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Organizing Toys – Take 2 + Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Posted on January 20, 2012 by easygoingorganizer

Week three of organizing and I’m already stumped. It has been a bit of a rough week.  Someone has been sick at our house everyday this week, which has seriously impeded my organizing.  As a result, it wasn’t until today that I approached the toys armed with new storage bins, a garbage bag and a box for donations.  I filled one large garbage bag, filled a box to take to the Goodwill, and attempted to organize things into the storage bins.  I am not pleased with the result. I had a vision of something out of a magazine, and it only looks slightly neater than it did before.  So. . . take 2.  I’ll be sleeping on it tonight and hoping to come up with something brilliant in the morning.

Image by ponsulak

To cheer myself up (and my kids who caught a glimpse of the Goodwill box), I decided we needed some Friday night chocolate chip cookies.  I love chocolate chip cookies and have tried a lot of recipes.  This is the most amazing chocolate chip cookie recipe I’ve tried.  Thought I’d share it with you in case you need it too. :-)

Yum!

Extraordinary Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/2 cup butter

1 1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 Tblsp vanilla

2 eggs

4 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 bag (24 oz.) chocolate chips (I use milk chocolate to make it especially yummy)

*For nut lover add 2 cups chopped nuts with the chips

Preheat oven to 350. In large bowl beat butter, sugars, vanilla, and eggs on medium.  Stir in flour, baking soda, salt.  Stir in chocolate chips.  On an ungreased cookie sheet drop dough by Tablespoons 2 inches apart.  Flatten slightly.  Bake 11 – 13 min.  Cool 1 -2 minutes.  Remove to cooling racks.

Here’s a helpful tip:  I only make one batch, then roll the rest into balls, place in a rubbermaid container with waxed paper in-between layers, and stick in the freezer.  That way we don’t eat more than we need in one sitting and they are all ready to go the next time we “need” a cookie night.  I also have a quick dessert ready when I’m bringing a meal to someone or have an unexpected guest.

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The Power of Dad

Posted on January 12, 2012 by easygoingorganizer

In the early morning darkness, I crept quietly down the stairs. Light and shadows flickered in an erratic little dance on the wall.  Rounding the corner my heart warmed at the sight of my husband and five-year-old son snuggled contentedly on the couch.  A blanket pulled up over their feet, my son rested his head on his dad’s shoulder with his little fingers splayed across his daddy’s chest.  Unnoticed in the still-dark room, I watched shadows rise, fall and elongate on their faces, while identical smiles played at their lips as Bugs Bunny  foiled Elmer Fudd once again. In that moment they were perfect, these two “boys” whom I so dearly love.

Although this little boy is often my most difficult, I was reminded in that moment just how precious he is.  The boy whose boundless energy and noise often has me pulling at my hair, is also the little boy who tenderly helps his younger sister get dressed and patiently plays tea-party with her.  The boy we nick-named “the destroyer” for his tendency to handle everything a bit too roughly, is the same boy who would rather snuggle next to me in bed on Saturday morning than watch cartoons with his brothers.  The boy who finds all toilet-related words absolutely hilarious and feels compelled to yell them at the most inappropriate moments, is also the boy who will suddenly put down his toys, and as if overwhelmed with a rush of emotion, hug me and say “I love you, Mom.”  This boy who has mischief always in his mind, matter-of-factly asked his Sunday School teacher when she was losing her voice, “How are you going to get after me?  I’m going to get into all kinds of trouble if you can’t get after me.”

Our third son is definitely his own person, but at times he feels over-looked with two older brothers he can’t always keep up with, and a baby sister who still requires a lot of help and attention.  So when his dad announced he was going to take each of the kids out to breakfast one at a time, starting with Tobias this week, he could not contain his excitement. He eagerly laid out his clothes the night before, taking care to place his underwear inside his pants for quicker entry, and hopped into bed without a fuss knowing he was going to get up early.  I heard his cheerful little voice as he and his dad got ready at an hour when no one should be happy.  And now, here they were, post-breakfast, serenely watching a favorite cartoon in those last few minutes before Dad had to go to work.  It was perfect.

After his dad left for work, he regaled me with tales of the pancakes and eggs and two cups of hot chocolate.  He simply glowed, overflowing with love for his brothers, his sister and me all day long.  As I tucked him into bed, I bent to kiss his head and asked, “Did you have a good day, buddy?”

“Mom,” he replied, “when I went to breakfast with Dad, I felt really happy.  I felt like I was going to be a good boy today.”

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To Clean or Not to Clean?

