Progress on 2017 Goals: January's Trader Joe's Purchase

As I explained in my post "Resolved," one of my 2017 goals is to try something new from Trader Joe's each month.

My husband asked me what kind of store Trader Joe's is.  He thought it was a camping/outdoor store, and I must say, it does sort of sound that way.  Like if you squint at it.  He was confused by my goal to "try something new" from TJ's each month.  Like how many new camping supplies could there be for me to try?  And how much was this all going to cost?  I went back to look, and sure enough, nowhere in my goal or its explanation did I mention food.

So for all you unfortunate souls out there who have never heard of and/or been to Trader Joe's, it's a small, upscale grocery store with low prices and lots of store brand products, similar to Aldi.  They're even owned by the same company.  TJ's has also been described as Whole Foods at half the price.

Trader Joe's.  It's a foodie playground.  I don't consider myself to be a foodie, but I do like food.  And I think about food a lot.  And I know a lot about food and nutrition.  And there is just so much good food to be found at Trader Joe's.

I knew I would have a hard time choosing just one item to purchase, which is why I brought along reinforcements.  AKD also loves food and thinks about food a lot, so I thought for sure he'd be willing to decide for me.  Nope.  He steadfastly refused to decide what I should purchase.  Boo.

I was walking around with chocolate mint tea in my hand for a little while, but as much as I would like to like tea, I don't (although if I was ever going to like tea, chocolate mint would be the place to start), so eventually I put it back.  Then the dark chocolate roasted pistachio toffee caught my eye.  Or, I should say the dark chocolate roasted pistachio toffee caught my eye.  I like pistachios, and I love dark chocolate.  I don't love toffee, but it's also not my least favorite food, so I grabbed it and made my way to the registers.

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Y'all!  I was so disappointed!  I was expecting a melt-in-my-mouth chocolate candy, with just a little bit of crunch from the pistachios and the toffee, but the toffee layer was too thick to even comfortably bite through, and the toffee flavor overpowered the chocolate and nuts.  I should have realized that the "dark chocolate" and the "roasted pistachio" were adjectives modifying the "toffee" noun, and as such, the toffee would be the most prominent flavor and ingredient, but I didn't see it because I didn't want to see it.  The product I wanted, and thought I was buying, would have been called roasted pistachio toffee dark chocolate.  

Is it wrong of me to be looking forward to eating the little bits of chocolate and pistachios that have fallen off the candy into the bottom of the package once the toffee is finally gone?  That's right.  We've had this stuff in our house since January 20, and there's still some left.

Let me just let that sink in.

Truthfully, I'm a little disheartened, and I'm feeling uncertain about completing my goal.  After much deliberation, out of all the fun things inside TJ's, I chose a dud.  What's to stop me from choosing another dud?  

Help a girl out, friends.  I'm headed to TJ's next week, and I'm not sure my goal can survive another TJ's fail.  What are your Trader Joe's favorites?

Challenge: Time Yourself

Do you find yourself not doing certain chores because you think they take a long time?  I do.  I'm talking about unloading the dishwasher, making the bed, folding laundry, cleaning bathrooms, sweeping the floor.  I avoid doing those things sometimes, because they seem like such arduous tasks.

Wait.  Are you laughing at me right now?  OK, go for it.  Laughter is good for the soul, and I'm glad I'm able to provide that for you.

But even if you are laughing at the thought of those things being arduous, I bet you have things too.  Things that you avoid doing because they'll take too much time or are too involved.

These days I'm heavily influenced by Nony (who is actually Dana) of A Slob Comes Clean.  If you read her work, you may recognize the container concept and rules, which I've touched on in previous posts.  Well, another of Nony's concepts is the concept of Time Passage Awareness Disorder, or TPAD.  TPAD works in a couple of different ways.  One way is not knowing how long it's been since you last took on a cleaning task.  You feel like it was a couple of weeks ago, when in reality it was a couple of (or more) months ago.  Another way TPAD works is in making you think tasks will take longer than they really do.

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So the challenge is to time yourself doing the tasks that you avoid because they "take too long."  The clock doesn't lie, and when you see that it actually takes less than 2 minutes to make the bed (that's including arranging a boatload a bedload of unnecessary, but mood-elevating, decorative pillows), and about 5 minutes to unload the dishwasher, it's a lot easier to convince yourself to actually do the thing.

