Pinterest Love....Rain Gutter Bookshelves!

I saw this project on Pinterest awhile ago and thought...that looks to good to be true. I was quite skeptical of whether or not the rain gutters would support the books or if they'd hang. When I had a giant blank wall in the playroom to fill, I decided to give it a try. 

We bought plastic rain gutters from Home Depot. They offered to cut them into pieces for us...we said no. Do NOT say no...unless to have a handy hubby and a sharp saw!! 

Anyway, we sawed them into four pieces. I originally planned for three feet...so glad I went with four. 

Then we screwed them into the wall. We did four screws across for good measure. Just plain old screws, didn't use a fancy anchor or anything. 

This is our finished project...filled with books of all sizes (some quite heavy!!) And I must say, my two year pulls on it pretty hard, and it has yet to fall or snap. 

Total cost...$6.00!! 

Cheap Chair Covers...yes, they exist!

This Monday I wanted to share some classroom storage solutions that worked quite well last year...and they were cheap, too. I know what you're thinking- those chair covers can cost a small fortune. Here are two frugal solutions that I used last year: 

Jumbo Stretchy Book Covers 

My students used these as a place to keep their pencils and Indeoenendt reading books, they have boos boxes that are used for readers workshop and writers workshop materials. However, I like my kiddos to have their independent reading boos at their fingertips at all times. Have a spare minute? Read! These book covers were perfect chair covers. Tip: go as close to school starting as possible- that's when I snagged 'em for half price!

Home Depot Cloth Tool Belts 

Home Depot sells these little guys for less than a dollar. I tied them to the back of my teacher table chairs. I stored pencils, post-it's, and other materials the kiddos might need for small group instruction. 

Stop by for pics tomorrow!! 

Magical Burn Relief...or not??

Yesterday I had my girlfriends and kiddos over for a luncheon....everyone was playing happily while I cooked up some good old fashioned Mac n cheese. My little guy was hanging around my leg (we seem to be a bit attached after a summer home with Mommy). Cue blood curdling scream...he grabbed the stove. The tips of all his little fingers instantly blistered :( I've never heard him cry so hard...or for so long. I felt awful.

We called the doctor, who told us to just care for it at home and watch for blisters to pop. So we went about doing some online research for home remedies to get the stinging to stop. We tried aloe, toothpaste...even considered yellow mustard for a brief second. 

Turns out, the only thing that helped was some pain relief meds and a bowl of cool water for him to put his hand it. He fell asleep on my lap for a couple hours with his hand in the water, but woke up in a little less pain. (Not gonna lie..loved the cuddles on my lap all afternoon!!)  Another couple hours of putting it in the water every fifteen minutes or so, and he was back to normal. So if this happens to you...What seemed like something that was going to turn into a week of crying lasted a good three hours, the he settled. 

I'm happy to report this morning that he's good to go...until these blisters pop :( that'll be a whole new trauma to deal with!!! 

Children's Book of the Week

This week at the public Iibrary we came across a couple books that have my little guy giggling like mad. Pigs to the Rescue and Chickens to the Rescue, by John Hinnelman. The pictures are so fun, and we both love the predictable pages that come up every other page where he can participate too!  I'm hoping to come across the third book, Cows to the Rescue, soon!!

Here's a link to the Amazon page!

http://www.amazon.com/Pigs-Rescue-John-Himmelman/dp/0805086838

Happy reading!!!