I'm feeling so on top of things!

Now, let's see if I can keep it up!

Lately I've been trying to do one small thing every day to help my life be neater, more organized, and less cluttered.  Some days, those things are smaller than others.  Some of the things I've been doing:

• Clearing off one corner of the kitchen table at a time.  Someday, we'll see the top of it again!
• Doing the dishes every single night (for two weeks!), and slowly getting through the backlog of pots and pans that were sitting on the counter (all caught up!).  
• Clearing counters during non-active cooking moments (i.e. when I'm waiting to stir something).

Slowly, gradually, things are starting to look better.  My husband is noticing, too.  I've started running the dishwasher every night, even if it's not quite full (it's amazing how quickly the dishes accumulate around here!), and he has started unloading it before he goes to work in the morning.

I've also given our budget an overhaul (more on that later) and have been diligently tracking our spending.   It only takes a couple of minutes each day and has really helped me figure out where we're spending and how we can ramp up our savings. 

I've been meal planning and sticking with it!  My meal plans start with things in the house (believe me when I say I cannot put one more thing in our freezers, so we're eating out of those!).  Then I just shop for things I need to fill in what I don't have, and things I can get on deep discounts with coupons and sales. 

School starts next week, and the chaos of summer will transition into the chaos of the school year.  I'm going to work toward maintaining these new habits and developing others that will help us navigate my long, busy days of school, work, and driving my daughter all over creation! 

What are you doing this week to make your life more organized?

Preschooler Chores

The wonderful thing about toddlers and preschoolers is that they take great pleasure and pride in being helpful.  At our house, we've decided to capitalize on this by giving our daughter, who will turn three next week (yikes!), several chores to do, both daily and weekly. 

Daily chores:
1.  Feed the cat
2.  Clear her dishes from the table, putting leftover milk in the fridge, and plates/bowls in the sink.
3.  Pick up toys and put books on her bookshelves (this doesn't quite happen every day, but two - three times a week at least).

Weekly chores:
1.  Help me scan groceries (we have a computerized pantry inventory system and use a barcode scanner to log nonperishables in and out).  This is one of her favorite activities in the whole world.
2.  Put away her laundry (I hang up her shirts and dresses, but she puts away everything that goes in drawers).

Sometimes chore:
1.  Sort silverware from the dishwasher into the drawer.  This is a sometimes chore because my husband usually unloads the dishwasher before he goes to work. long before we get up in the morning.  But, when I have occasion to unload, I let her sort silverware if she's around.

We also try to include her in other chores as we're doing them, if we can find small pieces of tasks that she can handle.  She's been doing them for several months now, and it works out well. 

I'm not sure how long this helpful phase will last, but hopefully by the time that happens, we'll have set up some good habits to keep her responsible and helpful as she grows older.

Homemade laundry soap

Just whipped up my first batch of homemade laundry soap since my daughter was born.  She's almost 19 months old.  I have no idea what took me so long - I have all the ingredients and it only takes about 10 minutes from start to finish! 

As I was pouring it into the container, I noticed the label on the side where I started recording the dates I made it so I could see how long a batch would last.  I've been recording dates since January 2005.  I was using it at least six months before that.  Six years, and I still love it! 

"Homemade" is a bit of a misnomer here.  It's really more like "home mixed".  You're not actually making anything here, you're just grating and combining.  This is wonderful stuff - you only need one tablespoon per load (yes, I said TABLESPOON), it cleans like a champ, and your clothes come out smelling like, well, like clean clothes.  None of those icky artificial fragrances.  I really don't like any of those (except the smell of Bounce, because it reminds me of my grandma, and I do occasionally use that on her old tablecloths).    A tablespoon of this soap and a half cup of vinegar in the rinse and you're good to go.  No other cleaners, fabric softeners, etc. required.  I use it for everything except diapers, because I heard that the fat in the soap can make the diapers repel liquid.  I've never experienced that with my towels, but I'd rather not find out the hard way with the diapers, you know?

