Category Archives: Getting Organized

Easy Chicken Spaghetti Recipe

Getting Organized
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So I made this great recipe tonight for Cheese Lover’s Chicken, that I found on Allrecipes.com awhile ago. I love this recipe! It’s soooo good! I decided that tonight I would cook up some spaghetti noodles and Whala…It’s transformed into a pretty easy chicken spaghetti recipe!  Gotta love Allrecipes.com. I’ve found so many great recipes there and I love the fact that they are rated, so you can pretty much bet that you’ll like the outcome if it has 4 or 5 stars.

Since I’m feeling lazy about typing up the whole recipe, I’ll just give you the link to it:

Cheese Lover’s Chicken

Tonight I did change a few things. First off, I used fresh basil from my new basil plant just to try it out, and I also had to use mostly chedder cheese and some swiss because what little Mozzarella I had left was getting moldy. So, we’ll see how it turned out. It’s still in the oven….

Hope you enjoy this recipe!

Garage/Yard sale tips-What I learned

Getting Organized,
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So we went through with the yard sale Saturday. I know I called it a garage sale, but since we had it in the front yard and not the old, yucky garage, I thought it fitting to call it a Yard Sale :)

Our First Yard Sale

So, how did it go? Well, not as well as I’d hoped. We came out of it with about $35 and my nephews, who came over for the day and brought some of thier stuff, raked in about $25 from some of thier toys (Bakugan, Yugioh,Bionicles and some Air Soft guns)


What I sold:

  • 2 maternity blouses @ $2 each
  • 1 maternity blouse @ $1
  • 1 maternity skirt @ $1
  • 1 blouse @ .50
  • 2 of my Homemade Soy Candles @ $6.00 each
  • Set of 3 older stainless steel pots @ $3.50
  • can opener @ .05
  • Craftsman lawnmower that starts but doesn’t run well @ $15(I think the guy knew he could fix it easily, cause after he got it started he asked if we were sure we wanted $15 for it, and then when he drove by after loading it up, he was smiling as he went by! Oh, well, we got it outta here.)
  • A funny book about old age @ .25

So, here are a few things I learned. Some are things I did do, and some that I’d do differently next time….

Yard/Garage Sale Preparation tips:

  • Start at least a couple weeks beforehand, depending on how much stuff you have, finding things you don’t need, or love anymore to gather up for the sale.  I was a little lax in this area, and my mom and I had to sort through some stuff still, the night before.
  • Sort things by kind, and then by price. Like with my clothing, we sorted them into Maternity, Baby, Boy, Girl, Mens, Womens, Jeans, Slacks, Shirts, Sweaters, etc……… You get the idea. It’s also a better idea to hang up as many clothes as you can. Makes it so much easier for people to sort through without making a mess. We were able to hang a few things up.
  • Price things low, and then drop prices the last day, if you’re doing a two day sale, or around noon for a one day sale.
  • Two day sales are probably better to do. I wish now, that I’d started on Friday, but oh well, live and learn! :)
  • Put your signs up two days before instead of the night before. I had planned on doing this, but got so busy that I forgot, so my mom and I ended up taking our dog with us Friday night at Midnight to put the signs up. It was such a nice night out and we had a few laughs! :) Memories made: Check!
Boys coloring Yard Sale Signs
Oh, yes, and put the kids to work!! :)
  • Buy neon green poster board to make the signs out of. We used regular cardboard and on Sat. someone else had put up a neon green sign across the road from ours, and even though it was smaller than ours, it definitely stood out better, and you could read it easier.
  • Put the signs on some of the other intersections close by. This is one that if I would have got the signs done and put up earlier, I would have been able to do. We did two intersections, but there are two more intersections I wish I’d thought about.
  • List a few popular or big items on the Yard Sale signs (like my maternity clothes, or baby clothes) so that people will want to go out of thier way to stop in, when they may not otherwise.
  • Put an ad on Craigslist. This is one that I did do on Thursday. I maybe should have put it up there on Wednesday, though I don’t know if that would have helped or not.

Yard/Garage Sale Day Tips:

  • Definitely have someone there to help. This would not have been so enjoyable if my mom had not been there! Especially when you have kids! So make sure to have someone with you. First of all, it helps so you can have someone outside with the merchandise at all times, and even if you don’t have kids, it helps so you’re not lonely. And if you’re garage sale is actually busy, unlike mine, then you have two people that can take money.
  • Have probably $40-50 in 1s,5s,10s and change. My mom brought $200 in bills and change so we were over prepared in this area. LOL
  • Put any free stuff in front of the fence by the road first thing. We have a fence around our front yard, so even though we had the front gate open by the sidewalk, it’s kind of hard to see into the yard when people are driving by. So I think this was a deterrent since usually people may drive by and see something and stop when they hadn’t intended to in the first place.  So we ended up putting the free stuff out front about noon and had a few people stop to take the free stuff, or to look at it, and then they actually came into the yard and bought something, or at least looked.
  • Be friendly, smile and say “hi” when they come in, and “Thanks for stopping by” when they leave, and just have fun!

Oh, yes, and you should check out some of the pics that Allison O at O My Family has from her yard sale this weekend! Great idea for how to hang clothes if you don’t think you have anything to hang them on!

My first garage sale!

Getting Organized
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Well, I’m going for it now….There’s no turning back…. I’ve placed the ad on Craigslist for it, so I have to go through with it(unless it rains, of course).

We’re having our very first, ever, ever, garage sale! After almost 10 years of marriage and 3 kids later, we’ve never had a garage sale before! Usually we just take stuff to Goodwill or throw it away, but not this time! Now I just need to get it together and go through some more things. I have maternity clothes pretty much all in one spot now, and the dressers we’re getting rid of are mostly cleaned out. I still need to wipe the dust off of a couple stereos and go through my kitchen stuff that is in a box in a cupboard that I haven’t looked in in ages, mostly because there’s something blocking the door from being opened, although I could just move that something, but apparently I didn’t need that stuff down there that bad anyways :)

Oh, yes, and the kids are going through thier toys saying “I want to sell this one mommy” and I’m usually saying” no, lets not sell that one, you just got that one for Christmas this year, lets find something else!” LOL

There are probably other things we could sell too, but I have such a hard time letting go of things until it’s like, 5 or 10 years down the road! Like my pants that I’ve had since Chris and I got married! They don’t fit! And after 3 kids and expanded hips that will never go back to thier original place again,,,, The pants are NOT going to fit….EVER! So I’ve finally come to terms with that. Besides the fact that it’s been so long that I don’t even like that style of pants anymore anyway. :)

So I guess I’ll post an update on Monday about how it all went. Tomorrow I imagine I’ll be too busy to post anything! Although, my mom is coming over tomorrow and spend the night to help out. I LOVE my mom!

Ah, yes, and I forgot to mention that I’ll be displaying some of my homemade soy candles too which will be for sale! I’m excited about this. Hopefully they will sell, or at least people will pick up my card! We live on a main road that is fairly busy, so we should get plenty of stoppers by!

Out of hiding…

Blogging, Children, Getting Organized
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Well, I don’t know what to say. That’s been the problem lately, and why I haven’t posted anything. I just feel like I don’t have anything interesting to say, or like I’m wasting my time sitting here at this computer. I really hate that. I go along really good for awhile and then…BAM…. I’ve lost interest, or I’ve lost the motivation and I quit altogether, at least for awhile. I mean, how hard is it to just make a point to write even just 1 or 2 days a week?

So I’m blaming it on the fact that, well, yes, I am just an unorganized wreck, BUT,, It is really tough with 3 kids. Much tougher than with just two. 3’s a crowd? Yes,,, Yes it is. Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE my baby. He’s been a very good baby, it’s just I feel like I’ve been in a kind of survival mode ever since he was about 4 months old and started staying awake for longer periods during the day. The first few months were GREAT. He slept much of the time and so there were many times that it was like I only had two kids again :)  Now I feel like I just want to stop and not do anything until he is walking, sleeping all night in his own room and going to bed at least by 10pm!

