Frugal "Coat Rack"

A few months back, I decided that I had my fill with our coat rack center. It had a metal bar for coats, two bottom shelves and a top shelf. The idea was to have a place for guests to hang their coats. But in the end, it just turned out to be a clutter center! We each would have 3-4 coats hanging up, along with sweatshirts. And by the time we were done, there wasn't any room for guest coats! :) So I decided it was time to simplify!

While in Michael's craft store one day, I found these cute heart hooks on clearance for $.50 each. I knew we'd have paint left over from making Papa's birdhouse so I wouldn't have to buy any extras. I had also found this "Love" sign on discount and I loved the color scheme. So I tried to match up the hearts with it.

For about $5 for the hooks and sign, I don't think it turned out too bad! It also adds a nice little splash of color to the room! And we each have our own little personal hook. I'm also hoping that I can somehow use it to help Nathan learn his colors.

A big "Thank You" to my sweet husband for taking the time to hang these up last night. Can you believe he TAPED the Bears game just so he could help! :)

Simple Gardening

I was hoping that Nathan and I would be able to have a big garden this year but the more I thought about it, the more I thought weeding wouldn't be fun later in the summer at 6-7 months pregnant! I still wanted him to have some kind of gardening joy this year, though, so I went to a simpler route: potted tomato plants!

We picked up 5 different varieties of tomatoes at Menards, along with some larger plastic pots. Our original plan was to maintain them on the deck but the sun didn't cooperate! We eventually moved them into a row near our side fence. They have been producing LOTS of tomatoes in the last few weeks. Nathan has enjoyed running over to them when we go outside to check for "red tomatoes only!" He does a pretty good job at only picking the red ones. Every once in awhile, he's sad when there isn't one and will grab an orange (or green!) one and take a big bite!

So even if you don't have a lot of gardening space or time, consider potted plants for the little tikes! They'll love the watering and picking and it will teach them a little responsibility, too!

Next year, hopefully we can talk Papa T. into helping us with a really GREAT garden!

Don't forget to enjoy the outdoors!