I'm Ready For My 10% Discount

Like so many of you, I have a blogging problem. I’m the first one to admit it. When Stranger came home he was shocked by how many hours I’ve been spending on the computer. In my defense, it has been a lot of work getting my new design up and running; fixing links, feeds and everything else that was messed up.

The problem is that I’ve been staying up later and later to get things done on the computer while the kids are in bed. Last night I was up till 2:30! If you knew me, you would know how strange that is. I’m always the first party pooper to go home and go to bed. I need a lot of sleep. Without the Sugar Shock I really don’t need as much sleep as I used to but I didn’t drag myself out of bed until 10:00 this morning! I’m not going to be able to do that anymore now that Stranger is off vacation and back to work tonight.

So that brings me to my point. I’m not breaking up with anybody but we can’t hang out late every night like we used to. Our relationship has to reach a new level; one where we’re not so love sick that we can stay up all night talking. We have to get to that place where we’re comfortable enough that we can burp and fart in front of each other and you snore through the chick flick that you rented for me while I hold your hand and cry. Let’s face it, we’re old and we need our sleep. But let’s meet tomorrow for dinner at 4:00. I know a great buffet with an early bird special.

Make Way For Bruno The Bargain Slayer

Stranger called me today and asked me if I was ready for a new van because GM was giving a $7,000 rebate. I about choked on a pickle. I told him I’d call him back after I was done eating so I wouldn’t have any more near death experiences during our conversation.

When I asked him about it later he took it all back, “Are you kidding? We can’t afford to buy a new van!”

“Then why did you tell me to start looking for one?”

“I just said to look! I didn’t say we were going to buy anything.”

“Well why should I waste my time looking if we’re not going to get one?”

“In case we find a really good deal.”

“I thought you said we couldn’t afford to buy a new van.”

“We can’t.”

“Ok, can we change the subject now?”

That’s my husband, the haggle fanatic. He’s the only straight man I know that could have a successful career as a personal shopper. This is a man who will walk, unafraid into a clothing store with his wife, a man who cannot be distracted from a Walmart electronics isle by the tired sobs of a pregnant woman, a man who can spend 3 hours telling you what he could make with every single item in a Michaels craft superstore.

His personal mantra is “Research, Research, Research”. He has to browse every store, search every internet site and question every relative, friend and stranger until he’s satisfied he’s found the exact widget he wants. Here's where the real work begins. He has to locate the best deal! If he were a super hero he would be Millennial Man because that’s how long it takes him to decide he’s found the best price on the planet. Just look how long it took me to get my Bob and that was a fairly quick transaction. I’m still waiting for the video camera promise that was my Christmas present from 2005. I’m pretty sure that doesn’t mean I’ll get two presents this year but it doesn’t hurt to be optimistic.

This man has many complex personalities. Not least of all his evil alter-ego, Ruthless Rule Maker, who has super human powers for making up game rules as he goes along. TOO LATE. The game has already started and you’re no match for the plague of the Mistress of Thrift! I’m going van shopping!!!

Morgan News Here I Come

I’m so excited! I’m not even a writer and I have writers block! I have a deadline people, a real live newspaper deadline. Who would have ever thought that someone with the most boring life in history would be writing an article for the local newspaper? I think I was staying up too late one night and I didn’t have all my senses when I was reading Lindsay’s blog. She writes for a paper called the Nashville Scene. I’m still trying to figure out why she didn’t link to my blog in this article. Flylady? What’s that all about? Aren’t every single one of you more organized since you started reading my blog? Of course you are!

Anyway, Lindsay is writing for a newspaper so why can’t I? I mean, what does it matter that she has 20,000 blog readers and I have 20? Who cares that she was a TV reporter before she got married and started popping out the kids. I’m pretty sure I got an A in English. Doesn’t that qualify me? And Lindsay, Suburban Turmoil, commented that she likes my Tomato so we’re like, tight now right?