Anyway, I know I could avoid at least feeling depressed by all this if I’d just prioritize and organize.  I’ve gotten a bit motivated by Allison O’s Tuesday post for her organization week at O My Family.

So Anyway, here I am again. I’ll give it another go….(but I’m not making any promises! :)

"Road of Life"

Can’t Wait till Camp!

Getting Organized, Vacation Time
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First of all, if there’s anyone reading this that lives in Oregon, and you are interested in attending a church camp that is extremely affordable and you can come as a family, or just send you’re kids, please let me know! You can also visit the Union Rogue River Camp at the website. The website doesn’t say much specifically about our Baptist camp that we have every summer, but it does show what the camp looks like and it is also available for rent year round.  Contact me for more info (or you can use the contact info on the camp website to speak to the pastor of the church that sponsors the camp.)

Our camp this year is July 12-17th

I love our Baptist Church camp that we go to every year. It is absolutely incredible!  I look forward to it each year and so do the kids. It’s wonderful time to spend with fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord, see lost souls saved, and take a nice break from the things of the world.

The camp is supported by Missionary Baptist churches here in Oregon and Washington, and it is such a great ministry to reach out to kids about the Lord(and adults too).  There are bible classes, sermons, activities and campfire every day, so you are around God’s Word constantly all week!

Kids 8 and over stay in cabins and adults and those with children under 8 stay in tents or camp trailers.

I just can’t believe that camp is coming upon us already though! I’m gonna have to start thinking about what I need to pack and what I need to buy before hand!  So anyway, I won’t be posting anything that week, but I will let everyone know how it went and share some pics when I get back(Though, I’ll be careful not to show anyone elses kids in the photos. I’m still a little unsure of  posting my own kids photos on my blog here, but that’s a post for another time!)

The cool thing is that we’ve actually been able to keep our car clean on the inside for about a month now, so I won’t have to scramble right before camp to get all the junk out of there so we can have room for all of us and our stuff for the week! That will be so nice!

I’ll post a little about how I prepare for a week of camp with 3 kids as the time gets closer, so, stay tuned! I actually do have a system down for getting ready for camp. I absolutely HATE forgetting things when it comes to being away for so long and several hours from home. I rarely forget anything important the way I’ve been doing it for several years now. Too bad I can’t be like that with the rest of my home! Ah, well, I’m still a work in progress! :)

Ta-ta-for now!

Missing Portland, OR boy: Kyron Horman

Getting Organized
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Kyron Horman, Missing, June 4, 2010, Portland OR

I don’t usually get so involved in a case like this, though any missing child case hurts to hear about, but I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this poor boy. Maybe it’s because It’s in the same state and little Kyron Horman is only a year older than my oldest son. It’s also very disturbing that it has been 4 days and they can’t find any trace of him, or if they have any leads, they aren’t saying.

Kyron Horman disappeared Friday, morning, June 4th. His stepmother brought him to school a little after 8am for thier school science fair and left him there about 8:45. Supposedly someone saw him at the south entrance at around 9am, but then he wasn’t there when roll was called and noone saw him since.

They’ve launched a huge search, but still, no leads that we know of.

You can read the news stories on the Facebook page they have set up for him here: Kyron Horman Facebook

This is so, so sad. I cried for this family when I read about it Friday night. I just cannot imagine dropping my child off at school, thinking he’s safe, and then find out he didn’t make it to class. The sad thing is that the parents were not notified that he was absent. Not until the step mom went to meet him at the bus after school did she find out he wasn’t on the bus and then called the school and found out he hadn’t been in class!

It would be great for everyone to pass this along! Especially if you live here in Oregon. They aren’t saying it is an abduction yet, but, to me, it sure is looking that way.

This little boy and his family are in my prayers, and I hope, sincerely for his safe return.