couple dollar tree things

I stopped at Dollar Tree last night for sand pails for the girls Easter Baskets and a few other things.  I found dish soap, a 50 oz bottle.  Of course it was only $1 so I was skeptical but I bought one anyway and it is actually pretty decent stuff.  I went back today because we had to go elsewhere in the same town and got a couple more.  I am always on the hunt for a cheap decent dish soap.  I can get a 28 oz bottle here in town for $1 (sometimes 2 for $1 if they put it on sale...which has only happened once in the last year)  and I really can't do much better than that even with coupons so I use that kind generally.  I saw this 50 oz and thought it might be ok and it was.  It didn't suds up the greatest without using my sprayer but neither does my normal stuff.  I use the sprayer to get it good and sudsy and that has become a habit now and is no big deal.  This stuff actually smells pretty good too.  I got the fresh scent.  The true test will be when I pretreat some of DH's greasy work clothes with it.  Dawn is an excellent pretreater for greasy clothes and my other usual dish soap worked ok too.  I hope this does as well.  Then I will be sold on it.  I only hope it is something Dollar Tree intends on carrying all the time.  Otherwise I will buy a bunch and keep up the hunt when that runs out.

I also found bigger scour pads (5 in a pack).  They are easily cut in half so 10 for $1.  I use them on the stove and in the oven mostly but they work well so I got a pack of them. 


~Jess~

sweet onion sauce...like Subway's!

I tried the sweet onion sauce recently at Subway.  I know, I know...it has been out pretty much forever but I just recently tried it and LOVED it. In fact I loved it so much I have been having cravings for it.  The nice part is that a $5 foot long feeds both kids and I.  The bad part is that $5 is $5...especially when I am really only craving the sauce.  LOL
 
I looked up a recipe hack for it and found one that I liked.  I read the reviews and did a few substitutions and eliminations and came up with what I think it is a pretty dang good copy.

My version:

Sweet Onion Sauce similar to Subway's
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 tbsp minced vidalia onion (recipe called for 1 tbsp but I used more like 2-3 because we LOVE onions.  The original recipe also called for white onion but I prefer vidalias)
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tsp white distilled vinegar
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp honey (original recipe called for 1 tsp brown sugar and no honey but I made it this way instead)
1/4 tsp lemon juice
1 pinch cracked black pepper ( I used 3-4 pinches)
1 pinch garlic powder (I used 1 tsp minced garlic...made sure alot of that was juice)
combine all ingredients and bring to a boil. Let cool and put in a squueze bottle. easy peasy and soo yummy. Very much like subways!



The original version called for buttermix powder and $4 for a tub of it was too much for me when I really have no other uses for it at this time.  I omitted it and you don't notice as far as I can tell.  It also called for 1/8 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon poppy seed.  I left the poppy seed out intentionally and I left out the salt unintentionally and it worked out fine. 

~Jess~

7 1/2 lb ham

Today I bought another ham from Aldi.  They have spiral cut hams for $1.49/lb.  That is a good price considering that one of my local stores has them "on sale" for $2.59/lb.  I bought one Monday and cooked a little bit and it was GOOD!  So R asked me to pick up another so I did.

7 1/2 lbs of ham will make us

6 meals of ham and a side of potatoes with corn or peas or carrots and  6-10 meals of beans and ham.  Mom will cook the ham bone in a pot of beans for me and then can it.  I love beans and ham every now and then especially with corn bread so this will be GREAT!  Lots of meals for $11.  With sides and everything else I will probably get at least 12 meals for $20.  Can't beat that!


~Jess~

a week (5 days) of crockpot cooking

Because I feel like it, I am attempting a week (well a workweek anyway since R wants to grill this weekend) of crockpot cooking.  Monday was pork ribs.  They were so done they fell off the bone so they became pulled pork sandwiches.  They were yummy and I had plenty left over for the freezer.  Tuesday was ham cooked in pineapple.  Delish.  Tonight is salsa chicken breasts.  Tommorrow (thursday) I want to do a beef roast and friday I am not sure what I am going to do yet.  I might cook the 2 pork roasts I got out to make pulled pork for tonight.  I do not want pulled pork twice in a week though.  I intended to have ribs, then ham, then pulled pork.  Unfortunately my plans don't always turn out. 

