Homebody's Life Shift

My First Week of Organizing

January 14, 2011 13 Comments

The test starts now. The girls are home in Beaufort, SC waiting for DSIL’s return from Afghanistan. I decided to start with kitchen organization since I was all ready to go get more Lipton Decaf Iced Tea at Walgreens since it is 2/$5.00. I drink at least a pint a day so it seems like I go through a package quickly. I went out to the garage where our “pantry” is and found this:

Each box has 2 more boxes behind the, for a total of 6 boxes of Lipton Decaf tea! I started with this cupboard:

This actually includes the space above the cabinet, since it is an eyesore! DH asked me the other day what I was going to do with all the cereal. Eat it I said!! He does not eat cereal and since the girls are gone, it’s just me… unless I give Landon some! I am sure he is going to miss standing under Ally’s chair waiting for any and all tidbits to fly off the highchair tray! I sure hope I got a picture of that before they left.

Borrowing from Peter Walsh (http://www.oprah.com/own-enough-already-peter-walsh/enough-already-peter-walsh.html) I emptied the cabinet. What is that random empty Coke bottle doing in there?

Well if I was really with it, I would paint and repaper, but I’m not. A good wipedown with a rag and Clorox Green Works is going to have to do the job. Here is what was in the cabinet:

We don’t eat grits, but have 2 boxes leftover from our granddaughter’s first birthday party we threw for about 50 people.

Since she was born in the south, DH had a great time smoking brisket and making grits along with some other wonderful food. Two weeks later he did it again with a slightly different menu for my mother’s 80th birthday party… what a guy! I gotta remember to make some of that Jack Daniel’s lemonade again some time! Ooops getting sidetracked, back to the job!

I threw away 2 open boxes of Special K red berries cereal that probably had one bowl out of each, the rest of a box of Chex Rice Cereal, gorganzola crackers (who bought those, yuck!) and some Vivant vegetable crackers (another yuck!). Did I mention DH has done virtually all the grocery shopping and cooking before I quit my job?? I also threw away some very dubious looking dried tomatoes (what were we thinking? and where did those tomatoes come from since we certainly didn’t grow them here in Northern Coastal California). I also gave away the rest of a box of Kix to our neighbors, combined two open boxes of instant garlic potatoes and moved a few other things, taking the rest of the MuliGrain Cherrios out of the box since I may eat the rest as a snack today (must count points first since this is my second day of Weight Watchers).

Then I decided to get really smart and write the date so it is more readable when looking in the cabinet with a sharpie on the sides of the products:

The potatoes and brownie mix are getting moved to other cabinets…. brownie mixes, I have a bunch… did I mention I just started Weight Watchers??

Finally thanks to perseverence and the 70s channel 804 on Direct TV that kept me going:

Nothing like music from my teenage years to make me feel young and energetic! The Quaker oatmeal box is empty, but I buy in bulk and put the bulk oats in the box. The steel cut box is filled with bulk too! I wonder how many WW points a tablespoon of Nutella has? It is delicious on sliced apples and fruit is free now!

Whew I did it. Hopefull I will get lots more done before next Friday now that I am home alone and not working anymore. I think I will go check out the other posts at http://orgjunkie.com/ and get inspired!

Filed under 52 week organizing challenge

Garden Party January 11

January 13, 2011 Leave a comment

Okay I am late again, but my YD and granddaughter left yesterday for San Francisco with my husband and are flying home to South Carolina today.

So my New Years Resolutions are starting today (or yesterday). I am overwhelmed with all the things I need to think about and do. One thing I am really looking forward to is my garden this year. I should be able to spend lots of time in it, uninterrupted by “me help grandma”, which mostly meant watering everything way more than it needed to be watered. I will miss seeing Ally’s happy little face every morning and hope the bond we made lasts for the rest of my life.

My Amaryllis is about to bloom.

My Marguerite looks very sad.

My roses are pruned.

Geez those are hard to see with all the brown bedding stuff.

My potted hydrangeas are pruned:

I had better move them because my tulips in pots are trying to come up:

and there are tulips in the ground under the hydrageas. I meant to dig them out last year, but did not have time, probably because of all my help!

Hoping to get some seeds started this week!

Filed under Tuesday Garden Party

52 weeks of organization, or in my case….50 weeks

January 8, 2011 3 Comments

Laura over at orgjunkie.com has posted a 52 week challenge. Well I’m in, no really…. I’m in! If I cannot follow through this year, there is no hope. Yes I am chronically disorganized and yes I was recently diagnosed with fibromyalgia, but on the plus side, I am hoping to not go back to work for a while, if ever, depending on my pain and with 50 weeks to work using baby steps, I am hoping I finally going to make real progress.

