Getting Organized!

Being a teacher and having my summers off I often get the question, "What do you do all summer?" Well, I have no trouble keeping myself busy... scrapbooking... hanging out with friends... traveling, etc. I've been doing all of that this summer, but I've also made a mission to get some drawers cleaned out and some things organized. Here are a few of the projects I've completed this summer:

I cleaned ALL of my shoes and organized them in my closet by color:

I cleaned out our cleaning rag drawer, got rid of the "old" rags, and refolded so they would all fit in the drawer neatly:

I FINALLY found the type of photo storage pages I have been looking for FOREVER to store my pictures that are waiting to be scrapbooked and those that will never make it to a scrapbook. They are below. They fit in 12x12 3-ring binders, lay flat, and hold six pictures (minimum) per page (you can store pictures in stacks to fit more in the page).
They look super nice (see below) and the pictures can be looked at while in "storage" versus stuck in a box somewhere. I put in my first order and received it last week. I went through 10 packages and have ordered another 10. I'm patiently awaiting their arrival. I'm sure I'll be ordering many more groups of "10" until I get all of my pictures in a binder. Oh, and they aren't expensive... $3.50 per package. Don't they look nice in the binder?

I've also got my Stampin' Up stamps, ink pads, cardstock, and misc. stamping accessories in order. I have wanted to do this for a long time, so it is easier to match ink pads with cardstock and streamline the card making process. This is what I accomplished:

And last, but not least, I finally decided on a final way to "store" my cardstock, alphabet stickers, and misc. patterned paper... by the colors of the rainbow in hanging file folders. So far, it has worked out really well. I have tried several different storage styles and this seems to work the best. These are temporary storage "styles" until we finish my scrapbook room in the year 2020... ha ha! I can't complain... I keep putting it off in hope that other projects will get done.

Now, some nice things that have happened to me in the last week...

1. My cute nephew, Lorenzo, made brownies for me. I told him I only wanted the "crust" because that is the part I like the best, so look what he did for me... He cut all of the "crust" off and put it in a bag for me. Who says teenagers aren't nice? Now, I have to be honest I did request he do this, but there was something in it for him... he was able to keep the "middle" which is his favorite. Ha ha!

2. I was driving down I-75 the other day and passed a semi-truck. As I went past the "truck" part I heard it honk. I figured I did something to make him made, but as I pulled off the exit ramp he honked again. I looked over and the guy was frantically waving to me. I was taken off guard, but waved back. What a nice guy! I used to get honked and waved at all the time when I had my sport cars (not that they were honking at ME, but more so a chick in a sport car), but who would have thought an H3 would warrant a honk?

3. Derek made the ULTIMATE sacrifice a man can make in a marriage... he let me put THIS in my scrapbook room...

YES! It is his 37 inch flat screen LCD TV from our bedroom. He won this last year at a golf outing and it has been in our bedroom ever since. Well, we really don't watch that much TV in our bedroom and I do almost daily in my scrapbook room, so I convinced him it was the best place for it. He really didn't fight the proposition... it just took him a few days to "move" it. The picture is MUCH BETTER than the 19 inch Funai (yes, that was the brand) I bought nearly 20 years ago for my bedroom when I still lived AT HOME! Ha ha! It truly is a nice addition to my scrap room!

4. I got my oil changed at my usual oil change spot (can't remember the name, but it is on Dixie Highway between Frembes and Sashabaw). I have been going there for quite a while... they are well priced and very friendly people. Anyway, when I went there last Friday one guy was his usual friendly self as he went around greasing my doors, checking air pressure, etc. In the midst of our conversation he asked my nationality. I told him and asked him why he wanted to know. He said I had the features of the women from his country. I asked where he was from. He replied, "Egypt." I said, "I'll take that as a compliment because Egyptian woman are beautiful." He said, "Yes, they surely are and are very polite also." He went on and on about how beautiful and kind he thought women from Egypt are. Wasn't that sweet of him? Again, made my day. At the end I said, "Just like American women, right?" He looked at me with a grin and didn't answer.

Well, enough for today! I hope to get my canoeing pictures developed tomorrow. I hope they turned out. I also remembered I haven't shared pictures from our trip to the Dominican Republic last month. I'll do that later this week. Happy Hump Day (tomorrow). I have another day of workshops (2 of 3 this week!). Who said teachers have summers off? :)