Happy Wednesday! Something kind of exciting happened to me yesterday. Woman’s Day sent a photographer, an assistant and a stylist to photograph me and my garage. They worked together like a well-oiled machine and made my garage more beautiful than I could ever imagine! If you follow me on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram (@PrettyHandyGirl), I snapped a few photos with my cell phone. I am still in the “I’ll believe it when I see it mindset.” But, this was for a small feature on organization for the September issue. Honestly, I’m a little concerned that the editor will take one look at the photos and drop them in the garbage. After all, it is the LEAST attractive room in my house! But, the editor assured me that they really want to show an organized garage space. So, I’ll be sitting on pins and needles until the issue comes out.

Two weeks ago I got an email from someone at Woman’s Day expressing interest in my garage. She politely asked if I could make a few changes to complete my workbench. They were all changes that I had wanted to do eventually. But, that date suddenly became last week. So, I put my tail in high gear and added those finishing touches to my workshop.

This was the workbench area of our garage before: Read more

I don’t know whether to be excited or dread that yesterday was the last day of school for my boys. I have some summer camps lined up for them, but frankly our summer schedule is all over the place. So much so that I need help remembering where the kids are going and when.

I thought it would be a good idea to display the schedule so the boys could see what was coming up (to avoid the inevitable anxiety from different camps for different weeks.) To give them a little control over the schedule, we sat down and brainstormed our bucket list for the summer. Ice cream, swimming, and Carowinds are only a few of their bucket list items. I thought it was especially sweet that they wanted to spend time with our longtime sitter one or two days ;-).

While I was contemplating this displayable schedule, I received a box of goodies from Plaid. The boys were home when it arrived, so naturally they hovered like eager vultures as I opened it. And of course they immediately wanted to make something with the supplies. Sometimes timing is a serendipitous thing.

I set up the kitchen table with all the supplies and a plastic cover over the table. When I looked up, my oldest son had disappeared! I found him like this:

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I feel like I’m constantly shouting safety messages at you. But, I can’t stress enough how important it is to wear hearing protection when you are exposed to loud noises. But, did you know that the noise doesn’t even have to be super loud? Exposure to higher levels for an extended period of time can also cause hearing loss.

Here is an infographic from 3M that shows common household noises that may be harming your hearing:

I have a pair of 3M Tekk ear muffs that I use when sawing wood and using my power tools. But, Pretty Handsome Guy doesn’t have a pair. He isn’t allowed doesn’t use my tools very much, but he does do most of the yard work. When he cuts the lawn he uses ear plugs. I decided it was time to upgrade his little foamies to some rockin’ headphones! Last week, I gave him a pair of Digital WorkTunes™ HearingProtector and AM/FM Stereo Radio ear muffs. He was thrilled to try out something that allowed him to rock out while he was chopping blades.

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June is upon us, and that means that Father’s Day is just around the corner! Do you want to be the “birdie” of your hubby’s eye? Or maybe you want to give Dad a present that is above “par”! Well, I have a gift basket idea that is sure to be a “hole-in-one”! A golf gift basket! What could be better!

Instead of just presenting him with a gift certificate, why not have some fun and make him a golf themed basket as well. Read more

When I took my custom mailbox to the postal service for approval, the postmaster handed me a form that details how a mailbox should be installed. Believe it or not, there are more requirements for the placement of the mailbox than the mailbox itself. Read more