17 Cool Growth Charts (And 2 Fairly Lame Ones)!

It is time to talk about documenting your height! For the last 18 months I have been keeping track of Cora's height on a freebie growth chart from the hospital I delivered at.

It is kind of cute, but I started thinking about how much cuter it could be.

My mom gave me the old chart that Kelly and I mapped our height on (at very random intervals). A few of my friends even made it onto the tallness keeper.

I found tons of awesome growth chart ideas. Don't you worry! I am going to share them with you.

As soon as I began to write this post, I noticed a blog called Bower Power that I check every so often just DIYed one of my favorites!

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If you don't want to DIY one, don't you worry. I found some pretty neat height charts that you can buy.

Left: You can find at Ecojot for $12

Middle: Buy it here for $49

Right:  Sorry this red fella is no longer for sale, but you might be able to find something like him here.

You could turn your growth chart into a scapbook of sorts with photos and maybe even a few notes.

Here are some more great growth chart rulers. Isn't that a fun idea?!

Right, Middle, Left

You still don't see what you're looking for? I HAVE MORE!
Sorry the cute little teddy bear is so fuzzy!

Left, Middle, Right

Here is another take on the scrapbook-type growth chart. Go get yourself a shadow box!

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Now, the fish painting below isn't exactly my taste. But, I love the idea of taking a painting (hopefully one that you made yourself so you don't ruin someone else's artwork) and marking heights on that. That little boy loves it.

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For the growth chart below, you could leave the name off and use it as a bulletin board or magnetic board. You could even paint it with chalkboard paint.   

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This one is one of my favorites! I love the idea of marking a piece of furniture and keeping track of the height that way. 

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When I started writing this post, I thought that I would want to have a growth chart for Cora that looks really awesome. But, after spending WAY TOO MUCH TIME with growth charts I realized that it is all about the memories and traditions that come along with recording the height. So, you will probably not see me DIY a fancy growth chart down the line, but keep your eyes peeled for a marked up piece of furniture or some random lines on the wall of my house.

Happy Friday! I hope you all have a spectacular weekend. Go start some new traditions and make a few new memories (growth chart related or not)!

OO: Desk Organization. Tips & Tricks, Part 1

It is time to clean your desk. Put your organizing clothes on, pump up the volume and let's get to work.

Why don't we take a look at some desk-spiration (anyone following me here? desk + inspiration = desk-spiration). I bet that term is about to catch on like fruit flies!

I have read a lot of organizational books and organizing principles run wild in me. I just have not implemented them all very well. I will take the best tips and tricks I have for you about desk organizing and intersperse them with awesome photos! I tend to go a bit overboard with these things so I have broken this down into two posts so it doesn't take you 2 weeks to read it!

This desk set-up is fantastic. It has personality, plenty of things at arm's reach, and great organization. You could even DIY a desk like that with a couple of file cabinets and a big piece of wood. The only thing I don't like about it is that there isn't much workable space. 

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Tip #1: Create zones in your desk space. This will save you time when you are trying to find things or are putting things away. 

Check out the cool magnetic spice containers! You could hold your staples, paper clips, etc in there!

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Tip#2: Have something near your desk that makes your happy! For me, a nice organized desk would do it. A couple photos of some lovely smiley faces of my peeps would work too; even a photocopy of an illustration from my favorite kid's book or a swatch of my favorite fabric would do the trick. I like to keep happy reminders all over my house- especially where I spend a lot of time.

Here is the cover of a kid's book that I love. Looking at it gives me a case of the warm and fuzzy smiles. Even if I just taped this to the wall near my office it would make me happier.

These people know how to make an office cheery!

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Tip #3: Keep your cords under control! Check my post from last week for some suggestions on how to do it.

Tip #4: Do you think you don't have room for an office? Look around your room and locate an unused corner. You don't need much space to turn it into your own personal desk paradise! Check out how efficient the space below is and follow their lead!

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If you are still trying to think of a way to bring happy things into your space why not do it with your desk organizers. 