So instead of actually writing an article for my 5:00 deadline tomorrow, I’m blogging about how I should be writing an article and that just makes me feel so…so…organized in a lazy kind of way because we all know very well that I’m going to take one of my old blogs and edit it for the newspaper. Who can stand this kind of pressure??? Lindsay! Help!

Organize Your Buttered Popcorn?

First of all, here is a little morsel of an idea for you. Do you love microwave popcorn as much as I do? I got tired of the bag spinning around inside my microwave and blowing hot oil everywhere. I am way too lazy to clean it up every time I pop popcorn so my microwave is always a mess until it thoroughly disgusts me and I clean it out. We don’t have a problem with any other kind of food because my kids have been properly trained to cover their food with a napkin to prevent spattering. Coercion is a wonderful thing.

So guess what I do now? I put the popcorn package in a paper bag before I put it in the microwave, with the top pointed toward the bottom of the paper bag of course. No more popcorn messes!

I also want to announce that I finished my closet organizing project last week. You don’t get to see the finished photos though until Laura’s contest is over because I want it to be a BIG, HUGE, SUSPENSFUL SURPRISE!!!

I have mentioned on and off that I have been sick with a sinus infection for quite a long time. Just when I would finish a round of antibiotics and thought I was over it, I would start feeling sick again. Being sick on and off for twelve weeks with Stranger out of town and no one to help I thought I was going to lose my mind! I have never had a sinus infection before and I had no idea they were so difficult to get rid of. As of now I am on my THIRD round of antibiotics so can we please all pray that I don’t have to do this AGAIN!!! Thanks.

Stranger is back home from Louisiana, by the way, after being gone for four months. He got back over a week ago. If you have noticed my blog suffering in any way it is all his fault. He doesn’t seem to think I should stay up until 1:00 in the morning blogging every night. He is such a party pooper. We are all having a great time being together again though. I almost forgot what it was like to have adult company around the house and someone to make the kids breakfast while I laze in bed all morning!

Favorite Thanksgiving Dishes

I got these recipes from my favorite cooking class and thought I would give them a try. They all turned out wonderfully. I'm so mad that I didn't get photos of all of it! It was such a rush to get all of it on the table and then we inhaled as much of it as we could as quickly as possible.

Cornbread Stuffing

I had never tasted cornbread stuffing before and I loved it! I cooked it in a baking dish instead of a skillet. I’m going to make this again next year. It was so easy and delicious!

1/2 onion, diced fine
1 ounce unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon rosemary
1 can creamed style sweet corn (15-ounce)
1 cup heavy cream
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal, whole grain, stone ground
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Ground black pepper to taste
2 cups French bread, cubed

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Sweat onions with butter and herbs in an oven safe skillet until translucent.

Combine corn, cream, eggs, baking powder, cornmeal, Parmesan, salt, and pepper in a large mixing bowl. Add cubed bread and fold to combine. Pour batter into skillet, right on top of the onion mixture. Bake 50 minutes, or until set. Cool slightly before serving.

Sauteed Green Beans with Pancetta and Mushrooms

You have GOT to try this green bean recipe. It's worth driving all over town to find pancetta. Take my advice and make your first stop a visit to a meat market. Don't even bother with grocery stores. Even though it is pretty expensive you don’t need a lot of it.

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 pounds green beans, stem end removed
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/4 pound pancetta thinly sliced
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
4 small white button mushrooms, wiped of grit and sliced (4 to 5)
2 tablespoons sour cream

Bring a large pot of water to a boil; add a big pinch of salt and add the green beans. Cook for about 5 minutes, the beans should still be crisp as they will be cooked more in the pan with the pancetta and mushrooms. Drain them and set aside.

Heat the oil up in a saute pan and add the garlic and pancetta and cook until slightly crispy. Remove the pancetta from the pan and set aside. Add the butter to the fat that has rendered from the pancetta and saute the mushrooms until golden and crispy. Season with salt and pepper. Return the pancetta to the pan and add the blanched beans. Finish with the sour cream and bring to a gentle simmer to reduce and thicken a little and allow the flavours to marry. Give it a final taste and season with salt and pepper, if necessary, before serving.

