Watch the Debate

Get your facts checked

Register Here or Here

Find your polling place

Mark the date in your calendar

(shirt from Rockthevote.com)

(Bag from Forever21.com)

(shirt from Americaneagle.com)

Find little ways . . .

. . . to beautify everyday life.

I forgot something

I completely forgot to include these pictures in my post last week on painting the kids' closet. I found these baskets at Walgreens, and almost all of them were a natural color, but there was one that was a chocolate brown that I loved. I thought it would look better against the blue background, too. But I wasn't about to drive around to all the Walgreens in the area and see if they had the chocolate colored baskets. So I went shopping in the basement for some brown paint and this is how they turned out.

I paint baskets all the time. I have a big basket in the living room for all the little blankets the kids use. We just throw them in, because I'm not going to fold all the blankets every day. It was a tired, old natural basket that I refreshed with a couple coats of brown spray paint.

Do you paint closets?

I do. If I had the time, that is. Because I believe in decorating spaces that my family sees all the time, so we can be happy and enjoy our home. If I had time, I would paint all the closets. But I don't have time for that yet. I did find the time to paint this little closet, though. Instead of doing laundry. You might say I was just finding a distraction from doing boring housework. That would be true. But this is a tiny space that the kiddos and I see every day. And it is dirty and boring. I think looking at builder-white-dirty-scuffed-up walls is depressing.

Anyway, last year we converted this closet for the kids to use for their backpacks and school papers. I cheated on this "before" picture because the "before" was really filled with books, papers, junk, trash, dirty socks, soccer balls, etc. So I decided to do a quick update on this depressing little closet. I went shopping for paint in my basement (The one and only time I forked over $$ for Benjamin Moore paint, I picked the wrong color. So this is what I ended up using it for.)

And the finished product:
I just happened to find these cute, lined baskets at Walgreens for $5 each! Even Walmart wasn't that cheap. I did get the green shelf liner from Walmart. A tag for owner of each shelf.

Wall pockets for library books. I didn't have time to be perfect on this project. Exhibit "A": Sometimes I don't patch holes or nail pops.

The long strip on the door is a backpack holder, and then I put a towel rack halfway down for jackets. It's low so short people can reach it too.

No staging going on here, folks. I just left that laundry in the background, because I'm too lazy to move it for my pictures. Actually, this is considered clean for my house.

How do you organize school junk?

1st Day of School, and I Loves Me Some Wal-Mart

Here are some pictures of the kiddos' first day of school. I miss them when they are gone, but I do love to get back to our routine.

Do you see the look of pain on the little one's face? That is my-mom-is-torturing-me-with-her-camera-idous.
And I thought you would like a closeup of the most special shirt we bought for the first day of school. Have you heard that one before? Do children think it is a birthright to finish a level before they can do anything else? Will they be struck by lightning and die right on the spot if, *GASP*, they don't finish THE LEVEL? Is it the 11th Commandment ... Thou shalt finish thy level?

Sometimes I drop a tiny little gift off in the teachers' boxes just to say thanks for all the work they have already done, and get the year started off right. I found these notepads at Walmart. Cute, cute, cute.

How is your week?