The Irony Is Not Lost On Me

So almost a month (gasp) ago I told you guys all about my entryway and why I live in constant fear that someone will come to my door and see the mess and clutter.  I vowed to do something about it.  I was a girl on a mission. I had all these fabulous ideas in my head and I was going to tackle that entryway.

Yeah.  About that.

A lack of money, procrastination, and other life obligations kinda got in the way of that.

I did pick up some scrapbook paper and Mod Podge to spruce up the shoe thingie.  The actual Mod Podging has not commenced however.

The dog crate problem was partially solved, at least in my head anyway, when I found this article on how to hide a dog crate.  Amazing what searching Google for "how to hide a dog crate" will find you.  The remaining problem is for me to A) get the table, and B) figure out how to keep the dogs from being able to reach the fabric.  They kinda like to pull any fabric they can snag with their claws into their crate and shred it.  This might not work well if I have something pretty sitting on top of the table.  So there is some sort of crate retrofit in order if this is going to work.  Once again it just takes money.

The one issue I did manage to solve was what to do with all the hats, gloves, etc. that were overflowing in a  too small plastic tote on top of the shoe thing.

Yes, my friends, that is an over the door shoe rack holding all the hats, gloves, and scarves.  It is not, but is remarkably similar to, the over the door shoe rack some of you might remember me ranting about way back in December of 2008.  Now just so you know, THAT shoe rack was given to me in December of 2005 and even though I had no use for it, I held on to it (because it was a gift and hoping I'd find something I could use it for).  I finally gave up and put it in a garage sale this past January  so I would have less to move to Michigan, and now, just as I lamented about in this post, as soon as I got rid of it, I needed it.  Grr.

This past weekend I went to the store and spent $12.99 on this over the door shoe rack.  I came home and put it on the door.  I put all the hats and what not in it.  I proudly showed the hubby what I had done.

Hubby: "What is that?"
Me:  "That would be my mad home organizational skillz"
Hubby:  "And what EXACTLY did you USE to achieve this organization?"
Me: "an over the door shoe rack?"
Hubby:  "A what???"
Me:  "An over the door shoe rack"
Hubby: "You'd better not let your mom see that"
Me:  "I know"

Sorry If This Makes You Dizzy

I apologize in advance if this post makes your head spin.  My train of thought sometimes derails, takes side trips, and switches tracks before arriving at a station which may or may not be the intended destination.  Hopefully you can make it to the end, but if not, I hope you find something awesome when your train of thought jumps tracks.  

As those of you who regularly read my blog are painfully aware, 

I have not been blogging regularly in quite some time.

This post isn't about excuses BTW.

You all know why it's a miracle that I blog AT ALL.

The thing is though, that when I'm not blogging, I'm also not reading blogs.

I'm not checking in to see what everyone else that I follow is posting.

I'm not getting inspired to write more or do crafty things that I see on some of my favorite blogs.

And I need that.  I get so caught up sometimes in my ridiculously busy schedule that I put myself at the bottom of my list.  At the end of the day, there isn't any time left for me, what I like to do, the things that make me happy.

So the  past week, while I've been checking in and blogging, I've also been catching up with some of my favorite blogs and finding new ones that are absolutely amazing.

Ready?  Here comes the part that's going to make you dizzy.

This is what I did yesterday.  All day, while the kids were at school.

I was checking out the blogs I follow and I saw a post on Tip Junkie about a Coffee Table repair. Now I don't have a coffee table in need of repair, but the info might come in handy some day.  Like if I saw a totally awesome coffee table on the side of the road for free because it needed repair.  If that ever happened I would totally know what to do, so I hop over there to read it.  Down at the bottom of the page there were some links to more articles on Second Hand Furniture Repair, and the one about file cabinet makeovers caught my eye.  I actually just found the mother load of old file cabinets at the Habitat For Humanity Restore, and since I need more file cabinets, both at home and at my new office (yeah, the business now has a real office, more about that later), I really needed to know how to make file cabinets pretty, because sitting in an office with a bunch of banged up, dull gray file cabinets staring at me all day is surely a one way ticket to loony town.

