Makeover Monday – Kitchen Cabinets

As I mentioned last week, I did some work in the kitchen recently. 

We purchased our house halfway through construction, so we I was able to make a lot of design decisions.  The kitchen was my primary area of concern, and one of the things I changed was eliminating the dust-collecting space on top in favor of extending our cabinets to the ceiling.  It’s a great use of otherwise wasted space and it makes the ceilings look higher.

However, it’s also a pain in the tush to access.  Meaning whatever I put up there, I forget about.  This allows a saver like me to hang on to my mom’s old punch bowl (used once in the 10+ years I’ve had it), my Grama’s baked bean crock (never used) and plastic luau dishes that I swear I’ve never even seen before.  Someone else must have put them there.

It was time to purge.

I was able to clear out 3 large boxes of junk really great stuff to donate to Goodwill, and I cleaned out all of the cabinets in the process.  I also decided to re-arrange, thanks to this cool article in the February issue of Family Fun.  The idea of putting the dishes in the bottom cabinets intrigued me, so we’re giving it a trial run.

Here is a lower corner cabinet before:

And after the switch to kid-friendly dishes:

(I’m using storage containers from the dollar store to hold lids, cups, straws, etc.  I didn’t buy enough, hence the mis-matched collection.  Hoping to find a couple more of the green baskets when I go back.)

The upper cabinet that used to house the kids’ dishes now holds canned goods:

The upper corner cabinet that used to hold canned goods now holds baking dishes and grown-up dishes:

Newly organized medicine cabinet:

Another lower corner cabinet, before (I know, I know – a shameful disaster.  It’s actually birthday party supplies though, not the norm):

That cabinet now holds all of the crockpots and mixing bowls, lids, etc, and the pans were relocated to an upper cabinet:

I should have taken before and after pictures of all the cabinets, to show how much I purged and organized, but I was mainly focused on the non-traditional relocation of stuff.  It’s only been a couple of weeks, but so far I’m really liking this setup.  It’s much easier for the girls to help unload the dishwasher now, and they are able to set the table themselves too.

The only thing I didn’t organize is the roll-out pantry.  I’d love to have a separate room pantry, but alas mine has roll-out shelves instead.  I thought I would love this but as it turns out, not so much.  Lesson learned – when designing a kitchen, don’t assume there is a standard size for anything.  My shelves are fixed, and they are not tall enough to allow cereal boxes to stand up.  A constant source of frustration for me.

So there it is, my kitchen re-do.  It’s nothing fancy really, but it’s turned out to be a more functional setup with 3 little kids, and as Martha would say, that is a very good thing!

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Super Bowl Sunday

My friend Julie just blogged about how important a witty title is to attract the interest of potential readers.  Clearly, this week I am not trying to attract anyone new.  I’m either writing for current followers or for those who just love the painfully obvious, what with clever titles like ‘Handy Manny Cake’ or ‘Lilly’s First Haircut’ floating about.  Pardon my Super Bowl Sunday thing.  Duh. 

A side effect of NaBloPoMo is that my titles suffer.

So aside from the obvious, we’re not doing much.  I’m making some yummy snacks and using the prize pack I won from my friend Mary and Old El Paso.  I’m a big football fan so this Tackle The Taste package is right up my alley, and green chilies – yum. 

And the big game, of course.  I’ll be watching here:

No, that’s not a movie theater, or a high school gymnasium.  It’s actually our family room, and my husband’s new, embarrassingly large television.  It’s like 400 inches wide or something, just so that no one has any doubts about who the smart one is in this house.  Me with the books, him with the barcalounger and remote.

You decide.

He ordered the projector from China – bought it on ebay.  It’s apparently 1/20th of the price that way.  I’m a firm believer that you get what you pay for, but him notsomuch.  This contraption arrived Friday evening, and he spent the entire weekend re-arranging, building, re-wiring, mounting, and hanging it all up, just to be ready for game day.

Too bad we don’t care about either team.