The ingredients for this are really easy to find.  I've used two brands of soap - Zote and Fels Naptha.  Fels Naptha can be found at a lot of grocery stores (in the Portland area, both Fred Meyer and Winco carry it).  I prefer the scent of Zote, which can be easily found at Mexican markets.  Zote comes in two sizes - the white bar is larger and the pink bar is smaller.  Either one works. 

You'll also need washing soda, which is made by Arm and Hammer and comes in a yellow box, not to be confused with baking soda in the orange box.  Two totally different products.  The third ingredient is Borax, which can be found with the laundry products in a green box, under the "20-Mule-Team" label. 

If you're using the larger, white Zote bar:

1 bar Zote soap
2 cups washing soda
2 cups borax

If using the smaller, pink Zote OR Fels Naptha:

1 bar Zote or Fels Naptha
2 cups washing soda
2 cups borax

This is done most easily with a food processor.  First, cut the soap into chunks and then grate.  Dump the grated soap into a bowl, change out the grating blade for the chopping blade, put the soap back in, and whir until it is finely ground (if you don't have a food processor, just use your grater and then chop it into smaller pieces with a knife).

Dump the soap back into the bowl, add the washing soda and borax, and mix thoroughly.  Store in an airtight container and use one tablespoon per load.  Works in any washing temperature - I wash almost everything on cold and I've never had a problem with it dissolving. 

One batch used to last us six months.  Now that there are three of us, including a messy toddler, we'll see how long it lasts!

getting back into the swing of things...

Ok, ok, so I fell off the face of the earth for a while. I think it's to be expected. But, I'm slowly getting my bearings and getting back into the swing of things (now, if I could just get my kid to sleep on a normal schedule, we'd be good).

Over the past couple of weeks, I've started to settle into my new role as housewife (yes, I'm still going back to work in, gulp, six short weeks, but only half time so I'll be doing more, er, something around the house). Well, if you know me, you know that food is about the closest thing I have to a passion in life (well, besides Caitlyn), so I decided to get back into my routine by tackling some menu planning. Most days, I now have time to cook a real meal for dinner, which is great. There's nothing I detest more than coming home from work and being too tired to cook.

But now, I can make dinner an all-day affair - chop stuff after one feeding, saute stuff after another, and on it goes. Ok, it's not really THAT bad, but I do have more time to spend on these things!

Last week, we had:

manicotti (two meals - if I'm going to all the trouble to make it, I make a ton!)
salsa verde casserole
stuffed peppers

and, we ate out a few times (have to get it out of our system before I take an income cut, LOL!).

Here's what's on tap for this week (not necessarily in this order):

hamburgers and oven fries
scalloped potatoes and ham
chili and cornbread
creamed tuna on biscuits
teriyaki chicken
baked ziti
tamale pie

Of course, chances are we'll eat out at least once, so we won't eat ALL of these things this week, but we have it if we want it.

So now, I have the meal planning back on track, and I've managed to conquer the laundry (including the cloth diapers, which are, in fact, as easy as disposables - no pins!), and now I just have to work some housework into the mix. Ugh... :-)

Decluttering, continued

Ok, ok, so the decluttering is going in fits and spurts, rather than on a consistent, week to week basis. BUT...today's a cleaning day (well, hubby is cleaning, I'm doing bits and pieces but generally sitting around and hoping he doesn't notice, LOL!).

We're about to take a load to Goodwill, and it has, among other things, an old free weight set, my Ouija board that I've had for about 15 years and only used once or twice, a box of misc. kitchen crap, seven VHS movies (I'm slowly replacing my VHS stuff with DVDs), a garden watering kit we bought, hated, and never returned, an old TV, a bunch of old computer stuff, and who knows what else - the truck is looking kind of full! So, see, even though it's not consistent, at least it's happening! Have to do SOMETHING to make up for the piles of baby stuff that keep making their way into the house!

Next weekend is a hazardous waste pickup not too far from my house, so we'll be getting rid of even more. Yay!

