The Unorganized Closet

This is what I am tackling tomorrow. After a trip to the zoo. The goal is to see the floor by tomorrow night.

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Menu Plan- August 28

Here's what we're eating this week.

Sunday- Breakfast night; bacon, eggs, grits and biscuits...mmm...mmm...mmm! Thanks Cracker Barrel for the leftover biscuits we have in the freezer!

Monday- Steaks with sneaky stuffed potatoes (It's twice baked potatoes with pureed cauliflower in it)

Tuesday- Spaghetti Squash Alfredo (with chicken)

Wednesday- Chick-Fil-A night at church (so glad Wednesday night dinner is back!)

Thursday- It's the start of college football season and MS State (where the hubs went to school) is playing. So the hubby gets to decide what kind of "tailgate" food he wants for dinner.

Friday- We're going to the Atlanta Braves game so I guess we will be eating ballpark food that night.

There's a look at our week.  I went to Ikea this weekend and was inspired, so be looking for some organizational posts later in the week!

Maximizing my Mornings

It's that time of year to start getting back into a routine.  Last year I started getting up at 5am to have some time for myself.  At the time, I had very early risers so I was lucky if I had 30 minutes to myself.  This summer the kiddos have been sleeping until at least 6:30am, so I hope that trend continues!  A few days ago Jamie of Happy Harper Stories had posted on her Facebook page a link to Inspired to Action and the Maximize Your Morning challenge. 

I signed up for the emails and was sent a link to download the ebook that goes along with the challenge.  It's really good stuff to get your mornings organized.  My challenge will be getting back in the routine of waking up so early!  I did it last year, then started sleeping until the kids woke up once summer started. 

Our Open House, where I teach, is coming up Monday, so I think I'll start my morning routine then.  School won't start until Sept. 12, so that will give me two weeks to get it going again.  The Maximize Your Morning Challenge includes having time with God and exercise.  The exercise part of my challenge will be in the afternoons, while W is having nap time at preschool.  My plan is to walk at a track that is close by his school while he sleeps and be back in time to pick him up. 

 Summer's over, time to get going again!

Mmmm...Southern Goodness

I had posted earlier that we were having hamburgers tonight. That changed at the last minute to Smothered Hamburger Steak. Here's the recipe I came up with.

I already had 4 hamburger patties, so that's what I used. Season them however you like hamburgers seasoned. I used a roasted garlic an herb seasoning. Cook the patties on the stove over medium high heat for about 10-12 minutes, turning once. Remove from pan and make the smothered goodness.

For the sauce:
1 onion sliced
1 tbs flour
1 c milk
1/2 c greek yogurt

Sautee the onion in the pan drippings until soft. Add the flour and stir about 30 seconds, then add the milk. Whisk together and let it simmer until it starts to thicken. At this point add a few spoonfuls of the sauce to the yogurt and mix together. Pour the greek yogurt into the pan and whisk until smooth. Add the hamburger patties back to the pan and smother them with the gravy. MMM Good!

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Menu Plan-August 23

Here's a quick look at what we're eating this week.

Monday- hamburgers with fried okra and tomatoes

Tuesday- Taco Salad

Wednesday- Wednesday night dinner is back at church!

Thursday- leftovers and more okra and tomatoes!

Friday and Saturday we'll be out of town, so who knows what we'll be eating.

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Messy Bathroom!

Yesterday I decided to tackle the master bathroom.  It's where I get ready and where the kids take their baths.  And if the door is ever left open, it's where AM decides to play.  You'll see a picture of what I mean by that in just a minute!  Here it is in all of its messiness.

The counter top- you can see my basket is overflowing!

And under the cabinets- definitely needs help!

AM decided to pull tp off the roll and the empty rolls you see will actually be going to my classroom once school starts!

 That's what the bathroom looked like when I started.  I got out a trash bag and started throwing stuff away.  I had a good bit of stuff to throw away under the cabinets.  It had been awhile since they had been cleaned out! Here's what my lovely bathroom looks like now.

Here all I needed to do was get a bigger basket.  Now everything that was on the counter fits in the basket!

Now there's room for all my stockpile finds I get at CVS!

This Week's Menu

Vacation is over.  It's almost time for school to start back, so that means it's time to start menu planning again.  I really like menu planning so it'll be good to get back in the swing of things.  Here's how things go at our house.  I cook maybe 3 times a week.  The rest of the week is leftovers from the meals that were cooked.  I see no reason to cook 5 nights a week.  There is nothing wrong with leftovers!  I don't plan out breakfast because it's always cereal, unless it's Saturday and I decide to make pancakes.  I'll have to get better with planning lunches once school starts back since I'll have to have lunches made for everyone the night before.  So, on to this week's menu. 

We're having:  Slow Cooker Adobo Chicken (I've actually got this in the crock pot right now because I'm going to use half of it for chicken salad this week) with asparagus and potatoes.

