Ideas on how to clean and organize the home

Blue and White in my Cabinets

/2 Comments/in , /by

Good Morning,


I am back online after taking a week off. If you watched my YouTube video last week I discussed how my boxer chewed my cord to my home computer! Not fun! Now I did not catch him in the act but as soon as I picked it up I yelled at both of them, “You chewed my cord”! The baby boxer (he is 5 years old) just sat there but the older one (who is 8 years old) ran down the stairs. GUILTY!!!


It’s okay, I got a new one and here we are. In today’s post I wanted to share a very small project that I did. I know we all probably have had or do have drawer pads. I saw this beautiful role of blue and white drawer padding at the store and just had to pick it up.

I could not find the link but I found it at my local grocery store. It is lovely.

I decided to put it under my sink cabinet on my side. I am now showing you guys my business. One of my oil sheen spray cans busted and I have been trying everything to get it out. 
Another reason why I decided to place this there. 

It looks so much better now. Now all I need are some beautiful organizing boxes to place inside with all of my products. 

I hope you guys have a wonderful Monday and I pleased to announce that we had SNOW this weekend! I pray that the heavens above are hearing my prayers. If you watched my fashion video on YouTube I had a small rant about how I hate how warm it is. Please let the seasons go accordingly. Everything is beautiful in it’s time. 
(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

Christmas Supplies I Am Using

/4 Comments/in , /by

Good Morning Everyone,


Only a few weeks left before Christmas! I went and finished my Christmas Eve dinner shopping this weekend. I got everything except for the items you have to buy last minute. 


My Christmas present shopping is complete and now it is time to check my Christmas supplies. Above is a photo of all of the gift wrapping that I possess. I save the blue and white wrapping paper for individuals who I know will appreciate it!


My daughter loves the weiner dog wrapping paper. I found that last year at T.J. Maxx as well as the others. The blue and white wrapping paper was purchased at The Enchanted Home last year. I just recently got into wrapping paper a few years ago. 


I believe that present presentation is so important. So I am trying to build my Christmas supplies inventory. 

These are the two ribbon rolls that I am using right now. I may visit T.J. Maxx this week to see if they have any new designs!
This is Christmas tissue paper that I purchased after Christmas last year and got it for 50% off!



The same with these gift bags. I found these at Target after Christmas for 50% off.


These are my favorites. Love the elk one!





I couldn’t resist these either. Don’t you just love the Nutcracker one?


And I always have little bags for gift cards and tags. I think I need some new tags. These are a little difficult to use. Another reason to pay T.J. Maxx a visit this week. 

Maybe this post provided some inspiration for you if you are not into present presentation. It says a lot when you put extra effort to make someone’s gift special (on the outside). Have a great Monday!


(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

One Chore at a Time…

/6 Comments/in , /by

Good Morning Everyone,


I hope all is well with everyone. I just wanted to say thank you to all of my new readers! For those of you who don’t know I was featured on author Jennifer L. Scott’s A Homemaker’s Presentation series. I was absolutely shocked that she asked me to be in it but also very humbled. 


It was great being featured in her video. Because of this I have obtained more followers so I just wanted to say HELLO to everyone and thank you for following my blog!


In today’s blog post I wanted to talk about my recent struggle with chores! Yes CHORES! Now I have NEVER had an issue with housework and I mean NEVER! But for the last four months it has been a struggle and I finally found out why.


Since I moved out of my mother’s house in 2002, I have always scheduled my housework for Saturday and half of Sunday. I have kept the same cleaning schedule for 17 years! Well in the last few months I have found myself not wanting to do any housework or limited housework on my Saturdays. I want a free weekend! 


I was beginning to feel guilty because I didn’t want to do chores and it bothered me quite a bit. I love my home and love keeping it up so I thought, “why in the world do I feel like this”. Now I am not trying to sound all spiritual but I prayed about it and then it came to me that I needed to switch up my schedule. 


I have had the same schedule for WAY to long and needed a change. So now, I have planned one chore a day each day and it has made it much easier on the weekends. So I now do certain chores throughout the week that I would never do. I have also added my daughter to it to teach her the home-keeping ways. 


To give everyone an example I now do loads of laundry. Like this past Tuesday, I washed my curtains. 




The next day, I washed my decorative pillows for our bed. Nice!








The following day I washed more items around the home. 








So now when Saturday comes along I no longer have a list of things to do maybe just 3 or 4. I can hear the Hallelujah chorus!


I can now sit down and watch a Hallmark movie, have a cup of tea or get some inspiration for the blog!






I am sharing this because I think it happens to the best of us. You get stuck in these routines and they almost become like jobs and then it dawns on you that you don’t have to keep these militant routines. 


Days should be enjoyed as well as your home. With my step-sons gone and our daughter getting older I think that our house will become less messy anyway. So if you need to change your cleaning schedule, then change it! Give yourself permission. Lord knows I had to give myself the “okay” to do this. 


Brighter weekends ahead!




Thanks for reading!






(photos via Mrs. Shockley)



















An Elegant Party Closet

/6 Comments/in , /by

Hi There!


