For real, ya'll. White vinegar is where it's at. We've all seen those posts online about "1000 Uses For White Vinegar," right? Well, they're all totally true. Okay, so I haven't tried out that many uses for it. But seriously, every single thing I've tried vinegar for totally works.
I think I started cleaning with white vinegar maybe 2 years ago. Though maybe its been closer to 3, since my child is now 3, and all this "crunchy" stuff started shortly after her birth. Anyway, I started with vinegar pretty slowly, just using up my regular cleaning stuff before replacing it with vinegar-based cleaners. And by that I mean homemade cleaners. Probably the first time I used vinegar for cleaning was when I ran out of Windex. I rinsed out the Windex bottle really well and filled it back up with 1/2 water and 1/2 white vinegar. I started using that to clean up tough messes in the kitchen. After that, I started cleaning the glass in the house with the solution. Not long after, my bathroom cleaners ran out, so I started using the same solution in the bathrooms. (Eventually, I discovered tea tree oil and its awesome powers, so my bathroom solution also got a few drops of TTO essential oil squirted in.) From there, my love of vinegar for cleaning has just spiraled.
When I switched to cloth diapers, I discovered that I am allergic to fabric softeners. (I had to quit using fabric softener since it builds up on cloth diapers, making them worthless, and it wasn't long before I realized I wasn't itching any more!) After some research, I realized that white vinegar is a great natural alternative for fabric softener. I've been using it ever since and I love it. Our clothes do NOT come out smelling like vinegar at all - trust me, if they did DH would complain! One thing I have found is that vinegar does NOT help much with static. Maybe I'm just not using enough in the washing machine, but when I dry clothes (I line dry almost everything, but then I "fluff up" the clothes so they're not wrinkly), there is always a TON of static. I use 2 dryer balls, but I'm thinking I need to invest in a few more, and possibly some wool ones. Either way, a little static doesn't bother me too much.
Basically, if I have something to clean in the house, I'm gonna grab the vinegar first. 9 times out of 10, that does the trick. My husband doesn't care for the smell, but he's usually not around when I'm cleaning, and by the time he gets home the smell is completely gone. It doesn't bother me at all, and I'd much rather smell vinegar than some of the cleaners that you can buy in the store!
One use for vinegar I've never tried is the ol' clean out the microwave trick. Why? Basically cause I don't clean the microwave very often. Ew, I know. I don't put anything in the microwave without a cover on it, to avoid splatters. DH forgets, but normally I'm right there with him to remind him if he microwaves something. I honestly don't use the microwave at home all that much, and when I do I'm in a hurry (which is why I'm using it in the first place...!) and don't even notice how gross it is in there.
Well, Jen at I Heart Organizing has started a daily cleaning task challenge on her blog. Its been very motivational for me. I get the basics done weekly or every other week, but things like wiping down cabinet fronts and cleaning the microwave usually get overlooked in my busy schedule. Jen has inspired me to get these little (yet annoying) tasks completed a little over time, instead of all at once (like on a "Spring Cleaning" day - ugh, I hate those!). One day last week, she cleaned her microwave and I was amazed at how easy it was. So on Saturday, I gave it a whirl.
I was already on a roll with my vinegar/water spray bottle that day. I wiped down the bathroom, the kitchen, and the washing machine. At lunch I had heated up some leftovers and noticed how yucky the microwave was, so after lunch I tried Jen's trick: I filled a bowl with about 1/2 cup of water, 1/2 cup of vinegar, and a few drops of lemon essential oil (for the smell). I set the microwave for 10 minutes and continued my cleaning around the house. After 10 minutes, the microwave interior was nice and steamy (and the house smelled great from the lemon!). I just took a rag and wiped it down and voila! Clean! Admittedly, I did have to spray a little extra vinegar in there and go over a few tough spots (man, did we have a lot of butter build up in there!), but it really didn't take much elbow grease at all. And hopefully now it'll be easier for me to keep clean.
Oh, and I didn't take any before/after pics, cause who needs to see a gross microwave? And we all know what a clean one looks like. ( ;
Moral of the story: vinegar saves the day again! Do YOU have a favorite use for white vinegar around the home?? ( :
Showing posts with label kitchen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kitchen. Show all posts
3.10.2014
8.13.2013
Kitchen Cabinet Organization
*edited to add pictures!*
We had an impromptu kitchen cabinet organization party last night. (What, doesn't everyone do that sometimes??) When I say impromptu, I mean I walked into the kitchen and my dear husband was taking everything out of one cabinet. Well, alrighty then, we're organizing cabinets tonight!
I wish I had some "before" pictures. If I had known DH wanted to do it this week, I would have taken some, but oh well. Such is life. Just trust me when I say the cabinets were in desperate need of some help.
I think what motivated DH last night was all the dishes and platters still sitting on our kitchen table when we got home last night. (Unfortunately, the dish fairy didn't come while we were at work yesterday and do that for us - bummer.) We already knew we weren't cooking supper, thanks to all the leftover baby shower food, so we had some time on our hands. I got quite a bit of laundry done last night - go me! And DH was very productive, as well.
When we first had our house moved to the land (way back in 2008, before we were even married - though we didn't move in until our wedding night), we had a lot of work to do. It would have been perfect blog content. (And of course, I didn't get a single "before" picture.) One of the things we did was remove the old, probably non-functioning dishwasher in the kitchen. Neither of us had ever had a dishwasher before, and I don't trust the things to get dishes clean, so I told DH I could live without it (there has only been maybe one time since then that I have regretted that decision, and we've been living in this house for almost 5 years now, so I think we're good). We had the space fixed so it looked nice again, and had a shelf put in there for storage. (We also left everything so that if we ever changed our minds, it would be easy to install a new dishwasher.) I even opted out of adding a cabinet door - I just hung a curtain on a dowel rod instead.
In the beginning, I purchased 2 baskets that I used to house our dish rags and dish towels. And for a while, the rest of that cabinet stayed nice and organized and clean. But of course, over time that cabinet became sort of a catch-all for the kitchen. Extra storage containers (please tell me we're not the only ones who save every single Cool Whip container and jelly jar!), extra jars, and a few very random items ended up in that cabinet. It was a mess.
DH decided last night he wanted to put some of our serving dishes and platters in that cabinet. Most of the dishes and bowels were being stored on top of the big freezer in the laundry room, and there's still a ton of serving stuff up there (and yes, we really have a ton of serving dishes! Its kind of our collection, I guess). But the big platters were being stored in the same cabinet where we keep pots and pans, and it was super hard to get them in and out. So they got moved to the old dishwasher space.
My 2 baskets ended up fitting on the top shelf, and a bunch of serving platters went on the bottom. We even had room to store some corningware dishes down there (that come with wire racks to hold them up). When we moved those, it prompted us to work on the cabinet where they were housed. (I'm seeing now that pictures would be really helpful here. I'll try to take some tonight and update this post.) That cabinet was another hot mess.
On the other side of our sink is a cabinet that goes from the floor to the ceiling. I had the fronts of the top 4 cabinet doors removed and replaced with glass, and we store our beautiful china in there. We eat off our china every night, its not just for show! But its such a pretty pattern that we wanted to display it.
See? Pretty, huh? We have enough of this pattern that it takes up 2 full cabinets (and then we have extra stored elsewhere, in case any of it breaks). People were good to us at our wedding showers. ( :
Anyway, we've done a good job over the years of keeping those 2 cabinets neat, since you can see what's in there without opening the doors. But the cabinet below them....*shudder*
It was so bad that sometimes when you opened one of the doors, stuff fell on you. Luckily, it was the bottom cabinet, so stuff didn't have far to fall, but still. Not cool. I usually try to avoid needing anything that's in that cabinet, that's how bad it was.
Not anymore! Its nice and neat in there now, too. Yep, definitely gonna have to take some pictures tonight. This morning I glanced in both cabinets that we reorganized and just stared in awe. Seriously. I'm weird like that.
And please tell me I'm not the only one who thinks her husband is seriously hot when he's organizing kitchen cabinets? ( ; hehe (Any type of cleaning, really...lol!)
Next on my mind (and DH's, too, I believe) is to tackle the cabinets of pots and pans. Talk about a mess. Probably at that same time we'll organize the cabinet under the island. I don't even know what's all in that one. I think if we had a day or 2 to stay home and do stuff around the house, we could accomplish a lot. If only....!
