Organizing and Purging

Several weeks ago I stumbled across a new blog, Organizing Homelife. I don't even remember now how I found it, but find it I did and wow! I didn't turn back. When I started reading the blog she was in the middle of her October series, 31 Days to Organize Your Kitchen Frugally. Since I was in the midst of a major bug-bite from the Purge The Kitchen bug, this was a fantastic find.

What I thought was going to be a week-long project of purging and organizing the kitchen has turned into a several-week-long project. Being pregnant (and feeling more pregnant every day it seems) and having 2 little girls to keep occupied or have as "helpers" means I don't have the energy or time to get things done as fast as I think I will sometimes. I have purged and purged. My yard-sale pile has grown. I threw out several plastic containers and a bazillion plastic lids that I no longer had containers for. Things that I didn't really want to store in my kitchen anyway went into a box until I figure out a new home for it. Just get it OUT of the kitchen so I can have less stuff and more space either for better storage of things I actually use or just to not have cupboards quite so crowded. Less is definitely more.

One of the cupboards that has been irking me has been my cookbook and stereo cupboard (the stereo in my kitchen was a Mother's Day gift 2 years ago). I gave my cookbooks a serious purging quite a while ago, but my CD storage has been a growing source of annoyance. On Monday I decided it was time to tackle this space.

Before. Wait, the cat's flea medicine doesn't need to be in here!

Another area of the cupboard I really wanted to improve was my magazine holder for a few loose recipes and a few Taste of Home magazines that I haven't clipped from yet. I have been using a cut-down box but it was gaping and just overall something I wanted to change.

Before, again.

Hello "I want to play the  CD in the middle" night-mare!

(The make-shift cereal box "magazine" holder is hiding on the left.) 

I have been thinking for a while about how to store my CDs more efficiently both space- and accessibility-wise. After rolling the idea of "something smaller" around in my head I realized that something like a CD wallet would be the perfect solution.  Yesterday morning we ran some errands and found what I hope is a great solution. It wasn't exactly what I had in mind (I was looking for something more like this), but I wanted it "now" and didn't want to go to several stores searching. What we did get were these 3-ring binder inserts. Since I don't keep a lot of CDs in that cabinet anyway, a slim 1" ring binder will work great and take up even less space than a CD wallet like I thought I originally wanted. I didn't even have to buy a ring binder because I already had one here at home waiting to be put to good use. Win-win! Over nap-time I worked on the change-over and I am really excited to have easier - and less hazardous - access to my CDs. Even more than that, I'm excited to have a less crowded cabinet! Less is more. :)

After. I removed the cat medicine and decided that appliance

manuals would be better stored in the file cabinet.

 

 To improve the make-shift magazine holder situation, I remembered that we had a real magazine holder that wasn't in current use. It helps the cupboard have a much neater look and I don't have to worry about the sides sagging open any more. When making this change-over I did purge some recipes that I realistically wasn't going to try and generally neatened up the space.

After, zoomed in.

On the left of the CD notebook are our church 

and Sunday School Directories,

my Thankful Journal, and my notebook for 

writing down ideas, lists, projects, and so on. 

 

 *****

The other great purchase we made yesterday that I hope will make my life easier and more clutter-free was a 13 pocket expanding file folder. I have come to realize that our file cabinet just doesn't work for me. Rather, I don't make it work for me because I don't want to. Obviously if I prefer to put the receipts and paid bills in a pile somewhere instead of filing them, the file cabinet is not the answer to my, er, problem. "Hi, my name is Miriam and I have a problem..."

My new "piling" system. :-)

Inspired by this post on Organizing Homelife I think I have a simple, easy-to-use, HANDY way to take care of bills, receipts, stubs and all that other "stuff" that usually goes into my pile-file. I am going to try sorting simply by month. All paperwork from each month will go into that month's pocket. At the end of the year I will empty it, probably into a manilla folder, and stick it in the attic with the other paperwork we keep. Rarely do I have to go back and find a bill or receipt so it think this will work fine. If I feel the file-by-month method is a little too unorganized I still think the expanding file will work well as a simplified categorical miniature filing system.

No "before" pictures but already I am finding this SO easy to use!

It has been fun sharing these ideas and improvements with you.  I hope you've enjoyed reading this post and perhaps even been inspired to create some organized space in your home. Have you had any great organizational or purging light-bulb moments lately? Did you actually do something about it? I'd love to hear about your experiences in the comments below.

~Miriam

Spinach and Chocolate (Yeah, maybe I am pregnant!)

This is the blog post in which I must make a confession or two. My first confession is that I never liked spinach unless it was fresh and in a salad. Cooked greens of any type just do not do it for me. Ever. Period. No matter how they're cooked, seasoned, dressed, flavored, I just can't do it. I mean, I can. I'm a big girl and can choke down a bite or two to be polite to the host but the whole time I have this "moo-ing" sound going on in my head feeling like I'm chewing silage (what cows eat).

