Saturday, January 8, 2011

Dinner is ...

I've been telling myself for a while that I was going to start making better meals for my family ... ones that they will want me to make over and over again!!

So, can you tell what I am making this weekend?


I didn't have a wok before, and our largest skillet just would handle stirfry without having to cook it in several batches.

I found a yummy recipe for orange chicken, so I am trying that out. Also, making a chicken stir fry with mushrooms, baby corn, water chestnuts, bok choy, and green peppers, and white and fried rice ... I will let you know the results on Monday!!

Friday, January 7, 2011

52 Weeks of Organizing - Week 1

So, I am committing to the 52 Weeks of organizing over on OrgJunkie's blog

Here is my Week 1 Project.

I haven't shared with all of you my FABULOUS new workspace, but I will try to do that soon ... perhaps after some of these 52 weeks project!

Anyway - we moved out my work area furniture and installed upper and lower cabinets in our living room - before the spaced was lined with a metal cabinet, desk, and armoire that I used for my business. Now the cabinets give it a more streamlined look - although I did have to do quite a bit of re-arranging.

So, my week one project is this cabinet pictured -

I had a metal file organizer in one side, but since I only had one, the otherside is still just stacked with a basket on top - really pretty unfriendly to actually get anything out of. So, yesterday I took action and ordered another file organizer!

Originally I searched on Etsy and found a few vintage ones, next I searched ebay, next I searched a few office supply stores ... well I finally ended up back at Etsy to order the vintage one.

Here is a picture of that one - it is coming soon! I already got the shipping notification from the seller!! Thanks, AuntSistersPicks!!

This is going to be great to sort out all of the different labels and papers that I use for various business tasks!

I also like that it will fit inside the cabinet and when I close the door I still have the streamlined look that I am going for!

Thursday, January 6, 2011

The Pitfalls of being married to Mr. Fix-it

As some of you know, I am lucky to be married to a Mr. Fix-it. Now, I don't want you to think that I am complaining, as being married to a Mr. Fix-it has allowed me to have lots of tools and gadgets at my disposal. Some of which precipitated the creation of my lovely magnet boards. However, there are some pitfalls associated with being married to a Mr. Fix-it.

This post was inspired by one of my lovely etsy friends, BlueVelvetHeart, who is currently experiencing household appliance woes. Her washing machine is broken, and it is taking the repair service a week to get the part to fix it. All of this while having a potty-training toddler with a stomach bug!

It got me thinking, how much I would like for our washer or dryer to break beyond repair. You know, to the point where having it fixed is either not an option, or as expensive as getting a new one.

You see, our washing machine and dryer are 18 years old ... dinosaurs in the household appliance world ... and I have a severe case of washing machine envy! I would really like a front-load washer and dryer that can be stacked on top of each other ... which would allow me to increase our pantry space significantly.

Our washer and dryer have gone on the fritz a few times in the last 5 years ... but my husband has been able to fix them each time ... and they keep humming along like old faithful ... squashing my dreams of a new washer and dryer.

Now I am certainly grateful that my husband has these "fixing" abilities ... but it also makes him assume that his wife is a Mrs. Fix-it. This has required me to crawl underneath our house to fix a leaking ice maker water line, the same morning that I had an exam for the hardest college class (Astronomy). I have also had to help him pull the motor out of our little Honda Civic when I was 6 months pregnant. I have also had to help him fill a concrete block wall up with grout during Christmas vacation so that we could install a VERY heavy steel beam in a garage. These are only a handful of "Fix-it" projects that I have had to undertake due to being married to Mr. Fix-it.

So, honey, my dear Mr. Fix-it ... could you promise to NOT fix the washer and dryer the next time they break ... I would really like for you to pretend to be a Mr. Buy it next time =)

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

New Year equals new projects and goals!

So, I haven't really set any new year's resolutions this year, and given everything that has happened in my household over the last few months, I had really decided that I just wanted to work on "normal".

However, not having a goal or project to reach for this year has really been eating at me. So, when I read about the 52 Weeks of Organizing over on OrgJunkie's blog, I thought this would be the perfect small project to work on.

Basically you are just thinking of 52 areas or things that you would like to get organized during 2011 and then talk about them on Friday's.

So, this week I will work on at least a partial list of 52 things and also complete one organizing project. I'll take pictures and blog about it on Friday!

Monday, January 3, 2011

New Year equals new fabrics!


Here are a couple of new fabrics that I received over the holiday! I am really excited about the Red and Ivory one! I just might have to cover a couple of magnet boards with it this week!