I’ve been daydreaming about a new office for several months now, and in my dreams, my office would have floor to ceiling built-in bookshelves. I’ve flipped through magazines and browsed the internet for ideas, but ever since I found this photo on  ZOKK Furniture, I knew that these were my inspiration bookshelves!

I can’t even imagine what it would be like to have all my books and favorite magazines together on an entire wall of bookshelves! I’m totally in love with these! A girl can dream, right?

“If you dream, dream big, it just might come true.”

~LilSis

I’ve mentioned how the whole back to school thing makes me want to reorganize a bunch of drawers and cabinets. And not just the drawers for school supplies, I’m even dying to reorganize my makeup drawers. These Acrylic Trays with Removable Dividers will work perfectly for both!

Acrylic Trays with Removable Dividers

These trays come in three different sizes. The large are on sale for $17.99, the medium are $12.99 and the small are $9.99 each. Here are the same Acrylic Trays shown being used to organize cosmetics.

Acrylic Trays with Removable Dividers

And as long as I’m reorganizing my cosmetic drawers, I’ll need to work on the cabinets under my bathroom sink. I love these 2-Drawer Stackable Organizers with the slide out drawers. These are on sale for $7.99 each. These would be perfect for all the hair products and lotions that I keep under my sink.

2-Drawer Stackable Organizer

These Clear Stacking Bins could be used in so many different ways! They come in five different sizes ranging in price from $3.49 for the small to $9.99 for the Extra Large. I’d love to have a few small and medium ones to hold desk supplies.

Clear Stacking Boxes

For some reason, I’ve always had a hard time finding a good hat rack that will hold quite a few hats. BigT went through a little phase of liking certain sports caps, especially ice hockey teams, and BigGuy always had a few favorites, like Notre Dame and ‘Da Bears, but HayHay is way over the top with the hat thing. He’s pretty obsessed with the Boston Red Sox hats, golf hats and Billabong hats and has at least a couple of dozen.

Since the hat racks with pegs never hold enough and I don’t want two dozen hooks all over the wall, I’m wondering if this Canvas Hanging Storage Bag might work well for hats. He could stack several on top of each other in the six compartments. This is a pretty good price at $12.99.

6-Compartment Hanging Canvas Bag

And while I’m talking about getting HayHay organized, I wonder if he would actually hang up his towels if I had one of these Overdoor Towel Racks on the back of his bathroom door? These are normally $24.99 and are on sale for $14.99. At that price, I’m willing to take a chance that it might help keep towels off the floor.

Bungee Overdoor Towel Rack

These are just a few of the products that I’d really love to get while this sale is going on. The only problem is that once I walk in that store, I just know that I’m going to want to go crazy!

~LilSis

My teeny tiny supply of baking ingredients

What led me to show this photo is the previous post by BigSis about the OXO Containers. I was thinking that if I bought a couple of those, I’d have to put expiration dates on the bottom of the containers. I, seriously, do not use my flour enough to not look at the expiration date.  And yes, I have also had baking powder expire. I think I might have even used it once after it was expired. You can guess how that turned out.

This cabinet is actually not too messy because no one gets in it very much! Ha! I don’t even drink tea, but that whole top shelf is full of tea. I think I bought it for guests and there it sits taking up an entire shelf! I may have to work on that.

If I had time, I would put the spices on the bottom shelf on a lazy susan, like I have my other spices, but it’s not a top priority. I do love my spices in alphabetical order but every time BigT cooks, he never puts them back in their place!

I love the theory, “Everything has a place, and everything in it’s place.” BUT, I don’t live in a fantasy world. I live in a house with three males. So, I can’t let my OCD tendencies take over or I’d drive myself up a ding dang wall! If I’m going to have HayHay help unload the dishwasher and allow BigT to cook in the kitchen, nothing is ever going to be exactly as I would like it.  I’m okay with that. I’ve learned how to deal with it.

So, BigSis, ya think I need one of those containers for my flour? Hee Hee! Every time I use it, flour goes everywhere because there’s  hole in the side of the bag! And, just for you, I didn’t change anything. This should at least have a clip on it to stay closed, right?

Believe it or not, I really am a neat freak! My flour is just neglected!

One more question, that King Arthur Whole Wheat Flour on the third shelf has never been opened but I cannot find an expiration date on it anywhere. I don’t even know what I bought it for. Should I just toss it?

~LilSis

I worked in advertising for a long time, so the concept of product placement is not lost on me.  For example, could Glad possibly feature their products any more than they do on Top Chef?  It seems like every other shot focuses on a box of Glad bags.  Perhaps OXO has a sponsorship deal with Food Network (aren’t we suspicious!), but I haven’t noticed any mention of it, and the Pop Containers’ appearances have been pretty subtle.  I just happened to notice them because I’m crazy mad for these things!

OXO Good Grips Pop Container

Keep your eyes peeled for these little beauties the next time you’re on the Food Network.  And watch for the Bed Bath & Beyond 20% off coupons so you can get your own!

~BigSis

I can’t be mad at anyone else this time.  I’m responsible.  I killed my plants.  All of them.  All.  Of.  Them.  Every last one.  The curly hoya and the regular hoya I’ve had for close to 25 years.  The ficus that LilSis gave me when she moved to California, along with the other plant she gave me that I never knew the name of.  The gorgeous new hoya hanging basket I found last year.  And the dracaena  from our dad’s funeral.  They’re all dead.  I put them in trash bags and hauled them to the dumpster.

How did this happen?  How did I keep these living things alive…some from my very first apartment, to the condo, and then to the dark apartment building, only to kill them all here?  Last December 15, on the day of the SPCA Bake Sale, we had the mother of all sleet storms here in Dallas.  I had been baking non-stop for 3 weeks, and was punchy from a 14-hour day of raising money for one of my favorite charities.  By the time I got home and unpacked things and cleaned up my kitchen and fed my furkids and myself, I must have fallen into a coma because I didn’t give one thought to all of the literally freezing plants on my north-facing patio.

If I had even one working brain cell at that point, I would have just put a couple of sheets over the poor things to protect them from the sleet and temperatures in the teens.  But did I do that?  Nope.  And so they all died.  I’ve been watering and watering the little stumps, hoping to see one little green sprig, but none appeared.

I’m a little surprised at how upset I am that all of these living things are dead.  I’ve taken care of them, watered them, fertilized them, trimmed them, nursed them, moved them, enjoyed them and loved them for so many years.  And now I’m responsible for their deaths.  I know I can get new plants.  But they won’t be MY plants.  They’ll just be plants.

~BigSis

So today, I made another trip to BB&B and picked up the last two containers I need for Phase 1 of my pantry organization project.  All of my flours, sugars and cocoa are contained and labeled!

OXO Good Grips Pop Containers at work

They fit nicely on one shelf, and make me a verry happy girl!  I could go crazy and start Phase 2, which will be containing the lentils, popcorn, beans, and rices… all of those little bags of stuff, you know.  But I’m pretty content for now and the bags aren’t bugging me at this minute.  Next week may be a different story, but everything’s good in BigSis’ pantry today!

~BigSis

Oh.  My.  Gosh.  I know that I live in Picky Town, and that I have a bad case of Martha Stewart Flu, but these things are seriously off the chart.  I’ve been looking for a new pantry organization system for a while.  I know, it’s borderline pathetic that I just uttered that phrase, but bear with me.  I’ve been using this “system” for my baking ingredients.

Before...

It seemed messy and unorganized to me, and it certainly wouldn’t withstand a swarm of locusts or any other kind of varmint infestation that might befall my kitchen.  You never know, it could happen!  At the very least, a family of weevils could move into my pantry, so I ended up keeping the open bags of flours in the freezer, and my little freezer doesn’t have space for that.  It barely has room for all the bags of nuts and baking chocolates I keep in there, not to mention food for BigSis and the furkids.  So, I determined that I needed canisters that were 1) clear, 2) square or rectangular to be more space efficient and easy to scoop out of, and 3) airtight for freshness and bug-free-ness (if that’s a word).

Enter the OXO Pop Containers.  I bought 4 as a test to see how they worked out, and here’s the result:

...After!

Ahhhh.  Do you hear angels singing?  I do. These make me so happy!  The good news: I love these!  I almost had to smoke a cigarette after I got them filled and labeled, and I don’t even smoke!  The bad news: these are pricey little buggers!  I rewarded myself with these because I had a yukky doctor’s appointment the other day, and I always get myself a treat if I’ve been a big girl and not whined or cried about doing something I REALLY REALLY didn’t want to do.  I’d love a pizza reward, but that would kind of defeat the purpose of working my fanny off at the gym 5 days a week and trying to eat well, right?  So, my treat was the little pantry project.  The big 4 quart ones ($16.95)  hold a 5 pound bag of flour or sugar, and the smaller 1.5 quart ones ($9.99) hold just almost 2 pounds of flour.

Now.  I have many more items in my pantry that need to be tucked away inside these lovely little containers…cocoa, brown sugar, demerara sugar, pastry flour, bread flour, and so on.  Just imagine how beautiful my pantry would be!  I just need about $500 to finish the project! It gives me something to look forward to, right?

~BigSis

The Pink KitchenAid Blender!

I had been using a white Oster blender that I bought when I got out of college (we KNOW how long ago that was!).  I was determined to hold off on the pink KitchenAid blender until the Oster passed away, but even with everyday smoothie duty, the darn thing would just not quit!  This Christmas though, SisMama blessed my little kitchen with the pink blender, and I donated the Oster to the women’s shelter store here in Dallas that’s my favorite charity.

Thanks, SisMama!  My happy little pink kitchen is so much fun to be in!

My pink KitchenAid triplets!

Now, if that old Black and Decker white hand mixer would just poop out…

~BigSis

Clorox GreenWorks All Purpose Cleaner

• Clorox GreenWorks All Purpose Cleaner.  It has a fabulous fresh scent thanks to the lemon essential oil, and on top of that, it works!  Before I thought of trying it, I read about the bathroom cleaner in the GreenWorks product line in the August/September issue of ShopSmart Magazine (you already knew I had a bad case of magazine mania, and I love this one!).  ShopSmart said that Clorox GreenWorks Bathroom Cleaner worked as well as others, but didn’t cost more.  I figured the All Purpose Cleaner was a safe bet, and I wasn’t disappointed.  It even does a great job of cleaning my granite countertops, and leaves a nice shine on them.

Caldrea Citrus Mint Ylang Ylang Dish Soap Liquid

• Caldrea Citrus Mint Ylang Ylang Dish Soap Liquid.  The scent of this is heavenly, and makes doing dishes MUCH more pleasant!  I also love the countertop cleaner (great on the granite), the window spray, the home fragrance spray, and the powdered scrub in this scent.  Imagine essential oils of orange, lemon, bergamot, mint and ylang ylang, all blended together!

Simple Human Stainless Steel Trash Can

• Simple Human Stainless Steel Trash Can.  I don’t like for my trash can to be in the pantry with food in case it gets stinky; just one of my many little quirks.  So that means my trash can has to be out in the open, and that means it has to be pretty!  I think this can is very beautiful, plus it doesn’t absorb any odors, and it holds a good amount of stuff.  It’s spendy, but you’re not going to need to replace it for a long, long time!  Maybe never!

Mr. Clean Magic Eraser

• Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.  Several years ago, I had some nasty tile grout at my old condo, and was racking my brain to try to figure out how to clean it.  I knew that LilSis had someone clean the grout at her house in Texas, and it cost a fortune (pre-Magic Erasers), plus they had to use some kind of caustic product.  I was hoping to avoid that kind of expense and chemical experience.  The Mr. Clean Magic Erasers had just come out, and for some reason, I tried them on a bit of grout, and viola!  It worked like a dream!  Better than a dream!  I emailed everyone I knew to tell them of this miraculous discovery.  Now, in this condo years later, I’m still using this product to clean tile grout, and it’s still the best product on the market for the job, and lots of others.

~BigSis

We found out that HayHay had his first surf competition yesterday.  So, instead of decorating the house, I drove down to Mission Bay for a day at the beach to watch surfers compete! “You do what you gotta do, right?” HayHay came in first place so now we have to be back down at the beach at 11:00 this morning. I really don’t know when I’m going to get this house decorated!

I’ve been “surfing the net” trying to get some new, quick, and easy ideas.

I NEVER eat sweets, but for some crazy reason, I LOVE CANDY CORN! So, of course I love this entire “Candy Corn inspired” theme from Hostess with the Mostess!

I JUST LOVE THE CANDY CORN DECOR!

(Maybe I won’t be tempted to eat the candy corn if it’s in a vase with a candle or flowers!)

I don’t like scary stuff so I don’t like any of the “skull & crossbones” party themes. I was really happy when I found this “Playful Mod” theme. It’s perfect for adults and children.  I have a bunch of fun Halloween candle holders from PartyLites that will match this theme perfectly, so I’ll do something like this for Friday night at our house.

I LOVE THE ORANGE, PURPLE, & GREEN COLOR COMBINATION!

I think these  spider toothpicks will go well with this party theme!

Cute little Spider Toothpicks!

There are recipes galore for very cute, “bat shaped” cookies and candy corn cookies and intricately decorated cupcakes, but those recipes are for those of you who are more prepared than I am this year.  At this late date, I’m looking for fun, quick, and easy.  I found this recipe for Scary Spiderweb Cupcakes on Betty Crocker. I love that the web is just made with the black decorating gel and the spiders are made from gumdrops.  Looks easy enough; even for me.

Scary Spider Cupcakes

I love this Chocolate Marshmallow Ghost Cake!  One of Martha’s readers said that she simplified it by using two white cake mixes, instead of starting from scratch.  I might have to do that…

Ghostly Marshmallow Cake!

Check out this great idea for a Witch’s Curtain! You just use trash bags!

Easy Witch Curtain

Every year, we sit aside one night for a Family Pumpkin Carving Competition.  “Yikes!” It just snuck up on me this year.  We’ll do that either Tuesday or Wednesday night and if they turn out “worthy of being photographed”, I’ll post some photos on Friday. I like this Pumpkin Totem idea from Martha.

I really like this pumpkin totem!

I hope this helps those of you who need some new, quick and easy ideas for this Halloween! Happy Halloween Decorating!

~LilSis