My second confession would be that I finally gave in to some recipes that called for spinach and looked so good. I was super skeptical but for some reason every time I looked at the pictures and read the recipes it just seemed like they would be utterly delicious.

Ham, Spinach and Tomato Frittata

I had a bag of frozen, chopped spinach in the freezer and one Saturday morning while Daniel and the girls were eating their traditional Saturday morning breakfast of cold cereal I tried the first recipe. The recipe is for Ham, Spinach and Tomato Frittata. I started reading Aliesha's blog, Feather in Our Nest last month and it was one of those "can't put it down until you read the entire archives - in order" kind of blogs. Anyway, I made the frittata generally following her recipe and adding cheese on top. 'Cause I'm a cheese girl. :-) It was so good!  Since then I've been making it a lot. At least a few times a week a lot. Daniel and the girls like it, too (Susannah calls it "froo-tata!!"). I love the mixture of flavors and that I'm getting iron from a good source (spinach). This recipe was just the start of my slide down the slippery slope...

The second spinach recipe I wanted to try was one I had seen early this year and thought it looked good, but ew, cooked spinach?? However, I kept thinking about it and looking at it. After loving the Ham, Spinach and Tomato Frittata I decided I had to at least try this other recipe. The recipe is for Skillet-Poached Eggs with Spinach, Pea Tendrils and Leeks (from GoodCheapEats.com). A few things going against my mind here were the "poached eggs" and the amount of spinach. I've never eaten/couldn't imagine eating poached eggs. I've seen too many runny-egg pictures of poached eggs to begin thinking of eating them. But, lo and behold, I still thought the recipe looked too good to not try at least once.

I didn't (and don't) have any pea tendrils or leeks, so I loosely follow the recipe. I use onion, frozen chopped spinach, bits of ham, the eggs (of course) and some pepper. (The ham I'm currently using is salty country ham so I don't need to add any salt.) After I saute the vegetables and meat I slide them to the sides and crack in the eggs. After seasoning with pepper I cover the skillet with a lid and let everything cook until the eggs are DONE. No runny egg for me, noooo thank you. The surprising thing? It is REALLY good. I do like to make sure my bites of spinach all have some egg with them, but even alone it's pretty good. SCORE for another great-tasting source for iron from spinach! I make this recipe about once a week, depending on how I feel like eating my eggs that day. :) I don't think I've made this for the girls but Daniel has tasted off my plate and said it was different but not bad. It is especially good served with a slice of buttered whole wheat toast. :)

Now on to the chocolate part. We ran out of milk on Tuesday. That meant Wednesday morning I had to miss my morning cup of Café con chocolate leche. (My fancy wording for mixing coffee with chocolate milk. ;-) ) I had hoped to pick up milk while I was in town Wednesday but the timing didn't work out. After church I mentioned to Daniel that we needed milk but I didn't want to unload-load the girls at the store just for milk (I needed to go grocery shopping sometime soon anyway). He had driven to church in his work van and Susannah was riding home with him. Sylvia and I got home before they did and they weren't right behind us like I thought they would be. After a while they got home. Lo and behold, not only did they have MILK, but Daniel had brought me a chocolate bar, too! And it wasn't just any old chocolate bar. It was Hershey's WITH ALMONDS.

He said that when they were getting ready to buy the milk he picked up the candy bar to buy also. Susannah asked what it was for and he told her "because it will make Mama happy." "Is Mama sad?" was her question. He told her no, I wasn't, but the chocolate would still make me happy. When I was giving him a hug and telling him thank-you for the chocolate - possibly grinning like a fool the whole time - he turned to Susannah and asked "What did I say the chocolate would do for Mama?" "Make her happy!!" was her answer.

Yes, it sure did make me happy. That morning I needed some chocolate medicine and broke into a plain Hershey bar because that was the best I could do. Needless to say, the next time I needed some chocolate medicine I went for the Hershey's with Almonds candy bar. It might not have lasted very long, either...

There you have it. My blog post about spinach and chocolate. I just need to make sure I eat more spinach than chocolate. ;-)

A Little of This and That

This past Sunday afternoon the sewing bug bit. I him-hawed a bit about starting a new project I really want to do or finishing one I started a couple years ago (isn't that embarrassing?!). I decided to be responsible and finish the already started project. I bought this fabric about 8 years ago from the remnant section at WalMart; it was very inexpensive. I bought it planning to make curtains for our then living room. I never got around to it and eventually decided I didn't want that fabric in the living room anyway.  Then we had our major move-the-kitchen/remodel project and I realized the fabric was perfect for in the kitchen. Fast forward to Sunday, and I discovered how very close to finished the two valances actually were. I just had to finish sewing the rod-pockets and they were ready to hang. I got my sewing therapy AND have a finished project. :-)  Daniel hung one of the valances for me last night; when I can find another curtain rod or go buy another one, we'll have them both hung up. It's been a long time coming and I really like them.

