California Closets to the Rescue!

When we moved into this house a little more than six years ago, we had California Closets come in to do a couple of big projects for us. One was to deck out our master bedroom closet (LOVE IT), and the other was to build an office for us.

At the time, Jason and I both had desktop computers (what are those?) and needed homes for them. We spent a lot of time in that room and used the office well. Well...that is until we both got with the times and bought laptops several years ago.

Since then, the room we dedicated to be the office has become a home for stuff...and a place where we sit every now and then to hook up to the printer.

Fast forward to July 2011. We found out that Baby #2 was on the way, and we immediately realized she would need a space of her own. I wanted to make sure she didn't get the shaft as second child. I didn't want it to seem like we just shoved her in the office, which is the room we selected to become hers.

So, once we found out that she is, indeed, a girl, we needed to put a plan into motion. (If she had been a boy, we might have put her in R's current room and reworked the office in a different way to be his new room.) A couple of weeks ago, I called California Closets to get an estimate on moving the built-in stuff. I just wanted a baseline so that we could run numbers and bounce ideas around.

Well, when he told me it would only be about $100-150 to do the work, I went ahead and scheduled a date for the move.

That date was today. Last night, as we were cleaning off all of our shelves so that the office would be fit to move. Jason decided to do some last minute measuring and realized that our desk piece wasn't going to be able to go where we wanted it...because it wouldn't leave room for the attic stairs to pull down.

BLAST! Why didn't I realize that sooner???

I sat on the couch and cried last night. I was so hoping for today to be the day that would get the ball rolling toward getting baby girl's room started. 

So, when the guys from California Closets showed up this morning, I was dreading telling them that they came for no reason. And I was furiously brainstorming other ideas for how to move/salvage/rearrange the office pieces and make baby girl's room just perfect.

There were other snags too, but that was the most major, project-ending snag.

The guys showed up and I took them upstairs to the scene of the disaster. They whipped out their measuring tape and...and...voila! It turns out Jason's measurements were off! That's the most I've ever rejoiced in Jason being wrong! :)

So, they moved the office pieces, made a few minor adjustments to make it all fit the new space, and now we have a relocated office and a blank (albeit messy) canvas for a new nursery!

Now we're well on our way to carving out a place in our house specifically for baby girl. And I'll have somewhere to put all of her things...which right now consist of a onesie, a hoodie and one diaper. :)

R and I holed up in his room 

(across from the office) to watch the progress.

The repurposed office, now in the hallway!

Would you care to take a guess where the 

cut-out for Jason's chair was in the old office?

Operation Christmas Child: Mission Complete

I set a goal almost a year ago that I would try to fill 24 Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes this year. Mission Complete. I dropped the boxes off at church on Friday before we left town for homecoming.

I didn't do as great of a job buying items for my boxes throughout the year as I'd hoped. But that's where I am going to learn from my "mistakes" and do better next year. One thing that's not a mistake: 24 children will feel the love of Jesus and hear the gospel message because of those 24 boxes.

At least I did do a good job of setting aside the money for shipping ($7 per box) throughout the year. That will kill you if you don't accumulate it gradually. I just put a $20 bill in an envelope about once a month. And, because of experience in prior years, I decided to get a money order for my box total ($168) instead of depositing the money and writing a check. Why? Because, in years past, my check sat in one of the shoeboxes for a couple of weeks before it ever got deposited. I didn't want to forget I'd spent $168 and then later have it disappear from my account!

Twenty-four turned out to be a perfect number. A lot of the items that I bought in bulk were sold in quantities of 8 or 12...which meant I'd have the exact right number if I bought either two or three packs of whatever the item was.

I bought my boxes early in the year and a few other items as I came across them or as I knew they would be on sale (i.e. crayons for 25 cents a box at back-to-school time). I need to do a better job next year of hitting up the sales in the days and week following holidays: Valentine's Day, Fourth of July, Back-to-School, Halloween (usually where I get some of my biggest scores), Thanksgiving (which means THIS year) and Christmas (also this year). Shoot...I might even get some deals after New Year's Eve and some of the other "minor" holidays.

I also might take a closer look at my Oriental Trading Company purchases before making them next year. I bought several bulk items from there, because they are super inexpensive. The only problem is, they're also very cheap (low-quality) and tiny.

To the best of my recollection, here's what went into my boxes this year (12 boy boxes and 12 girl boxes).

