Menu Plan Monday

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... a little late! Sorry, Pigeon has been home with the flu, and it's side-tracked me a little.

Monday - Chicken Soup with rice (from Sunday's chicken carcass)

Tuesday - Mac & Cheese (King B had a dinnertime appointment that I needed to go to as well, so Buddy (10) made dinner)

Wednesday - Meatloaf, Pasta Alfredo, Broccoli

Thursday - Baked Ziti (which we did not have last week), KTbug's play opens tonight, so this will be put together early in the day, Salad, Rolls

Friday - Finish the Baked Ziti

Saturday - Pizza Night (er, Afternoon... last night for KTbug's play)

Sunday - Crockpot Chicken thighs with "Bone Sucking" Sauce, rice and cauliflower

Breakfasts: oatmeal, eggs & toast, farina, cold cereal, fruit

Lunches: pb&j or pb&h, tuna salad sandwiches, egg salad sandwiches, fruit, chips

Snacks: muffins (blueberry, corn), fruit, veggies, crackers, popcorn

For more menu ideas, go here


Blessings to you,

Something Adorable!

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I was reading one of the blogs I read by Catholic author Danielle Bean, and came across a post that had an absolutely adorable video clip. Go and take a look! You'll be glad you did!


Blessings to you,

Something Adorable!

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I was reading one of the blogs I read by Catholic author Danielle Bean, and came across a post that had an absolutely adorable video clip. Go and take a look! You'll be glad you did!


Blessings to you,

An Organized Pantry

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... is a thing of beauty. First I removed E V E R Y T H I N G and washed down all the walls and shelves. Then I looked and thought... and decided to try a different categorization method. Last time I organized the pantry, I had put all bottles together, all cans together and all boxes together. It didn't work too well. Part of the problem is that the prince and princesses never put things back in the correct spot. I chose different categories this time. And eliminated the bottom shelf in order to fit our big camping cooler which has been sitting next to the small shelf cart that the microwave and toaster oven sit on - driving me nuts because it took up so much floor space and made it cramped by my stove.



The bottom shelf and floor of the pantry had become the "dropping" point for anything the kids couldn't be bothered to put away. I am hoping that having the cooler take up most of that space, along with more "kid friendly" categories (which I will label in a little while) will eliminate that habit.

OK, my pantry:

On the pantry floor is the big blue camping cooler, to the right of that are 3 gallons of white vinegar (I use it for dyeing and cleaning mostly - I use other vinegars for cooking/baking). In front of the cooler is the step stool (very necessary for short people, LOL) and the broom. On top of the cooler are the trash bags, lunch bags, potatoes and onions.


The next shelf up houses Breakfast (on the left) and Lunch. Cereals and oatmeal to the left, bread in the middle (since it works for both) and cans of tuna, Nutella, peanut butter and honey on the right.

Above that is the Pasta and Rice shelf. All of our pasta (we currently have about 15 lbs of it) is either in or next to the box on the right, canned tomatoes and spaghetti sauce are in the middle, and our brown rice and soy sauce are on the left (you can't see them from this angle). That yellow blob on the right is my apron, hanging on the door.... it's not a cute one, but it works to keep my clothes clean when I cook/bake..... well, when I remember to put it on!!

The next two shelves are : bottom - snacks (peanuts, crackers, we keep baked goods and popcorn elsewhere), canned fruits/veggies, bouillon, bread crumbs; top - worcestershire sauce, teriyaki sauce, salad dressings, various vinegars (rice, apple cider, malt), vodka (for vodka sauce - I made once the first time King B came for dinner... the recipe was given to me by one of my co-workers... it's called "You won't be single for long Penne Vodka" - a Rachel Ray recipe... it was right! King B and I got engaged less than 3 months and married less than a year later... and we'd just met a week and a half prior to that dinner! ), some Mint Chocolate Bailey's (I'd gotten for a recipe calling for Creme de Menthe... I couldn't find any small bottles of that CdM, which I don't care for... so when I saw this, I substituted... once in a while I put a capful of the MCBailey's over some Breyers Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream... it's yummy!), and some baking overflow (mixes I'd gotten, and should probably use up)

OK, off to make and apply labels!!