I timed myself folding laundry this morning.  It was a load of towels, so I knew it would probably be faster than a load of clothes, but it took 2 minutes and 20 seconds to fold the towels, a mixture of bath and hand towels for 3 bathrooms, kitchen towels, and washcloths, and an additional 2 minutes and 3 seconds to put them all away (including one in the basement).  That's it.  Less than 5 minutes to fold and put away a load of laundry.  That's hardly arduous.

Do you have Time Passage Awareness Disorder?  What task or tasks do you need to time yourself doing?  Go ahead, do it, and report back.

No menu plan this week.

I don't know what's for supper tomorrow.  I'm feeling a little panicky about it.  Because I just know that those people who live here, you know, the ones who leave the lights on and forget to flush the toilet and fling their possessions about, they get hungry.  And they appear to be unwilling or unable to feed themselves anything other than cereal or granola bars.  I don't want them to eat cereal or granola bars, at least, not all the time.

The problem is, I don't want to eat the things those people want to eat.  And they don't want to eat the things that I want to eat.  And I'm tired of having to make food that one or more of the people who live here are going to be disappointed about every day.

Am I being too whiny?  OK.  I'll stop now.  The whining, and the meal planning.

On the bright side, I finally made the (deconstructed) turkey pot pie last week.  Well, sort of.  Not really.  But it was close enough that I don't feel like I have to put it on the menu again.  Not that I have a menu this week.  So I have nothing to put it on, even if I felt like I had to.

And on the other bright side, those people who live here won't starve, or become nutritionally deficient, if I take an itty bitty planning break.

So, friends, what's on your menu this week?

Menu plan for the week of January 23

Hi gang.

Too cheesy?  Yeah.  Agreed.  I won't do that again.

So...our Christmas tree is still up, but it's no longer in the house.  So that's a change.

The kiddos don't have school today, so I'm just gonna get to it.  We have a couple of rearrangements this week (meals that were planned for last week, that are now planned for this week).  That poor turkey pot pie.  This is its third week in the plan.  That's what happens when someone suggests a meal that I don't like.  It gets planned, but never executed.  In this particular case, it's something I don't like and it's something that involves bones.  It's doomed, that turkey pot pie.  You might also notice that we have a repeat this week--a meal that's planned twice.  Yeah.  That's because I asked the fam what they wanted to eat this week.  I'm good with that, 'cause I could eat that particular meal every day.  Here's what's on the menu this week:

Supper:

• Chicken enchilada soup, tortilla chips
• Spaghetti and meatballs, green beans, garlic toast
• Deconstructed turkey pot pie, biscuits, mandarin oranges
• Nachos, guacamole
• Pizza, salad
• Nachos, guacamole
• Grilled steak, smashed potatoes, grilled broccoli, green stuff
• Tator tot casserole, applesauce, whole wheat bread

Other:

• Granola
• Muffins
• Taco seasoned beef & turkey
• Avocado chicken salad

Menu plan for the week of January 16

Our Christmas tree is still up.  I asked the kids again on Saturday night if they would like to start taking ornaments off the tree, and they again politely declined.  My nativity is still up, too.  Both great reminders.

You'll notice a few repeats on the menu this week.  This time, it's not because of menu planning breakdown.  This time it was due to Hubby unexpectedly not being home for supper a couple of times this week, along with an unfortunate lack of milk on Wednesday, both of which led to rearranging and replanning.  Which made it much easier to plan for this week :)

Here's what's on the menu this week:

Supper:

• Sunday night stew, mashed potatoes
• Oven baked chimichangas, green beans, salad
• Deconstructed turkey pot pie, biscuits, mandarin oranges
• Frito taco casserole, corn, carrots
• Pizza, salad
• Hamburgers, with or without buns, curly sweet potato fries, green stuff, raw veggies
• Grilled steak, mashed potatoes, grilled broccoli, green stuff
• Chicken enchilada soup, tortilla chips

Other:

• Granola
• Muffins
• Nut butter chocolate chip granola bars

Resolved

I know that I've mentioned that September feels more like a new year to me than January.  But January also feels like a good time for a fresh start.  I used to make new year's resolutions, I think because my elementary school teachers thought new year's resolutions would make a good writing assignment.

But then I discovered that resolutions don't stick.  So I stopped making resolutions, and started making goals.

You see, a resolution is usually a broad, overarching statement.  It's too big.  A goal, however, is a specific, achievable intention.  I don't know, I guess goals seem less intimidating than resolutions.

Mine were always silly, fun goals, usually involving food.  One year my goal was to make a pie crust and get it into the pan without it cracking.  Another year my goal was to make paper.  You get the idea.

