Organize Your Cowgirls

Yesterday when we were busy cleaning the girls' room I installed some hooks that I have wanted to hang forever along with the only cowgirl things we could find around the house. (Montse beat me to it by a long shot!) To tell you the truth I wasn't sure which wall I wanted them on but now that I'm expecting another baby I know there will be a crib on one empty wall. That left me with only one option!

My biggest problem with starting projects is deciding what I want but as soon as I decide I am a go-getter. I really want to start decorating this room. The thing that's holding me back is choosing a color scheme. I want to use some red because of the stained glass window that's in there but I don't know what else to put with it. We want a pretty, subtle cowgirl room. I'm not thinking red bandanas here. I just need something to start with, a picture or a pillow or a rug. Something.

They have n@ked duvets that have been waiting for covers because I don't know what to buy but I think I'm going to go with neutral bedding so I can change accessories or paint whenever I want. (Because of course I will want to repaint every other month. You know how I am.) OK, that was a big decision I just made right there. Take a deep breath.

To get more information on my Organizing Hooks or to place an order click here.

Join me every day this month for GeMoOrgNo - Get More Organized Now! I started an official group at NaBloPoMo. If you would like to join you may go there and request an invitation.

More Participants - Make sure you check out their fun photos and posts!
Multi-Tasking Mommy
My Pursuit of Happiness
Just About Perfect
Tyler's Triumph

What's the First Thing You Tackle When You Have a Long To-Do List?

Something that's not even on the list of course.


Always drill a pilot hole when you're installing your Lazy Organizing Hooks.



What a lovely and organized place to hang your hand towels. And can you believe Stranger didn't have an aneurysm when he found out I drilled into this cabinet? Me neither.


I want to come clean about my addiction to lavender soap. I don't care if it is just for old ladies. I hide it in all my drawers and if I have a bar sitting on my dashboard so I can sniff it when I start to lose consciousness from listening to the kids argue over pocket lint in the back seat, so what? I tried to revive Stranger with the heavenly scent after he saw how much I spent on my latest soapy splurge but it didn't work.

Apparently it only has magical powers for the feminine species. They have a hard time keeping their little paws off it.

It's About Time!

Edited to answer a few questions.

The bags are made overseas.

Click here to read all my posts including photos and ideas for using my Organizing Bags. These bags are great for kids, crafts supplies, office supplies, organizing your purse, your suitcase, your closet, and your life! Don't forget that they make great gifts. I have a friend who fills them with I don't know what (I'll have to ask her) and gives them away. No wonder she is always running out!

If you are interested in selling Organizing Bags you will have to try out all the sizes so if you want to place an order right away I suggest you purchase the sample pack at the minimum. If you want to buy more bags than that I will credit them toward your sales.

I'm excited that so many of you are interested in selling bags and also thank you for all your orders!

The bags are finally going to be on their way! I can't believe it has taken this long. I am telling you, I can not WAIT to start using them! They are new and improved and I have three additional sizes, extra small, medium and extra large. All of the small through extra large sizes have a clear pocket to insert a label. Now each of your kids can have an "on the go" project bag labeled with their name.

I just spent two days updating my site with all the bag and hook information and PayPal buttons. Hopefully I have it all set up right and the shopping cart is working as it should. It's amazing how you can have a teeny tiny website but it can consume so much of your time! Go take a look for me.

You can still find my Organizing Bags at laragallagher.com/bags/ and now my hooks are at laragallagher.com/hooks/.

Here's the sad part. The bags are going to be done next week but it's going to take six weeks to get them shipped to me by slow boat. I am willing to pay extra to have a few boxes airmailed however because I know how long you've been waiting. So I am now taking pre-orders for the bags. If you get your order in as soon as possible I will ship your bags in about 2-3 weeks. Otherwise they will ship in a couple months. Either way you will want to get your order in because who knows how long this order will last. I think I may just use up half of them myself!

Extra small Oraganizing Bag with a little wrist strap - great for a change purse, credit cards, mini first aid kit and all the tiny things in your life.

Small Organizing Bag with a clear pocket to insert a label. It's the same old dependable size that is so convenient for everything from facial tissues, to games, puzzles, and receipts.

Medium Organizing Bag - This is my all time favorite new size. It's perfect for protecting a library book from getting dirty and squished in the bottom of your kid's backpack or it will hold a travel size box of baby wipes and three or four diapers. All you have to do is grab it out of the diaper bag and you're set to go. How cool is that? When your baby is a little older and you don't need a big diaper bag anymore she can be in charge of carrying her own diapers in this awesome bag!

Large Organizing Bag - It's just a little bit bigger than the old large bag so that a file folder or notebook will easily slide in and out. This size is great for your baby's wooden puzzles or for packing up an activity bag full of magazines, coloring books and crayons for your kids to take on the road. My kids each have their own for church and so does about half of the rest of our primary. Not really but it seems that way to some people.

