Homemaking Organized Blog

Archive for January, 2012

So here we are next week and I have a whole 7 days to agonize over what kind of Housekeeping Card File I felt would meet my needs.

Mostly it needed to be pretty. Something lovely to the eye. And that I could keep out on my miniscule desk area. And I wanted to make or decorate it myself.

So that’s what I’ve been doing. We’ll call it Part 1. This part is finished and this is the result…

My Housekeeping Card File

I took this picture with my computer camera so sorry it’s not the best.

Even though the card file is not that fabulous, it took me some time to get here. I bought a white tin from the store. I went about painting it a green I wasn’t too happy with. I was trying to get a more chartreuse green but that didn’t happen. Then I Modge Podge’d it and let it dry.Then the whole kit and kaboodle started to peel. So I peeled off the whole works. Some of the paint was harder to get off than the rest.

So I ended up with a blank slate again.

I decided I would Modge Podge some paper I had around the house onto it and then once that dried Modge Podge over it again to seal it in. Then I Modge Podged some ribbon and used the glue gun to add the ribbons and buttons.

Over the whole process I discovered and found out that I NEED a Digital Die Cut machine. If you have any recommendations that would be greatly appreciated.

So once I finished the file itself I’ve been working on the dividers and cards. We’ll call the cards part 2, and the dividers part 3. The cards are just about done but I don’t think I will unveil them until next week.

For more on this see Part1 and Part 2

More closeup on the front.

Closeup of top.

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Go to Amazon and load it to your Kindle.

Don’t have a Kindle?

Even if you don’t have a Kindle you can read Kindle books on various devices. I read them on my Mac.

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Thanks Crystal

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One of my best friends is newly pregnant and sent me an SOS. Feeling queasy and out of energy she wanted to know what she could make for hubby for dinner that required 30 minutes or less.

If we weren’t separated by close to 3000 miles I would cook dinner for her. It’s hard when friends move. My friend is a bit of a food and a very into organic and natural foods. She has two freezers stocked with the basics.  But how to turn them into quick meals? She probably has no canned food in her home.

So what’s a girl to do? Admittedly I survived on pizza and tacos when I was pregnant. I couldn’t stomach anything else and the spiciness seemed to settle my stomach.

Quick meals in my home (that don’t com out of the freezer) are…

• Spaghetti with meatballs
• Minestrone soup (I chop quick and go)
• Canned soup and sandwiches (usually on Saturdays)
• Stirfries
• Sauteed chicken with veggies over rice
• Bakes salmon (I find this incredibly easy and it is often our Monday meal)

I’ll be coming back to this topic of course but what does one cook when one can barely stomach food?

Get Quick & Easy Family Dinners Cookbook from Gooseberry Patch for the Kindle free on Amazon. Don’t know how long this will last but it is $0.00 as of this writing.

If you don’t have a Kindle never fear. I don’t either but use the Kindle App on my Macbook.

Check here to see if your device can get a free App for your device.

Gooseberry Patch is offering free downloads of the chapters of their cookbook Circle of Friends (see pic below).

• Click the link which takes you to the page.
• Click on your selected chapter which takes you to a new page with the link to download the chapter.

Enjoy!

Thanks MoneySaving Mom

One of my goals this year has been to be a bit more organized about my cooking plans. I do love to cook on the fly but it does help to have a meal plan just in case. My meal plan works more as “just in case” than an everyday rule.  I’m figuring if I keep a list of how we ate for the month it will help with future meal planning. This is a no brainer really. My software does it already for me if I bother to open it. Which I do often because it houses all my favorite dishes. I’m just not the best about the menu planning option.

So beginning on January 9th I started inputting what we ate for breakfast and dinner. This doesn’t really include side dishes, just main dishes. But give me a hand! This took some effort!

If you’re curious we always have fruit with dinner and breakfast. Pears, apples, and/or bananas. Side dishes are usually broccoli, spinach, zucchini, cabbage (I love cabbage), carrots, peas, maybe a salad but not so much in winter, some form of potaoes, rice, pasta, or couscous.

Menus

Monday, January 9, 2012

MENU

BREAKFAST
Best Buckwheat Pancakes
DINNER
Sauteed Zuchinni
Lemon Shrimp with Parmesan Rice

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

MENU

BREAKFAST
Toast and Scrambled Eggs
DINNER
Stone Soup

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

MENU

BREAKFAST
Cream Scones
DINNER
Garlic Lime Chicken

Thursday, January 12, 2012

MENU

BREAKFAST
Cream Scones
DINNER
Apple Sausage with pasta, tomatoes, broccoli, onions

Friday, January 13, 2012

MENU

BREAKFAST
Leftover Scones
DINNER
Spinach Ravioli Bake

Saturday, January 14, 2012

MENU

BREAKFAST
7 grain cereal and fruit
DINNER
Leftover Stone Soup

Sunday, January 15, 2012

MENU

BREAKFAST
Best Buckwheat Pancakes
DINNER
Chuck Roast in Foil

Monday, January 16, 2012

MENU

BREAKFAST
Best Buckwheat Pancakes
DINNER
Chuck Roast in Foil
These were all leftovers

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

MENU

BREAKFAST
7 Grain Cereal
DINNER
Makeover Pork Chops with Gravy

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

MENU

BREAKFAST
Store bought bread, eggs
DINNER
Stovetop Roast Chicken with Lemon-Herb Sauce

Thursday, January 19, 2012

MENU

BREAKFAST
more store bought bread, eggs
DINNER
Skillet chili mac America’s Test Kitchen

Friday, January 20, 2012

MENU

BREAKFAST
DINNER
My Version 3 Bean Pasta Soup

Saturday, January 21, 2012

MENU

BREAKFAST
DINNER
Salmon Quiche

Sunday, January 22, 2012

MENU

BREAKFAST
Best Buckwheat Pancakes
DINNER
Franklins Salmon

Monday, January 23, 2012

MENU

BREAKFAST
Best Buckwheat Pancakes
DINNER
Leftover 3 Bean Soup

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

MENU

BREAKFAST
Scrambled Eggs and Toast
DINNER
Lazy Day Lasagne

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

MENU

BREAKFAST
Cranberry Cream Scones
DINNER
Garlic Lime Chicken

Exported from Shop’NCook Menu 4.0

p.s. – if you are interest in a recipe just comment

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