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Ikea solutions for the storage-challenged home

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This weekend, we decided to go to Ikea and see about getting a new bedroom set. We had our Malm bedroom set from Ikea since we got married (almost 6 years ago). It’s been through 5 moves which means it has been put together, taken apart and put back together 4 times too many for Ikea furniture.

We love our condo and have no regrets about buying our place. That being said, the one thing our place is lacking is storage. Previously, we used the guest bedroom closet for storage. And we still do, but most of the space has been taken up by kid stuff since the guest room became Nolan’s room. It’s amazing how someone so small has so much stuff…

Thanks to our tax refund, we were able to invest in some higher quality pieces from Ikea and solutions that provide far more storage than our Malm set ever did. We went with the Brimnes bed frame with storage, the Brimnes headboard with storage, and the Pax wardrobe system.

My husband is an Ikea furniture builder enthusiast. He truly enjoys building Ikea furniture. And he’s pretty quick too. However, I think the higher quality of the pieces we purchased was evidenced by how long it took him to assemble everything. He worked from 1:30pm to 10:30pm on the Pax wardrobe and the Brimnes headboard. By 10pm he looked at me and said, “I don’t think I’m going to get to the bed frame tonight. I’m tired and sore. I also stink and need a shower.” (He was right, he did stink). This was the first time a Ryan Riddle Ikea build spanned two days.

We are extremely satisfied with what we purchased and can’t believe how much more storage we have. Quite a bit of space has been opened up in our closet. We also decided to keep one of our Malm dressers (since it matched). Currently, it is completely empty. However, it is reassuring to know we have more storage when we need it – no point using “if” because the fact that we will have more stuff to store is inevitable.

Here’s a few photos of the new set up:

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Technology – a friend to all working parents

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Technology is amazing. I had a donor event tonight (which went very well, by the way) and knew I was going to be home long after my little one went to bed. While at my event, I looked at the clock and realized he would be (or should be) asleep. I pulled my iPhone out of my pocket and opened up the iBaby app. Thanks to our nifty iBaby Monitor, I can watch my kid in his crib, live, from anywhere on my iPhone.

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How neat that I can be at work and still be able to check in on my little guy sleeping in his crib! I showed it to a few donors (whose children are older) and I think I might have blown them away. “This is a live feed? That’s amazing!” several people said to me.

My husband has been at late night work things too and again, thanks to technology, has been able to take a few minutes and really connect with our son. He knew he wasn’t going to be home in time to say goodnight, so he found a quiet corner and took a few minutes to FaceTime with us before bedtime.

I can’t wait to see what the next piece of technology is that will make those occasional late work nights away from your kids a little more bearable.

The way we think about charity

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Today I watched Dan Pallotta’s TED Talk from earlier this month. If you haven’t seen it yet, take 18 minutes to watch it. It’s called “The Way We Think About Charity Is Dead.”

I’m not sure if I agree wholeheartedly with all of the points he made (for instance, I get his point about nonprofit salaries but also don’t think organizations should go overboard in how much they are paying staff – yes, we work just as hard as those working at for-profit companies, but that doesn’t mean CEOs or Executive Directors of successful organizations should be making exorbitant salaries). However, for the most part, his message is something that people, particularly foundation/corporate funders and individual donors, need to hear. And that message is that organizations need to be encouraged to spend money on overhead. Allowing nonprofits to spend money on overhead provides for innovation, more money to be raised, happier employees, higher levels of productivity, and most importantly, social change on a larger level.

The saying “you have to spend money to raise money” is true. I often feel like if I had more resources at my disposal to use better tools or hire more staff, so much more money could be raised, and by default, so many more people in the community served. This whole concept of keeping overhead (management, fundraising, and operational expenses) at 25% or below (I actually feel the expectation is to keep it far below that, even if 25% is the “standard”) is crazy. I hope people like Dan Pallotta continue to spread this message and that those in the grant making/world of philanthropy start listening.

Work related research

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As the Development & Marketing Director, one of my responsibilities is keeping our organization’s website updated. There are several issues I have with said website. 1. Our website design is terrible from both a user and admin standpoint. 2. Our website has so much info on it, that it’s hard to know where to go to find what you’re looking for. 3. We have Macromedia Dreamweaver to update it…yes, Macromedia Dreamweaver. Working with software that is 8 years old is…a test of patience. 

I finally got fed up with accepting that “this is the way it is and has to be” and have decided that I’m going to look into other options for our website. Something easier to navigate. Something more user friendly. Something simpler to update. I knew that WordPress did blogs, but didn’t really realize people used WordPress as their main website. Our organization actually has a fairly successful WordPress blog that we keep up. But, I decided I need to try to create my own WordPress account to see if I could figure out how one would go about making their WordPress site into their main website. Sure, I could have used our agency’s WordPress account, but risk accidentally screwing something up? Ha! I think not.

Since having a baby last May, my life as been all about the work-life balance. What better topic to have a blog about? This way I can write about work, family, and my ridiculously cute kid.

If anyone has any advice for me on the pros/cons/hows of using WordPress to deploy an organization’s website, please let me know. I’d love to pick your brain.

10 months in the blink of an eye

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How on earth has my baby gone from this:

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to this:

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Nolan has grown so much and is turning into quite the little boy. As our visitation pastor at church pointed out to me, “It looks like church baby has turned into church terror!” The kid has pipes. Loud ones. Like his daddy, I’m not sure it’s possible for him to talk quietly. And now that he’s mobile and on the verge of walking, the concept of keeping still or staying in one place is preposterous.

He’s already exhibiting traits that make me think he is going to be a handful. When he starts crawling down the hallway toward the dog bowls, I’ll say, “Nolan, where are you going?” and he will stop, turn to look at me, laugh a maniacal laugh, and then speed over to do what he knows he is not supposed to. He will pick food up off of his high chair tray, look at me, hold it over the edge, and drop it. 10 months old and the boy already knows how to push my buttons. I’m in trouble because its only going to get worse from here.

But in all honesty, it’s his loud voice, constant need to be on the go, and his mischievous ways that make him so fun. I wouldn’t want it any other way. He is a good kid. He’s so sweet and really loves his mommy (I will eat that up while I can get it). Everyday I pick him up from daycare, he melts my heart. He gets a huge toothy grin on his face (6 teeth fully in already!), speeds over to me, and gives me the tightest hug and lots of kisses (which are sometimes bites, but we’re working on it). He is generally happy and has a great sense of humor. He sleeps well at night, with the occasional bad one here and there. And he’s down right adorable. He is one good looking kid, if I do say so myself.

It’s been the best 10 months of our life. I can’t believe how quickly it has gone by, or that I’m planning his first birthday already.

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