And then I got lost in the trenches of motherhood and couldn't find my way out long enough to think of a goal, let alone achieve it.

Finally able to pop my head up and look around, two years ago, I embarked on the Positive Project.

Last January I set two goals for myself:

1. to make kale chips, which I did in August (they were disappointing), and 
2. to stalk a Facebook friend of mine enough to show up in one of those quizzes on her wall, like, "who's in your reindeer family?" or "what does your week with friends look like?" or "which friends will be in the same nursing home as you?"  I achieved this goal in November.  I showed up in "which 20 names play an important roll in your life?" Yes, twenty.  And I told her to do it but give me about 10 minutes to go like and comment on everything on her wall first, but it counts!  So glad she was so cooperative (although she was probably happy to do it so I would stop stalking her).

It is so good to have goals.

So good, in fact, that buoyed by my success, I'm back at it this year, with more goals than ever before.  I hope I'm not being too ambitious.

My goals:

1. Make reusable cleaning wipes (I know, it's kind of silly, considering the fact that whenever I spray cleaning solution, then wipe with a washcloth, I'm using something reusable to clean, but I want to have a tub of wipes.  And I want them to be reusable).
2. Try something new from Trader Joes each month.  I love Trader Joes.  It's such a fun store, and it seems like there's always something new, but I hardly ever get over there because other errands take precedence.  And I hardly ever buy anything, because there's just so much to choose from--it's a bit overwhelming, because I want to try all the things.  This year, I'm scheduling a once a month visit (I might might take the summer off...), and I have to buy something each time (if you have any suggestions, leave them in the comments).
3. Have a prayer focus each month, praying for a specific person (outside of my family) or situation every day for that month.  

How about you?  Did you make any resolutions or set any goals this year?

Menu plan for the week of January 9

On the twelfth day of Christmas (which is January 6, for those of you who don't know), I asked my family if they would like to start taking ornaments off the Christmas tree.  They politely declined, and insisted that the tree needs to stay up for a while longer.  I think "a while longer" probably means at least until Valentine's day (we definitely need some valentine's ornaments...).

Whatever.  I've never really understood the compulsion some people have to obliterate all traces of Christmas as soon after the event as possible.  I mean, if anything, the decorations should be up longer after Christmas than before to remind us that God-with-us is indeed with us.  I guess there is something to be said, however, about January 1 being a new start--the calendar flip of all calendar flips--and people want the new start to be free of Christmas decor.

In any case, our Christmas tree remains decorated and standing proud, while our family goes about our regular business.  And while we go about our regular business, we will eat.

Here's what's on the menu this week:

Supper:

• Grilled pork chops, mashed potatoes, roasted cauliflower
• 15 minute Quinoa Korean beef, carrots, salad
• Mini turkey pot pie, mandarin oranges
• Crock pot shepherd's pie, rolls, applesauce
• Calzone, salad
• Sunday night stew, mashed potatoes
• Oven baked chimichangas, green beans, salad

Other:

• Taco bean soup
• Chocolate chip graham cracker muffins
• Granola
• Mint chocolate chip ice cream

Rules

In my post about the Container Concept, I mentioned rules, and I wanted to explain what that's about.  I said,

Most of my containers are either cardboard boxes, or food containers of odd sizes that I can't have in my kitchen anymore because all of my containers need to be stackable (it's a rule--which is also a helpful organizing tool).

A rule is, well, a rule.  It's something that you always do when faced with a certain situation, so that you don't have to think about what to do.  In this case, the rules have to do with whether or not to keep an item.  

For the Container Concept, the rule is: all of one kind of item must be able to fit in the container (and remember, the container can be an actual container, or a shelf, room, closet, or even a whole house).

My food storage container rule is: all of my plastic containers for food storage need to be able to nest.  Anything that doesn't nest needs to go (or not come in in the first place).

For leftovers, I use three sizes of Glad food storage containers (with capacities of 3 cups, 1.5 cups, and 1/2 cup).

Get them here

I choose Glad because I wanted containers that would nest (obviously) and were inexpensive enough to get a lot of.  Glad happened to be the brand that was on sale when I went to the store to buy my containers.

The containers all stack together, the lids snap together, and I the only reason I ever would have trouble finding a container for leftovers is if all of the containers are being used.  And if that happens, I know it's time to have a leftover eating party.  I also have some larger containers that I use for cookies or muffins.  These larger containers all nest as well, and the smaller containers sit inside the smallest of the large containers.