Over the summer, and more seriously this fall, Daniel has been working at splitting and stacking wood for this winter. He split plenty by hand, but a few weeks ago he borrowed a splitter and really went to town with it. The entire back row is filled, and the front row is almost filled now. With the weather turning cooler this week I'm really thankful for his dedication and hard work!  In fact, tonight - after running an after-hours call for work and getting home at 8:30 - he is working at cleaning out the chimney for the wood-stove so that we can start the stove. I'm not sure if we'll have our first fire tonight or later this week.

Susannah and Sylvia have been enjoying the out-of-doors this fall. One day after lunch we went out and after taking pictures of the different colors of leaves I took some of them. I like this one even though it's a little posed. :-)

I have been feeling great the past several days and last week made good progress on my purge and organize the kitchen project. I think that tomorrow I will tackle the food cupboards and maybe even the fridge if I get that far. So far I am doing it the lazy way and haven't done any specific cleaning. At some point, though, the cabinet fronts desperately need wiped off.

Somehow I am still in a major don't-want-to-cook rut. Eggs? I love eggs. I would eat them for every meal if I could. Almost all of my breakfasts these days are eggs in some form. The other night I even made eggs for my 4th meal. Lunch and dinner? I don't really have any desire or clue what to make.  I don't know if I need new recipes or what. Maybe I'll try a new soup recipe this week that I've always thought sounded good.

Daniel is on call this week and with the weather turning cold at the same time, I'm trying to mentally prepare myself for long, single-parenting days ahead. On that note, it is almost midnight and I should be heading to bed so I can be rested up for another day tomorrow.

Simple Woman's Daybook ~ October 14

It has been a long time since I've done one of these and thought it would be fun to do again.

Monday, October 14, 2013

I am thinking ...about a young mother in our church who was recently diagnosed with cancer. They have 2 girls about the same age as our girls. The mother is just a bit younger than I am.  My life seems very uncomplicated and stress-free all of the sudden. My heart aches for this family as they are still finding out more information and treatment details.
   ... I also think that it's nice to see the sunshine again. :) All last week it was chilly, cloudy and rainy. The girls were inside almost all of the time. Today they went outside and played for a while.

I am thankful for... the opportunity to go on a very relaxing and refreshing retreat with couples from our Sunday School class this past weekend. One morning we spent time in the Word and in prayer for each other. It was a sweet time of deepening relationships beyond the quick small talk as we pass each other in church.

I painted my nails while we were on the retreat. Susannah and Sylvia both noticed

and Susannah asked this morning if I could paint their nails the same color.

(Their nails are a lot lighter than mine since I only give them one coat.)

From my kitchen... I don't have any food-making plans today; I made Taco Soup and Chicken and Dumplings late last week and we will be eating from those leftovers for supper. I did just recently get a set of Pyrex storage bowls. :-D I am in the process of purging, cleaning, re-arranging and organizing my cupboards to find the best place for them to fit and getting rid of some things that I don't use or love enough to merit keeping.

I am reading...

 
I don't think I'm quite half-way through and it has been enlightening. Allergies (food and environmental) and asthma are both things we have in our family and the information this book contains is not stuff you would learn from a typical trip to the doctor. I borrowed it from the library and it was timely as this fall I have had mild asthma attacks after almost 10 years of none.

I am hoping ...Hmm, what am I hoping. I am hoping to make great progress in the kitchen project this afternoon/week. I am hoping to get a few things photographed and advertised today to sell and that they sell! I am hoping that Daniel will have time to get some things down from the attic so I can do some fall decorating. I am also hoping he can make a trip to the {other} attic to put away a bunch of things that I have been collecting for storage. I am hoping and praying that my allergy and asthma problems will be put to rest with the new medications my doctor put me on. Prior to this, (this fall) if I was outside for very long at all I had a sore throat the remainder of the day (and eventually asthma cropped up). I am hoping that my cough (from a sinus infection or the asthma? not sure) will clear up soon; it is much better but still coughing.

I am creating... I have lots of ideas in my head. I have a partial idea of what I want to do with this wall. Now I just need to figure out how to create/buy/find what I'm looking for.  This project has been the reason I am slightly, possibly, maybe, might start looking at Pinterest. I have avoided it so far...

I am hearing... the dryer just finished (no line drying these days as much as I'd love to save the electricity). Now it is just me and silence. :-)

"Washing dishes" one day.

Around the house... We have two, yes, TWO, broken toilet seats. The first to break was a super-cheap seat that came with the toilet when we put it in. One of the plastic "bolts" that hold it to the commode snapped. The other seat simply cracked in the actual seat ring and now pinches whomever sits upon it! Nice. I'm sure you wanted to know all about our busted jon seats...  On a better topic, I have been burning a candle or two lately. It adds a nice touch on an otherwise dreary or same-ole, same-ole day.

A few plans for the week... Nothing big or honky-dory. Sometime we want to get some pumpkins and mums for our front steps. That might happen. Otherwise my main "plans" are to do the daily regulars and work on the kitchen project. If by some chance I would finish that and still have some week left, I do have a list of things around the house I want to do this fall. A sort of fall cleaning if you will.

*The pictures in this post are just snapshots from our daily lives lately.