Some Highlights

We spent HOURS cooking our turkey dinner that took 20 minutes to eat. You would think it was a lot of work for nothing but as stressful as it was at moments, as much as my feet hurt afterward, and as rough as my hands are from being in water all day with the cooking and the dishes, it was worth it! Everything was delicious and I don't want to taste anything like it or work that hard again till next year thank you very much.

I am so thankful for my family. I don’t know any other husbands that will spend two days shopping and cooking Thanksgiving dinner with their wives. Stranger and I both prepared the turkey, the potatoes, and the gravy. He cooked the green beans, I made the corn bread stuffing, and Victor made the rolls. The inlaws arrived with pie and chips and soda.

The whole thing was very unorganized. We didn’t do any shopping until yesterday but we were still able to find everything we needed. We took breaks to sew and play games but yet we still got all the food on the table shortly after the guests arrived. I don’t know how we managed it.

The most organized thing I did was to keep the sink full of hot soapy water so I could quickly wash, dry and put away each dish and pan as we were finished with it. That kept the dishes from piling up and left us more room for preparing the food.

We have never put up our dining table so Stranger and victor had to drag it in from the garage to put it together and then had to rescue it and the chairs from two years worth of storage dust. A quilt with a layer of vinyl over the top was the finishing touch. With all the food there wasn’t room for decorations anyway. Except for a couple home made corn on the cob.

I’ll try to get some recipes posted tomorrow. I hope your thankful day was as happy as ours!

8 year old Victor made the rolls. Isn't he so cool!

Is this a costume party or what?

The only logical thing to do with your popcorn decorations when you're finished with them.

Organize Your Blog Notes

Here is one you have really been waiting for. Haven’t you always wanted to know how I organize my notes? I have a very complicated system (not really) and I’m going to fill you in on it right now. Are you on the edge of your seat?

First of all, I keep a notebook with me at all times. I carry it in the Tomato so I have it at Church, at the store, in bed, everywhere! Any time I get an idea I want to remember, I write it down. Either in my notebook or in my planner: buy eggs, call the electrician, blog about blogging. I’ve got it all. When I sit down to write a blog I go through my notebook and type up my notes. Sometimes they are a couple words and sometimes they include an entire post. Those are my favorite!

Next, we all know that we must NEVER compose our posts in a blog editor don't we? You are just flirting with Dr. Disaster if you even attempt it. You know Dr. Disaster right? He’s the Super Foe who deletes award winning posts just as soon as you hit that Publish button. Use Word or some other editor that allows you to save every five of your precious words before your baby can come along and obliterate it all with a touch of her little paw.

I keep all my ideas in one file called “The Lazy Organizer”. As of today it is 112 pages long with each entry dated. Just a note about writing blog comments: I’m not weird enough to write them in Word but I am weird enough to copy (Ctrl C) my thoughts before I publish them. We all know how priceless a good comment is and I wouldn’t want to deprive anyone of my sacred words (ya right) before I can deliver them. I can't tell you how many comments this has saved me. One of them was probably for you!

The next thing is to write down all your thoughts. Even the dumbest ideas can turn into stellar, comment worthy blogs once you’ve had enough time to think them through. Cutting and pasting all these ideas together works wonderfully. One story about your baby dropping a library book in a sink full of water might be boring but you put that with a story about the time you LOST your baby in the Library and you might have a hit. Heck, while I’m thinking of it, just head over to Julie’s place because she has some great posts. If you change a few names and add your own photos no one would ever remember where they had read it before and she won’t mind a bit. (Please don't be dumb enough to really do this ok?)

Here’s the really exciting part: I type everything in black until I post it and then I change it to some random color so I can skip over it when I’m looking for a particular old blog idea. All my unused ideas are in black and all my published ideas are in color. Make sense? It makes things very easy to find.