We had an impromptu kitchen cabinet organization party last night. (What, doesn't everyone do that sometimes??) When I say impromptu, I mean I walked into the kitchen and my dear husband was taking everything out of one cabinet. Well, alrighty then, we're organizing cabinets tonight!
I wish I had some "before" pictures. If I had known DH wanted to do it this week, I would have taken some, but oh well. Such is life. Just trust me when I say the cabinets were in desperate need of some help.
I think what motivated DH last night was all the dishes and platters still sitting on our kitchen table when we got home last night. (Unfortunately, the dish fairy didn't come while we were at work yesterday and do that for us - bummer.) We already knew we weren't cooking supper, thanks to all the leftover baby shower food, so we had some time on our hands. I got quite a bit of laundry done last night - go me! And DH was very productive, as well.
When we first had our house moved to the land (way back in 2008, before we were even married - though we didn't move in until our wedding night), we had a lot of work to do. It would have been perfect blog content. (And of course, I didn't get a single "before" picture.) One of the things we did was remove the old, probably non-functioning dishwasher in the kitchen. Neither of us had ever had a dishwasher before, and I don't trust the things to get dishes clean, so I told DH I could live without it (there has only been maybe one time since then that I have regretted that decision, and we've been living in this house for almost 5 years now, so I think we're good). We had the space fixed so it looked nice again, and had a shelf put in there for storage. (We also left everything so that if we ever changed our minds, it would be easy to install a new dishwasher.) I even opted out of adding a cabinet door - I just hung a curtain on a dowel rod instead.
In the beginning, I purchased 2 baskets that I used to house our dish rags and dish towels. And for a while, the rest of that cabinet stayed nice and organized and clean. But of course, over time that cabinet became sort of a catch-all for the kitchen. Extra storage containers (please tell me we're not the only ones who save every single Cool Whip container and jelly jar!), extra jars, and a few very random items ended up in that cabinet. It was a mess.
DH decided last night he wanted to put some of our serving dishes and platters in that cabinet. Most of the dishes and bowels were being stored on top of the big freezer in the laundry room, and there's still a ton of serving stuff up there (and yes, we really have a ton of serving dishes! Its kind of our collection, I guess). But the big platters were being stored in the same cabinet where we keep pots and pans, and it was super hard to get them in and out. So they got moved to the old dishwasher space.
My 2 baskets ended up fitting on the top shelf, and a bunch of serving platters went on the bottom. We even had room to store some corningware dishes down there (that come with wire racks to hold them up). When we moved those, it prompted us to work on the cabinet where they were housed. (I'm seeing now that pictures would be really helpful here. I'll try to take some tonight and update this post.) That cabinet was another hot mess.
On the other side of our sink is a cabinet that goes from the floor to the ceiling. I had the fronts of the top 4 cabinet doors removed and replaced with glass, and we store our beautiful china in there. We eat off our china every night, its not just for show! But its such a pretty pattern that we wanted to display it.
Anyway, we've done a good job over the years of keeping those 2 cabinets neat, since you can see what's in there without opening the doors. But the cabinet below them....*shudder*
It was so bad that sometimes when you opened one of the doors, stuff fell on you. Luckily, it was the bottom cabinet, so stuff didn't have far to fall, but still. Not cool. I usually try to avoid needing anything that's in that cabinet, that's how bad it was.
Not anymore! Its nice and neat in there now, too. Yep, definitely gonna have to take some pictures tonight. This morning I glanced in both cabinets that we reorganized and just stared in awe. Seriously. I'm weird like that.
Next on my mind (and DH's, too, I believe) is to tackle the cabinets of pots and pans. Talk about a mess. Probably at that same time we'll organize the cabinet under the island. I don't even know what's all in that one. I think if we had a day or 2 to stay home and do stuff around the house, we could accomplish a lot. If only....!
 |
| This hot mess is what's under the island. Yikes. |
 |
| Pots/pans cabinet. Oh my... |
 |
| The other side of that cabinet. Scary! |
4.12.2013
My "Green" Cleaning Solution
It seems like "green," "natural," and "homemade" cleaning solutions are all the rage these days. I jumped on the train last fall.
"Green" cleaners that you buy in the store have never appealed to me. For one, they are outrageously expensive. Who wants to spend that much on cleaning products?! Not me. Two, how "green" are those products, really? I don't trust them. I read the labels of a few products labeled "green" last year, and I sure didn't get the warm and fuzzies from what I read. Oh, I'm sure there are wonderful "green" cleaning products out there, but I am and always will be a skeptic at heart. At any rate, there's not enough evidence to make me want to try them for myself.
Same goes for "natural" products. Lots of things are "natural." Doesn't make them safe! And I don't see how anything sold in mass volumes can be totally natural and harmless, anyway. Something, somewhere along the production process, has nasty, unwanted chemicals lurking. I don't know much about chemicals and this sort of thing, so please don't think I'm making some kind of scientific statement here! Just calling it like I see it. I also know that I will never be able to get away from certain things. Like plastic. Yeah, I keep reading about how bad it is, but let's be honest - plastic is a HUGE part of our lives (well, most of us). Anyway, I'm getting way off track here...
Then comes homemade cleaning products. This I can be down with. If I make it myself, I know exactly what's in there. Its why I like to make my own bread (though I do still eat store bought bread, don't get me wrong). Its why I like that we grow a lot of vegetables in the summer. Its why I like that we raise a lot of our own meat (and all our milk).
Do a Google search and you will find thousands of "recipes" for homemade cleaning solutions. There are different solutions for bathrooms, kitchens, toilets, shower mildew, disinfectants, clothes washing, you name it and someone has come up with a "simple" solution to clean it. Some of them truly are simple, but some are pretty involved. (Which is why I haven't ventured into making my own washing detergent, and I doubt I ever will. Too many steps that I could mess up!) Some call for all kinds of essential oils. I think essential oils are wonderful, but boy are they expensive!!!
This little guy was over $9! Fortunately, essential oils last a long time because you only use a few drops at a time. I bought this tee tree oil back when we thought C had a yeast rash (tea tree oil is great for getting yeast out of cloth diapers). The other problem I have with essential oils is they aren't easy to buy locally. We have one store around here that sells them, but not a huge variety. So I don't want to get too much into the oils and be disappointed when I can't buy what I want locally. I'm not big on shopping online, either. I will if its necessary, but I prefer to buy things in person (I'm old fashioned, I guess!).
Last fall, I read that white vinegar is great for a great many things, including cleaning. I ran out of bathroom cleaner, so I decided to give it a try. I stuck to a simple "recipe" - I just used straight vinegar. Boy, was that smelly! But it worked. I poured the vinegar into a spray bottle and just sprayed the entire bathroom down, then used a wet rag to wash everything.
By the way, straight vinegar (even vinegar mixed with water) works great for cleaning mirrors. Just make sure your rag is DRY. For some reason, if the rag is wet, it leaves spots and streaks. But if I use a dry rag, the mirrors look perfect.
After a few months, I got tired of such a strong smell, even though it was much better than the terrible smells I was getting from my old commercial cleaners. So then I remembered that tea tree oil I had purchased a few months ago. Tea tree oil is a great disinfectant. I figured it would be perfect in the bathroom. I happen to love the smell of tea tree oil, but it is kinda strong.
I just made a spray bottle filled with 1/2 vinegar and 1/2 water (I found that mixing the vinegar with water really doesn't make it less effective, and the smell is easier to handle), and then added 3-4 drops of tea tree oil. Just enough so that I could smell it, but not so much that the smell was overpowering.
Ta-da!
I thought vinegar cleaned like a charm. But adding just that tiny amount of tea tree oil made a HUGE difference. Before, I had to spray everything down, then use my wet rag to wipe and scrub. And sometimes scrub a lot. I am not a fan of scrubbing. Now, I just spray everything down, and within a few minutes its ready to wipe. And that's it! No scrubbing. I swear I'm not lying.
I don't have a picture cause I don't like to document nastiness, but my shower gets pretty gross. The shower head drips constantly (despite DH's attempts to fix it; he says to fix it we'll have to work on the plumbing, and that just sounds way to involved), so the shower never dries. Which means, of course, mold/mildew is constantly growing in there. EW. (For the record, I used to use Tilex shower spray every single day in hopes that the gunk would be held at bay, but it never even slowed down.) Straight vinegar took care of the nastiness very nicely, but like I said, I had to use some elbow grease. NOW, however, I can seriously just spray it down, wait, then wipe it off with a rag. And presto! Clean, mold-free shower! For a few days, at least...
