My Husband Rocks!!!!! (and I have an awesome closet)

As most of you know, our house is little. I'm actually quite fond of my house, but it has presented some challenges for our family, especially since our kids keep bringing home more adoptees! We're up to a rather large dog and three cats. A few years ago Worthy and I moved into the basement to give individual rooms to our kids, and we haven't regretted it, except that it is NOT a sanctuary. We have been slowly improving it, and it has gone from sheets for walls to actual sheetrock. Plus Worthy the master electrician put in recessed lighting. We have been making improvements in our basement when we have extra money and time. Translation, it has been very slow!!! Below is a picture of what my bedroom looks like right now. It's basically a construction zone. And, we have been sharing closet space with our kids upstairs.

So my awesome husband worked hard over the last few weeks to finish the walk in closet for Valentine's Day. I know it's just a closet but you have NO IDEA how awesome it is to walk into an organized space after having to hunt for shoes in one closet, socks in the other... We did the whole thing--sheetrock, mud, paint, organizer. The only thing not finished is the floor and trim--we'll do that when we do the rest of the room. So here is a picture of my awesome closet.

Okay, this picture doesn't do it justice. This is the view from the doorway. You can actually walk into it and there is a lot of room on the walls to the left and the right that you can't see in the photo.

But wait! There's more. I had a dream about this next part, and I swear it was inspired! My husband (and Clay, the God of home repairs--thanks Clay!) made it happen. As I mentioned before, we have a small house. This has always been my excuse for not having food storage--we just don't have the room! I stash food under beds, in decorative baskets in the living room, you name it. Well, I wanted one of those fancy shmancy food rotation systems but we didn't have anywhere to put it. I had the brainstorm to put one in the wall! We walled around a space between the closet and the laundry room--it is narrow but deep and it would have been wasted space--and we made slanted shelves to rotate canned foods. You put the cans in on the laundry room side, and you get them out on the walk-in closet side. Instant rotation system. Woo hoo! Here are some pictures:

This is the view from the laundry room side:

Another view from the laundry room side:

A view from the closet side. The boxes on the top and bottom fit all of my wrapping paper rolls and gift bags perfectly--we ordered it from The Container Store and it's great for the deep, narrow space.

Worthy made channels for the cans, and they fit every size all the way from tuna and sliced olives to soup and vegetables to the #10 cans from the church cannery on the bottom.

I completed the final step today using scraps from my mom's fabric stash. Thanks Mom!

Thanks Worthy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I Love You

On this valentines day I want to tell you all how much I love you. I really do. Right now I wish I could find each one of you and tell you how much you mean to me and all of the reasons why.

My good friend found out just a few minutes ago that her two nieces were killed in a car crash this afternoon. They were both in college, both ready to jump into life. One of them was going to receive a marriage proposal and a ring this evening.

I'm overwhelmed right now with how short our lives can be. I love you all and I want you to know it. I'm not good at expressing it, but I really do love all of you and appreciate having you in my life.

Happy Valentines Day. Hug everyone in your family today.

I'm Proud To Be An American Today!

We were lucky enough to be able to visit the Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial with Little Worthy in Atlanta when he was just days old. I will never forget the feelings I had there. Someday we will return and share it with our little ones, but until then we will share the good news! Happy inauguration day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YS11MpYd4qU

I Love This!

Okay, so I'm posting this so I can enter a giveaway, but that doesn't make it any less true. I love this site and resource and I want to share it with you all! When I got this calling, I must admit I was clueless and overwhelmed. But I'm proud to say that I've taken small steps towards getting control over my food storage, and I must say that these ladies have really helped. So check them out. They have a new web site called Fun With Food Storage, where they are linking all three of their sites together. They have a great giveaway going on right now, so check it out!

http://www.funwithfoodstorage.net/

I'm Dreaming Of A White Christmas (Just Like The One We Had Two Days Ago)

Our tramp may not make it to spring!
LW is just the perfect age for Christmas. So much fun.

Tickets to Wicked!

Lip gloss in the stocking. A girl can never have too much lip gloss, right Moog?

For Christmas we got a Guitar Hero World Tour Box with a Little Worthy in it.

Morgan couldn't help but pose the little man with her bling. Peace Out.

There was no road in front of our house for a few hours!

Our Dad is a most awesome breakfast chef. He is wearing the cute apron Gramma Gail made for Kim. Isn't he so adorable?

Even Tom Cat had a good Christmas. Plenty of boxes to explore, and even a treat from Santa.

Kate spent the morning laying on the couch, but she perked up at about noon and and has been playing madly with her new toys ever since. We knew she didn't feel well because she asked us to open her presents.

Merry Christmas!!! We have to go now--Our band has been busy touring. You haven't seen anything, by the way, until you've seen Big Worthy on the microphone. He is SO MUCH better than Billy Idol. Rebel Yell never saw him coming.

All I Want For Christmas is. . . Healthy Children

cheese!

My kids were sick last week. You can always tell when Little Worthy is sick, because you have to wake him up. Usually he starts his day by impatiently waiting (sometimes for an hour or more) for his lazy family to wake up. He is the only morning person in our family. Last week he just wanted to keep sleeping, so there was no question that he wasn't feeling well. Fast forward to this week, when he had his class Christmas program. Needless to say, he wasn't prepared after missing so much school. It was hilarious to watch him--he just sort of pouted his way through the program. I did get him to smile for the camera after it was over, though.

So just when I thought we were through with the yuck, Kate started complaining (last night) that her ear hurt. This was after we decided to check her out school earlier in the day. She had been being "non-compliant", which often indicates that she isn't feeling well. She screamed and screamed last night, until she finally gave in and let Daddy give her some tylenol. When she woke up this morning, she went straight to the couch, told me "Mom, my ear is broken," and hasn't moved since. It's almost 6:00 P.M., by the way. For my energetic little girl, something is definitely wrong. It turns out she was right, she had ruptured an eardrum and liquid was oozing out of her ear. Poor baby. She's been a trooper today, but I just hope she is well in time to enjoy Christmas.

Now the latest development is Morgan with a headache.

So, Santa. I'm not asking for much for Christmas. Just kids that are healthy enough to appreciate your visit.

Elf

Today was the last day of Morgan's play, The Toys Take Over Christmas. The little ones were so excited to see Morgan and Santa Claus. I think Morgan really enjoyed being part of this production--she's obviously a Glover. Big Worthy and I are proud of her and the way she strives to try new things and do her best, even when it's outside of her comfort zone.

This is the first time that Kate has EVER been chatty with Santa. It was really fun to see her be so brave. She said she wants a kitten for Christmas. Anyone surprised? At least she didn't say a cheetah or a tiger.

Worthy wouldn't sit on the big guy's lap, but he was brave enough to tell Santa he wants a fish for Christmas. Apparently my children think we are a farm of some sort.

Here is our lovely elf.

Worthy felt special after the show, chatting with the cast. He told two of them, "I like your voice."

Moog, I hope this is the first of many productions. Thanks Striped Happy Girly Goo!