Back up and running

Phew - it was just the router. We're back in business, folks! Yay! Thanks to the good folks at Verizon and UPS for getting us back up and running just when they said they would.

On another note, we're getting quotes this week to replace our furnace and put in an air conditioner. Them suckers are EXPENSIVE! Apparently we're lucky our furnace has lasted this long - both people who've come out to give us estimates said that most last 15 - 18 years, and ours is 24. I guess it's time! So, just when our income is about to be drastically cut, we're going to plunk down a huge chunk of change to put in the new system. Oh, and we ordered a new garage door opener last night, because it hasn't worked since we moved in and the door spring finally broke a few weeks ago. Ka-ching!

Between those and the stock market, my kitchen remodel is getting farther and farther away. It's ok, I can wait. I'm comforted by the fact that, once these purchases are made, about the only thing in this house that we haven't replaced since we moved in four and a half years ago is the water heater, which isn't original so hopefully it will hold out a while longer!

This homeowner stuff sure gets expensive sometimes...

On another note - tonight we start birth preparation class. Time's flying by!

365 days of decluttering

Just ran across this blog posting, and I'm taking the challenge!



That's right. Starting today, for the next 365 days, I'm going to donate, recycle, or toss one unused thing from my house. Granted, I may take a few weeks off in, oh, December or so, but I'll have to get rid of multiple stuff (like that box of stuff to go to Goodwill that's been sitting by the front door for weeks) on other days to make up for it!

Today, I started with the alumni magazines I know I'll never read...

First of the Season...

First harvest...



First visit to the farmer's market -



First laundry on the line!



Happy Saturday, everyone!

We made it!

Well, it's official. Over the past six weeks, we have done a thorough heavy cleaning of our entire house. Floors, ceilings, walls, windows. Dusting and scrubbing. Curtains and rugs. Everything. Our home is well on its way to becoming a haven.

Yesterday we cleaned our last two really bad rooms - the bedroom and the master bath. We each still have one thing to do - I need to scrub the outside of the shower door, and hubby needs to scrub the walls (I ran out of energy, and he ran out of Magic Erasers). Those should each take about 10 minutes, though, so that's a piece of cake.

From here on out, it's just maintenance. I'm thinking if we work at it, we can probably each tackle two rooms each week, and keep things looking even nicer. This week we'll have to do that, because my whole family is coming over on Sunday so we'll need to do the kitchen, dining area, living room and hall bath before they get here. So we'll use this as a test case and see how it goes. The more often we do it, the less scrubbing there will be, that's for sure!

Another week bites the dust

One more week down on our limited eating out/weekly cleaning routine. We rock. Tomorrow we reach the halfway point in our budget month (paydays are on the 8th and the 23rd), and we are well under the halfway point on our eating out budget. We did get fast food three times last week, but one of those times we talked ourselves out of Red Robin, spending $13 instead of $28, and another we used a buy a value meal, get a sandwich free coupon at Burger King and split the fries and pop, feeding both of us for $6 and change. I'm feeling like this month is a big success.

I've also almost completely stuck to my no-meat-buying strategy. I will admit that I broke down yesterday and bought a bag of chicken tenderloin, because there are a few things that I really want to make that require raw chicken, as opposed to the pre-cooked, shredded stuff I have in my freezer. It's going to be a bit of a stretch to stay in the grocery budget this month, as always, but I think I might make it if I'm careful and hubby doesn't decide he wants a bunch of special stuff.

Here's what we ate last week for dinners:

BBQ chicken pizza
roast pork tenderloin
pecan-crusted chicken tenders
creamed tuna on buttermilk biscuits (2 nights)

On the cleaning schedule, last week we cleaned the living room and hall bathroom. They were already in decent shape, because those are the areas that get spruced up when people come to visit. Still, it took a good part of a day to give them the deep cleaning they needed.