It was not easy for me to get rid of the containers that didn't match.  There was absolutely nothing wrong with them except for the fact that they were odd sizes, and it goes against my frugalness-gene to get rid of things that are still potentially useful.  But the fact that my "tupperware" cupboard is streamlined--the rule--makes my life so much easier.  It also makes it easier for people who are not familiar with my kitchen to help put leftovers away.  It was worth the discomfort of letting go to achieve the peace of better organization.

Need another example?  Here's my sock rule:

Socks with holes in them are garbage.  Garbage is thrown immediately in the trash.  

I am not going to mend that sock.  I am not going to make something crafty with that sock, and if I do suddenly experience a strong desire to do something crafty with a holey sock, there will be another one soon--two of my boys, in particular, are very good at making holes in their socks.  So I can get rid of it without angst or regret.

The socks I used for these cuties' hats and scarves were
orphan socks, with no holes in them

Your turn: what rules work for you?  Or what rules could you implement to make your life easier?  Let me know in the comments!

Menu plan for the week of January 2

Happy 2017, y'all!  Good thing I didn't resolve to be punctual this year, 'cause I'm a day and a half late.

Our kiddos had a week and a day off school for winter break, and we spent the entire 10 days (the six days off, plus two weekends) with people, most of it away from home.  It would have been nice to have a day or two to recuperate before the boys had to go back to school, but we were happy to see all the family during that time.  Actually, let's get real.  It would have been nice to have a day or two to put the kids to work cleaning and putting everything back where it belongs before they went back to school... But alas, not having minions to do my bidding during clean-up is the price to be paid for all that extended-family togetherness.

Supper is low key this week.  I looked in the freezer to see what was available and planned from there.  Here's what's on the menu this week:

Supper:

• Dutch style pigs in blankets, applesauce, mandarin oranges, carrots
• Chicken and wild rice soup, French bread, carrots, fresh fruit
• Meat sauce (from the freezer) with angel hair, green beans, garlic toast
• Tacos (from the freezer) with taco fixings (including guacamole)
• Pizza, salad
• Potluck (cocktail weiners)
• Pork chops, mashed potatoes, roasted cauliflower
• Brats or hot dogs on buns, grilled broccoli, caramel apple salad

Other:

• AKD's seven layer bars
• Taco bean soup
• Almond poppyseed friendship bread

Another stove cleaning hack

Y'all!  Yes, I know, I've already told you about stove cleaning hacks, but I found one that works even better than the ammonia one.  The ammonia got most of the gunk; this got even more.  You still wouldn't mistake my stovetop for new, but it's pretty darn clean.

The other day I canned some black beans.  This is significant because whenever I heat up beans to can, they always boil over.  Always.  And black beans--the cooking liquid turns purpley-black.  Very unsightly when spilled all over in the burner well.  And then the canner, I know it's supposed to be airtight, because, well, it's a pressure canner, but mine isn't air tight.  It hisses water and steam out from the sides and ends up making a mess of the burner well.  Always.

I cleaned up as much of the mess as I could, (because hello--guests are coming), which wasn't very much, with a scrubby cloth and water.  Then I made the magic mixture: baking soda, with enough hydrogen peroxide in it to make a paste.  I applied the paste to the mess, and let it soak in, then scrubbed with my handy dandy toothbrush, et voila!  Clean burners!  So easy.

Image source

If yours don't clean as easily as mine, try reapplying and letting it sit for a while before scrubbing.  As far as I can tell, this mixture is safe to use on glass or ceramic cooktops, as well.

I have heard that you can use this magic mixture to clean pots and pans, cookie sheets, and even to whiten teeth!  I would even venture to say that this stuff would clean grimy refrigerator handles quite handily (hi Uncle Bob!  You could also use a "Magic Eraser" or melamine foam to clean refrigerator handles).

That's all for now!  Have a great week :)

Menu plan for the week of December 19

Hi everybody.  It's Christmas this week.  I'm looking forward to spending time with all of our parents and and all of our siblings over the next couple of weeks.  It will surely be busy and surely be people-y (so many people), but it will also surely be blessed.

Speaking of being blessed, we spent the day Saturday loving on each other in our immediate family.  We opened gifts, went sledding a couple of times, played with our new toys.  It was lovely and cozy and warm, despite the double digits below zero windchill.  Such a nice relaxing day.

Because of the holidays, this will probably be my last menu plan for the year.  If you need some menu planning inspiration in my absence, you can check out the archives.

Merry Christmas, friends.