But hey, at least I’ll have a comfy spot to eat my chips and guac, right?  And it’s almost as great as being in Miami, since the players will appear pretty much life-sized in front of us.

Not that I’m bitter about the whole big dumb stupid ridiculous absurd tv thing.  Not at all.

Happy game day!

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Handy Manny Birthday Cake

As I mentioned earlier, my youngest daughter turned 3 last month. 

This is where I’d like to talk about how beautiful she is – because she really is gorgeous.

(She also refuses to look at the camera for pictures)

I’d like to tell you how smart she is, what a quick sense of humor she’s got, how she posesses a God-given ability to entertain herself quietly for hours.  I’d like to tell you how bittersweet it is to watch her grow up, knowing that she is my last baby.

But since I just said a blog shouldn’t be all about ‘me’, I can’t.

So instead I’ll tell you about her Handy Manny Birthday Cake.

The kid is head over heels for Manny these days.  I have my concerns, but whatever.

She got the Handy Manny Talkin’ Toolbox for Christmas, so a toolbox cake seemed appropriate.  It also seemed easy, since I could just steal borrow the plastic tools from her set.

My mom was kind enough to bake the cake and fashion the handle for me – my only task was frosting it.  You’d think I’d be able to handle that, but actually not so much.  Cake decorating is so not my thing.  Pardon the rough splotches.

The design on the front was meant to make it look like her toy toolbox.  My dad printed the image off and laminated it and then I just stuck it in the frosting.

(You might notice here that I said ‘my mom’ and ‘my dad’ and not ‘my husband’.  That’s because he did nothing.)

Lilly was a happy camper.

And a good day was had by all.  Even by Mommy, who cried a little when she tucked a 3-year-old baby into bed that night.  Bittersweet, I tell you.

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Lilly’s First Haircut

As I have mentioned before, we support Locks of Love in this house. 

Well, those of us with hair do. Ahem.

Annie has donated twice.  Catie has donated once.  I have donated 9 times.

About a month ago, Lilly decided that her time had come as well.  It was her first ever haircut, and she got it just before her 3rd birthday.  She was delighted about the outing and sat very still, patiently waiting.  I think she was just delighted at the prospect of a short bob that would mean no more fending off Mommy wielding a hairbrush.

Here she is before:

The first cut:

And the end result:

11 inches gone!

She looks older which I don’t like, but the cut is adorable and it suits her perfectly.  Short and spunky, just like my girl!

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Caesar salad recipe

For whatever reason, yesterday was a hungry day for me.  All day long I was looking for something to munch on, so of course when it came time to blog, food was on my brain.  Therefore, you get to hear about food.

When I was in college I worked at a fancy-schmancy restaurant where I had to learn all about fine wines, gourmet foods, and proper serving etiquette.  I was expected to pick up on non-verbal cues like silverware placement to know when plates should be cleared – very formal.  I also learned how to make a table side Caesar salad, which turned out to be the best part of the job.  This salad is delicious and easy, and I still make it quite often.

The ingredients:

3 cloves garlic

1 tin flat anchovies

1 T. olive oil

1/2 T. vinegar (I use apple cider vinegar)

1/2 T. mustard (Dijon is preferable, but yellow will work in a pinch)

1 egg yolk

1 T. lemon juice, or the juice from 1/2 a fresh lemon, squeezed

dash Tabasco sauce

dash Worcestershire sauce

salt and pepper to taste

grated Parmesan cheese

croutons (optional)

1 head Romaine lettuce, torn or chopped into small pieces

To make the dressing table side, or if you’re a purist, follow the directions below.  This could also be mixed in your food processor – but I prefer to do it by hand.

Place whole garlic cloves in a hard bowl (not plastic) and crush with the back of a fork until they are in small bits.

Add the tin of anchovies, including the oil they are packed in, and smash them thoroughly as well.  Add in olive oil and vinegar and you should have a consistency like this:

Add remaining ingredients one at a time, combining as you go. The end result should be thick, not runny on a fork, and look something like this:

At this point I like to add in a little of the cheese to help with tossing the salad.  Add the chopped Romaine to the bowl and toss with forks until evenly coated.  Plate, add more cheese and croutons or chicken, if desired.