This week will be the last hellish week of cleaning, and with everything else going on we may need two weeks. This week we clean the bedroom and master bath. Now, in theory these should be neat, tidy rooms, respites from the craziness of the world and a warm and cozy place for us to relax. In reality, these are now the messiest. dirtiest rooms in the house and are desperately in need of a good scrubbing. Once they're done, we move on to the computer room and spare room, both of which have been recently cleaned and organized, so it won't be so bad. And then the cycle starts all over again, and if we've managed to stay on top of things as the weeks progress, the cleaning shouldn't take more than an hour or two.

Today's cleaning tip

Is your stove top a mess? Can you instantly recall every meal you've cooked in the last few weeks because bits of them all are stuck in the greasy mess? Want to clean it up in an instant with little elbow grease and no harsh chemicals?

Well, look no further than your pantry and that blessed little orange box of baking soda.

Seriously, here's all you have to do (I did it on Sunday, and if I'd known it was going to work so well, I would have taken a picture to prove it). First, take out your burner elements and pans (assuming you have an electric stove. If you have gas, take off whatever parts come off). Set the elements aside, and put the burner pans in a sink full of hot water with a squirt of dish soap and a couple of tablespoons of baking soda. Let them soak while you clean the rest.

Next, wipe the stove top down with a damp sponge to get all the loose stuff off. Then, sprinkle it heavily with baking soda. Get your sponge fairly wet - you don't want a sloppy mess but you want it to be wet enough to create a paste as you scrub. Working from the inside out, rub in a circular motion to scrub the gunk right off, rinsing out your sponge as needed. This should be very quick - you should be able to get the whole top clean in a matter of minutes. Finally, give your sponge a good rinse and wipe it down well to get all the residual soda off.

Next, go back to your burner pans soaking in the sink. If you're like me, stuff boils over all the time and these are a big mess. By now, they've been soaking long enough that everything has started to lift off. They should clean up fairly easily, but you may need to use a steel wool pad to get some of the really tough stuff off.

Once those are clean, put it all back together and, voila! A bright, shining stove top just waiting for the next meal.

Happy Cleaning!

Another week down...

Well, we survived another week on the "limited eating out" plan. We didn't do as well as we'd hoped, but better than we used to! We did eat some good stuff this week:

- Sunday, we had white bean soup with linguica sausage.
- Monday, we had tacos.
- Tuesday, we had glazed pork chops (by the way Heather, these were good, but I wanted more glaze. Think I'll play around with it a bit in the future and I'll let you know what I come up with, if you want!) and orzo and rice pilaf.
- Wednesday, spaghetti with meat sauce.
- Thursday, potstickers and steamed broccoli.
- Friday, I convinced hubby that we'd been really really good and should splurge a little. So we went out for burgers and shakes, which cost almost $28 after tip and neither one of us finished our meal. Absolutely ridiculous! I could probably make the same meal at home for $7 (ok, maybe I wouldn't get onion rings on my burger like I did on Friday but really, I probably wouldn't miss them!).
- Saturday we were planning to have BBQ chicken pizza, but we ended up buying a take and bake pizza and taking it over to my mom and dad's because dad was out of town for the weekend and I didn't want mom to be by herself, the situation being what it was. $16 well spent, if you ask me.

So, last night we had the BBQ chicken pizza. Tonight we'll have roast pork tenderloin and mashed potatoes. Last time they were on sale, I bought a pre-marinated pork tenderloin. Never had one before, I hope it's good!

On the cleaning front, week one is done and we almost finished our two rooms. We have to put the finishing touches (i.e. clean the floor) on the kitchen tonight. Saturday was a day lost so we did the whole thing yesterday, and it took most of the day. I had the kitchen, Hubby had the dining room (which isn't really a room, more like an extension of the kitchen, but you know what I mean). Since it was the first time in a while, we shared bits of both rooms - I helped him sort out the stuff on the table, he helped me clean out the fridge. It worked out nicely.

Four weeks from now, when we get back around to these rooms, it will go much more smoothly. This week, we're on to the living room, hallway, and hall bath. They're both in fairly decent shape, so it shouldn't take TOO long... I have realized that I need to get in the habit of doing a little bit each day, though, so I don't have to do it all in one day on the weekend. That's no fun at all!