Let’s not call it weird, let’s call it colorful and cheery and organized! Weird would be color coordinating your posts. Like all the green posts are about organizing, yellow would be for your workouts, blue would be for Mommy blogging, etc. Wait that is a great idea! I am totally going to start doing that! But that changes everything! I'll have to write my notes in their assigned color and then change them to black after they are published. Whatever. Just have fun organizing your blog notes you weird compulsive organizer/blogger!

Cell Phone Profile Timer

Do you ever turn your cell phone to silent and then forget to turn the ringer back on? I might have done that once. Or twice. Or 200 times, before I started using the Profile timer. It’s fabulous. When I go to Church at 1:00 I set my phone to Silent on a timer that goes back to Normal at 4:05, just after Church is over. That way I won’t miss any important phone calls from my sweet Stranger at work wondering if I was late yet again for Church (that would be yes, as always) or from my sister needing my granola recipe because it’s easier to call me than to WRITE IT DOWN. Just kidding. Any excuse to talk to my big Sister is a good one.

If anyone has anything they need to talk to me about could you please call me at 4:06 on Sunday just so I can enjoy the coolness of this phone feature? I would be so appreciative of your helping me to feel very important and high tech. You can even call me at 3:00 a.m. but then I won’t feel important at all because the only thing I’ll be feeling is asleep. You are the exact reason I turn all my phones off at night you lunatic! Excuse me; I forgot for a second that I wasn’t talking to my Dad. Sorry about that!

Your Organizing Bag Ideas

I’m setting up this post to be a place where all you Organizers can share your own ideas for using the Lazy Organizing Bags. (If you don't know what a Lazy Organizing Bag is, click on the link to find out all about them!) You can post your ideas here in the comments or you can leave a link to a post on your own blog where you have written about using the bags. (I'm flattering myself that someone will actually blog about my bags!) I hope you’ll include photos!

You’re welcome to just let me know how you like your bags or if you have ideas for new styles. Thanks for participating. I can’t wait to hear what you come up with!

*Please link directly to the post about using your Organizing Bags, not to your blog's home page, so it will be easier for us to find the right post.

A Super Saturday

A few weeks ago I had an entire day off. That meant no baby and no schedule. Only one large 8 year old who is almost entirely entertained by himself. I wasted it. Really. By the end of the day all I could think about was how I had wasted the entire day. How depressing! Now I’m trying to figure this out. Why did I think it was such a waste of a day?

First of all I got to sleep in till 9:00. I went to a Super Saturday where I got to experience a wonderful Italian cooking class and a smoothie making class. I got to spend time with Victor, eating lunch that I didn’t have to cook, making soap that I didn’t have to clean up after, and tying a quilt. I came home and cleaned out the fridge, washed dishes, cooked four batches of granola, worked on a blanket, and wrote a blog. What was so unsatisfying about that? What more could I have asked for? Something bigger? Something monumental?

Somehow all of the little things we do, day in and day out don’t seem to add up to anything great in our minds. Should they? What’s wrong with a Mother looking after the basic simple needs of her family; cooking, cleaning, teaching, creating and loving? These are things we can’t live without so why do we want to put them at the bottom of our list?

I am very happy with my lot in life. I feel lucky that I enjoy being at home with my kids. I enjoy trying to be the best Mother, chef, and cleaning lady I can be. Would I rather teach my kids to clean a bathroom or teach them how to hire someone to clean a bathroom? I think you know the answer to this. Which one raises independent, resourceful children? And besides, which one saves me money?

I know a lot of women who don’t feel this way. They want to hire a cleaning lady while they’re out slaying dragons but I’m happy to leave the dragons to Stranger. MAN are there a lot of dragons out there. He's not a Stranger for nothing! I’m satisfied if I slay a closet, a telephone salesperson or a refrigerator every now and then. Die leftovers, die!

I keep fantasizing about getting a vacation from this relentless job. Where would I go? What would I do? I need to get away and get recharged to handle life’s challenges.

No I don’t! That's what blogging is for! First of all I’m too cheap to spend money to go somewhere. Secondly I don’t want to leave my kids. Thirdly I don’t want to leave my comfortable, although muddy, house and lastly, I’m the most boring unadventurous creature that didn’t roam the earth. I stayed home and knitted a blanket instead.

