I Love It When They Use Their Brains

I know they have smart little heads but I wish they would use them more often. Do you ever feel that way about your kids? My ten year old came up with this idea in a moment of brilliance or sheer frustration. Either way I was excited.

I came home from a thrift store a week ago with this wire rack that cost 50 cents. It looks like it's for holding pot lids but I thought my son could use it for a drying rack for plates or pans when he does dishes. Apparently not because he tried it for a couple days and stopped using it. Then it sat next to the sink for several more days doing nothing. Until...

Frustrated with the cutting boards that are always propped up next to the sink and always falling over, he grabbed the rack and stuck the cutting boards in it sideways. Who would have thought? It's perfect!!!

Not only does it hold the cutting boards but we can fit a couple cookie sheets in it to dry too. It's funny because I kept looking at that rack trying to figure out what to do with it but it never occurred to me to do something so simple as turn it sideways.

I used to get in trouble with teachers because I always tried to find the easiest way to sew a project or write a computer program. They didn't like it because it wasn't THEIR way. I'm open to ANY way that makes my life easier.

I always tell people, if you want to find the easiest way to do a job, just ask your kids. They are lazy enough to come up with the best ideas. And any idea that makes their job easier will make your life easier because they will work faster and have more fun with it.

Now if I could just get it through their heads that hanging their coat up when they walk in the door is easier then hunting for it later. That piece of information always seems to get lost in the vastness of their big brains.

---

P.S.

My son and his big brain are learning html so he just taught me how to make a line. All you have to do is type <hr/> when you are in "Edit Html" mode. Cool! Now I'm going to be adding lines willy nilly to all my posts.

Talk About Kitchen Organizing

Welcome to Talk About Tuesday! If you are new, check out the Guidelines before posting. Thanks for joining us!

I know I will probably be doing TAT by myself this week because we are all busy having a fun New Year's with our family and friends but I had some great news that I couldn't wait to share. If you can find a moment to share a post you are welcome to join me!


Remember my kitchen island that took me two years to have built? Remember how excited I was to finally have it? Ya, you were wondering what had happened to that weren't you? Remember how carefully I designed it to my exact specifications?


Well apparently my specifications didn't take into account one thing. Getting it into the house! I knew our doors were 36" wide so I had it built 36" wide. Guess what? Just because the door is 36" wide doesn't mean the opening is 36" wide. That's where using a tape measure might have helped. When the door opening is 35" wide and the builder actually builds the island a tiny bit wider than 36" then it creates more than a little problem.

I didn't have a problem with Stranger cutting the door out but apparently he did because it took him a while to actually build up the nerve to do it. He finally agreed to do the dirty deed as it was the only thing on my Christmas wish list this year. I've always wanted big holes on either side of my garage door frame!

It took four big guys to move this 7 foot long 500 pound monster but it is in my kitchen and I'm in love! Just don't ask me when I am going to get it painted. That might have to be my Christmas wish for next year.


In the mean time I couldn't resist moving in. I spent the day Saturday re-organizing my entire kitchen and pantry and had the time of my life. I'll post more photos of the details later but there is now a place for everything in my kitchen and everything is in it's place.

Don't worry about getting bored, Stranger. I already have your next Mom's Mission Impossible project planned. I bet you can't wait!

What do you have to talk about this week?

*Important - Please link to your individual Talk About Tuesday post instead of your home page or else my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder will have to spend time fixing the links. Here is how you link to an individual post if you’ve never done it before: Right click on the date at the bottom of the post you want to link to (or the post title depending on where you blog) click “Copy Shortcut” and then paste it into Mr. Linky.

Organize Your Food Storage

More organizing curtesy of our piano teacher Jane. This is a storage shelf she has in her basement bathroom. Keep in mind that I didn't ask her in advance if I could take photos. Everything in her home is perfectly organized at all times.