You can buy a cool pen city like this one:

Or get some of these super awesome animal organizers:

If you aren't looking for quite that much personality, you could go with the old tiered-tin-can approach:

 If you want to keep it organized while being a bit innovative, put your old spice rack to work!

You know how I like to divide things up into a couple sections for you! So, you can look forward to another edition of OO: Desk Organization. Tips & Tricks coming soon! Until then, why don't you answer this lovely WYR and then tell me about what you have been organizing (or not organizing) these days.

Wednesday's Weekly Would You Rather Question:

WYR: 

swim in a cage surrounded by sharks for 30 minutes

or 

go skydiving?

This one is my pal, Sandra Dee's question and it is WAYYYYY better than anything I was thinking of.

OO: 10 Outstanding Office Oraganizing Tips

Organization Overhaul time is here on this lovely Friday morning!

We are going to be checking out some outstanding offices today! 

• You know that I love to maximize my storage space. People sometimes call me "Laura Uses-Vertical-Storage-Space-Like-A-Champ Spencer."

Get to it! Make the most of your wall space by going vertical. Get to storing!

• This will not be the first time that I have told you that things look more organized when they are in pretty boxes or container. So, splurge on some matching containers from Ikea, The Container Store or wherever. You could also wrap them in burlap, wrapping paper, scrapbook paper, or modge podge photos of your best friends all over them. Whatever you do- if you store your stuff in the open make sure it is something you will smile at when you see it!

FYI- you are not required to get a computer monitor from the 1980s just because you have nice matching boxes.

• Cords, cords, cords. Go wireless and cordless where you can. When you can't, organize the heck out of them so they don't get knotted up and hidden and terrible all around!

Label each cord on a bread clip.

Use binder clips to make your cords accessible. 

• Make a desk or office area that fits your needs. 

If you only have enough space to fit your desk in a closet that is just fine! Look how lovely it can be!

DIY your desk out of 2x4s and storage cabinets. This way you can make it fit exactly where you want it.

 You could definitely DIY this desk too. I think it is a pretty sneaky one!

• Label everything! I ALWAYS have random receipts or papers floating around that are important but don't have a home. This is the perfect solution. Get some binder clips and label them. They can now be the catch-all for your important floater-documents!

• Beautify even more! Don't just pretty up your storage boxes. Keep that double sided tape or glue stick going to your pen collection.

• Keep the things you use most accessible. 

You could use a peg board. Or clip boards.

You know that's right... pretty those clip boards up!

• Keep a list of the addresses you send to most next to your address labels, stamps and cards.

• Sync your calendar with other people who might need it.

• Last, but never ever ever least... back up, back up, back up! Please go do it right now! Back up all of your important computer documents and photos before you accidentally spill your water all over your computer and lose it all!

How is your office looking these days? Do you have the lovely organized boxes that I dream of?

sources: yellow walls, corner office, pin cushion stool, comic wrap, old monitor, binder clip cords, labeled binder clips, closet office

OO: Some Of My Favorite Organizing Tips & Tricks

Day 2 of 2013 and I am already a good deal more organized than I was on 12/31/12/. Have you adjusted to writing '13 yet? It usually takes me until at least February.

Organization Overhaul is back and it is time to get straightened up!

Every other day or so Organization Overhaul (OO) is going to make an appearance on Never Listless. There is plenty of organizing that needs to happen all over the world. So, let's work together and get it started!

Here is a random before and after I found using my trusty friend, Google Images. I wrote Before and After on the photos because didn't want to leave my other pal (Microsoft Paint) out. 

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Today I am just going to share some of my favorite organizational tips and tricks with you! But behind the scenes, I am working like a mad lady to get my closets cleaned, my computer organized; I'm even working toward turning my garage into a place that I'm not totally embarrassed of. And I'm doing it all for the sake of Organization Overhaul. Well, that and the fact that I am a big fan of an organized house!

