HOUSE PARTY

This is an easy project to make some cool looking storage for your wall!  Here's the video:




The supplies you need to make this:

• 2x4 Piece of wood
• Pipe Clamps
• Canning Jars (I chose the wide mouth pint size)
• Screws
• Mounting supplies

The steps are pretty easy, too:

1. Cut the wood to the size you want
2. Drill / hammer a hole in the pipe clamp
3. screw pipe clamp to the 2x4
4. tighten pipe clamp
5. drop in canning jar

And you're done!   This is how they are being used in my house:

Storage in the Bathroom

Storage above sewing machine

Here's where my wife found the original instructions: http://lovelylittledetails.com/2011/03/13/mason-jar-sunday-diy-mason-storage-from-liz-marie-3/

(This is part 5 in a 11 part series of things that Andy learned in college - sometimes the hard way - so hopefully you don't have to)

Before I share the story that happened to me that inspired this post, please remember I was a 1) Freshman and 2) I am a guy.  Really, most idiotic things can be explained with those two qualifiers.

One of the things I loved about college right away is having 3 great meals a day.   I never had to cook!  And that was a good thing, because at that point I really didn't know how to do much.  But if you are like me and have a full meal plan to the Cafeteria, please remember this important thing:

There will be at least one point where you are very hungry, and the cafeteria won't be open, and you will have no choice but to raid your emergency supplies.

For me, it was at 3 AM.  I woke up in a sweat and it felt like my stomach was attacking me.  I stumbled into our mini-kitchen and opened up my section of the pantry.  Here's what I found:

*Picture not to scale

Hobo Bear

She didn't have a meal plan

The important moral of this story?  EVEN if you have a full "meal plan" in college, make sure to have a meal plan WHEN (you know it will happen) you are hungry and can't go to the cafeteria!

(This is part 4 in a 11 part series of things that Andy learned in college - sometimes the hard way - so hopefully you don't have to)

In College, the classroom is not the only place that you are learning things. For a lot of people, this is the first time away from family, and the first time having to deal with personal finances. We will cover the ever-important college job in a later post, but how to spend the small amount of money you have?

I can't tell you exactly how to spend your money, but I can warn you about one thing that will drain your bank account more than anything. The social "Walmart" run. Someone will walk by your dorm room and ask if you want to do a Walmart run for supplies. It's ok to go, but if you don't need anything, I would suggest NOT EVEN BRINGING MONEY. Because, if you are there and EVERYBODY is buying things, of course you will find something that you all of a sudden HAVE to get.

For example, I was on a run with my friends to Walmart, and I didn't need anything, but I saw this one item like a beacon of light, something that I was almost blinded by its brilliance. It was this:


Even now, years after seeing it in the store, I am still drawn to it. (I mean, look at it!  HE'S ON THE CART, WITH A BANANA, AND I CAN USE IT TO TALK TO PEOPLE!) So I put it in my cart, and as I was walking around with my friends some more, I realized that it was the perfect example of buying completely useless things in college. I mean, we had a phone in our dorm, but nobody used it! Why was I even drawn to it? Because I thought that other people (especially the people I was with) would think it was AWESOME!

So you have two choices:

1) Don't go on the "social Wal-mart runs"
2) Go on the "social Wal-mart runs" but don't bring your wallet.

or I guess you could go in having a list of essentials that you need to pick up, but you're only kidding yourself that you won't come out with a mario kart phone, or whatever that example of ridiculous spending would be in your case.

(This is part 3 in a 11 part series of things that Andy learned in college - sometimes the hard way - so hopefully you don't have to)

Its lure was strong during my college years. Maybe it was the funny name, or the incredible orange chicken, but the chinese buffet near my college made me get a C in my Old Testament History class.

I had the best intentions!  I would be on my way to class, when one of my friends would ask the innocent question "Chinese Buffet?"  To which, I often said "yes."   It was the only class I missed on a semi-regular basis, and it showed.  I forgot to follow the number one rule of college.  SHOW UP!

