Reclaiming space via closet rehabilitation

03/24/2011 Nichole 2 Comments

Everyone has at least one area in their house that’s set aside for Unpacked Boxes. Right? OK, so that’s probably not true. But it’s been true in my house for years. We can attribute 10 percent of that to the fact that we’ve moved many, many times — sometimes in awfully quick succession. Ninety percent of it, though, is because some of us are pack rats.

Anyway, this week in Nichole and Jeni’s Carnival of Clutter, we’re tackling the Worst Closet in the House. And in our house? That’s Pete’s closet. It isn’t a huge closet, so there wasn’t all that much room for Stuff. But boy howdy, did we take every bit of available space with Unpacked Boxes and Other Ridiculous Things. I can’t show you what it looked like before, because Rockford emptied it out before I was able to take a picture of it. But I can show you some of the stuff that came out of it:

That, friends, is a lot for one small closet to hold. And that isn’t even all of it! I would’ve needed a wider frame to capture all of it. But we cleared it all out, and now Pete’s closet is actually holding his clothes! Cleaning out his closet also made room for me to try a toy-rotation system, which I’ve been wanting to do for quite awhile. I separated his toys into groups — dinosaurs, cars, different types of blocks, etc. — and put about half of them in boxes in the top of the closet. In a month or so, I’ll swap out something that’s been out and available and put something from storage back in the rotation — something along the lines of: dinos out, robots in. It’s been great for helping to keep his room clean, and I think not being faced with So Many Toys has also made it easier for him to play by himself in his room. Both of which are nice for me.

Also nice? Opening the closet door and seeing this:

As for the Worst Closet at Jeni’s house, she cast a Scourgify spell on it. Now she has the perfect place to store any boy wizards that might happen her way.

(Oh look! I’m giving away two Atlanta CityPASSes! You should enter!)

On the Road

Going to Atlanta? Here’s a peach of a giveaway.

03/23/2011 Nichole 32 Comments

Remember when we went to Atlanta and had an awesome time? Shortly after I wrote about the trip, a very lovely lady named Deborah emailed me. Deborah works at CityPASS, which I’d mentioned in the post as something I’d like to try the next time we were in Atlanta. And Deborah? She offered Rockford and I a pair of CityPASSes to try out.

So naturally I love Deborah. But not just because she’s made it possible for us to visit a bunch of terrific Atlanta sites, but because she wants you to visit them, too! So she also sent me a pair of Atlanta CityPASSes to give away! Three cheers for Deborah! (And also for exclamation points! Because they are handy!)

The Atlanta CityPASS will get you into the Georgia Aquarium; the World of Coca Cola; the Inside CNN Studio Tour; the High Museum of Art or Fernbank Museum of Natural History; and Zoo Atlanta or the Atlanta History Center. The passes are good through Feb. 28, 2013, and they all have to be used within 9 days of their first use. In other words, you can’t go to the zoo with your pass and then go to the aquarium with it three weeks later.

In other words, this would be a pretty cool thing to win. Especially if you live in or near Atlanta.

There are three ways to enter, and you can use each once. Here they are:

Leave a comment here, telling me which of the Atlanta CityPASS sites you’d be most excited to visit. (OK, you don’t have to tell me that. It’s fine if you’d rather say something else.)

Tweet about the giveaway, and leave a comment here linking to your tweet. You can say whatever you’d like as long as it links to this post. Here’s an easy cut-and-paste tweet if you’re at a loss for words: “I want to win an #Atlanta @CityPASS from ButterscotchSundae.com! Enter to win at http://bit.ly/ATLcitypass”

Blog about the giveaway, and leave a comment with a link to your post.

(This contest ended at noon EST on Tuesday, March 29, 2011.)

menu plan Monday

Tacos might be my favorite food

03/21/2011 Nichole 2 Comments

Monday: Tacos: I found some Frontera cooking sauce at our discount grocery store, and I also have two avocados left over from last night’s dinner. So we’ll be having fancy tacos tonight!
Tuesday: Fish stick po’ boys: This isn’t just to make up for the fanciness of Monday’s dinner. It was actually Poppy’s choice for kids’ choice night. Although she won’t be eating her fish sticks on a sandwich, because that would be too adventurous.
Wednesday: Red beans & rice: We never ate the red beans & rice last week, so here they are again!
Thursday: Cheeseburgers: This was Rockford’s request, which tells me last week’s cheeseburgers were a hit.
Friday: Pizza: We found a local pizzeria that sells pizza dough for $3. It’s enough to make one large pizza. I’m so much more likely to make pizza at home if we buy it from them rather than relying on myself to remember to make the dough in time to turn it into pizza. Also, it’s really good pizza dough.