Here they are... Some Of My Favorite Organizational Tips & Tricks

• I love organizing! Love it!!!! But I have to be in the right mood to be really productive with my organizing. Here are the thing that help me make the most of my tidying time:
• Put on some comfy clothes!
• Turn up the music
• Choose to organize at a time of day when you feel most energized
• Try to plan it so you can have a whole day or at least a few consecutive hours to work your organizational magic.
• If you only have little bits of time try to break up your organizing into small parts. Just do one quick shelf here and there.

• Take a look at the things that are causing your organizational trouble. Then fix it. Here are some examples:
• Are you always losing your keys? Have a bowl for them right at the door.
• Do you knock over about 30 random things when you step into your garage? Me too! Don't worry; I'll address that when I get to OO: Garages!
• Are piles taking over your house? Make sure everything in your house has a home! 
• Do your baking sheets sit in the drying rack forever because they look even messier in the cupboard? Get a tray divider like this one.

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• Label everything

• Put it away now! Stop looking at that pile of clutter and wishing it would magically put itself away. Stand up, pick it up, and put it away! Yay!!!

• Make your messes pretty! Use nice baskets, colorful paper or paint to beautify the area that you need to organize. At the very least, it makes for a good after photo! 

Check out this beautiful before and after from House Of Smiths.

A pantry that pretty would be much easier for me to keep looking good!

• If you are like me you have all sorts of cool mugs and pottery that are in boxes. Pull them out and use them in your medicine cabinet for cotton balls or on the desk as pencil holders. Let those beautifies have their time to shine!

• My two biggest pieces of advice: 
• put like with like, always! 
• give every item a home- even if it is a box labeled "random stuff."

Don't fret. I have PLENTY more tips and tricks that I am going to share with you in many Organization Overhaul posts to come!

I have a post about Christmas 2012 coming in a few days. Here is sneak peak of my cutie baby on Christmas!

Wednesday's Weekly Would You Rather Question!

WYR...

Always have to say "whatcha think about that" when you answer the phone

or 

always have Richard Simmon's enthusiasm?

Happy birthday to my wonderful father-in-law, Mike!

In honor of his birthday, yesterday, I taught Cora how to repeat after me when I said, "Hap Brrr Day, Pop."

Road Trip Advice And Car Games

Car trips used to be so fun when I was little. We would take a row of seats out of the van; put a bunch of blankets down and turn the whole area into a little fort for my sister and I to play and sleep in. Obviously, car seat guidelines do not allow for anything even remotely like that these days.

Cora isn't into being confined to a car seat so she is not a happy camper when we go on long road trips. I know a lot of babies sleep in the car but that just isn't Cora's style. I usually sit in the back with her and try to keep her entertained. That works for about the first 45 minutes and then she says, "SERIOUSLY, get me out of this thing." I've tried sitting in the front and passing her back a new book or toy when she gets sick of what she has. I've tried music, dancing.... but Cora just doesn't love the car.

Here she is sleeping in the car! Miraculous! Whenever she falls asleep in the car I basically just stare at her in amazement until she wakes up.

So, I went to my trusty pal, Google, to see if there was anything else I could try. One suggestion was a portable DVD player- an idea that I had also heard from a few friends and family members. We had been trying not to let Cora watch any TV until she was two (as suggested by Cora's pediatrician and a few parenting books I read). So, we had always thrown that idea out the window. But the impending six hour drive to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family made Scott and I reconsider our policy. Decision made... we bought a portable DVD player and I rented a few DVDs from the library.

The outcome... Very helpful! I didn't turn it on until I sensed a meltdown on the horizon. She went into a major TV zone. She loved the DVDs Baby Babble and Baby Babble II. She even interacted a good bit with it. She did not like any of the Baby Einstein videos. I bought a used Dora DVD and I think it freaked her out a bit especially since I walked Dora behind the DVD player and then turned on the movie like Dora magically went into the TV. I don't think we will try Dora on TV or DVD again for a long time. Cora seems to like to be in charge of whatever weird things she thinks Dora should do- like sleep in a shoe or hide under her high chair.

