This must be what going crazy feels like.

School has been out for two weeks now, and after being abruptly made aware during Finals week that I wouldn't have a job this summer, I have been on the hunt during these two weeks as well. However, in the down time while I wait for someone to call, I have a very hard time going from 14 hour days to having absolutely nothing to do at all. For these reasons, I have taken PP on a wild and crazy adventure called household renovation and organization. Here's just a few thing that's I have done. :)

This first project was the gift I made for my mom and my mother-in-law for Mother's Day right after Finals. I was at my parents' house for about four days without PP and I was needing things to do to occupy my brain! I made identical pin cushions that I found on Make It and Love It. I used foam and cotton balls to stuff it with and I think that if I ever did it again, I would probably use batting instead. Pins have a little bit of issue with cotton balls for some reason.

After I finished their pin cushions, I wanted to make them cards but had left all of my card-making supplies at home. So I made a quick run to the store, bought some premade blank cards, ribbon and bows, and voila! A cute, "handmade" card.

After I got home, I realized that my house was an absolute mess (I guess that's what happens when you leave your husband home to be a bachelor for a few days). Here's a few of my cleaning projects. First was the laundry: you couldn't see the floor and the laundry was all stacked up against the washer and dryer. It was atrocious.

Next came the dishes, which I didn't get a picture of because they aren't completely done yet and I am still a bit ashamed of them. Maybe once PP goes back to school starting next week, I could start keeping the house clean on my own. Maybe that's just wishful thinking.

After the cleaning, I decided that I hated the set-up of our kitchen mucho mucho. We have this weird triangle shaped kitchen that has a lot of cupboard space, but it's not very organized. And if you know me at all, I am excessively organized. We went to the heaven of all home organization stores IKEA (!!!) to find these awesome shelves for a blank wall in our kitchen, and I.LOVE.THEM. See, look. They are AMAZING!

I also just want to note that the bottom three buckets are all recycling bins. See how awesome we are?? Trying to save the world, one pop can at a time. After we had these great shelves, we were THEN at Smith's and PP said, "Why don't we buy some herbs (that I probably won't use...whoops)? That would be GREAT!" "Okay, sweetheart! That would be great!"

See how cute they are! I love them with pink and fluffy hearts. :)

Okay, THEN one night, after I took a shower and was putting on some PJ's, I noticed that I have a lot of "excess" things in my closet. So I decided to get rid of a bunch of stuff, and this is what I came up with. Luckily, we also have a yard sale coming up that we'll be able to get a little bit of money. Woohoo!

Then also in this same closet, I decided that I have too many shoes, so I stacked them up like this with an old bookshelf I had:

THEN I realized that PP and I don't have a way to organize our underwear and socks and other such garments. So guess what I did? Oh yes, I bought MORE organizational stuff. And look! They are even colored coded! Pink and blue. I'm so clever. ;)

Alright, these other ones were more recently than the rest of this. I went running a few days ago and afterwards, I had to put something away in the shed outside. Two hours later, I had the whole thing organized and pulled apart getting things ready for that same upcoming yard sale.


All the things on the floor except for the bike are all things I am parting with in the yard sale. Thank goodness and good riddance! Unfortunately, it's a lot of stuff that we got for our wedding that we've never used. Sorry if your gift is in the box! hehe.

Okay, the last project that we finished two days ago is totally PP's idea. And I think he had an awesome idea! We had this really hideous flower bed in our yard when we moved in, and last fall, I raked out all the nasty gray bark that the previous owners had left. After that, we couldn't decide what to do with it. Finally, this spring, we were at Lowe's and said, "What the heck. Let's just do SOMETHING with it." And this is what we came up with:

The tulips are dying slightly because they are transplants. They were hiding behind the tree, and we made an attempt at salvaging them. We'll see if they survive! In the front of the bed, we planted grass. I hope it works! *fingers crossed*

This is the only room that's left: the office. It's basically been the dumping zone for all the junk we don't know what to do with. So I guess that's next week's project!

Anyway, so this must be what it feels like when you give an engineering student who normally spents 14 hours in a computer lab ALL THE TIME THEY WANT. And honestly, I'm kind of going crazy now. Anybody need their house organized?