She told me that she grew up with six siblings and a Mother who was very unorganized. She said she always craved having a clean and organized home. Her and one other sister grew up to be very organized but the other two sisters have remained unorganized like their mother.

I wonder if they would have turned out differently had the Mother been organized. Do you think they just are what they are or are they a product of their environment, two of them rebeling against the system they grew up with and two of them adopting it for themselves?

Join me every day this month for GeMoOrgNo - Get More Organized Now! I started an official group at NaBloPoMo. If you would like to join you may go there and request an invitation.

More Participants
Multi-Tasking Mommy
My Pursuit of Happiness
With an Angel on my Shoulder
Just About Perfect
Tyler's Triumph

If you also want to post your own organizing photo every day leave a comment here and I'll add you to the list. The photos can be of anything as long as it's organized!

Organizing the Fridge

Technically this photo isn't organized but it's a photo of organizing so it counts right?

The kids cleaned out the fridge yesterday. It's Persistence's job to decide what to throw out, do the organizing, and wipe down the shelves. Victor empties everything into the chicken bucket and rinses all the dishes. Basically he does the gross part as he should since he's the man.

I sat down in the kitchen to supervise but looking at all the gross food was making me sick so I had to move to the next room which wasn't far enough away for me to avoid hearing the kids' comments on the gross food. I'm just glad that job is done for now!

Did you know chickens will eat anything? Fridge Cleanout Day is a good time for them. You should get at least one chicken and you will never have a stinky garbage again. It's an extra bonus that they recycle all that food into breakfast and fertilizer for your garden.

Join me every day this month for GeMoOrgNo - Get More Organized Now! I started an official group at NaBloPoMo. If you would like to join you may go there and request an invitation.

More Participants
Multi-Tasking Mommy
My Pursuit of Happiness
With an Angel on my Shoulder
Just About Perfect
Tyler's Triumph

If you also want to post your own organizing photo every day leave a comment here and I'll add you to the list. The photos can be of anything as long as it's organized!

Organize Your Junk Pile

Our microwave used to be on this rolling cart until I moved it to its present location. It has been sitting there getting piled with junk ever since so I decided to get it out of there. That's my commercial kitchen sink next to it by the way. In my next life there will be a dish washer in this corner.


Look! A clean floor! I don't think the floor under the cart has ever been mopped since it's been sitting there. I told the girls they could have the cart for their playroom dishes and such.

Then I changed my mind and put it back. We needed a bed in the kitchen for our "doggy". Especially if the doggy is going to spend the entire morning "sleeping" in it.


Now it's a temporary spot for our utensils (which have been sitting on the kitchen counter forever) and appliances until we get the island painted and moved in. Don't you love how everything in my home is "temporary"? I just keep moving stuff around in hopes that my house will be finished some day and I will actually have a place to put things. At least I'm getting lots of organizational opportunities!

Join me every day this month for GeMoOrgNo - Get More Organized Now! I started an official group at NaBloPoMo. If you would like to join you may go there and request an invitation.

More Participants
Multi-Tasking Mommy
My Pursuit of Happiness
With an Angel on my Shoulder
Just About Perfect
Tyler's Triumph

If you also want to post your own organizing photo every day leave a comment here and I'll add you to the list. The photos can be of anything as long as it's organized!

Thou Shalt Not Overschedule Thyself

A couple years ago I was tired of making bad scheduling decisions and my husband was tired of hearing me complain about it so he finally laid down the Law.

Thou Shalt Consult Thy Husband Before Making Any Plans with Friends and Family

Of course I don't always follow Stranger's Law but I save myself a lot of frustration when I do. Stranger isn't a controlling husband, he just wants my life to be as happy and stress free as possible so here's how it works.

Alice calls and asks if I would like to use her extra tickets to take my kids to the Symphony the next day and by the way could she and her kids catch a ride with us because her car is in the shop? I would love nothing more than to go to the symphony and Alice's life might end if I don't take it upon myself to drive her there so instead of checking my planner to see what I already have scheduled for the next day I say, "Of course!"