Here she is loving her Baby Babble.

I hope we didn't shoot ourselves in the foot by giving in on the DVD player. I hope to one day be able to do all the fun car activities like my parents used to do for me growing up.

Here are some examples of the car games we used to play growing up:

• Alphabet games. You can compete to see who  is the first to find every letter of the alphabet in order. Or you can have a theme like "animals" and take turns naming animals in alphabetical order.
• We had Bingo boards and our parents would call out number-letters combos to see who would win.
• Lots of books to keep us occupied
• When we were a bit older we played a game that I have just entitled "what do you get." It is a little tricky to explain. But the idea is that each person in the car picks a number 1-10. Let's say you picked the number 3. As you're driving along, you get 3rd house you pass. It is now yours. Then everyone talks about how you'll like living there. Then the laughter ensues! I'm telling you... it is a fun game! You can vary it by making it the 3rd car you pass. you can even say the 3rd person you see is now your new best friend.
• A surprise bag of books and toys that the child can pull out.
• Trivia questions. A lot of times we will bring a trivia book with us or print some facts out about wherever we are going for the car ride.
• 20 Questions
• I Spy
• My nerdy dad and sister used to compete to see who could answer math equations the fastest. I would put the math problem into a calculator and tell them who won. Then, I would enter the number 1 and press +1 and equals over and over and over until I got sick of that game. Spoiler alert: sometimes I wouldn't ever get sick of that game and the only thing that stopped me was reaching our destination.
• License plate game where you try to find a license plate from every state.
• Mile candy. This is one game that I don't hope to carry on. My parents used to give us a piece of candy every mile that we were good. My dad's mile candy of choice: Necco Wafers.

Well, there you go, folks! 
Does anyone have any other tips for how to get your babytoddler to enjoy life on the open road?
Any other car games for slightly older babytoddlers?

It's Resolution Time!

I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas. I'm sad it is all over. Just 364 days until we do it again! Soon, I will be sure to share all of the Christmas fun that the Ross-Spencer household had!

But let's get back to the subject at hand... New Year's Day is close. 

So, start cooking your black eyed peas; put some heat on the collards and get your pen and paper out.

Let's talk resolutions, shall we?

A little google research pulled up some of the most common resolutions. And here they are:

• Getting Organized
• Spend Less, Save More
• Enjoy Life to the Fullest
• Quit Smoking
• Spend More Time with Family
• Lose Weight and Get Fit
• Quit Smoking
• Learn Something New
• Eat Healthier and Diet
• Travel to New Places
• Be Less Stressed
• Volunteer

A New Year's Resolution board idea for all of those teachers out there.

We all know that just because you make a resolution doesn't mean you're going to keep it. I found a Times article with the 10 most commonly broken New Year's Resolutions. This list is almost identical to the list above. It looks like the people of the world are having a littler trouble making things happen. So, let's see if we can figure out a way to make those resolutions permanent!

Here are 6 tips to help you keep your New Year's Resolution:

• Check yo' self! You know what I'm talking about... be realistic. Willpower is in short supply. Research has recently shown that willpower is not indefinite. Know this going into it and make your resolution something that you feel confident you can stick to but still challenges you.

Yay! Get your resolution on!! photo from here.

• Write out your goals and put them somewhere that you will see often. Put them all over the place. You want to make sure that you are reminded of your goal often. So, load up on sticky notes and get to stickin'.

• Get someone else involved in your resolution. This will help make you more accountable. Or if you know someone with the same resolution as you- even better! You can talk about tips for your resolution or maybe even work on it together.

Fireworks just for you! You can do it! You are about to teach that resolution a lesson.

• Get detailed. Don't just make a resolution. Make a plan for how you're going to stick to it. Make it as easy as you can. Break your resolution down into as many parts as you can and work at it little by little.