Ok, if you kidnapped me and drug me on an all expense paid trip to Europe I wouldn’t complain very loudly but otherwise me and my Tomato are staying put. And anyone out there calling it The Great Pumpkin had better knock it off!

The Treasure Hunt

I found my belt behind the washing machine when I was looking for the shoelaces. I found the shoelaces in the guest room when I was looking for the winter boots. I found the winter boots in a box when I was looking for the Halloween costumes. I found the Halloween costumes right where I left them.

I don’t know where I’d be if I weren’t so organized. I might never be able to find anything!

BTW, remember this idea for Halloween candy? No 8 year old on earth would ever go for it would they. Except mine! Go see more photos. Here I am, begging for comments for him again. Thanks!

See what happens when you clear a nice space in your pantry? It’s just too irresistible to leave alone.

More Closet Photos

Where have all the photos gone?
Long time loading
Where have all the photos gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the photos gone?
Blogger has lost them every one
When will I ever learn?
When will I ever learn?

I'll try again tomorrow.

All Hail to Jodi for leaving me this comment, "When ever i have problems loading pictures using blogger i go to the menu bar, click on "tools", click on "internet options", on the "general" tab, click on delete under the browser history (which deletes cookies and such) and then try to upload the pictures.i dont know why the history would affect my ability to upload but it does. just something you might want to try. " Where have you been for the last four years of my life Jodi? Will you marry me?

So this is what I was going to post yesterday:

It's been a long day! I spent the morning cooking for a class and I spent the afternoon working on my closet project. I’m so excited that it’s almost finished! I cut and screwed up all the boards. I’m just waiting for Stranger to find two more lengths of 2x6’s to make the seat as deep as I want it. Then I’ll be ready to caulk, paint and attach the coat hooks. Yes, that is a quilting ruler you see propped up against the wall. Power tools, quilting supplies, whatever.

There will be a set of lower hooks for the undersized people and a set of upper hooks for the oversized people. I added a bonus shelf waaaaaaay up there for long term storage. If you’ve got it you might as well flaunt it. The space I mean.

After I did all this it occured to me that the Lazy Organizer's Club was going to be meeting at my house early in the morning and it might be a good idea to clean up a bit. Kay, now I really am exhausted. It's time for a quick shower and bed!

The Goal
The Beginning

Check out the Organizing Junkie for more Organizing Challenges!

Closet Organizing Update

I committed to getting this closet cleaned out and organized this month and then I proceeded to organize everything but the closet. I worked in my pantry, my sewing room/office and my guest room, but not the closet!

I finally felt the urge to tackle the closet on this snowy Monday morning. I sorted all the clutter into boxes and stashed them in the basement. It was a project that might have taken 30 minutes but instead took 2 hours as I tried to organize while refereeing three energetic children.

Hopefully I’ll get started on the building part tomorrow. I’m fantasizing about using my newly organized closet and I can’t wait! Meanwhile I’m going to be leaving the door open so I can walk by it 50 times and look inside because there is almost nothing more beautiful than a clean closet. Oh the emptiness, the wonder, the possibilities!

Site Feed Update

Updated: I have a lot of subscribers that haven't changed their site feed so I'm going to publish one last time to my old site feed. Please re-subscribe to see The Lazy Organizer in your feed reader.

You want to subscribe to either of these feeds not the old feeds without "blog" in the url.

http://laragallagher.com/blog/atom.xml
http://laragallagher.com/blog/rss.xml



Ok, I've been messing with the site feed. I have it working and I'm leaving it alone now. I promise! You will probably have to re-subscribe to see The Lazy Organizer in your feed reader.

Thanks for putting up with all the changes going on around here!

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Susan asked me for my Christmas cake recipe. I make this recipe every Christmas morning in muffin pots. I couldn't find anywhere on the internet to buy these pots but I read that you can take a regular clay pot and line it with parchment. I usually double this recipe. It's delicious! I guess I'm going to have to make this now so I can add a photo!