But then I looked down at the *tattoo on the top of my right hand that says "Thou Shalt Consult Thy Husband First" and say, "Oh wait a minute Alice, I need to talk to my husband to see if that's going to work for us."

So I call Stranger and he says, "What else do you have planned for tomorrow?"

"Oh, I didn't think of that. (Because that would be too easy.) It looks like I'm having a root canal in the morning and then I'm babysitting the neighbor's two year old triplets for six hours while she has her hair and nails done. I guess I can't really fit the symphony into any of that." Apparently I didn't consult with Stranger when I scheduled babysitting after a root canal. See what I mean?

So I call Alice back and tell her that the symphony isn't going to work for our family tomorrow. (Who can argue with that?) She cries for a minute and I offer to pay for her to rent a car to ease my guilt about not being everything for everybody and then we're both happy again.

Now that's just one scenario. The other one would be where Alice asks me to join her six person team in running 157 miles to raise money for some great cause. After I tell her I need to talk to my husband about it first, I sit and think about all the good that will come from raising money for such a great cause and then I think of all the good that will come from my staying alive to raise my three kids and I don't even have to call Stranger. I just call Alice back and tell her that my premature death isn't going to work for our family this week. She cries for a minute and I offer to pay for the ambulance should anyone need it during the run. This eases my guilt about not being everything for everybody and then we're both happy again.

Discussing and planning my life with my husband works for me. If you don't have a husband to consult I suggest a good friend or buying a **parrot named Bill. "I would love to Alice but I need to talk to Bill about it first." Hey, you'll never know what good advice Bill might have for you if you never ask.

*I don't actually have that tattoo yet but I seriously considering it.
**I'm not suggesting that a parrot is as useful as a husband but in some cases one may be. Don't tell my husband I said that.

More posts on planners and schedules.


If you're here for WFMW you might want to move along now before things get out of hand but if you want to read footage from an actual conversation to see how Stranger's Law really works in our family keep reading.

Stranger - We're going to call that lady to tomorrow.

Lazy - Kay.

Sranger - Are you just saying that?

Lazy - Yes.

Stranger - No you're not. We really going to call that lady tomorrow.

Lazy - Kay.

Stranger - Are you just saying that again?

Me - Yes.

Stranger - Don't get mouthy with me because I'm running the show here and we are calling that lady.

Me - Kay.

Stranger - What?

Me - Kay. You run the show and I'll run the mouth.

Stranger - That's not funny. And you're not blogging about this either.

Me - Kay.

Apparently Stranger's Law is easier made than followed.

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

Visit GNMParents to find out how organized I am in the kitchen and then use the poll below to tell me how organized you are.

1. My kitchen is perfectly organized. I iron my dish towels every Thursday and the veggies in my crisper are not only alphabetized but they are also crisp.

2. My kitchen is pretty organized although it's true that I may own one to many sets of Christmas dishes but who can resist that festive Rudolph and all his cute little holiday antics?

3. My kitchen is partly organized. I can always find the eggs when I need them (unlike some people I know) but I regularly stash dirty dishes in the oven when company comes.

4. My kitchen is hardly organized. I know I own a blender but I haven't seen it since the great liquid diet of the 1970's and I think I would have to take a one-year sabbatical to locate it.

5. My kitchen is so unorganized that I have keep the blinds shut and pretend I'm not home when I hear the door bell or someone might report it as a biochemical hazard. The most we can hope for is a vigorous grease fire.

How organized is your kitchen?
My kitchen is perfectly organized.
My kitchen is pretty organized.
My kitchen is partly organized.
My kitchen is hardly organized.
My kitchen is very unorganized.
Poll starter: Lazy See Results

Organize Your Pots and Pans

My sister was visiting last week and she helped me decide where to build the shelves in my pantry and also where to hang my pot rack that's been sitting in a box in the corner for a year and a half. I had it hung in the kitchen in my old house but I got tired of the eye clutter so I wanted it in my pantry this time.

