Hot Steam

Today, as I was ironing my husbands shirt for the first time since I started growing his son, the fact that I grew up smacked me in the face like a blast of hot steam.

I love my life. It is all that I dreamed it would be as a little girl, except for that short period of time when I thought I wanted a career, HA! It's nothing like that. I love looking back and seeing how the Lord has worked everything out. Out of chaos comes a beautiful picture. I remember a school assembly we had in middle school. An artist came and painted while we watched. It was amazing. Millions of dots of color that made no sense at all. Then suddenly the face of Jesus was staring at us, thorny crown and all.

My ten year high school reunion is this year. Two of my friends from childhood, whom I love dearly, have lost a parent. People I know, grew-up with, played barbies with, ran around their neighborhoods in our swimsuits at midnight. These ladies, who I would do anything for even if we hadn't seen each other in 20 years, have felt the devastating loss of a parent. My heart breaks at the thought. I called my Mom this morning and cried. Poor Momma, she was at work and took a break just to take my call. The Lord knew I needed to talk to her, she isn't usually able to answer my calls when she is at work.

I'm just wondering what happened to the little girl with a perm like Annie. One minute I was staring in the mirror practicing for my cooking show and the next minute my kids are screaming for dinner. No time to banter with the camera today folks, these kids want food!

It's just an odd nostalgic kind of day. The rain, the sun, the rain, the sun. Makes for a moody me I guess. That and this boy! Seems this pregnancy is much more emotional.

Thanks for sticking with me on this little therapy session. It helps.

~And So That's What She Did.

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18

By the way I found this wikipedia definition of nostalgia interesting.

The term nostalgia describes a sentimentality for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations.^[1] The word is a learned formation of a Greek compound, consisting of νόστος (nóstos), meaning "homecoming", a Homericword, and ἄλγος (álgos), meaning "pain, ache". It was described as a medical condition, a form of melancholy, in the Early Modern period, and became an important trope in Romanticism.^[1]

Kitchen Organization Challenge: Freezer Reveal

Alright so in order to catch up on my goals, and because I found I STILL hadn't spent all of the Container Store gift card our Realtor gave us when we moved into this house 6 years ago, I organized my freezer today. I about had a contraction while trying to inventory the chest freezer but I got it done.

Let's take another look at the before.

Before:

 Icky, messy, and I would rather buy something new than try to find something in this mess.

After:

My original plan was to purchase the medium sized version of the top tall bins and not bother with the bottom. Then I found the smaller bins and thought that I didn't need tall sides so I would just fill my freezer with the short bins. When I got to the store I found the taller bins that have the same footprint as the short bins. So I changed my plan and decided to go with the tall bins on top and the short bins on the bottom. In the change-up I forgot how many bins fit on the bottom shelf and bought one less than I needed. Now I have one space that will probably become a mess again until I make the trip back to the Container Store to get another bin. Perhaps I will reconfigure my categories and it won't matter. We'll see as things evolve but I am so glad to have the bones needed to organize this normally messy place

Freezer Inventory:

I decided, at least for now, that I am just going to keep my freezer inventory on my grocery list clipboard until I decide if this layout and these categories are going to work for us. It is also printed on scrap paper. :o)   Once I decide that this is going to work I might mount it inside the medicine cabinet just right of the fridge. Handy and out of sight.

So to recap:

Ooooh so much better.

As with most of my organizing and decorating projects, things are left a little undone. Apparently I like that sort of thing, gives me something to look forward to. Either that or I am a little lazy. Mostly both.

Now for those naughty spices.

~And So That's What She Did.

Kitchen Organization Challenge: Reveal(ish)

First let's review the goals that I had.
1. Create a Lunch Prep Station for My Beloved
2. Spice Storage
3. Organize Freezer and Maintain a Freezer Inventory List

We'll start with the first one because that's the only one I really did.


1. Create a Lunch Prep Station for My Beloved
Here is the before picture:

And once I moved them to their new home here is how the drawer looks:

Much better and right next to the fridge. I didn't do anything different to the basket that is in the fridge because it's working just fine.

From here I deviated completely from my goals. Once I moved the baking goods and the pasta to make way for the snacks, then the baking goods and pasta needed new homes. So here is what I DID do:

Pasta Drawer Before: 

This is the drawer below where the snacks now live. I didn't really NEED to move these except for the fact that I wanted them to be where the snacks had been.