I have been keeping up with the decluttering.  Albeit slowly lately.  There is only so much I can get rid of.  I will meet my goal but probably just meet it. 

I finished the stair project as much as I could do by myself.  I have the good ones painted and the stair treads on them.  I still need someone to help me tear out the old ones (without damaging the riser part of the stair...this is why I haven't done it myself) and to help me cut the new ones.  I am leery of cutting them myself because of the angles on 3 of the 4 stairs.  Hopefully I can complete that project over the weekend.

We applied for a block grant to do some much needed repairs and maintenance to our home.  Our house is not bad but it does need new siding and some other things.  It is certainly livable as is however the improvements would be great.  I turned in the app last week and am just waiting to hear back.  I probably won't hear anything until the end of May.  I have an acquaintance from high school that I am contracting with to do the work.  He has done other work to our house and does a good job so we will be contracting with him.  It is so nice to have a contractor you have known for many years and someone that you can trust. 

When the contractor comes I have a few other projects that R and I can do parts of but we need to know if they are even feasible.  One is cutting out 1/2 of a wall to make a bar type counterspace for eating at.  It will look into our living room and make for a nice wide open space.  I am pretty sure the wall is load bearing so I need some advice on how to proceed.  The other project we intend to do in a couple years and that involves some major work that we will hire the contractor for.  Our current bathroom is 1/2 the size of our laundry room.  It is annoying and too small.  We would like to A. switch the bathroom the laundry room, with a door in between and keep the entry for the current bathroom, making it the entry to the laundry room.  We would enter the bathroom through the laundry room.  We would make the current laundry room entry a wall and add cabinets and countertop to that corner for the kitchen.
B.  We would keep the rooms seperate but make the laundry room the bathroom and make the bathroom the laundry room.  I am not too keen on this idea as the bathroom entrance would basically be on the end of my kitchen and in the middle of my "work space".  However this may be the way we have to go as I am not sure option A is feasible without spending boatloads of money.  The high point is that both rooms already have plumbing and electric so that would only require some minor changes.

So we are in a holding pattern right now.  Waiting on the block grant and then waiting to see what we can and cannot do with that.





~Jess~

looky what I found

This is some very old China that I was given by my Grandparents.  I do not have the complete set because I lost some when my parents' house burnt down when I was in High School.  However, I am now displaying this is my kitchen.  It is roughly 50-70 years old and I am pretty sure my Dad's parents received it for their wedding so that would but it right about 60 years old.

~Jess~

kitchen update project cost breakdown

wall cabinets $185.37
base cabinets including sink base $260.97
back side for center island $8.44
backsplash $7.99
panels for sides of base cabinets (including center island cabinet) $23.97
counter top $34.50
sheet of laminate for center island top $13.30
end panels for wall cabinets $21.52
outlet $2.49
wooden outlet cover $6.48
6 ft oak board for base cabinet shelving $8.49
bolts $1.64
handles for cabinets $14
more handles for cabinets since I cannot count accurately $19.96
nails $1.93
corner brackets for base cabinet shelves $2.36
end cap for countertop $5.99
board for center island top $10.23

$629.33 and I added a bit more to account for the paint I used on the trim (which I had already bought for upstairs anyway....and I came up with $633.95.  Still under budget :) and the project is DONE!

ooops...I just realized I forgot to write down the cost of the stain at $10.17.  So new total is $644.12



~Jess~

before and after

before click on "before" for pics

After

view from living room

view from kitchen entry

view from opposite corner from livingroom.  This will be our entry door eventually.  See those shelves inbetween the cabinets.  I made a small mistake and R had this brilliant idea to rectify it.  I think it makes it look more custom and I love it!

This is only phase one of our remodel.  Eventually the floors will be redone and more cabinets and counter top added.

TOTAL COST $633.95 (I just added up the receipts) and 4 people working 7 hours=28 hours of labor.

