If God Gives You Snow . . .

 

The calendar on my wall and my internal clock both tell me it's time for spring. Someone failed to get the memo to Old Man Winter - we have snow in the forcast again this weekend! And so this post I prepared last month but failed to publish is still timely, I suppose. 

We won't get enough snow this weekend to make ice cream (I hope!) but we did last month. 2 storms totaling nearly 2 feet of snow meant snow ice cream!

 

 What you'll need:

1 gallon or so of fresh, beautiful snow

1 cup sugar (a little more or less will do, to suit your taste)

1 tsp vanilla extract (or your favorite flavoring (mint, cherry, maple)

1 cup cream or milk (or chocolate milk or strawberry milk, half 'n half works too)

Step 1:  Mix snow, sugar and flavoring together.

 Step 2: Add cream (or milk) and mix well.

Step 3: Serve it up with your favorite toppings

Step 4: Have your handy-dandy taste testers standing by making sure you've followed your recipe accurately.

You can't go wrong with Classic Vanilla Ice Cream, but you can easily adapt this to your family's favorite flavors.  This recipe is very forgiving - if it isn't sweet enough, add more sugar, if it is too dry, add more cream. Need more flavor? Add more! Enjoy!!!

Menu Plan Monday: January 14-20

We are beginning the third week of the new year and around here we are working at getting back to a more 'normal' and regular routine. Aaaahhhhhhhh --  big breath in, big breath out. Feeling good! 

Getting back to my printed menu plan is one of the things that is helping me get back on track. For several different reasons, I'm doing my planning and shopping once a week. Yikes! I've been a once-a-monther for so long I'm really out of practice. Not sure I like it much, but it is forcing me to focus in on using what I have on hand and making deliberate choices about what I purchase each week. That's not a bad thing. Next month, I'm going back to monthly planning for sure!

On the menu for this week:

Monday
b'fast - cereal, banana
lunch - tuna salad sandwiches, carrot sticks, pretzels & potato chips
supper - mexican casserole (rice, beans, burger, cheese - topped with cornbread)

Tuesday
b'fast - breakfast burritos 
lunch - minestrone, Mama's wholewheat bread
supper - chicken pot pie
 
Wednesday
b'fast - oatmeal
lunch - sandwiches, fruit, pretzels & chips 
supper - Pizza Hut (redeeming BookIt coupons)

Thursday
b'fast - toast (made from mom's whole wheat bread)
lunch - mac & cheese, fruit
supper - sloppy joes (date night so Esther's in charge!), veggie tray, apple slices

Friday
b'fast - muffins and fruit
lunch - chicken wraps
supper - pizza night

Saturday
b'fast - pancakes
lunch - leftovers
supper - hamburgers, homemade fries, baked beans

Sunday
b'fast - bagels and fruit
dinner - crock pot lasagne, salad, garlic bread, green beans
supper - popcorn, apples, leftovers, every man for himself

looking ahead, you may see these dishes on next week's menu:  fajitas, meatloaf, french dip sandwiches, chicken caeser pasta salad.

Now that I have my menu planned out, I can dig into my closet project! This week's challenge in the Organizing Revolution is 'Closets'.  We are going to empty out the broom closet and coat closet and put things back in a neat and orderly manner. 

Thanks so much to all of you who have cheered me on this month. It helps so much! And a HUGE thank you to all that took time to vote for me.  First week I came in 15th out 150. Last week I place 13th out 119. Not bad, eh?   Best thing is we are enjoying our newly organized and efficient spaces. 

I'll be back in a day or two with my next organizing post so stay tuned!

Linking up to Menu Plan Monday at OrgJunkie.com.

Organizing Revolution - The Kitchen

Last week I took on the challenge of organizing up my office area. This week it's on to the kitchen!

During this first month of 2013, I've taken the New Year's Organizing Revolution challenge put out there by Laura at OrgJunkie.com and 6 other bloggers.

Last year I cleaned out and organized my junk drawer and a couple of other drawers in my kitchen and wonders of wonders they are STILL clean and organized! So let's build on this terrific foundation, I say!!!! (please excuse all the exclamation marks - a girl has to do whatever it takes to psych herself up for a job like this)

I have once again been following the PROCESS for cleaning out and organizing. It really is a most amazing help. I stay focused and on-task when I work through each step.

As I walk you through all that I've done, you'll see pictures of the amazing transformation of my kitchen cupboards. Soooo, grab a cup of your favorite cuppa and get comfy and enjoy the show!

I used items that were sitting around, like random organizers (this one became a plate rack).  Only purchase for this project was new shelf liner

I Planned out my project -- get rid of items we do not use/need, make items in cabinets more accessible, give shelves and cupboards a good cleaning, change shelf liner, etc. Do the easy jobs first, then tackle those that are driving me bonkers. The rest can wait.

My "Special Pieces" Before (left) and After (right)

Then I Removed ev.er.y.thi.ng. and sorted what was to stay and purged what needed to go. I was in such a hurry I didn't take pictures of any totally blank spaces. But trust me, each cabinet was a blank slate before moving things back in. You can see in the photo above I started cleaning out before taking my 'before' shot.

Coffee Mugs (can a girl have too many? um, ye-es!) Before (left) and After (right)

Under the Baking counter (Before, top. After, bottom)

Baking Pans - I just love the red/cream checks - makes me smile everytime I open up the doors!

Organizing like things with like was pretty easy with this project once I finished the purging. My spices were pretty much in all the same area, breakfast foods and snack crackers were all together. Hot drinks and vitamins and baking pans each had their homes all ready. Mugs were all in same cabinet, specialty pieces were together behind glass doors. 