Well, look at that! I finally got it hung up!

I keep the pots we use every day in a drawer under my stove and the pot rack now holds the pots that I use less often.

Organizing never fails to make my heart race.

Sometimes for reasons it shouldn't.

When you are organizing the pots on your pot rack its probably not a good idea to let your toddler sit directly under it and play with her dollies. You know. In case you were to accidentally knock one of the pots off.

It might not actually fall on her and crush the life out of her but it would definitely give you and her a proper scare.

If I am my Mother then who is she?

Don't you hate it when you decide the milk is spoiled after the glass is already empty?

"Hmmm, this milk tastes a little funny but it must be because it is whole milk and I'm not used to drinking whole milk."

"I don't think this milk tastes right but I can't really tell so it must be fine. If it were spoiled I would definitely know it."

"Ok, I really think this milk might be spoiled. I'd better take another drink just to make sure."

"Ewww! Spoiled! If there were any left I would so be throwing it down the sink in disgust!"

What kind of freak drinks an entire glass of spoiled milk? Does that sound familiar? Anyone remember the Easter Egg incident of '79? Mother?

The last couple weeks I have been the perpetrator of some very suspicious behavior and I knew it was going to catch up to me sooner than later. The person who left me a comment saying that my milk would last longer if I didn't keep it in the door can go ahead and say they told me so but there are darker forces at work here.

If we were to drink milk in chronological order like we're supposed to then we would never have spoiled milk but when Psycho (and apparently I don't know how to spell that because I had to Google it) Organizing Mom starts de-cluttering the milk shelf, strange things can happen and I'm not just talking about swigging from the jug when the kids aren't looking. You know the whole peas porridge story where you just keep adding stuff to the leftover stew until it's 57 years old? Ok, it's kind of like that but with milk.

If your girls drink red milk and the rest of you are drinking blue milk then you have two half empty jugs of milk in the fridge at all times. That's enough to give any organizer a panic attack! When you buy two new jugs of milk why not just mix the old jugs together to make more room in the fridge?

You're never eating at my house again, are you?

Everyone said I was going to kill someone with my organizing one day. Or were they talking about my Mom with the Thanksgiving turkey? Either way the Boy Scouts didn't seem a bit bothered by the brownies we made today so our cooking can't be that bad. But then they didn't have milk in them. Or Turkey.

I promise I am not a complete drop out when it comes to food safety. I even squirt liquid soap onto the side of the sink before I touch raw chicken so I can use it to wash my hands afterwards without contaminating the soap dispenser. How about if that is my organizing tip for the day?

Oh, and I have another one too. Do you ever freeze your milk? Pour a cup of milk out of the jug first so it has room to expand as it freezes and make sure you put the milk in your sink to thaw several hours before you need it because it takes forever. Now you will never run out of milk again. Except for when you use the frozen milk and then forget to replace it and then forget that you already used it and then you cry a little because now you can't have your daily granola fix for breakfast the next morning.

You give it a try and I promise I'll be good with the milk from now on. Mostly.

Organize your Squeezy Shaky

Several months ago someone posted a WFMW that I loved. Thank you whoever you are! She said to put sour cream in a squeeze bottle to squeeze on tacos and burritos. So fun and not messsy! We go through a lot of sour cream and jam on crepes so my kids love our Sour Squeezy. Apparently we eat way more crepes that the average person should be allowed to eat. I hope it's a phase that my seven year old is going through.

The only problem I had was getting the sour cream into the small bottle opening. Help! Then I came up with a solution to spoon it into a baggy, cut the bottom corner off and then squeeze it into the squeeze bottle. That is a lot of squeezing!