So that's it. My truly simple all-purpose cleaning solution. Here it is in a list in case you missed it before...
For the kitchen, I suppose you could use the same solution. For now, I've just been using 1/2 water and 1/2 vinegar in a spray bottle. A few weekends ago I cleaned every cabinet door in there with that solution and was very pleased with the results. (And woah, were they nasty!!) DH doesn't really like the smell, but he's never home when I'm cleaning, so its not a big deal. Plus, I think he secretly likes walkin into a home that smells like vinegar, now that he knows why it smells like that! ( :
If anyone else has any SIMPLE homemade cleaning solutions, I'd love to hear them! I'm certainly not claiming that my method is the best, and I may in the future change it completely. For now, though, it works and I am happy. And I don't feel worried that my baby (or myself!) will die from toxic fumes when I clean!
Oh yes, I almost forgot to mention that this solution is CHEAP. White vinegar is not very expensive at all, and you really don't use that much cleaning every week (or every other week if you're lazy like me...!).
One more use for white vinegar in my house - fabric softener!! When we started using cloth diapers (2 years ago this month - wow!), I realized I could no longer use fabric softeners, because they can build up on diapers and affect their absorbency. Not good. It turned out to be a really good thing because my allergies got a LOT better once I quit using fabric softener (and switched to All Free & Clear detergent) - turns out, I'm allergic to basically all fragrances and perfumes that they put in cleaning products.
So, I started adding about a cup or so (depending on the load size) to the fabric softener dispenser in my top loader washing machine. It really does help keep the clothes soft. Plus, if I forget about a load of clothes in the washer and they start to smell musty, I just toss in some more vinegar and run another quick cycle, and that takes care of it. This has been tested many, many times in my house...haha.
I still haven't figured out a good way to get rid of static when I dry clothes in the dryer (I mostly air dry things, but then throw them in the dryer to "fluff them up" and they are always super static-y). I use dryer balls, but they're not wool. Maybe I don't have enough of them? Or maybe I just need to invest in some wool ones. Stay tuned....
"Green" cleaners that you buy in the store have never appealed to me. For one, they are outrageously expensive. Who wants to spend that much on cleaning products?! Not me. Two, how "green" are those products, really? I don't trust them. I read the labels of a few products labeled "green" last year, and I sure didn't get the warm and fuzzies from what I read. Oh, I'm sure there are wonderful "green" cleaning products out there, but I am and always will be a skeptic at heart. At any rate, there's not enough evidence to make me want to try them for myself.
Same goes for "natural" products. Lots of things are "natural." Doesn't make them safe! And I don't see how anything sold in mass volumes can be totally natural and harmless, anyway. Something, somewhere along the production process, has nasty, unwanted chemicals lurking. I don't know much about chemicals and this sort of thing, so please don't think I'm making some kind of scientific statement here! Just calling it like I see it. I also know that I will never be able to get away from certain things. Like plastic. Yeah, I keep reading about how bad it is, but let's be honest - plastic is a HUGE part of our lives (well, most of us). Anyway, I'm getting way off track here...
Then comes homemade cleaning products. This I can be down with. If I make it myself, I know exactly what's in there. Its why I like to make my own bread (though I do still eat store bought bread, don't get me wrong). Its why I like that we grow a lot of vegetables in the summer. Its why I like that we raise a lot of our own meat (and all our milk).
Do a Google search and you will find thousands of "recipes" for homemade cleaning solutions. There are different solutions for bathrooms, kitchens, toilets, shower mildew, disinfectants, clothes washing, you name it and someone has come up with a "simple" solution to clean it. Some of them truly are simple, but some are pretty involved. (Which is why I haven't ventured into making my own washing detergent, and I doubt I ever will. Too many steps that I could mess up!) Some call for all kinds of essential oils. I think essential oils are wonderful, but boy are they expensive!!!
Last fall, I read that white vinegar is great for a great many things, including cleaning. I ran out of bathroom cleaner, so I decided to give it a try. I stuck to a simple "recipe" - I just used straight vinegar. Boy, was that smelly! But it worked. I poured the vinegar into a spray bottle and just sprayed the entire bathroom down, then used a wet rag to wash everything.
By the way, straight vinegar (even vinegar mixed with water) works great for cleaning mirrors. Just make sure your rag is DRY. For some reason, if the rag is wet, it leaves spots and streaks. But if I use a dry rag, the mirrors look perfect.
After a few months, I got tired of such a strong smell, even though it was much better than the terrible smells I was getting from my old commercial cleaners. So then I remembered that tea tree oil I had purchased a few months ago. Tea tree oil is a great disinfectant. I figured it would be perfect in the bathroom. I happen to love the smell of tea tree oil, but it is kinda strong.
I just made a spray bottle filled with 1/2 vinegar and 1/2 water (I found that mixing the vinegar with water really doesn't make it less effective, and the smell is easier to handle), and then added 3-4 drops of tea tree oil. Just enough so that I could smell it, but not so much that the smell was overpowering.
Ta-da!
I thought vinegar cleaned like a charm. But adding just that tiny amount of tea tree oil made a HUGE difference. Before, I had to spray everything down, then use my wet rag to wipe and scrub. And sometimes scrub a lot. I am not a fan of scrubbing. Now, I just spray everything down, and within a few minutes its ready to wipe. And that's it! No scrubbing. I swear I'm not lying.
I don't have a picture cause I don't like to document nastiness, but my shower gets pretty gross. The shower head drips constantly (despite DH's attempts to fix it; he says to fix it we'll have to work on the plumbing, and that just sounds way to involved), so the shower never dries. Which means, of course, mold/mildew is constantly growing in there. EW. (For the record, I used to use Tilex shower spray every single day in hopes that the gunk would be held at bay, but it never even slowed down.) Straight vinegar took care of the nastiness very nicely, but like I said, I had to use some elbow grease. NOW, however, I can seriously just spray it down, wait, then wipe it off with a rag. And presto! Clean, mold-free shower! For a few days, at least...
So that's it. My truly simple all-purpose cleaning solution. Here it is in a list in case you missed it before...
In a spray bottle, combine...
1 part water
1 part white vinegar
3-4 drops of tea tree oil.
And you're done!
For the kitchen, I suppose you could use the same solution. For now, I've just been using 1/2 water and 1/2 vinegar in a spray bottle. A few weekends ago I cleaned every cabinet door in there with that solution and was very pleased with the results. (And woah, were they nasty!!) DH doesn't really like the smell, but he's never home when I'm cleaning, so its not a big deal. Plus, I think he secretly likes walkin into a home that smells like vinegar, now that he knows why it smells like that! ( :
If anyone else has any SIMPLE homemade cleaning solutions, I'd love to hear them! I'm certainly not claiming that my method is the best, and I may in the future change it completely. For now, though, it works and I am happy. And I don't feel worried that my baby (or myself!) will die from toxic fumes when I clean!
Oh yes, I almost forgot to mention that this solution is CHEAP. White vinegar is not very expensive at all, and you really don't use that much cleaning every week (or every other week if you're lazy like me...!).
One more use for white vinegar in my house - fabric softener!! When we started using cloth diapers (2 years ago this month - wow!), I realized I could no longer use fabric softeners, because they can build up on diapers and affect their absorbency. Not good. It turned out to be a really good thing because my allergies got a LOT better once I quit using fabric softener (and switched to All Free & Clear detergent) - turns out, I'm allergic to basically all fragrances and perfumes that they put in cleaning products.
So, I started adding about a cup or so (depending on the load size) to the fabric softener dispenser in my top loader washing machine. It really does help keep the clothes soft. Plus, if I forget about a load of clothes in the washer and they start to smell musty, I just toss in some more vinegar and run another quick cycle, and that takes care of it. This has been tested many, many times in my house...haha.
I still haven't figured out a good way to get rid of static when I dry clothes in the dryer (I mostly air dry things, but then throw them in the dryer to "fluff them up" and they are always super static-y). I use dryer balls, but they're not wool. Maybe I don't have enough of them? Or maybe I just need to invest in some wool ones. Stay tuned....
3.27.2013
Cheesy Macaroni Bake
I'm back with another delicious recipe!
