Chain Reaction

Ok, here it is. It took more than the one day I'd hoped, but none the less, I'd consider this challenge a success. I have to admit, however, there's still a spillover of plastic containers on my floor and in my dishdrainer. The chain reaction is due to my shuffling things from other cabinets. For example, the heavy Pyrex dishes seem safer on the bottom of the cabinet. In the past, I've stuck them where I could, sometimes up high in the cabinet over the stove. I was always a little afraid they'd come crashing down. This is much easier to see, and I was actually able to nest three sizes.

A byproduct of this project was finding lots of my friend Angela's containers and dishes. I'll return those today. Another good thing was the ghost of Tupperware parties past! And Pampered Chef. Lots of neat gadgets I hope to put to good use!

Well, I feel much better having accomplished this. My reward is returning Angela's things when I go to her pre-Liberty Bowl bash in just a little while. I'm not going to the game, just the party! I'm waiting for the roof repair man right now. We had a limb fall on our house last week when it was so windy. I thought the house was crashing down, but the limb wasn't that big. It was big enough, though, to punch a hole near the edge of the roof.

Ok, I'm going to continue the cabinet project now. Good luck in all your new year's projects!

One Little Word

Hi All,

I just found a great idea for the new year, one that is better than a bunch of sure-to-fail resolutions. One of my favorite blogs is Ali Edwards', one of the writers for Creating Keepsakes magazine. Her idea is to choose one word for the year and really think about it all year long. She incorporates her word into her art as well as her daily life. Her word for 2006 was "play" and her word for 2007 was "peace". She will announce her 2008 word soon, and if you're interested in reading about her thoughts as well as all the other great words her readers chose, click this link:

http://aliedwards.typepad.com/_a_/2007/01/aezine_challeng.html

I'm going to read them all and choose one of them or maybe one that's not on the list and try this exercise in the coming year. I'll keep you posted.

Challenge - Reclaiming My Space

How many times have I complained about not having much storage, especially in my kitchen? Yesterday I called a new cleaning service and the owner said she'd have to come give me an estimate for the initial deep cleaning. Getting ready for her visit (afraid she'd turn around and walk out, saying she couldn't help me - yes it's that bad) I was frantically throwing stuff anywhere it would fit. This exercise made me realize that I REALLY DO have cabinet space. I just have SO much stuff that I never use. That I can't find. I recently found a waffle iron that we no doubt received as a wedding gift over 21 years ago. I've been making blueberry waffles pretty regularly since then and it's made me feel pretty good about using it. It stands upright and doesn't take up much space. My son even requested them on Christmas morning - maybe the start of a nice tradition.

I digress. As the photo shows, I have at least one cabinet that is a jumbled mess. It goes way back under the counter. I could store the food processor I use once a year at Thanksgiving for cranberry-orange relish here, instead of with the pots and pans that I use semi-regularly. There's lots I could store here - things I'd actually use if I could find them. Today's project is to clean out this cabinet. I'm going to have to completely empty it and start from scratch. If I throw away all the mismatched, stained and warped plastic containers, I'll have a good start. In order to accomplish this, I'm doing two things. The first thing is this blog post (I hope to do a new one tonight with a picture of an organized cabinet. The second thing is that I'm going to leave the cabinet open until I tackle it. Let's see if this strategy works.

Please leave comments if you have any tips or tricks for projects like this - I'd love to share them. Hopefully, when I go to bed tonight I'll have a head start on my new year's resolution of organizing and I'll feel better about my smallish kitchen. Hope your recovery from the holiday is going well.

Out with the old...

At the risk of sounding like a Scrooge, I'm so relieved Christmas is over. I'm ready to pack up the Christmas decorations and let things return to normal. Of course, this week will be hectic (as far as traffic and shopping) with all the after-Christmas sales. I know people who get up at 4 in the morning, go out for breakfast and hit the sales early. Wait, that might be the day after Thanksgiving. A friend from church works at Target, and she said there were three arrests for disorderly conduct in her store. People can get desperate this time of year! Can you imagine that family tradition? "Your mommy's in jail but she got you the last Webkin!"