Here's what's on the menu this week:

Supper:

• Nachos, guacamole, taco toppings
• Chicken fajita pasta, peaches
• Pizza, salad
• Spaghetti with meat sauce, garlic toast, green beans
• Leftovers/fend for yourself
• Shepherd's pie, rolls, applesauce
• Hot beef sandwiches, rolls, oven roasted brussels sprouts, green beans, peaches
• Chicken and wild rice soup, rolls

Other:

• Pressure canned black beans
• Caramel churro chex mix
• Puppy chow
• Almond joy cookies
• Coffee cake muffins
• AKD's seven layer bars

Menu plan for the week of December 12

Hey y'all!  We got our first significant snowfall of the season yesterday, and I've gotta tell you.  Certain members of this family possess an almost pathological enjoyment of snow removal.  I'm not judging, because I'm one of them, but we're literally fighting for the best shovels and for the privilege of using the snowblower.  OK, not actually fighting, but there may have been a bit of shoving to get out the door first to secure the favorite snow removal device.  We even shovel when it's not entirely necessary.  I don't know of anyone else in the world who loves moving snow as much as we do.  It's kind of weird.  Good thing we have a nice long driveway.

Because of the first significant snowfall. we also had our first night time sledding session of the season.  We are so fortunate to have not one, but two excellent sledding hills on our property, not to mention the driveway, which is also an excellent sledding surface depending on snow depth and conditions.  Winter is so much fun.

This week I'm doing a little food planning for when we have house guests over Christmas break.  I'll be making and freezing a few things ahead, which will hopefully minimize prep time when I need to get meals on the table for eleven.  Yes, eleven.

Here's what's on the menu this week:

Supper:

• Kielbasa & cauliflower stir fry, steamed broccoli
• Shepherd's pie (make extra for a future meal), rolls (make extra for a future meal), applesauce
• Chicken casserole with mashed potato topping, carrots, mandarin oranges
• Beef & potato casserole (kind of like this), broccoli/cauliflower/carrots
• Pizza, salad
• Grilled chicken skewers (make extra for a future meal), grilled broccoli, salad, grilled garlic bread
• Grilled steak with red wine portobello reduction, roasted brussels sprouts
• Wild rice casserole, green beans

Other:

• Pizza sauce for canning
• Dutch style pigs in blankets
• Hot chocolate mix (I haven't decided which one yet, but it'll be one of the first four pins on my "Gift Ideas" pinboard)
• Cinnamon rolls
• Chocolate chip muffins

Menu plan for the week of December 5

This week, we're hosting a very special guest on Monday and Tuesday.  My friend is letting us borrow her not-quite 6 month old daughter for a couple of days while she and her husband take the other four kids for some much needed family time at a waterpark.  Yeah, you read that right.  Five kids, two of whom are under two years of age.  Uffda.  And now you know why this get-away is much needed.  As you can imagine, what with all of my kiddos being boys, I'm not quite sure what we'll do with another girl in the house, but I'm sure we'll manage :)

As a result of our houseguest, supper on Monday and Tuesday will be low-key.  I've been informed that our guest likes to be fussy and wants to be held constantly starting around 5 p.m., so the boys have a choice: hold the baby, or get their own supper.  I'm interested to see what they choose.

I'm also taking a page from my sis' playbook this week because I picked up my Zaycon bacon over the weekend.  It comes frozen and vacuum sealed in 3 lb packages, so when my sis plans bacon meals, she plans three in a row to use up a whole package.  Of course, if the boys decide not to hold the baby, I'm not sure where that will leave us as far as bacon usage goes...

Here's what's on the menu this week:

Source

Supper:

• (whole wheat) Pancakes, eggs, bacon skewers (minus maple syrup for me), and fresh pineapple or orange slices OR fend for yourself
• B.L.T.s (B.L.T. lettuce wraps for me) and raw carrots OR fend for yourself
• Turkey ranch club wrap (lettuce wrap for me), fresh fruit
• Hamburgers with or without (whole wheat) buns, cowboy candy, grilled broccoli
• Pizza (chicken crust pizza for me), salad
• Grilled pork chops, mashed potatoes, grilled asparagus or roasted brussels sprouts, applesauce
• Hot dogs or brats with or without buns, cowboy candy, carrots, chips, jello
• Kielbasa and cauliflower stir fry, steamed broccoli

Other:

• Pressure canned pinto beans (I already have the canner out because of the turkey stock, so why not?)
• Taco bean soup
• Snickerdoodles
• AKD's seven layer bars (we're going to use the caramel layer from this recipe, substituting heavy cream for the evaporated milk, because we have neither rolos nor evaporated milk right now)

Menu plan for the week of November 28

Hi everybody!  How was your weekend?

