Easy and Cheap Ways to Simplify Your Kitchen

Here's my latest how-to video for organization and coping with two kids under two. My oldest is now technically 26 months old, but anyway....

Here's the outline of the video:
1. Simplify your tupperware.
2. Simplify your sippy cups.
3. Reuse quart applesauce jars. (They don't leak at ALL!)
4. Re-examine your baking dishes and store those you seldom use.
5. Repurpose your kitchen drawers.

Little diaper bag

OK, I'm starting something new. I'm filming little how-to videos for new moms or moms trying to shift from one kid to two. If nothing else, they can see how I do it and take one tiny aspect for themselves. I hope to do organizational things for the house, car, outings, and possibly some money saving things. Here's my first try:

Here's what I carry in my little diaper bag for short trips around our suburb.



Other ideas I've got are for how to simplify your kitchen, how to roast a chicken in 7 minutes flat with things already in your kitchen, and other recipes for people who only have time to cook in 2 minute snatches. Let me know what you think. Or what I accidentally videoed in the background that's horrible...

27 weeks pregnant

Yesterday, I had my glucola check, a ultrasound, and my rH shot. Yippie for efficiency! But there were a few good pictures of our second little boy.
And he's definitely a boy, by the way. No pictures of that, but here's his cute mug shot!



*subject change*

I've gotten a lot done today! I've cleaned out two boxes of our precious memory clothing and split them into piles to keep, toss, and give away. Mostly give away. The really unique ones, I photoed and then tossed or gave away. There were like 3 things out of two boxes that I thought we might actually use in the future.

I've also baked muffins which will keep me from missing my fruit bars which are more expensive. I've made brownies which will supply me in several days of my chocolate fix which seems to be a regular craving with this pregnancy. Normally I don't tolerate chocolate well, but all bets are off when I'm pregnant.

I've scanned all our 8x10 wedding pictures and other childhood 8x10s so that we now have a digital version of them. I also scanned in the ultrasound pictures and taken a belly shot.

I have gathered quite a bit of stuff for ARC to pick up tomorrow morning! There are three boxes of stuff for them and I only told them I'd have one. I'm so proud! AND I don't have to haul it to goodwill

Failures: Today, I have eaten muffins, muffin batter, brownie batter, brownies, and cheetos. And that is all.

Now. It's 2pm. Do I want to try to find some stuff in the attic for ARC or have a brownie and a nap before I pick up Quint. Decisions, decisions.... hey look, we've got milk....

Mom's visit

My mom left today, after a week long visit. This was brilliantly planned to coincide with a 3 day out of town trip of my husband's, so I had help while he was gone. It unknowingly coincided with the end of my illness and me remembering that with my last pregnancy, about now was when I realized that I hadn't felt really good in quite some time and am not likely to really feel good until after the birth. The birth THREE MONTHS from now. Only this time, add in worries about money, jobs, and a very active 17 month old. Plus some female issues that are simply a result of having two babies so very close together. Even my doctor said that if I'd waited another year or two, my body wouldn't have this particular problem.

Mom is really great at the whole tag team thing. Especially with zero conversation involved. As in, "hmmm, I'm taking your horizontal/drooling state to mean that I should take the baby upstairs/downstairs and let you rest for a while."

We also got a whole lot done! Here's our super duper list:
We picked out cloth and a design for Rastus's baby quilt.
Mom made me three pretty pillow cases to replace our mismatched/hideous/20 year old spares.
We finished Quint's baby book.
We put the finishing touches on two maternity shirts Mom made for me.
Mom vacuumed the whole house twice during the week she was here.
We cleaned out my car
Mom made a tuna casserole to freeze
I added to our scrapbook (including the article that put my hubby on the front page of the local paper!)
We bought and put together an indoor slide which is a HUGE hit with Quint.
We cleaned out the garage which involved just as much child chasing as cleaning.
We cleaned out and reorgainzed some stuff in the loft to make way for clutter that needs to be stored until it matters so little that we can toss whole boxes at a time.

Commentary on pitchable stuff and reorganization: I finally threw away several items that we have had for several years, if not NINE years, and thought they would be useful one day. If it hasn't actually been useful in the last six to nine years AND has no sentimental value, then it got pitched. A few boxes of sentimental things were thinned or combined or both to take up half the space. The 17 year old computer monitor that had been taking up valuable climate controlled space in our loft got pitched. The accompanying 17 year old computer box was nearly recycled, until I realized that both of our ancient computer boxes could serve a useful weighty purpose with our food storage (long boring explanation). Many boxes in the valuable climate controlled space got demoted to the garage. The trash pile on Monday included the box the slide came in (filled with trash), the box the new pack and play came in (filled with trash), the full trashcan, and a huge extra empty box filled with trash. It was great! The huge pile of clutter in the middle of our garage was cut in HALF! Sooo satisfying.

Mom got enough face time with Quint that she would also get spontaneous leg-hugs on the fly. He would sometimes call her Nana (she prefers Nannie) but would sometimes revert to calling him Mama. Nannie bought several new toys or DVDs which will be enjoyed by boy and mom alike. She took him for walks, stroller rides, trips to the park, exploration of the yard, and one trip to the super-duper park near the library. She developed the "RRRRrrraaaaoooorrrrr!" game which was a huge hit. She figured out why he had suddenly stopped liking chicken nuggets and he now loves them again. She would change dirty diapers without complaint or even comment that it had happened! She bathed him and did all the heavy lifting when baby #2 was traumatizing my body. It was wonderful!