Pasta Drawer After:

It's not exactly complete in the beautiful and organized sense but it makes much more sense as far as the location goes. This cupboard is right next to the stove. 

Also you can see I use the term pasta loosely it's really more like pasta, grains, beans drawer. To be fair I am in need of quite a few of my normal pastas so this drawer will be a little more loaded after I do some grocery shopping, we'll see how well it holds up. I'm hoping to find containers for pasta. I had found some at Ikea but when I went to purchase them they were not as air tight as I would have liked so I passed on them.

Then there was the baking drawer where I wanted to put the snacks.

Baking Goods1 Before:

I moved the drawer under my other baking goods drawer, literally just pulled the drawer out and traded it the drawers. Then I pulled everything out and contained it, labeled it in my good enough fashion, and now it looks like this:

Baking Goods1 After:

Oh mason jars how handy you are. Thanks to you I spent $0, nothing, nada on any of these drawers. 

As I mentioned the drawer above this one is also a baking drawer and it was organized before. I didn't do much to it but I did need to add a few things to it that no longer fit in drawer 1.

Baking Goods2 Before:

Baking Goods2 After:

I am really pleased with my game of musical drawers. Things make SO much more sense and I love that. In a brain where logic and emotion are in a constant battle for king of thoughts, having a kitchen that works for me and not against me is one less stress.

I didn't spend any money on these drawers but I did buy two little baskets for my potatoes and onions. I stopped by Fred Meyer to see if they had some storage containers for my freezer. Instead I came home with these:

 They just screamed onions and potatoes. So being the obliging human that I am I granted their silent wish.

I'm still working on a freezer inventory. I think perhaps my best bet is going to be framing a check sheet similar to my cleaning list thus creating a dry erase surface with categories that don't wipe off. I think I might need to rethink the wall next to the fridge that houses my kitchen towels as well as my grocery list and cleaning schedule. So I'll keep you posted on that and the spices that I still can't decide how to handle.

But next month we are moving on to Linens and Loos. Which is good because both of those areas are a little overwhelmed in our house.

~And So That's What She Did.

Baby News

Kitchen Organization Goals

Yo folks, iHeart Organizing is doing a monthly organization challenge and February is kitchen month. Now I am not usually a participator, it's just not my thing, but I do love me some organization and I thought perhaps, just maybe you would want to see what I come up with. So children's attitudes permitting here is what I hope to accomplish this month.

My kitchen organization goals:

1. Create a lunch prep station for my Beloved.
I want to move all of his lunch needs to one location making sack lunch prep uber easy. Here are a few of my inspirations.

For the cupboards:

ApartmentTherapy

 For the Fridge:

iHeartOrganizing

I have a bit of a start on this, but they are on opposite sides of the kitchen. That bugs me.

For the cupboard:

For in the Fridge:

In this box I keep lunch meat, sliced cheese, carrots, sting cheese and the small containers are for ranch, but this week they have fudge inside :). I haven't put the ranch ones in yet, but I will. I try to restock this after I grocery shop but sometimes it gets a little neglected. 

I would like to find storage on the fridge side of the kitchen for lunch prep. I have my eye on two drawers on that side. They currently house pasta and baking goods. I think the pasta could fit on the shelf that currently houses the snacks but I may need to get creative about the baking goods. I like things near where they are used but I can't fit everything on the stove/oven side of the kitchen.

2. Spice Storage

This is an on going issue for me. And one that I think if I can solve I might have a home for the aforementioned baking goods.

I previously housed my spices on a double tiered lazy susan in the cupboard to the right of the microwave. However, I decided that my cookbooks would do better there and so moved my spices to a drawer. I  labeled the tops of the jars and placed them in. I don't have photographic proof of this because as the spices were used the containers they came in were tossed and I often forgot to save the lid for the new container. Now when I need a spice I spend several seconds, sometimes minutes, searching the drawer for the one that I need.

Here are some of my inspirations for this project.

iHeart Organizing

Raising up Rubies

I've been thinking for some time that I need to go to universal containers but this scares me. Mainly because I sometimes buy a small container of a spice and other times a large container and what do I do if there is excess spice? I don't have room to store excess spice! And I keep a LARGE stash of spices, at least large compared with what I see in blogland cupboard photos.

