WOW, it's been a long time!

Holy moly, I haven't updated my blog in a while.  I know, no excuses, however, I am back to working full-time now AND *BIG NEWS* we started our own business!!!

My amazing husband has created the coolest, most ingenious, amazing LEGO desk ever!  In fact, it is so amazing, that we have decided to make them into a business.  We are proud owners of Flippytan Furniture.  Here is a picture of the InI (pronounced eenie) LEGO Desk:

InI LEGO Desk

We have also made a few custom pieces, including this gorgeous coffee/LEGO display table for our friend / kids' former teacher. She wanted something that her kids could play with and display LEGO on, but something that could also be cleared off if it needed to be a coffee table for guests.

Custom coffee/LEGO table

We build everything by hand, everything is super high quality.  So, needless to say, we've been extremely busy!

I'll be back to blogging regularly once things are more settled with our new adventure! :)

The Most Amazing LEGO Desk Ever

Due to high interest, we now have desks (a much better, updated version) available for purchase. 

Click here! 

Let me start by saying that my son is a LEGO freak.  He has more LEGO sets than most kids (or adults) I know.  We've been struggling with a way to organize his collections for several years.  It started with just some plastic bins, then to this Sterilite 3-Drawer Cart.  That was great for a while, but whenever he'd build things, we'd call him the "LEGO monster" because all we'd hear are these huge scraping sounds in those loud plastic drawers.  It. Was. Insane.  

It also got to the point where he didn't really have anywhere to build and his "LEGO cave" was just a huge mess and LEGOs would always make it out of his cave and all over the entire playroom.  The picture below is pretty clean compared to what it looked like 99% of the time.

My husband is a pretty amazing handy man & builder, so I asked him if we could build him a desk or some kind of organization system, because, honestly, his LEGO collection isn't getting any smaller.

I searched Pinterest, the Google and all over the internets for a good, relatively simple organization system, sorting system, or desk.  I found this super cool desk on Pinterest, so I showed my husband and he agreed.

So, it gets closer to Christmas and I'm asking him what the status is on the plans for the desk, he said that he was having a hard time coming up with plans.  Um.  Hello?  I sent you the link...  Anyways, long story short, the next day he spent drawing up plans in SketchUp.  It ended up looking nothing like the original desk I showed him, but it turned out AMAZING!!!

My husband said he'll paint/finish it when the weather warms up.  I'd love to keep it the original wood color, maybe just a varnish on it.

We used the plastic shoe box sized bins from Dollar Tree, the other side of the desk looks exactly the same as this side.  There are 16 bins total.  My husband wanted to make sure he had to walk around the desk when he's building. :)

 We re-organized these labels a bit to make a little more sense.  The holes drop down into their respective bins, so it makes clean up super easy, just swipe them into their spot.

I'm planning on using some regular Avery address labels to make more permanent labels for both the holes and the bins.  Just need to make sure these placements are what he wants.

I think it's pretty amazing, and my son LOVES his new desk.  It's great because he can easily find pieces he needs and I don't have to hear (as much of) the "LEGO monster" as we were hearing before.  He also has a nice big area to build on, so the LEGOs aren't all over the floor now.

It took us a while to decide how to organize and sort his LEGO collection.  I searched a ton of websites as to the best way to organize and sort.  Eventually, he just came up with his own system.  We decided to sort and organize by function/size instead of by color.  I think eventually, sorting by function and then color would be ideal.  For now, this system is working great for him.

It took forever for us me to sort and organize his LEGOs, but it was totally worth it.  I even got a wild hair and organized his instruction booklets into sheet protectors and a very large 3-ring binder.  He pretty much never uses the original instruction booklets anymore, but it'll be nice to have just in case.

Fiber One® Meal Bar from BzzAgent

Absolutely LOVING the new BzzAgent Bzz Kit I received today with two FREE full-size boxes of the new Fiber One® Meal Bars, along with some coupons.  I received Chocolate Peanut Butter and Strawberry Greek Yogurt.  These will be perfect for my breakfast during the week as I barely have time to get myself and my kids ready and out the door on time on a daily basis.  These little gems are packed with 10g of protein, 9g of fiber and 40-60% less sugar than the Special K® meal bars.  They also offer a Dark Chocolate Almond flavor that has to be amazing.  I mean, "dark chocolate" pretty much seals the deal for me. YUM.

I have tried other Fiber One bars before, so I'm sure this new product won't disappoint!

Obviously these aren't going to be the "magic" weight loss pill.  You still have to eat healthy otherwise - getting your fruits and vegetables in, along with your healthy grains, lean protein and dairy.  

Exercise is really the key to losing serious weight.  Take it slow if it's been a while and listen to your body, if it hurts, don't push it too hard.  I know some amount of hurt is good, but too much of that can lead to serious injury, and nobody wants that.

UNREAL Candy BzzAgent Campaign!

8/10: I just signed up with this Campaign through BzzAgent, saw that they have the candy at my local Smith's store and am VERY excited to try it!  

There's nothing I love more than chocolate candy, but I'm always feeling guilty about eating it because of all of the junk in it and all of the sugar and fat.  Hopefully this is a good remedy for that... Or  maybe it'll be a bad thing. LOL :)  I can't wait to see what the BzzKit has inside of it!

I'll post more when I get the BzzKit and have had a chance to try out the UNREAL Candy.

Check out the UNREAL Candy website and the UNREAL Candy Facebook page.

If you don't know what BzzAgent is, or how it works, check it out here.  It's a great program that I have been fortunate enough to participate in for a few years.  You get to try out new products for free (or sometimes a greatly reduced fee) just for spreading the word!

Mott's for Tots

Another awesome freebie from Vocalpoint!

 

We know you love to treat your readers to tasty tidbits. How 'bout this one: Mott's for Tots^® has 40% less sugar than 100% apple juice and a great taste kids love - it's an easy and healthy way to spoil 'em.

Toys“R”Us Cars 2 Race Around The World Trivia Sweepstakes

Toys“R”Us Cars 2 Race Around The World Trivia Sweepstakes: "Enter the CARS 2 Race Around the World Trivia Sweepstakes for a chance to win BIG! Grand prize is a $1,000 Toys“R”Us Gift Card!"