In the last few years I have noticed a trend in my cold weather wear- I put on gloves, but they never stay on. I am constantly taking them off so I can better do something like take pictures, buckle kids into their car seats, or work my cell phone.

I’m kind of crafty and have the ability to crochet. I have often said, “Self, you need to crochet some fingerless gloves!” I never get to it.

On Halloween it was chilly and I knew I was going to want gloves but since I would be taking pictures I wasn’t going to keep them on. So I bought three pairs of the “stretchy” gloves for $2 at Big Lots. When I got home, I cut the tips off the fingers. And the gloves stayed on for a lot longer.

So, that’s what works for me… I have cheap texting gloves and my hands still stay warm while I’m taking pictures.

[tags]works for me wednesday, texting gloves, fingerless gloves[/tags]

Within hours of its return, the laptop was sitting on the dining room table and I was turned into a work-at-home(-except-its-really-your-in-law’s-house)-mother.

On the day my laptop turned into a brick and I had made my peace with losing the things I actually hadn’t lost, I secured some freelance work that I suddenly couldn’t do. And on the day I got my laptop back, I started working 4, 5, and a few times 8 hours a day trying to get a fast turn around on the project because I wanted to finish before returning to Chattanooga. Which turned out really well because we didn’t go back for a week after I sent the invoice to the client.

Yeah, that’s where the story goes… laptop dead, laptop raised from dead, start working hard, and then get an extra week of lakeside living which was really hard to enjoy knowing my husband was back at home working his butt off to get the house ready for our return.

In the end, we were away from our house and fourth family member for a month. If I had spent my time blogging every day the blog posts would have looked like this:

I love the lake but I wanna go hoooooooooome. I missssss my husband. I want to curl up next to him and help him with this last big project. I was made to be a helper and suddenly I can’t heeeeeelp. Wah. Wah. Wah.

And even though I think the first post like that would have been ok, the internet probably would have gotten sick of the homesick theme after the third post. Heck, I was sick of it before I posted anything.

But the story doesn’t end there. We returned home on Valentine’s Day (kind of romantic, kind of not) and I actually got my wish to be a helper in this project called home renovation. I’ve been taking stuff to storage, I’ve been painting trim (and have a hand cramp to prove it), and there have been more trips to Target and Wal-Mart than I am proud of (and I need to go back to Target to return something. Again).

I haven’t been sharing my story with the internet because I have been busy in a way that doesn’t spin itself into blog posts but exhaustion. And since we currently are sans TV (that’s another story), I have been trying to keep ahead of the exhaustion by going to bed at early to bed times.

And yet the story doesn’t end there because the story is still going… today I have to conquer clutter and possibly take another trip to storage. I have to roomba, steam mop, and whatever else in order to feel ready to meet with a Realtor tomorrow.

See, the story doesn’t end… it just takes a dramatic twist. And I think I just felt my first chest pain.

BUT! Before I could move the food from the dorm fridge to the big fridge, I had to clean it up. It was gross. There was dried on yuck under the veggie drawers. There were some moldy things and dried lettuce stuck the bottom the drawers. And so, I had to clean it.

The thing is, I had to figure out how to get the dried on yuck out. It didn’t just wipe out. And at first I couldn’t scrape it away. So I set the tea kettle on the stove and waited for it to whistle. Once the water was boiling, I poured it directly on the yuck. Within seconds, I was able to scrape it all out. Then I was able to disinfect and scrub with soap.

So, that’s what worked for me.

To find other inspiring (mine was inspiring, right?) works for me tips, just go see We are THAT Family for the links.

[tags]Works for Me Wednesday, hot water, cleaning, fridge[/tags]

I have seen the shows Clean House and Clean Sweep so many times, I can tell you exactly how it works. It always starts with clearing out the rooms/ house and sorting out the stuff and/or clutter. The family gets to go through everything and put it into three piles: keep, sell, trash. (Stuff that doesn’t sell at the yard sale gets donated to charity.)

The thing that has always bothered me about the shows is how they sort things into these plastic bins or baskets. The show provides a seemingly endless supply of these costly organizers. They can go for about $12 a pop. If you wanted to stage your own Clean Sweep, then you would need to figure out a way to sort the clutter and not shell out a ton of money to start.

