Thursday Thirteen #38

13 Things You'll Find in My House

Some of these are small space solutions, but most of them are just weird things I keep around because I like them, and, let's face it, I'm weird.

1. Command Strips - I love these things, and you will find them all over my house They are one of the greatest inventions of modern time. Really. This particular one is stainless steel, so it holds a little less weight but looks better. Most of them are plastic or plastic with a metal hook. They stick onto your walls, cabinets etc, and leave absolutely no mess behind when you're ready to take them off. True love, I'm telling you. Oh, and Downy balls were also a fantastic invention, just btw.




2. Souvenirs - My mother brought back two thimbles for me from a vacation she and Dad took. One of them is from Paducah, Kentucky and the other is from Metropolis, Illinois. (The one from Metropolis is about Superman. Get it?) I received the third thimble from Tina when she went to Tennessee. It's got Elvis on it. There's nothing that says, "I have no life" like keeping mementos of the places that other people have been. Along that same line, but a little different, is the fan in this picture. It's a souvenir my Grandpa C brought back from WWII. The shelf itself was made by my great-grandfather, I think, and has been with me for as long as I can remember.



3. Doubled-Up Bookshelves - I have never understood those pictures in magazines of a bookshelf with a few trinkets and about five books on it. I don't think I have ever, ever had enough bookshelves. (And I have given away, I promise, at least 8 boxes of books since we made the most recent move. Probably more.)



4. Amethyst Geode - This was a graduation present from my Aunt MP. I've dragged it from house to house ever since, and it now resides on the windowsill above my sink. It used to be above my bed, but one of the kids came this close (imagine my fingers pinched together) to knocking their Daddy unconscious with it one morning. (I intervened before contact was made, so no harm done.)



5. Teeny-Tiny Spoons - These were given to me by one of the hostesses (I think) at my wedding shower many moons (7 yrs) ago. They say, "Dash, Pinch and Smidgen" from largest to smallest. I don't know that I'll ever use them, but they're just so cute I can't get rid of them. They hang with my other measuring spoons and a spaetzle maker on command strips.



6. Tassels - What do you do with the tassels after graduation? I use them to open cabinet doors. The blue and white one is from my high school, and the orange and black is from my university. (OSU) I don't know why I haven't thrown these things away years ago, but there they are. I think I'll put them with the Christmas stuff this year, like I used to. They make better ornaments than door knobs, I guess.




7. Over-door Junk Bag - Our bathroom is about the size of a postage stamp. Really. OK, not quite; those special edition commemorative stamps can be pretty big. Anyway, in the absence of a nice, big cabinet I've got this bag hanging over the door. It holds all sorts of odds and ends. Beautiful? No. But do I care? No.



8. Magazine and TP holder - There isn't actually enough room between our toilet and our sink for a roll of toilet paper (Well, not without having to lean out to pull on the roll and then lean back.) This is on the wall opposite. It holds our reading material and our TP in one handy place. I know, Tina, the idea of reading material in a bathroom grosses you out, but we wouldn't get much reading done in this house if we weren't able to seek the peace and solitude of the bathroom. (I have to use the lock to get aforementioned solitude, but a Mom's gotta do what a Mom's gotta do.)



9. Animal Rope - When I was very little my mother made a long rope out of macrame and we tied all my animals to it. When she mentioned it to a parishioner at their church, the lady went home and made this rope for Zaya with the colors of his bedroom and even beads with his name on them. We finally got to hang it up when we moved to this house again this summer. It has ribbon for tying the animals on that goes around their necks. The stars you see painted around the top were done by Grandma Lilibeth before Zaya was even born.



10. Fan Socks - They have the cutest fans at Lowe's. A special kind for any room you might want. However, then you've got this little girly-girly fan or baseball fan or whatever and you'll have to change it out in just a few years when your daughter decides she hates the color pink. So my mom and I discovered these fan socks at Lowe's. You just stretch them over the blades and snap them on top. They're also machine washable. Zaya has blue ones with stars in his room. A and I thought about going with Disney Princess theme in our room, but we left our blades plain wood in the end.



11. Mixer Doily - Yes, there is a doily on my mixer. Why? I don't know. I have to take it off every time I use it. Where do you put a doily, though?



12. Toothpaste Solution - See, here's one of those command strips again. We use it in conjunction with the little squeezy bar and get the toothpaste tubes off the sink area. (Have I mentioned my bathroom is small?)



13. Pom-pom Bucket - Another local mommy gave me this idea. We use the pom-poms as rewards by letting them act as a sort of family currency. For instance, one pom-pom equals 10 minutes of screen time or one piece of candy. They do different things to earn them.



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