Squeezing the sour cream onto the crepes was so thrilling that I got the idea to fill a squeeze bottle with jam as well. I dumped the jam into the blender and blended it smooth. That made it easy to pour into the squeeze bottle and kept the bottle from getting plugged up with fruit chunks. I bought more bottles at a dollar store, 3/$1, so I could get the entire jar of jam organized at once. Yes, you can organize jam! I can't really think of anything more organized than squeezy jam. I'm sure you can buy it already squeezy but blending your own squeeze is a lot more fun.


My other idea for today is a Raisin Shaker. You never knew you needed a Raisin Shaker did you? I didn't either until I found this bottle in a box in my pantry and was determined to come up for a use for it. I bought it at a garage sale to use for salad dressing but I think it makes a much better Raisin Shaker.

You can shake your Raisin Shaker and you can shake your booty but please don't ever shake your Crack Baby.

(You can stop watching after the Raisin Shakin because the excitement is pretty much over at that point.)


How exciting is it that I didn't clean my kitchen for this production? And I don't know why we did this on the floor except that we wanted you to see all the dust and garbage under the kitchen cabinet.

Keep Snacks Fresh

You know my obsession for bags right? I couldn't live without them! When I have anything in the kitchen that comes in a box, I throw the box away and I used to use a clothes pin to close the bag. Well, we don’t go through bags of chips very quickly so they were always going stale.

I finally got smart and started transfering my chips, cereal, pasta, beans, tea bags, etc. into gallon sized resealable plastic bags. I line them up in a wash tub in my pantry or in the snack drawer in the kitchen. The bags work better than using a clothes pin that can fall off, allowing the contents to get dumped in the bottom of the snack drawer, although I still use clothes pins to close bread bags and such. I just wash the plastic bags when they're empty and use them again.

Do you know the fastest way to get a baggie dry after you’ve washed it? Stuff it with a dry dish towel and before the next meal, it will be ready to store.

This has worked wonderfully for us. There is no more mess and snacks stay fresh forever!

Click here for more kitchen tips from The Lazy Organizer.

Go to Shannons place for more WFMW tips for the kitchen.

What are you waiting for? Join us for Smart Habit Saturday!

Organize Your Measuring Cups

I keep measuring cups in my baking supplies so I don't have to wash them every time I use them because I don't know, I'm lazy? I always use a 1 cup for oats so that's what I keep in my oat container. A 1/2 cup works in my brown sugar, granola and rice.

I keep four sizes in my flour and sugar drawer and use them for both.

I even have room to keep my sifter right in my flour container. Looks like there's room for more flour in there too!

Don't even think about it.

Just buy some extra sets of measuring cups from a garage sale or thrift store. You could even buy them new since they're not that expensive. I usually use the cup and the 1/2 cup. You can give the extra 1/3 and 1/4 cups to your kids to play with in their kitchen, sandbox or bathtub. You definitely don't want to clutter up your baking center with them like I did! If you use this method you do not need several sets of measuring cups. One set in your baking center is plenty. If you use your 1/2 cup but you need it again for another ingredient, guess what? You can wash it out and use it again or you can pull one out of your flour bin and use that.

Have fun organizing your measuring cups and don't forget to join us for Smart Habit Saturday this week!

I'm addicted to WFMW. I wish I had time to read and comment to every post because all of your ideas are so great!

Organize Your Kitchen

I went crazy organizing my kitchen drawers last night!

My favorite thing to do around the house is to organize and move things around. This is not fun for small children who are easily confused. Lovely, my one year old, still hasn't recovered from me moving the garbage can and using it for a re-cycling bin. I don't think I will ever be able to talk her out of throwing her garbage in it. The truth is that I'm just happy she doesn't throw her garbage on the floor! Yesterday when we were doing dishes, Victor declared, "I'm finally remembering where everything goes." That was my cue to mix things up a bit! I need to keep them on their toes don't I?

The real reason for my organizational frenzy was this little thing.

