Yeah, I don't think Part 2, Part 3, or Part 4 of the New York trip will happen. I'll try. No Promises though..... I find I ramble too much, and these posts end up MUCH longer than anticipated.
I have felt so sluggish and tired this pregnancy. It's probably not different from my other pregnancies, but having 3 OTHER active kids who have activities and places to be, more laundry, bigger meals, etc. I'm just plain pooped!
I have had ZERO motivation to do anything. I focus on getting showered and dressed, kids off to school, the laundry done (it takes me 4 days instead of the 4 hours it used too). Dinner has been on Dan lately, and the house is a wreck.
But NOW I am in the second trimester and am feeling much more like myself.
So, I tackled a project I have been wanting to do for over a year now.
Michael's closet.
This was AFTER I had started tidying up a bit. The blue bin on the top of his shelf is for outgrown clothes that we are keeping, but it's so high, I just toss the clothes on top, until they start falling down on me again. The garbage bag is full of hand me down clothes from awesome friends. The lamp shade...I don't have an explanation for. Then he has some sweaters and shorts.
The bar is too high for him to reach, so he just tugs on the shirts until the come down, OR the hanger breaks. The shoe organizer was working. *YES! The sweater organizer was for me to put each day's clothes, so getting dressed isn't so much an issue. Then he has the pack in play tossed in there, and a few random toys and hats on the floor.
Let's just say, it was bugging me. A lot little.
So, I spent a day planning. Okay, months of searching for ideas on pinterest and other closet organizers on the web. Drew up my plans on graph paper with exact measurements.
Michael's closet has this 45 degree angle in one of the back corners. It was a little bit of a challenge for me to work with, since I wasn't exactly sure what the angle was at first.
As with MOST of my projects, this one took longer, had lots of setbacks, disappointments, and frustrations.
1. I went to Home Depot Friday morning, got my supplies, and went to work. I thought I could easily get it done before Michael got home from school.
2. Then, I put a huge hole in the wall, trying to take apart the old closet. I was using a block behind my hammer to pry up nails, like we had done in my closet and the girls closet, which had worked fine. But this time, the ENTIRE block went through the wall. So, I got to spend the day patching, texturing, priming, and repainting the closet. Actually, it took two days, since I had to wait for the plaster to dry, and take a dried-out can of interior paint (let to us when we bought the home) to be color matched. I had previous tried this at home depot 3 times, but the color was never even close. I finally just took it to the original paint dealer and they got MUCh closer. My other option was to paint the entire closet another color.
3. FINALLY, Monday I was able to start building. I wanted to do three rods on the left, but I realized it just wasn't practical. The new baby will share this room with Michael, so I was hoping to have the top rod for baby clothes, the second rod for Michael's shirts, and the bottom rod for pants and shorts. His room is not very big, so my goal was to eliminate the use of his old dresser. ANYWAY, I had to rethink the closet and get over my discouragement that my plan was not going to work.
4. My measurements were so exact with the shelves, that I forgot to account for a few milimeters width of the metal clips for the adjustable shelves. I was so proud at how square I had made my cuts with the use of just my circular saw too! ARGH. The shelves were litterally a saw blade too big to fit. Luckily I have several friends with awesome tools, so I called one up and she helped me make my mitered cuts and shave off the fraction on the shelves.
5. Okay, enough of my griping. Here is is finished. (I think I will put a shelf on top of the first rod, but that would require a 45 degree cut, which I don't have the greatest tools for.
Here it is with all the stuff in it. The blue bin is now on the floor where I can easily toss outgrown clothes. Next to that is his new laundry hamper. The other bins are for shorts, athletic gear, and pajamas, with an empty bin left! The smaller cream bins hold underwear, socks, undershirts, and ties.
The top blue bins are empty, except for one that holds his sweaters. Even though it was more frustrating, I'm glad it's done and I'm very happy with it. Michael even is excited about it, which really helps!
Now that my mojo is back, I'll have to find some more projects!
