Ikea-hack - GORM shelf

I don't know about y'all, but I love a DIY project. So when I was obsessively scouring the internet for an affordable shelf {thanks for not helping Craigslist} I found this beauty at Ikea:

Source

It's natural wood, for only $30 + 2 xtra shelves + stain + polyacrylic coat. Can't beat that. 

Well, we did have to brave Ikea two days in a row, but come on, that's how I like to spend my weekends.

Dang you Ikea and your near vicinity!!!

Anyway, I knew this project was mine. There was no way I was going to ask the husband to do it since he had full days of workouts at the high school. 

So I braved myself. I poured my margarita, turned on my tunes, and got out my materials and started staining. 

Thank the skies they were cloudy! 

It took me two days to sand, stain, let dry, stain, let dry, clear coat, and put together.

It was such an easy DIY. 

It didn't come out too bad. I can think of some drawbacks to it but at least it matches out entertainment center color! 

Prim stories & school

The other day we watched The Hunger Games and the name Prim sounded so familiar....

Oh yeah! I named my cat after their character. 

That whole terrible week of not having my kids here (they were at both of our parents' house), I didn't have anybody to photograph. 

So I photographed Prim. 

In the summer, our water here in Texas is never cold...it's always lukewarm. 

So I make sure to cool down her water too--with ice cubes.

She likes to play with them.

Needless to say, she hated bathtime. But it had to be done. 

Still doing some arranging in the new home. 

We finally got a new shelf. Thank you Ikea and your affordable options.

 I love my curtains. 

And almost ready to begin Pre-K with Andrew.

I think I underestimate him a lot. Is that a bad thing? Maybe underestimate is the wrong word. 

Surprise. He surprises me with his intelligence quite often. 

He's so dang smart, it's his stubbornness that irks me. 

I wonder where he got that from....?

I made a shelf for the boys for their school/craft/drawing time. 

There's paper, chalk, playdough, flashcards, games, sensory bin, pencils, markers, colors, stickers, coloring books, paint, you name it. 

Now that school is starting, I hope to dedicate a couple of hours in the morning to 'school' and try a couple of Montessori techniques with the boys. Then in the afternoon, I can dedicate a couple of hours for arts and crafts {mainly for me!!!}....but we'll see how that goes. 

Motivation. Dedication. Stick-to-it-ness. 

Wish me luck. :)

A catastrophe!!!

The death of my shelf happened this morning:

It used to look like this: 

It looks unorganized in the picture, but trust me, everything had its place.

And on a whim, it decided it didn't want to stick to the cheap duplex walls anymore:

 So without anything touching it, it just FELL. 

{My art desk shares the space with Andrew's room}

 My rubber gnomes had to be rescued under debris.

Luckily, my Italian Pinnocchio (a gift from my sister who visited Europe), my high school sculpture (my art teacher highly disapproved of), and the gnomes (my husband was against me obtaining) all managed to survive unscathed.

Their survival was meant to be.