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 tablespoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking powder

Filling
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/8 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon butter
1 teaspoon flour

Preheat oven to 375. Mix butter sugar and egg until light and fluffy. In a separate bowl, mix the remaining ingredients together. Swirl in 1/2 the filling mixture. Spoon into muffin pots, muffin tins or a bread pan. Fill 3/4 full. Top muffins with remaining mixture. Bake for 30-35 minutes, longer if you're using a bread pan.

Sweet Tomato

I love my new purse! I love it so much that I have named it. Yes, it’s big. Yes, it holds everything I need it to hold. And yes, I take it everywhere I go. That’s how handy it is.

This is quite a change from the tiny-pursed woman that I have always been. A tiny purse is easy to organize. But then here comes a baby. A tiny purse does not double as a diaper bag. So then you have a tiny purse plus a diaper bag. A tiny purse does not hold a sewing project. So then you have a tiny purse, a diaper bag, and a project bag. Why go through all that when you can have one big sweet Tomato?

I co-sleep with the Tomato. Why should I grab my planner, my notebook, my cell phone, and my mp3 player out of the Tomato when I can just take the whole thing with me? Besides, it holds my Purse Organizer which has a lot of things in it that I might need in bed. If I cut myself sleeping I have a Band-Aid right there. If I get a sliver from my night stand I have the tweezers to operate. If I missed a spot when I flossed, oh look, some floss right here!

When I come in from the car I grab the mail, water bottles, diaper bag, jackets, anything that is cluttering up the van and throw them all in the Tomato to carry in the house. I told you it was big! If it was a little bit bigger I could throw all the children in too. But I don’t ever abuse the Tomato. As soon as I get inside I put everything away and the Tomato is ready to go on its next adventure. That is the key to our loving relationship.

With everything organized into Bags, I can just take out what I don’t need at the moment, such as the diaper bag, and toss in something I do need, like my Lazy Paper Manager. Here is what the Tomato has in it at all times. Wallet, cell phone, car door opener, tissues, Purse Organizer, Receipt Organizer, Recipe List, planner, and a spiral notebook. Everything else comes and goes.
Here are some things I put in the Tomato as needed. Water bottles, scriptures, toys, camera (if I had a smaller one I would keep it in there all the time), diaper bag, blankies, items I need to return, snacks, gym clothes, sewing projects, books, etc. I even keep my medication (when I’m taking something) in the Tomato. If I forget to take it before I leave the house or go to bed I can take it as soon as I think of it because the Tomato is always with me. .

Emergency uses for the Tomato include; sleeping bag if I ever get trapped on a mountain, table cloth for a picnic, prom dress if I ever get asked, sled for a perfect snow day, water balloon launcher because you never know when you’re going to need one, or a parachute to stop the van if the brakes ever go out.

Do you see why I love the Tomato so much? So don’t ever snicker at it or make jokes in front of it about how it looks more like a suitcase than a handbag. Laugh at me but never at My Sweet Tomato because that would just be mean.

Organizing E-Mails, Updated

Works For Me Wednesday. Doesn’t this just sound right up my alley? It is, except that I prefer a “Works for me Monday through Saturday”. What can I say? I’m just a “Works For Me” kind of gal!

Our topic for this lovely Wednesday is Organizing E-Mails. I like having lots of e-mail folders. Some of my e-mails are moved automatically into special folders. I can check them once a day or once a week as needed and they aren’t cluttering up my In-Box. If you have never done this before, right click on the e-mail you want to make a rule for and click “Create Rule”. It is pretty self explanatory from there.

The rest of my e-mails go directly into my In-Box. After I have taken action on them I put them into the appropriate folders for future reference. I have made a habit of moving the letters I send out of the Sent folder and into the appropriate folders as well, that way I can easily find them when I need to reference them. If I’m looking for an e-mail that my family sent me I can look in my Family folder and there is my reply right along with it. It’s wonderful!

