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Thanks for visiting These Good Ideas. If you're looking for more frequent posts from me please visit my new blog! Husband and I recently bought a house and it is a fixer. We have lots to do and lots to blog about and lots of great ideas we'd love to share with you! You'll find all kinds of interesting ideas and tips over there and the posts are much more frequent. Thanks for reading!

www.twoseekhome.blogspot.com

1/31/11

Good Idea #18: A Secret Ingredient

Before today I had never, ever heard of adding cinnamon to beef stew.  But I heard it this morning on a morning show cooking segment and I thought I might as well give it a try for dinner tonight.  Well.  Let me tell you.  If you didn't know about this little secret already you simply must try it.  Also, this dish happens to be super healthy.  Bonus.

I didn't have all the ingredients that were used in the TV segment so I had to improvise a little.  We're on a budget around here so we use what we have.  Click below to keep reading and see what I did.

1/30/11

Good Idea #17: Josh Ritter

Another new(ish) discovery on my part.  Josh Ritter has been around for a while, but has remained a low key singer-songwriter type.  What I love most is that he really can sing.  This must be such a hard song to do live but he kills it.  The song is "Idaho" off Animal Years (2006) and it is one of my favorites.  Check out www.joshritter.com for more info and to listen to more tracks.  Enjoy.

1/29/11

Good Idea #16: Pink Polka Dots

www.pinkpolkadotsguild.net

This week three lovely young ladies from the Seattle area were on The Nate Berkus Show to share their mission of raising money for the research and treatment of brain tumors at Seattle Children's Hospital.  They are the creators of the Pink Polka Dots Junior Guild, created in 2006 in memory of their eleven year old friend Sydney, who died from a rare form of brain tumor.  The Guild raises money through donations, events, and the sale of handmade crafts including a collection of cards.

If you're in the Seattle area look for the girls and their products at local farmers markets and craft fairs, as well as at Seattle Children's Hospital.  Otherwise you can donate or buy the cards online at www.pinkpolkadotsguild.net.  I'm excited to buy some of these cards myself and to support these amazing young ladies and their cause.

1/25/11

Good Idea #15: Bicyclepaintings.com


I love love love this website.  It has paintings and prints of all sorts of bicycles.  Everything is original and priced for every budget - from $20 to $500.  I can't wait to pick something up from here.

Check it out at: www.bicyclepaintings.com

Good Idea #14: Super Easy DIY Pins

This is pretty much the easiest thing ever and a great use for some old jewelry.  I acquired some clip-on earrings from my grandmother that I loved, but who has use for clip-on earrings?  So I went to Michaels and got myself some pin backs and E6000 multi-purpose adhesive.  I also got some plain pushpins at Home Depot; amazingly, the only place I could find them.  I swear there have to be plain flat pushpins meant for crafting somewhere in the world, but I couldn't find any for the life of me so regular rounded ones would have to do the trick.  It turned out that with the super-thick E6000 glue it wasn't a problem.  I was able to pull the clips off the earrings pretty easily with a pair of pliers.  The rest is kind of a no-brainer, so I won't do a step by step, but here are photos.




If you're wondering, the lovely ornaments are from Jackie Bos.  Find similar items in her etsy shop:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/jackiepeppermint

1/24/11

Good Idea #13: Get Rid of 50 Things -or- Use It or Lose It

This is a great idea for anyone trying to declutter, organize or simplify (and who isn't?).  It's kind of like doing a detox to jump start a diet.  Just getting rid of a couple things here and there might help, but it's not going to make a major difference.  Getting rid of a full 50 things on the other hand, you will notice.  Yes, I'm saying if you detox your belongings and your home will get skinny.  It's not as easy as it sounds, either.  Does it sound easy?  If it does, just wait.  Start making that list and you start running out of things to get rid of real fast.  And no cheating.  The trash from the back seat of your car doesn't count.  You have to get rid of 50 real things.  And I'm making it even harder for myself by grouping similar items.  It would be a lot easier if I counted all of the old magazines I want to get rid of individually.