~Jess~

kitchen project is coming along nicely

We are not quite finished but we are close.  We have a couple more things to do tommorrow and then I will post some pics.  So far it is looking very nice.  We had a few "surprises" today.  Nasty old tile underneath the cabinets.  We ripped up that tile and found newspapers from 1948.  Yeah.  The cabinets have been in this house that long.  Sheesh.  No wonder they needed some updating.  Anyway aside from that surprise and a few other minor issues we are coming along well and should finish tommorrow.  We might be a tad over budget however.  I am not overly concerned about that as we will still come in well under $1000 and the improvement was much needed!

~Jess~

I have a problem

The problem is that I hate to "waste" paint.  The other problem is that I hate painting so when I start painting I am going to paint until the paint is gone.  Today I started on the stairs.  I realized that the gallon of paint I bought is more than enough for the stairs...hmm what to do with dark brown paint? oh I know.  Let's paint the entry door into the kitchen and the trim around the door.  Looks great.  It is interior paint that I used however that door is not really exposed to the elements because it is on my porch.  I would really like to just replace that door but because we plan to redesign the kitchen the door stays for now.  Tommorrow I hope to finish that door and tommorrow after the kids are in bed I will finish what I can of the stairs so I can start putting down the carpet treads. 

~Jess~

accomplishments*updated* and new project added...sheesh!

What I have accomplished

bathroom walls and trim completely done
hallway walls done
hallway closet door done
all stairs but 1 (and the broken ones) primed
stairway trim primed
bathroom door and trim painted
kitchen trim
kitchen door
hallway trim
K's bedroom door
5 boards to stain for cabinets (by Saturday)
started painting stairs
bought carpet treads for stairs
stairway trim

What I need to finish
O's bedroom door 
stairs fixed
stairs painted
cabinets installed (on Saturday)

ok I was taking pics of my kitchen to post here for before pics and decided that I am really unhappy with the microwave shelf above the stove and I hate the "vent to nowhere" (aka the vent/light above our stove that serves no real purpose).  So I moved the microwave to the white pantry stand and took down the shelf above the stove.  I measured it and had to go to the hardware store for paint for the stairs so I bought another cabinet to go in that spot.  However the cabinet is 6 inches too narrow to completely fill that spot.  I thought about putting a spice cabinet up there but R had a much better idea. 

The shelf that held the microwave is a nice thick shelf.  He suggested leaving the 6 inches lacking cabinets in between the two closest to the stove and cutting that shelf into 3 shelves to fit in there, making it open shelves in that spot.  We did some measuring and that willl work great so that is what we are going to do.  It will hold cooking oil on the bottom shelf.  My knives or spices in the middle and something else on the top shelf.  It will look so good I think.  So that added another mini project but not a huge deal.  I am really excited about it!




~Jess~

pictorial tour of my kitchen right now

Please excuse the mess.  I just did dishes and finished painting the trim so the house is not in great order right now.   I am posting these as before pics and will post pics after the new cabinets, center island and countertop is installed.

looking out from the living room...The brown cabinet at the very end is my pantry thing.  I store cereal, soups, canned veggies, etc in there.

looking in from the entry door.  That is all the counter space I have and yes we are missing a cabinet door.  I took one off to trim to strip it and realized it was cheap pressboard.  In the process of stripping it, I damaged the door and it could not be put back on. Off to the right, is the bathroom, hallway to the stairs and the downstairs bedroom and entry to the living room.  Just left of the stove is the entry to the laundry room/pantry.  The shelf above the stove I installed a couple years ago to free up some room in the kitchen from a microwave cart.  I would like to take down that shelf and put up another cabinet and put the microwave on the white pantry that is next to the fridge now.  Notice the baking supplies on top of the cabinet.  I have no room for them elsewhere presently but hope to remedy that with a cabinet over the stove.  That might not happen this weekend though.  The big open space in front of the current cabinets will have a center island after this weekend!  It will more than double my current counter space!

big open area that will eventually become our new entry.  The big windows will be removed and a new deck built out there.  Notice the stained glass in the upper part of the window.  That is one of my favorite features of this house.  Where the cabinet is on the wall is where the fridge used to be.  I moved the fridge to it's current location last week and put the cabinet there. 

entry door which needs replacing.  Small pantry, fridge and entry to livingroom on left.  You can see the white above the fridge were I still need to touch up from moving the cabinet.