Cleaning up

Ok, now that we have the meal planning back in order, it's time to shift our attention to the state of the house. Now, I've never been any kind of housekeeper - anyone whose seen my living room or my office can attest to that! But, hubby was a neat-nick before he met me. He's since given up because it's too hard to keep up with my slovenly ways, but once in a while I feel the need to respect his sense of order and tidiness.

And so, I present, the cleaning schedule! I've probably presented it before - it's not a new concept. It's quite simple, really.

The house is divided into eight zones:
kitchen
dining room
living room
hall bath
master bath
bedroom
computer room
spare room.

Each of us is assigned to one zone each week. This means that, every month, the whole house gets a good cleaning. The task list includes:

clear out clutter
take out garbage/recycling
vacuum (if applicable - we only have two rooms with carpet now!)
sweep/mop (quite a job with all the dog mud around here!)
dust (including cobwebs and windowsills
wipe down walls (Ringo rubs on the walls so there's a nice layer of dirt about two and a half feet up, everywhere you got)
scrub countertops (in those rooms that have them)

Now, for those of you who are into a regular weekly cleaning routine, this probably is quite obvious and you're probably cringing at the thought of only having rooms clean once a month. But for those of you like me who only clean when company's coming (which, for us, isn't often) and then only clean the rooms that company will see, this is a really necessary thing!

We've started this before, several times, but when we got to the two really challenging rooms, the computer room and spare room, things have ground to a halt because the tasks really just seemed too daunting. But, in the last month, we've completely cleaned out both rooms, so we're really just into maintenance now, which should make things a lot easier.

I'll let you know how it goes!

Batten Down the Hatches!

I think we're all ready for the windstorm tomorrow. I just checked weather.com, and it looks like we'll be having 25 to 30 mile an hour winds tomorrow, and 30 to 35 on Monday. Of course they don't say if that's gusts or sustained winds. Either way, it'll be better than the 90 mile an hour gusts and 40 foot swells they were predicting for the coast this weekend!

The garbage cans are in the garage and there's not much else that can blow away. If the power goes out, we have plenty of firewood, oil for the lamps, and propane and white gas to cook with, so we'll be ok. The pantry is stocked so we don't have to open the fridge or freezer if that happens. I'm doing as much laundry as I can tonight (as much as I can since I didn't think about it till 8:00!), since Sunday is laundry day. So I think we're ready to take whatever comes.

In the meantime, I'm getting ready to get started on my next bit of crafting - Christmas coasters for my swap partner. I have two patterns I'm thinking about, so stay tuned for details. Here's the fabric I picked out -



Hard to see the detail, I'm sure, but it's a navy with stars, a cream color with holly sprigs, a green with a tiny leafy pattern, red with a tiny white leafy/floral kind of pattern, and the big holly fabric.

Picking out the fabric took me 45 minutes. Yes, 45 minutes, for five pieces of fabric. And now I remember why I don't do this - I SUCK at colors and prints! So if anybody leaves me a comment and says "ewwwwwwwwwwww - those fabrics don't go together at all!", well, you and I are going to have a little problem... :-) The big holly print is definitely going to be the back, regardless of which coaster pattern I use.

I sewed the edges today and they're in the laundry pile. So tomorrow I'll break out that rotary cutter and mat that I haven't opened since I received them last Christmas, and try to figure out how to cut a straight square!

Hope you all are having a great weekend, and don't blow away if it's stormy where you are!

What an odd day!

I don't know what came over me yesterday. It started out like any other Sunday - get up, drink coffee, cruise the forums. And then, without warning, I was possessed...by the spirit of Little Suzy Homemaker.

First, Hubby and I made breakfast together. Then...

I cooked.
I baked.
I cleaned.
I took out the garbage. . . AND replaced the garbage bag!
I mended.
I sewed.
I grocery shopped. . . and I put the food away.
I did four loads of laundry. . . and I put the clothes away.
And I worked on a volunteer project for a friend's auction.