Happy Friday to all! Boy, I tell you, inspiration is everywhere. I was in Pinterest recently, lots of inspiration there, and saw Bunny Williams‘s party closet!


Oh, something else that I would love to amass!

party closet serving williams veranda
photo credit Jennifer Greenburg



Now wouldn’t this be great? Well, I guess if you like to entertain it would be great but some people may see this as another area that they have to organize and keep clean. 

I see beauty and whatever ways to serve others with it. 


The party closet has been coined as, “a place to get creative and make entertaining at home easy and fun. It has also been declared as the new shoe closet! I can definitely agree with that. 

Photo credit Jennifer Greenburg
She even has all of her linens hanging on hangers. How chic! This would feel like a shopping trip in your own home. It’s a great way to see everything you have and not buy doubles of anything. 
party closet containers williams veranda
photo credit Jennifer Greeburg 
Designer Becky Boyle said, “I also have all of my vases and containers on one shelf so I can see everything at once. Not only does it help me plan a table or quickly pull something together if someone pops over, but it also helps me know when to add or replace things.”


There are so many ideas and inspiration for a party closet. You may read the article here to find some. 

I hope you all enjoyed this post and even if you have a small home you can use a small antique cupboard to convert into one. Enjoy your weekend!

party closet armoire closed georgantas veranda
photo credit Elizabeth Georgantas 

(photos via Veranda.com)

The Enchanted Home Desk Calendar

/in , /by

Good Friday Morning,
It’s the beginning of fall break here for our students. I know that our daughter and my step-son are really excited! Honestly, I am too. It’s nice to get these holiday breaks so that you can reset yourself to get your schedule back in-sync. 


At the beginning of the school year we were leaving the house at 7:30 in the morning. Now we have slipped up to 7:40 which is killing us! I’ve got to get it back together. It’s amazing how that 10 minutes is everything. 


In today’s post I wanted to share a recent item that I received last week. I did the pre-sale order for the Enchanted Home Desk Calendar.


And it’s in blue and white of course!

I already have it on my desk at the office and can’t wait to use it in 2020. 
This one happens to be my favorite. She has her signature orchid on top of the table with all of her gorgeous blue and white ginger jars at the bottom. 

And look at December. Isn’t that picturesque? The nutcrackers, the ginger jars, the stockings and fire.
Very nice!

I think that Tina and the artist did a wonderful job with these. They are simple yet still elegant but we should not be surprised. Tina’s Blog is just beautiful and she has wonderful taste. I did not purchase the easel from her. I actually purchased this last year from Inslee. I ordered her desk calendar last year and it came with the gold easel so I was in luck! I did not have to purchase one. 

I hope that you enjoyed this new chic little office find and thank you to everyone who watched my mid-week video on Youtube. I actually had fun filming that one. Have a great weekend!

(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

Toscana

/in , /by

Bonjour,


And time for a little blue and white find. A few weeks ago, after viewing some wonderful finds at Ann Taylor, my family and I stopped by Sur La Table. 


Remember I talked about this wonderful place when my husband and I took a cooking class there for a date night. Gosh, we really need to do that again, but they had new dinner plates and accessories. 

Aren’t these fab? And they are thick. They don’t feel like discount plates. They look and feel wonderful! These are called the Toscana dinner plates and they come in green and white also. 


There were matching bowls, platters, and mugs. I hope I can catch them on sale the next time we go. I would love to have a few of the plates. I really adore those. 

If you have a Sur La Table near you go and visit it. It is a beautiful store with wonderful accessories and supplies on how to dine well. My husband and I love visiting our store. There are always items we want for home and always classes that we want to try. 

Thanks for reading! 

Au Revoir!

(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

Staying Organized ~ Lists

/5 Comments/in , /by

Good Morning and welcome to the end of July. Goodness, the end of July. Wow… this evening we have freshman orientation with our daughter Lauren. She is going to be a freshman this year!


She was in fourth grade when I started this blog. Let that sink in….

photo credit Melnychuk Nataliya 



Today I want to talk about lists. Lists, lists, glorious lists! I love writing lists. Don’t you? I write at least two lists every week. I write a grocery/ home list and I review our finance list.

Every week I walk through our entire home and take a look at our toiletries, home supplies, personal needs, pantry, and refrigerator to jot down what we need. 
It helps me to keep track of my home and to make sure that the fridge is stocked and ready for home meals. That I have what I need to keep my home clean and that everyone has what they need to take care of themselves. I recently read a blog post about keeping lists in our lives and found it very inspiring. Shannon gave great ideas and great lists to have handy in our lives. 

One website that I use for great and orderly lists is The Day Designer. This website has great lists and lists for everything! They are free and are emailed to you for printing. 





photo credit Carolyn V. 

I emailed a few to myself this week. I plan on trying the grocery list. I normally just write down what we need and then just mark it off when I have it. I love checking things off. It helps me to complete tasks and to mentally take items off of my list. 


I know that may sound weird but I keep mental lists too. What lists do you have? Do you keep weekly lists? Please share if you do. I would love to hear it.


Thanks for reading!