I have lost my shelf tools and just can't seem to find them.

I think at this point some help might help.

This is the message from H14:

File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.291/houdini/python2.7libs\hou.py”, line 31653, in newShelf
return _hou.shelves_newShelf(*args, **kwargs)
PermissionError: Failed to modify node or parameter because of a permission error. Possible causes include locked assets, takes, product permissions or user specified permissions

My understanding is that my permissions are off. I am running Windows 8.1. This only started this week.

How can I get those handy little shelf tools back?

One more image here for you.

I uninstalled Laubwerks from my machine because this is all I could find.

Fixed it. I reinstalled H14 earlier, no luck. Tried using Tune Up utilities to clean up my SSD and Registries. That might have helped.

I think what fixed it was this: http://www.kossboss.com/windows-8—permission-issue-fix [kossboss.com]

I followed the first GUI instructions he gave more or less.

Here's a screenshot of the area that fixed it. I had to use the admin account (my account) to change permissions (by clicking change permissions) then got to this part. I check the box and hit apply and it worked.

It shouldn't be using Laubwerks at all. Perhaps when you installed, it set the HOME environment variable to point to itself? I'd just try renaming your HOME environment variable to something else (eg. XHOME) for testing.