Weeknight Pork Chops with fresh corn on the cob and carrots.

Pizza Carbonara

Saturday is W's 3rd birthday party, so we'll have hot dogs and other party food fair that night!

I used All Recipes to plan this week's menu.  I had pizza crust and pork chops already in the freezer so that's where I started with my meal plan.  I printed out a shopping list from the recipes and I actually had most all the ingredients on hand, so I just had to fill in with my fresh produce for the week.  I'll try using All Recipes again next week and this may become my new menu planning tool.

Vacation

We have been in Oceanside, CA on a little family vacation for the last week. Legoland was number one on the agenda this week. It's been fun and we're headed home tomorrow.

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Last Week at CVS

I love CVS! I love it for several reasons. It's close to my house, never crowded and it has a car buggy (very important to my almost 3 yr old)! But it's the Extra Bucks (EB's) that keep me going back. If you're not familiar with EB's you need to be. EB's are basically store money that you get on certain products. You can then take this "money" and use it for whatever you want at CVS! There's your mini CVS lesson for the week....on to my deal last week!

I started last week with 11.00 in EB's from a previous trip. I purchased (1) Colgate toothpaste and (5) Suave body washes. I paid $1.57 out of pocket and got back $3 in EB's! That made last week's CVS trip a money maker!

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Taking up Space

I love this book shelf. We love books at our house. But lately, this is more clutter than anything. This becomes the place where we put things so AM can't reach it. I need to figure out what to do with this. Suggestions???

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Christmas in August?

Here's what I found in the coat closet today:

These are ornaments that I forgot to put on the tree at Christmas. One is a baby's first Christmas ornament 2010.  The other is from Gulf Shores that we got last summer.  I had stuck them in the front closet and surprise, surprise I forgot about them.  Here's some more Christmas items I found:

I decided after last Christmas that it was time for new stockings.  So I hit the after Christmas sales and so did my mom.  I think I counted 7 stockings.  There are 4 people in our family.  Here are some other lovely things I found in the closet:

The hangars were actually a good find.  It's time to start hanging and tagging everything I'm consigning this fall and wire hangars are a requirement.  So, yay! I only need about 100 more hangars.

Scarves. I think I counted 6 scarves.  I wish I could say that's all I have, but it's not.  There are many more in my closet.  I love scarves.  In my defense, as a teacher, I spend a lot of time on the playground.  Everyday. It gets cold in the winter.  I need scarves.  And they have to match, right?  For instance, the green and pink scarf doesn't match everything.  I did get rid of one scarf today.  It was plain and boring. Okay.  How about some before and after of the coat closet. 

Before. It's quite cluttered and messy.  Those cute backpacks are for my nieces so they will be leaving the house at some point.  (side note- the backpacks, clearance at llbean.com for $9.99 shipped.)  And now for the after pictures:

Much better.  And, can I just say, I have 4 coats in the closet.  My husband has 8.  I think it's time for someone to get rid of some things!  One more quick project I did today was in the playroom.  Here's what the playroom looks like 6 1/2 days out of 7:

Last night as I was listening to Margie talk about organization I had a light bulb moment.  I have been trying to have a place for all the toys.  Blocks in one place, puzzles in one place, cars in one place, etc.  You get the point.  W is 3 and AM is 1.  It's pretty much a lost cause.  So, here's my light bulb moment.

A big green plastic tub.  All W has to do now is throw the toys in the tub.  That's the place. For everything.  Why didn't I think of this sooner?

Created for messes!

This precious child just walks around looking for messes to make! She is part of the problem and I need to figure out how to make her part of the solution too!

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Simple Thought

“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” -William Morris

Baby Steps

My first project on this journey of becoming organized is a small one.  I started yesterday with our "laundry room".  I use the term laundry room loosely since basically our washer and dryer is in the kitchen, hidden behind a set of folding doors.  Here's the before:

 

As you can see, it's a mess. So, I headed for the Dollar Tree. Did you know you can get great containers for only a dollar at the Dollar Tree?!  I put the 1 year old to bed and got to work.  I cleared out the space and threw things away and then put it all back.  It took about 30 minutes or so (which really isn't very much time at all) and here's the finished product:

This is just the beginning of creating a more simple, organized home.  We'll see where I end up!

A New Month, A New Blog

My last post on Summer of Salads mentioned that I was trying to figure out what to do next. And this is what I've come up with, Created for Order.  Back in January I started reading through the Bible.  As I read, starting with Genesis, I kept coming back to one central theme: ORDER.  If you read through the account of creation you see a definite order to this world.  I believe God created us for order, but so many times life becomes more chaotic than not.  So, this is my journey to create order and simplicity in the midst of the chaos that comes with being a working mom and having a family.  I will blog about anything from our weekly menu plan to organizing our laundry room to saving money at CVS.  So, here goes....