Yum!

I have made lots of substitutions in this over the years, and they all came out great (mustard, hot sauce, different types of lettuce, vinegar, etc)  However, the 2 things that make many people nervous are the 2 key ingredients – anchovies and egg yolk.  It is possible to make a good Caesar salad without them, but not easy…and it’s really not nearly as good.  And chances are, if you’ve ever eaten Caesar salad in a nice restaurant, you’ve already eaten it made this way anyway.  You honestly don’t taste anchovies when you try this, promise.

My family loves this recipe and I hope you will too!

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Don’t be obnoxious

This week is a blogging theme, and we’re supposed to share our best blogging tips.  As I write this there are 163 people already linked up, and though I haven’t read them all, I’m guessing many contain the same tips.  Very good tips, mind you.  I, too, feel that you should use Wordpress, be a good commenter, and focus on keywords if you want to build a bloggy empire.  But I’m thinking you don’t need to hear that dittoed a 164th time. 

So instead I’m going to share with you a very un-PC tip.

Don’t be obnoxious.

Sounds simple, right?  It’s not.  Most obnoxious people are so self-involved they haven’t even noticed they are being obnoxious.  Don’t be one of them.

Yes, it’s your blog, but please don’t make it all about you.

It’s not that we don’t like hearing your family stories – we all like to share them from time to time.  It’s just that when the content is all deeply personal, we can’t always relate.  If you want your blog to be successful, you need to have a conversation with your readers, not just a platform to shout from.  Work hard to balance what you are passionate about with what matters to your readers.  You may be the president of your child’s PTO, but if you always write about Jefferson Elementary then you’ll lose me.  Write about the challenges of fostering parent involvement in schools, and readers worldwide will be able to relate.

This is a common problem I’ve observed among ‘big’ bloggers.  It’s all about them.  They are so busy writing to amuse themselves, they forget about their followers.  Sometimes it seems as if they’ve completely lost touch with reality, and view themselves as a celeb whose lunch selection, playground activities, and personal philosophy on skin care are absolutely intriguing to the world at large.

I actually follow several well-known bloggers that fall into this category and they bug the heck out of me.

[Um, then why are you following them?]

Glad you asked.  I check in with them from time to time to remind myself what I do not want to be.  I follow them on Twitter so I have a concrete example in front of me, reminding me of my goals.

Don’t tweet only to make myself look good.

Don’t tweet like a stand-up comedian trying out a new routine.

Don’t tweet every mundane detail of my mommy life like it’s fascinating.  It isn’t.

It does not foster a connection with your readers.  It doesn’t make you seem cool or smart or funny.  It just makes you seems self-absorbed and, well, obnoxious.

Don’t do it.

*If you’d like to read more Blogging tips that are possibly less bossy than mine, hop over to We Are THAT Family.

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Like Mother, Like Daughter

I did some work in the kitchen last weekend.  We had a lovely snowstorm Friday night which made for lots of Saturday morning fun, so while the girls played in the snow with their Daddy, I cleaned/purged/rearranged and organized the kitchen cabinets.  As usual, it was a lot more work than I had anticipated, and it took a lot longer than I had expected.  The end result is great though, and I’ll be bragging about it next Makeover Monday. 

I unexpectedly got another post out of the deal, though, in the form of my mother and I sharing some insanity.

We have a lot in common.  She’s pretty much my best friend.  But I never realized we shared a possible mental illness until Saturday.

It’s called a crippling inability to ever throw anything away.  Ever.

We’re not crazy hoarders, mind you.  We’re just practical.  It pains me to throw away something, even if I can’t use it, because I know someone can. 

Someone needs this junk!

Nevermind that the shirt has paint all over it, if you have no shirt at all then this is better than nothing, right?

For years I thought this was my own hangup, but Saturday I realized it’s not my fault – I inherited it.