My husband and I (and our daughter, actually) loooooove Spam. I know a lot of people think Spam is gross, and that's okay. Stop reading now if that's you. ( : I don't think about what might be in a can of Spam. I just know it tastes delicious and its super easy to cook and eat. It used to be "poor man's food," but its actually kind of expensive these days. So we don't eat Spam very often. Growing up, I always had Spam and eggs sandwiches - and yum!! That's still a favorite of mine. But I looked a while back on the Spam website and learned there's a ton of other things you can do with that meaty goodness.
I tried a Spam and potatoes casserole a while back and it was a big hit at my house. I think I may have blogged about it, but right now I'm too lazy to look. Sorry.
Last night I decided to try another Spam recipe I had bookmarked: Cheesy Macaroni Bake (with Spam)!
It. was. delicious. Seriously. Actually, DH said it was good but not that good, but we all know I get a little overenthusiastic about my food. ( : It was super-easy to make, and it only took about 30 minutes of prep before baking for 25 minutes.
You can find the real recipe here. But I'll type it up for ya, too, just in case you're lazy like me.
Ingredients:
I've been a little off of my meal-planning game lately. But I guess that's understandable since we've been under a lot of stress. Which means that tonight we'll likely have sandwiches or bacon and eggs. Can't be super-cooking-mom all the time, right? ( : Maybe I'll be blessed to have my husband decide to whip up something tonight....oh that reminds me! Sunday for lunch he made some crab cakes that were absolutely divine! I'd love to share the recipe but DH doesn't even tell ME how he cooks things, haha. My man can cook, he's just secretive about his methods. ( :
I also haven't forgotten that I said I'd do a hair bow tutorial this week. I did make another bow over the weekend, but I wasn't happy with the way it turned out. Here's a tip: don't buy satin ribbon for hair bows. It just doesn't look at nice. I'll be making another bow either tonight or tomorrow night, though, because C needs it for her Easter pictures Saturday morning (she'll be posing with a live bunny and I am so excited). So look for pictures and a tutorial soon. And yes, I'll share the bow I wasn't happy with, too. ( :
My husband and I (and our daughter, actually) loooooove Spam. I know a lot of people think Spam is gross, and that's okay. Stop reading now if that's you. ( : I don't think about what might be in a can of Spam. I just know it tastes delicious and its super easy to cook and eat. It used to be "poor man's food," but its actually kind of expensive these days. So we don't eat Spam very often. Growing up, I always had Spam and eggs sandwiches - and yum!! That's still a favorite of mine. But I looked a while back on the Spam website and learned there's a ton of other things you can do with that meaty goodness.
I tried a Spam and potatoes casserole a while back and it was a big hit at my house. I think I may have blogged about it, but right now I'm too lazy to look. Sorry.
Last night I decided to try another Spam recipe I had bookmarked: Cheesy Macaroni Bake (with Spam)!
It. was. delicious. Seriously. Actually, DH said it was good but not that good, but we all know I get a little overenthusiastic about my food. ( : It was super-easy to make, and it only took about 30 minutes of prep before baking for 25 minutes.
You can find the real recipe here. But I'll type it up for ya, too, just in case you're lazy like me.
Ingredients:
- I just grated a 1/2 pound of cheddar.
- Heat oven to 400°F. Lightly grease 2-quart casserole. I forgot to grease my dish but nothing stuck.
- Cook macaroni according to package directions; drain.
- In casserole, stir together SPAM® Classic and macaroni.
- In medium saucepan, melt 1 tablespoon butter. Blend in flour, salt, mustard, black pepper and cayenne until smooth. I also added the paprika here because I read the directions wrong. Stir in milk; cook over medium heat, stirring, until mixture thickens and boils. Add cheese; cook, stirring, until cheese is melted. Pour over SPAM® mixture; mix well.
- In microwave-safe bowl, melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter; stir in breadcrumbs and paprika. I did add more paprika in this step. We didn't think it was too much at all. In fact, I think DH would have liked more! Sprinkle over macaroni. Bake 20 to 25 minutes.
I've been a little off of my meal-planning game lately. But I guess that's understandable since we've been under a lot of stress. Which means that tonight we'll likely have sandwiches or bacon and eggs. Can't be super-cooking-mom all the time, right? ( : Maybe I'll be blessed to have my husband decide to whip up something tonight....oh that reminds me! Sunday for lunch he made some crab cakes that were absolutely divine! I'd love to share the recipe but DH doesn't even tell ME how he cooks things, haha. My man can cook, he's just secretive about his methods. ( :
I also haven't forgotten that I said I'd do a hair bow tutorial this week. I did make another bow over the weekend, but I wasn't happy with the way it turned out. Here's a tip: don't buy satin ribbon for hair bows. It just doesn't look at nice. I'll be making another bow either tonight or tomorrow night, though, because C needs it for her Easter pictures Saturday morning (she'll be posing with a live bunny and I am so excited). So look for pictures and a tutorial soon. And yes, I'll share the bow I wasn't happy with, too. ( :
3.04.2013
A Quick Kitchen Project
For a while now I've been looking for a good solution to a problem we have in our kitchen - how to corral all the loose papers, mail, magazines, and newspapers. Since we got married and moved into our house 4 years ago, we've just dumped all the mail on a corner of the island, like this:
I actually took this picture on a day when we didn't have many papers stacked up. This stack is usually several inches high - no lie. DH is good about taking the bills to his desk in the office, but everything else has always just camped out in this spot for weeks or months. Every once in a while, DH and I would go through all the papers and end up throwing most of it away. Coupons end up in that pile, and by the time we find them again, the coupons are expired. One of us will print off a recipe at work and bring it home, where it will go into the island pile and be lost for a while. I don't know why this spot has been so hard for us to keep organized.
I asked DH a few weeks ago if I could get a mail organizer to hang on the side of the island. He said no, because he didn't want to drill holes into the island. I understand that. The island is an antique and DH worked very hard to add that bead board to the sides! (I should have told him we could use Command strips but for some reason I didn't think about that at the time.) DH likes to keep some mail in the kitchen because he likes to look through it and read a magazine or a newspaper while he eats breakfast every morning (he has to get up much earlier than I do). So I knew we wouldn't be able to just say no more mail in the kitchen. I needed a solution.
Enter the Thirty-One Hang Up Family Organizer!! At a Thirty-One party a while back, these were on special. If you spent so much money ($31 I believe), you could get one for 1/2 off. So for $12.50, I figured why not? If I didn't like it in the kitchen, I figured I could find another use for it somewhere in the house. It finally came in last week, and Friday I bought some Command hooks to hang it on (didn't want to be puttin any holes in the walls just in case!).
Ain't it precious? ( : I kinda wish I had gotten it monogrammed at the top, but oh well. I hung it in an out of the way spot in the kitchen. This little space is kind of a hallway that leads to the laundry room. You can see it from the table, but you can't see it when you walk into the kitchen. (DH is not crazy about it being "so far away" from the island, but I figure he'll learn to live with it eventually!) I thought about hanging it on the pantry door, but wasn't sure I'd enjoy seeing something so office-like in the middle of my kitchen. Though it may end up there, who knows.
Just a slightly different angle. Here you can see my meal planning area, too. Its just a simple dry-erase sticker-thingy. I never use the blank one on the bottom, so I really need to just take it down. (And I'm not 100% thrilled with this method of meal planning, but until I figure out a method I love, this'll have to do.) I was pretty excited when the hang up organizer fit perfectly on that wall. Its like it was meant to be. ( :
And there she is all filled up! We didn't have any bills on Friday, just some magazines and newspapers. I plan on using one of the top pockets for bills, though it might just be easier to go ahead and walk those to DH's desk in the office... I did end up putting some pens and notepads in the very top pocket, for grocery lists and stuff.
This is where those pen and notepads used to live (along with a bunch of other mess):
Woah. I forgot to take an "after" picture, but the microwave looks much better now, trust me.
The only thing I'm not crazy about with the organizer is that the pockets are super deep. This is perfect for storing magazines and newspapers, but smaller things get lost in there. I have to come up with a solution for that if we end up storing smaller papers in it. For now, I am just tickled that we got the corner of our island back! (Again, I forgot to take an "after" picture, but its really not that exciting - just a bare countertop.)
Who knows if this new system will work for us. I may decide next week that its not working and try something else. Thankfully, I've learned to not be stubborn about my ideas when they don't work. And I already have an idea for using the organizer in C's closet if it doesn't stay in the kitchen...!
