| Sweet Orange Fox

Before Trent was born we decided to give my office a complete makeover. I work from home and knew that once a baby was added into the mix I was going to have to be SUPER organized if I was even going to have a shot at making it. I took the opportunity of cleaning out/reorganizing to give the office a total overhaul and finally have my dream craft room/office. I’m sure Matt was happy that all my crap would finally be contained in ONE room. I still tend to take over the entire house when working on a bigger project, but for the most part I can now reign it in thanks to my new room.

Of course like a complete dipshit I forgot to take before pictures AGAIN. Someone remind me next time I start out on something to take pictures before and during, PLEASE! I looked through the 67435 pictures on my phone and found a few limited shots of the office before.

The first step was taking measurements of the room and drawing out a rough picture. I thought about using the existing desk, but it just was not working. This was really a case where I needed to get furniture to fit the room, and not try to make the room fit the furniture. I wanted to maximize the workspace as well as the open space for a future pack-n-play, bouncer, jumper, etc. So we had our ‘blueprint’ of the room with all of the measurements of the walls, door placement and window placement and headed to IKEA to try and keep it on a budget.

I already had it in my head that turquoise and white would be my color scheme, and we came across this fab line that incorporated white and a natural wood color which went well with the paint I picked out. Besides the dirt cheap price, these pieces were perfect because there was a huge variety of matching items that can be arranged together in pretty much infinite combinations. They are all the same height, so putting things end-to-end gives you a nice even work space on top that you can move around if needed…you are not tied down to one 8 foot long piece of furniture. We spent like seriously two hours in the store sketching out the pieces on top of our blueprint. I may or may not have eaten three cinnamon rolls in the process. While sitting in the desk display. But really…in the IKEA crowd I doubt I was out of place at all.

Anyway here are the major pieces we came home with:

- Micke drawer file unit

- Micke desk x 2

- Micke short desk x 2

- Micke corner workstation

- Expedit bookshelf

- Expedit hanging shelf

You know what was next. Cardboard and stryofoam flying, husband up all night, a case of beer…the works. Thankfully I had the pregnant excuse and was not allowed to do anything other than sit and eat (I highly recommend starting any kind of home project while 8 months pregnant, btw). Once the furniture was assembled and arranged, I went to town accessorizing and organizing. I moved the gift wrapping supplies out of our “gift wrap room” (aka the guest room) and organized it in the closet with these IKEA shopping bag holders and rods/hooks. I used an existing set of cheap plastic drawers to store the tissue paper, ribbon and bows.

All of my small office supplies went into this section of the office using these rods, hanging buckets, magnetic strips and spice jars also from IKEA. I had initially thought it would just look cool, but it is surprising how much I have actually used them and how easy it is to keep things neat and tidy this way, even when it is out in the open. I covered an existing cork board with fabric to give a pop of my favorite color. This table is where I do most of my craft projects, and I can easily pull the sewing machine out of the closet and set up shop here for that as well with the neighboring table working perfectly as a companion cutting table.

The table below serves as hubby’s desk since he does not have an office in the house. He stores his laptop in the drawer and just gets it out and moves the chair over whenever he needs to work on something. It is great for him to have his own area to spread out..plus we can be in the same room together while working. And his stuff stows away nice and easily when he is finished so I don’t lose any of my table/work space to a permanent setup of his stuff. He uses the purple bins in the shelf above for paperwork storage as well as the door compartment in the bookshelf for anything else of his. It was difficult to give that up, but I guess you have to choose your battles.

This is also where I set up my Cricut (stored in closet) when I need to. Again the neighboring table is great to spread everything out on. I store all of my paper and other Cricut/craft supplies in the amazing bins we found out Costco last year. They are not on the website currently, but we just saw them in the store again recently. But they sell out SO quickly. We drove 30 minutes out of the way last year to get an extra set, and it was the very last one that store had in stock as well. There are a ton of similar products out there, but these are much more durable and MUCH cheaper than the alternatives at Michael’s and Hobby Lobby. The link here shows only one, but at Costco you get a set of six for about $12. A STEAL!

The computer desk is where I spend most of my time, and it has been even more functional than I had imagined. It is made up of the corner workstation, two short tables and a rolling file cabinet. This set of drawers which we already had slid perfectly under one of the tables and serves great as storage for paper for the printer above, mailing supplies and other things that I use on a daily basis. And as I said before, the fact that each piece is the same height gives one continuous workspace without having to lock yourself in to one bulky piece or one layout.

There are still a few touches I need to work on including curtains and some other finishings. We used the existing rug (from Lowe’s of all places). I was initially skeptical about whether it would match, but it actually looks great in the room. I also need to rig up a better “holding area” for the garlands I am currently working on. I keep them in order of current orders and newest designs and rotate them out as I ship them, but I would love to get another curtain rod or towel bar from IKEA with a ton of hooks to be able to hang, slide, move them more easily. Maybe this weekend? Now that I can eat hot dogs again I am ALL about going to IKEA…even on a Saturday. Speaking of garlands, visit our Etsy shop to find some awesome garlands, gifts, wine bags and other products!

It is still a work in progress, but it has been amazingly functional so far. Our next “makeover” project is the backyard and patio..stay tuned! And don't forget to view the giveaway post, follow and comment to register for our first giveaway!

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On this rainy Wednesday morning I find myself thinking back on that rainy morning last year that I had my egg transfer. For months and months prior to that day, I had read an insane amount of information on blogs, forums and various other places. And of course the two weeks of bed rest lent itself well to continued research. I remember reading so many stories that gave me encouragement, especially as each day passed with a BFN.

So I wanted to recap my timeline again to give some others out there some hope. Unlike many of the stories you may find on the internet, not everyone gets a BFP at 5dp3dt or 3dp5dt…not everyone with a 3 day transfer and no eggs to freeze is doomed…not everyone with zero symptoms will end up BFN….not everyone with a BFN at 8dp3dt has had a failed cycle….not everyone with stupidly low hCG levels goes on to have a chemical pregnancy….not everyone with bleeding goes on to have a MC… There IS hope even when it seems like the world is against you. I needed to hear and read these stories over and over and over to keep myself going, and maybe now MY story will give someone that glimmer of hope to keep themselves together until all is said and done.

2/13/12: Retrieval day – 15 eggs retrieved

2/16/12: Day three – All but two embryos had died, Unexpected day three transfer

2/22/12: 6dp3dt, BFN

2/24/12: 8dp3dt, BFN

2/25/12: 9dp3dt, possible BFP

2/26/12: 10dp3dt, BFP, finally!

2/27/12: 11dp3dt, Blood test BFP, hCG= only 31

2/29/12: 13dp3dt, hCG=75

3/2/12: 15dp3dt, hCG=174

3/10/12: 5w5d, bright red bleeding. Saw heartbeat. HR=117

3/17/12: 6w5d, bright red bleeding. Saw heartbeat. Diagnosed SCH.

So after the limited embryos, early transfer, late BFNs, low hCG, early bleeding, low heart rate and subchorionic hematoma…we STILL made it through and were blessed with this little guy. Keep your chin up..it ain’t over til it’s over!

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Sweet Orange Fox

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Giveaway UPDATE!

Friday, April 12, 2013

Office Makeover

Thursday, April 11, 2013

The First Five Foxes

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Our First Giveaway!

Post-Transfer Timeline - Keep the Faith!!

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