Clutter....

‎"Clutter is the poetry of our homes. It is an intimate view that is not always perfect - a few dishes in the sink, books piled next to the bed. Everything in its place may give a certain satisfaction, but a lived-in room exudes comfort and warmth."

- Mary Randolph Carter, author of "A Perfectly Kept House Is the Sign of a Misspent Life"

How to get past Step 1 - Organizing your recipes

It's been on my mind for quite some time to get my recipes organized. I say "my" very loosely, mind you, as none of them are originals to me, but they're mine when I make them!

So.....I thought putting together a binder of recipes complete w/tabs to separate different categories of food, everything alphabetized, would be just dandy....but didn't act on it....and didn't act on it....and didn't act on it.

Yesterday, in the school room I finally did - I grabbed a handful of page protectors, brought them downstairs to the kitchen and inserted them into a binder I started using a year or two ago - at present it has printed calendars in it, I *thought* it would become my "Super Mom Organizer Binder" - but it hasn't....yet....so for now, I put the page protectors in the back and am at the end of step 1 - procure binder, insert page protectors for recipes....

Wait, that's 2 things - maybe I'm at step 2. So, to get past Step 1, you need to do Step 2 w/o realizing you're doing it and move on to the next thing. Now, Step 3 - round up all the recipes sweet friends have shared through the years...this might be tough....and put them into the page protectors. I'll let you know when I get this accomplished. The key here seems to be finally getting motivated because Aunt Lou is tired of you calling for the same recipe every few months since you can't keep up w/the scrap of paper you wrote it down on or you are just fed up w/never being able to find the recipes you've tried and really liked. I think I met both of those criteria and here I am - finally - now, to get busy on the round-up... See you...after a while.

It only took 10 years to break the pickle jar

Well, almost 10 years ago we were blessed with our first child and shortly thereafter she accompanied me on MANY grocery trips. The first ever, just the two of us, I worried about making it through the store w/o a baby meltdown - she was probably about 6 mos. old at the time. She did great, I learned to relax a little bit and Baby Pooh entered our home - a small stuffed Winnie the Pooh that has been around ever since.

Fast forward about 10 years and I'm at the grocery store with our 3rd child (3rd of 5, for those not keeping up) and as we cruise the aisles I hear myself occasionally reminding him "Don't touch things" and "Don't pick anything up please" and so forth and so on. Then, as I perused the Nutella jar selection, I heard it....and felt it.....a glass pickle jar hit the floor and splashed the side of my boot. I turned and yes, my son, bless his heart, had knocked off a pickle jar much to his embarrassment...and mine. A store employee happened to be right ahead of us and he immediately came to our rescue, calling for aid to clean up the "spill" on aisle whatever it was.  I asked if we needed to pay for the jar of pickles, he replied, no, we'll take care of it, and after my sweet boy apologized to the young man for breaking the jar, we continued on, a cloud of pickle odor following us no doubt. 

And that's how it took 10 years to break the pickle jar.