I have never used Flags because I prefer to take action as soon as possible so I don’t have that many e-mails in my in-box. I also don’t receive a lot of e-mails with my simple life of a stay at home Mom.

I check my Junk-Mail folder every few days to see if a letter went in there by mistake. Then I delete all the junk mail and start over. For all the junk-mail that makes it into my In-Box, I right click on it and “add sender to blocked senders list”.

I know I have just scratched the surface of e-mail organizing so feel free to leave your own tips in the comments.

Update: Since writing this I have been playing around with Outlook Flags and I love them!!! I have every e-mail flagged as it comes in and I can flag different e-mails different colors according to sender, subject, etc. As soon as I take action on an e-mail I mark the flag as complete.

This is why I love to blog about organizing. It helps me get more organized!!!

Visit Rocks In My Dryer for more Works For Me Wednesdays.

Organize Your Pantry

I did some amazing organizing today and there wasn’t anything lazy about it. Can I just give myself a pat on the back for unpacking these boxes that were piled in my pantry? Yes, I know we have been in our new house for 8 months. Shut up! I've been waiting to get some shelves built in there but as you can see, that's not happening any time soon so I had to improvise.

I know I said I was going to do this but I had a brain cramp and cleaned out my pantry instead which may or may not have looked like this when I started. I'm not addmiting to anything.


I’ll get to that other thing soon. I promise.

I may or may not have gotten this far on Saturday.


Then I went crazy and did this today.

Isn't it pretty! I want to go in there and eat dinner on the little stool so I can soak it all in. Now I have a spot to grind my wheat so I won't have any more excuses for feeding my family white bread. I wanted it in my pantry so I could shut the door and hopefully shut out some of the noise in case people were sleeping. I know some people keep theirs out in the garage but I'm way to lazy to walk out there! You can't see it but that is my deep freeze on the left there. The garage was too far for that too so I designed a spot for it in my pantry.


Off the subject...See those little clay pots? Those are for baking muffins and cakes in! I made dirt cupcakes in them for a party once. Aren’t they adorable? They are real clay pots, just without the drain hole in the bottom. I get them out every year for Christmas breakfast. You can find my Coffee Cake recipe here.

Since we wash dishes by hand every day we don't need a lot of extras in the kitchen so I store them here. Don't ask me why I have all those plates. I never let anyone eat on them. I make guests use paper! Except for the important guests. So if you're eating on paper plates at my house you can pretty much figure you aren't important enough for my plain old ordinary white dishes. Either that or I love you enough that I want to spend time visiting with you instead of washing dishes.

Another Pantry Photo

30 Day Challenge

Ok, she talked me into it. I’m going to tackle this hall closet this month. I’ve sat and thought about it tonight and I think I know what I want to do with it after I clear all the tools out.

I’m going to build a bench into the back of it and put two big organizing tubs under the bench. One will hold swimming towels and one will hold swimming toys and equipment. On top of the bench is where we’ll store our huge swimming bag that we don’t really have a good place for right now. This will be great because this closet is right next to our mudroom. When the kids come in sopping wet from playing outside they will be able to grab a towel without yelling for me. Plus it will be easy to pack the swimming bag and run out the door with it when we need it.

Above the bench I’m going build a hook rack that goes all the way around the closet. Why use a hanger when you can use a hook? So much easier, don’t you think? In fact I think I will do two rows of hooks, one that the kids can reach and one up higher that Stranger and I can use. These will be great for coats, sweaters, backpacks, purses, hats, etc.

I have many projects that need finishing but I think this is one I can accomplish in 30 days, it will be oh so useful and it won’t cost a lot of money. Thanks for the challenge Laura!!!

Update: Progress photo!

Organize Your Baking Center

I just found the perfect containers! I empty all my baking ingredients like salt, baking powder, soda, cocoa, and corn starch into matching containers. That way everything is air-tight and they are all the same size for stacking in the cupboard. For seven years I used Ziplock disposable containers and wrote the contents on the side with a permanent marker.