And ... that's about all the chit-chat I've got in me today.  On to the menu:

Supper:

• Fundraising dinner
• Beef stroganoff, corn, applesauce
• Chicken & wild rice soup, rolls
• Hot beef sandwiches, rolls, carrots
• Pizza, salad
• Nachos, taco toppings, guacamole
• BBQ pork ribs, mashed potatoes, green beans

Other:

• Chocolate chip graham muffins
• Egg roll in a bowl
• Turkey stock

Menu plan for the week of November 21

For a couple of weeks now, Hubby has been saying, "we should make cookies," at least once a day.  And by "we," he means "you," as in me.  I guess I'm just not feeling the cookie-making vibe these days.  In any case, he got desperate enough last week to actually make cookies himself. And now he's back to saying, "we should make cookies" again.  I don't know.  It might happen this week.  Or not.  I'm not anticipating feeling like making cookies.

I love cookie monster, and he showed up on milk billboards in the late 90s looking a little something like this:

Do you remember?  I made Hubby buy me a shirt with this image on it after I gave birth to my first kiddo.  Because I did have milk.  Just not cookies.  Maybe I need to get my cookie monster got milk shirt out.  Maybe that'll stir up my cookie-making mojo.

Thanksgiving is this week.  You know, the holiday where we show how thankful we are by eating as much as we possibly can until we can't really move.  I debated whether to even post this week's menu plan, as focused as everyone is on just one meal this week, but then I decided, aw heck, I don't want to disappoint my fans.  And we still gotta eat the other 6 days this week.  We may not have to eat after that, though.  I'll get back to you.  Maybe.

Here ya go:

• Grilled chicken burgers, buns, carrots, chips, mandarin oranges
• Beef stroganoff, corn, bread
• Clean out the fridge day (which is kind of silly to do on Wednesday, since I do my grocery shopping on Tuesday...)
• Roast turkey with sausage stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, oven roasted brussels sprouts, corn, green bean casserole, applesauce
• Sausage and white bean soup, bread
• Nachos with taco toppings and guacamole
• Pizza, salad

Other/Dessert:

• Taco bean soup
• Granola
• Greek yogurt
• Brownie pecan pie
• Pumpkin pie
• Muffins
• Turkey stock

Menu plan for the week of November 14

Here's what's on the menu this week:

Supper:

• Bacon wrapped chicken bits, cooked carrots, mandarin oranges
• Slow cooker salisbury steak, green beans, applesauce
• Bacon ranch meatloaf, mashed potatoes, broccoli/cauliflower/carrots
• Beef stroganoff, corn, applesauce
• Pizza, salad
• Grilled Italian sausage, angel hair pasta with marinara, green beans
• Crockpot cowboy casserole, raw veggies
• Basil Chicken Burgers, buns, chips, carrots

Source

Mopping the walls

I mopped my walls the other day.

I know.  That's up there on the crazy scale right next to vacuuming a stove, which I have also done, because ramen exists, and which I should have mentioned last week (the stove vacuuming part, not the ramen part).

If you're sitting there thinking, "this Scarlet woman is a little loony," you are correct.  If you are sitting there thinking, "this must be a cleaning hack," you are also correct.

This easy wall cleaning hack comes to us courtesy of Life Should Cost Less.

Source

Here's the hack:

1. Working from top to bottom and left to right, lightly mist the wall with your cleaning product of choice.  Just make sure it's safe for your paint or wall covering.
2. Mop the wall, using a fair amount of pressure.
3. (this is my addition) If necessary, use a magic eraser to remove any remaining scuffs.
4. Enjoy the clean walls that you just achieved with minimal effort.

So I mopped my walls.  I was actually pretty surprised that this hack worked--shocked, even, as I watched those marks disappear.  You see, this is the reason I needed to mop my walls.  You think you have fingerprints and smudges on your walls?  Well, I live with an American Ninja Warrior in training.  He sweats on those walls.  At least it's a useful skill--that boy changed a light bulb for us the other day.

I don't have a fancy mop with washable covers like Sarah (although I totally think I should get one, because it would be so much more fun than my sponge mop--more sanitary, too), so I just used my mangy old sponge mop.  I also did not want to bother with a spray bottle, so I used a bucket for my cleaning solution.  Yup.  This totally worked to remove all of the hand (and foot) prints and a lot of the smudges.  Any smudges that were left after I went over the wall with the mop were easily removed by a magic eraser.