~Jess~

accomplishments

I was wide awake at 5:30 this morning.  IDK why but I took the opportunity to get some more painting done while the kids were still asleep.  Here is my updated list of accomplishments since my last post:

What I have accomplished

bathroom walls and trim completely done
hallway walls done
hallway closet door done
all stairs but 1 (and the broken ones) primed
stairway trim primed
bathroom door and trim painted
kitchen trim

kitchen door
hallway trim
K's bedroom door
 
What I need to finish
O's bedroom door
stairway trim
stairs fixed
stairs painted
5 boards to stain for cabinets (by Saturday)
cabinets installed (on Saturday)

for once my done list is bigger than my to do list.  That feels pretty awesome!

Also if you check out the ticker you will notice that I have still been working on the declutter project.  Just over 20 items to go and today is only the 10th!  So far March has been a very productive month in this house.





~Jess~

how a project escalates

K colors on the walls with a marker.  Marker is washable but is on flat paint.  Hubby tries to be helpful and scrub it off and ends up taking paint off the wall with his scrubbing. Mom decides that the wall will just have to be painted.  Mom and Dad are talking about changes they would like to make in the house other than the paint.  Mom decides the kitchen counter is way too small.  Mom goes to pick out paint color for the hallway and prices cabinets and realizes they are more affordable than she thought.  Mom does some measuring and realizes it would not be too hard and adding a center island would be awesome.  Mom goes and gets cabinets.  Mom starts painting hallway and steps down on a stair, realizes stair is broken and rips up the carpet to find 4 broken stairs.  Mom and Dad decide that the wooden stairs look so much nicer than the carpet anyway.  Mom and Dad pull up all the carpeting.  Mom finally finishes the main color of the hallway, only to realize now the trim looks like crap with the new paint.  Mom starts painting trim and realizes the trim in the kitchen looks nasty as well so mom starts painting that trim as well.  Mom has leftover paint from the main hallway color and paints the bathroom as well.  Mom is tired and the new cabinets are not in yet.  The stairs are all tore up and only primed, and only half the kitchen trim is painted.  Mom needs to stop looking around her house and seeing projects...or mom needs a new hobby and it all started because K wanted to color.  Sigh.


So anyway I started this project on Saturday.  It is Tuesday. 

What I have accomplished
bathroom walls and trim completely done
hallway walls done
kids bedroom doors started
hallway closet door done
all stairs but 1 (and the broken ones) primed
stairway trim primed
bathroom door and trim painted
kitchen trim and door started

What I need to finish
hallway trim
kids bedroom doors
stairway trim
stairs fixed
stairs painted
5 boards to stain for cabinets (by Saturday)
cabinets installed (on Saturday)
kitchen trim (by Saturday)
kitchen door (by Saturday)

yikes...tommorrow is Wednesday already.  Where is the week going?



~Jess~

handles for the cabinets

I think this was the hardest part of my whole mini remodel, trying to decide handles or knobs, what color and finish, what design, what price point, UGH.  it was enough to make my head spin. 

Originally I thought that I would like a gold finish or an antique black.  R said gunmetal finish.  I posted the pics of the stained cabinets and the countertop I chose and asked for advice from some savvy ladies.  All of them agreed with R on gunmetal.  So gunmetal won but then I needed to decide knobs or handles, what design or shape and if I wanted them decorated or not.  Yikes!  I first looked at Menards and decided on a couple I liked but wow $4.49 each for the cheapest ones.  I went in to my dad's friend's liquidators store with no real idea of what I wanted.  and I found these...for $1 each!  So that is how I decided. 

~Jess~

cabinets are here and stained

Today was such a mess from the start.  I got up a little late (which was not a big deal because I had plentry of time to still meet the girl to donate dresses. I don't know if I mentioned that already or not but I will talk about that later if I didn't).  The kids and I got home and tried to wake R up to watch the kids so I could go get the cabinets.  He would not wake up, he had a rough week so I can forgive him now but this morning I was fuming.  He made up for it later though by cleaning the house thoroughly, doing dishes, and making dinner.  Then my brother called and his GF was not feeling well so it was me, my brother, and 3 kids going to Menards.  Yikes!  We managed to get through the store without incident but we did forget some things.  It was bound to happen though.