I like quick projects. I'm not really a DIYer cause let's face it, most of those DIY projects take forever to finish. If I can't do it in less than 30 minutes, I'm probably not gonna do it. I like fast results. I don't like to prime something, wait half a day, paint it, wait another day, paint it again....you get the idea. I've done plenty of big projects (hello, both bathrooms in my house), but I have to really discipline myself to get through it. This little project took me about 5 minutes after work Friday. That's my kinda project!!
Looking at the microwave reminds me of the next project I want to tackle: creating a recipe binder. If you look closely in the picture above, you can see a manila folder stuffed full of papers. Those are all recipes that DH and I have collected over the years. No organization whatsoever. Some of them we've tried and some of them we haven't. Whenever we need a recipe that we know is in there, it takes forever to sort through that huge stack to find it. So I want to organize them all in a binder, separated by category (like desserts, main dishes, etc.), and even maybe have a section for recipes we haven't tried yet. This will be a super simple project to complete, I just have to make myself take the time to do it!
I asked DH a few weeks ago if I could get a mail organizer to hang on the side of the island. He said no, because he didn't want to drill holes into the island. I understand that. The island is an antique and DH worked very hard to add that bead board to the sides! (I should have told him we could use Command strips but for some reason I didn't think about that at the time.) DH likes to keep some mail in the kitchen because he likes to look through it and read a magazine or a newspaper while he eats breakfast every morning (he has to get up much earlier than I do). So I knew we wouldn't be able to just say no more mail in the kitchen. I needed a solution.
Enter the Thirty-One Hang Up Family Organizer!! At a Thirty-One party a while back, these were on special. If you spent so much money ($31 I believe), you could get one for 1/2 off. So for $12.50, I figured why not? If I didn't like it in the kitchen, I figured I could find another use for it somewhere in the house. It finally came in last week, and Friday I bought some Command hooks to hang it on (didn't want to be puttin any holes in the walls just in case!).
This is where those pen and notepads used to live (along with a bunch of other mess):
The only thing I'm not crazy about with the organizer is that the pockets are super deep. This is perfect for storing magazines and newspapers, but smaller things get lost in there. I have to come up with a solution for that if we end up storing smaller papers in it. For now, I am just tickled that we got the corner of our island back! (Again, I forgot to take an "after" picture, but its really not that exciting - just a bare countertop.)
Who knows if this new system will work for us. I may decide next week that its not working and try something else. Thankfully, I've learned to not be stubborn about my ideas when they don't work. And I already have an idea for using the organizer in C's closet if it doesn't stay in the kitchen...!
I like quick projects. I'm not really a DIYer cause let's face it, most of those DIY projects take forever to finish. If I can't do it in less than 30 minutes, I'm probably not gonna do it. I like fast results. I don't like to prime something, wait half a day, paint it, wait another day, paint it again....you get the idea. I've done plenty of big projects (hello, both bathrooms in my house), but I have to really discipline myself to get through it. This little project took me about 5 minutes after work Friday. That's my kinda project!!
Looking at the microwave reminds me of the next project I want to tackle: creating a recipe binder. If you look closely in the picture above, you can see a manila folder stuffed full of papers. Those are all recipes that DH and I have collected over the years. No organization whatsoever. Some of them we've tried and some of them we haven't. Whenever we need a recipe that we know is in there, it takes forever to sort through that huge stack to find it. So I want to organize them all in a binder, separated by category (like desserts, main dishes, etc.), and even maybe have a section for recipes we haven't tried yet. This will be a super simple project to complete, I just have to make myself take the time to do it!
10.11.2012
My fall resolutions
What? People make New Years' Resolutions, why can't I make ones for fall? ( :
Actually, I never make resolutions in January because I found that I never kept them and was always disappointed in myself later in the year when I realized that I hadn't done anything I said I would do. But every once in a while, I make "mini-resolutions" to improve myself and my life. Those are infinately more easy for me to stick to. Maybe the pressure of starting a new year and new things to do is just too overwhelming to me. Who knows.
Earlier this year (in February, not January), I resolved to work on making the house more organized. Its not happening overnight, but I am making progress. My first project was to work on our bedroom closet. That was before I started this blog, so I don't have documentation. But I went through all the clothes in there (mine and DH's) and donated everything we don't wear regularly. (Maybe I shouldn't say "regularly" because there is still a ton of clothes in there, and there is no WAY we wear all that on a regular basis. But I do occasionally go through the clothes again and donate more.) I organized my shoes and all the shoe boxes that I hoard. (Its a sickness, I guess! But you never know when you'll need a shoe box...!) I organized our kitchen cabinets and pantry. I decluttered in our bedroom. I even got rid of our bulky kitchen table and bought a smaller one that better suits our space (not really an organization project, but it makes the kitchen/dining room look so much bigger and neater). Then I organized the medicine cabinet. I also resolved earlier this year to start cooking more. Before that, DH did practically all the cooking. But I decided it was my job, too, and I dove in to the world of cooking. I'm not great at it, but I try really hard! And I know my husband appreciates the effort, even if it doesn't always turn out so good. ( :
Maybe that's not such a long list considering I began this journey almost 9 months ago. But I am pleased with my progress and proud of myself for actually doing it. If you know me personally, you understand why these little things are such a big deal to me. I'm very much a "go with the flow" type of gal, and I don't get too worked up over things like an unorganized medicine cabinet. All these changes take huge efforts on my part. So I'm excited to see what else I tackle and change around the house.
I follow several blogs, and many of them are taking part in an October challenge in which they post every day this month and all the posts are related to a certain topic. I am thoroughly enjoying them all! I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up with a daily blogging challenge at this point in my life, so I didn't even try to jump on that bandwagon, but my metaphorical hat goes off to you ladies who are keeping it up!
One of the blogs, Our Front Porch View, is doing 31 days to a more intentional life. I love that topic, but I can't imagine how hard it is for her to come up with a new topic daily! She has really opened my eyes to some things I need to work on in my life. I don't have it all sorted out in my head just yet, so I can't write about it, but I know the gist of what I want to see change in my life.
I want to make more memories with my daughter. I have a tendency to come up with ideas or buy craft supplies and then save them for "later" or a rainy day. And then "later" comes or we get a rainy day, and I don't do it. Like carving a pumpkin. She's old enough now to enjoy that, but I keep putting it off. Saturday we WILL carve a pumpkin together!!
Last night, DH and I took C down the road to our neighbor's farm to see his donkeys. We live on a farm, too, but we don't have donkeys. We can hear them all the time when we're playing in our yard, and C has been asking about them for a while now. DH and I always tell her "one day" we'll go see the donkeys. Well, yesterday after work, C and I were playing outside and she heard a donkey and asked where it was. I found DH and told him we needed to go see it, and we did. C loved it! That's the kind of thing I want to do more of. She's only going to be little once, and I don't want to regret not doing more with her.
Another thing I am resolving to do is find time to ride my horses more. Horses used to be my entire life, and I've lost that part of myself since becoming a mother. I know most women lose part of their former selves when they have a child, but I again, I don't want to look back with regret. Right now, I only ride every once in a while. Though when I get the chance to ride, I make the most of it and enjoy every minute. I never feel more at home than when I'm in the saddle (or bareback!)!. A while back, I decided to try getting up super early and riding some mornings before work. I did it one day and wasn't able to do it anymore. I want to try again. I'm not sure how it will work since the time is about to change, and I don't know what time it will be light enough to ride. But I'm hoping that it will work out. The time changes in just a few weeks, so I plan to start then. I think riding more often will make me feel so much better, and I'll be happier. And everyone knows a happier mama makes a happier home!
I'm also resolving to quit being a "lurker" in the blog world. All those blogs I follow, and I have never posted a comment on most of them! I don't have much of a following here (yet), so I know how it feels not to get comments. If I read a blog post and have a reaction to it, I am going to start commenting. It only takes a few seconds. I already started that one today. I commented on several posts. ( :
I also vow to spend more time with God. Reading His Word, I mean. I'm hoping to find an App for daily devotionals, since I know if its on my phone I'll be more inclined to read it. I downloaded an App last week, but I haven't been good about reading it because I don't care for the tone of the devotionals I read. So I'm taking suggestions for daily devotional apps!
There are several other things floating around in my mind, but this is all I'm really committing to for now. Baby steps, right? ( :
Actually, I never make resolutions in January because I found that I never kept them and was always disappointed in myself later in the year when I realized that I hadn't done anything I said I would do. But every once in a while, I make "mini-resolutions" to improve myself and my life. Those are infinately more easy for me to stick to. Maybe the pressure of starting a new year and new things to do is just too overwhelming to me. Who knows.