Posted on January 11, 2012 by easygoingorganizer

Image by Suat Eman

I’ve had two days of implementing my cleaning schedule, and I’ve been mostly successful.  My plan of doing one or two of my weekly cleaning tasks a day is still in the experimental stage.  I’m going to see it through and give it a few weeks.  I really can’t make my final judgement on the past two days.  There are some pros and cons to this plan.  Pro: my house will actually get a thorough cleaning each week.  Con: it won’t all be clean at the same time.  There’s something about having a newly cleaned house (even though it only lasts for about 5 minutes with four kids), that I just don’t think I’ll be able to replicate if I’m cleaning it little-by-little.  Pro: I might actually dust more than once a month (truthfully, it’s less often than that — have I mentioned I really hate dusting?). Con:  I’m feeling a lot of pressure from that list hanging on my refrigerator (see previous post).  I actually skipped my run today in order to vacuum — WHAT?!  Jury’s still out.  I’ll keep you posted.

While I’m spending so much time thinking about cleaning this week, I put together a list of tips I gleaned from various sources that I use (or try to use) to keep my home clean in-between cleanings.

1) Make your bed everyday - I’m sure you’ve heard this before, and not just from your mother.  It’s been said that the bed takes up 50 – 80% of the space in your bedroom.  It only takes a few minutes and your room is 50 – 80% clean!

2) Keep your sink clean – This is a big one for me.  I feel like the kitchen sink is to the kitchen, as the bed is to the bedroom (anyone remember practicing analogies for the SAT?)  When my sink isn’t cleared of dishes, it feels like the entire room is a mess. It’s only one more step to rinse it and put it in the dishwasher (trying really hard to teach this to my kids and husband — any suggestions?)

3) Practice what Marcia Ramsland calls the “Two Minute Pick-up” – Every time you leave a room or desk, take 2 minutes to quickly put things away.  I was just introduced to this suggestion, so it’s not a habit for me yet.  When I remember to do this, I notice I’m saving time by not having to go back and pick up later.

4) Keep your counters clear — I have a tendency to drop my purse/keys/mail/anything else in my hands, on the first flat surface, which happens to me my kitchen counter.  It drives my husband crazy!  I’m learning that if I just take a few extra steps and hang my jacket on the coat rack, or my keys on the hook, quickly sort through the mail, etc. . .my counters look lovely, I don’t have to spend 30 minutes cleaning it off later, and my husband is happy!

5) Just do it now — I’m retraining myself here.  It’s so tempting to set things down and think “I’ll deal with it later.”  If I just do it now — do those dishes, pick those cheerios up off the floor, clean out the coffee maker — it’s one less thing to do later.  It saves a lot of time if I don’t have to go back and clean up after myself all over the house.

It is work.  Keeping things clean does require that I don’t sit around watching soaps all day.  I try to keep in mind that in “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men,” (Colossians 3:23).  Even though working in the house may seem menial, it’s where God has placed me now and I plan to give it my all.

*Suat Eman’s Portfolio

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Week 2: Organizing my Cleaning Schedule

Posted on January 9, 2012 by easygoingorganizer

Some time ago I called my mom and greeted her in my usual way, “Hey Mom, whatcha doing?”

“Vacuuming my coils,” she replied nonchalantly.

“What?!” I exclaimed. “What is that? Why are you doing it?”

Turns out, refrigerators have something called a condenser coil which needs to be vacuumed or dusted every 6 to 12 months or energy production goes down and the thing could burst into flames.  This is a very handy thing to know as I certainly don’t want my neglected refrigerator to burn my house down.

This exchange got me thinking. What else am I unknowingly failing to maintain in my house that may cause harm to us or the aforementioned neglected item(s)? When we moved into our first home nobody handed me a manual entitled, “Maintaining Your Home and Appliances in Order to Prevent Fire and Other Certain Disasters.”  And let’s be honest, I probably wouldn’t have read it anyway.  What I needed was a list; something simple to tell me what and how often I need to take care of things. I did some research (translation: Googled it).  This definitive cleaning schedule is the best source I have found to concisely tell me what I need to do and when.

That brings me to this weeks goal:  organizing my cleaning schedule.  I took the list found in the link above and modified it suit my needs.  I created a check-list of things I need to do weekly, monthly, every 6 months, and yearly, in order to properly clean and maintain my home.  I condensed it to a single sheet of paper which I will print off, laminate (as per the suggestion by Christina in her comment on my “Ta-da” post), and hang in a place of honor on my now combustion-proof refrigerator.

I have included a printable PDF of this schedule if anyone should feel so led to use it.

 

Cleaning Schedule PDF

I know that a house should be cleaned weekly, but I will confess that it often doesn’t happen for me.  Carving out the 2 to 3 hour block of time it takes to thoroughly clean a house can be difficult, especially with young children.  With my new schedule leering at me from my refrigerator door, my plan is to assign myself smaller tasks throughout the week (ie: Monday – dusting {ugh – do I have to?}, Tuesday – floors, etc.).  This way I get it all done in a week, but in small, manageable chunks.  As for the rest of the list (the non-weekly tasks), I am assigning each a specific month in which it must completed. If I don’t give myself a date, it won’t get done . . . and my refrigerator will suddenly burst into flames one day.  Happy cleaning!

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