Family Command Centre Board

     It's Friday. Hallelujah. This has been a LONG week. One of those weeks where I kept thinking that it was Wednesday when it was only Monday and that it was Friday when it was only Thursday. But it's Friday. We made it through.  We're all still alive. Sleep deprivation won't kill you. At least that's what I tell myself. Two year old meltdowns at the grocery store, with a cart full of groceries and a crying baby in a car seat, don't last forever. At least that's what I tell myself.
 
     I was determined though this week. Determined to not let the week get the best of me. You want to throw us a hard week? I'll show you what I got.

      I finally got our family command centre board done--(details to follow below)...and rather than let the week eat me up alive, I purposely decided to actively do some other things to make it better...

    When my exhaustion got the best of me, we went swimming in our bathtub in the middle of the day.

A bathing suit in the bathtub? She thought it was just hilarious.

    I scurried around when she was napping and she consequently woke up to a fort already made for her in our basement, complete with her favourite books, crayons and colouring books, a snack, pillows and her toys to play with. This was a BIG hit, and all it took was one fitted bed sheet and some flipped up couch cushions.

The moment that Terry walked in the door from work she excitedly pulled him to the basement to show him what she woke up to that day.

 We played with playdoh...fed her baby...

and had a couple visits from friends this week, who snuggled our boy and made me feel like the week was getting better.

     And through all of this, I missed a weigh in at the doctors office for Carter. I hate it when that kind of thing happens. Absolutely hate it.

     It made me realize though that I desperately needed to figure out a system now to keep up on all of the appointments, dates and events in our life, especially now that we have turned into a family of four. So I decided that I needed to have one space in our house where I could go to for everything.

    Solution? Our new command center board. Now I have everything in one place, a whiteboard to keep track of dinner ideas, note pad for Terry and I to leave notes to each other and a calendar to keep us organized. I'd like to think that it's virtually impossible for me to miss another appointment since I pass by this board a million times a day.

Ahh....I can breathe. Love it.

Here is how I made it:
 
1) We don't have a huge kitchen, so I didn't have many options for where to put this board. So when I was looking for frames, I had to be very specific in terms of size. I measured out the space, then headed out to Michaels craft store to find the correct size of frame. I also bought some textured black scrapbook paper to dress up the board a bit.

2) Take the glass out of the frame (and throw it out) and glue some cork board to the back of the frame (cork boards bought at Dollarama--2 for $2, and cut to size). I used my hot glue gun and glued the cork board down.

3) Wrap the cork board with the fabric of your choice (got mine at Fabric Land), pulling it tightly and wrapping it like a present around the cork board. Use a glue gun or tuck tape (yes, tuck tape!--my new favourite thing, courtesy of my dad) to keep it stuck to the back of the frame.

4) I bought a 4-pack of note pads from Dollarama for $1 and glued one of them onto the board with a glue stick. And went onto this website to create a calendar for myself.

5)  I bought those cute little flowers from Michaels too and glued them on to add a bit more detail.

6) Since my dad is in the sign business, he was able to make me my white board meal planner day labels. And I just went to Dollarama and bought a small white board, cut it to size, then just glued it down on my board with my glue gun. Easy as pie.

Here's to a tough week, a fun week and a fresh new week just around the corner.

Have a great weekend!

Erica xox