We loaded up the cabinets and while doing so K managed to lock herself and her sister in the truck I borrowed from my dad.  She hit the button to lock the doors and couldn't figure out how to unlock it. Luckily I had left the window down enough that my brother was able to get a crowbar in the window and push the unlock button. 

We started to head home and I realized we were missing part of our order.  I called and the lady fortunately remember me and the order and realized they did forget to get 2 pieces for me so I have to go back and get them tommorrow.  UGH!  We got home without incident.

We unloaded the cabinets and I managed to hit my knee and smash my finger.  Sheesh!  I ate some lunch and then stained the cabinets.  That went very well...until I went to clean up and realized we had no paint thinner.  Luckily we have a handy neighbor that had some on hand.  I was able to borrow some thankfully.

Anyway...here are the pics of the stained cabinets and the countertop I selected.  They are taking with my phone and in my dimly lit garage so they are not great quality but I think for it being my first time staining anything I did pretty well.  We have to make the top for the center island but it ended up being cheaper that way so I won't complain about that.  Also the cabinets were cheaper than I originally stated so that was nice as well.  These are not all the cabinets.  Just pics of 3 of them.

~Jess~

My original pricing at Menards               what the cabinets actual cost today
base cabinet (we need 2) $94.99 each    $89.99 each
sink base $85.49                                    $80.99
wall cabinet $77.99                                $74.69
wall cabinet $64.99                                $62.99
counter top $57.50                                $57.00
total $475.95                                        $455.65

When it is all done I will post the total including stain, knobs, and a few more things we need.  So far we are under budget by just over $200.  The stuff I need to pick up tommorrow should not cost more than $50 and I need to return a $10 can of stain so that should help a bit.  I bought 2 just to be on the safe side but it appears that I will not need that 2nd can.  I have 5 end pieces to stain yet and will have plenty of stain for that.

Menards rocks

I seriously love menards, the superstore of hardware stores :)  . 
We went today to price the cabinets and pick up our paint for the hallway.  I decided to paint it a light khaki color.  The cabinet prices were better than Home Depot by quite a bit

a comparison                    home depot          menards
base cabinet (we need 2)  $116 each            $94.99 each
sink base                          $103                    $85.49
wall cabinet                       $94                     $77.99
wall cabinet                       $81                     $64.99
counter top                       $97(estimate)       $57.50 (exact cost)
total                                 $607                    $475.95

I did end up spending $75 in paint and paint supplies today.  UGH!  I hate painting but it needs to be done and looks pretty good so far.  I did the roller painting on everything I could for the first coat.  I will wait to do the 2nd coat until Monday because to be honest I was way stressed out trying to paint with the kids and R here.  R wasn't bad but the kids were constantly can I help and even after I put up the gate they still tried to come upstairs and get into stuff.  Crazy!  I am hoping that I can brush paint over the weekend and get the spots that can only be brushed.  I am going to drop some heavy hints on R to get take the kids to his parents for the day.

~Jess~

more project updates

I took down another cabinet today and moved some more furniture in the kitchen.  It really opened up the space and made it bright and cheery. 

R and I got to talking last night and decided that we really do need new cabinets and the center island.  Case in point:  I made BLTs for dinner last night.  I had just finished with dishes and couldn't even cut the tomato and lettuce on my counterop because the dishes were drying on the counter.  LAME!  So after the children were in bed we took some measurements and lucky for us the cabinets are nothing custom...just standard sizes and should be easy to remove the old and install the new. 

We did a mock project estimate and I am very pleased.  The prices are from Home Depot online and Menards is generally cheaper but does not have online shopping so we are going to check there as well as a liquidators that Dad frequents before we buy anything.

Against the wall
sink base $103
base cabinet $116
Wall cabinet $94
Wall cabinet $81
counter top $63 (we are not going with anything too fancy here...just standard laminate because when we actually fully redo the floors and doors and take out windows we will replace this counter to go better with the new flooring which is yet to be determined).

center island
base cabinet $116
counter top $34

The cabinets come preassembled.  We will just need to stain them and put on the top.