You can't pass if you aren't in class!  (I didn't even mean to make that rhyme)

The other 12% of College?  Doing the work!  I never missed a homework assignment, and I didn't do the best on tests, but other than that class I missed all the time, I pulled B's or better.  Even if it is late, you might lose some points but still, DO THE WORK!

These are both so common sense, but these two things that trip up college students academically are also some of the easiest thing to do.

Show up.  Do the work. Don't fall into the temptation of the Chinese Buffet. And the rest will work itself out!

(This is part 2 in a 11 part series of things that Andy learned in college - sometimes the hard way - so hopefully you don't have to)

The first few weeks of college as a freshman is like a whole new world, with new foods, new places and new things to learn.

But you won't be focused on any of that.  You'll probably be noticing people of the opposite gender.  Most freshman act like they are wearing a sign that says : "LOOK OUT WORLD, I'M SINGLE AND READY TO MINGLE!"

WELL, Hold on there for a moment cowboy!

The WORST thing you could do is start dating someone right away.  Actually if you can avoid it, I would suggest holding off from dating your entire Freshman year!

You can have friends of the opposite gender, that's great!  But what you will notice is two days minutes into orientation, couples will start forming.  These couples will usually make it all the way through the first year of college.  Fast forward to the next year, they come back as single people and not only do they not have each other for company but, THEY HAVE NO FRIENDS BECAUSE THEY WERE TOO BUSY BEING A COUPLE AND NOT HANGING OUT WITH ANYONE ELSE.

I'm sorry if it seems harsh, but this is the truth.  Of course, there are exceptions, but know that friendships are forged quickly those first few weeks of college, and often times those are the friendships that you will treasure many years after you have graduated.

So can you date after your Freshman year?  Absolutely!  You'll still want to be careful of course, for many reasons (one of which we will explore later regarding your reputation).

But as your brain and your heart are still "gelling", stick to being friends.  You'll have plenty of time to jump into the dating pool the other 3 years of college.  And you'll be a lot less wrinkly than everyone else.

(This is part 1 in a 11 part series of things that Andy learned in college - sometimes the hard way - so hopefully you don't have to)

The alarm goes off on your phone, you look at it realizing that you only got 3 hours of sleep, you have two choices.  You can:

1) Get up right away
-OR-
2) Sleep in until 5 minutes before your class

I would always suggest option "2" for a few reasons.  One of them we will get into later (everyone looks frumpy), but lack of sleep is one of the things that will DESTROY your routines in college.  All-nighters are bad too, the next day you feel awful and for me, I found that I did worse on tests if I tried to stay up all night to cram.

Sleep is very important, and sleeping is more important than hygiene (at least first thing in the morning).  BUT, and this is important to remember, that GOING to class is more important than sleeping.  So wake up, go to class, then take a shower.  If this has confused you, here's the order of importance of sleep, class, and showers:

CLASSES > SLEEP > SHOWER > XBOX (sorry guys)

Come back tomorrow, as I tackle the tricky world of dating!  How long should a freshman wait to date?  stay tuned for more!

The temp was 110, so Andy and Jenn made the most of it by seeing what would melt the fastest, and if they could cook breakfast on the pavement:

I love getting deals, and I have always wondered "how do they do that?"  Getting hundreds of dollars worth of groceries for pennies on the dollar?  It seems time-consuming, and if you watch the TV shows with people and their paper towels stored all over the house because they have so many, a little like a bad episode of "Hoarders."

CNNMONEY talked to 7 different extreme couponers about their strategies and what websites they check out.  So if you have ever wanted to try some couponing and see if it could save you money, check out this article.

This week's Word on Wednesday is for the ladies!  Proverbs 31 ladies, that is.  You can click to listen below:

Word on Wednesday - Proverbs 31

This is cross-posted from GetAndyToSwazi.com, my blog about the journey to, at, and from Swaziland:


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