I look at each makeover one by one and when I get to number six it takes me to this makeover by Sew Woodsy, she used Mod Podge to do hers and mentions Mod Podge Rocks and when you follow the link it takes you to a post about the filing cabinet makeover featured on Tip Junkie #3.

We've kinda gone full circle here.

Dizzy yet?
Computer freaking out because you have 10 tabs open?
You might want to close a few.  We aren't done yet.

Ok, where was I?  Oh yeah, Mod Podge.  So at this point I'm like "Whaa?  There's a WHOLE blog dedicated to Mod Podge???  Really??  That's so Awesome!!  I love me some Mod Podge".  So I start poking around over there and get lost in ideas.  She doesn't just have stuff about crafting and Mod Podge either, she has stuff about FOOD.  Sweet food.  Cake type food.  My favorite kind of food.  She's even doing a giveaway of the book Cake Pops by Bakerella.  Which, if you hurry right over there before midnight EST you can totally still enter BTW, and no, writing a post about hers isn't required for entry, all you have to do is leave a comment. So of course I had to go check out Bakerella, and from there I found Cakespy, with not only recipes for yummy goodness but also the most adorable artwork featuring cupcakes.  OMG.  Yeah, and I'm so totally ordering THESE for my Christmas cards this year from her site.

Need a bucket yet?

Anyway.
After going off on that little side trip I went back to Mod Podge Rocks and finished exploring.  I came across this Fall Canvas Craft Tutorial from My Blessed Life and after cruising her site for awhile came across her foyer makeover which is something else I really do need.  Right now, this is what you see when you walk in my front door. 

Hello doggie jail.
Hello Kibbles and Bits that the doggies spill out of their bowl onto the floor.

And then, if you turn to your right, you'll see this...

That would be the dreaded Flat Surface that collects crap, on the top of an attempt at shoe organization, next to a yet to be hung piece of art.  In fact it's a framed collection of Picasso sketches I picked up at IKEA.  Oh how I love that store.  I have wanted these sketches forever, but they've always been out of my budget.  This piece was a bargain at only $50 for the 5 sketches mounted and framed.  The cheapest I have ever seen them was $10 each and that was unframed.

Here is a closer picture, except I accidentally cut off the owl.  Ooops.

If you turn again you will see the front of the shoe organizer/junk collecting flat surface

Yuck.  Isn't it.

First we've got the prison gray walls that I can't do much about since
A) This is a rental
B) Hubby hates painting
 C) this particular area has cathedral ceilings which would require a really big ladder
(that we don't have) to reach the top of if I were to do it myself and finally
D) Hubby doesn't allow me to get on ladders.
Now before any of you go getting all feminist rights and
 "OMG, he doesn't "ALLOW" her on a ladder",
 just know it's for my own safety, I'm ok with it.
Those who know me in real life are busting up right now.
I trip over air.
I have no business being on a ladder.

Second, my shoe organizer.  Made by Closet Maid, purchased at Target.
Now sure I would have loved to have a real piece of furniture to store the shoes in my entry way,
 but that wasn't in my budget either and the shoes were out of control.

Third, the flat surface.  Somewhere under that pile is a plastic storage tote that houses all the gloves and hats, but it's been buried under sweatshirts, shin guards,
and Halloween decorations that fell off our front windows.

Last, the dog kennel completes the stark jail house theme that's going on
and sweeping up Kibbles and Bits everyday is getting OLD.

Now I'm on a mission.

I can't do anything with the gray background,
but that doesn't mean I can't liven it up with colorful accent pieces.
That shoe organizer.  It's going to get a Mod Podge makeover.
The flat surface is going to get accessorized to deter the flat surface dump.
Something better than a plastic storage tote is going to be devised for the hats and gloves.
The walls need stuff, but maybe not the Picasso piece.
It may be a little monochromatic for the space I now have pictured.
Maybe it should go over the door?
The dog kennel is going to be modified somehow to both make it pretty,
and keep the Kibbles and Bits inside.

Of course, I don't have any of the stuff I need for this project yet,
 so it's time to start hitting up garage sales and thrift stores.

I'll keep you posted.