From Oops to a Perfect Project

Have you heard of oops paint?

It's what happens when someone has paint mixed and then doesn't like it. It gets put back on the shelf but with a significantly lower price.

I call that reduced price happiness.

Image Credit

 

You can find these pretty much anywhere paint is mixed - Lowes, Home Depot, Walmart...

I always have a list of projects going around in my head and whenever I'm in one of those stores I do a drive-by of the oops section to see if any oops colors would work for one.


{Head on over to Living With Lindsay for more great tips on using oops paint}

Notebook Fun

Wanna score some brownie points with your kids? My daughters being homeschooled now are five and three (first grade and preschool) - so they can still be won over with simple things like this. Takes almost no time and you're Mommy of the Year!

In our homeschool, we are proud notebookers.

You too? High five. Down low. : )

To give my girls some ownership of their notebooks and to fun it up a little, I added some of their favorite Disney characters (or all of them in my 3 yr olds case) and their names in very girlie fashion.

It's really simple - just google search kid favorites like Tinkerbell or Princesses (or Buzz Lightyear in a boy's case), open it up in Photoshop (any other program would work too), make it an 8.5" x 11" with room for a name, add their name in a cute font (check out VERY cute fonts from Amanda here) and print. (I got these cute name effects by adding a stroke to them)

Now they show them off to everyone who comes to the house      : )  (the only bad part is that they get upset when anyone else touches them!)

Mommy Command Center

Binders work for some moms... not me. If I had a binder, not only would I never open it, but it would probably become a fine specimen of the dust types in our house.

If I'm going to follow any sort of schedule or keep track of anything, it has to be at eye-height and in a place I pass by often. Which is why I settled on the fridge.

I've regulated my to-do's to a calendar/meal-plan, daily schedule, cleaning schedule and grocery list (with boxes to mark off needs). Not as pretty as some of the boards out there but we're low on wall-space in the kitchen and this works for me.

Calendar/Meal Plan

I write up a meal plan every two weeks (with any calendar events as well) and add it as a new month's worksheet to an excel workbook I have going. To make it pretty (as all things should be) I copy the cells I want and "Paste Special" as a link into Powerpoint and add the background color and month. The Air Force ruined me spreadsheets... what can I say? : ) Any recipes that I haven't made before get printed out and tucked in behind it.

 Daily Schedule

 An hourly schedule of what my day "should" look like... when I actually follow it. When I get to facebooking, e-mailing or blogging too long my day goes something like this: "Why are you on the table in your swimsuit and boots???... Why are all of your little people in the bathtub??? Why are all of the cushions off of the couch with your bedspread being used as a tent??? And WHY are you eating dog food and/or flour???" Not every day... but enough to make me question my sanity. It's better or worse depending on whether or not paint is involved. : ) 

 Cleaning Schedule

I found this gorgeous picture online and made the schedule around it. And YES I have to say NO CLEANING on Saturday and Sunday... it just makes me feel better to see those two words together. 

Grocery List

This thing has been around for a few years now and works wonders for me. It prevents me from forgetting anything at the store which makes it worth it's weight in gold (what, 2 oz?). All of the sheets are in page protectors (and I keep meaning to put magnet strips on all of them) but this one is useful because I can check which items we need as I go. The spreadsheet I made for this was lost back in the Computer Crash of '09 and I haven't gotten around to making it again - hence the stains and handwritten items. Just squint your eyes when you look at it and it'll be perfect. : )

Salt and Pepper Tip

Okay... my goal is not to embarrass you here.

I want to save you from the embarrassment I went through when my husband pointed this out to me....

You know those "disposable" salt and pepper shakers from Morton?

I used to get these and when they were done, I would throw them out. Till one day my hubs sees me doing it and asks why I didn't just pop off the top and refill them. HUH?!? The top POPS OFF? That's right... just pop it off and refill.

Now you know... and knowing is half the battle. : )