Gallagher Farm

I want you all to know that there's hope for me. Although I'm a "piler", it is possible for me to suppress my piling tendencies. I cleaned off the counter in my laundry room again this morning and it's still clean! The van is also still clean. Two whole days in a row! Now that the kids are set up with markers and coloring books in there, I'm not going to allow mountains of stuffed animals and toys the same travel benefits they used to have.

The kids and I spent the afternoon driving around the countryside in search of the farm property we would like to settle on. I'm getting so discouraged you would think I would give up. At least my husband is hoping I will. No! I know the perfect spot is out there for us somewhere and I will find it! Last night we wandered some fields that offered no hope but the sight of my four year old in her pig-tails and her rolled up jeans, chasing a rooster, did. I don't want to miss out on that! I want them to grow up chasing chickens and cows, riding horses and gathering eggs. I want them to come in at night as filthy as possible and have them fall asleep, after a warm bath, while we read stories.

I don't know where all these feelings come from. I grew up hearing stories from my Mother about growing up on a farm. From the sound of them she loved every minute of it. They only served to horrify me. I couldn't imagine living like that. Now I can't imagine living without it! I'm horrified at the thought that we might be stuck on this quarter acre lot with this enormous, cleaning nightmare of a house forever. With neighbors staring in our picture windows and a perfectly green lawn that I despise. I need space! I need acres of flowers and vegetables and pasture. I want a teeny tiny house that only requires a ten minute tidy once a day. I want to collect the mail in my obnoxious yellow robe and wave at the neighbors, knowing they don't really care that it's 11:00 a.m. and I'm still not dressed. I want my children's friends getting saddles and cowboy boots for Christmas instead of Game Cubes and lap tops.

Is this too much to ask? We are very happy here and I'm grateful for everything we have. It just doesn't fit. It's not us. I'm going to find "us" and it had better be sooner than later. You know, before the kids grow up and go to college. Somehow I don't think I'll care so much about pig-tails and baby chicks by then. That is, until the Grandkids come to visit!

The Muffin Mash

I spent some time yesterday re-arranging my piles. I started in the laundry room and got the counter cleared off. Of course those piles just got moved to become piles in other rooms. Then I decided to do a thorough cleaning inside the van. Well, I didn't really decide that. One thing just led to another. All the toys and junk that were piled in the van got piled onto the counter in the laundry room. I couldn't let that nice clean space just go to waste!

Every time I clean the van out I make a new rule that the kids will not be allowed to eat in it. This lasts for about two days. Then we will be in a hurry to get to the club and I'll have them eat a sandwich in the van on the way there. Or I'll make muffins to eat while we're shopping garage sales. Why do four year olds think muffins taste better when they're broken into a thousand pieces? The kids are definately not allowed to have soda or drinks other than water in the van. So why did it take me a half hour to clean the spills out of the carpet?

After spending two hours scrubbing the carpet, the floor mats, the walls, the seats, the ceiling (how did that red stuff get up there?) and the windows, I got the van put back together and it looks pretty good. There is now a plastic tub in there for the kids' coloring, one for garbage and one for my travel supplies. I also put a big storage tub in the back for groceries so they're not flying all over the place on the way home. I had a gallon of milk leak back there a month ago and I about burst into tears. There is nothing worse than the smell of spoiled milk inside a car in July. If you ever get a drop of milk spilled in your car, you will never be able to get the smell out. I think auto manufacturers are starting to make the spoiled milk smell a standard feature in family vans now. Luckily the milk only got on the mat so I was able to take it out and wash it.. I won't have that problem again now that I have something in the trunk to put the groceries in. It should also be great for wet winter boots, swimming towels and my six year old's rock and stick collection. (Grandpa, do you like rocks?)

Rosemary Meatloaf

I made my favorite meatloaf recipe tonight. If you like meatloaf as much as I do, you might like trying a new version of an old favorite. This one is full of fresh vegetables and herbs and is not too sweet. I also like it because it's broiled, allowing the fat to drain off during cooking.

Beef, Rosemary Meatloaf
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3 slices white bread
1 large carrot -- peeled and diced
1 rib celery -- diced
1/2 medium onion -- peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic -- smashed and peeled
1/2 cup fresh parsley -- loosely packed
1/2 cup ketchup
1 pound ground beef, extra lean
1/2 pound ground pork
2 large eggs -- beaten
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1/2 teaspoon fresh rosemary -- chopped fine

Topping:
3 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 small red onion -- cut into rings
rosemary needles

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Put bread slices into the bowl of your food processor. Process until fine crumbs form. Transfer bread crumbs to a large mixing bowl. Do not substitute dried bread crumbs in this step, as they will make your meat loaf rubbery.