Sure you could use cardboard boxes (recycling at its finest) or those plastic grocery bags (which aren’t very big), but those two option have drawbacks. For one thing, the cardboard boxes might not all be the same size and that feature of the plastic baskets actually helps in this kind of clean sweep. And the grocery bags are not big and often rip.

My cheap solution: Ikea Blue Bags.

Ikea Blue Bags are used for patrons to put their purchases in when they check out. Ikea charges 59 cents for each bag (usually found right at check out). The bags are plenty big, very sturdy, and are easy to move with their large handles.

We had two for a long time, using one to collect the paper/ cardboard recycling. Then one day I had an inspiration: I could replicate my desire for many, many sorting bins (a la Clean Sweep) for cheap and they didn’t take up a lot of room to store. And it would be a solution that was less than $10.

So, the next time we went through Atlanta, we stopped at Ikea and picked up 11 more (it was supposed to be 10, but I was using self check out and messed up the scanning).

I can sort paper clutter quickly and if I need to move my piles, I just stack them on top of each other in another room (keeps baby at bay). I have used them to sort the baby clothes and recently D used them to help pack for his trip with Fuller (it’s cheap Swedish luggage!).

We don’t live in a town with an Ikea, but there is one two hours away and another on the way to visit my parents in Ohio. If you aren’t near an Ikea, that’s ok, you might have connections with someone who is near one and can send them to you.

For more Works for Me Wednesday tips, check out We are THAT Family. The Linky has lots of them!

I’m spending this week trying to get cleaned up and organized to start school with Fuller on Monday. I still have a ways to go, but I think it is totally doable.

One of the areas I have to be diligent to stay organized in is meal prep, specifically breakfast and lunch. I can totally see our day breaking down before we get started just because I dilly dally in making food for the family.

This is where my new found love of bulk cooking comes into play. I’m making my freezer work for me by making and storing a variety of breakfast and lunch items. And my recent success in the breakfast arena are egg muffins.

I love breakfast, specifically eggs, but hate making them. When I was in Texas visiting my parents, we were watching Hubert Keller: Secrets of a Chef and he was making breakfast burgers and fruit fries. I watched the burger part with interest because I figured I could adapt it somehow to make something like egg mcmuffins, without the english muffins.

On Monday morning I whipped up some eggs, whipping cream, ham bits, Parmesan and some mixed shredded cheese. I poured them into muffin tins, put them in my 375 degree oven, and waited 20 minutes. They puffed up and cooked well. I ate one after it cooled and it was yummy! Fuller had one for lunch. Then I flash froze the rest, putting them in a freezer bag after two hours. The next day I heated one up in the microwave and it still tasted yummy. Therefore, I decided they were worth making in bulk to have on hand for quick breakfasts.

So, what works for me? Egg muffins, made ahead and frozen for quick breakfasts (or lunches!).

Want to know what works for other people? Check out THAT Family for the MckLinky.

[tags]works for me wednesday, egg dish, freezer food, bulk cooking[/tags]

This week’s What Works For Me Wednesday has a theme: Back to School.

Since I’m not sending a child off to school this year, it might seem strange for me to participate. But in a few weeks I will officially be starting my new life as a homeschool mom. Fuller will start Pre-K at home and I have been trying to get a grip on what we are doing.

To get organized, I have been running my google calendar into the ground. I have color codes, task lists, and due dates. And I’ve synced it with the calendar on my iPod Touch, so that helps keep me mobile as well.

So that’s what I have for WWFM Wednesday. To get quite a lot of other Back to School suggestions, check out the links at our host, We are THAT Family.

In an effort to help, I decided to join in this meme that usually occurs on Tuesday (hence the name, right?). Today’s attempt is kind of lame, but actually, it has helped me feel a little bit accomplished. So without further ado my first Top Ten Tuesday list:

1. Try to do a Top Ten Tuesday list.

2. Remember to defrost the chicken tomorrow.

3. Make ranch dressing.

4. Mail pictures to various people.

5. Buy something math related for Fuller.

6. Narrow down any other books I might want to buy for the Pre-K year.

7. Write a blog post about the homeschool fair.

8. Decide if I am taking stuff to the thrift store or putting the energy into a yard sale.

9. Finish a written letter to a friend. A letter I started in March.

10. Laundry. Because all my to do lists include laundry.

Check out Oh Amanda for more Top Ten Tuesday lists.