Earlier this year (in February, not January), I resolved to work on making the house more organized. Its not happening overnight, but I am making progress. My first project was to work on our bedroom closet. That was before I started this blog, so I don't have documentation. But I went through all the clothes in there (mine and DH's) and donated everything we don't wear regularly. (Maybe I shouldn't say "regularly" because there is still a ton of clothes in there, and there is no WAY we wear all that on a regular basis. But I do occasionally go through the clothes again and donate more.) I organized my shoes and all the shoe boxes that I hoard. (Its a sickness, I guess! But you never know when you'll need a shoe box...!) I organized our kitchen cabinets and pantry. I decluttered in our bedroom. I even got rid of our bulky kitchen table and bought a smaller one that better suits our space (not really an organization project, but it makes the kitchen/dining room look so much bigger and neater). Then I organized the medicine cabinet. I also resolved earlier this year to start cooking more. Before that, DH did practically all the cooking. But I decided it was my job, too, and I dove in to the world of cooking. I'm not great at it, but I try really hard! And I know my husband appreciates the effort, even if it doesn't always turn out so good. ( :
Maybe that's not such a long list considering I began this journey almost 9 months ago. But I am pleased with my progress and proud of myself for actually doing it. If you know me personally, you understand why these little things are such a big deal to me. I'm very much a "go with the flow" type of gal, and I don't get too worked up over things like an unorganized medicine cabinet. All these changes take huge efforts on my part. So I'm excited to see what else I tackle and change around the house.
I follow several blogs, and many of them are taking part in an October challenge in which they post every day this month and all the posts are related to a certain topic. I am thoroughly enjoying them all! I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up with a daily blogging challenge at this point in my life, so I didn't even try to jump on that bandwagon, but my metaphorical hat goes off to you ladies who are keeping it up!
One of the blogs, Our Front Porch View, is doing 31 days to a more intentional life. I love that topic, but I can't imagine how hard it is for her to come up with a new topic daily! She has really opened my eyes to some things I need to work on in my life. I don't have it all sorted out in my head just yet, so I can't write about it, but I know the gist of what I want to see change in my life.
I want to make more memories with my daughter. I have a tendency to come up with ideas or buy craft supplies and then save them for "later" or a rainy day. And then "later" comes or we get a rainy day, and I don't do it. Like carving a pumpkin. She's old enough now to enjoy that, but I keep putting it off. Saturday we WILL carve a pumpkin together!!
Last night, DH and I took C down the road to our neighbor's farm to see his donkeys. We live on a farm, too, but we don't have donkeys. We can hear them all the time when we're playing in our yard, and C has been asking about them for a while now. DH and I always tell her "one day" we'll go see the donkeys. Well, yesterday after work, C and I were playing outside and she heard a donkey and asked where it was. I found DH and told him we needed to go see it, and we did. C loved it! That's the kind of thing I want to do more of. She's only going to be little once, and I don't want to regret not doing more with her.
Another thing I am resolving to do is find time to ride my horses more. Horses used to be my entire life, and I've lost that part of myself since becoming a mother. I know most women lose part of their former selves when they have a child, but I again, I don't want to look back with regret. Right now, I only ride every once in a while. Though when I get the chance to ride, I make the most of it and enjoy every minute. I never feel more at home than when I'm in the saddle (or bareback!)!. A while back, I decided to try getting up super early and riding some mornings before work. I did it one day and wasn't able to do it anymore. I want to try again. I'm not sure how it will work since the time is about to change, and I don't know what time it will be light enough to ride. But I'm hoping that it will work out. The time changes in just a few weeks, so I plan to start then. I think riding more often will make me feel so much better, and I'll be happier. And everyone knows a happier mama makes a happier home!
I'm also resolving to quit being a "lurker" in the blog world. All those blogs I follow, and I have never posted a comment on most of them! I don't have much of a following here (yet), so I know how it feels not to get comments. If I read a blog post and have a reaction to it, I am going to start commenting. It only takes a few seconds. I already started that one today. I commented on several posts. ( :
I also vow to spend more time with God. Reading His Word, I mean. I'm hoping to find an App for daily devotionals, since I know if its on my phone I'll be more inclined to read it. I downloaded an App last week, but I haven't been good about reading it because I don't care for the tone of the devotionals I read. So I'm taking suggestions for daily devotional apps!
There are several other things floating around in my mind, but this is all I'm really committing to for now. Baby steps, right? ( :
10.01.2012
Medicine Cabinet Makeover
I promise I didn't forget about this project. I was sick last week, and though I was wanting to get this done last Wednesday when I bought the baskets, I was too exhausted that night to do it. I did complete it Friday, though! Actually, it only took about 15 minutes.
I said last week I intended to clean out and organize our medicine cabinet. We have a ton of medications and everything was just thrown in there haphazardly. I suspected we had some duplicates due to not being able to see exactly what we had, and I was right. Here's the before shots:
Its a pretty small space, but it was crammed full! Here's a closer shot of the bottom shelf, where the majority of the medication was:
Yikes.
I took everything out and organized it into groups. Pain relievers went in one pile, heartburn medication in another, etc. I threw out quite a bit of medicine, mostly old antibiotics. I discovered I have some really random stuff that I can't remember getting a prescription for, including Oxycontin and nerve pills. Woah! The nerve pills I think were prescribed to me during a severe allergy attack a few years back (when I have an allergy attack, its mainly my skin and nerves that are affected and I itch to the point where I feel like I'm going crazy - its awful), but the oxy? Who knows! That's some powerful stuff and I was surprised to see it in there, but it has my name on it. Just goes to show you that doctors will prescribe anything these days. I don't think I've ever been in enough pain to warrant oxy.
Moving on.... here are the after shots!
I wish I had another shelf in there, because there's a lot of wasted space now. I thought about buying closed containers to store the medication in, and that's probably the safest bet with a toddler in the house. But I knew my husband I would hate having to pull down a box and open it every morning. (We both take medication every morning - and every night for me - for heartburn/acid reflux.)
I thought about separating the medication into children and adult. That seemed like a waste, though, since I only have 3 medications for the baby: Children's Motrin, Tylenol, and Benadryl (all generic). The baskets are categorized by general type of medication they contain: Allergies, Heartburn/Acid Reflux, Pain, Vitamins (you can't see these in the pictures), Sickness (such as cold/flu medication and stomach issue drugs, also not seen in the pictures), random (the nerve pills and other medications reserved for my most severe allergy attacks), and Animal. I didn't realize how much animal medication we had until I organized everything.
I know the labels are not the prettiest in the world. I made them in about 5 minutes while C was running around saying, "what you doin, Mama?" over and over. I figured why waste a bunch of time making beautiful labels when there's a possibility we will absolutely hate this change and nix the idea completely. DH already hates that the pain medication is way at the top and you have to take down the whole basket to get anything out. But honestly, we don't take that much for pain so it doesn't need to be the most accessible.
So far, I am loving this simple change. Its not fancy like some other medicine cabinets I've seen, but that's okay. I'm more likely to keep something simple like this up. Every morning and night when I go to grab my reflux medicine, I don't have to search for it. And I can easily see how much more I have, and how much more Prilosec my husband has, since its all in one tidy basket now. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with how my little project turned out! ( :
I said last week I intended to clean out and organize our medicine cabinet. We have a ton of medications and everything was just thrown in there haphazardly. I suspected we had some duplicates due to not being able to see exactly what we had, and I was right. Here's the before shots:
Its a pretty small space, but it was crammed full! Here's a closer shot of the bottom shelf, where the majority of the medication was:
I took everything out and organized it into groups. Pain relievers went in one pile, heartburn medication in another, etc. I threw out quite a bit of medicine, mostly old antibiotics. I discovered I have some really random stuff that I can't remember getting a prescription for, including Oxycontin and nerve pills. Woah! The nerve pills I think were prescribed to me during a severe allergy attack a few years back (when I have an allergy attack, its mainly my skin and nerves that are affected and I itch to the point where I feel like I'm going crazy - its awful), but the oxy? Who knows! That's some powerful stuff and I was surprised to see it in there, but it has my name on it. Just goes to show you that doctors will prescribe anything these days. I don't think I've ever been in enough pain to warrant oxy.