As the pictures show, I'm rushing the next holiday - Valentine's day! I took down our Christmas wreath this morning and replaced it with the pretty heart wreath I found on Christmas eve. I prefer to think of it as a symbol of love in general as opposed to a seasonal, holiday emblem. I'll try to keep love in my heart as I deal with the fallout of Christmas - returning unwanted gifts, navigating crazy east Memphis traffic, dragging the Christmas tree into the attic, and more. Thanks to our new pre-lit tree, at least I won't have Christmas lights to contend with.

Speaking of artificial trees, my son and I were discussing whether it's more "green" (environmentally friendly) to have an artificial tree as opposed to a real tree. I think because we use ours for 15 years minimum, the artificial tree is the way to go. I'd love to hear comments on this. We are trying to be more green, or at least think about it some. Of course, part of the fallout from Christmas I didn't mention is the major garbage that is produced from all the packing and wrapping. Our garbage pickup is on schedule (Thursday) this week, thank goodness.

Well, I'd better get busy packing up the decorations. More later.

Merry Christmas to You!

Here it is Christmas Eve, and I'm playing hooky from church and blogging. I took Lundy to the airport today. She's heading back to her dream home on the Gulf Coast - I'm more than a little envious - it's 47 degrees here in Memphis. We were only able to spend a little time together but it was good to see her face. I never thought I'd say it, but the ride to the airport is just a little too short!

DH and son have gone to church and they'll pick me up on the way to the Manheins' annual Christmas Eve gumbo celebration. This is only our second year to attend, but I hope it'll be a tradition for us for many years to come! When we get home, we'll sit by the tree and read Luke 2 from the King James Version.

I'm already thinking of new year's resolutions (spurred by the fact that I couldn't zip my favorite pair of jeans this morning). I always make so many, but this year I resolve to make them realistic. I'll post more on this later, and for now I'm going to tackle the Tiramisu detritus. Oh, I should say, it's the jello pudding version of Tiramisu - look at jello.com for the recipe. This just uses vanilla wafers, instant pudding, cream cheese and cool whip. I substituted Kalhua for coffee to drizzle on the wafers, so maybe that'll fancy it up a little. I don't want to hear from the foodies about this - I wanted something simple. Do you know how hard it is to find ladyfingers and how much stirring it takes to make custard? I guess you do, if you're going to fuss at me about my Tiramisu cheating! It's for our last family celebration of the year tomorrow at DH's parents, and after that, no more baking/sweets, I promise!

All for now.

Carol

Inaugural Blog Post!

My dear friend, Lundy and I are undertaking a new adventure in the new year. We're starting a website devoted to providing valuable information to moms and non-moms, alike. Lundy came up with the name "MomsLeap" with the mental image of women leaping over piles of laundry, busy schedules, grocery bags on the kitchen floor and all the other obstacles we encounter each day. We thought this would be a great name, and we especially like the fact that it can be used by all moms everywhere when we branch out from our initial focus on the Memphis area. You can find us at: www.MomsLeap.com

Lundy and I have lots of interests, so this might be an eclectic blog, but we expect our website to be chock-full of stuff that makes you pop your palm against your forehead and say "Why didn't I think of that!" That being said, please, please, please send us all your great ideas as well as questions or problems you'd like to see addressed. Send us your best pictures (be sure to grant permission in your email and we'd love to feature you on our website - we'll use first names only). Let us know your favorite child friendly restaurants or places to host your kids' birthday parties, your favorite lunch spot and why you love it, or just anything you want to talk about. Don't worry - we already have a million questions we're just waiting to ask!

Our site should be blowing and going soon, and we can't wait to start a special community of women with ideas and wisdom and support to spare!

Carol