Monday, October 29, 2012
Kitchen Tip
When making "spice" lattes, it is soooo much better to blend your spices into the tea or coffee grounds prior to brewing than it is to mix it into the liquid. For some reason, the spices tend to separate and give the beverage a "chunky" aspect when added after brewing. Not yummy. It's sort of like eating sand.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Tuesday
1) Sunday afternoon I made & canned 22 quarts of applesauce. Sadly, that was all the apples we got this year. It was not a great fruit year for us. Jay thinks it was do to his massive pruning last spring. Anyway, I used my victorio for the first time and it.is.awesome. There was very little waste & I did not have to core or peel the apples. Just a wash, cut out the bad spots, and either halve or quarter. Then into the pot to soften. Dump in the hopper and crank & plunge away. Much easier.
2) I wore a dress to church on Sunday. I am at a point wear I just sort of feel yuck all the time. So I thought I'd dress up a little. I got lots of complements which was nice. And highly embarrassing. It made me feel good but it sort of made me feel like a spectacle. The part that I really enjoyed was that Jay really liked it. He often sees the no makeup, hair thrown up, sweatpants version of me. He never complains but I know he prefers me to get dressed & make myself presentable. So I am trying to make more of an effort. Even when I am just staying home.
3) Speaking of dressing up, I have been looking at outfits online the last couple of days. There are some really cute things out there. But the prices are outrageous! Some of them cost more than my car! Literally. So I decided I would really waste some time and try to do my own "get the look".
This is what I came up with:
Outfit online $608.70 without the bag.
My version: $180.30 with the bag.
Of course, I already have a grey peacoat, similar handbag, & jeans. So for me it would be a lot less.
Another try.
Internet outfit: $292.00 minus the belt, bag, & earrings because they were ridiculous in price.
My version: $175.18 without the bag.
One more.
Internet version: $164.00 not including the belt, boots, hat, or mittens
My version: $242.18 including everything.
Still expensive but kinda fun to try & figure out the cheapest way.
4) While I'm still on the subject of looking beautiful I figured that I'd better work on my true beauty just as much or more than my physical self, so I am trying to get back into the habit of daily Bible study again. Anybody know of a good devotional series for wives & moms?
5) Rhett is sleeping better but still waking up once a night. Certainly better than 3 times. And he goes peacefully to sleep on his own 90% of the time now which is really nice.
6) The wood is in for the year. It looks so nice all split and stacked up on the porch and in the shed. Just another one of the perks to this time of year. Fires glowing in the living room stove. There is almost nothing that soothes me like the crackling of a fire late at night or in the wee hours of the morning.
7) Our Thanksgiving plans may be drastically changing at the last minute due to the fact that Jay's brother & his family may not be able to make it. Of course we won't know until the last minute so if they can't make it I will be crashing my family's Thanksgiving dinner.
8) Having a Scentsy party in two weeks. And my house is not even a little bit ready. Nothing like a bunch of company to motivate me to clean exceptionally well. Maybe I should have company once a week...
9) I have been trying to cut out sugar the last week or two. It is harder than I thought. I have cut waaaaay back but haven't been able to cut it completely out. I'll get it eventually. I hope.
10) Fall has suddenly turned cold and wet and we are frantically trying to get all of the outdoor projects wrapped up before it's too late. Seems like we are always scrambling to do everything. Speaking of which, time to get dinner and some more housework done.
2) I wore a dress to church on Sunday. I am at a point wear I just sort of feel yuck all the time. So I thought I'd dress up a little. I got lots of complements which was nice. And highly embarrassing. It made me feel good but it sort of made me feel like a spectacle. The part that I really enjoyed was that Jay really liked it. He often sees the no makeup, hair thrown up, sweatpants version of me. He never complains but I know he prefers me to get dressed & make myself presentable. So I am trying to make more of an effort. Even when I am just staying home.
3) Speaking of dressing up, I have been looking at outfits online the last couple of days. There are some really cute things out there. But the prices are outrageous! Some of them cost more than my car! Literally. So I decided I would really waste some time and try to do my own "get the look".
This is what I came up with:
Outfit online $608.70 without the bag.
My version: $180.30 with the bag.
Of course, I already have a grey peacoat, similar handbag, & jeans. So for me it would be a lot less.
Another try.