Persistence came stomping in the house one day from Church yelling at me, "Are you trying to embarrass us or something??? Just about everyone in primary has one of these stupid bags! I'm never taking one to church again!!!" Was it rude of me to laugh at her misery?

Of course your child won't have that problem. Unless you start selling them that is. Which brings me to my last point. I am thinking about letting some of my readers start selling my Organizing Bags as a little home business. All you have to do is use them and everywhere you go people will ask you where they can get them for themselves. That's how I started! You could even sell them from your blog. E-mail me if you would be interested in something like that.

Extra Large Organizing Bag - This is a few inches bigger than the Large bag. For stuff that is, you know, larger.

I'm Found!

Three cheers for Stranger who got my computer working today. Hip hip horray! Hip hip horray! Hip hip horray!!!

I'm back but but a little behind on my bloggy commitments. Not only have I not posted a winner yet for the Dog Days Of Summer Bloggy Giveaway but I also missed Smart Habit Saturday! I'm so sorry!!! When we do it this week you'll have to leave two links ok?

Wait till you see the organizing that went on while Stranger was looking for our Windows disks to reinstall and fix my computer. There is always a silver lining on every organizing cloud isn't there? As soon as I have caught up on about 500 e-mails I will post some photos.

I will get to what we have all been waiting for, the drawing. First of all go look at my fabulous Lazy Organzing Hooks that I am now selling. I still have a few left so you can still place an order. I hope everyone will post photos so I can see how cute they look in your houses!

Next, take a look at all the weird organized/unorganized comments on my give away post. They were so fun to read and made me laugh!

Now thanks to my friend Rosie for helping me pick a winner (randomly). I was going to make the whole thing complicated and difficult like I like to do but she simplified the process for me so now I can easily say that...


Dream from the Burman Family blog has won four free Lazy Organizing hooks! I can tell just by looking at her that she's organized. Can't you? Go visit her to congratulate her on her new hooks but more importantly on her new pregnancy! Here was her comment:

"The weird organizing thing about me is that I have to pack & load the car-not my husband. I like to know where things are so I can get to them when I need them. Thanks for adding me to your drawing!"

Congratulations Dream!!! I am so excited to send you the hooks and since you didn't throw a fit (kidding!) I will let you choose between the rust color and the antique white. Just send me your address and I'll get them shipped.

Thanks to all of you who participated in the drawing and don't forget that we are still on for Smart Habit Saturday this week so I hope to see all the old timers and some new people there as well.

It's so great to be back in the land of the bloggers!

Dog Days Of Summer Bloggy Giveaway

I had to participate in this give away because guess what? I have something to give away!

I just got my beautiful, amazing Lazy Organzing Hooks in the mail last week so I'm itching to give some away. Go take a look to see how great they are.

The drawing is for 4 new, pretending to be old, Triple Iron Hooks in Rust or Antique White. (You get what you get and you don't throw a fit.) I will pay the shipping in the United States or to Canada. Anywhere else and you are on your own.

Here is what you do to be entered in my random drawing:

• Leave a comment on this post telling me one weird Organized/Unorganized thing about you.
  
• Go see if you're as weird as Andrea, Corrie and me.
  
• The Deadline will be Thursday at 7:00 p.m. or whenever I get around to closing the comments.
  
• Wait till Friday when I draw your name and post it here. (Of course you are going to win this! You didn't doubt it did you?)

That's it unless I forgot something. Happy Win Free Stuff week. Thanks for hosting Shannon!

The Sweetness of the Sweaters

I've been at it with the hooks again. I realized it could take me 10 years to actually finish my closet so I installed some temporary hooks. I'm not even going to paint the boards because they are not staying there. Is that a bit too optomistic of me?

I have always kept my baby's clothes in my closet until they old enough to dress themselves and put their own clothes away. It makes it so much easier to get myself and the baby ready at the same time and in the same place.

I was organizing Lovely's clothes into gallon sized baggies but that was a pain so I gave up on it. I bought all these boxes over the New Year sales and I thought I'd see if I liked them better than bags. So far I do and I also think they're pretty! I have two outfits organized into each one.

The white bin holds her pajamas. Since I like to freeze everyone out at night she wears two pairs to bed. She has more pajamas than regular clothes. It doesn't look like a lot of clothes does it? There might be a few things in the wash but what you see here is about all she owns. I would rather have a few cute things than a closet full of cheap ugly clothes. That doesn't mean I buy expensive clothes. I live for sales! Three out of four of those sweaters hanging up were hand-me-downs from a cousin and I bought the fourth one on sale from Gymboree last year for $3.

I also got tired of throwing Organizing Bags on the floor in the corner of my office/sewing room and installed a few temporary hooks there as well. Thank heaven for power tools!

Click on my Power Tools Label to see more about my hook fetish.