And mopping was a heckofalot faster than my previous wall cleaning method, which involved a step stool, a bucket of cleaning solution, a scrubby sponge, some rags, two children and a mama, and a whole lot of elbow grease.  Finished my hallway in about 10 minutes, as opposed to the 2 hours or so it took the last time I cleaned those walls.

Ready to try for yourself?  Here's what you need:

Let me know how it works for you!

Menu plan for the week of November 7

Hey y'all.  It's November.  November happened.  But in our neck of the woods (maybe in yours, too?), it has been unseasonably warm.  We had highs in the 60s, and we even kissed the 70s, last week.  I am not complaining, oh no.  It's just weird to think, "it's November," when it's so warm out.  Every now and then, it sneaks up on me, and catches me unaware.  I need to keep reminding myself that it's November, in the same way that I had to keep reminding myself, when we were in Hawaii many moons ago, that we were in the U.S. and it was January.

November used to be such a dismal time for me.  It was so gray, and everything was dead, and it was cold and dark, and there wasn't even any snow to pretty things up.  November was so desolate.  Not this year.

How is your November going?  I'm really looking forward to spending time with family later in the month, but again, it just seems so wrong that it's still so warm.  No worries.  I know the cold is coming.

On to the menu!  Let's start with dessert first this time, and see if anyone notices, shall we?

Dessert/Lunch/Other:

• Chocolate peanut butter mini pies
• Chocolate chip zucchini muffins
• Cinnamon swirl bagels (these are so, so yummydelicious!  You have got to try making your own bagels)
• Taco bean soup x2 (One of these days, I'll have to update y'all on how this recipe has evolved over the years... This soup is pretty much all I eat.  I eat it for lunch every day, and sometimes for snacks.  I've also been eating it for breakfast, and for supper when we're having something I don't like.  I'm trying to get stocked up, instead of running out of soup before I run out of week, but it sure would be nice if I had a larger pot!)
• Creamy chicken wild rice soup
• Egg roll in a bowl (because I still haven't made this!  And it'll provide a nice change from soup for a day or two)

  

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Supper:

• Honey-lime chicken, brown rice, cooked carrots
• Shepherd's pie, whole wheat bread, applesauce
• Mini meatloaf pepper rings, oven roasted brussels sprouts
• Easy pesto chicken, buttered egg noodles, grilled romaine hearts (carrots for the less adventurous)
• Pizza, salad
• Tacos with taco fixings
• Hamburgers with or without buns, grilled broccoli, chips, green stuff
• Bacon wrapped chicken bits, cooked carrots, mandarin oranges

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The Container Concept

I don't know, maybe you've heard of this.  It's certainly not a new or revolutionary concept.  I was formally introduced to it in the spring (Scarlet, meet container concept...), when I took a free organizing video course, and I've been reminded of it recently while listening to the A Slob Comes Clean podcast.

The container concept goes like this: when trying to decide how many of a type of item one can have or keep, one should put it/them in an appropriately sized container.  Whatever fits can be kept.  Whatever doesn't fit should be gotten rid of (or not brought into the house).  It's a way of corralling, but also a way of prioritizing.  If you can only keep what fits, you are for darned sure going to make sure your favorites go in the container first.

A container could be an actual container, like a basket, box, or bag (I personally prefer rigid containers), or the container could be a closet, one shelf in a closet, one drawer in a dresser, or one room in a house.  My "starter" freezer is the perfect example of a container.  If it needs to be kept frozen, and it doesn't fit in my freezer, I can't have it (well, until winter, when we can use the great outdoors as our freezer...)

I do want to point out that you don't have to go out and buy containers, necessarily.  Most of my containers are either cardboard boxes, or food containers of odd sizes that I can't have in my kitchen anymore because all of my containers need to be stackable (it's a rule--which is also a helpful organizing tool).  I don't think I've bought a container yet, specifically for the purpose of applying this concept.

I love this idea  from Erin Spain to upcycle an ugly box into a pretty container

Now, I'm sure there are some of you who are sitting there like, well, duh.  Of course you can only have as much of something as you have space for.  But there are people among us who, while they might understand this on some level, they still don't seem to quite "get" it.  We want to have more, or we got a great deal and stocked up, so we get a bigger container.  Or we don't have a clearly defined container in the first place.  There are people, and I'm one of them, who need to be told these things.  And just in case you're one of them, I'm telling you now.  Container Concept.

It's all part of streamlining life to make our possessions easier to manage.  Just like with money, we have a finite amount of space, and it's important to make wise decisions about how to use that space.  It is hard to keep a space organized if it's overflowing with all kinds of everything, and organized clutter is still just clutter.

