WFMW: recipe organization

Up until a year ago I would keep all of my "I totally want to try this recipe..in the future" recipes in a huge pile.

A pile that never moved or shifted unless the dust bunnies made it left side heavy and then the whole pile would come crashing down coating the mud room floor in a carpet of unused recipes.

One of my 2009 new years resolutions was to try 1 new recipe per month.

I have stuck to this and have seriously weeded through this huge pile and made it much more manageable.

First things first...I had to organize that assy pile of cookie, cake, side dish and main course recipes that I hadn't looked at since I printed them.

I do have two recipe binders that I purchased at Hallmark that I have all of my 'must keep' recipes stored for future reference.

But wanting to keep it all super organized I bought a large accordion folder on clearance for only $.94 when a local KMart went belly up after the shopping season ended.

I made 5 simple titles for the sections of recipes I wanted to try out before adding them to the binder...

Cookies

Other Desserts/Sweets

Main Courses

Side Dishes

Other foods

And now when I print off a recipe I want to try in the future I file it right away so I dont have to search then all to find that smores cookie recipe, I only have to search in cookies.

This is what works for me find out what works for others HERE!

by the way, you're a dumbass

Monday has reared its ugly head at me once again.

Not only did I have an almost perfect night of sleep last night (except for the snoring) (and I don't snore. Jeff does.)

I still woke up tired.

Like I had slammed two tablespoons of NyQuil kind of tired.

It was an insanely busy weekend with the kids and I ended up the one who was more run down in the long run.

So I have been dragging ass most of the day.

Today seriously seems like the fuck sticks came out of the woodwork just to mess with me.

Stupid question after ridiculous remark after befuddled faces have antagonized me all damn day.

On the other hand it is less than two weeks until homecoming is OVER and I get to stop spending my days hounding people about midnight blue and gold colored table linens and chicken options for dinner and other petty bullshit that most people don't really give two shits about.

I also ran/walked a mile on Friday.

Yeah.

On purpose too.

I wasnt chasing the ice cream truck for an end of season treat nor was a large rabid beast hurling itself after me.

I ran for...fun...for lack of a better word.

I did give myself a wicked case of shin splints in the process...which are still hurting three days later.

After my shins end their torturous existance I will continue to run...for fun.

It seems that I have also lost my mind and started doing things I would never do.

Running is the first step my friends. I feel like I am headed down a slippery slope.

Pray for me.

Rub your rosary beads for me.

Throw some salt over your left shoulder for good measure.

I thank you for your good vibes.

WFMW: cheap coupon organization

During these unfortunate economic times everyone is thinking of saving money.

There are generally two types of people when this type of recession hits home.

1. Those who save their money by cutting back on the unnecessary. The cable. The air conditioning during the summer. Ordering porn off the naughty channels. The eating out at restaurants. You catch my drift. The 'unnecessary'. They cut back on certain things in order to continue their lifestyle in other ways. The ways that matter to them.

2. Those who go out and either get a second job or simply spend smarter. The second job funnels in the needed 'extra' money to keep life at home above or around the status quo. Spending smarter enables you to continue doing everything you were doing before...only by doing it a bit differently.

I am SO a spend smarter type of person.

No, I do not always spend smart...just smartER.

Well, to be fair our house doesnt even have air conditioning so we cannot cut that out.

But I am NO WAY IN HELL getting rid of my cable.

Seriously.
Ask me to cut off a finger or a couple of toes why don't you?

Yes, I feel that strongly about my tv viewage.

What else am I supposed to do at night?

How would I know what is buzz worthy?

How would I find out who is our resident murderer on Melrose?

Is Annie ever going to fit in and have friends again on 90210?

Will Dan still be a tool at NYU?

If I didn't have cable...I would never find out.

So in order to spend smarter I started at the place where I spend the most amount of money each month...the grocery store.

Couponing is such a tightly knit cult of people that those 'on the outside' have no clue that it even exists.

Its the fight club of the grocery realm.

Except the first rule of couponing is to help everyone who asks for it and sometimes those who don't ask but look totally lost and seriously don't understand how to stack coupons or take advantage of triple coupon events.