Here is my spice drawer in it's current state of MESS:

My other concern with universal containers is they have to be easy to obtain that way if I buy something out of the ordinary it's not hard to maintain the cohesive look of the space.

3. Organize Freezer and Maintain an Inventory List

I have a confession, I have been coveting. . . for sometime now. . . I have coveted this freezer:

iHeart Organizing . . . yes again!
I can't get enough. It's become a disease. . . perhaps a disease of the heart? Probably just in my head though.

Wouldn't it be lovely to open your freezer and see this loveliness staring back at you? I've tried a variation but my boxes weren't large enough and they just over flowed and now I am stuck with this:

We have loads of frozen berries, vegetables, meat, breads, goodies and msg laden frozen foods for lazy days. Oh hey I think I just came up with my categories!

This? . . . well this doesn't bother me. Actually I love this! This is a freezer FULL of beef! It's just a little baby freezer, but when it's full it means I don't have to think to put beef on the grocery list. If I need it, it's probably in there. And I've re-organized it since this picture was taken. We had to use a bit before I could make each category easily accessible. Mmmmmm beef.

As for that inventory list. I did this once upon a time when I had more random items in the chest freezer. Now that it is almost strictly beef storage I fell out of the habit. So last night I defrosted some ground beef and seasoned up some taco meat only to find as I stowed the leftovers in the freezer, that there was a bag already in there! Seasoned and everything all I would have needed to do was thaw and reheat. Blast! Foiled again by my lack of a list. Well That Ends TODAY. . . well not literally today, but when I get around to the freezer project that problem is history.

Creative Organizing

I found this free printable and it's one idea.

I used to have a small dry erase board propped up next to the freezer and I kept that updated but that area is getting a little busy with my cleaning schedule, grocery list and hand towel so. . . this one is going to take some think tank juice to figure out. Perhaps I could place it under my grocery list on the clip board.

Or perhaps inside my household binder or the recipe one. . . . hmm something to ponder. (No, Aunt D., I will not start a whole new binder for this list . . . I don't think.)

~And So That's What She Did.

Sick Days Are Made Of. . .

This cold season has been vicious on our family. Mostly the kids but each of us has had our turn. Thankfully my Beloved and I have managed to stay on top of this most recent bought by taking pureed ginger mixed with lemon juice daily. I'm tired of being cooped up in this house.

I want OUT!!!!

So I thought today should be a fun day.

After some searching on pinterest I found a few inspirations. Although nothing really came together until I was in the shower (anyone else find this happening to them often?). You see the other night at dinner my youngest was asked if mommy is fun. She responded with a chuckle and a no. However when asked if daddy is fun she quickly answered yes. The difference? Mommy is all business all the time, bath time? get in, get clean, get out. How does daddy do bath time? There are plots and story lines with twists, splashing and all the things that mommy says 'stop it' to.

So back to my shower I thought what would be fun for the kids? And as I stared at the shower curtain I remember a pin I had seen that morning of a fort made from a hula hoop and a shower curtain. Perfect! I have an extra shower curtain sitting in the entry bench, a hula hoop behind Beloise' bed. Now how to hang it from the ceiling? I don't have extra curtain rings. . . Zip ties! and I'm pretty sure we don't have rope so . . . I'll just have to explore and see what I can find.

Out in daddy's garage. . . I finally found the zip ties and some white ribbon like thing with DURA-LINE BULL-LINE printed on it. (my Beloved referred to it as mule tape when I asked him if I could use some, after I already had :]).

The girls were ecstatic by the time I had my supplies gathered. I hadn't told them what I was up to, just in case it didn't work out. But once I started zipping those zip ties Ballerina figured things out pretty quickly.

I didn't require them to clean the play room too much so please don't look around, for some reason they have been stacking my extra paper towels into pyramids and placing bottled water on top. I think perhaps they were playing store.

So we read through most of their library books and then it was time for me to make lunch. After lunch is movie hour and then mom's favorite time of the day quiet hour. I am horrible at quiet hour, I spend most of the time in their room telling them to be quiet. Daddy achieves quiet no problem, but hopefully with more practice I will get better at it. Today I think they are both asleep. I know Beloise is because the poor thing has been sick the past week.

While the kids are quiet, and a little while they weren't, I have been re-ordering my household binder. It contains our schedules, bills to pay, coupons, take-out menus, and commonly referenced manuals. Really this is just a small way for me to keep down on the paper clutter in our house.

