Fall is always when I make time to work on projects around the house. Our summers are very busy with a vacation and spending almost every weekend at my parents’ lake house, so I feel like I’m never really here, and I feel as though I let it all go to hell in a handbasket around here. Once school starts and we are on a normal schedule, I get down to brass tacks, getting things into shape and re-organizing.

Managing Meds

This week I tackled the kitchen medicine cabinet. I have a pull out cabinet in my kitchen where I keep all of the prescriptions and supplements we take. I use a lot of herbal supplements and I have a pretty high turnover in what I use, depending on what’s going on. When we were in the cycle of going to the lake every Friday night through Sunday, I just left a bag of meds on the counter, since there was no sense in unpacking and packing them every 4 days. I’ve finally put them away and cleaned out the cabinet, putting away herbals we aren’t using in a closet, and making room for new ones. Having that off my counter has made my kitchen feel bigger and better organized.

Bathroom Closet

Next on my organizing list is my bathroom closet. I was looking for something in it this week and became so frustrated I just took everything out and put it in a laundry basket. I need to go through it, toss things I’m not using, and reorganize it. I have a big container of travel sized items that needs to be purged and I would really love it if I could get the closet to the point where things do not fall off the shelves every time I reach in.

Freezer

We have a side by side fridge in the kitchen and an upright freezer in the basement. The upstairs freezer was a disaster. We emptied it out and organized it and now I can actually find things. Note to self: stop putting meat in there. I just forget about it and it gets freezer burned!

Household Catch Up Weekend

We took a weekend and made a huge list of all the little things that needed to get done around here and just worked out way down the list: installing a new toilet seat, self-cleaning the oven, cleaning  up piles of stuff, cleaning out the dryer vent, oiling squeaky hinges and more. Making a list of little things and then methodically working through it helps us get a lot done!

Hanging It All Up

An ongoing project that is on the list is dealing with the artwork and photos from our trip to Italy. We took some things for framing, have a few more to go and I bought frames for photos. Now I have to figure out what to do with them!

Wastebasket Clean Up

On my list is to take all of the wastebaskets outside and scrub the insides with soap. This is one of those once a year jobs that I need to remember to get to.

Artificial Plant Day

I am planning a day to bring all of my artificial plants and silk flowers into the kitchen and clean them thoroughly with a soapy cloth. They attract dust and never really get clean when they’re lightly dusted.

 

If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Join ‘Em

Getting back into the school routine isn’t always easy. In the past I have sounded like a broken record, telling my son how important it is to eat breakfast before school. Some mornings he just can’t seem to find anything. Everyone here agrees that eating protein in the mornings helps us get through the days and keeps our hunger in check, so I try to encourage that (I even agreed he could eat leftover sesame chicken a couple of mornings ago). He loves, loves, loves breakfast sandwiches from places like Dunkin’ Donuts. However, he does not like cheese. There are no frozen breakfast sandwiches without cheese (and I really hate buying premade frozen things like that). So I bought bagels and frozen sausage patties (I would much rather buy fresh organic patties, but we’re working up to that! He’s pretty particular). Then I scrambled a dozen eggs and cooked them up in a giant pan, breaking it up into 7 bagel-sized pieces. I froze each egg item in a ziploc bag. Now when he gets up he can throw the egg and sausage into the microwave and toast a bagel and he has an instant breakfast sandwich.

Fall is always when I make time to work on projects around the house. Our summers are very busy with a vacation and spending almost every weekend at my parents’ lake house, so I feel like I’m never really here, and I feel as though I let it all go to hell in a handbasket … Read more →