Another snow day, another space organized

This time there's no school because of the ice storm, it's starting to seem like every Wednesday there's no school.  While, I don't mind sleeping in, I've always considered snow days to be like free days, stay in your jammies and snuggle under a blanket watching movies all day.  But no more!  (OK, not completely, we're still in our jammies, I've got a blanket on and there's a movie on two of the three TVs in our house...)

But, I'm proud to say, I have accomplished organizing another space today!  Here is what I started with:

This is the corner of the kitchen where everything ends up.  Now, many of the items have a home, but not everyone puts them where they belong.  There are also several of things that end up here because they don't belong anywhere.  This is where other family members put things when they are "cleaning up" and it drives me crazy!

I took everything off the counter and cleaned it.  I got rid of whatever I could (trash, give-a-way and put-a-way) and thought about how I'd rather the space be used.  I know no matter what I do, this will continue to be a catch all space, so I need to be able to better contain the (for lack of a better term) crap!

I must admit, I've been thinking about and planning cleaning this space for a few days, since Friday actually, as that is my clean the kitchen day on my "chore chart."  After spending some time in local stores and online, I still wasn't finding the "perfect containers."  Turns out, I had a few things in my basement that will serve as a good start before I spend any money on the wrong kind of container/storage/basket or whatever.  This will give me a chance to see what works and what doesn't.  Here is what I found:

An older style plate/serving stand from Pampered Chef and some wire baskets from Avon.  I stuck plastic sandwich containers in the bottom of two to keep little things from falling out.  If this works, I'll make up some cloth basket liners, which will make it look so much nicer.

After a much longer time period than I wanted to spend on this area (that whole, kids home thing... why do they keep wanting me to feed them!?!?!), here is the result:

I ended up using a Longaberger basket I had to hold the pencils, pens, scrap paper that was previously in one of those silver bins on the fridge (that is what is black on the right side).  Since there were always too many, it made the bin too heavy, therefor within O-man's reach.  My old canisters that I had in a give-a-way bin but never managed to actually give-a-way now hold the bread flour (bread machine has recently re-surfaced and being used almost daily), Olvaltine and miscellaneous stuff.  One of the baskets has chargers that are always homeless, another one has the extra tissue packets, inhaler and a few other things that always end up stashed in this corner and the front most basket is full of "crap" that I don't know what to do with but can't get rid of.

Here is a little tip ya'll might find helpful when organizing while the bread machine is baking away... don't forget you're baking bread and unplug it... the doughy mess is now a funky looking blobby loaf that hopefully cooked all the way through in the regular oven...

Peace be with you,

PS - a month of eating "Lessmeatarian" style and reduced processed foods and I'm down a whole 5 pounds, two inches in the waist and an inch off the the arms and legs!

Domestic Deadline Declaration

This is my personal Declaration of Independence and Constitution

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all moms are creative, that they are [super] endowed by their creator [children] with certain unalienable right, that among these are faith, family, friends and the pursuit of Craftiness!

In 2011 I declare freedom from CHAOS (Can't have anyone over syndrome) and live a calmer, happier life with my whole family.

I, the domestically lazy, in order to form a more harmonious home, establish personal goals, insure domestic tranquility, provide for happy children, promote general healthiness, and secure blessings of organization to myself and family, do ordain and establish this constitution for the Domestic Deadline.

Article One: Learn to [really] FLY!

• Starting by building up the baby steps, making a control journal, using my calendar and establishing regular routines
• This will enable me to better manage my time allowing for more guilt-free crafty free time
• A calmer home will lead to a happier family, Love the space you are in

Article Two: Improve Family Health

• Follow the basics of Lessmeatarian to reduce processed foods, refined sugars and excess sodium.
• Develop a meal plan focusing on simple, fresh, natural ingredients
• Make positive food choices that also responsibly effect the environment (IE buy local, less or recyclable packaging)
• Exercise even if it is only walking while crocheting! 