Since this was already one of my resolutions….. I have made progress. We recently bought a new refrigerator and stainless steel does not work with magnets. I have had one of those Daytimer refrigerator things for about 10 years and 6 days into the New Year I flashed on those commercials of 3-M and the hanging dillidads. Sorry at my age I just cannot think of names for items like I used to, apparently “fibrofog” is contributing too.

So while DH and I were at Michael’s we picked up a couple of hooks. DH actually consented to glue on the frig! It looks great and I am relieved. I use that calendar for everything and to make notes if I am on the phone and cannot find something to write on….mmmm something to add to my list, an organized phone area!

I am still working on my 50 things. Since Katie and Ally leave this Thursday to go home to South Carolina, I cannot really get started until they are gone. I am spending as much time as possible with Ally and am making good progress on her Busy Book for the plane ride home. I realized I don’t have to do everything, it will be good when they fly back here to California in June to have a few pages to add to it to keep it interesting for her.

Filed under 52 week organizing challenge

Procrastination at it’s worst

January 5, 2011 1 Comment

I love looking at blogs of women who actually accomplish things…. here is my new favorite:

http://terryatkinson.typepad.com/atkinsondesigns/how_to/

In thinking about Ally and Katie on a long plane ride, I thought her Airpline Art Binder would be perfect to send with Ally to keep her occupied (which is nearly impossible these days, she is so busy, busy, busy).

I knew I had some stiff interfacing because 31+ years ago I had the same sort of idea, but an entire book, the directions I found at some Humboldt County fabric store. I had even started the little activity book, but never finished it for my firstborn, Aimee.

I started digging this morning and found this:!

and this (poor Aimee never got her busy book):

and this:

Of course all the fabric is UGLY so I will have to recut everything out. I even have a bunch of felt that will be perfect from Katie making Yo Gabba Gabba shirts. Yes I have been a procrastinator for a long time. Since this is one of my resolutions, to overcome my procrastination, I figure this is the first test. Can I finish this in a week for my dear sweet granddaughter??

Well I am giving it a try

Filed under Crafts - Quilting and knitting

Tuesday Garden Party, January 4, 2010

January 4, 2011 1 Comment

Sunday was a beautiful day here in Humboldt and when we arrived home from breakfast with our friends, I told DH I thought he should mow the lawn and prune the rosebushes. He started to complain and as we turned the corner, our neighbor was out mowing his lawn. We pulled in to our driveway, he but the motor and came over to talk to DH as I got my granddaughter out of the car and into the house. A few minutes later he was getting the lawnmower out and proceeded to work all day in our yard. Before he trimmed back all our plants, roses and flowers he did manage to cut a few.

Here they are in my windowseal along with a few others:

The Kalanchoe and little mum are both from the same neighbors. They are a young couple whose parents both live out of state. We tend to “watch over them” and they are quite generous in their thanks.

This paperwhite is also from Amy next door, and I bought myself the Amarylis this year. It is just about ready to bloom.

I have not ordered from seed catalogs as we have just started gardening again, now that the kids are grown and we are not traveling every weekend here or there, chasing around the sporting events that kept us busy for so many years.

I am looking at an Oregon Cottage (http://www.anoregoncottage.com/2011/01/tuesday-garden-party-favorite-garden.html) picks for seed catalogs and am thinking of calling and requesting a couple!

Filed under Tuesday Garden Party, Uncategorized

New Year 2011-New Intentions

January 3, 2011 1 Comment

It’s January 3rd, right? Well this should tell you something about me that I am just now listing my resolutions or intentions….

1. Read more. My goal is 26 books this year. I love all types of books and completed my first of 2011 this morning, Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand. I started it New Years Day. Mmm…. now that I think about maybe that is why I have not posted my goals. It was a good read. I want to also mention the book I finished New Years Eve since it was such a good one. Good Grief by Lolly Winston. Both were definitely female books, both were even maybe a little predictable. I read to be entertained mostly with a little thought provoking thrown in, and maybe even to educate myself once in a while.

2. Lose 15 pounds by July 3rd. I vow not to be the fat sister at this family wedding!

3. Complete at least 5 quilts. One for each of us “girls”. That is myself, my 3 daughters and my granddaughter, who needs a new quilt from grandma. I would also love to make one for each of my sisters, but that may be pushing it. I made 3 quilts last year for my elderly mother, MIL and elderly neighbor who moved so far away to Minneapolis after her husband of about 50 years passed away this year.

4. Intend to take my medications each day and follow through with exercise as it is so important for my fibromyalgia diagnosis. Continue to attend my pain group and participate in my weekly homework.

