Organize Your Dishwashing

How can we make dishwashing easier? It doesn't get much easier than loading them into a dishwasher and turning it on! But here you go >>>

I used to rinse a dish, load it into the washer, rinse another and load it. Hmmm. Do you see a problem here? I didn't! Until my brain finally clicked on and I figured out it would be faster and save water if I rinsed everything in one side of the sink, stacked it in the other side and then loaded everything all together.

I think I already told you about installing a soap dispenser where my sprayer used to be. That has been a fabulous little upgrade. I also added a sprayer attachment to the sink faucet for another upgrade. Its just a little thing you screw on that swivels to spray your dishes or sink. I bought it at Home Depot for less than 10$. It is so much more convenient than pulling out a long hose and stuffing it back in. I NEVER used the hose.

And last but not least I changed how I loaded my flatware. I used to put all the spoons together, forks together etc., with everything pointing up. It took too long to load that way and plus they don't get as clean since they are more likely to nestle together. Now I just throw handfuls of flatware in the basket and do the organizing after they're clean. The key to doing this is dumping the basket so you can sort it's contents into the drawer faster.

I actually made my four year old empty the dishwasher today. She and Grey were supposed to be cleaning their bathroom but she wasn't doing anything except causing problems. I drug her out of there and set her to work on the dishes. It was pure torture watching the little thing stack heavy plates and climb on a stool to put glasses away but she had to do a job and it was the only one I could think of! She didn't complain though and Grey was left to the dirty bathroom in peace.

Time To Get Motivated

My house is a wreck. I can usually feel ok about it if my kitchen is clean but today it's a mess too. I started a new quilt on Saturday. I guess that's what has been distracting me from housework all weekend. Here's my plan:

I'm going to go upstairs
Get dressed
Clean up the kitchen
Do school with my kids
Start the laundry
Clean my bathroom

That sounds like enough for one morning doesn't it. What's your plan for the day?

Garbage Collector

I didn't know before I became a wife and Mother that "Garbage Can" was part of the job description. Why does my family think that I should be in charge of throwing away all their garbage? Now when someone hands me an empty candy wrapper or a dirty tissue, I simply say, "No thanks, I have my own".

The other night my husband was eating something in bed. When he finished he tried to hand me his dish. I said, "Why do I need that?" "So you can put it on the floor over there," he replied. "What's wrong with the floor on your side of the bed", I asked.

Am I missing something?

Cereal Tip

Here's a weird little tip for you. Don't you hate it when you get to the last serving of cereal in the bag and half of it is crumbs? You don't want to eat the crumbs but you don't want to throw the cereal away either. Cut a small hole in one corner of the bottom of the bag and shake the crumbs into the garbage. Then pour the cereal into your bowl.

I'm like some kind of cereal genius aren't I!

Grocery Guru

I went to hear the Grocery Guru speak tonight. It was an inspiring presentation on how to save 70-100% on your grocery bill using store adds and coupons. The program seemed easy enough for even the laziest of us. He uses adds and stores from Utah but you could use his method no matter what state you lived in.

I'm going to give it a try and see if it works for me. My biggest concern is whether I will find coupons for items we actually use. We don't eat things like Pasta Roni and Captain Crunch. If you look at his meal plan for the week it's a lot of cold cereal and frozen or boxed foods.

Check out his website let me know what you think of it. I'll be making my meal plan and shopping tomorrow.

Save A Brain-wave, Develop A Habit

Today I am re-committing myself to sweeping the kitchen floor every day. Hear that everyone? I will do it every day until it becomes a habit. Habits are so much easier than actually using my brain to accomplish chores. That way I can use that freed up brain power for thinking about this new house we're building.

I'm sorry if this ends up turning into a house building blog for a while. We'll just call it "The Organized Building Of The Organized House". I'm going to be very organized about keeping receipts and records of everything we spend to build this house. It will be a great challenge for my lazy soul.

Today I went to the County Health Department to apply for a septic tank permit. $130. Now we have to dig a 10 foot hole on our property so they can come out and test the soil. Then we have to pay someone to do a water perk test, pay someone else to design our septic system, and then pay someone else to actually install the septic tank. Well, the last two things might be done by the same company. We'll see.

So far I'm not off to a very inspiring start. I should have applied for this septic tank permit months ago. We can't apply for our building permit until we have it so this sets us back several weeks.

Hungry Anyone?