When you are practicing the art of freezing food you must label everything. It helps if you label with the name of the food, date you made it, and directions for cooking/ reheating.

Everyone who does freezer cooking is going to tell you how important this is. And then you are going to be tempted to NOT do it. Because you packaged it, you know what is in those freezer bags, right?

Well, are you the only one going into the freezer for food? I might know the burritos are on the same shelf as the pizza. But Damon doesn’t because he didn’t package and put them away. So when he goes into the freezer to grab something for lunch, and he grabs a bag that looks like a burrito from the second shelf, he is going to be very sad (and hungry) when he heats it up at work and discovers it is mashed potatoes.

Lesson learned: label everything, if not for yourself but for the others using the freezer as well.

I guess because of the weekly topic, it really kept the concept of the kitchen and our family dining habits at the forefront of my mind.

As a stay at home mom, I think of feeding my family as one of the top “jobs” I have. And I’ll be the first to admit, I’m not very good at it. While we have food everyday, I know our diet isn’t as nutritionally sound as it could be. And at the same time, I struggle with using our food responsibly, so we don’t send money into the trash in the form of spoiled and uneaten food.

The best time I had at Moms Group this summer was when my friend Betsy drove from her city (about 2 hours away) to come and talk to us about freezer cooking. She gave us simple tips and advice from her own adventures in freezer cooking. I took two things away from the discussion:

1. Double Up. When cooking a meal, go ahead and make enough for two or more meals. You serve the meal and freeze the rest. It seems so simple when you think about it. What I have been trying to do it make at least double a recipe at a time. I can package the “second” meal as a whole meal for the family or package it in single servings for us to have for lunches. If I decide to serve it as a meal for everyone, I can open three (or more) packages.

By freezing second meals I cut down on prep and cooking time later in the month. Also, freezing them really cuts down on spoiled food, making us better stewards of our resources.

2. Make your freezer work for you. This advice has kind of revolutionized how I think about using the freezer for our family. Some people think of freezer cooking as dinner food, specifically the main dishes, and sometimes they get stuck on casseroles only. But really, the freezer can freeze anything. How about breakfast food? Or side dishes?

I love breakfast, but hate making it. So if I can take the time to make various breakfast items in bulk, I can freeze them and make them easy to access everyday. As an added bonus, Fuller can help himself too, so if he wakes up starving and I’m dealing with Tebow, Fuller doesn’t start his day with me asking him to wait.

When it comes to making dinner, I tend to get tripped up with side dishes. Damon loves mashed potatoes but I’m not keen on making them because of the work. However, if I make mashed potatoes in bulk, serve them once and freeze the rest, it is a lot easier to give him a dish he likes more often. So, I buy a 5 pound bag of potatoes and make them all at once into mashed potatoes. Again, this cuts down on waste, but I like how I can make Damon happy with more mashed potatoes on our menu. If only we could make everyone happier with mashed potatoes.

I once tried to do once-a-month cooking on my own and it was tiring. Then I went to a place that helped me do it for a fee. Then I tried meal planning and got flustered. These two things are simple enough that I can do often and feel like I’ve done something to better serve my family. I’ve already reduced my stress when it comes to meal planning, and I think the more I work on this, it will help our budget in some ways as well.

[tags]freezer cooking, bulk cooking[/tags]

Well, apparently the story wasn’t complete. I accidentally let the battery totally die on Tuesday. When I went home and plugged it into the charger something happened and killed the inside display. A full charge later, battery out and in, and still no interior display.

The phone still works, but I can’t tell who is calling me. And even though I know there are actual numbers I can punch to take me to my voicemail, I have no idea what they are since I usually depend on the display to guide me there.

So, if you know me and my cell phone number, feel free to call it. But if I don’t get to it in time, please don’t bother leaving me a message. Just try me again, either right away or sometime later at your convenience. When I get back from this weekend away, I will be trying to transfer the phone number to my old cell phone. Sigh. Not what I want to do.