Place carrot, celery, onion, garlic and parsley in the bowl of the food processor. Process until vegetables have been minced. Transfer vegetables to bowl with the bread.

Add 1/2 cup ketchup, 1 teaspoon dry mustard, pork, beef, eggs, salt, and pepper, hot sauce and rosemary to bowl. Mix until ingredients are thoroughly combined. Be careful not to overknead. Form an elongated loaf on a broiler pan.

Mix 3 tablespoons ketchup and 2 tablespoons brown sugar in a bowl. Spread glaze over loaf. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a small sauce pan. When oil is smoking, add red onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft and golden in places. Arrange onion over the meat loaf.

Bake 30 minutes, then sprinkle rosemary needles on top. Continue baking loaf for 25 minutes.

Seedlings And Upstarts

My babies are growing! I was out of town earlier this week so I asked a neighbor to tend my seedlings for three days. When I got back half of them had sprouted! I missed it! You know, it's those early moments of life that create such a strong bond. But, I think our relationship will be able to recover from our short separation.

My Mother and I drove down to my sister's to help her and her husband put down tile in her kitchen, dining room, living room, bathroom and hall. We put down all the backerboard and started on the tile. There is still a lot of work for her family to do but at least we got them started.

I came home motivated to work on my own house. Last night I did some painting on the trim in our basement. I'll do a little bit every day until I'm finished. But first, today, Garage Sales! Oh, we love Saturday mornings! I'm going to let the kids sleep a bit longer and then we're off.

My six and four year olds each have their own fanny pack that they keep their money in. They both get one dollar in nickels and they have to negotiate their own deals when they see something they want. Why not get them started young! It's hard to resist a sweet little four year old girl saying, "Excuse me, can I buy this book for a nickle?" I'll let you know if I find any good deals myself. I'm always on the look out for movies, old decorating magazines and storage containers.

Once Upon A Candy Wagon

The kids have named their candy selling business, "The Big Candy Wagon". It's been a great venture for them. They get to know all the kids in the neighborhood, they're learning how to count money, and they're learning how to run a business. So why is this candy business giving me a headache? The kids are constantly asking to eat the candy they are supposed to be selling. "Yes you can have a piece." "No, you've had enough for today." I feel like I'm on candy patrol 12 hours a day!

Since I've been eating intuitively, I can have any kind of candy in the house and go days without eating a single piece. It's a different story with my kids. After years of having me control what and when they are eating, they don't eat very intuitively. I didn't have treats around the house very often so when I did, they would eat them almost uncontrollably. I've been trying to change their behavior lately by having lots of treats and snacks around the house and letting the kids eat them whenever they want. I want them to know there will always be plenty of yummy food to eat. What has worked the best is to divide treats into individual bags. Each of us have our own stash so we can eat it all or save it for later. Everyone knows they are getting their fair share. I've found that we all eat a lot less this way.

In spite of the fact I had given up control over other foods, I still hadn't done this with the candy the kids were selling. I let them have a little bit every time they wanted to sell, but no more. Two days ago I decided I'd had enough of them torturing me. I told them they could eat as much candy as they wanted. I knew they would eat a lot at first but I had hoped they would get sick of it eventually and not eat as much. Basically the kids have been eating candy non-stop for two days. I'm having a harder time with it than I thought. I can't stand to see them eating it!

I have devised a new plan. I'm going to give each of them a bag full of candy and tell them that's all they get for one week. When the bag is empty, they don't get anymore until next Saturday. They still get to eat it when they want but the supply won't be unlimited. I'm hoping this will work better for all of us. If it doesn't then I'll have to think of something new. I feel certain it will work though. It has too!

Get Your Garden Started

Are you ready to start working in the yard? It's so beautiful outside we can't seem to stay inside for more than a couple minutes. We forced ourselves to get our chores and school work finished this morning. Now we're headed out!

Yesterday we cleaned dead plants and leaves out of the flower beds. We also got our flower seeds started. The kids love to plant their own giant sunflower seeds every year. They grow so fast you can practically see their leaves unfolding. In just a few months they will be taller than the kids. Then the kids get to eat the seeds. Gardening can't get any more fun than that! If you've got kids you really need to have them try this for themselves this summer.

Here's how I'm starting my seeds this year:

I fill a plastic drink cup 3/4 full with clean potting soil and make a drainage hole in the bottom with a knife. Following the directions on the package, I plant the seed in the soil and write the name of the flower on the cup with a black marker. I line the cups up in plastic trays that allow for drainage. I get these free from our local nursery. I water the cups lightly and cover them with a clear plastic container. This keeps them moist and warm. I keep all my trays in a wagon that I can pull into the sun during the day and pull back into the garage at night. I have to keep a rock on top of the trays to keep the lids from blowing off. When the plants start sprouting I will take the covers off. When they get their second set of leaves they can be transplanted into the garden as long as any danger of frost is past. Last year I started all my seeds indoors under grow lights. This was too much work and much too expensive. It was too much work because I had to haul water to water the seedlings twice a day and I had to move the plants in and out of the garage for a couple weeks to harden them off anyway. Doing it this way I can use the hose for watering and the plants will already be accustomed to the weather.

I hope you will try starting your own seeds this year. If it feels too overwhelming, begin with just one type of flower or vegetable. I don't want you spending all your hard-earned money at the nursery. It's too easy to do it yourself and it's so much fun!

Victory!

I have gotten so much done today! I spent four hours cleaning out the garage this afternoon. The garage, along with the back yard is difficult for me to keep clutter-free and organized. It's too easy to look the other way as I'm passing by.

I cleared a space for an old cupboard I bought last fall and organized my paint cans into it. That made more room on my gardening shelves so I could get some pots and tools up off the floor. I used the shop-vac to sweep the floor and cleared out the kid's winter shoes from their boxes.

I was so exhausted after I was finished that I didn't think I could make it through my weight lifting class but I did it. It's a victory for Organization and Exercise today!

A Little Bit Won't Hurt

This morning I was standing in the kitchen as my bread was mixing in the Bosch. My eyes started glazing over as I watched the kneading hook spin the dough around and around. I didn't want to turn my head. If I shifted my gaze a few inches I might notice the mess of dishes and books and toys, and STUFF, that had collected while the family was rushing to get ready for Church. I didn't want to deal with it right then. I just wanted to mix my bread so it could raise while I laid down for a minute to read a magazine. I didn't have the energy for anything else.

Here is where my new programming kicks in. Do I have to take time out to put all the dishes in the dishwasher? Do I have to put everyone's stuff away where it belongs? Do I have to sweep the floor, scrub the sink, etc.? The answer to these questions is NO. I don't have to do anything. But I can spend the two minutes I'm waiting for the dough to finish kneading and clean up a couple dishes. I can wipe off the counter I just finished using, I can put the peanut butter away that someone left out. That's it. I don't have to do a complete and thorough cleaning of the entire room. Any small task that I choose to accomplish now, is better than nothing. And it won't hurt a bit.

It's Garage Sale Season!

I haven't written for a few days. I've actually had some things going on in my life for a change. I taught some little 8 year olds in the neighborhood how to make some cute Thank You notes. My kids have started up their candy business for the summer so we have been shopping and organizing for that. I'm so proud of my little entrepreneurs! They had a slow start but they did good for their first day.

I've also been to the gym four times this week! I would consider going tomorrow since I'm on such a roll but I don't think I'm willing to give up a whole Saturday morning of garage sales. We've run out of movies we haven't seen so I need to stock up again.

I'm making an announcement that my home is going to undergo some major re-organization in the next few weeks. I'm determined. Is it spring fever? Every closet and drawer is driving me nuts. Where should I start? Just thinking about it makes me want to take a nap. Tomorrow I'll spend my fifteen minutes cleaning out a craft drawer in the kitchen. It's mutated into a junk drawer so I need to put a stop to that.

Yesterday we came home with four monster sized bags of Cheetos from Sam's club. I didn't want you to worry. I'll let you know when we make it through our first bag.

A Victim Of The Food Police

I'll admit it. I've been getting a bit cocky about my success with Intuitive Eating. It's getting so easy for me, almost second nature now. Yesterday I was reminded of the delicacy of my new found relationship with food. I have a lot more work to do before it is rock solid.

Cheetos used to be right at the top of my naughty food list for a long time. We go way back. My Mother bought them once in a while when I was a child but with three older siblings there was never enough to go around as far as I was concerned. When I got a little older (11) I took the opportunity of buying them for myself. I was in 7th grade that year and very lonely. We had just moved to a new town. Up until school started I didn't know any other kids and was left to devise my own entertainment. The best that I could come up with was, walking to the corner store for a bag of cheetos and the library for a stack of books. This was my usual outing. Of course I was old enough to know that what I was doing was "wrong". Only a "bad girl" would sit and eat an entire bag of Cheetos in one day! But I was never over-weight as a child so my secret was safe.

I stopped buying them during my latest episode of dieting. I started practicing Intuitive Eating and I hadn't though of them since. Then yesterday I picked some up for the kids and I to snack on. We came home and divided them into baggies so everyone would have their fair share (that's another story). Instead of eating the few that I really wanted, I devoured them all. After eating too many they didn't even taste good but I kept on eating them like I'd trained myself to do as a child. It was a small bag so I didn't even eat that many but all the guilt feelings associated with this food came flooding back. I consoled myself with a bowl of ice-cream. Since there was only a bit of ice-cream left I had another bowl full and went to bed feeling sick.

This morning I was clear headed enough to evaluate my binging episode. I have decided that the only solution for my adiction is to buy five more bags of Cheetos and keep my house stocked with them at all times. Just the thought of force feeding myself Cheetos is enough to keep me eating Intuitively!

Organize Your Hair

Can I just whine a little bit about my hair? I don't want to complain too much because I am grateful that it is thick and beautiful (when I do it!). The troublesome part is that it's curly in the back and stick straight in the front. So I either have to curl the front or straighten the back for it to look normal. This takes a lot of effort on my part so you know where I'm going with this. It's too hard! Waaaa!

Luckily for me, straight is in and I can go anywhere to have my hair chemically straightened. Chris doesn't get very excited about the 50 bucks I spend every three months so I think you ladies should clue him in that he's getting off cheap. Everyone I know spends WAY more than that on hair and nails etc. I'm pretty much a granola kind of girl. If I paint my toenails once a year for summer holiday I'm getting crazy.

So, what used to take me an hour to do, now takes about 10 minutes with a blow dryer and comb. Then I emerge from the bathroom with perfectly straight hair. The problem? I still hate doing my hair! That's 10 minutes worth of extra work every single day! I wouldn't even wash my hair every day if I didn't work out every day. I guess it's a sacrifice I'll have to keep making for the sake of my health and body.

If I cut my hair shorter then I might be able to cut my blow drying time down to 5 minutes instead of 10. How are you doing on your beauty routine? What can you do to make it easier? Is you hair organized?

Move Away From The Corn Dog

I had a run-in with a box of corn dogs the other day. I've never had corn dogs in the house before. They were one of those "forbidden" foods that weren't allowed across my threshold. It happened innocently enough. I saw them at the store and put them in my cart. No pangs of guilt surfaced. I didn't even give it a thought. I eat anything I want now and I can feed my kids anything I want. I brought them home and put them in the freezer. I cooked some for the kids and decided I'd have one myself. Uh oh. It tasted so good drenched in mustard. It was gone in about 30 seconds. I wanted another one. Then it hit me. Was I really allowed to be doing this? I could feel the fat grams attatching themselves to my thighs. I wanted to know how many of those little suckers I was dealing with. I ate another one but I didn't look. I controlled myself. I ate two corn dogs without even glancing at the nutritional information on the box. Why should I.

Why should I spend my days figuring out fat grams and calories when it's all done for me. All I have to do is eat the food. It's my body's job to figure out the details. I eat the food and my body digests it. Then I listen for my body to tell me what I should do next. Am I still hungry or am I full. Do I crave corn dogs at my next meal or do I want salad. I go with it. It's the simplest plan ever created, put into play the moment I was conceived. It worked perfectly until my environment started messing with it.

As I got older my brain was picking up messages that my body had never conceived of before. My Grandparents forced me to "clean my plate". Why did I have to eat when I wasn't hungry anymore? When I was eight I heard some teenagers talk about "pigging out". You mean you just keep eating even when you are full? I'll have to try that. I heard older women saying they were fat. Was I fat? My legs are wider than all my friend's so I must be fat too. It didn't occur to me that I was a foot taller than them so of course I would be bigger. On and on it went. I noticed that when I looked in the mirror, I didn't look like the girls in the magazines and on television. My body was flawed. If it was going to disappoint me like this then I would have to start disappointing it. I stopped eating what it wanted me to. I looked for clues outside myself on what I "should" be eating and what I "shouldn't". I learned from my friends how to tell if I had been "bad" or "good" that day. I needed help. I obviously couldn't make these decisions on my own. Dairy products will kill you. Cheesecake will make you fat. The television said so. Now what should I be eating? Grapefruit, carbs, protein?

Wow! Why couldn't I see how crazy that was? How did I live like that for so many years? Starving or binging and always miserable. Always out of control. Never trusting myself. It's seems like a long nightmare that is finally over. Hello! I'm awake now! I eat corn dogs without adding up the little numbers printed on the box!

I Can See The Light

I've been really working with my kids for the last few months to teach them to keep their things picked up. My six year old does a great job. All he wants to do is please me. If I tell him to clean his room or empty the dishwasher, he does it without complaint. My four year old is an entirely different species. Any word from my lips involving work and she dissolves into a puddle of whining exhaustion on the floor. Her efforts are so effective that I almost want to stop asking her to pick up her things. It's easier to do it myself and my ears don't hurt as much. Nevertheless, I don't stop. I persevere. I nag. I am rewarded by a glimmering light of hope. I command and she listens. I direct and she obeys. I would have not thought it possible but here she is. My daughter, cleaning up the puzzle, with no sound excaping her lips. She doesn't stop there. She vacuums the stairs. She helps her brother clean his room and he helps her in hers to they can get finished faster. It's Saturday and they want to play with friends. An entire morning of glory for the good side, the right side, the organized side.

Intuitive Eating

I'm announcing to everyone that I will never go on another diet, ever. I've been dieting for as long as I can remember and the only thing it has done for me is made me fat! The more I starve myself, the more I eat and the fatter I get. Does that sound familiar to any of you? A very brave friend gave me a book a year ago for Christmas called "Intuitive Eating". (You have to be truly brave to give someone a diet/non-diet book!) Should I feel insulted? I decided not to think about it and just read the book. I loved it, but I decided I would lose weight first and then I would fully embrace intuitive eating. This translates into me wanting to, but not really believing this could work for me. So I did my little WW diet and I killed myself working out twice a day for four months and lost 35 pounds. I was the master! Until, I got tired of it all and stopped completely. I gained a few pounds and then I went on a cruise and gained 10 pounds (that's mandatory for crusing). Then I gained a few more pounds. Eventually I went right back up to where I started from a year ago. Then the thought hit me. I should try Intuitive Eating!

I wish I had thought of that a year ago before my latest roller coaster ride. I already knew I would never diet again. I couldn't force it upon myself. Not even one more time. The whole process is pure misery and guaranteed to fail. Isn't it? Do you know anyone who has gone on a diet and kept the weight off? Some people claim to but how long do they keep it off? I kept my weight off for two years after doing WW the first time. I thought I was the greatest success story ever told. I preached my WW doctorine to anyone who would listen and dozens of people joined in my footsteps. Was I some kind of goddess? Maybe, until that fateful day. The day I had surgery on my tonsils. The ultimate in starvation. I couldn't eat anything for days. I couldn't eat normal food for weeks. I was wasting away and loving it. The skinnier the better, right? I didn't care that everyone told me how sick I looked. My dream of becoming anorexic had finally come true! (That was the "sick" part.) Until I started feeling better. I couldn't help but make up for lost time. I started eating foods in quantities that I hadn't eaten for three years. The ultimate in binging. I gained a few pounds but, no harm done. I would just start doing Weight Watchers again after the Holidays. I had done it before and it was easy. Except that it wasn't easy. It was really, really hard. I didn't want to diet again. I was above dieting wasn't I? I was the queen of fitness and health. Instead of losing those few pounds I gained a little more. Up and up the scales went without stopping. That brings us up to a year ago when I was given the answer but I was too blind to follow.

So now I'm an Intuitive Eater. My lastest in health and fitness crazes. Or is it? Can I really do this for the rest of my life? Can Lara Gallagher really stick with something for more than a few months or a year? Let's see...I eat anything I want. I eat whenever I want. I exercise if I feel like it. I lose weight. Yep. I most definately can!

Looking Good At All Cost

My daughter fell off her bike yesterday and got a HUGE bump on her forehead. Instead of telling me about it she snuck down to her room and fell asleep. When I got word of it from my son I woke her up to see if she was ok and I asked her why she didn't come tell me what happened. She replied, "I wasn't wearing my helmet and I didn't want to get in big trouble." I said, "If you had blood running down your head would you have come told me?" "No," was her answer. So the big question is, "Why weren't you wearing your helmet?" "Because it wouldn't fit over my hat." Well, there you go. It's better to risk death and your Mother's wrath than to remove your stylish pink hat so your helmet will fit.

This whole thing reminded me of another girl who got hit by a car, while riding her bike. Instead of telling anyone about it she went down to her room and fell asleep. You've guessed it. Later, the woman who hit me called. My Mother was astonished that I didn't tell her what happened. Well, I hadn't broken anything and I didn't want to make a big deal about it!

Shovels And Rakes And Hoses, Oh My!

The kids and I got in trouble this morning. The kids have been using the snow shovels to shovel off the trampoline so they can jump on it when it's nice outside. Then they leave them all over the yard only to get burried the next time it snows. When Papa gets home and can't find his snow shovel he gets just a tiny bit upset! Yesterday I was outside with the kids helping them with the trampoline. The snow shovels are lost to us until the spring melt so we got out the garden shovels. Welllllll, we kind of forgot about them and left them out all night so we were all in big trouble this morning. Luckily we didn't get snow so they got put away nicely but we are under strict orders not to let it happen again. Considering the kids have already lost three shovels, I think we had better do what Daddy Says!

Once I was able to maintain my house I had to turn my attention to keeping the yard neat. Last summer I made a very big effort to keep all the gardening tools and hoses put away in the front yard. I didn't even try with the back yard and all the kids toys. It looks like I will be making an effort with both yards this year. Here we come back to things being easy to put away. Chris bought me a gardening wagon for Mother's Day. I keep my tools in it and pull them around the yard with me. Then I just pull it into the garage when I'm through with it. It couldn't be any simpler. Then, I have always had to drag the hose all the way across the yard to water my side garden. Last spring I talked Chris into installing a water facet on that side of the house. Using a short, coil hose, it was just as easy to put it away as to leave it strung out. Yay, one more little problem solved! All these little solutions really add up to making my life a lot easier. What little thing can you do around your house to make your life easier? Click on "Comment" below and tell me.

Organizing For Crafters

Do you have dozens of craft projects going on at one time? Hmmm, that sounds familiar. There's nothing wrong with that as long as your husband doesn't find out how much money you have spent on all that "crap", as he would call it, and divorce you. Another problem is the Breeding Phenomena. Whenever I start a project and I get pulled away from it because I need to fix dinner or run to the store, etc, I tell myself I'm going to get right back to it but guess what? I never do! It just sits there, reminding me what a failure I am for not finishing it. "I'm going to finish it, just not today!", my thoughts scream. Soon I will start on another project, and another, and another until the mountains of fabric and patters and patterns and scissors and supplies are looming over me so high that I force myself to sort through it. I either spend hour upon agonizing hour going through it and putting it away or I just throw it in some drawers and boxes to get it out of my sight till I start all over again! It's taken four years of practice but I finally have a clean craft room and you can too. When you have all your projects organized it is easier to see what you need to finish before you start something new. Your head will be clearer and you will work better in an organized space.

I want you to try something this week. Find everything you need for one of your projects. Gather all the supplies into a clear Rubbermaid container or a gallon sized baggy, or try using my Organizing Bags. Use whatever it will all fit comfortably into but the number one rule is that it has to be easy to put away. If your craft supplies are in a cold dark basement and you have to drag them upstairs to work on them then they are not going to be easy to put away. Where do you work on your crafts? That's where you will store them. If it's in the kitchen then you are going to have to find a place for them in the kitchen. Clean out a cupboard or two. I know you have dishes or pans in your kitchen that you never use more than once a year. Put those in the basement and use your prime storage space for the things you need every day. Buy a set of organizing drawers on wheels if you have to and keep it in a closet nearby. If you get this done and it wasn't too painful then start sorting all your projects this way until you have a clear space to work. Separate your quilting from your scrapbooking. Your knitting from you cross stitching. From now on, every time you get something out to work on you are going to put it away immediately. Make yourself do this! It is so easy to put away now that you won't have a reason not to. If you struggle with this then remind yourself of the pain you will be causing if you leave it out. The pain of your kids getting into it. The pain of losing things. The pain of it constantly nagging you. You don't need another pain in the neck. You need an organized craft room!

Organizing Crafts
Find a place to donate your finished or unfinished projects.