McLinky Monday - My Favorite Things

This week on RHOK - McLinky Monday, Mrs. Albright shared the things she treasured the most, and asked us to do the same.

I love sharing things that mean the most to me. I am aware that others may look at these things and not think they have much value....

We are determined to be debt free in the next 4 years, so we live in a very small home, and have a minimal lifestyle. We don't have much that is considered worth much monetarily. I have very few heirlooms passed on to my from relatives. Most of what we own, we own because it is practical. But I love my home, my life, and I feel I am richly blessed.

To me these things are my greatest treasures.

At the top of my most treasured list is my hubby. But Mr. Strong Man detests pictures... and I wasn't able to sneak a photo of him.

Next on my list are our 3 beautiful girls, Little Miss Helpful, Little Miss Sunshine, and Little Miss Daredevil. Here they are this morning cuddling on the couch right after they woke up.


These are the silk flowers I carried in my wedding bouquet and our unity candle. The unity candle is a glass oil lamp that was custom etched for our marriage ceremony. They hang on the wall over our dressers.

I love collecting knitting needles. I rarely use these, but they sit in a vase on a corner of my craft cabinet. I love the kiddie knitting needles with the cheerful faces! They are so fun and I smile every time I see them!


This is our piano that was given to us by a dear friend. It was used by her daughters when they were growing, and she passed it on to us. On top of the piano sits the family bible, my favorite lamp, and some pictures.


The pictures are reproductions of paintings by my favorite artist, Mary Cassatt. (I got them recently at a yard sale and I'm waiting patiently for Mr. Strong Man to put wall anchors up so I can hang them).

I love tea cups, and this is my small collection. I like to have afternoon tea when we are home, and my girls love using their own little dainty tea cups. Even the most boisterous tom boys (like mine) can appreciate a little elegance. :)

I have 1 tea cup that was a part of my husband's grandmother's china set, and is the only piece that has survived all these years. Hanging on the bakers rack you can see my aprons. I have 1 everyday apron for me, 1 apron for my daughter, and 3 handmade 1/2 aprons made by an old friend.

This is my knitting basket where I keep my current knitting projects. I am currently working on a Candle Flame Shawl, a Feather and Fan Scarf for Little Miss Sunshine, a Diamond Lace Scarf for me, and a Lacy Leafy Baby Afghan.


This is the Candle Flame Shawl I have been working on for several years. It is about 3/4 completed, and will be a gift to hubby's Granny when it is done.


This is the baby keepsake box. I have kept a few infant outfits that all three of my girls have worn. What you see here are the keepsake baby blankets.


The quilt was hand made by a friend for my oldest daughter, and has covered all 3 of my girls. The afghan on the lower left is a crocheted Granny Square Baby Afghan that I discovered at a thrift store. The two on the lower right and the one on the upper right were crocheted for the three girls by Granny. But my favorite is the yellow afghan in the center.


This was the afghan knit by Granny for Mr. Strong Man when he was an infant. I have the same pattern that she used for this afghan, and will be making one for each of my girls. Hopefully some day I will make one for each of my grand children.

I had a lot of fun sharing my treasures with you! Each and every one of these items has a dear place in my home and my heart.

Now it is your turn to share your treasures with us. Write about your favorite things on your blog, and link up with RHOK on the original McLinky Monday post.

Blessings.

Angela

McLinky Spring Clean Challenge

This week the RHOK rolled out a spring cleaning challenge, a before and after challenge.

Yes I know the button says McLinky MONDAY, but I was a little busy yesterday. No I wasn't doing stereotypical housewifey activities like watching soap operas. I was occupied with wonderful housewifey activities like cleaning up potty accidents, spilled milk, running errands, and then taking our SUV in for repairs.

So I'm sorry. I apologize. I just didn't have time to get it done on time.

Apology accepted? Great!

Now back to the challenge.

RHOK challenged us to tackle one messy area of our home for spring cleaning. For this challenge I took on underneath the bathroom sink. This is one small space that I constantly battle with it being messy and cluttered.

This picture is my after picture.

My before picture has been withheld to protect the innocent.... and because I feel too vulnerable showing you my dusty plumbing. I'm just not ready to be that vulnerable.

Just trust me, it was bad.

We are a family of 5, in a tiny home, with 1 very tiny bathroom. (1 husband + 1 wife + 3 daughters + 1 tiny bathroom = my husband needs some sympathy.) The one tiny bathroom only has 1 tiny under sink cabinet for additional storage.

I am not really a girly lady. But my daughters are trending towards girly girl things. That equals a lot of hair accessories. Add that to normal, everyday bathroom items, and bathroom storage gets really crowded, quickly cluttered, and extremely disorganized.

It is really hard to stay on top of keeping it together because usually we are in a hurry and just toss items back in underneath and shut the door.

To contain all the hair accessories, I freed up several school supply containers by purging old crayons and craft supplies we rarely use.

I labeled each container for each type of hair accessory, such as "Hair Bands", "Clips and Bobby Pins", "Scrunchies" etc.

I got a medium size white bin for the extra bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and hair products. And I used small/medium office drawer organizers to hold soap, extra toothpaste and toothbrushes.

To organize the hair dryers, curling irons, and clippers, I glued a 1x4 to the inside of the cabinet and nailed in nails to hang them from.

It honestly didn't take that long to do. The part that took the most time was sorting out all the hair accessories and placing them in their own box.

Now when we are fixing hair, we can just take out one box with exactly what we need, instead of a huge bin with everything mixed in. It will be a lot easier to keep it neat and tidy!

This is my first spring cleaning challenge. What's yours?

Blessings!

Angela