NESTING: BABY DRESSER AND CRIB

Another productive weekend for our nesting projects.


We finally got a dresser that is of a perfect height for diaper changing station.  Since it's the floor sample one, the dresser was 25% off.  YAYYY!!!  We love bargains!!!  Not only that we can use this for diaper changing station, we can also store baby clothes in here.  LOVE the multi-functional items.

The dresser filled with baby items from Cici Bao Zhu, Cici Chloe Kecil, Koko Nathan and Koko Ryan as well as from the baby shower by lots of loving Aunties.  Thank you, Cicis, Kokos and Aunties.

Baby items are organized by size and type so to make it easier for us to store and grab while changing the baby clothes on-the-go and on sleepy nights in the future.  We got the dresser dividers from the Container Store.  They are so functional and easy to use.

The handed-down diaper pad from Cici Amy.  We place the water-proof rubber pad over it to avoid it being soiled too often.  Thank you, Cici Amy and Cici Jojo.

The handed-down crib set from Koko Ryan.  We secured the drop bar and  turned that side against the wall so to avoid injuries.  And for now, we install the crib bumper unless the baby does not need it and/or we find it more secure without it.  Thank you, Koko Ryan, for sharing your full-of-love and full-of-pee-pee crib.  :-)

What a blessed pregnancy and baby we have!!!  Thank you, Lord, for the extended families who love and care for us and our not-yet-born baby.


Unto the next nesting project: the hospital bag!!!  Uh-hu!!!!

NESTING: ORGANIZING GADGETS

My hubby is a gadgets fan.  I felt overwhelmed at times because I couldn't find enough desk space to work from home.


Praise the Lord, gadgets are getting thinner and thinner these days.  So earlier when we just moved in to the house, I took advantage of our desk paper organizer as our gadgets AND paper holder.  This fits nicely on our side desk.

View from the side.  We normally have my work laptop and hubby's work laptop on top of our tablet and Google Chromebook stored in here.

View from the front.  Not bad eh??

NESTING: TICKLER PROJECT

Ci Kiki shared the Simple Mom website several years ago with me.  Last month I read their post about the Tickler File to organize the counter paper piles.  Inspired by that, I adopted it for my nesting project and leveraged Google Calendar which has been our family organizer for the past 4.5 years.

This was my side desk before.  Filled with mails and coupons

Step 1 - I got myself a Tickler folder from OfficeMax for $7.00 (on-sale)

Step 2 - I labeled the pockets by months

Step 3 - I cut all the coupons and placed them in ziplock by their expiration month.  Then I put the ziplock into the Tickler folder by month.  So I only have to grab the ziplock from the appropriate month when I need to use the coupons

Step 4a - Example #1: our property tax invoice before I put it in the February (due month) pocket of the Tickler folder

Step 5a - I added a new event in Google Calendar with "(T)" in front to indicate that there is an associated paperwork in the Tickler folder.  The event date is the due date listed on the property tax invoice.  I added hubby Marcel as the guest and reminders to alert me when the time gets closer.

Step 4b - Example #2: our vehicle registration renewal notice from DMV before I put it in the March (due month) pocket of the Tickler folder

Step 5b - I added a new event in Google Calendar with "(T)" in front to indicate that there is an associated paperwork in the Tickler folder.  The event date is the due date listed on the renewal notice.  I added hubby Marcel as the guest and reminders to alert me when the time gets closer.

Step 6 - The result is ... TADA ...very organized and clean right???

Thank you, Ci Kiki, for sharing the website.  Thank you, Simple Mom, for sharing the tips.  My house is getting more and more organized in preparation for Baby Manny.  LOVE IT!!!  It's easy to maintain.  It's stress free ... clutter free ... all needed papers are in one folder.  All others are either shredded or placed in our filing cabinet.

NESTING: ORGANIZING LINEN CUPBOARD

One of the nesting projects we did over the holidays was organizing our linen cupboard.


We didn't buy or install a new linen cupboard when we moved in to the house.  There used to be two of them: one hanging and the other one at the corner.  For security reasons, we uninstalled the one at the corner because we kept hitting our hip to the edge of it every time we walked pass it.

So with the one hanging cupboard that we have, we store all of our towels and the bed-linen sets.  The towels are rolled to save some space.  The bed-linen sets are stored inside one of their own pillowcases.  So no more hunting through piles for a match for us!!!!


Hopefully with a more organized home, we can be readier in taking on more responsibilities that come with having our Baby Manny this Spring.

LITTLE HELPER FOR NESTING PROJECTS

We have some nesting projects around the house to do during our time off.  Praise the LORD, we not only got a help ... but two, three, ... oh no .. FOUR HELPERS which includes the little helper Maxie.


Maxie was as busy as the adults.  Here are some photos and a video of him during the down time.  Of course when he takes a break, he needs to do what's fun for him ... can you spot what that is from the 3 pictures below???

Akong is prepping the door extension while Maxie is ...

Akong and Uncle Marcel are measuring the door extension while Maxie is ...

Akong is cutting the door extension while Maxie is ...

Thank you, Ci Kiki and Ko Chris, for sending your little helper to our home.  It's always a great joy when he's around.  While he's not helping or doing his favorite thing, he is definitely entertaining us with some story telling or funny comments.  When are you coming again, Maxie?  We miss you already.

NESTING: LESS RECEIPTS CLUTTER

People said that with pregnancy, your motherly nature will start to kick in and that you will start "nesting."  Basically it's like a momma bird who prepares the nest for the baby bird.  I too have been in the nesting mode these past few weeks.  I have been trying to tie up loose ends of old projects and organize the home to be more efficient as our responsibility increases with the coming of the baby.


One of the things that I have been neglecting since we moved to the house is clearing up the receipts clutter and entering them into our expense reports.  Since we moved in, all receipts went into a drawer like this.

Four months into settling in, I just never got around to that.  The receipts kept building up.  The expense report was four months behind.  Every time I opened the drawer to sort the receipts, I was turned off by how messy they were.  


Lately, however, I have had this urge to organize and get a method down for our receipts clutter management and expense report update.  So I pulled out ALL the receipts from the drawer, face the reality, and get going with the project.  And here they were once pulled out from the drawer.

Then I got myself a $3.00 folder from Office Max and put the months as the label.

I unfolded and organized the receipts by months.  Then I started entering them into our expense report (that goes by month too) while keeping them in the folder still till our next tax cycle.

Now, the drawer looks VERY clean.  And when we have receipts to enter, they will go to the appropriate month in this folder.  The more organized we can be from the start, the easier it is for me to keep our expense report updated.  So far, this method works for our family.  I think I will go either weekly or bi-weekly with the expense report update this way.  No more four months behind for us.

Hope your house is not as cluttered with receipts like ours.

SNEAKY SNAKEY

Don't know what kind this is.  Don't know where it came from.  But it was found at our front yard before it made its way to our neighbor's this afternoon.

[click to enlarge]

Six-foot long snake in the front yard

Genesis 3:14

So the LORD God said to the serpent:

   "Because you have done this,

   You are cursed more than all cattle,

   And more than every beast of the field;

   On your belly you shall go,

   And you shall eat dust

   All the days of your life.

And I am glad the animal control comes to the rescue.  Praise the Lord for keeping everyone safe!!!!