The Shelf

     I have been looking for a coat-hook shelf for Emmett's room for the past few months.  His room has a car theme, so anything that went with that or even the colors would have worked.  I have looked everywhere, and I finally found one at Hobby Lobby that I thought would work.  It was a simple red board with 4 hooks on it.  I eagerly flipped over the shelf thinking this would be about $8.  It was $16!!!  Um, NO.  Sorry, I'm not normally cheap, but I could not bring myself to pay that much for a shelf with no character.  I was determined to find or make one myself that would be cheaper and better than that one.
     Off we went to Home Depot next door to find some wood and some hooks.  Long story short, I ended up royally POed and Greg wasn't pleasant either after leaving HD.  I could NOT find a piece of wood that didn't look like a 2x4 with hooks nailed to it.  We looked at trim, moulding, etc, and NOTHING looked nice.  We left the store with 3 hooks and a bad attitude.  On the way leaving the store, I had to go to the bathroom (of course).  As I'm sitting there, I come up with a brilliant idea (don't ALL good ideas happen on the toilet??).  I kept thinking, "Where can I find a nice decorative piece of wood that's plain that I can decorate?"  Um, HOBBY LOBBY, the place I had just left.
     So I headed back next door with an empty bladder and a small glimmer of hope.  I found the aisle and the perfect piece of unfinished wood.  I also came across some cute little wood cut-outs that were already painted that would spice it up.  On the same aisle were some cute little wooden letters that I wanted to use.  Lucky for me, there are only 3 different letters in his name, as 4 of the same letter come in a pack.  :)  Add a little paint, a little spray paint, and some elbow grease, and I'm one happy camper with this shelf.

Here's the cost breakdown:
Board $5
Letters $1.50
Cut-outs $0.67 each
Hooks $6
Paint $3
Spray paint for letters...already had

Total $16 for a shelf with MUCH more character than the one at Hobby Lobby

All that's left to do is hang it on the wall! :)

Nesting?? Who's Nesting??

Pinterest is something that reminds you how unorganized your life is how many great ideas are out there!  Lately I've seen all of these organized closets in people's homes, and it made me want to tackle two of my nemeses here at our house-the pantry and the linen closet.  There are some Cool Labels  that you can print for FREE to help you get started.  I LOVE ALL OF THESE!!  The first closet I worked on is the linen closet.  Of course, I forgot to take the "before" picture.  But here's the after picture.

I had each of our things stored in separate baskets so I knew where to find stuff, which made it a lot easier.  But we had stuff that didn't fit, stuff that was in a "random" basket, and stuff that was just in the wrong place.  I used some baskets I had left from school and reorganized all of that stuff.  We had a Greg, Laurel, Emmett, first aid, hand soap, and wallflower basket.  

The stuff was in there neat, and then I had to scrounge looking for the rectal thermometer for Emmett, which happened to be in something downstairs and not in his designated basket.  See, still not a perfect system.  :)  I also made separate piles for the different size sheets and labeled all of those.  This is to help find the stuff, but also to help us remember where to put it back.  

We'll see if this system lasts.  :)  It has made me feel more organized for about a week, which is an improvement.  I did essentially the same thing with the pantry, but I'm not still not completely happy with it.  It is still very jumbled, but it's better than it was.

Has anyone has luck with plastic containers for flour, sugar, etc.?  I always worry about getting air or bugs into those containers.  I'd love to hear any suggestions for fixing this up!

I miss sleep

I have had the hardest time sleeping lately.  Emmett being sick hasn't helped matters, but most of it is solely me.  I keep having really strange dreams about school stuff, and I'm not really even that stressed about school.  It's just WEIRD stuff, like how I am grouping my students or which student I'm seeing for X.  I cannot figure out what is causing this, if it's something I'm eating or drinking or if I'm too warm.  It's IRRITATING.  I just can't seem to turn my brain off.  Any suggestions?