And then Hubby and I made dinner together.

Seriously, it was strange. I went on a mad baking spree, making two kinds of quick bread (see other post) and some granola. I made up a batch of bean, cheese and rice squares for my lunches this week. And I did the dishes when I was done.

I fixed a couple of skirts that have needed mending for weeks. I replaced a broken button on one of hubby's shirts, and a pair of his shorts with a ripped-out belt loop.

I finished the computer room curtains, a project that has been sitting in my sewing pile for three years. When we bought our house, I had a misguided fit of creativity and told Hubby I'd make the curtains for the computer room and bedroom. We've had blankets on our windows ever since. Yes, it only involved 12 seams (11 actually because I cheated on the last hem), but I could just never quite talk myself into finishing them. Well, they're not perfect, but they're on the window!



And then hubby and I made dinner together - grilled chicken nachos with homemade pico de gallo, made with tomatoes and onions right out of our garden, and jalapenos out of the freezer from last year's garden. Supplemented with fresh garlic, lime juice, salt and cilantro (which normally would be out of our garden but this year our plant didn't produce). Good stuff!

What a bizarre day. And now it's Monday, back to work. Here's to a great week!

Today's household tip

I read somewhere on one of my many forums that, if you plug in a night light and put a dish of soapy water under it, fleas will jump toward the light, fall into the water, and drown. The soap is apparently supposed to keep them from escaping somehow(?).

Well. Yesterday morning I sat down in my teeny-tiny hall bathroom and immediately had three fleas jump on my foot. This is, of course, NOT OK! So I decided last night I'd try my little experiment.

I had to rig up the night light because there are no outlets close to the floor in the bathroom, but I took a household extension cord (one of those short white ones), plugged it in to the outlet above the counter, ran it up through a towel bar, and then let it hang close to the floor. Plugged the night light into it, put a dish under it (about three inches deep, full of water with lots of soap), and closed the door.

This morning I went in and there were six fleas in the water! Voila! It worked! Too cool! Most of them were teeny-tiny, but there were a couple of big ones in there.

Nine fleas, just in my teeny-tiny bathroom. Wonder how many there are in the rest of the house? I shudder to think...

Cleaning tip of the week

Those of you who know me well are probably laughing your butts off right now, because you know I only clean when the Pope drops by for a visit. But, I just tried this, and it works REALLY well, so I figured I'd share!

I haven't cleaned our bathroom in, um, a while. So our sink was looking kind of nasty. Well, I know that vinegar and baking soda make a great cleaner, so I set out to see if I could make the sink clean itself.

I took a little shaker jar (like you'd put parmesan in) and filled it with baking soda. Then I grabbed our spritzer bottle of vinegar and headed in. First, I spritzed down a little part of the sink with vinegar. Then, I sprinkled baking soda on top. Then, I spritzed more vinegar on. I let it sit for a few seconds, rinsed it off, and, while it wasn't CLEAN, it was decidedly cleaner than the rest of the sink.

At this point, hubby came in to see what I was doing...

Hubby: Whatcha doing?

Me (demonstrating): Trying to make the sink clean itself - see?

Hubby (laughing): Ohhhhhhhh, I see - you're building science fair volcanoes in our bathroom!

Well, laugh on, bucko, because then I tried this:

I spritzed the whole sink with vinegar. Then, I sprinkled baking soda over the whole thing, and followed that with another spritz of vinegar. Then I left it there while I took a shower. Got out, grabbed my sponge, and the all the grunginess wiped clean away. No muss, no fuss, no scrubbing. Just wiped it right off.

EXCELLENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lessons from the Laundry Room

Just got done hanging out another load of wash on the line (it's not sunny, but it's not raining, either, so we'll see how it goes). Got me thinking about how I do laundry...

