Organizing

Well, since my dear little daughter age 12 took the photos, guess I should show you our cleaning.

This is the main pantry. The photo on left is the top portion. There is actually three shelves, but my teen photographer didn't think to point up to get the whole effect. The photo on the right is the bottom section and is the three shelves shown. We have an overwhelming problem with these pesky little brown moths that come from the most destructive little maggot looking worms that I have ever seen. They eat through anything and everything. Any wrapper there is, cardboard, foil, plastic coated makes no difference. They are in the cake mixes, Ramon noodles, pastas, crackers, even pudding boxes. I keep cereal and flour in big plastic containers, but if the kids don't get them closed completely they get in. I can't even begin to count up how much money I threw in the trash because of the worm infestation. Brand new bags of chips that had not been opened had moths flying around inside. Oh, and one swat does not kill them, takes at least four or five and if they land on the floor have to stomp them about three times.

Yes, very annoying.

At any rate, I know have cleaned out the cabinets, pulled out the old shelf paper, sanitized the cabinets and put all new shelf paper down. I also bought these little moth repellent sachets with lavender in them. Since there is no exposed food, it is all in closed containers, I figured it would be fine, especially since the box states it is safe for pets. I can already tell a difference. I also made a list of just what and how much I have on hand so I know if I can make a recipe or not. My new goal for the new year is to be more organized in all aspects of my life so have been working on planning out menu plans and getting it all in to a system that I can manage and work with. I have the latest version of MasterCook on the way which will organize my recipes, pantry inventory and cost, once I take the time to type it all into the proper places. That is good for the budget which I am working on slimming down along with my own weight. MC is great for that too as it gives me a nutritional analysis of each recipe. I am also getting back to the pantry challenge. In other words, will see how long I can go with out going to the store. The goal is to use only what I have on hand, there for saving me money as I can buy the sale items easier. I also defrosted the freezer and sanitized the inside before making a list of what I had in there as well. While I was at it I cleaned out the side by side fridge and freezer, sanitizing the inside of it before tossing all expired items and bits and pieces of left overs. Hmm, maybe I should have saved those, could have used the crop of penicillin growing to fight off this cold (that all four of us have).

So, I am starting the new year with a well stocked (probably overstocked) pantry which I actually know what it contains, a very well stocked freezer (was surprised at how much I actually had) which actually has an empty shelf just waiting for some casseroles to be served at a later time, and can actually find all my pans and left over dishes.














The before and after photos of my cookware. While I was at the grocery store, New Year's Eve, standing in line for literally hours (had to hit 3 stores to get my list filled) my wonderful little daughter became a bit bored as she waited patiently for me to return so occupied herself with cleaning out and lining every drawer in the kitchen. What a job, to give you some idea, she is 12 and found the syringe I had to use to give her oral medicine when she was a toddler. Found packets of yeast that expired in 2004.

I took today off from the cleaning. As I said, am fighting a head cold and just needed a break. I spent most of the day looking over new recipes to try, figuring out a menu plan for the coming week and visiting some really amazing blogs of extremely organized homemakers. Envying them as well. I work 40 hours a week, like the majority of homemakers, and in looking at my present life can see that I am not handling life well at all. I plan to work on that. Therefore, the organizing. Trying to delegate out some task a bit as well. I leave at 7 in the morning and not back home until 5:30 making meals the hardest thing to cope with. I have already learned to let the laundry go until the week end. However, the meal issue is a major one as it is causing a problem with getting time for the gym. It is either eat and then work out on a full stomach or work out and eat the supper meal at 9. Neither is a positive aspect.

You know I have to.
so here it is. Okay, daughter's photographic skills are a bit undeveloped, and red eye correction does not seem to work on yellow eye, but hey, the effort is there. This is Kit, my new baby that was rescued from the middle of a country road that he had been dumped out on. He is still young, vet puts him at around 6 months, but he has stolen every heart around here. I just cannot imagine the coldness of a person that would allow them to throw out a puppy like that.

Tonight's meal: grilled fillet minion with baked potato, salad and homemade Hawaiian bread.

Man was it good. We got a deal on the meat and hubby is wanting to go back tomorrow and get some more. It was in a cryovac pack, uncut, and a fraction of the cost of buying that cut already trimmed and packaged. We were able to cut the steaks to the thickness we wanted and for $12 we ended up with 6 nice size steaks (comparable in size to what you would get at a restaurant) plus some pieces that were more like strips instead of steaks. That comes out a little less than $2 per steak. Weight wise, the difference was $2.97 per pound as opposed to $9.98 per pound. We have a vacuum sealer and will cut up the next one and seal in packages for the freezer. HUGE money saver.

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day, taking daughter to get nails done, hair cut, and am then going to give her a reverse frost. She is already blonde so am giving her brown highlights, maybe with a touch of red to match mom. Shh, don't tell her that though. Then, have to start on bathrooms and my bedroom before heading back to work on Monday. Sadly, it is times like this that make me miss being a stay home mom. It is getting harder and harder to head to work each day, emotionally that is, but thankfully I have a really good job for the most part.

Weekend Menu:
Sat:
Meatloaf, marinated green beans, mac & cheese, cheesecake (leftover from New Year's)
Sun:
CP Quick Chicken Mole (new recipe), Frito Salad, rice

I will post the menu for next week on Sunday.