I was 8 yrs old. My family had just arrived home from grocery shopping. I had been assigned the task of putting the groceries away. I started yanking groceries out of the bags and dumping them in the fridge. As I reached for the 3rd bag, I saw that there was no longer any room! I stood there looking at the twenty some bags of groceries left and the full fridge and thought, "Didn't grandma know all of this would not fit?!" Enter grandma (mom, I was raised by my grandmother), with a look of exasperation. She looks at me, looks at the fridge, places her hands on her hips and says, "You gotta be smarter than the fridge Reyann!"

     "You gotta be smarter than the _______ Reyann!" I have heard this phrase my whole life. Grandma was not trying to tell me I was stupid or that the fridge was smarter than I was...she was trying to tell me to use my head and THINK of a solution to the problem!
Whether in reference to a chore, project, person...mom applied this phrase to everything! Years later, I am learning to marry grandmas instruction to the concept of DO IT YOURSELF or DIY.
     
In this blog I hope to share some DIY ideas using the old instruction to BE SMARTER THAN THE BOX! Some are originl and some come from combing the minds and blogs of others! I hope you enjoy all that is to come. I hope these ideas will help you to be smarter than the__________!