I saw it at Home Depot last week and snatched it up for around $5. I've wanted to try one of these Command hooks and I would have bought one sooner if I had known they made decorative styles. I thought this would be perfect to hang the camera next to my computer. We have been keeping the cameras in a drawer in the kitchen because it was central to all the action in our house but I got tired of getting up and walking in there every time I wanted to download photos to my computer. Moving the camera has thrown our household into an uproar. No one can find it! It's not where I left it, it's not where they put it away. Oh the suffering!

I finally decided that the only way to fix the problem was to fill up that camera drawer so it's impossible for the kids to stash the camera there. That's when things really got fun!

I moved the tall spices and condiments to the camera drawer. (When I designed this cabinet I measured my tallest bottle and had the drawer made exactly to fit. I love having all of this stuff in a drawer so I can see exactly what I'm looking for!)

That left room in the condiment drawer for our glasses and sipper cups which I am excited about because now they will be right next to the refrigerator where we need them!


Moving the glasses made extra room in the dish drawer so I moved the large utensils there to get them off my counter. I hate having things cluttering up my counter but I couldn't figure out where else to put them until last night. Yes, those are all the dishes in my kitchen! I have found that the fewer dishes I have, the more often I have to wash them and the cleaner my kitchen stays. See how I trick my lazy self into being neat?


While I was at it I decided the baggie drawer needed straightening (more utensils)

and then the snack drawer started begging for a make over. I might have just been smelling moldy bread but I really thought I heard voices. Notice how almost everything is in Ziplock baggie? Here is how I Think Outside the Box.


Wait till you see what else I did yesterday. It's even more exciting!

Organize Your Aprons

Look at my handy aprons! I have never had a place to put them in this new house until now. Not that it really mattered because with them hanging right next to the sink I still can’t remember to put one on.

This rack has been sitting in my kitchen for let's not say how many months but I couldn't decide where I wanted to hang it or even if I wanted it in my kitchen. I have to make these decisions very carefully because we all know that once you drill a hole in a wall to hang something you can never, never, never change your mind, move that thing and fix the hole. Don't even think about it because you will upset the delicate balance of nature or of your husband who is telling you to stop putting holes in the walls.



There are some people around here who do remember to wear the aprons. I offered to make one that fits Lovely but apparently that’s not as fun as the apron folding game, or as cute.



When cooking gets tedious you have to find ways to entertain yourself.



I need to discuss making the new following rule at our next family counsel. "Your hair must be combed and you must be dressed before you are allowed to do anything cute or photo worthy. Messy hair, jammies and one pink fuzzy slipper will no longer be allowed.” Unless they add to the cuteness that is.

Tomorrow I will tell you what I have been doing all night instead of packing for the trip we are leaving for in two days.

Organize Your Refrigerator

Here are some more refrigerator photos for you organizing crackpots (that one's for you sally!). I didn't take any photos of my freezer so I'll have to do that another time.

See that top shelf? It’s only empty until we go shopping again I’m sure. You know the organizing rule about setting boundaries? The second shelf is the new boundary for leftovers. If a leftover doesn’t fit on that shelf then something else has to come out first. This new rule is going to prevent us from starting so many science experiments.

The top drawer holds all kinds of cheese. I buy the small packages when they go on sale since they keep for a long time unopened in the fridge. Buying the big packages to save money and then letting half of it go moldy is not a very thrifty thing to do. Not that I've ever done that before. You can store grated cheese in the freezer for a few weeks but it tastes terrible if you leave it in there for too long.

The third shelf is where I put the Salad Kit and a container full of dairy products. Again, I like the small cartons of whipping cream. If you open a big carton you have to try to use it right away.

The fourth shelf holds the egg container and a container full of condiments. Again, if it doesn’t fit in the condiment boundary then something has to be thrown out.


The next drawer is for produce and the bottom drawer is for meat.

I love using big containers in the fridge. I designed my kitchen cupboards using all drawers because they make it easier to access things in the back. I think refrigerators should be designed the same way but maybe the containers are better because they can be pulled all the way out and set on the counter. Use some extra containers you have in storage like I did or measure your shelves and buy new containers that work perfectly.