 

So here's my personal twist on the Get Rid of 50 Things idea. I may want to live clutter free and I may be restricted on storage space, but I am also budget conscious and environment conscious.  Going around just throwing things out left and right doesn't necessarily mix well with saving money or saving the earth.  For example, if I get rid of all my old t-shirts that I wear to bed, I'm just going to have to buy new pajamas sooner, right?  And what a waste if I throw out magazines that I've never read.  Professional organizers around the world just cringed.  But I came up with a solution to this dilemma and I'm calling it the Use It or Lose It plan.  All those old magazines?  If I can't get rid of them without reading them first - read them!  Then I can toss them in the recycling bin in peace.

I'll get to work on those magazines, but my first Use It or Lose It project is the bathroom.  My bathroom has a pretty decent amount of storage compared to a lot of city apartments and apparently this has turned me into a hoarder.  I'm a pretty minimalistic beauty product using / makeup wearing kind of girl.  I don't need a vanity full of lotions, sprays, perfumes, lipsticks and hair products.  But somehow I acquire these things; things I needed for a certain occasion, was given, or got as sample.  Ohh the samples.  I absolutely can not turn down free stuff and I'm not afraid to admit it.  The problem is, I'm always saving this stuff for a special occasion so I never end up using up any of it.  So here's my plan:  I put out a little organizer right on the counter top in my bathroom and I put all the stuff I want to get rid of in it.  Right where I can see it all.  And I'm going to use it.


So I can make any day a special occasion and try out that little lipstick sample.  And next time I go out to dinner I won't forget to spray on some of that old perfume that's only about 10 sprays away from being empty.  And next time I get out of the shower I can use the lotion out of that little hotel bottle I swiped instead of the lotion that I just bought.  And soon enough those little things will be gone and I won't have any moral dilemma about getting rid of them.  Anything that I can't use when it's sitting right in front of me gets chucked, too.  Use it or lose it, sister.  Good idea.

1/19/11

Good Idea #12: Mumford & Sons

I might be a minute or two behind the times in discovering Mumford & Sons but if there was ever a great example of better late than never this might just be it.  I recently decided that I was in need of some new music and happened to have a fresh new Amazon gift card gifted to me for Christmas (thanks Yeomans!).  So what better album to choose than Amazon's number one album of 2010?  What a fantastic decision.  It turns out this London-based band's energetic take on an irishy, folky, bluegrassy sound is exactly what I needed to warm up my winter playlist.  Mumford & Sons first album, Sigh No More was released in October 2009 in the UK and February 2010 in the US.  They are nominated for two Grammy Awards and three BRIT awards.  Visit www.mumfordandsons.com to find out more.

1/12/11

Good Idea #11: DIY Dresser Makeover

Update:  July 6, 2011

Thanks for visiting These Good Ideas!  My husband and I recently bought a house and I've since transferred most of my writing energy over to our new joint home-owning blog.  If you want to see more of my designs, DIY projects and good ideas check out the new blog:  www.twoseekhome.blogspot.com

Thanks for reading!

Original Post:


This dresser makeover has been a long time coming.  The dresser is a thrift store find, and while it is in good condition, it's not the highest quality construction.  Over the three years that I have owned it, the bottom of the top drawer has warped and broken free of the rest of the drawer, leaving my delicates free to wander out into the depths of the back of the dresser.  Our attempts at fixing this problem include both packing tape and slightly more successful gorilla tape, and finally some drawer organizers that simply kept small items contained rather than wandering free in the still sagging drawer.

Recently, however, a few things happened that moved my dresser makeover along a little bit.  First, the second drawer of the dresser broke completely.  The back of the drawer fell clear off, leaving no support for the flimsy bottom or the clothes contained therein.  Then I came across an old DIY tutorial on Design Sponge describing how to construct drawer dividers out of cardboard (click here to see the article).  While I was not in need of dividers, I was inspired by the suggestion to cover the bottom of the drawer with wrapping paper.  This was just the motivation I needed to pull those drawers out and get fixing.  Furthermore, I recently inherited some jewelry from my grandmother who moved out of her home a few months ago.  This left the top of my dresser in disarray and in need of organization, so I figured I might as well find a fix for that too.

Keep reading to see my full dresser fix-up and clean-up project and for some helpful tips.

1/10/11

Holiday Recap

I may be a bit late on this, but I just couldn't wait until next Christmas to share all these holiday memories and ideas.  So here is what my Christmas and New Year season looked like, along with a few good ideas to stash away in your stocking until next year:

Leavenworth, WA 

Our Christmas season began with an early-December trip to Leavenworth for the annual Lighting Festival.  The residents of this little Bavarian village nestled in the mountains of central Washington deck the whole town in lights, line the streets with fire pits and open the doors of shops full of candy, clothing, home good and novelties to Christmas shoppers. 