Project total: $607 plus stain, screws and odds and ends.  I have not yet decided on hardware for them such as knobs or handles but I really like our current doors.  They do not have any knobs or handles on them and it gives the kitchen a minimalistic look which I like.  I may just leave them as is with no hardware or I might found some that I like.   If I do go with hardware it will be something minimal though. 

I am budgeting $750 for the project because we may or may not replace our sink.  There is really nothing wrong with it but I am letting the plumber (aka my dad) decide if we should replace that so I am leaving some room in the budget for a new sink and any little odds and ends things that I may have forgotten.  I am hoping to head to Menards later today so I can price cabinets there.  We won't attempt this project for a month or so yet but the prospect of a redone kitchen makes me smile.



~Jess~

declutter project day 3

So today the major project is the hallway closet upstairs.  I will be starting shortly.  I would like to also go through my pots and pans and the freezers.  After R gets home later, I need to work in the basement a bit and get the stuff cleared from in front of the outside basement door for the furnace guy on Friday.  We have a path through there but he will need more room for bringing in the furnace and I need to get the door cleaned off on the outside and shovel him a path.  Fun stuff :(  but at least we are getting a new furnace.  I am pretty excited about that prospect!

I will update this post later with the hallway closet project and other projects I get done today.


~Jess~

edit #1...hallway closet is done.  It was much easier than I anticipated.  There were only two totes in there 1 of clothes for both girls and the other half full of clothes for the girls.  Wow I really must have gotten rid of alot last fall.  I found 5 things that could go. 

The garage sale closet has 3 smaller totes and 1 HUGE tote.  I didn't mess too much with them.  They are going the garage soon. 

Freezers are also done.  I defrosted the big freezer not that long ago so it was just a quick glance to see that it was still neat.  Yep.  The little freezer had a few things that needed to go but since they are food items I didn't count them. 

Still need to do the pots and pans and I decided that I will do the regular dish cupboard as well. Since I will be at it I will do the kitchen cupboards too.

edit #2.  Not only did I do the pots and pans, I also decided to rearrange my kitchen.  This involved taking down a cabinet and moving it to a new wall, moving the table, and moving the fridge.  Ouch my back is sore right now but it is worth it.  I didn't end up getting rid of any pots or pans but I did tighten the handles on all of them that needed it and rearranged that cupboard.  The kids are up cleaning their rooms, the house is clean and I am resting a bit and then tackling the dish cupboard.  The other cupboard will have to wait until tomorrow or Friday.  Friday, the furnace guy is coming at 8 AM so we will be here most of the day.  I could use some projects that day I am sure.

sorry for the super posting today

but I am FIRED UP about my project.  2 more items this evening and I cleaned out the fridge.  Woohoo!  Our outside garbage can is already full and they just picked up on Monday.  We are not allowed to have garbage outside our cans very often or they will charge so I will just put any more bags in the garage and haul them to the curb Sunday and make a gigantic pile on top of our garbage can.  Whatever.  That's the rules.  At least we don't have crazy garbage rules like you, right Mary?

Tonights mini project was going through the shoes.  We have two small totes of shoes and 1 larger tote.  We have a lot of shoes.  The larger tote is where we keep our everyday shoes.  It doesn't have a lid and just sits on top of a smaller lidded tote that has my lonely pair of dress shoes, a pair of nicer tennis shoes for me, and 2 pairs of shoes for R.  The last tote is under my bed and has shoes for the kids in the next size (K's hand me downs to O...which are surprisingly few...and a brand new pair for K when she fits in the next size (got them super cheap) and another pair in a bigger size that the sitter got for K for Christmas), my sandals, and summer shoes for O.  We have to buy some for K.  I have a sandal fetish, well actually for only one type of sandal.  I LOVE these beach wedge slides I got from Lands' end.  I bought one pair in brown and loved them so much that I ordered them in red, green and purple.  They were less than $10 a pair and are pretty high quality for a "beach" sandal and they match the colors of the shirts from Lands' end that I love.  The soles are cushy and they are not the thong type...which I HATE!  I basically live in these sandals in the summer.  I wear them everywhere.  hmmm that brings me to an idea for a blog giveaway at some point.....

