Garage Organization... Don't be a Hoarder.

As much as I'd love to fit both our cars in our garage, It's just more efficient for us to use the extra space for organization of backpacks, arts and crafts, and shoes, and put the main family car in there.  Our laundry room is also in there, and I wanted to find a way to make it feel like a room instead of just two machines shoved in a corner...

I also like the idea of hanging photos you aren't using up in the garage.

BEFORE

AFTER

Arts & Crafts stuff

Carving out a laundry room in the garage

Ideally, I'd have a spacious laundry room upstairs... but I don't.  Nor do I have much of a budget to transform this space into a separate laundry room:

So, I painted (less than a quart of paint needed, I used leftover paint from my son's room) $0, and bought a wooden border for the window and painted it white $10, bought a collage frame from Amazon $9, replaced the bare light bulb with a fixture we took from the kitchen (we out a fan light in there) $0, and used a shelf and some other frames that weren't in use, plus made a curtain out of some leftover fabric.  Hung the laundry baskets on he wall with simple hardware $5.  Put down carpet remnants $0...It feels so much nicer!

The day my (oldest) daughter got her ears pierced

That was a reeeeaaallllllly sweet day with Zoe.

I totally recommend waiting til at least 7 yrs old so you can have a mom daughter memory that she will remember.

She really appreciated it and felt grown up and it was def bonding time.

And we went to Cali pizza kitchen and I let her do the ordering

It was very sweet

And she said "I don't really like when people call me cute"

I said what do you like?

She said "adorable"

And after at lunch I said "how do you feel?"

"Grown up? Excited?"

She said "brave"

I totally get doing it as a baby Bc it's "easier" ... But miss out on this day? No way!

And omg a tattoo parlor? She would have flipped.

She barely made it thru this place and she had a lollipop and a stuffed bear to hold from them... The second the lady said "okay, ready?" She welled up with tears and got really upset

But I said "do you want to do it still?"

She nodded vigorously as she cried

I said, just focus on the lollipop, don't move a muscle and wait for it to be over

She closed her eyes the whole time.

She did great.

She cried more after the first one, and we decided at lunch that worst part was the noise. She said the noise scared her.

It was loud by her ear and she didn't think there would be any noise

It was such a great day it was a great bonding thing!

She told me she was really proud of herself and felt brave.

And at lunch she said I should post it in facebook and tell her what people say!

My version of fast food

Even if it were healthy, fast food is expensive.

When I need a really quick meal, here is one of my go-tos for my family of five... And I use leftovers in lunches for the next day.

I pick up 3 bags of Whole Foods brand vegan fried rice and some broccoli crowns.

Total cost for all of this? $11.

The rice cooks up pretty fast and just at the end, I put the cut up broccoli in top and steam it for just a couple minutes.

Done.  That's it.

Fun FoodFootnote:  For those screaming "Where's the protein?!" Did you know that broccoli has more protein per calorie than steak? :). Even though you wouldn't eat as many calories in broccoli as steak in one sitting, it's important to note, many Americans are way off about how much protein they need in their diet.  (It's like saying "I need to make sure I'm getting enough oxygen!") You'd do better worrying about fiber.  The minimum amount of protein any plant has is 14% and if you ate only plants all day on a 2000 calorie diet, that's means you'd be getting around 70g of protein.  (Daily rec for women is 30-50 and men 50-70).