Winter Cleaning: Making it Competitive, thus Fun!

While I am on vacation, I'm doing a little spring cleaning in winter! I've cleaned the windows that are in plain view (meaning, I didn't clean the ones that are at the back of the house in our bedroom). Now, I'm working on our master closet. It continually amazed me that despite buying less clothes each year (most of my clothes budget goes towards keeping Sister dressed and stylish), my closet still looks like we accumulate hundreds of clothes each year.

I started this little game with Bill when we first got married to get him involved with cleaning and organizing. We individually go through the closet and pull out clothes we don't want. The catch is whoever gets rid of the most pieces gets a monetary prize to buy another clothing item. Bill goes in first and doesn't tell me how many he's pulled out. I go in and purge all the clothes that I know longer wear. Why this game works is that there is a little competition and we aren't hanging on to those "well maybe I'll actually wear this 1980's blouse next year" clothes. Every piece of clothing can be the difference between winning and losing.

I am the champion 4 years running!!! And it looks like I'm going to win it again in 2009! I've already got my eye on what I'm going to purchase with the prize money!!!

Catch Up: Claire's Birthday

Whoo! I have some catching up to do. And what better time to do that than on my 2 week vacation. The first matter of catch up...Claire's 3rd Birthday!

After much thought, research and discussion...I opted for a monkey themed birthday. Claire's birthday is November 1st, and as much as I wanted to steer clear of Halloween for her birthday party, it was inevitable since Halloween was on Saturday and birthday was on Sunday and it was much easier for family to come on Saturday.

I decided on the monkey theme because Claire's favorite song and source of entertainment (at that time) was a jazzy, soulful rendition of "5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" (check out cd...Party Like a Preschooler).

So I went to researching on the web and found this cute idea with cupcakes. I have made cupcakes for Claire's birthday since her first birthday, so it worked right into my plan. And then we ordered a monkey costume for her for Halloween. It was a day for of monkeys!

Okay, catch up is short...Cato Clan just walked in the door and Claire is sweetly asking for my attention. Here are some pics from the birthday.

(Blue and green buttercream cupcakes and chocolate cupcakes with Barrels of Monkeys sticking out of them)

(This was my favorite touch. Glass blocks...found on sale at Lowes and used for many decorating purposes the rest of the year...tied up with green, blue and brown ribbon with monkey art and a number 3 on the front.)

(Second favorite idea stolen from another blog. We used the barrels, from the Barrel of Monkeys, as a cupcake holder and tied it up with a brown ribbon. Also, Claire's invitations were sent in a barrel, bought in bulk on the web, to friends and family!)

(The birthday girl blowing out her candles. Notice the monkey hanging from the lighting fixture!!!)

(The birthday girl!)