I can't say that I did any organizing today. Not even 15 minutes worth. I had thoughts about going through my daughter's toys but I took a bath instead! How about if I do the toy thing tomorrow?

We did everything else that we needed to do today. We did our schoolwork. We went to the gym. I cooked three meals for my family and none of them were pizza! That's a big deal for us. We've been eating out so much since I've been pregnant. Now that I'm feeling so much better, I'm back on my cooking spree. I'm making all those recipes that I've been wanting to try for so long. The mess I have to clean up after every meal is horrendous but I guess it's worth it. We're eating healthier and saving a ton of money. I'll have to pass along any recipes I try that are keepers.

Here's one we had this week that everyone inhaled as fast as they could. I added the mushrooms with the half and half since I don't like them over-cooked.

Chicken, Pasta and Mushrooms

1 tablespoon olive oil
3 boneless skinless chicken breast
salt and pepper
1/2 onion -- chopped
2 cups fresh mushrooms -- thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic -- minced
2 bay leaves
3/4 cup chicken broth
3/4 cup dry white wine
2 teaspoons fresh thyme -- snipped
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup half and half
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
8 ounces penne pasta -- uncooked
fresh thyme sprigs

Cook pasta according to package directions. In a large saucepan heat the oil. Add chicken; brown 3-4 minutes on each side. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Transfer chicken to a plate.

Add onion, mushrooms and garlic to pan. Cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Return chicken to pan. Add bay leaves, broth, wine, thyme, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer gently for 30 minutes. Remove chicken; cover and keep warm. Remove bay leaves and discard.

In small bowl whisk half and half and flour together until smooth. Add to liquid in pan. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly; cook and stir 1 minute more. Add additional pepper to taste, if desired. To serve, drain pasta; place in a serving dish and top with chicken. Spoon sauce over chicken and pasta. Garnish with fresh thyme, if desired.

Idea Binders

Yesterday, I spent my 15 minutes of organizing, clearing off the kitchen counter. I found a home for every little item that was cluttering up my beautiful kitchen. Objects and papers were beginning to pile up in a bad way. One pile that was particularly annoying was a pile of magazine ideas for fall decorating and Halloween costumes. I have a binder that I throw these things in but I didn't want to put these new ideas away because I wanted to use them soon. When my logic leads to clutter then I know something is wrong in my thinking. After re-thinking I decided that I needed to organize my idea binder into seasons so I wouldn't have to search the whole thing looking for ideas and therefore I wouldn't be afraid to use it. Today I spent my fifteen minutes taking care of this. If you want to do this yourself here is what you'll need:

• An appropriately sized binder
• A package of page protectors
• A box of stick-on index tabs

I used broad categories:

• Valentines/New Year's
• Spring (includes Easter)
• Summer (includes Patriotic and picnic)
• Fall (includes Halloween and Thanksgiving)
• Winter (includes Christmas)
• Family (includes Birthdays and Family Reunions)

Don't try to keep all your old magazines and think you'll find the article you want out of it. Even if you did remember what you wanted you would never be able to find it! I rip out anything of interest to me and get rid of the magazine. It seems to be 80% advertising anyway.

I keep separate binders similar to the above for home design ideas (since we're building a home), and small home project ideas. You can make binders for any subjects that interest you. Gardening, crafts, cooking, woodworking, fishing, etc. I have a basket that I keep accumulated recipes in. Periodically I take the time to type them into my Master Cook program so I can make meal plans and shopping lists with them. If I find a keeper, I add it to my recipe binder that I use daily.

Now that I think about it I'm going to make a new binder with gardening/landscaping ideas in it!

Worker Bees

I am still amazed by how well my kids can clean up around the house! I don't know if I've mentioned it before but I home school my 6 and 4 year olds.

Kate finished her school work today and was bothering Grey and I as we tried to finish his. I immediately set Kate to work cleaning up the school table. Wordlessly she threw away the paper scraps and put away the work books, markers etc. She made a pile of Grey's things for him to put away when he was finished. She even got a wet washcloth from the kitchen and scrubbed glue off the table and then dried the table with a towel. This is my four year old! Not only did we get a clean school room but Grey got to finish his lessons in peace and Kate was thoroughly entertained with her job.

I don't like to mention the fact that they both drove me crazy the rest of the day but for 20 minutes all was well.

Two Happy Tired Kids After

A 4th Of July Celebration