• Coloring books (Oriental Trading)
• 24-packs of crayons (Target - on sale for 25 cents a piece during back-to-school)
• Washcloths (Target)
• Plastic whistles (Target - party favors aisle)
• Novelty sunglasses (Target - party favors aisle)
• Mini pinball games (Oriental Trading)
• Plastic mugs (Oriental Trading)
• Mini Play-Doh (Target - bags of 20 on sale after Halloween)
• Mini paddleball games (Oriental Trading)
• Spinning tops (Oriental Trading)
• Matchbox cars (Dollar General or Big Lots - boys' boxes only)
• Suckers & gum (Target - on sale after Halloween)
• Hair bows and clips (Big Lots - girls' boxes only)
• Combs (Big Lots - girls' boxes only)
• Nail polish (Dollar General - girls' boxes only)
• Stuffed animals (We donated about a dozen from Rylan's basket of untouched stuffed animals, and I bought the other dozen at Dollar General)
• Bars of soap (Costco)
• Pencils (Dollar General)
• Toothbrushes (Donated by Jason's dentist)
• Toothpaste (Donated by Trey's dentist)
• Notepads (Big Lots)
• Mini spiral notebooks (Dollar General)
• Tennis balls (Target)
• Sidewalk chalk (Target, I think. I bought two big boxes and divided the chalk into Ziplock bags)
• Mini yo-yos (Oriental Trading)
• Mini beach balls (Oriental Trading)
• Finger skateboards (Big Lots - boys' boxes only)
• Kaleidoscopes (Dollar General)

That's all I can remember. I'm sure there were probably a couple more items I can't recall. But, I wanted to put that all down in writing to help me with my shopping for next year!

I think I'm going to set the same goal for myself for next year, but I will strive to do a better job of buying more earlier in the year instead of going on a buying frenzy the last few weeks before boxes came due. If I change it up at all, it might be to throw in a couple of boxes for the two age groups I didn't touch. All of my boxes were the 5-9 age group, which I'm assuming is probably the most popular. Maybe next year I'll pick up a couple of 2-4 year-old boxes or a box or two for the 10-14 age group.

Making Room for Baby

It's so hard to believe that I'm 22 weeks into this journey. In some ways, it feels like it's been ages since I saw that + on the pregnancy test. In other ways, it feels surreal and like it never even happened. And, yet, in other ways, it feels like it was yesterday.

But, 22 weeks in...

That means I have roughly 18 weeks left. Now that is a little shocking. And when you factor in Thanksgiving and Christmas, I'm sure a nice chunk of that time is just going to fly right by.

We have a lot yet to do. But, one thing I learned from my experience with our first child is this: it doesn't all have to be done by the time baby arrives. Shoot...we could have easily survived our first six weeks with R if we only had a few outfits, diapers, wipes, the Boppy and the pack 'n' play.

On the same token, I know I won't have the time or the energy to do the big stuff after she arrives. I certainly don't plan on painting while juggling a newborn and a toddler. Shoot no! That's the kind of stuff I'm talking about getting done before she arrives.

We know what room will become the nursery, and it's going to be a massive undertaking. Why? Well, because it's currently our office. And offices are notorious for becoming dumping grounds. There's a lot of STUFF in there. I'm kind of excited about the idea that we are being forced to clean some of it out. I'll bet we find some things we didn't even know we had. And we'll find some things we forgot we had (which means they can probably go away).

The cleaning is going to be the biggest challenge. And we're on a deadline. No, not an 18-week deadline...a one-week deadline. Our office isn't just a bunch of stuff thrown on/in a desk or two. We had California Closets build in a custom office six years ago. And it's got to move, because I'm not going to make my baby girl feel like an afterthought by sticking her into an office. Plus, we don't have anywhere else to store that "stuff." Hence the deadline. California Closets will be here in a week, and we need to have everything unloaded from the cabinets and desk drawers so it can move. Oh the joy!

And once that's done, I feel like I'll be able to start really thinking about bedding (which has already been quite the search), colors, paint, decor, etc. I'm most excited that we'll have a place to designate as "hers." Right now, everything this poor child can call her own is stacked on my dresser. It consists of a onesie and a tiny polka dotted hoodie. But at least it'll have a home after the office moves out. :)

Snapshots from my Mind

The following tidbits have nothing in common, except for the fact that they're floating around in my head right now.

1. I know they're not good for me, but I love Ramen Noodles. Chicken flavor. 
2. My trip to Venezuela was awesome. I would love to blog about it, but I don't even know where to start. Simple summary: God is good.
3. My child has absolutely no problem with hydration. Or pooping.
4. It's a girl. :)
5. I made a cake last night. It's yummy.
6. I've started working on my Christmas card list for this year. I'm proud that I've begun already. I'm sad, because there are several Mr. & Mrs. cards that will only be going to Mr. or Ms. this year. :-/
7. I got a love letter in the mail today. From my husband. :)
8. I've been having dreams in Spanish lately.