Moving on.... here are the after shots!
 |
| Close up of the bottom shelf |
I thought about separating the medication into children and adult. That seemed like a waste, though, since I only have 3 medications for the baby: Children's Motrin, Tylenol, and Benadryl (all generic). The baskets are categorized by general type of medication they contain: Allergies, Heartburn/Acid Reflux, Pain, Vitamins (you can't see these in the pictures), Sickness (such as cold/flu medication and stomach issue drugs, also not seen in the pictures), random (the nerve pills and other medications reserved for my most severe allergy attacks), and Animal. I didn't realize how much animal medication we had until I organized everything.
I know the labels are not the prettiest in the world. I made them in about 5 minutes while C was running around saying, "what you doin, Mama?" over and over. I figured why waste a bunch of time making beautiful labels when there's a possibility we will absolutely hate this change and nix the idea completely. DH already hates that the pain medication is way at the top and you have to take down the whole basket to get anything out. But honestly, we don't take that much for pain so it doesn't need to be the most accessible.
So far, I am loving this simple change. Its not fancy like some other medicine cabinets I've seen, but that's okay. I'm more likely to keep something simple like this up. Every morning and night when I go to grab my reflux medicine, I don't have to search for it. And I can easily see how much more I have, and how much more Prilosec my husband has, since its all in one tidy basket now. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with how my little project turned out! ( :
8.13.2012
Kitchen cabinet and pantry reorganization
One of the things I decided to do earlier this year on my quest to reorganize and simplify my life was to reorganize our kitchen cabinets and pantry. My original intentions were to redo every cabinet in the kitchen, but I quickly realized that is a huge undertaking. Which is why it took me 4 months to even begin...! I did manage to reorganize the pantry and the cabinet that houses food. Eventually, I'd like to tackle the other cabinets, especially where we keep the pots and pans, but I'm not in a hurry on that one. I have more important things to do with my very small amount of free time!
So here's how the cabinet looked before:
Not terrible, but very unorganized. All those cans were just thrown in there in no order, and you could never tell what we had on hand. Plus, every time I reached for something I had to move something else, which always led to a cascade of cans raining down on my head....not fun.
And here's how the pantry looked:
So, here's the after pics...
I stacked all the canned goods according to type - all the corn went together, all the potatoes went together, etc. I was extremely happy with the result. Everything was easy to see, easy to grab, and easy to see when we were out of something. Same for the cabinet.
Of course, DH hated it. Mainly because he couldn't at first figure out my system of organization. He got used to it after a few days, though, and there was peace again in the house (haha). But after a few weeks, I started to realize that I, too, hated it. Mainly because it started to look like this:
All those chips bags on the bottom shelf drove me CRAZY! You couldn't even see the canned goods down there. And nothing stayed how I originally put it. It was just too hard. Plus, since the shelves are made out of wire, it was hard for the cans to sit on them. They were wobbly. We can't be having that! In the cabinet, I realized how hard it was to have boxes stashed behind the board in the middle. Things could hide behind it, and it was hard to wiggle the boxes out of there. So, this past weekend, I started over.
I knew it would make DH happy, but it made me happy, too - win/win!
Now, all the cans are back in the cabinet, but they're organized and easy to see and grab. We still have a lot of chips bags in the pantry, but such is life. At least they're not hiding anything anymore. I'm very pleased with the final result. DH was, too, when he saw it.
So the moral of this story is, don't be afraid to try something and then hate it! Even if that something should work in theory. The old Nikki would have left everything as it was after the first organization, because I was too stubborn to admit when I was wrong. I have learned to let go of that pride and stubbornness (most of the time! haha) and learn from my mistakes. I know reorganizing your cabinets and pantry is not a huge deal, but it can be hard to admit when you're wrong about even the most trivial things. So its a big deal to me. Plus, I got some nice lookin food storage out of the lesson. ( :
So here's how the cabinet looked before:
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| Before |
And here's how the pantry looked:
 |
| Before - I can't figure out how to rotate images yet...I'll figure it out and fix it later! |
The pantry wasn't terrible, either, but it was terribly unorganized. It just bothered me every time I opened the door. As you can see, I don't have a lot of space to work with in there. The back of the door has some great shelving which is absolutely jam packed. I'm happy with it, so I left it alone. And the top shelf holds things like tin foil, saran wrap, and extra salad dressings and things like that. I left it alone for the most part, too. Mostly because I was lazy and didn't feel like doing anything else that day!So, here's the after pics...
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| The pantry after (again, I'll figure out how to rotate and fix it later!) |
 |
| The cabinet after |
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| Other side of the cabinet after |
Of course, DH hated it. Mainly because he couldn't at first figure out my system of organization. He got used to it after a few days, though, and there was peace again in the house (haha). But after a few weeks, I started to realize that I, too, hated it. Mainly because it started to look like this:
I knew it would make DH happy, but it made me happy, too - win/win!
Now, all the cans are back in the cabinet, but they're organized and easy to see and grab. We still have a lot of chips bags in the pantry, but such is life. At least they're not hiding anything anymore. I'm very pleased with the final result. DH was, too, when he saw it.
So the moral of this story is, don't be afraid to try something and then hate it! Even if that something should work in theory. The old Nikki would have left everything as it was after the first organization, because I was too stubborn to admit when I was wrong. I have learned to let go of that pride and stubbornness (most of the time! haha) and learn from my mistakes. I know reorganizing your cabinets and pantry is not a huge deal, but it can be hard to admit when you're wrong about even the most trivial things. So its a big deal to me. Plus, I got some nice lookin food storage out of the lesson. ( :
8.03.2012
High Five for Friday!
This week has been a challenge, to say the least. Last weekend, our big freezer in the laundry room broke. Everything in there thawed out. It was a disaster. And it led to more problems later in the week. We have now recovered (I think), and looking back, all I can say is "MAN!" I am just glad its Friday and this week is almost over!
Despite all the stress, I can say there have been good things about this week:
1 - I can count on my daddy to be there for me when I need him. I already knew that, but the knowledge was reinforced this week. I was having a major breakdown over an issue yesterday morning (another problem stemming from the broken freezer), and DH was already at work. I called Daddy and he came right over. I am not ashamed, either. Yes, I am a grown woman and I should be able to handle my own problems. But there's nothin like callin your daddy to come make everything better! (For the record, I can count on my mama, too. But she was having issues with one of her horses that morning and couldn't come.) I'm a total Daddy's Girl. Which is awesome because he's technically my step-father. He raised me, though, so I rarely even think of that label.
2 - I learned this week that sometimes, you need to take a step back from a situation and recognize that its the Devil workin against you! I did that Saturday, when the freezer broke. Things were extremely tense at our house. I went outside to transfer some food to the other freezer (we're hoping everything wasn't totally ruined, but we'll see), and while I was out there it struck me that yes, the freezer breaking is stressful and it sucks, but the Devil is totally making it worse by making us lash out at each other. I prayed about it, and when I went back inside I felt much calmer. You just have to see the Devil's work for what it is, and then its easier to deal with. Now, the hard part is realizing that when something's going wrong! I certainly don't always do that, and even later in the week struggled with it.
3 - This week, I "taught" C how to eat Oreos - you know, the RIGHT way. DH bought a package and gave one to C. Of course she loved it. I only eat Oreos after dipping them in milk, which DH thinks is nasty, so I introduced it to C. She loved it, but I think she prefers eating them plain. She just likes the mess associated with dunking the cookies in milk! We probably shouldn't be encouraging our child to eat sweets and other "bad" foods like Oreos, but come on, you gotta live a little! At any rate, its so cute watchin her try somethin new. ( :
4 - I've been able to sleep on just one pillow this week. I have GERD and the reflux has been terrible lately, so I've been sleeping on 3 pillows to prop me up. Which makes my back hurt. I went to a specialist, had some tests run, got on new medication, and its starting to help. At least enough so that now I can lay flat at night and sleep like normal people. And I'm not in constant pain all day. So its a huge improvement, and I am grateful for any relief!
5 - We got a new kithcen table this week! I already posted about it earlier, but I'm so tickled with it, had to include it here. I feel less cramped in my kitchen now, and it "goes" with our kitchen much better than the old table did. C loves it, too. Every day when we get home, she goes into the kitchen and says "new table!" ( :
So what are the highlights from YOUR week?
