Around the House - FAIL

Just like everyone else, I have been known to have plans go wrong, maybe once or twice.  This story is about such a time...

Back in the day when I sold Cookie Lee Jewelry, I had bought one of those clear plastic magazine holders for my display.  Once I no longer needed it for a business, I started using it for bills and such.  At that time, I lived along, had 3 bedrooms all to myself, and that magazine holder lived in the bedroom that I only used for bill-paying and pizza making (my sister's toaster oven lived in there since the kitchen is the smallest ever).

Now that I'm no longer a single lady but a wife and step-mom (!), the room with the bill-paying supplies gets used for hours each day.  And that magazine holder is always either in the way or getting knocked off.

Exhibit A:

pay no attention to how messy it all is...

Shall we see how I decided to fix it in this episode of Around the House?

I still had a bunch of magnets and my little thing of super glue after turning that Alaska ornament into a magnet, so I decided that was the solution!  The Magnet Solution!  I could then magnetize the magazine holder onto the side of the filing cabinet it had been sitting on!  Whoo hoo!  Great idea!

Here it is after being magnet-ed...

Now just to wait overnight for the glue to cure and stick it on its new home.  This is gonna be great!!!

Until...

I put the magazine holder on the top half of the side of the filing cabinet, and it slid down.  Well, I can't even say that it slid down because I grabbed it off before it could crash to the ground and break.

You see, that holder is really heavy.  It's not made of light flexible plastic, but of heavy rigid plastic.  Not something I thought of when I came up with the Magnet Solution.

So, until we can figure out another solution, or decide that the current state is good enough, that magazine holder is sitting on the floor, magnetized to the filing cabinet.  I guess it can't get knocked off anymore.

Any suggestions?

Any Around the House FAILS you'd like to share?  Put your story in the comments!

2 for 1! Create-A-Craft and Around-The-House!

Welcome to a new segment on the old "And all the other stuff..." blog.

Create-A-Craft

Hmmm, I'll work on that logo more for next time.

Anyway, remember how in my first entry I wanted to share some craft projects with you?  Well, here's the first!

I went to Alaska wanting to get some nice magnets.  Seems like that's what I've bought on vacations - you always have them displayed, they're useful, they don't cost much, and they don't take up much space in your suitcase - so I wanted to get some from our Alaskan Honeymoon.  The crazy part is, well, they didn't have a whole lot of ones that I liked.  Or that weren't cheapy.  What to do???

I had read a travel blog to check out the "Alaska" section at Wal*Mart - same souvenirs for a smaller price tag.  It was true!  And I found some nice ornaments.  And one of them was just the magnet that I had been looking for...  Luckily, it had a flat back.

How to turn a Christmas Ornament into a Refridgerator Magnet

Here's what you need:

• Magnets
• Super Glue (or your preferred strong-holding glue)
• Ornament of your choice

First, you have to take off whatever the ornament hangs from.  This one had a little bitty screw hanger that I was able to use needle-nose pliers to take out.  So add "needle-nose pliers" to your ingredient list; they're also helpful for opening an O-ring or cutting off whatever.  

Next, figure out where you will place the magnets, and how many - you want to make sure it has a strong hold and won't fall off of your refrigerator, hitting your toe and making you cuss, because if the wrong people are around, that could be very embarrassing.

Next, use your glue - however the instructions tell you - on the magnet and then place glue-side-down on the ornament.  If you use too much glue, it will come out from between the ornament and the magnet.  For this reason, you may want to use a protective surface so you don't ruin your nice wooden table.  I chose the ever-popular Plastic Tote Lid.

photo credit goes to Rhy

Let the glue dry for the appropriate amount of time and viola

a really cute Alaska magnet!  Probably made in China...  Do you have any Christmas ornaments that you love so much you want to keep them out all year long?  Turn them into a magnet!  Then send me a picture!

I also have a wooden puffin key chain that I want to turn into a magnet, but it's rounded on all sides.  I'ma gonna need to get my hands on a sander or something to make that work.

Around-The-House

(notice how I didn't try for cuteness there?  I'll spare you until I actually make a logo)

We have a small place for 3 people to live, which causes clutter to really pile up.  That and I'm really not so good at the housekeeping-type chores.  Really not big on cleaning at all.  But the living room always needs to be cleaned up, and darn it!  I'm proud that I actually did it!

Before:

During:

Not a huge change, but noteworthy.  Notice how there is a "Before" and a "During" but no "After"?  That's because I'm not done.  We have pictures all framed and ready to go up on the wall.  I got 5 of them up, but have some more wall-decorating to do before the big reveal.  Stay tuned (in a few weeks probably) for the Final After reveal!