Boredom = projects

So I finished teaching summer school on Thursday at 4pm. Friday I woke up and scrubbed my filthy house and finished grading papers and finals - at 6pm I turned in the final grades and was officially done with work for three whole weeks. I spent most of Friday night devouring a book and ignoring my kids. Saturday I had a migraine and stayed in bed until the evening. So imagine my surprise when I woke up on Sunday morning full of energy and feeling bored. I cooked a giant breakfast and played a few games with the kids (live grenade anyone? lol). I didn't have any work to do. I have plenty of time before I need to do some minor prep for the Fall semester. The kids we running around doing their own thing (mostly swimming and playing with chickens and goats), so I did what I do when I am bored. I conquered some projects around the house I have been meaning to do.

I finished my command center today. This has been a month in the making as I was searching for the things I would need to organize my life. Mostly thrift store and yard sale finds (thanks to my Aunt Karen) and the rest was Ikea, so I got off pretty cheap.

Note: this is mostly my command center - I have almost finished one for the kids' school stuff - three weeks before they go back to school! This command center ended up being useful for the things I deal with everyday - and to clear up my desk space. It has a cork board for pinning upcoming stuff we need to do or use, an outgoing mail bin (since my husband always claims he can't find anything on my desk), a mail sorter for bills I need to pay, mail stuff that needs action, and coupons. There is also a sorter for the essays I need to grade, a key rack and one for sunglasses. A few magnetic boards for anything else I need to stick up and an envelope for receipts round it out. Plus a couple of the other ideas below:

A menu plan for the month - I usually do a week at a time, but thought I would try this since I don't use a calendar for our events - I use my gmail calendar. This is a wall sticker that I put on top of a plain white magnetic board.

 

I am quite proud of the chore chart - just some scrapbook paper in an old picture frame, so the kids can check off the chores with the dry erase marker. 

 Of course I went label crazy - I used this template I found on Pinterest Labels

and printed them on some scrapbook paper - my printer is out of color ink. 

Here are some of the things I labeled:

The sorter for the essays I need to grade.

 The small containers that hold some of my frequent crafting stuff.

Of course, this is my old and magical label maker - I could NOT live without this thing.

 I also put up the magnetic knife rack in the kitchen (Ikea is great for this kind of stuff)

I also added a magnetic spice rack above the stove for my most-used spices. My small spice drawer was running out of room.

Overall a really productive Sunday, but here are a couple of projects I am hoping to finish this week:

 I have new cabinets in my kitchen, but the door on this one was scratched when we picked it up from Home Depot - I tried to exchange it - they ordered the wrong size, twice. So, I have given up; I actually like it without the door since open shelves are all the rage, but I really want to put something decorative on the back of the shelf. Either some granite looking contact paper I already have, or perhaps I will paint it an off color.

I have this window I want to do something with. I really hate these curtains, so I think I am going to build a Cornice I saw on Pinterest, and then make some ruffle sheers to put underneath it.

I want to use this fabric from Ikea that I love and it matches my theme perfectly. My room is painted apple green with black and white accents.

I really want to make this yarn wreath I also found on Pinterest.   

I finished knitting Emmett's twin sized blanket a couple of months ago (I have been knitting headbands since then), so now I am working on a new blanket - for Ethan - plus I also have some other crafty things I want to accomplish - a bead necklace I need to finish and some new feather and flower hair pieces.

I will check back in this week and let you know if I get anything else accomplished, or if I decide to just lose myself in another good book.