Our Taco Kit fit into this ingenious container that lifts out of the door.


The door also holds our milk and a few other odds and ends.

Have you noticed my love for Pyrex storage containers?

Stranger wanted to buy a set of them (on sale of course!) one year for Christmas but I didn’t think we needed them because I’ve always used Rubbermaid containers. He obviously got his way and I love them! Now I don’t have to worry about the dangers of heating food in plastic, they don’t stain and they look pretty enough to use as serving dishes. They’re not completely leak-proof but that has never bothered me. You might want to consider putting these dishes on your Christmas list!

Here is one positive thing about living in cold Northern Utah. We put a cooler in the garage during all the Thanksgiving rush to store extra gallons of milk and things that we didn't need direct access to. Ice kept it cold enough during the day and the garage kept it from freezing at night.

Get those refrigerators cleaned out and organized. You need the room now that the Christmas holidays are in full swing. We’re all looking for more organizing ideas and inspiration so post a link of your own refrigerator re-do. We'll come check it out and tell you how wonderful and not lazy your are! But, you already knew that didn't you.

Created to Organize Your Meals

I’ve been reading a lovely little book called Created to Be His Helpmeet. If you are any kind of feminist or atheist then this book is not for you, but I’m sure you guessed that after hearing the title!

One of the chapters in the book talks about simplifying your breakfast and lunch meals so you have time to make a nicer dinner for your husband because let’s face it; do your kids really appreciate all the work you do to get a nice meal on the table? No. Your husband most likely won’t either but at least he will appreciate the taste! (We hope anyway.)

The author suggests feeding your kids the same thing for breakfast every morning and the same thing for lunch every afternoon. Doesn’t that sound simple! Thank you Debi, for giving me the permission I needed to simplify my life by torturing my spoiled bratty children! Now I know where I went wrong.

Many years ago I decided that my kids weren’t going to eat ECC (Evil Cold Cereal) anymore. I started cooking eggs, oatmeal, pancakes, muffins and such every morning until my kids were breakfast snobs. One day, “I don’t want eggs. I want oatmeal!” The next day, “I’m never eating oatmeal again. I want pancakes!” We slowly added more interesting dishes to our breakfast repertoire like crepes, German pancakes, baked oatmeal, waffles, quiches, etc. I’m not telling you I cooked something fancy every morning but my kids felt deprived if I didn’t.

A week ago we talked about this during our daily family counsel and came up with a plan and a list of things we would like to eat. I explained to the kids how we were going to make our lives easier by eating the same things every day with maybe something special on the weekends. Our Breakfast Options: Boiled eggs, peanut butter toast, fruit, granola (homemade so it's not evil). Our Lunch Options: Salad, sandwiches, burritos.

The kids and I cleaned out the fridge and washed all the dishes. I really try to keep the leftovers cleared out of it but things got pretty out of hand over Thanksgiving. When you run out of storage containers you know you are in trouble!

We went to the store and bought all the ingredients we needed to make a Salad/sandwich Kit and a Burrito Kit. I love to eat salads but normally I’m too lazy to cut everything up. So this time we just bought everything we could that was already cut up and washed. Persistence. My 6 year old cut up the rest of the vegetables and we put everything into baggies. I’m not, however, too lazy to make my own salad dressing because it’s so easy and bottled dressing is just yuck.

Salad Kit

Burrito Kit

Now I don’t have to hear, “What’s for breakfast,” and “What’s for lunch,” twenty times a day. When people are hungry they know what they can eat and they can prepare it themselves. Not only that but I'm not tempted to grab takeout when I know we have a quick meal waiting for us at home. We are all loving our new simplified meals, even Stranger!

More on refrigerator organizing tomorrow!

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

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.

Cleaning Demons

Oh how I love the water and ice dispenser in my side by side refrigerator.