PURGE!!! I threw out empty and expired vitamin containers, combined half-empty boxes, got rid of my absolute favorite teapot (the one with the broken-haven't-fixed-it-in-10-years handle, sniff sniff), tossed various bottles and crazy amounts of who-knows-why-I-stuffed-that-up-there items.

Next, Containerizing!!! (Love this part!) But with very little $$$ available for this project, I had to utilize containers I already had around and/or get creative. I consolidated as much as possible and assigned space for everything.

Cracker/Cereal/Snack Cabinet (Before on left, After on right)

Spice/Coffee/Tea/Etc Cabinet - top photos show Before and After as you peek in the corner door. Bottom photos show before and after The Great Spice Purge and Reorganization. I keep most spice bottles on 2 lazy suzans, alphabetized (in general) with A-L on the left one and N-Z on the right one.

Gotta love containers!  Above you see coffee and tea condiments in a plastic bin, vitamins and other 'health' products in baskets. The photo on bottom shows how I corralled peanut butter and honey jars in a plastic bin--easy cleanup for those sticky messes now! See also how I re-purposed a large cardboard package as our snack bin. I (usually) keep this stocked with granola bars, snack cracker sandwiches, small raisin packs, etc.

 Once that fun part if finished (oh, yeah, right. this it's ALL fun!), it's time for an Evaluation of the plan. Since my kitchen space has already been working pretty well for me, I do not see any major problems. Except to convince police retrain the family as we build new habits putting things back into their designated containers.

This cabinet is above my double oven - I called it 'The Abyss' because it was so high, deep cavern. A plastic coated wired shelf to utilize some of the vertical space and a wire organizer (meant to be attached to a door/wall) turned on its side to keep serving trays at-the-ready leave plenty of space for bulky pitchers.

Do I have any issues to Solve/simplify? We'll see. Anything that doesn't seem to be working will be addressed over the next couple of weeks as we work in the kitchen and prep/clean up meals.

Smile, relax and enjoy! That's easy when you look around at a job well done.

What!? Could it be!? Empty Space!? Loving It!

If you've made it all the way to this point, and if you've enjoyed your tour through my newly transformed kitchen cabinets, please consider popping over to the Organizing Revolution and voting for me (#102 - hsmominmo) beginning Friday morning (Jan 11) and ending Sunday afternoon (Jan 13). 

Newlywed Cooking Story

An article posted recently by my friend Amy at Raising Arrows inspired this  little story from my past for today's post. You can hop on over to read her version of Newlywed Cooking when you are finished reading here.)

With our two oldest children already living a life of wedded bliss, and number three jumping into Holy Matrimony in just a few weeks, memories from our early newlywed days come to mind regularly. The kids always often sometimes enjoy tolerate these stories from The Old Days. At least, they smile and nod and share encouraging comments like "uh-huh" "really?" and "oh".

 

Thrilling little stories, with lessons to learn. 
Stories such as . . .

Once upon a time, many years ago, there was a young and happy bride. Eager to please her strong and handsome husband she vowed to fix a delicious, home-cooked, country breakfast every weekend. A breakfast that would be sure to win the heart of this farm-boy. Bacon and eggs and toast and juice and, well, you get the picture.
Several weekends in a row she cheerfully fried those eggs and toasted that bread. But then, one Sunday morning, as the love-birds were donning their coats to head for church services, this fine young man turned to his sweet wife and said . . .

"Ummm, it's ok with me if you don't cook breakfast like that anymore."

The bride was crushed. So many thoughts went through her head. "What?! He doesn't like my cooking? He'd rather have his mother's cooking? I've been to their house many weekends. His mother ALWAYS makes breakfast like this. A good old-fashioned, hearty breakfast is what EVERY country boy wants! I must be a terrible cook. He hates my cooking!"

Fast forward 15 years. The still young and happy bride relays the account to newly married couple in hearing range of her still strong and handsome groom. Funny thing is, he recalls the incident very differently. 

"That is what you thought?" says he. "I only meant that I've NEVER liked a big, heavy breakfast. Fried, greasy foods have never set well on my stomach. I think you are a wonderful cook!"

Moral of the story --  do not take off-hand comments personally, be ready to quickly extend grace and love, and you are never too old or married too long to learn something new about each other.

And on another note - Have you voted yet? You have until noon on Sunday, Jan 6 to click on over to see the entries in the Office edition of the New Years Organization Revolution. You can find my Office Space at #125 - hsmominmo. 

Menu Plan Monday - 11/5 to 11/11

Gotta have a plan. Last month we did a lot of fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants meal planning. Why add more stress to our days when we can have a plan in place for smooth and easy days?

Last week I got back on track, with my meal plans, anyway. Aahhhhhhh! Feels good! It really does make a difference. Linking up with others at OrgJunkie.com helps me keep accountable, too. It's going to be a full week around here, so it's a good thing I have our menu posted and at-the-ready!

Monday

breakfast-breakfast burritos

lunch-rollups (fill a tortilla with whatever you can find in the frig)

supper-tacos

Tuesday

breakfast-baked oatmeal

lunch-tuna salad sandwiches

supper-chicken alfredo

Wednesday

 

breakfast-whole wheat toast, fruit

lunch-chicken nuggets

supper-venison stew  

(daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren are moving back to the states tonight YAY!!!

 and so the rest of the week we'll be having meals they have especially requested)

Thursday

breakfast-cereal

lunch-quesadillas

supper-lasagne

Friday

breakfast-breakfast pockets

lunch-sandwiches

supper-hamburgers

Saturday

(opening weekend of deer season so the guys are occupied, 

Mom leaves on her girlfriend-weekend-getaway, so family is on their own)

breakfast-waffles/pancakes

lunch-leftovers

supper-pizza

Sunday

breakfast-bagels, cereal, oatmeal

lunch-leftovers, soup, or whatever Caitlin whips up

supper-popcorn!