So what works for me is being super organized (surprise!) when it comes to my coupons.

I purchased this binder a few months ago and it has made a world of difference in my couponing.

It is the Dual-100 Dual Binder 2-in-1 Zipper Binder.

And they should say the word dual and binder again in that title.

I bought it for $18 at Target - in the normal school supplies aisle.

I keep my food items on the left side in different categories...frozen food, refrigerated food, baking aisle, breakfast foods, snacks (chips, cookies, crackers) and other.

The right side is the non-food side. I also keep my store specific coupons here. Such as Kroger, Giant Eagle, Meijer and Walgreens. They I have cleaning, baby, cats, bathroom, kitchen and so on.

This obsessively anal organization of my coupons has lead to some great deals that I honestly would have missed out on because everything would be laying in a pile on my coffee table.

I was at Target today and happened past the school supplies 75% off aisle and saw about 20 of these bad boys for only $4.98 each!

This is a frugal deal that I couldn't pass up!

"But wait...didn't you just say you already had one?"

Oh yes indeed.

But with it only being $5 I would beat myself up if I didn't pick up at least 1 so that I have a backup. A standby. A pinch hitter if you will.

Go to Target.

Purchase this awesome 2 ring binder for around $5.

Organize.

Save money.

Don't cancel your cable.

What works for you?? See what works for others HERE.

rock star status? Check.

I was interviewed LIVE on our local ABC station. Unfortunately I cannot show it to you because it is no longer on their website.

All you need to know is I rocked the interview.
Which isn't as easy as you would expect...it was a 6:00am interview and I had been awake since 3:30am...so looking chipper and happy about working was nothing easy.

My semi-boss had her baby making me the 2nd most important person in the office for the next three months. Perfect opportunity to prove how amazing I am to everyone...unfortunately it is generally through working late and busting ass.

Yuck.

Other than that my brain is still in pain from my 15+ hour day on Saturday so I am attempting nothing extreme today.

welcome to fall. hand over your free time.

I blinked and an entire week was lost from my life.

I initially thought it was a drunken haze I was stuck in from my 28th birthday last Saturday.

I was wrong.

I just wasnt home much.

Lucky for me I was able to spend the entire week working away all of my free time.

I like to call this - football season.

I typically love football season.

Hot dogs...beer...crisp autumn weather...more tailgate food...beer...you catch my drift.

Its the bomb. (do people still say that?)

Once I signed my life away started working at the U I realized that any resemblance to a life I used to have was lost. Mostly in the fall.

I don't really want to say I hate the fall at my job...but it isn't as nice as a tub of ice cream all to yourself on a hot summer day.

Its more like licking an icicle in the middle of winter praying that your tongue doesn't get stuck to it because someone breached etiquette and skipped the double dog dare and went straight to the triple.

Exactly like that.

We work endless hours running events for people in town and out of town. We also are in charge of tailgates before home (and a lot of away) games.
Now I am not always complaining about this.

It was nice once.
I did get to go to a Michigan game last year for free.

To top it all off we are down two full time staff members AND one of our only remaining full timers is leaving for her maternity leave very soon.

So we are doing the majority of her work when she is off...probably sleeping in and eating bon bons all day watching Oprah.

So football season hasn't meant the same to me over the past two years.

Not to worry...that warm and fuzzy feeling always comes back to me.

After a few beers and a couple of hot dogs.

WFMW: nightly prep work

I am a huge believer in prep work to make the next day run smoothly.

At night I can be found spending 15 minutes to prepare the house for the next morning.

Morning.

Its almost a 4 letter word in our house.

But it has 7 letters.

So its a 7 letter word in our house. Probably in your house too. You can't change that I guess.

We have two non-morning people in the house. They like to sleep. If they don't get enough sleep they are cranky. I don't like cranky. I don't put up well with cranky.

Well, I like to sleep too. But if I didn't get up then no one would get up. So I have to get up.

At night during my 15 minute prep I can be found...