Internet outfit: $292.00 minus the belt, bag, & earrings because they were ridiculous in price.
My version: $175.18 without the bag.
One more.
Internet version: $164.00 not including the belt, boots, hat, or mittens
My version: $242.18 including everything.
Still expensive but kinda fun to try & figure out the cheapest way.
4) While I'm still on the subject of looking beautiful I figured that I'd better work on my true beauty just as much or more than my physical self, so I am trying to get back into the habit of daily Bible study again. Anybody know of a good devotional series for wives & moms?
5) Rhett is sleeping better but still waking up once a night. Certainly better than 3 times. And he goes peacefully to sleep on his own 90% of the time now which is really nice.
6) The wood is in for the year. It looks so nice all split and stacked up on the porch and in the shed. Just another one of the perks to this time of year. Fires glowing in the living room stove. There is almost nothing that soothes me like the crackling of a fire late at night or in the wee hours of the morning.
7) Our Thanksgiving plans may be drastically changing at the last minute due to the fact that Jay's brother & his family may not be able to make it. Of course we won't know until the last minute so if they can't make it I will be crashing my family's Thanksgiving dinner.
8) Having a Scentsy party in two weeks. And my house is not even a little bit ready. Nothing like a bunch of company to motivate me to clean exceptionally well. Maybe I should have company once a week...
9) I have been trying to cut out sugar the last week or two. It is harder than I thought. I have cut waaaaay back but haven't been able to cut it completely out. I'll get it eventually. I hope.
10) Fall has suddenly turned cold and wet and we are frantically trying to get all of the outdoor projects wrapped up before it's too late. Seems like we are always scrambling to do everything. Speaking of which, time to get dinner and some more housework done.
Saturday, October 20, 2012
How do you...
organize your kitchen?
This is something I have been struggling with since I've been married but more so since moving to this house. I think it's about this time every year that I get the itch to organize and purge and make our spaces more useable. You know, spring cleaning. Only it hits our house in the October/November season.
Anyhow, we don't have a lot of food storage in our kitchen. Most of our bulk items go in our "pantry" in the basement. Not the most convenient but I can't complain as few people actually have a whole room for the sole purpose of storing food and cooking items.
My plan is to do this:
I want to buy this cart, or something similar, to put in our dining room where the hutch currently resides.
Serving dishes & table linens will be stored on the shelves below. On top I was thinking I would have a beverage station. There would be a shelf on the wall above the cart with canisters containing cocoa mix, sugar, tea, coffee, honey, marshmallows, etc. (I like the top shelf.)
The actual table top would contain the coffee maker, electric tea kettle, and this mug rack with all my mugs.
There might also possibly be a silverware caddy containing stir sticks & straws. What makes this idea appealing to me is that when company comes the don't have to squeeze through the kitchen to get their drinks and it frees up an entire cabinet in my kitchen that is now filled with teas, drink mixes, & mugs. But the most exciting part to me is that when we have dinner guests the cart can easily be wheeled into the hall and then the table can be expanded & chairs added. Right now the hutch takes up a lot of room & there isn't even enough room for our family to sit comfortably around the table, let alone guests.
My other thought was to put the newly empty cabinet to use by making somewhat of a baking station there. It is relatively close to the oven & right now the baking items are kind of scattered hither & yon around the kitchen. I would like to consolidate it somewhat. Like this:
All of my most commonly used baking tools & ingredients all in one place. I utter a contended sigh at the thought of having this in my kitchen.
I would also get this to hang over the peninsula.
Here, my pots & pans would reside, freeing up another entire cabinet.
I would then have two free cabinets to store food in.
I also thought this was a good idea for the pantry downstairs.
They are those soda dispensers. I found some here for $3.95 a piece.
Well, i was just curious as to how others oragnize their kitchens.
This is something I have been struggling with since I've been married but more so since moving to this house. I think it's about this time every year that I get the itch to organize and purge and make our spaces more useable. You know, spring cleaning. Only it hits our house in the October/November season.
Anyhow, we don't have a lot of food storage in our kitchen. Most of our bulk items go in our "pantry" in the basement. Not the most convenient but I can't complain as few people actually have a whole room for the sole purpose of storing food and cooking items.
My plan is to do this:
I want to buy this cart, or something similar, to put in our dining room where the hutch currently resides.