5. Blog as a way to record my life since journaling has never worked for me.

6. Squeeze each penny until it screams since I am no longer working and am not sure how long my disability will cause me to not be able to hold down a regular job.

7. At the same time, use this time off wisely and accomplish some of the projects and get my home and life organized in a way I have never been able to (was it really because I had too much to do or am I hopeless?). This resolution/intention in itself would cause me to make a list that would beome too long and overwhelming in itself!

8. Be nicer to my husband. One word….menopause. Enough said.

9. Make an effort to get out of the house more.

10. Learn and try new things.

There I did it. Now of course I want to continue gardening (or telling DH what needs to be done like yesterday when he pruned the roses, mowed the front lawn and trimmed back just about everything else). I also need to read my bible more and quit praying as though I am demanding all the time!

Filed under Uncategorized

Pearl Harbor Day, Tuesday Garden Party, 12/7/10

December 7, 2010 Leave a comment

I am on topic! Here are my favorite tools:

This works great to loosen weeds. I “borrowed” it from my 81-year-old mother, who appears to prefer bending from the waist and pulling…..she skips lunch too when out working in her garden!

This is a great hand tool for digging out dandelions…. which grow great around here!

I think this tool will be very important to me with my new diagnosis of fibromyalgia. I actually did not use it a lot this last summer, but I also did not feel like I do right now either! I know I will have to pick and choose my projects next season.

This is a gift my neighbor brought me after we took care of their 2 dogs for 10 days. She made the little owl at the bottom of the picture. It is really cute.

Then a few days ago she brought over this paper white. It is my first:

It is sitting in the windowsill above my sink along with the …oh crap what is that called? Anyway neighbor gave it to me earlier in the year after watching their dogs. She knows me well!

On the cooking front, I tried a new biscuit recipe:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Buttermilk-Biscuits-I/Detail.aspx

They turned out great. Just as I was getting ready to put them in the oven, friends called inviting us to breakfast. They said they would pick us up in 30 minutes. I baked them anyway and took them next door. Later that day, neighbors farther down the street called and offered us some “extra” crab that they had. DH made crab cakes! I went ahead and had a biscuit before going out. I could not stand it. I had been waiting to try these, trying to recreate the biscuits I grew up on. I followed a few of the tips from reviewers and they were delicious! I think my problem has been putting too much flour on the cutting board and handling the dough too much. This time my hands were very sticky with dough and I handled the dough as little as possible.

Another great tip is to freeze the butter/shortening and grate into the flour mix. It works great!

Finally my featured picture was taken today. Yes we have a rose still blooming. Through the low temps and wind and rain. However, pruning time is fast approaching!

Filed under Tuesday Garden Party

Starting seedlings-Tuesday Garden Party

November 30, 2010 Leave a comment

I was listening to the gardening show on our local radio station on Saturday. They were talking about starting seedlings. I missed how to do it, but they gave the web site of where I could listen to a podcast:

http://danvillemastergardeners.org/

So I am trying it!

We picked more turnips, which have to be the easiest thing we have ever grown. We made another stew with that cheap meat bought during my coupon madness the other day. The turnips were sweet! Here they are before peeling and chopping:

Thanks to Jamie’s recipe at http://www.anoregoncottage.com/ for zucchini muffins, I made a batch with the last zucchini of the season from my mother’s garden. She picked it right before Thanksgiving before the frost hit hard here in Northern California (well hard for us).

I used the free-standing type of muffin cups and overfilled them a bit. But it didn’t matter. They are delicious.

My sister is passing through from Salem on her way to visit her grandkids in the Bay Area so I thought I would use the last of the fresh pumpkin to make some cookies for her to take with her. My neighbor made this recipe about a month ago and they are really good.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Iced-Pumpkin-Cookies/Detail.aspx

I highly recommend them. Luckily dinner is leftover chicken enchilada casserole from last night since this baking has pooped me out!

Filed under Tuesday Garden Party, Uncategorized

Coupon Madness

November 28, 2010 Leave a comment

My new hobby kept me hopping yesterday. After reading several couponing blogs and sort of dipping my foot in, I made an all out effort yesterday to get going on this.

I was a little more organized, but still have a ways to go.

My first stop was Bed, Bath and Beyond where I purchased “Your Baby Can Read” with a 20% off coupon for my granddaughter. It will be interesting to see if it really works. In the meantime at 2-1/2 she likes videos and books so this goes right along with her current favorite activities.

Then onto Walgreen’s where a very helpful checker (who also takes advantage of Walgreen’s rewards, reassured me that I was not an “irritating” customer as I warned her I would be. She also gave me the site she follows: www.krazycouponlady.com which morphs into http://discountqueens.blogspot.com/.