My first inspiration came from a blog post at iHeart Organizing where she showed her finance binder, yes she too is a lover of all things contained in binders. I loved her finance checklist but sadly it was one of the few things that were not free, you had to buy it from her etsy store. That's fine but being pressed for time and cash I just recreated it in excel. 

The only thing I really changed were the colors and some of the fancy I didn't have time to figure out how to create. But for me it works. I'm excited to have a one stop check point for how our bills change throughout the year. It's really more of a curiosity thing than a necessity.

Then I searched for a pretty printable calendar because time is running out on quiet time and I had to come up with something quick. I found this and LOVE it! Free printable on Scribd by TomKat Studio.

And another shot because she's just so pretty. Although I probably would have done a different font on the days of the week but perhaps next time.

Then I needed to organize my coupons a bit so I thought of some categories for the coupons that sit on my counter the most and went with it. I'm sure this will change as the year progresses since I have already thought that perhaps clothes should be one and maybe I want to use the shorter tabs instead of direct labeling on the page protectors but we'll see how it goes.

So that is how we are spending our sick day in. Perhaps now that my binder is pretty I will finish my taxes. Or perhaps I should just figure out what's for dinner. . .

Ahhhh take-out menus, how convenient.

~And So That's What She Did.

A Little Catching Up To Do.

I haven't blogged in a while for a very good reason. I have two kids and we are expecting number three. I recently decided that as much as I love writing down my thoughts and forcing them on other people I love a happy home more. When I blog I tend to go into my own world and the children get away with far too much or they get unwarranted yelling. So blogging has taken a serious backseat, like it's in the trunk. So just as a fun little catch up here are some pictures from the Holidays.

We have had a whole lot going on around here. In November I threw a baby shower for a close friend of mine (as opposed to the strangers most people throw showers for?). The nursery is styled after the book Where The Wild Things Are so of course the shower was after the same.

Then came November. We hosted my Beloved's family, well a small portion of it. We decided to grill our turkey. I found a good recipe in Martha Stewart Living. 

The turkey turned out beautiful and was the moistest (most moist?) bird I have ever had.

We also had Green Bean Casserole, Candied Coconut Sweet Potatoes, Ultimate Macaroni and Cheese with Bacon and a green salad.

And for dessert. . . well okay the jalapeno poppers are an appetizer which baby LOVES. I'm not normally a  spicy foods kind of a gal, but this baby is a baby after Daddy's heart er uh stomach.

Okay this was dessert. We actually had three desserts. Pecan Cheesecake Pie, Apple Pie, and Apple Cranberry Crisp. Aunt 'Dall made some DE-lish Spiced Apple Cider and it was perfect with dessert.

After Thanksgiving the girls made cookies with Grammy.

And more than once the men did the dishes. It was wonderful. 

Then before November was over Grammy had a birthday which we celebrated with Ballerina's baked apples. I decided that she needed to start learning to cook and I thought these would be simple. While she does do the mixing and pouring, I end up doing the slicing, coring, baking. It's a joint effort.

Meanwhile Ham-Huck found his long lost little sister!

Finally December came and with it The Nutcracker Ballet. Aunt 'Dall and I made a date night of it and I, like a sucker, bought these little crowns for my girls. They love them and now I think they are lost.

Finally Christmas was upon us. We did something new this year and hung the girls stockings from the foot of our bed so that they could come and snuggle up with us as they opened their goodies.

After the stockings it was time for the gifts under the tree.

And breakfast of champions.

Finally we are in January. We got a little snow. A really, little bit of snow.

But the girls insisted on playing in it. Ballerina left her kitchen sink out and it filled with water which then froze. She smashed it on the deck shortly after this picture.

Just after Christmas we all came down with colds. First Ballerina and I and later my Beloved finally admitted to a sore throat. We have been stuck in our house for the past two weeks and desperately needed to go someplace. So we took a drive intending to head up to the Vista House but the road was closed. The kids were antsy to get out of the car so we stopped at this viewpoint. Which is called Portland's Women's Forum. I'm wondering if they decided on this location because the wind is so strong no man or woman can be heard even if they hollered.

If you look directly into the wind, at least on this particular day, you can't even breathe.

On the way home there were ice sickles hanging from a cliff side along the road.

And so that's what we have been up to.