When I moved out of my parents’ house for college mom packed up a bunch of spices for me.  Some were put into little glass jars, others she just gave me her containers.  Containers that she refilled because we cook a lot, so we buy spices in bulk.

I now do the same thing.  I buy spices at Sam’s Club and refill my small, easier-to-hold containers and continue using them.  I never gave the practice much thought, really – after all, it’s what my mom did.

My mom also used to re-use ziploc bags, which as a kid I thought was just ridiculous.  I still very clearly remember the first time I re-used a freezer bag. 

It just had bread in it!  It’s like it was never used!

It hit me right away that I was A) old and B) my mother’s daughter.

It took me longer to notice the spice containers.

It started when I saw mom’s handwriting on this bottle and thought ‘Man, I’ve had that for a long time!’ (Despite the fact that I am, of course, still 19 and just moved out of my parents’ house. Ahem.)

(Notice she’s re-labeled a bottle.  You know, since we can’t throw away a plastic bottle.  Also notice, I am mocking her here, yet still using it myself.  Because if she’s on the crazy ship, I’m going down with her.  That’s how much I love her.)

Hmmm…let’s check the date on that one.

Can you read that clearly?  Because it says 1986. 

Yes.

1986, the year of Kiss, Papa Don’t Preach, and Walk Like an Egyptian.

Yeah.

But wait!  I also have these beauties:

That’s right, baby.  1977.

AKA the year of Dancing Queen, Margaritaville, and Car Wash.

I have spice containers in my house that are 33 years old, people.

It’s not normal.  

Unless you are in my family, in which case it is actually completely normal.  My mom is probably reading this right now thinking ‘Well they’re still perfectly good! What’s the issue?’

And they really are very nice containers.  You can’t buy ones that close that nicely anymore. 

 These ones are broken in just right, and they are still perfectly good!  Why would I throw away a perfectly good container?

I wouldn’t. 

Because I am my mother’s daughter.

UPDATE:

After reading this a few minutes ago, my mom looked in her spice cabinet.  Please pardon my blurry cell phone pictures, but I couldn’t wait to share this with you. 

I am sorry to report that she, too, has spice containers from 1977.

She also has this one from 1974:

And this one, which has no date, but by picture alone I’d say could easily be our oldest container winner:

She got that one from my Grama.

And now we’d like to re-iterate that we are refilling the tins, not actually using the same spices from the 1970’s.

And we do wash them before refilling.

And we do know that we’re crazy.

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Makeover Monday – The Blog Edition

I must be crazy.

Well, more crazy than I already knew I was.

February is going to be insanely busy.

The forum I moderate is doing a big 280 challenge, and not only am I participating, I’m monitoring others’ participation as well.  280 new listings in one month – a lofty but attainable goal. 

Wanna make some extra cash this month?  Consider joining us at HCTS and earn some spending money just in time for spring break fun!

Beyond that and on top of the usual household stuff, I have several projects waiting on me.  I need to organize my work room (which in large part hinges on this challenge!), prepare our taxes, and rearrange some furniture (moving from room to room). And a certain someone I know is turning 7.

I’m also doing a little bloggy makeover.  No, I’m not changing the design.  I love the design, and I’m rather attached to it.  I’m weird like that – I hate it when a blog I love changes their design on me.  I roll with change pretty easily in the real world, but in blog land notsomuch.

So where was I?

Oh yeah, my makeover.

It’s a blogging style makeover.  And I really hope I don’t get sick of this find myself unable to fulfill my commitment.

I have three friends who have recently done the NaBloPoMo challenge and they’ve inspired me to do the same.

It’s no coincidence that I chose the shortest month of the year to do this.

I will give it my best to have a new post every day in February.

I will not promise you that they will be profound.

But they will exist, 28 days in a row.  And given my recent extended leave from the blogosphere, that’s quite a makeover.

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As it turns out, doing laundry does not suck

You just have to have the right stuff.  Who knew?