I’ve been looking for containers that were tall and skinny for my new baking drawer ever since we moved here 8 months ago and I finally found them at a Neighborhood Walmart last night. Take a look at Buddeez storage containers here and click on the gourmet coffee link. I bought the only four they had but I’m going to check another store to get at least one more. Don’t they look so pretty lined up there?

If you want to do something like this with your baking ingredients just make sure you don’t buy something smaller than the ingredient box or bag that you normally buy. It doesn’t make much sense to empty half a box into a storage container because then you have to store the container and a half empty box. I know none of you would do this though. You’re all too organized for that. Even if you are lazy!

More on Organizing your baking center.

Noodle Doodle

I’m so excited about my new website design! Andre designed it along with all the images. You know Andre, the Doodle Machine. Everyone knows Andre! Isn’t he amazing? The most amazing part is that he was able to put up with me throughout the whole project. If you need a new blog design he is the man! He only charges a bazillion dollars. Well, not really but he should!

How do you like my portrait? Without ever seeing a photo of me I think Andre got me exactly right. My eyeballs even pop out of my head exactly like that sometimes. Just ask my kids. I would like to think my biceps aren’t quite that noodley but it’s true that I haven’t made it to the gym as much as I’d like lately.

Victor thinks I look a little scary and Persistence thinks my stuff, “looks organized in a lazy way because it is done all wrong. Those cups shouldn’t be stacked like that and the paper should be put by the computer and the books should go on a shelf or something.” She didn’t seem to mind that the pens were right next to the toothbrushes. That is just a serious tooth brushing accident waiting to happen as far as I’m concerned but hey, just a little bit at a time. That’s all we can do right?

Update On The Candy Conflict

10 ways that you know you’re getting over the sinus infection you’ve had for 7 weeks

1. You actually want to get out of bed in the morning.

2. You make your bed.

3. You clean up the disaster that is your bedroom.

4. You put on a pair of jeans instead of the same pair of sweatpants you’ve been wearing every day for 49 days.

5. You have the energy to make the kids clean up the rest of the house and all their messes. That’s pretty impressive considering it takes more energy than just doing it yourself.

6. You patiently help your son decorate his shield for scouts that night.

7. You make a lunch that actually has cooked meat in it and without noodles.

8. You don’t strangle your 6 year old when she goes in the baby’s room during her nap and wakes her up.

9. Just when you’ve cleared a path to the computer and the kids have settled down with a movie that you rented for them last night, you start feeling sick to your stomach and have to go back to bed. Either you have food poisoned yourself because no one else is sick or you are the lucky recipient of the flu bug. Yay you!

10. You take everyone to the first half of scouts and then you run your son to his flight class, then go back to scouts, then back to the class to pick him up, then back to scouts to take his picture and at the end of doing all that while sick to your stomach you aren’t calling your husband, crying on the phone.

We tried to tell her that black and white cats were safe. It was the black ones that were unlucky.

The verdict is out on the Halloween candy conflict. I won!!! I had a few pieces of candy last night and a couple more this morning but I did not lose control or make myself sick. I ate as much as I wanted and I didn’t eat any more. I put all their candy in the pantry and then I didn’t even think about it again. We had a family counsel tonight to decide what to do with all of it. Usually I just let them gorge themselves until it’s gone but this year they got way more candy than I am willing to let them eat.

Victor decided that he did indeed want to make a candy sculpture with his. He asked me to hide it for him until I had time to help him with it. Persistence decided that I could hide her candy and give her one piece a day to eat at the gym. She’s funny, she likes to have one treat at the gym. Even if it’s only a little tiny sucker she is happy.

I’m not even going to go into the embarrassment that was their Halloween costumes. Does having cute bags make up for wearing the same costume three years in a row? I think so!

PS, I don’t have the flu. I came home after scouts and ate something and now I feel fine. I think I was just hungry and forgot to eat!

We have an amazing woman on the scout commitee that does things like have tapestry banners embroidered and build the pole to hang it on, make shields, swords and helmets out of cardboard, wood and paper bags for 30 boys!