Blessings to you,

Spring Cleaning

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I don't do Spring Cleaning. Well, at least not in one fell swoop. What I do is bits and pieces. Usually when I do these bits and pieces, it uses up all of my decision making / organizing / cleaning energy and the rest of the place falls to pieces. Yesterday was no exception. Actually, the rest of the place was already a disaster from about three weeks worth of not being home on the weekends.

Here is what my upper cabinets, pantry, hutch, and main bookcase looked like as of yesterday:

(I had started on this one before thinking to post this)

over the sink

baking

pantry - those clear pockets house stationery stuff and miscellaneous tools

bookcase - on which is a "rabbit ears" antennae that doesn't help here due to the "mountain" we live on (technically it is a foothill to a mountain range, but it still blocks the TV reception... I should freecycle this AND the long coaxial cable that goes with it)

hutch

As I progress with re-organizing, purging and cleaning, I will post the resulting after pictures. I completed two of the upper cabinets. The over the sink cabinet (really, whoever planned the layout of this kitchen did a poor job - as the corner end of that cabinet is difficult for even my 6'1" dh to reach!!! I need a step stool) now houses:

cooking wines, extra coffee, medications (in the basket), Busker's bottles (in the yellow bins), first aid supplies (in the Ramen box - I will be covering that to make it look nicer), teas of various sorts, cocoa, coffee and filters, glasses and mugs (most of which were in the dishwasher when I took the picture, hence the empty shelf)

The cookbooks from the before picture ended up on top of my refridgerator, being held by one of those dish separators for a cabinet (it doesn't fit in my cabinets, so I found this worked.

The baking cabinet (since I use it so much) wasn't too bad, and really just needed some straightening and wiping down.

I plan on tackling the pantry today. I want to try to have more Martha moments in my life. Yesterday was a decent start, although I am still frustrated at the chaos in the rest of the apartment. I know I do not have the physical energy to get it all fixed in one day. But I want it fixed in one day. I am not very good with delayed gratification. Which is why diets never seemed to work for me.... I get too discouraged at an apparent lack of progress.

FLYlady has never really worked very well for me, because I get too anxious and impatient to get EVERYTHING accomplished at once - and burn out. (Which is exactly what she warns against and why she insists things get done in a certain way) Growing up, I always heard "If you can't do it right, don't do it at all." I think I took this the wrong way, as now when faced with something I don't feel I can do well, I don't do it at all. I think how that phrase should be taken is simply "Do Your Best in All Things". And accept that my best is not always perfect - and that is ok because I do not have to be perfect. I am going to force myself to just do things in stages during this time in my life, follow FLYlady's instructions and ignore that voice screaming in my head "It has to all be done, perfectly, NOW."

Blessings to you,

Thrift Store Finds

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Thursday's trip to the thrift store was quite the success! For less than the cost of a new crockpot (the liner in my old one cracked just before Easter), I found: a crockpot - $3.99; 2 dress shirts for Buddy - $3.99 each; dress pants for Buddy - $3.99; changing pad for Busker's dresser - $1.99;

4 yards of 60" wide medium blue chambray - $ 4.99 ;

5 yards of 45" wide white and blue lace that coordinates perfectly with the chambray - $ 3.49 ;

1 yard of 60" wide white with aqua pattern cotton - $ 1.99 ; two patterns I will cannibalize to make skirts of the above - $1.49 each;

two Playtex Nursers (the type of bottles we are using for Busker when I go back to work) - $0.49 each.

I had also seen a 38 pc set of ruby glass that I picked up because it reminded me of my grandmother. It was $29.92, and had enough dinner and lunch plates, bowls and cups for all of us to use. Then I decided to put it back, since the only reason I had grabbed it was that it triggered a memory. It wasn't even the pattern my grandmother used - just the same color. At the time I put it back, I had decided that I would go back to the thrift store on Monday (everything is an additional 25% off on Mondays), and if it was still there, I'd get in then. Then I did a search on eBay for Ruby Glass and found pieces that were Grandma's exact pattern. I hadn't known the name of her pattern before. It was the Cape Cod pattern (hers was probably from Avon, rather than the original one). I have decided against going back to the store to get that set. I will instead stay on the look out for the Cape Cod pattern pieces and grow my Ruby glass collection slowly. This pattern is quite the collectible, so it may take a while.

Blessings to you,