In the kitchen packing Carah's lunch for kindergarten...setting out Brady's and Carah's breakfast...packing my lunch and Jeff's lunch

In the kids bedrooms getting their clothing out for the next morning...

In the bathroom giving it a quick once over...

In the family room picking up any stray toys that didn't make it into the toy bins during clean up...

In me and Jeff's room setting the alarm, setting out my clothes for the next day...

And in the mud room setting out Carah's backpack and shoes (and jackets if need be) so they are ready to head out the door in the morning.

It takes constant prodding to get the kids to stop entertaining each other during breakfast and actually eat before they have to go out and face the world. But with these simple steps I take at night to prepare for the day ahead it makes the morning go a LOT smoother.

What works for you?

Check out what works for others HERE.

how do you wake up?

Morning.

Slap the snooze button.

Ugh.

*yawn*

Ha ha, thank you Mr. Snooze button, I have 9 more minutes to close my eyes and pretend it's Saturday.

Two minutes pass.

Brady bellows from his crib...Na-Na! (his cute name for me since he cannot say Amanda yet)

I pull the pillow tighter over my head.

If I cannot hear him he isn't calling for me.

Na-Na!

Only seven more minutes to sleep.

He can wait seven more minutes.

Na-Na! Poopies in there! Wet poopies in there!

Yeah. I am up. I am up.

I am questioning whether he is telling me his diaper is full or that the crib has poopies in it which means a diaper malfunction. Or maybe I am still dreaming and the crib itself has pooped.

Who the hell knows.

I stumble up the stairs and find that thankfully the crib has not pooped (imagine what that clean up would be like) and it turns out that the crib is clean.

Good.

I hate starting my day with disgusting laundry.

We just have a full diaper.

A full diaper first thing in the morning is always fun.

Especially when he tries to touch it.

By it I mean everything down there. His junk and the poopies.

Why not, right?

Ah, boys.

It makes it all worth it when he says Thank you Na-Na.

Two year olds...a gift from heaven.

Walgreens Glade candle deal

Buy 2 Glade Fragrance Collection Candles (2 oz.) at $2.50 each (this weeks sale price), Get a $1 Register Reward

Use 2 Free 2 oz. candle coupons from the 8/09 inserts or 2 $3/1 coupons HERE.

I did 6 seperate transactions and had to pay $2.04 in tax, which comes out to only $.17 per candle, and I received $6 in RR to use on my next purchase.

PLUS I have 12 candles that I can use for gifts that I got practically for free.

WFMW: repurposed items = organization

This themed edition of WFMW is all about organization.

When I hear the word organization I immediately perk up like a dog that smelled bacon in your pocked.

I know what to expect.

Folders and color coding and labels and new notepads and accordion folders!

This is the stuff that makes me hot.

But that's just when I think about the office.

In the closet my mind drifts off to dream of new hangers, sweaters all folded neatly according to specific and totally anal classifications, my shoes set in neat, straight rows...

I could go on like this for hours...organizing is one of those weird things that makes sickos like me endlessly happy.

When I walk into my favorite organization mecca, The Container Store, my pulse starts to quicken...my eyes dart around looking at all of the gorgeous, shiny and new materials that I can put things in and on.

These are the items that fill my life with happiness. Family, friends and new containers to put things in. These are the things that round out my life.

My advice to anyone thinking about organization is to start with 1 small area and go from there. The feeling of accomplishment goes a LONG way, especially when you have a lot to sift through.

It isn't even necessary to purchase any materials to help you along the way. Use found items in your home. I religiously save shoe boxes, baby wipe containers and cardboard boxes for just these reasons. You can store damn near anything in them.

I am also especially lucky that Jeff wears a freaky size 14 shoe...this means extra large shoe boxes for me!

So you don't want to keep items in ugly brown boxes? Then cover them with wrapping paper, contact paper or whatever the hell you want. It will instantly transform your space by adding a pop of color and you wont be staring at a box of size 14 men's dress shoes each day.

But everyone has different organizational needs and goals so make each space your own using your creativity.

You aren't creative at all? Then head right over HERE to find some great ideas on the cheap.

Read the other organization tips HERE.

Did I just smell bacon?