As a few of you have already heard, I got a new washer and dryer last week. It was unexpected and quite thrilling, as these are lovely, swanky, drop-dead-gorgeous front loaders that I’ve drooled over for quite some time.  (When you use a word like ‘thrilling’ to describe a new washing machine, that’s how you know you’re old)  They’re Samsung, in case you’re wondering.  And they’re HUGE.  Reportedly the washer can handle 25 bath towels or a king-sized down comforter, though I’ve not tested that assertion.

Sadly, our laundry room is hideous, so I won’t be posting cute pictures.

Our house is barely 3 years old so we should have much better, but sadly, no. The builder designed this laundry room as a total afterthought and it has 2 walls that are unfinished, pipes from the sump pump running several feet out into the room, and is just generally unsightly. Quite a disappointment for a brand new house, actually, and the only thing I truly dislike about this place. But alas, 4 bedroom homes were hard to come by when we needed to move, so I deal with the inconvenient and unattractive laundry. And it’s never even been important – until now.

Now my pretty appliances deserve better. They deserve a room as pretty as they are…but that ain’t happening anytime soon.

So here ya go – a little peek:

I know, I know, I’m not showing you the good stuff.  (Steam dryer is priceless, by the way)  But what I’m showing you is pretty darn good too.  I wanted them to be elevated but really didn’t want to pay the $400 for 2 pedestals.  We also needed a different height to accommodate my husband’s bad back, so these are 18 inch platforms instead of the 14 inchers you can buy.  And the best part was that they were made easily in one afternoon, for around $40 for the set.  Score!

They’re not perfect, but I think Ana would be proud of my gumption – even if they can’t hold a candle to her bed.

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Makeover Monday – The ‘I did nothing’ edition

I actually have several projects lined up to show you in the future, but I did nothing to make today’s post possible.  Well, no actual work that is.  I did use my fingers whilst sitting on the sofa, for whatever that’s worth.

I was reading one of my favorite blogs and started hopping from there, eventually landing on one of the most fabulous blogs I have ever seen.

Seriously.

I’m going to give you the link now because I know you’re dying of curiosity, but please don’t leave me just yet, ok?

Knock Off Wood

Now I am a DIY girl, but I’ve got nothing on Ana.  She’s a self-taught carpenter extraordinaire and she is amazing y’all.  Totally amazing.

She started like many of us, with champagne taste and a beer budget, and she decided to do it herself and save a bundle.  This bed was her first project:

photo and design by Knock Off Wood-all praise & credit to Ana

Yes.  She made that. 

Impressive, right?  And you can make it too, with a few tools, $120, and her easy-to-follow plans.

Does it look familiar?  It might, because it’s actually a knock-off of this bed from Pottery Barn.  Except it’s $1230 cheaper.

$1230.  Or as I like to think of it, 5 round-trip airplane tickets to Disney.  Not bad, right?

She has plans for knock-off furniture of all sorts, inspired by upscale stores like Pottery Barn, Land of Nod, and Restoration Hardware.  She even has a dining room table inspired by a $2750 Restoration Hardware piece – her cost? $9.98.

Nine-ninety-eight.

A dining room table.  For less than ten dollars.  And it’s gorgeous.

You’re totally sold, aren’t you? 

So was I.  Which is exactly why I fully intend to make these (complete with wall clips)

Again, all credit to Knock Off Wood (my new hero)

appear in our playroom.  How awesome is that setup?  Totally needed.

Ana’s blog has inspired me to take my garage full of tools and my DIY spirit to the next level.  Now in my case I wasn’t exactly planning on buying new furniture so she might be costing me money rather than saving it.  But we won’t be focusing on that little detail.  Instead, I’m getting excited about how beautiful my house will be when I crank out a few of Ana’s projects.

Now if she only offered a professional organizing service, I’d really be in business.

*Full disclosure – I’m getting nada for writing this.  I wasn’t asked to write it, I’m not being paid for writing it, and I have no vested interest in anything here.  I’m just all about the sharing.

Oh, and PS) I forgot one of the very best parts – her plans are free. FREE!  This girl rocks, y’all.  Check her out!

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