Yep, today I am the “little (well not so little) engine that could.” My mantra is “I think I can, I think I can” as I chugga-chugga up the very steep hill we like to call Wednesday! 
This has been an interesting and exhausting week already and it’s not quite half over! I’ll save that for my next post though. Yes, I am actually planning to do two posts today. I’m playing catch up, you see.
This post is to show off my brilliance with a little crafty idea I got from this post. Ha, not really that brilliant when you have to copy someone else, but I’ll bask in the borrowed brilliance as our “utility” room now looks a little more neat and organized.
This was the BEFORE picture. I try to encourage shoe removal as much as possible before entering the “house” because it really does help keep the floors clean(er) for longer, and discourages those nasty goat head stickers from finding their way onto the carpet and then into my unsuspecting feet!! Notice all that dirt on the floor that stayed in here instead of getting onto the kitchen floor or the carpet, yay!! Still, it’s very unsightly and well, dirty.
So I “built” a floor mat for the express purpose of keeping things more orderly. I used the Dollar Tree place mats that Kilika suggested. Not wild about the fact that the trim is pink, but they only had 2 of the lime green ones I was going for. 
Can’t get too picky with dollar stores, I suppose. Anyway, this is the back of the mat that I put together with Gorilla Tape. Notice my two helpers who were completely intrigued with the tape for some reason. Actually I didn’t let them help, I was in too much of a hurry to get it done, so their “help” consisted of not touching!
And here we have the AFTER pic. This is after I swept up all the dirt and junk and after I put the new mat down. A bonus for this floor mat is that since it’s in sections each person can have their own and keep their shoes neatly placed on it. That’s my dream anyway. It’ll take a little coaching, but I think it’ll work eventually. I also have a little contraption to hang on the wall at kid level that they can hang hats, jackets and other items that I don’t want cluttering the floor or finding it’s way to wherever in the house. Like I said, brilliant!
Anyway, there it is! A great accomplishment for this large, and rather slow moving lady these days! 
I thought I’d leave you with a Nutella face grin! This was the morning Myles and I had a late breakfast together because everyone went to the Great-grandparent’s house and WE slept in!! The chocolatey hazlenutty goodness is hard to resist…. and that reminds me, I’m hungry!
Later!