Despite all the stress, I can say there have been good things about this week:
1 - I can count on my daddy to be there for me when I need him. I already knew that, but the knowledge was reinforced this week. I was having a major breakdown over an issue yesterday morning (another problem stemming from the broken freezer), and DH was already at work. I called Daddy and he came right over. I am not ashamed, either. Yes, I am a grown woman and I should be able to handle my own problems. But there's nothin like callin your daddy to come make everything better! (For the record, I can count on my mama, too. But she was having issues with one of her horses that morning and couldn't come.) I'm a total Daddy's Girl. Which is awesome because he's technically my step-father. He raised me, though, so I rarely even think of that label.
2 - I learned this week that sometimes, you need to take a step back from a situation and recognize that its the Devil workin against you! I did that Saturday, when the freezer broke. Things were extremely tense at our house. I went outside to transfer some food to the other freezer (we're hoping everything wasn't totally ruined, but we'll see), and while I was out there it struck me that yes, the freezer breaking is stressful and it sucks, but the Devil is totally making it worse by making us lash out at each other. I prayed about it, and when I went back inside I felt much calmer. You just have to see the Devil's work for what it is, and then its easier to deal with. Now, the hard part is realizing that when something's going wrong! I certainly don't always do that, and even later in the week struggled with it.
3 - This week, I "taught" C how to eat Oreos - you know, the RIGHT way. DH bought a package and gave one to C. Of course she loved it. I only eat Oreos after dipping them in milk, which DH thinks is nasty, so I introduced it to C. She loved it, but I think she prefers eating them plain. She just likes the mess associated with dunking the cookies in milk! We probably shouldn't be encouraging our child to eat sweets and other "bad" foods like Oreos, but come on, you gotta live a little! At any rate, its so cute watchin her try somethin new. ( :
4 - I've been able to sleep on just one pillow this week. I have GERD and the reflux has been terrible lately, so I've been sleeping on 3 pillows to prop me up. Which makes my back hurt. I went to a specialist, had some tests run, got on new medication, and its starting to help. At least enough so that now I can lay flat at night and sleep like normal people. And I'm not in constant pain all day. So its a huge improvement, and I am grateful for any relief!
5 - We got a new kithcen table this week! I already posted about it earlier, but I'm so tickled with it, had to include it here. I feel less cramped in my kitchen now, and it "goes" with our kitchen much better than the old table did. C loves it, too. Every day when we get home, she goes into the kitchen and says "new table!" ( :
So what are the highlights from YOUR week?
Before/After - Kitchen Table Edition
One thing I'm really into this year is simplifying my home. Inspiration struck me back in February, when DH, C, and I were on our anniversary trip in Charleston, SC. On the way home, I decided that I needed to make some major changes in our house, particularly work on decluttering and reorganizing. When we got home, I made a long list of things I'd like to get done in the house - big things and little things. Anyone who knows me knows that I love lists. Sometimes I create lists just so I can mark off things that I've already accomplished, just so I can feel accomplished. Crazy, huh?
Anyway, I've actually accomplished some of the things on my list, so I'll be sharing them here. My favorite change we've made so far is the kitchen table. Here's what we've had for the past 3 years:
Not a terrible setup, but so cluttered. We purchased this table from an antique store (where quite a bit of our furniture came - we love antiques!). I saw it and just had to have it. DH wasn't as in love with it as I was, but I got my way. The table itself is great, and it would be great for us - if we had a bigger "dining room." Its a 6' table when its fully extended, and there are 6 chairs that go around it. We always keep it like this, with 1/2 of it folded down. And the remaining 2 chairs are stashed in C's room, where they look very out of place and take up a lot of room. (I am proud to say that they do not hold laundry or toys or anything like that. They just hold decorative pillows, which was my attempt to make them "go" with the room.)
This table has a ton of legs, which is not a big deal except that it makes it hard to clean under and around. Its too heavy for me to move by myself without tearing something up, so its rare that I get behind there and really clean. Gross, right? And now that its summertime, I close the blinds on those windows every morning. I couldn't reach them over the table, so I had to get ON the table to do it. Not very convenient.
So I decided we needed to get rid of the huge table. I knew what I wanted: a butcher block-type with white chairs. Very fresh and simple. DH wants to build us a table. He can do it, but with the amount of free time he has, I knew that would take forever. So we made the deal that if I found a table like I want for a good price, I could get it, and he can work on building us one like we really want (read: like DH really wants, haha). I put my aunt on the job, because she is great at finding furniture at good prices. In just a few days she called me, saying she'd found what I was looking for.
We brought it home last weekend. DH had to do some sanding and clear coating of the top, but that was it. I'm so happy with the way it looks! AND I can clean all around it and under it. AND I can reach the windows easily now! I think it really opens up the dining area and makes the whole room seem bigger and more airy.
I should have taken a nicer picture, but this is how it looks most days - used! Once C is out of the high chair we'll have even more room in there.
Since these chairs are shorter, I feel like I can add a picture or something to that blank space on the wall. (I hate blank spots on a wall!) I have a family portrait that would look nice, but I'm not sure if it will fit...we might have to do some rearranging!
I'm also torn now over the windows. Before, I decided not to do any curtains, since there was so much going on with the table and chairs. Now, I kind of feel like some light curtains would look nice. I hate picking out curtains, especially on weird windows like these 3. You can't do just one rod across all 3 since its 3 different walls. Any suggestions?? The windows in C's room are just like these, and it took me forever to decide on those. I ended up putting valances on all 3, and long panels on the outside windows as well. It looks nice, but that's too much for this space.
I think my husband hates the constant projects I have around the house, but it makes me happy, and ultimately, it makes things better! (Unbeknownst to him, this weekend I am UNdoing a project I did a while back. He hated it, and I tried to make it work, but in the end I realized he was right, and now I hate it too. He'll be happy when I change it back! I'll post about it once I'm done.) ( :
Anyway, I've actually accomplished some of the things on my list, so I'll be sharing them here. My favorite change we've made so far is the kitchen table. Here's what we've had for the past 3 years:
Not a terrible setup, but so cluttered. We purchased this table from an antique store (where quite a bit of our furniture came - we love antiques!). I saw it and just had to have it. DH wasn't as in love with it as I was, but I got my way. The table itself is great, and it would be great for us - if we had a bigger "dining room." Its a 6' table when its fully extended, and there are 6 chairs that go around it. We always keep it like this, with 1/2 of it folded down. And the remaining 2 chairs are stashed in C's room, where they look very out of place and take up a lot of room. (I am proud to say that they do not hold laundry or toys or anything like that. They just hold decorative pillows, which was my attempt to make them "go" with the room.)
This table has a ton of legs, which is not a big deal except that it makes it hard to clean under and around. Its too heavy for me to move by myself without tearing something up, so its rare that I get behind there and really clean. Gross, right? And now that its summertime, I close the blinds on those windows every morning. I couldn't reach them over the table, so I had to get ON the table to do it. Not very convenient.
So I decided we needed to get rid of the huge table. I knew what I wanted: a butcher block-type with white chairs. Very fresh and simple. DH wants to build us a table. He can do it, but with the amount of free time he has, I knew that would take forever. So we made the deal that if I found a table like I want for a good price, I could get it, and he can work on building us one like we really want (read: like DH really wants, haha). I put my aunt on the job, because she is great at finding furniture at good prices. In just a few days she called me, saying she'd found what I was looking for.
We brought it home last weekend. DH had to do some sanding and clear coating of the top, but that was it. I'm so happy with the way it looks! AND I can clean all around it and under it. AND I can reach the windows easily now! I think it really opens up the dining area and makes the whole room seem bigger and more airy.
I should have taken a nicer picture, but this is how it looks most days - used! Once C is out of the high chair we'll have even more room in there.
Since these chairs are shorter, I feel like I can add a picture or something to that blank space on the wall. (I hate blank spots on a wall!) I have a family portrait that would look nice, but I'm not sure if it will fit...we might have to do some rearranging!
I'm also torn now over the windows. Before, I decided not to do any curtains, since there was so much going on with the table and chairs. Now, I kind of feel like some light curtains would look nice. I hate picking out curtains, especially on weird windows like these 3. You can't do just one rod across all 3 since its 3 different walls. Any suggestions?? The windows in C's room are just like these, and it took me forever to decide on those. I ended up putting valances on all 3, and long panels on the outside windows as well. It looks nice, but that's too much for this space.
I think my husband hates the constant projects I have around the house, but it makes me happy, and ultimately, it makes things better! (Unbeknownst to him, this weekend I am UNdoing a project I did a while back. He hated it, and I tried to make it work, but in the end I realized he was right, and now I hate it too. He'll be happy when I change it back! I'll post about it once I'm done.) ( :
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