Article Three: Financial Peace

• Develop and follow a realistic budget for my family
• Apply the Total Money Makeover principals that best benefit my family (we don't have major debt, so many of Dave's baby step are already underway)
• Design an "envelope" system [wallet?] to control the aspects of the family's expenses I am responsible for (IE, groceries, clothing, entertainment)

Article Four: Education

• Teach my children the skills I am trying to [re]learn now to benefit them now and in the future
• Read more than just magazines
• Learn some new skills
• Perfect some existing skills
• Erase some old skills (aka, bad habits...)

Article Five: Express my Creativity

• Get some of the ideas out of my head, off my to-do list and put into use
• Handmade Holidays: make gifts, decorations, yummy treats, etc for birthdays and special occasions instead of purchasing something mass produced in a factory (unless it is made in [North] America or environmentally responsible!)
• Make, Up-cycle, Thrift or Hand-me-down rehab at least 75% of the children and my clothing and accessories
• Destash Challenge: Don't buy more craft supplies unless necessary to complete an existing project for all of 2011 or until I've used up 75% of my inventory
• Etsy!  Regularly add inventory and hopefully fund my crafty addictions (once I've accomplished the Destash Challenge that is)
• Complete projects taking up space...

Sincerely,
John Hancock  Emily

Well, there ends my US History sarcasm.  My New Year officially starts tomorrow when the big kids go back to school.  My sink is shined and I'm fairly certain a Bill of Rights will eventually need to be drafted, no constitution would be complete without amendments!

New Year = New Fridge

OK, so I'm not really getting a new fridge, mine is only a few years old to me and this hand-me-down fridge is a drastic improvement to my last hand-me-down fridge.  But, last night as I polished off the last of the cookies, I decided to make a clean start in the fridge too.  The reality of 1 am is that I wasn't going to actually get up and clean the fridge then, but I made plans!

Earlier in the day I had read a post on my cousin Lynn's blog Random Family Thoughts about Mark Bittman and becoming a Lessmeatarian.  From what I read about it, the basic concept is not eating meat until after 6pm (or dinner time), eating more fresh fruits and veggies either raw or prepared at home therefore drastically reducing the use of processed foods.  Since a while back I switched our family's consumption of proteins to hormone free dairy, chicken, meats, etc, this was in line with my current goals (typically means I pay the price for organic, but have tasted the difference in quality and while I prefer to be as thrifty as possible, it is a price I'm willing to pay). 

I also try to do as much as possible to be as environmentally responsible as possible and teach the importance of that to my children as well.  My mom always said I was a bag lady as a child, so it was no surprise when I jumped on the reusable grocery bag train just after it pulled out of the station.  Throwing anything recyclable in the trash causes major guilt, I went so far as to bring all my recyclable materials back from our vacation in New Hampshire since they didn't have recycling at the resort we visited.

Well, I could go on, but I'll let you go find out more yourself.  My planning involved finding some new recipes that were simple, involved fresh or natural ingredients and quick to prepare.  I went to bed excited to clean out my fridge.  This morning I picked up a oats, whole wheat flour, bananas and several pounds of citrus fruits and a few other basics.  I spent a solid hour dancin' to my ipod, dumpin' old food and wiping out the fridge.  As I put stuff back, I put dinner in the crock pot to help use up things.

After dinner Junebug assisted me in making home made granola starting with Mark Bittman's basic recipe, here's our version (which we are already snacking on!):

• 6 cups oats
• 2 cups seeds and nuts (we cleaned out the pantry using up what was left of roasted soybeans, sunflower seeds, pecans, almonds and mixed nuts)
• 1 cup coconut
• 1.5 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 heaping tablespoon of pumpkin pie seasoning
• Dash of salt
• 1/2 cup local honey
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla butternut extract
• 2 cups of dried fruit (we used craisins and cherries)

Preheat oven to 350.  Mix everything but dried fruit in a large bowl.  Spread onto a rimmed baking sheet (we used two large Pyrex casserole dishes since my baking sheets don't have rims).  Bake 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.  Mix in dried fruit and let cool.  Store indefinitely in an air tight container in the fridge.