Epic Organizer

My husband (and mother and father and brother and sister and brother-in-law and cousins and uncle) will be competing in an Epic Relay in a couple of weeks. Just think 12 runners, 2 vans, and 205+ miles from Cache County Utah to Jackson Hole Wyoming. They did this race last year and it was AMAZING! Unfortunately, last year we didn't do a very good job prepping for the race- the night before we were up late, didn't really have things packed, and my husband came down with a nice cold (I know, great for running 20+ miles- he would have tested positive for lots and lots of cold medicine and cough drops). I was volunteering at the start and ended up leaving the house planning to come back and get ready, but ended up not. Let me just say I don't recommend sleeping in contacts.

This year I am determined to be more organized. As such, I made my husband this car organizer so that he can have the things he is most likely to need right at his fingertips without taking up much space in the van.

I know, it is hard to see in the photo, so I shall describe. At the very top in an elastic enclosed strap is some chapstick. Along the top row is a loop for a pen, and pouches for a phone, camera, gum and breath mints, Cliff Bars, and some chocolate dusted almonds. On the far side is another loop for the sunglasses. The middle row has pockets for his wallet, allergy medicine and ibuprofen, hand sanitizer, sunscreen, and blister stuff and band-aids. The bottom row includes Fabreze (extra strength- very important), tissues, head lamp, and baby wipes. It is even harder to see in the picture, but that little bit of white poking out by the pen is a pocket on the back that holds the leg maps.

I made it up as I went along, and I just used things that I already had on hand (if you know my husband, you know that his favorite gifts are ones that don't cost anything- that is why my bias tape is different colors). Hopefully it works out well for the race.

Stuffed Animal Zoo Cage

 Inspired by this pin, I finally got around to making a storage area for all of the many stuffed animals that my children have collected over the years. And I confess, it probably still wouldn't be done, except all of my laundry baskets had been stolen to hold their stuffed animals and my clothes pile was starting to rival Mount Everest.

I had some help.  They went with me to Home Depot to pick up the boards. They helped me screw them together, and they had fun playing in it until I evicted them all so I could stain it (I wanted it to match the girls' bunk bed cause I am like that). I think I am going to like it. Now, off to do some laundry.

*UPDATE*

or "How I Built My Stuffed Animal Cage"

Materials:

2:2x2x8- cut in half, for a total of 4 2x2x4 (actual measurements of a 2x2 are more like 1.5x1.5. Lumber is silly like that)

3:1x2x8 furring strips- cut 6@1', 6@2'

Wood screws (as soon as I find the package, I will tell you what size they were. They were probably around 1 5/8"". I got them in a pack of 100 at Walmart for just under $5. They just need to be long enough to securely attach the furring strips to the 2x2 supports without going all the way through.

50' of rope (will have left over but that was the size the package came in. I bought a 1' nylon rope that was a pain to tie off, but it was the least expensive way to go- it was also the most expensive part of the project at around $13 at Home Depot).

at least 24- 1" cup hooks (this would have been better if I could have found full rings to run my rope through, but all the full rings I saw would have run clear through my furring strip. Because they are not, the ropes can come out. If it bugs me too much I may take some twist ties to it, but so far it hasn't been a huge deal)

sanding paper, wood filler, paint of stain, etc.

The guy at Home Depot was nice enough to cut my boards for me. I brought them home and screwed them together (I predrilled my holes to make sure they wouldn't split out on me). I started with the sides. For each side, I took two of the support posts (the 4x2x2's) and three of the 1' boards. The bottom and top I lined up with the support post, the middle one I measured 2' up from the bottom and then measured .75" down from that so that my board was centered. After I had my sides screwed together, I then attached my front and back boards, this time lining them up not with the support posts, but with the side boards (you can sort of see how in the pictures above- sorry, I didn't take pictures while I was doing it). Make sure to off-set your screws so that they don't run into each other. After I was all done with this part, I ended up putting in a second screw on the front and back going into the side boards (as pictured in the unfinished photo).

Then I started sanding. And did some more sanding. And then some more. This is where I wish I had invested in one of those little hand sanders. I think I have heard they are only like $20 for a cheap one. It might have been worth it. I rounded all the corners a little so that if a child bonked their head it wouldn't be quite as painful. I also filled in my screw holes and any other knots and dents with some stainable wood filler.

After it was all sanded down yet again (and my arms were good and sore), I stained it. Let it dry. Stained it again. Let it dry. Touched up some spots. Let it dry. Varnished it. Let it Dry. Varnished it again. Let it dry. Decided that was good enough.

The next step was to put the cup holder hooks in. Using a highly technical measuring method (I took my flexible sewing tape measure because that was the only one I could find at the moment, measured the distance on the inside between my boards, and folded my tape measure in half to get my center point) I found the center of all the boards and screwed the cup holders. Using that same measuring method on the front and back boards, I put in another cup holder centered between the center and the edge (that was a confusing sentence. Basically, it means I had three hooks in each board on the front and back, evenly spaced, and only one in the center on the sides).

The last step was stringing the rope. Because I didn't want to deal with cutting and tying my rope, I just ran it in a continuous loop (I started so that my knot would be on the bottom). At the top, I used some more hooks to tack the rope in the corners so that it would be open, but didn't bother doing the same for the bottom (see picture below). Then the only thing left was to toss all the stuffed animals in. 

It has been nice, because even the littlest one understands how to put the animals back. Sure they still get strewn around the room, but I can say "put the stuffed animals back" and they do. Now if I could only get them to do the same with the rest of their toys...

Train Table

The biggest fry got a train table for Christmas. It too has an Ikea connection. In this case, it was an Ikea coffee table in it's previous life. All I did to it was paint it. I decided to go with some Thomas-y blue for the legs and under shelf, and grassy green for the top. I added the train track around the outer edge so that it would match his light plate.

 It worked out better than I could have hoped. Turns out, the shelf and top are almost the exact spacing that the GeoTrax tracks are (my son may love Thomas, but I love GeoTrax).

 It must be some magical number, because the shelf also fits the Sterilite storage boxes that I already use perfectly as well.

Dad and kids have had a great time playing.

Another reason everyone should have a laminator

A friend was cleaning out her boys' toys and getting rid of stuff. My small fry were the lucky recipients of some Megablocks and Legos (Bob the Builder and Cars- the small fry are happy). I was amazed that she still had the instruction booklets that came with them. However, they had seen better days. While looking at them, an idea flew into my funnel (can you tell I have been watching way too much Thomas)I took this....and turned it into this. I just laminated all of the sheets, punched a hole in the top corner, and added a ring to keep them together. Now they are all ready for more abuse. I mean, use.

Puzzle Pouches

Problem: My children like to dump their puzzles on the floor and make a big mess
Solution: the wonderful people at the public library in Ogden Utah were the inspiration for these bags. They check out puzzles in ones that look very similar (just theirs are blue and black). I took some plastic sheeting (Walmart or Jo-Ann's), fabric, zipper, and bias tape, put them together, and hopefully won't have to constantly pick up puzzle pieces. It is a beautiful thing using the right tools for the job. This is the first time I have had a zipper foot. I also haven't had a rotary cutter and mat until this week (That also came in handy for the I Spy bag).