So anyway onto to shoes...I got rid of two pairs of shoes that O won't be able to wear this summer.  Her feet got too big too fast. 


~Jess~

donating vent

I really actually do like donating our excess stuff but today was not a good day for donating. 

The kids were getting kinda antsy and asking to go somewhere, anywhere.  I can understand that because Sunday and yesterday we didn't go anywhere.  They are used to going somewhere EVERY day so it is an adjustment.  I decided to haul our donation stuff down to the thrift store and be rid of it.  So we loaded up and headed out.

I got to the thrift store and one of the receiving employees is outside.  I am assuming on break as he was drinking coffee and standing in the loading area smoking.  I left my car running and opened my trunk.  I grabbed out the first donation bag and dude comes to my trunk.  "whatcha got?" he asks.  Clothes I say.  I carried the big bags of clothing in and dropped it in the donation bin right inside the door.  I come back out and dude is still standing by my trunk.  "that little cd player work?" he asks looking in my trunk at the box I still had in there.  Yep I said.  "that stroller got all the pieces?"  Look buddy I am not donating everything in my trunk.  BACK OFF! I didn't say that however I wanted to.  I said everything that I am donating is in working order. Please stay out of my personal belongings because not everything in my trunk is for donation. 

What a nitwit!

I understand they get a lot of crap donated but that doesn't mean that you need to go through my car to make sure I am not dropping off crap.  DUH!

~Jess~

afternoon edit:  The kids were looking for a Thomas Engine (which we never did find) so we dumped out the toy boxes and sorted.  We got rid of 21 more items to donate and a bunch more that went in the garbage.  Decluttering feels AWESOME...even K said so :)

decluttering project is in full swing this morning

Today is the 2nd day of March and I am already well past where I need to be to reach my goal.  I have accomplished 3 of the things I set out to this morning.  I said last night that I wanted to clean off the computer desk.  I started that yesterday and finished up this morning.  The computer desk becomes a catchall and I HATE that.  I cleaned the high spots in the kitchen.  This is the top of the fridge and the top of the cabinets.  The biggest project of the day was just completed and that one is probably the worst.  Our bathroom is tiny with no storage but outside our bathroom and 3 4 ft deep drawer/shelf things.  They are hard to explain but basically they are built into the wall just outside our bathroom and go 4 feet into the wall.  They have doors on them and we use them for bathroom storage. 

The top drawer is R's in front and storage in back.  We keep heating pads, ace bandages, the hair clippers and stuff that we don't need to access often in the back.  R's deodorant, cologne, prescriptions, etc are in front. 

The middle drawer is mine.  I keep my feminine supplies in back and my deodorant, the kids bath stuff, and an extra shampoo, conditioner and bodywash in front.  We also have a box with things like Q-tips, lotions, etc in there.  That is where the mess is.  That becomes a catchall for bathroom stuff.

The lowest drawer is towels and washclothes. 

Reorganizing and cleaning R's shelf is done about twice a year.  It is too high to just shove stuff in so it tends to not get unorganized.  My shelf needs to be cleaned every couple of months or it gets out of control.  I got rid of a bunch of things from my shelf. 

Next up is the upstairs armoire in K's room. K doesn't have any clothes that need to be hung up currently so we use the armoire to store bedding.  I need to go through the bedding.  That should be a quick project and then hopefully next Monday I can tackle the hallway storage closet upstairs.  My least favorite project. 

The upstairs hallway closet is storage and we have 2 totes of clothes in it as well as some other items.  I know there is not much in the storage closet that can really go because I cleaned it out in the fall and got rid of a lot of stuff.  I just don't like to do it because I have to pull EVERYTHING out.  UGH!

My other big project for Monday is to go through the kids toys.  They have too much and they don't even play with a lot of it.  I have been trying to go through the kids toys every 3-4 months and weeding out things that they no longer play with.  While I do keep some of their better outgrown clothes to garage sale, I do not do that with toys.  They get donated unless it is a big item that I can sell for $10 or more.  I found that selling toys was a waste because the kids tend to find them again before the garage sale and take them out, so I just get rid of them when I weed them out. 