My personal favorites are http://www.frugallivingnw.com/ and http://nwcouponlady.blogspot.com/ probably because I live in Northern California.

Since my SIL needs shaving supplies in Afghanistan, I picked up the Nivea deal and some Gillette fusion blades (geez I am glad my husband does not shave). I had no idea how expensive razor blades are.

I did a total of 4 transactions at Walgreen’s buying an assortment of stuff, piggybacking the Register Rewards each time. Total spent $44.85, savings $19.43. Plus I have another $12.25 in Wags bucks for my next visit.

Next was CVS where I had a $5.00/$25.00 to start with. I should have “mapped” it out a little better to maximize my use of Extracare bucks, but with my DH along and not adding purchases as I went along and not sure if they take off manufacturer’s coupons before totalling, I did just 2 transactions. My first was for Starbucks Via. I had a $1.00 off coupon and a CVS $1.00 in Extracare bucks. Remembering you can only use 1 coupon per item and not being sure if Extracare bucks is considered a coupon, I threw a 99 cent bottle of Milk of Magnesia onto the checkout counter making my first transaction $3.05. My second transaction was for $34.67 with $17.00 in Extracare bucks back.

I got Listerine packs for free along with a tube of Colgate and bottle of Herbal Essence shampoo for free. I also found an incredible buy on one of the end clearance aisles: Secret Clinical Antiperspirant for 99 cents! This is what YD uses and I know I paid about $8.00 for it in the past. My receipt is showing I save $8.80 on each package. I also found Sure men’s deodorant for 99 cents. DH consented to one. I got two other deodorants for DH for free from last week’s ad. I have a couple on hand, so I think he is well fixed for about a year!

Um yeah, forgot to pull that 75 cent coupon off the Truvia. I had a $1.00 off though already.

After avoiding the checkout line at both drugstores, by the time we got to Safeway, DH was bragging to the checker about “my wife’s new job”. Notable purchases at Safeway were $5.00 off $15.00 worth of frozen foods (what can I say we love our ice cream) and Almond Accents which were on sale for $2/3.00. I had a Catalina for $1.50 off 3 and 3-50 cent off coupons making them 50 cents a bag. I also had a $2.00 off a meat purchase when buying Coors Light. DH found a package of stew meat marked 50% off to 2.57, making it 57 cents!

Okay it was fun, but by the time dinner was over and dishes were done, my fibromyalgia was so flared up that I had to take 1/2 pain pill and lay on a heating pad for an hour reading my latest Jodi Piccoult novel, checked out from the library, natch!

Since we only have Rite-Aid in my little town and shopping all at once is difficult physically, I need to plan my outings a little better. I do not know if DH was a help or a hinderance. I warned him to not talk to me or tell me to hurry up as this takes time. He was pretty good about it, but it does take concentration. I don’t know how women drag kids along while coupon shopping. My hats off to them!

Filed under Uncategorized

Another week has passed-Tuesday Garden Party 11/16/10

November 16, 2010 2 Comments

Well a week has gone by and I am feeling slightly better. Better enough to run to the post office to mail a package to my SIL who is serving in Afghanistan. The poor boy called over a week ago needing new underwear and socks. I told my daughter I would mail the package for her as she left on her trip to Washington State. Ha! She should have known how unreliable I would be. I finally got them to the PO today along with a package for Cell Phones for Soldiers. We had one old cell phone and our friends had about 10! Sent those off, feeling like I actually accomplished something today.

I mailed a Thanksgiving card to my elderly ex-neighbor (directly to the left of us) who has moved to Minneapolis to be near her son. Her home has finally sold and I will be getting another new neighbor around the New Year. That will make the 3rd new neighbor this year. The face of the neighborhood changes as its residences age. We were the young ones 23 years ago, now we are the old ones!

When I drive up to my house, I am amazed I still have color in my yard. It has become chilly, low 50s during the day and low 40s at night here, but some things are still hanging on. This is the view standing on my front porch with the door behind me.

Far right property line, fence to the back yard. Yes those both started blooming about a week ago.

The side yard:

with some closeups, the Marguerite keeps on giving up color:

I won this Mexican sage at a luncheon. Mine was the first raffle ticket drawn. I was very excited. DH potted it for me.

I swear this miniture red petunia looks better now than it did all summer!

Rats, I thought I snipped off the two deadheads!

Between the fibro and being sick, I have done absolutely nothing in the yard. I am hoping I get my pain under control enough to be able to have a nice yard next year. I have about given up on the idea of vegetables. But then my raised bed is crowded, I should get out there and thin it, maybe this week sometime when I have more energy.

Lastly here is something I made, pumpkin scones: