Window Shopping Wednesday: Seasonal Storage

I started packing up some of our Winter clothes yesterday, in the storage bins we bought from Ikea. Turns out, they don't fit under our bed. Agh. Also I bought them so long ago that I doubt I could return them, and I'm not sure if I even have the receipt anymore. Luckily I only bought 2 and they're only $10 a piece. Right now I'm thinking that once our guest room is cleared of bathroom stuff (in 2016 maybe?), we can put the storage bins at the bottom of the closet, stacked up, with some of our other seasonal items or less-worn items hung up, like Philip's jerseys. We don't really have guests, and this way we could easily get at the clothes if we need them.

Skubb Storage Case from Ikea. 

Where do you stand on the cloth vs. plastic underbed storage? This one is from The Container Store.

What would you do if you bought underbed storage a few months ago and it didn't fit? Also, I'd say on the cloth vs. plastic I kind of like the cloth ones, they're a little more flexible to fit more clothes in if you want. 

Would You Tues: Seasonal Clothes

Well, Winnipeg just made the sudden transition to Summer after an epically long Winter. Our closets aren't huge, so we put our Summer clothes in bins when we moved into our bedroom last Fall, making our closet a bit more spacious. We want to know...

Do you store your clothes seasonally?
a) Yes. 
b) No, I have a big enough closet to fit everything.


If you do store your clothes seasonally...
Have you made the switch to Summer clothes yet?
a) Nope, I wasn't sure what this weather was going to throw at us next so I've been holding off.
b) Yep, I switch at the first sign of melting.

As for us, I think I'll switch them this week. It's nice enough that Philip might want to wear some golf shirts to work, and I'm definitely ready for Summer dresses!

Sparks & Recreation

It seemed that this week in the blogosphere (I felt like such a nerd writing that), there have been a lot of exciting announcements!

Young House Love bought a new house, and I couldn't be more excited. Okay, maybe I could, like if it was actual news for someone I knew and loved (although if I met them I'm pretty sure we'd be best friends). I'm especially excited because sometimes our house projects can be really discouraging, because we haven't really reached the cosmetic change stage yet, and so it'll be nice to read their blog starting from scratch on a fixer-upper so that maybe I can see them do some of the projects we have on the horizon. 

In other blog news, East Coast Creative's Jess is expecting a surprise baby, so that's exciting! I like to include a picture with each post, but the only picture is of a pregnant stomach that says "Yup there's a baby in there", and I'm afraid of a grandparent seeing it while skimming and jumping to conclusions. Not worth the risk!

The Pinterest Challenge has returned, I'm not sure what I'll make yet but I hope to contribute something. Will have to do some brainstorming this weekend!

This e-book bundle is so tempting to me. It's 97 e-books for $29.97. That's a really good deal. I've resisted so far, but I hope someone I know will buy it so I can live vicariously through them.

What have you read this week? Any interesting new blogs being added to your daily routine? Let me know about them in the comments!

Patience Patience

Our bathroom has been gutted for 5 months. Agh. To be honest a lot of the time I don't even think about it, we've had some setbacks like the ice damming and insulation issues. Right now, I can't wait for it to be done. Sometimes I'm a little tempted to just hire a contractor and say, "Just get it done, don't ask us questions, don't dilly dally, just get it done and open the door when it's done and we'll pay you and we'll love it." However, we have a bathroom downstairs, we have no reason to be in a big rush, and we can save ourselves a lot of money by figuring out some of this stuff ourselves. 

This blog post is kind of just my rant, I'm losing patience with the projects, and being hung up waiting for different vendors to get back to us or things to get moved forward. Right now while we wait on a few quotes, we've started some of the other projects on our list:
- New Front/Back Doors: We got a quote, and plan to order them as soon as we hear back. Really excited about that!
- New Garage Doors/Openers: Got a quote on this also, we need to clean out our garage and want to wait on some of the bathroom quotes to make sure we don't spend money we'll need for the bathroom before we order them. 

So that's where we're at right now, patiently waiting for things to move forward, doing what we can to stay sane by getting a few things done, and taking some time to relax also. Hoping this doesn't take forever, it would be really nice to finish our bathroom in May. I don't want to jinx it, so let's just see what happens. After that, who knows what will be next! We've talked Kitchen, which is a huge project and one that we hadn't planned on doing for a couple years, so we'll keep you posted!

Window Shopping Wednesday: Mother's Day Ideas

With May 1st comes a slew of events in our family. Something about August just turns up the fertility apparently. There are lots of birthdays, including my Oma, my sister, Philip's dad, Philip's brother, and Philip!  

I've definitely been keeping my eye out for great gifts to celebrate all of these May babies, as well as Mother's Day. I've finished shopping for Philip, started for Jonathan, but still have my sister and father-in-law to go! 

I thought we'd talk Mother's Day gifts today for our Window Shopping feature, because most of us have Mother's while not all of us have brother-in-law Jonathan.




Each year I buy my mom a book. It's a tradition I started a few years ago, because there aren't tons of things my mom needs, but everyone can use a good book. I like picking out something I think she'll like, and then I write a note in the cover as a keepsake. I started doing the same with Philip's mom as well, because I think it's a nice tradition. I've already got their books picked out and high up in my closet in hiding (psst mother's this is not permission to snoop when you come over!). If you're still looking for a mother's day gift though, here are some ideas.

This cup and saucer set is so sophisticated and feminine. I love the mixes of shades of pink and gold! 

A magazine subscription makes a great gift, and some magazines (such as Real Simple, which I'm partial to and have subscribed to for a few years) even have promotions going on that make them a pretty good deal! 

Tuesday's with Morrie is my very favourite book in the world, and a recommended read. If your mom likes to read like mine does, this would make a great gift. 

If your mom likes to bake, this cookie cutter set from Ikea is about as adorable as it gets. Who doesn't want cookies in the shape of woodland animals? It's also super affordable at 3.99, you could put it in a basket of baking things for a themed gift.

A good old breakfast in bed never ceases to please, and this crepe square with ham and egg looks interesting. Some other things to do for mom: dishes, mop/vacuum, and fresh flowers are good too!

In our family, a scarf goes over really well. With my mom, sister, and I we had tons of scarves - moving out was quite the scarf dividing ceremony. This pretty Spring scarf from Stella & Dot is beautiful.

This card from Smock Paper is delightful, it's beautiful and sure to make your mother feel cherished. 

If your mom has a good sense of humor, this might be right up her alley. Some E-Cards has some hilarious cards, I picked one out for my mom while browsing for one to include here, I'll have to keep you posted on if she likes it!

Hopefully after this you'll be more prepared for Mother's Day (which is only a week and a half away by the way), I think most mom's would be happy with any of these beautiful gifts! I know I'm looking forward to celebrating with my mom's and making sure they know how loved they are.