Serving dishes & table linens will be stored on the shelves below. On top I was thinking I would have a beverage station. There would be a shelf on the wall above the cart with canisters containing cocoa mix, sugar, tea, coffee, honey, marshmallows, etc. (I like the top shelf.)
The actual table top would contain the coffee maker, electric tea kettle, and this mug rack with all my mugs.
There might also possibly be a silverware caddy containing stir sticks & straws. What makes this idea appealing to me is that when company comes the don't have to squeeze through the kitchen to get their drinks and it frees up an entire cabinet in my kitchen that is now filled with teas, drink mixes, & mugs. But the most exciting part to me is that when we have dinner guests the cart can easily be wheeled into the hall and then the table can be expanded & chairs added. Right now the hutch takes up a lot of room & there isn't even enough room for our family to sit comfortably around the table, let alone guests.
My other thought was to put the newly empty cabinet to use by making somewhat of a baking station there. It is relatively close to the oven & right now the baking items are kind of scattered hither & yon around the kitchen. I would like to consolidate it somewhat. Like this:
All of my most commonly used baking tools & ingredients all in one place. I utter a contended sigh at the thought of having this in my kitchen.
I would also get this to hang over the peninsula.
Here, my pots & pans would reside, freeing up another entire cabinet.
I would then have two free cabinets to store food in.
I also thought this was a good idea for the pantry downstairs.
They are those soda dispensers. I found some here for $3.95 a piece.
Well, i was just curious as to how others oragnize their kitchens.
Monday, October 8, 2012
Boot Camp
This week is the week that I have determined to get my littlest munchkin sleeping through the night. So we are going through what my sister deems "boot camp".
I am convinced, after 4 children, that training a young one to sleep through the night requires at least a little crying. For mine, it seems to require a lot. At least for the first few days. And it ain't no fun neither. In fact, I think it's harder for me than for Rhett.
It took approximately 2 hours for him to fall asleep last night. But we were determined that he would do it on his own. And he did. But it hurt me. I guess its the 5,000 push ups phase of boot camp. We are breaking down the muscles so we can build them up stronger.
Not only are we training Rhett to go to sleep on his own but I am cutting all dairy from my diet. I know he is a little sensitive but I am curious to see if it is more than I initially thought. This may be part of the reason he wakes up in the night. Digestive issues.
I am also working on his day time schedule. Not letting him sleep more than so many hours at a time, making sure he gets up the same time each morning, getting into a good bedtime routine and so on. I know a lot of people scoff at scheduling an infant but I am not talking about starving the kid because it's 30 minutes from his feeding time. However, I have found that if you get them into a good routine they tend to naturally eat & sleep around the same times every day. Give or take a few minutes. And I have noticed that the same people who scoff are generally the same people who have three kids in their bed with them every night until they are 4 or 5. Nothing wrong with that if it's what you want. But I don't. And Jay won't. So scheduling it is!
So if you think of us this week, send up a little prayer because baby boot camp can be rough.
I am convinced, after 4 children, that training a young one to sleep through the night requires at least a little crying. For mine, it seems to require a lot. At least for the first few days. And it ain't no fun neither. In fact, I think it's harder for me than for Rhett.
It took approximately 2 hours for him to fall asleep last night. But we were determined that he would do it on his own. And he did. But it hurt me. I guess its the 5,000 push ups phase of boot camp. We are breaking down the muscles so we can build them up stronger.
Not only are we training Rhett to go to sleep on his own but I am cutting all dairy from my diet. I know he is a little sensitive but I am curious to see if it is more than I initially thought. This may be part of the reason he wakes up in the night. Digestive issues.
I am also working on his day time schedule. Not letting him sleep more than so many hours at a time, making sure he gets up the same time each morning, getting into a good bedtime routine and so on. I know a lot of people scoff at scheduling an infant but I am not talking about starving the kid because it's 30 minutes from his feeding time. However, I have found that if you get them into a good routine they tend to naturally eat & sleep around the same times every day. Give or take a few minutes. And I have noticed that the same people who scoff are generally the same people who have three kids in their bed with them every night until they are 4 or 5. Nothing wrong with that if it's what you want. But I don't. And Jay won't. So scheduling it is!
So if you think of us this week, send up a little prayer because baby boot camp can be rough.
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)