Independence Day

You may notice that there is something missing from my blog. And if you guessed posts you'd be right. Our summer has been intense and crazy thus far and while I'd love to blog about every second of it, its just not in the cards. I figure it's better to actually have the fun and quality time with my kids and husband instead of blogging about it. I'll try to post blimps here and there, but no promise. I'll be in full motion again in a couple of weeks.

Hence, my ongoing summer sabbatical.

Happy Fourth of July my friends and be safe.

xO- Cat

Self Medicating: {the right way}

This is a carton of Tropicana Orange Juice:

This is how many cartons of Tropicana Orange Juice I've drank in the last 4 days:

Now I'm {pretty much} all better.

Moral of the story::

Pump yourself full of vitamin C and go to sleep at 7:30pm right after your kids go to bed and soon you will be like new.

xO-Cat

Would you rather ?

There's a game out there called would you rather? We are playing it here today.

*Would you rather bang your head repeatively against a brick wall or be sick?

*Would rather go through labor again or be sick?

*Would you rather stand in the pen with hippo at the zoo or be sick?

*Would you rather perform 3 out of the 10 uber gross challenges on fear factor or be sick?


Are you seeing a pattern yet? Have you realized that are some pretty bizzare things I'd rather do than be sick. It probably crystal clear by now that I am in fact sick:( And not the got kind you can fake your way through. It's the hazy, itchy/scratchy ear nose and throat buisness!

I'll be back soon when I've stopped wishing for death {that was a joke} but in the mean time...what would you rather do than be sick?

xO-Cat

Exciting news

Today I was featured over at Diapers and Divinity. To say that I'm excited would be putting it mildly!! If you are visiting via her site, WELCOME. Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you'll be a regular here at Her Eclectic Life too. Leave a comment so I can return the love.



I stumbled upon Stephenie's blog a few months ago and have quickly become a regular follower. She is so honest in her writing and offers such wonderful little nuggets of wisdom that you simply can't help but apply in your own life, or that get you off in a tangent about something gospel oriented. So head on over to Diapers and Divinity.

Sanctuary--

Today my husband changed my life. Today he bought my a new dishwasher. What was wrong with my old one you ask? Nothing-- we didn't have one. You see for over a year {since we bought our first home} I have been the sole washer of dishes. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind most of the time, it has always been my time for reflection about howthings are going in my life, what the agenda is for the coming weekend, and did I do enough today for/with my boys. Heavy stuff right?

Sometimes however, on those rare occasions {ie. Holiday meals or having the elders over} thing just ge out of control and a dishwasher is handy. And that's why I am ultra happy to be among the elite homemakers who own dishwashers. I now have a pretty stainless one in my kitchen too. Wanna be my friend?? ;)

xO- Cat

xO- Cat

An inconvenient truth-

Rant of the day.

Can I just ask this question to the cyber world...why is it that there aren't "drive thru" convenient stores readily available in most towns. For the specific purpose in catering to mothers, or fathers, with multiple children? As one such mother, can I just tell you what an ordeal it is to get all my little ones in and out of the car, to a shopping cart that doesn't really fit my needs {space wise}, for the sake of a gallon of milk, or the hamburger rolls I didn't by while grocery shopping 5 days ago because heaven forbid I wanted them fresh. And if this is our 5-6 stop in a multiple outing trip...well sometimes it's enough to make a mama cry.

I mean they have drive through liquor stores. Do we honestly need those? Do we really need to add such insult to injury? I'm just saying.

So there you have it. Who's with me??

xO- Cat

Rain Gutter Book Shelves: A solution

I love to read. So does my oldest boy. I love it.

He does however have a tendency to act like his 4 year old self from time to time at the most inopportune moments. On the one hand he loves to read and look at books, on the other he will rip all 35 covers of our Bernstein Bear books because, "I wanted to", or "I thought they would look better this way."

Let's just say I've lost it a few times. So I'm constantly coming up with new ideas for homes for our kids books. One after another after another. Nothing seemed to be working. Don't get me wrong I don't have terror children and we don't belong on Super Nanny {love that show} but about 2-3 times per week my boys give into there Mr.Hyde dark side and chaos always ensues. It's the life of a mama with little boys, or so I tell myself.

Finally after hunting around the blogosphere I found this great little DIY project called rain gutter book shelves. Now, the point of these shelves are to mainly let kids see the front of the book and not just the spine and give them easy access to them. In my case I use them to keep the books around BUT OUT OF REACH!! {hehe}

First we screw in the brackets...

Then we slide in the gutter...

Can't forget to measure...

Excuse my lack of end caps...

Voila'

These of course aren't all the kids books. We also set up a sort of library system at home. If they want a new book and their is no room on the bookshelf they have to "return one" for a new one. So far it's worked great.

S0, how do you get these really awesome shelves in your home? Simple take a quick trip to your local hardware store and pick up a very few things. Most of them you'll have a round the house.

Supplies:

-Vinyl rain gutters {I got mine from Home Depot. 10 feet for $5.25}
-Brackets for the rain gutters
-End caps for the rain gutters {I skipped out on these at the moment. They were the most expensive and since they were just for looks I'll get them another day}
-Wood screws {make sure they fit the size of your brackets}
-Hack saw
-Drill
-Level
-Marking pencil/sharpie
-Stud finder

Now in 10 simple steps you can to can have these great shelves in your home.

1. Decide the length that you want your shelf to be

2. Cut the rain gutter with the hack saw

3. Decide where you want to put the shelves and find and mark the studs {Remember studs are usually 16'' apart}

4. Determine the height that you want the top of the shelf to be and mark that point on one of the studs that will be close to the end of the other shelf

5.Level the stud marks

6. Using the wood screw and the drill, screw a bracket into the point that you just marked

7. Slide the gutter into the mounted brackets

8. Glue on the end caps

9. Repeat if needed

10.Enjoy

I hope that this project can serve for a happy solution to whatever you need as it does in our home. We'll see ya next time on Ask this Old House.... {KIDDING}

xO-Cat