I also hope to paint the hallway on Monday.  We decided on a darker color for the hallway.  We just don't know what color yet.  R is thinking a darker brown but I was thinking of a dark purple.  I think the darker brown would look nice but the color he is thinking of would show more and would match the trim which I do not like while the darker purple would not and I plan to repaint the trim in a light lilac color.  IDK.  We are picking out the paint on Sunday.  We plan on living here for a long time yet so I am not worried about our color choice pleasing a potential buyer, just want it to not show kid coloring and look nice.  


~Jess~

March 1st means....

Spring is getting close and spring cleaning is coming.  I love spring cleaning.  I clean all the time but spring cleaning is a great time for me.  I love to open the windows and spend a whole day ALONE deep cleaning the entire house.  With this in mind my goal for March is to rid of the house of 3 things we don't need/use everyday.  I may not get to 3 things a day BUT there will be days I do more than 3.  Today I got rid of 6 things...4 toy items and 2 of my shirts.  I am going to make a ticker for the side and keep track.  I need to rid of the house of 93 things by 4/1.  Think I can do it.  It seems easy enough and once I get on a roll, there may be more than 93 things to go. 

My rules are:
each item of clothing counts as one piece
markers and other small items like that do not count
each toy counts as one
garbage (as in broken things or just paper items) do not count.
expired food that I throw does not count
food that is donated does count
some things that are already set aside for donation are not counted

sounds good!


~Jess~

garlic knot tutorial

my dough all mixed up and ready to go.  This batch was a bit stickier than normal.  I made a smaller batch so IDK if that is why or what but whatever...It will hopefully still work.

one third of the dough on the cutting board. Note the excess flour.  I worked some flour into the dough to make it less sticky.

My dough cutter and my "rolling pin". 

the dough rolled out and my little helper

the dough cut into strips and ready for the "tying"

cross one side of the dough over the other...like you are tying a knot.

my "knot" then you just kind of squish it all together or tie it in more knots.  Whatever.  Squishing is faster.

2 pans of garlic knots ready to rise... and then bake

raised garlic knots

garlic butter ready to be brushed on

K's favorite part besides eating them

while they are baking (mine take about 10 minutes at 350*), I mix up the topping.  Parmesan, garlic powder and italian seasoning make a great tasty topping.

After they are done baking, dump them in a big bowl.  Pour on the rest of the garlic butter.

shake on your topping

toss them around a bit to cover them

and there you have a yummy garlic knot.  Yeah I know the bottoms of a few got burnt.  We didn't eat them..

I know I didn't post the dough recipe.  That is because it is just not right yet.  They taste good but the dough just is not working out how a want it to.  I am going to keep trying though.  Basically what I have done so far is a bread machine pizza dough recipe and that was very close but not perfect and the other was a basic white bread recipe and that was kinda off but still tasted decent.  I add garlic powder and italian seasoning right in the bread machine pan with the other ingredients, hit the dough setting on my machine and let it do all the mixing work. 

Project day

So the kids asked for pet nets.  You know the mesh like things that go in a corner of a room for holding stuffed animals. Only problem is the white mesh ones are so....well, plain.  I got this bright idea.  I am not very crafty so for now it doesn't look the greatest but I am working on fixing them to make them look better.  O loves hers.  K, not so much.  My mom does sew and has some time off at the end of this week so I am hoping I can show her my idea and see if she can come up with a better way to do it.  If you have any ideas (the simpler the better), let me know.

The fleece on O's is actually a tie blanket K and I made once for her baby dolls.  It doesn't look too bad for a 2 minute project but I am hoping to make it look nicer otherwise I will just scrap the idea, buy the plain ones and dress them up a bit.  As you can see our upstairs is consider a 1/2 story.  The slanted ceilings are easy to paint but not so easy for trying to hang things straight.

edit:  This is what I am trying to achieve

edit 2:  O liked hers so much and she was picking up her room (at least for now...I am not believing it will last but for now great!)  that when she asked for another one, I made a 2nd one just a bit bigger below this one.  The 2nd one looks much better but I don't have any pics because the kids are in bed.

~Jess~