The whole week Mom was here, the weather was exceptionally warm for February in Tennessee! The day at the super-duper park near the library, I had on a sleeveless maternity top and I never reached for my sweater!!

The only downsides of that week involved losing my cell phone (the same day as the big garage clean up - argh) and my hours drying up at H&R Block. I knew all along that my hours would be severely reduced about mid-February, but it seems to have completely stopped. Which means I'm not really hitting my placement agencies for temp work.

So please pray my employment situation. Also please pray for a wonderful new friend to move into the empty house next door.

Mwaaahaahaahaahaahaa!

Yes, I hired a sitter so I could clean out boxes while Hubby was out of town. Lots of boxes went bye-bye. Out of his icky papers, I reduced 5 boxes into 3 smaller boxes. Just take a look!

Here's before

And here's after!

And for the shelves beside the freezer - here's before...
And here's AFTER!!
Yes, folks, that's right I have some EMPTY SHELVES IN MY GARAGE!!!

I also emptied the cedar chest of stuff I haven't looked at in 2 years and refilled it with blankets and pillows. I cleaned out one of those like 30 gallon plastic bins of "Precious Childhood Memorabilia" and now that box is 1/4 full. I gathered things to go to goodwill. I collected things to give away on Craigslist (does goodwill really want a box of random craft supplies? I think not.)
I cleaned out the outside freezer and threw away anything with the years 2006, 2007, 2008 or 2009 included in their "use before" date. But, I still kept the top of our wedding cake from 2002. Not that I plan to eat it, ever, but I still can't part with it. I threw out old medicines that Hubby would insist were still good. I threw away a whole container of growing stuff from the fridge without even opening it. I found 2 things to return to LL Bean and placed my order for their replacements.

I did NOT get my lunches packed for this week. I did NOT pump enough to get my milk supply back up to where it should be. I did NOT manage to wash my hair until this morning, and therefore skipped going to church with icky hair. I DID inventory my milk supply in the freezer and determined that I could use 4 bags per week and run out exactly on Quint's first birthday. And then I promptly sent 2 bags to daycare with him today. I did NOT get the microwave cleaned out. I did NOT get the fridge wiped out. But I can do those two with small fry underfoot.

Not gonna wallow in the stuff I didn't get done. Because just look at those pictures!!!

Tidbits

Little stories from this weekend.

Quint said his first word!! Other than Mama and Papa of course. Last week, while Hubby was watching him all week, "Papa" became a very common occurrence. But Sunday, in the car, Quint was a little fussy. I got out a saltine cracker (the solution to any problem) and said, "Do you want a cracker? Can you say cracker?" He looked from the cracker to me and said "Gwager." Hubby was standing out side the car pumping gas and stuck his head back in the car. "Omigosh he said it!" We said yay and clapped and most importantly, gave him the cracker. Last night, when I asked him, he said, "Gwa G". Pretty close. He was having to think pretty hard about that one.

At he grocery story on Sunday, just after the Gwager episode, I was walking around Aldi saying "corn and carrots, corn and carrots, corn and carrots" trying to remind myself to get those canned veggies. It took me a while to realize that Quint was quacking at me. "Qua, kwa, ka, qua, koe..." After a while it dawned on me that he was trying to say "corn and carrots". I said it again and he started quacking at his papa. The boy is catching on! And so is the mama.

This weekend, Papa was sitting around shirtless just after I had nursed Quint. Quint realized that Papa has similar looking upper equipment as Mama! He crawled over there obviously interested. Quickly, Hubby slapped a hand over each nipple and started saying, "no, son". Quint bounced his mouth on the back of Hubby's hand saying "bwa, bwa, bwa" and then obviously starting rooting around with his nose trying to get Hubby to move his hand. I was laughing my butt off! Honey, he wants some supper! "Is that what that means?" Hubby asks. "Yes! Of course!" I say. For the record, we did NOT let Quint do anything inappropriate. We don't have a fortune to pay for THAT kind of therapy later.

Months ago, I moved all the dangerous chemicals from under the kitchen sink to above the microwave in preparation for a crawling baby. Sunday night, I was looking in the closet under the stairs to see what I could throw away. The extra parts to our 8 year old patio set can probably be pitched. And then I noticed the bottom shelf. The shelf that could be easily reached by a determined toddler. Clearly marked boxes: Rat poison. Fertilizer. Doh! So last night, I cleaned out that closet and moved the various poisons to the garage. I also stored the corded phones and phone cords. I stored/hid our 5x7 framed photo of Nathan Bedford Forrest in the box in the garage that says "framed art".

As I was drifting off to sleep last night, it occurred to me that we have a lot of weird chemicals under our bathroom sink too. Not like bleach, but soft scrub, hair spray, nail polish remover, and whatnot. Come to think of it, how often do we get anything out of there anyway. Do we need that crap?

Makes Mama Laugh

The following photos either will make my mama laugh, or the organization displayed makes my own heart go pitty pat. Or both.



























Recently I found the visual influence, from childhood, of why I organize the way I do. Check out that awesome closet! And there are cookies on Brother Bear's side table. COOKIES! Cookies result from extreme organization.

In other children's books from my own childhood that I have received since the birth of my son, I've learned why I run from running vacuums, why men's electric razors terrify me, and why I keep things in boxes, jars, bottles and tins.

And yes, I've sanitized these pictures so that neither our names or our initials are printed on the boxes. (For those of you who want to do that, open the file in paint, use the eye dropper to pick a color, then pick the square that SHOWS GRAY ON THE INSIDE and draw a square over the thing you want to "delete".)