If you're in the Northwest during the holidays, Leavenworth is a fun and festive way to get in the spirit. 
To learn more about Leavenworth, visit www.leavenworth.org

Holidays Around Here

This year we went for simplicity in our holiday decorating, focusing on natural elements and neutral colors.  I went a little green, re-purposing paper bags from holiday shopping as wrapping and chose the rest of my wrapping paper selection to match.  My favorite new addition to my wrap collection this year was heavy weight black and brown paper from Ikea.

These holiday penguins were hand-made by my very talented mother.  She sent them to us along with the hand-made Christmas trees that you can see above the gifts in the first picture the first winter we lived in Oregon.  They have made an appearance ever year and will continue to for many many more.

This leather Zuny reindeer is one of my most prized Christmas decorations.  It is actually a memo clip (the head is attached to the body by a magnet) and the movable head makes it all the more adorable.  Zuny has an amazing line of leather animal home accessories that are beautiful, sometimes useful and will brighten up any home.  Go to http://www.zuny.info/

Keep reading to see more of my natural Christmas scheme and more holiday adventures!

1/5/11

Good Idea #10: New Year's Resolutions

I mentioned before Thanksgiving that I wanted to Take Advantage of the Holidays this year and I think I've done a pretty good job.  At Thanksgiving I kept track of the things that I am thankful for, at Christmas I gave, although there is always more we can give, and now at the start of the new year I'm making some resolutions.


1. Watch less television.  We don't even have cable, and I still manage to watch hours of TV on some days.  Now mind you, this isn't the sitting-around-staring-at-Judge Judy-doing-a-whole-lot-of-nothing kind of TV watching we're talking about here, but it's not much better.  I think I've just become accustomed to the sound of voices in the house, especially when I'm home alone.  The problem is, whether it's The Today Show, reruns of I Dream of Jeannie or the news, it can be distracting.  Especially when your daily chores are things like laundry, dishes and vacuuming it's easy to procrastinate when Matt Lauer is talking about dog wardrobes for winter.  So this year I'll be leaving the TV for movie nights and other such special occasions and, I hope, getting a whole lot more done.

2. Save more money.  I hope that in the near future I will be able to quit barista-dom once and for all in the interest of focusing on writing, school and family.  However, choosing to enter the world of the starving artist takes a little practice.  Living off one salary will be a little bit tight, and if we want to continue saving for a house it will have to be even tighter.  So with my new found time from watching less TV, I will plan our budget more carefully, clip coupons and hunt for bargains.  Save more money now, worry less later.

3. Read more.  For someone with a degree-and-a-half in English (yeah, that's right), my Goodreads list is pretty pathetic.  To make matters works, Portland has pretty much the worlds best bookstore and I've had very little opportunity to take advantage of it.  But, in the interest of resolution #2, I'll start by reading all the unread books I've collected over the past few years and go from there.

4. Write more.  I want to be a writer, so I should probably be writing... right?  Yeah, probably.  I've been saying for a while now that the key to writing is to do it every day.  Well, what better time than the new year to start sticking to it.

5. Be more conscious of what I eat.  This isn't a weight-loss kind of thing, but rather a health kind of thing.  When your second resolution is save more money, eating nothing but pasta and potatoes sounds like a pretty good idea.  Fresh vegetables, lean chicken and fish, not so much.  But there must be some kind of balance and I aim to find it.

6. Exercise more.  When you pull a muscle reaching for something on the top shelf, you should probably be taking advantage of those yoga dvds you have lying around.  Just saying.

7. Leave the house every day.  I have this problem where I REALLY like being at home.  Don't get me wrong, I think it's great to like to be at home; the home should be a sacred space.  But leaving the house at least once encourages things like exercising and socializing... and putting on real clothes. I think these are good things to aspire to.

8. Learn more about design.  I've always had an interest in design, but for some reason it has never occurred to me that I could do anything with it other than redecorate my bedroom.  This year, I plan to make a full-blown hobby out of it and if it takes me nowhere else, at least I will have the most awesome house in town.

9. and 10.  I don't want to jinx it.  All I'm saying is, if I stick to these resolutions 2011 will be a very good year.
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