1. Instead of buying detergent, I make my own soap blend from three ingredients. In less than 10 minutes (15 if I don't use my food processor), I can have enough mixed up to last us a year, and it costs about $5.00. Here's the recipe (and you can get all the ingredients at Winco or Fred Meyer):

1 bar Fels Naptha laundry soap
1 cup washing soda
1 cup borax

Grate the soap (I use my food processor for this). Mix with the washing soda and borax. Store in an airtight container. Use one tablespoon per load (I use an old soup spoon), two if the stuff is really dirty.

I prefer to use Zote soap, which I've found at the local Hispanic markets. It's a bigger bar, so I use two cups each of the washing soda and borax when I use that.

I have a high efficiency, front-loading washer, and it works great in those. They require special, low-sudsing detergent. This recipe produces no suds at all.

2. Instead of fabric softener, I use plain old white vinegar. Some people put essential oils in it to make it smell nice, but I like my laundry to just smell clean. When I had my top loader, I put half a cup in the rinse cycle. My current washer has a fabric softener cup, so I just put it in that. The vinegar smell dissipates completely.

3. Things I've learned about hanging out laundry:
- turn colors inside out to avoid fading
- leave whites right side out to brighten and bleach out stains
- hang pants upside down so you can hang socks between the legs
- hang knit tops upside down so the shoulders don't get stretched out
- you don't have to wrap the fabric around the clothesline - just set it up next to it and the clothespin will hold it on there
- if, like mine, your line is in the "dog zone", scoop, scoop, scoop!

How do YOU do laundry?

busy busy busy

I seem to be unable to sit still for more than 15 minutes today. That's weird for me. Normally I have no problem at all being completely lazy! But, I got up at 7:00 and so far I have:

Run two loads of dishes
Cleaned and flushed my new coffee maker (had to buy another Senseo to replace the one that didn't survive the ants)
Done two loads of laundry (not folded yet, though - I prefer to do that all at once)
Cooked a real breakfast (pancakes and bacon)
Done a major grocery shop and put everything away
Cut chuck steaks into stew meat
Changed the oil in my car
Played with the dogs
Cleaned out the produce bins in the fridge
Taken out the compost
Washed the pots and pans and knives
Written up our menu plan
Made up a spreadsheet of financial info for hubby in case anything ever happens to me (he asked me for this - here's hoping he's not plotting my demise, LOL!)

And it's only 4:25! I still have a few more loads of laundry to do, and a certain craft project that I have been procrastinating on far too long...

UPDATE: 6:47 p.m. I've also
Done two more loads of laundry (still not folded)
Browned two pounds of ground beef with onions and garlic, then divided it to make three meals (one for tonight's casserole, two bagged for the freezer)
Made granola bars (recipe to follow, but probably not tonight)
Made dinner
Got my milk mixed and ready to start a batch of yogurt (just have to time it right so it doesn't interrupt me in the middle of dinner, and so it's ready before I leave for work in the morning).

I think my energy is suddenly starting to wane...

Menu, March 25 - April 6

Well, I went to the store today and I *think*, if I play my cards right (and hubby doesn't eat anything he's not supposed to, LOL!), that I should only have to buy milk and produce (and hopefully not too much produce) over the next two weeks. This is good because my grocery budget is SHOT. I just spent $90 at Winco!

I'm realizing that I need to make sure I have some leftovers each day for my lunches, too, because they've been sparse lately (mainly because we've been eating out too much, as usual).

Here's a list of what I'm planning to make for dinners during that time - I'm not assigning them to days because that hasn't worked out so well the last couple of weeks.

1. Tamale Pie
2. Beef Stew
3. Kielbasa and Cabbage
4. Baked Ziti
5. Tacos
6. Chicken and Black Beans
7. Irish Sundaes
8. Chicken and Stove Top
9. Hamburger Helper
10. Tuna casserole
11. "More" casserole (sorry gang, can't share this recipe with you because it's a family secret and hubby would be really, really mad)
12. Teriyaki chicken
13. Chicken and dumplings casserole
14. Chicken and broccoli calzones

Now, to stick to the plan!