So I've been applying the container concept to various collections of stuff in my life.  For instance, we have so many water bottles.  So.  Many.  We have water bottles for hiking, water bottles for biking, water bottles for kayaking, water bottles for sports, insulated water bottles, even a special water bottle for car trips, which is actually broken, but I cannot get rid of it, because even broken it is useful (to some of us).  And we need them all accessible at all times.

You might think I'm being facetious.  I am not.  We really do need them all to be easily accessible at all times, because at any moment, any one of us might be called upon to hike or bike or road trip or sport.

And you know the thing about water bottles?  They multiply.  At least at our house, they do.  They seem especially attracted to Hubby, for some reason.  They're always following him home.

We used to keep them in one of our kitchen cupboards.  And they were always falling over, and the whole thing was a mess.  The children, who are nominally responsible for putting clean dishes away, would open the cupboard door, chuck the water bottle in, and then slam the door shut before anything could fall out.  But due to the need to keep them accessible, I couldn't put the water bottles anywhere else.

So I put them in a box.  In the cupboard.  And I informed the other people who live here that they are welcome to collect as many water bottles as they want.  As long as they fit in this box.

This is my favorite water bottle.
I kind of wish I had the quart size.

It's such an easy thing to do, once I realize that it applies to whatever situation I find myself facing--it's not quite a habit yet.  I don't know about the other people who live here, but I am certainly much happier, having applied the container concept to our water bottle infestation.  I do think Hubby might be hoarding some water bottles our closet, though...

Your turn: Are you one of the lucky people sitting there going, duh, of course?  Or are you like me?  Take a look around your spaces.  To what collection of items can you apply this concept?

Stove-top cleaning hacks

Hello again.  I promised you some cleaning hacks, so here you go!  Today's theme is stove cleaning hacks.

So first, I have to apologize to those of you who have electric stoves, 'cause these first couple tips won't necessarily apply to you.  Well, maybe the second one if you have the traditional heating coils instead of a glass or ceramic top.  And of course, glass tops are so easy to clean you don't really need hacks, right?  Right?  But stay tuned, because there's a third tip that will work for electric stoves, too!

So first up, to clean the burner grates on a gas stove, remove them, and place them in a plastic bag along with 1/4 - 1/2 c of ammonia.  Seal up the bag and leave them overnight or longer.  I've heard placing them in the sun helps (because it's the fumes from the ammonia that do the work).  When time's up, remove the grates from the bag and wipe them clean.  Yes, it really is that easy!  I've heard this method works on oven racks as well (use a large garbage bag for oven racks).

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So, the burner grates weren't really my problem.  Mine are pretty slick, so they clean up pretty well with soapy water.  My problem was the wells of the burners.  You know, the depression that catches the potato water when the pot boils over?  That's the one.  I have spent years scrubbing at those things, to no avail.  I'd pretty much given up hope of them ever coming clean, until I saw this tip from the V spot.

Again, pour 1/4-1/2 cup of ammonia into the drip pans/wells of the burners, and cover the whole thing with plastic wrap to seal in the vapors.  Let it sit for 12-24 hours, then wipe clean.  Or scrub clean.  Or...well...scrub clean...enough.  Vivienne used Press'n Seal Glad Wrap, but I just used regular old plastic wrap--I just made sure to press it down along all the edges.  And it worked!  Just like Vivienne, mine's not perfect, but it is a whole lot better than it was before.

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OK, now you electric stove owners can tune back in.  

Next I cleaned the filters on our exhaust fan.  It had never occurred to me to clean those suckers, but when you think about everything that goes on on a stove, it makes sense that they might get a bit gunky.  I used this method from One Good Thing by Jillee.  Basically, you stick the filters in some boiling water to which you've added baking soda.  I don't think the baking soda is even strictly necessary, since it's mostly grease on the filter, and everything that isn't grease is glued in place by grease, so just the hot water ought to do it.  If you don't have a pot big enough to submerge your filter, do one half, then turn it over and do the other.  Scrub with a stiff brush, if you must, but I didn't find that to be necessary.  

And did it work?  Well, the first time Hubby turned on the stove hood exhaust fan after I had cleaned the filters, he said, "whoa!  What happened?  This thing really sucks!"  By which he meant that the fan was doing its job, sucking up and exhausting cooking vapors.  So yes, it worked, and the difference was noticeable.

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  That's all for now.  More cleaning hacks coming up next week!