward space. You can't hang any shelves on the wall because there are tubes/pipes along the wall. So pretty much I would store a couple little storage units to hold food and my garbage can in there.

Well the other day it dawned on me. A solution it had taken me over 1 1/2 years to come up with. Why not buy a tall bookcase and put it in the closet? Then that way I could maximize the space using the space from floor to ceiling. So I headed over to Walmart and was able to get a bookcase for just $30.

I cannot believe how much space I have now! It really made a difference. I was able to fit the majority of my food storage on the bookcase then the remainder of the food I was able to fit throughout my kitchen cabinets.

For those of you who don't have food storage I highly recommend it. Ever since living on my own I've always made sure I've had food storage. You never know when it will come in handy. Buy foods that you use on a regular basis ex: spaghetti,canned fruits,canned vegetables,Idaho instant potatoes etc. Then that way the food doesn't go bad before you ever use it and you can just keep replacing it as you use it.

Something else I've done is typed up a list of what foods I have,when they expire,and how many of each. I posted it on the wall next to my food storage so then that way I can try to eat the things I've got before they expire. And I can see when I'm getting low on something.

Spring Cleaning for Dummies Part 1: (The Bedroom)

2009-03-01T18:13:00.001-08:00

With spring just around the corner and all the wedding things I've got going on I figured I better get a jump start on my spring cleaning. Yeah I'm know I'm a little crazy. Let me tell you trying to tackle two HUGE tasks at once it's very easy. Especially since I'm in the middle of working on the wedding annoucements.

Last Monday I decided I'd start my spring cleaning adventure and well let me tell you this is my progress. 1 week: bedroom closet & dresser done. I haven't even finished my whole bedroom yet! Granted I haven't been working on it everyday but still....the rate I'm going it's really good I started now. Maybe by the time spring is over I'll be done.

Believe it or not in the small amount I've gotten done I've filled 2 trash bags full of D.I. stuff and 1 trash bag full of garbage. You'd think I hadn't cleaned in a long time but sadly I do deep cleaning on a regular basis. Last time I did deep cleaning like this was probably last fall so it hasn't even been 6 months!

For those of you brave enough to tackle the task of spring cleaning here's some helpful hints to keep in mind and a rule of thumb I live by while cleaning out your bedroom closet.

If you have clothes that still have price tags on them and you've had them for at least a year it's time to get rid of them. (Yes believe it or not I found a couple shirts I had never worn and never will)

If you keep telling yourself "I'm going to lose weight I'll fit into these pants someday" and it's been over 1 year,get rid of them.

If the pits on the shirts are discolored or smell....throw them out.

If you have holes in your socks or underwear....throw them away. You can go to the store and buy more! As for bras if the wire is poking out throw it away!

If you have shoes that you had forgotten about and don't even remember having...get rid of them.

If you have shoes that you've had for years and years that are falling apart but are so comfortable....throw them out.

If you have shirts that have holes in them..... throw them out!

Pants that have holes patch or mend....if neither can be done throw them out.

By keeping those things in mind it's so crazy how many things you end up getting rid of and how much space you find that you really have. My closet has never seemed so big before besides before I moved into my apartment and it was empty.

So now that things are clean it's time to effectively store things. While working on my wedding registry I found some awesome storage ideas on walmart.com. I can't believe all the stuff I found that I had never thought of before. For example....I store a lot under my bed because of lack of space and you can get these really cool storage bags with handles that go under your bed. I also bumped into some really cool shirt dividers/shelves that can be used for pants as well.

Well it's off for now. Good luck spring cleaning and hopefully I've motivated you to get up and do something.

Dots...Dots....Everywhere

2009-02-20T00:58:00.000-08:00

So It's been a while since I've written a blog about wedding stuff so I figured it's about time. Especially since I've been so busy with so many things! I definitely hit the jackpot this week. I've been trying to find the best deal on some white fabric with black polka dots on it. I'm planning on using it as part of the table cloths for the tables that people will be eating at.

I started my fabric adventure last week. My mom had told me Joann's was going to be having a sale for President's Day weekend so I figured, "heck I need fabric why not take advantage of a good deal?" So sometime last week Travis and I hit up the Joann's over by us and well they didn't have what I wanted. So I went to Walmart and they had what I wanted but it was $4.44 a yard. I need 11 yds so I was hoping to get a better deal. So this Tuesday I went to the Nampa Joann fabric and well....they didn't have what I wanted either. So I went to Craft Warehouse. They had what I wanted but it was almost $10 a yard!

So I had the thought that I should check out Home Fabrics. They mostly have fabrics for upholstering and draperies but they do have a small section of regular fabric. So I headed there today with my mom and 1st thing I find what I want and guess what? $2.50 a yard! I hit the jackpot! I love finding crazy deals like that!

Escape Artist

2009-02-12T01:12:00.001-08:00

So tonight I come home for my lunch break from work and Travis is glued to his video games of course. So I go in to say hi to Gina (the hamster) and she's not in her cage. I ask Travis where she's at and he kinda just points in every direction because he's too into his game. Well I assumed by his response she was in her ball running around the house but I can't hear anything. Like usually you can hear her bump into things or the ball moving across the floor. I start looking around for her and I find her ball in the kitchen and she's not inside. I just start laughing and tell travis I found her ball but it's empty. He quickly quits his game and starts searching for her.

I had the feeling I should search the panty first because if I were a hamster that's that first place I would go. I open the pantry and start calling for Gina. Believe it or not after a few seconds I see her running around. Travis had to take everything out of the panty to get her out because she just kept running around trying to get away from him. Even once she was in his hands she was still trying to escape.

I guess we are going to have to keep a close eye on our escape artist and make sure she doesn't figure out how to get out of her cage next.

Ouch!

2009-02-02T10:32:00.000-08:00

So Saturday marked Gina's 1 week birthday (one week of living with us that is). I think she's finally gotten used to what her sleeping pattern should be (Sleeping during the day,up all night). So Saturday night I went in her little room to see if she was up yet and there she was in her cute little cage playing in her litter box. (When we bought the hamster we found out you can potty train them so we bought her a little litter box and some kitty/hamster litter). Believe it or not she actually does use it. Seldomly does she go to the bathroom anywhere else in the cage. The bad thing though is I think she's thinks it's a pool because she like dives into it and then shakes like a dog so the litter pellets fly all around.

Well she was in a very cheerful mood that night so I opened up the cage and she started climbing up the side to get out. So I just laid my hand flat at the opening to see if she would climb on to it and sure enough she climbed right into my hand all by herself. As I carried her towards Travis she dug her sharp teeth into my finger and bite me and wouldn't let go. (She's hasn't bitten anyone since we've gotten her) I started screaming and muttering cuss words under my breath and I tired holding back the tears as she continued to dig her sharp teeth into me. I was so upset when she finally let go that I gave her to Travis and then started yelling at her. She made my finger bleed!

Needless to say I'm a little scared of her now and it's going to take a while for me to ever be able to hold her again.

It's a Girl!

2009-01-28T14:48:00.000-08:00

Well this last Saturday Travis and I decided it was about time we make an addition to our family. We've been wanting a dog for a while now but I'm not willing to pay the $200 pet deposit and we definitely don't have enough room in our apartment to have a dog running around. So finally I suggested we get a hamster. So we set off to buy a hamster on Saturday and came back with cute little Gina. It's funny how they say hamsters are nocturnal because it seems like Gina sleeps pretty much 24/7. Usually she'll be awake for a few hours and it's mostly in the afternoon/ early evening. So far she doesn't really like me but of course she loves Travis. Hopefully she'll someday warm up to me.

Coming Along

2009-01-17T21:48:00.000-08:00

The the count down begins. As the new year has begun the realization of how close the wedding is has finally hit. Even though I've still got a little over 5 months to go it's crunch time. It seems like almost my every thought is about the wedding. Seriously.

Yesterday was quite productive. I made my wedding bouquet which was very simple. I cost me $20 to buy the flowers & supplies. After making it I can't see why anyone would choose to pay a ridiculous amount of money to have someone else make it.

The other thing I worked on was...Do you remember the sunflowers I bought that are in the wooden pots? There is a a previous post with a picture of them. Well the wooden pots were cherry red. I simply just took black paint and painted them to match my wedding colors. With one of the pots I took an unsharpened pencil and dipped it in white paint to make polka dots. On the remaining pots I simply just toke black ribbon with white polka dots on it and taped it on.

Travis' day was quite productive as well he picked up 3,000 experience points and killed 100 hollow men on a quest. He sure did look happy. lol. Yes that's right he's addicted to Fable 2. (He felt left out and wanted me to add his productiveness in as well) Well it's off to more projects. I'll try to do better at posting what's going on.

Crashing to a Halt

2008-12-16T13:09:00.000-08:00

So last night as tempertures reached into the 20's I found myself talking to my co-worker as to how slick the roads must be outside. We both said to eachother we weren't worried about the way we drove rather the about the other crazy drivers around us.

Well lunch time hit and I headed home for lunch at 9:10 p.m. I was just about to turn down the street I live on when I saw the whole street was a patch of ice. So I slowed down,went into the other lane to allowed my car room to slide without hitting anything and well that wasn't enough. I knew I was going to slide and as I started to slide I figured it wasn't going to be that bad. What I didn't think about was the little downward slope in the road. (side note: there are these people that always park on the street and I always say "One of these days their car is going to get hit" funny thing they thought that same thing.)Well I slid into their car. Kinda embarrassing to admit that it was a parked car. My car spun around to the front and I was just in total shock. The people came running out of there home to make sure I was okay. I looked at their car...minor scratches and a dent in the floor board. They had a 2000 Ford Expedition. I was driving my 1996 Toyota Camry. My car on the other hand...crumpled up fender...smashed in front bumper and broken blinker lights.

I'll tell you this much if the whole ordeal was in reverse there was such minor damage to their car that I would of just been like"Oh it's okay don't worry about it." But I guess to them it was a huge deal so we had to exchange all the insurance info yada yada yada...then of course a cop showed up.

He didn't give me a ticket because he said there was no way I could of avoided the situation and it would of happen pretty much anyways to someone else if it hadn't happened to me (people were dumb to park their car where they did). Needless to say the people moved their car away from the road. The police officer moved his car to avoid it from getting hit as well, while he filled out the acident paper work. Well funniest thing ever. He went to move his car and it was stuck. It was so icy he had no traction. We asked if he needed a push but he finally go it going.

Since I was so close to home Travis walked down the street to make sure I was okay. I asked him if he'd move my car out of the street until I was done with everything and we pulled into where the cop had been parked before. The cop told me it would take about 10-15 minutes and I could just wait in my car. I was sitting in my back seat when "Bam" a car slid into mine! They were trying to make the same turn I had been trying to make. (side note: I parked where the cop had parked the poor chick would of hit his car if he hadn't of moved)( other side note: Thank goodness the people whose car I had hit had moved their car other wise she would of hit their car!) I got out thinking, "Great how bad is the damage on this side of the car?" Well fortunately she just scraped some paint on her car and had a few minor dents....on my car the drivers door was a little dented but it just looks like someone threw a basketball at it. She was freaking out and I told her everything was fine and that she didn't have to exchange insurance info with me. (Like I was going to make her insurance rates go up for something as minor as that.) Oh yeah and this whole while the cop was filling out paperwork he never even noticed the chick hit my car. By the time he got back to my car and I told him what happened and he was like "Really?"

Needless to say it was an eventful night. I will be investing in snow tires!

Preparing for the Wedding

2008-12-14T13:38:00.000-08:00

Well I finally convinced Travis to let me set up a blog page and he decided I should start a blog about planning for our wedding. I'm pretty excited so hopefully I can help give people helpful hints for planning their weddings as well.

We are planning on getting married May 23,2009 in Hidden Springs,Idaho at a really neat community building. (Building shown in picture)

I've set up a $1,000 Budget to cover the main costs of the wedding & reception. It's broken down like this;

Location $50
Wedding Arch $30
Wedding Attire Bride/Groom $310
Bouquet $20
Invitation/Thank Yous $230
Decorations $50
Wedding Cake/Food $310

So far I've done really well in the things I've bought. Last weekend I went with two of my friends; Kelsey & Jenny and bought a lot of things. We went to D.I. and I was able to get a gorgeous wedding dress for $65! It's perfect and besides a few dirt marks it looks brand new. Nothing that taking it to the dry cleaners won't fix. It almost fits perfect but is about 1/2 inch too tight in my rib cage section so I'm going to try and lose a little weight. If that doesn't work I figure I'll just get it altered and that will still be cheaper than buying a new dress.

Michaels has been a saving grace in costs. I found each time I go to Michaels and I buy something with my receipt I get a 40% off coupon. The only main regulations on it is 1 coupon per customer per day. They have just plain make it yourself invitations a pack of 100 envelopes/100 blank card stock sheets for $14.99 so with the 40% off I got 2 boxes for just $19.06! Then I can just design them whatever way I want.

JoAnn Fabrics has 50% coupons that you can get in the mail if you subscribe for free to the mailing list. So I bought my wedding arch for $14.11 by using one of those.

The flower I've chosen for my wedding is sunflowers. To cut on the cost of flowers I just have bought silk flowers. I got a whole bunch on clearance from various places because they are out of season...JoAnns had a heck of a deal online 3 huge pots of sunflowers (picture to left actual picture of what I bought) for $20.23 (shipping and handling included in that price)the total usually it is almost $15 a pot plus the additional shipping & handling. I figure I'll just cut the flowers the length I want and use them as needed. I'm making my own bouquet as well so that will cut on the cost a lot. I bought everything I'll need to make it and it totalled about $21.00. Travis has asked against having boutonnieres so that really will cut my costs too even though I was just going to make my own of those as well.

At the dollar store I was able to find glass vases in the shape of old glass milk containers. I plan on buying 10 or so and using those to put water in. (It'll be used in place of a pitcher of water for each table)

Well those are just a few of my good findings I've got so far. I hope you'll continue to read along on this wedding planning journey and maybe get some helpful ideas for yourself.