• Accept it when you mess up. If you get super upset when you go a little off your resolution you are much more likely to give up on the whole thing. Realize that you aren't perfect and think of it as a bump on the road rather than a car wreck.

• Start right now! This is about the only time I am going to tell you to stop reading this blog and exercise/ organize/ call your mom/ eat some broccoli.

Woo woo! One more 2013 is coming firework party for you! 

There you have it... 6 tips for you. I have a few more things to let you in on before it is time for you to get to resolutin'.

My New Year's Resolution is to have less piles around my house. I'm pretty organized except for my darn piles! When I clean up I gather up all of the random things in each room and send them to the master bedroom to be sorted later. Later rarely happens and random piles abound! But, come 2013 I am going to be all over those random piles like Cora on Big Bear.

I am not a big fan of Cora's adorable face being right above the photo I am about to show you. But it is happening because I have something funny to share with you.

Apparently, Zach Galifianakis' New Year Resolution was to stop saying "you go girl."

That was it. I shared it. You go girl image from here.

There are quizzes you can take to find out what your New Year's Resolution should be. I took one and it said "self improvement."
Why, thank you, quiz! I could make myself a bit better. I can't really imagine what other answers this resolution-generating quiz could come up with since self improvement is pretty much the whole idea of a New Year's Resolution. But if you want to give it a whirl, here is the quiz.


Believe it or not, people, it is Wednesday. And that means that it is time for Wednesday's Weekly Would You Rather question:
WYR...
have a completely unbelievable memory
or
have a so-so memory and the ability to rewind time by 2 seconds whenever you want?

Entertaining The Baby... Dressing Up Bianca

You know I love keeping my little babytoddler entertained.

These days, Cora's favorite things to do are to talk about shoes and throw dish towels on the floor as flat as she can get them.

She also still squeals when I tell her we are going to the park. Then she starts saying, "Wheeeeee."

Sorry the photo is a little blurry- the girl's a fast swinger.

The other day I decided to do a little flipping through my book, 365 Activities Smart Babies Play. And, by "do a little flipping" I mean that I busted out my highlighter while I was on the Stair-Master at the gym and circled the page called "Getting Dressed." I guarantee that if the gym people were to refer to me they would say, "Oh, you mean the lady who carries around the crazy tab-filled notebook and her entire marker collection." Everyone knows that is normal stuff to have with you at the gym.

A while ago I bought some butcher paper (or Ikea's equivalent of it). I got it out and put it on the floor. Cora was interested! Until I made her lie down on it while I traced her. That was not her favorite part.

Are you wondering why this post is called "Dressing Up Bianca"? You should be. It is weird and random. I will get to that in a minute.

Next, we went to Cora's closet and she picked out some clothes. She really wanted some overalls that were sticking out of the "Girlfriend, you don't fit in those clothes anymore" box. The overalls were one of the many items that my mom held onto from when Kelly and I were little. Unfortunately, Cora never got to wear them. And apparently she never forgot.

Then I drew a face on Bianca. Why Bianca? Because I named about 15 girls names and when I said Bianca Cora started laughing and smiling and trying to repeat it. So, Bianca it was.

Sorry, Bianca, you have no neck.

I put Bianca down on the floor along with a pile of clothes and Cora got to work.

I may have straightened the clothes out a little bit.

Bianca was stylin'!!!

Bianca apparently likes to wear a lot of layers and carry around a blanket/stuffed animal Rudolph.

This activity was certainly no dish towel that Cora could throw around and it definitely wasn't a trip to the park. But Cora seemed to enjoy it pretty well. So, I rolled ol' Bianca up and put her in the closet for a rainy day.

The idea behind all of this was obviously helping Cora learn where certain clothes go. She's pretty good at telling you where items of clothing go when you ask her but I thought she might like to put it into practice. 

If you are looking for some more ideas on how to keep your baby or babytoddler happy check out the links below:

• Activities For A 13 Month Old
• Entertaining A 14 Month Old With Leaves
• Entertaining A 14 Month Old With Leaves And The Outdoorsa