five minutes or less

I have exactly five minutes or less to type this little post, brush my teeth, gather my things, and head to my little elementary school library. A responsible adult would probably skip the type-this-little-post part, but I'm neither responsible nor an adult (you don't become those things 'til you're 30, right?), so here me are, mateys.

There's just a little somethin' somethin' I want to share:

I. LOVE. MY. JOB!

Yay! How exciting is that? Sure, I want to sleep late every morning and I am always running through the doors right on time but, once I'm there, I'm loving it.

I love that I get to see ALL the kids in the school. From Pre-K up to 5th grade... I get to know all of them. They may only come in for thirty minutes each week (and of course, quick random trips throughout the week) but it's just enough time. I hope that the little time I'm able to spend with them is time that they feel encouraged, motivated, and loved. But they also know I mean business - I don't let them get away with anything and there's a certain few that I keep a special eye on throughout the day, always checking on them and asking, "What color are you on today?". ;)

And I love the teachers and staff there. Every single person has been friendly and welcoming. That has been a blessing in and of itself. I've step foot in many schools where no one even takes a second to speak to you. I feel like I'm a part of the team, and I appreciate it so much.

God knew what he was doing this whole time... this whole journey of unemployment and feelings of failure and rejection were worth getting to this point. I never expected to be in the position I'm in now, but I absolutely love it. And I'm wondering if it's what I should have been doing all along.

To apply for library [grad] school or not.... that is now the question.

tiny spaces

As I mentioned in my post from Sunday, our apartment isn't very big. When I first walked into it, I was nervous that we had made a mistake by moving into a place so small. We have some pretty large pieces of furniture (hello, 9ft couch! and butcher block table for 6!). I was terrified our stuff wouldn't fit.

I was wrong!

Most of our furniture fit. We had to leave behind an armchair, our two end tables for the living room, and we keep two of our dining chairs in the storage closet outside to maximize daily living space. But, for the most part... everything fit.

Then I was concerned that we had too much kitchen stuff. Wrong again! We still have room to spare and I'm telling you we have A LOT of kitchen stuff for newlyweds! I am so proud of the way we have our kitchen organized that I want to show it off... so here ya go! :)

Plates & things. We have ten settings of every day china (on the bottom shelf) and six plastic place settings. I love the little plastic stacker things - they have been a life saver for this tiny space!  

 The pantry is still a work in progress... it's narrow but deep, making it difficult to access items in the back. So, I put in those plastic bins so that you can slide items in and out easily. It's kind-of like having pull-out drawers in your pantry except waaaaaay cheaper!

 All my baking goodies are up top (there's actually more stuff behind what you can see, believe it or not). The snack basket was a must... all those little things we like to nibble on fit nicely right inside the basket!

 This cabinet is may not make the most sense as to how it's organized, but it works. Soups, bread crumbs, and stocks are close to the oven & prep area. Our cheese graters, hand mixer, toaster, and glass baking dishes are in there, too. Like I said, random... but it works. 

 This is my favorite cabinet to open! The cookware fits so nicely and the lid rack makes me smile every time!!! 

 The prep area.... I am hoping to move the canisters somewhere else soon because they just get in the way right now. And let me just say, someone kick me in the pants if I ever CHOOSE beige countertops. They are a pain in the neck to keep clean!!!

 Baking, measuring, & mixing cabinet. 

 Baking supplies. 

 Another great purchase - the magnetic knife thingy. It is above our stove.... the only bad part is that if you need the scissors before your first cup of coffee, you might accidentally grab them poorly and they might drop behind the stove.... oops. And my measuring tools are on the wall with cheap Command hooks. One day I'll upgrade!

 Spicy spice cabinet. I went crazy with my Target gift card and bout a three-tiered shelf thingy and it's great for all those bottles and spice things. (We also have a spice rack that sits on a counter). The little white basket has pouches - ranch packets, taco seasoning, etc. 

 The white things are these snap-together organizing trays. They're awesome because you can customize the layout to fit your drawers. I also have some in the bathroom cabinet drawers to hold my makeup.

 Under the sink is also fairly organized, although a bit crammed. Stuff we use most often is in the front, extras and other things in the back (in another plastic basket!). 

There's some other cabinets that I didn't show... but, I think the point is clear! I'm so happy we didn't have to leave behind any of our kitchen things. Every time I go in the kitchen, I breathe a little sigh of relief that it is mostly finished, mostly organized, and that it is such a fun little place to be. Blake and I cook together almost every night and it's such a treat. We have some great conversations in there! I never thought I could love a tiny little apartment kitchen so much, but I do! I want to marry it! (That's weird.)

SOC Sunday: Cleaning the Hizzle

I'm not really sure how many square feet our apartment is, but it's not a lot! We are definitely finding it difficult to keep the ???# of square feet clean. For a couple of weeks, we would clean on Saturday mornings, splitting the apartment in half and each taking a half. I had the kitchen, dining room, living room, and Blake had the bathroom and bedroom (and usually the laundry). It was working well.... until we went out of town.

Being away on a Saturday threw us off. We are extremely busy on Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday, so cleaning during the week is tough. Usually, I get home around 5:15 and on those three days, Blake or I have to leave the apartment to go to work around 6:45. Not much time to cook, clean up dinner, and clean again.

Then, I divided the house up into chores that we could do that would only take 15 minutes a day. That hasn't worked!!!

And now we went the whole weekend without cleaning because yesterday we put up the Christmas tree (which was a total fail... see previous post!).

We have a great system for the kitchen - Blake loads & runs the dishwasher at night and I unload it in the mornings. We keep the sink empty for the most part by putting our dishes straight into the dishwasher as we use them throughout the day. That little routine has been a major help. But, figuring out other routines has been more challenging! We'll get there. I just hope we get there sooner rather than later because the clutter is killing me!!

This was my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post. It’s five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the rules…

• Set a timer and write for 5 minutes only.
• Write an intro to the post if you want but don’t edit the post. No proofreading or spellchecking. This is writing in the raw.
• Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.
• Add the Stream of Consciousness Sunday badge to your post.
• Link up your post below.
• Visit your fellow bloggers and show some love.