Week #4

This week's post is not going to have any pictures, which I am very sad about because I am very visual and like those colorful images to look at!

You all may not know this, but when my beloved and I moved the family out here to Colorado, he had taken a contract with his work committing to a stay of certain duration.
Because of this, it made sense to move in with his brother (Uncle Wyatt) who lives alone in a 5,000 square foot home.
Since we have always lived in less than 1,000 sq. ft., we are knocking around in all this space! Needless to say Uncle Wyatt is no longer "lonely" (Har - har!)
AJ says we "hardly even notice he's here", and I am quite sure that U.W. cannot say the same for US!
Since we're living in someone else's home, "home-keeping" has a unique twist.
Mostly my skills are taxed by learning how to simplify - especially since we have more space now, and it would be easy to fill it!
Besides simplifying our stuff, my goal has been to make this place homey and beautiful at little expense, and without compromising the "delicate" tastes of a bachelor! ;-)

ALSO... when we came we brought only what we could fit into our van.
So...
the children sleep in sleeping bags,
We don't have our "decor" from home,
our clothing is somewhat limited,
and we have to get a little creative with things like storage of clothes/toys etc.
and how to warmify this large empty house without buying lots of do-dads.

Today I offer my simple gift wrapping tip.
(remember, simplify)

I keep only:
*a roll of brown packing paper
*white tissue paper, and
*1-5 spools of ribbon.

I buy my ribbon at Costco (they carry it usually twice a year), and attempt to have colors that would serve me for wedding gifts, birthdays, and boys/men, as well as all the girlie presents.

Costco sells a 50 yard roll for $8.00! I don't know how you can beat that! (You'd better like the color though, because you may have it around for a while! :-)

(okay, I lied. Here's one little picture)











I only have one roll here in Co. which I bought when we arrived.
I chose blue with a pretty brown edge, figuring that in a pinch, it wouldn't scare a boy too much!

At home I also have white (which is great for Christmas, and Weddings) Purple (which I just plain like) and maybe two other colors which I have bought over the course of six years or more, and have lasted that long.

It's my own personal opinion that a real fabric ribbon adds a little more elegance to a gift, and is plenty of decoration for plain brown paper.
Of course there are millions of other simple ways to dress up such simple packaging, but this is a start which has enabled me to not have a cabinet or drawer overflowing with gift wrapping supplies.

Let me know what you think?