Needing Inspiration ...

I've had this Southern Living Dress Me Up Plate for ages.  And now that I see all the creativity on Pinterest, I'd love to update the look for this plate ... but am at a loss for what to do.

Currently I'm using 2 Fall themed floral picks.  I have the basic Fall one - leaves, berries, acorns, etc -  that I'll keep in there until Thanksgiving.  On top of the Fall one I have a Halloween pick - with the ghost and candy corns - that naturally I'll take out November 1st. 

If you have this plate, what do you do with it?  Feel free to comment below and/or add the Pin# (if you have one).  I've searched Google and come up with more dresses and plain plates than what I'm actually looking for.  I had also gotten the rectangular Dress Me Up Platter.  That one I'm just using some of those Jolee's holiday themed 3D stickers.  I know, kinda lame, but it works .... for now.

"Is Santa Real, Mom?"

It's inevitable, but I'm still not looking forward to the day when Santa becomes reality instead of fantasy.

To the question:  “Are you Santa?”  I'm hoping to answer in this way, so I've written it down.  With the chaos that is motherhood, this question will most likely come at an unusual time while juggling twenty other things.  So I've got it down here, to hopefully get it straight so that my answer to the question, is well thought out and well articulated.

"We knew for a long time that you'd eventually want the answer to this question, and I’ve had to give it careful thought to know just what to say.
The answer is: no. I am not Santa. There is no Santa.
You're father and I are the people who fill your stockings with presents, though. I also choose and wrap the presents under the tree, the same way my parents did for me, and the same way their parents did for them.
I imagine you will someday do this for your children, and I know you will love seeing them run down the stairs on Christmas morning. You will love seeing them sit under the tree, their small faces lit with Christmas lights.
This won’t make you Santa, though.
Santa is bigger than any person, and his work has gone on longer than any of us have lived. What he does is simple, but it is powerful. He teaches children how to have belief in something they can’t see or touch. 
It’s a big job, and it’s an important one. Throughout your life, you will need this capacity to believe: in yourself, in your friends, in your talents, and in your family. You’ll also need to believe in things you can’t measure or even hold in your hand. Here, I am talking about love, that great power that will light your life from the inside out, even during its darkest, coldest moments.
Santa is a teacher, and I have been his student, and now you know the secret of how he gets down all those chimneys on Christmas Eve: he has help from all the people whose hearts he’s filled with joy.
With full hearts, people like Dadda and me take our turns helping Santa do a job that would otherwise be impossible.
As for the gifts themselves, where do they come from, if not from Santa?  The answer to that is simple:  God provides for all of our needs, and sometimes even our material wants.  He has provided your father and me with jobs that provide money to buy things during this time. 
So, no. I am not Santa. Santa is love and magic and hope and happiness. I’m on his team, and now you are, too.  I believe in what Santa stands for and the magic that surrounds the Christmas season, even at my age.
I love you and I always will."

Gameroom Storage

In order to corral all the "stuff" kids acquire, we used the ever wonderful Expedit.  We got 2 units and laid them on their side, side by side.  This gives us plenty of storage on the half-wall in front of the stairs, while being too high for the temptation to climb on top of them (not so safe by the stairs!).
Stocked with magazine holders, blankets, autographed footballs (hubbies "toys"!  LOL), bins, baskets, books, games, and toys, this system will serve us well!  Of course, we still have the large Rubbermaid storage bins for large collections of My Little Pony, Imaginext dragons, Legos, Pokemon, Zoobles, LPS, etc .... that no 13"x13" cube could possibly contain.

We also strung up a string of outdoor butterfly lights (like a string of Christmas lights) as ambient lighting for when the kids want to chill'ax while watching a movie or battle it out on the Wii.  The lights are plugged into an extension cord that kids can safely turn on by stepping on the switch.

These are the original pictures.  I have some fabric storage bins to add in place of the Christmas box and Aggie dolls.  To be continued ....

Materials:
black-brown Expedit shelving units, IKEA $69.99
clear Lekman storage cubes for see-thru storage of the blankets & quilts, IKEA $9.99
MOTORP Magazine file, IKEA $12.99, set of 2 (not available at IKEA any longer, apparently)
navy & beige Fabric bins, Target $11.69, set of 2
white "tapper" extension cord, Target $5.99

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Updated with baskets!!  Of course, now that a week or so has passed, the meticulous sorting & organization has been replaced by chaos; no longer are the games sorted from the books, etc.  But the important thing is that all the mess has found a home OTHER than the floor!! I did end up rolling up some older, unused towels and placed them behind the books & games so the items wouldn't so easily get lodged into the abyss behind the shelves.

And the once nice, neat top has become a landscape for their imagination.

My Scrapbook Nook

Since I don’t have a space for scrappin’, I’ve had to modify this hallway in the gameroom to a storage area, without looking (too much) like one.  I have a scrap desk nearby so this is handy, and is no longer such a temptation for the kiddos to mess with my supplies. 
I used my scrap cubes & a laundry organizer & rolling plastic drawers (all from Target, years ago), plus my stamp ink storage caddy.  Then hid it all underneath a piece of wood leftover from a neighbor’s project.  I used a pair of old valances  to cover the wood & cover the curtain rod. Then hung some [leftover, hemmed] sheer curtains onto the curtain rod.  The sheers easily glide on the curtain rod to reach my stuff, or I can fold them onto the top (where all my scrapbook mags are hidden in the IKEA baskets). Voila! Perfect storage, at no extra cost!

I attached some pictures of it, finished.  I didn't take any of the process, though.  At the bottom I have the little collage of it that I put on pinterest.com.

This shot is with the "curtains" closed.  In hindsight, I wish I could have used matching beige sheer panels on the window you see in the hallway, too.  But I only had 4 leftover sheer panels available.  I used 3 for the scrapbooking nook, but need 2 for the window.  Beige is surprisingly hard to match, especially with this pearescent sheen, so I haven't changed the window curtains yet.

 I can simply open the panels, as shown here.  The curtains on the side facing the camera are fixed there ... no need to open the curtains on the big, white side of the unit ~ just needed to buffer the whiteness with beige. LOL

I can also lift the curtain panels and place them on top of the unit and have full access to the storage beneath it.  Here are two interior shots here, left and right.  It's a narrow hallway, so it's tough to get shots at the right angle.

 

As posted on Pinterest