Love Stinks, Ya, Ya.

I'm super excited!

Why you ask?

Because I purchased a NEW SWIFTER WET JET! (The one I currently have, I've mopped it to the ground)

If you own a Swifter, than you can understand why I'm so excited. This thing ROCKS! It's the best invention since sliced bread. I totally can't wait to use it. Yeah it's that good. It actually MAKES you want to mop all of your floors. I never dread mopping the floor, it's as easy and quick as sweeping your floor.

If you have any type of floor other than carpet in your house, then this is a must own. This is not an advertisment for Swifter. When I find a great product, I just like to share it. Trust me you won't regret spending the $20 to purchase it. The commercial definetly says it all. What you haven't seen the commercial for it? Well then YOUTUBE it! Before you purchase it, google it as I'm sure there are tons of coupons for it online.

The Ugly - The only downfall in my opnion. My opinion is the only one that actually matters, is the replacement pads. I think they are a bit pricey, I'm CHEAP though. They are also very wastefull, GO GREEN. It would be nice if they had re-usable pads you can just wash in the washing maching after you have used them. Maybe one day! I might actually email them to find out if it's in their plan for the future.

So what are you waiting for, go buy one. If you have one, go mop something!

Time to ROCK and ROLL, Goodwill Style

What's better then picking up some really great used items for next to nothing at the Goodwill or garage sale? Getting some really great used items for FREE BABY! My neighbor D gave me this really cool organization unit with cute fabric pull out boxes to use for my sewing. My sewing machine previous to this organization renovation, I can call it that, shoot it is my blog. Anyway was taking over my kitchen table, UNTIL NOW!

Back story:

We have a loft in our house that we use for our office. I have a desk, the BF has a desk and the Boy has his own desk (They all match too, aren't we just the cutest family?) The Boy's desk has a flat surface where mine has a shelf in the back and the BF's desk is a corner towered unit. So I asked the boy if I could take over his desk to use as a sewing table. I knew I had to do something that my time of taking over the kitchen table was soon to run out as the BF is a clean and organization freak. But we love him, cause if he wasn't our house would probably be a mess of chaos. So I asked the Boy and Of course to be a brat he said "no" then seconds later he was like "I don't care." Whoo Hoo for me, Sewing / Arts and Crafts studio here I come.

That conversation took place over the weekend, you'd think the enthusiasm would have gotten me to do this sooner. Nope, I've been tired and sick people, don't you read my blog. If not you should be, I'm a talented writer. Didn't you see my award for best scribbler or something like that? So I finally got the bug up my butt to actually go upstairs and convert the loft into a usable office and arts and crafts shared space yesterday.

TAAAADAAAAAAAA!!! Here are the pictures of just my area of the loft, (sorry Boy I pretty much took over both desks, Mommy shares though.)

This is my office desk before I organized it. You can see how it would not be ideal for sewing because of the attached shelf in the back.

And this is how the office desk came out after I cleaned it all up. The Boy and I will share this desk. I rarely use this desk to do real "work" so it won't be a big deal for me to share.

This was the Boy's desk kinda before I turned it into my sewing area. The shelf is just a mess from him pulling out arts and crafts and just not putting anything away. Kids! See that cute light brown thing under the desk, YUP that's my FREE SCORE from D the neighbor. Yeah, we both know, she ROCKS!! WELCOME to my new Sewing and Arts and Crafts station. You have to love "BINS and a LABEL MAKER" Everything has a place and is in it's place. The lamp is turned because it's drying a new salty water color I had decided to make while cleaning. Hey I told ya'll I have ADD I can't just clean and not do something else. Plus can you organize all your arts and crafts without coming up with some new arts and crafts idea? I can't! I just love how that worked out though using the top of the bookshelf as a space to dry my art. Oh and the cute hook I put on the wall to hang all my Quirkey bags!!

So A (my other neighbor) and I went Goodwill hunting yesterday. No not the movie, we went to the actual Goodwill. I was on a mission to find new treasures for my new Sewing/Arts and Crafts studio. Check out what I found, I couldn't believe I randomly found these items that actually matched. No they were not in the same area, I just got lucky. I'm smooth like that! How cute is this lamp? $5.99 and it came with a working light bulb. I love this lamp, absolutely love it. Check out those two things. I think they are candle holders, I don't know but now they are used to hold my sewing supplies. My pin cushion fits perfectly in that cup. Oh yeah and the frame, hello it matches perfectly to the cups, each one was only $2.99. I found 2 frames, double the score. I don't like the salty water color that is in the frame so I'm going to change it out. Doesn't it look like worms? I want to turn it into a sign that says Lisa's Sewing Studio or Yes I'm open, I don't know yet. Any Suggestions? Nice score for me at the Goodwill. I want to go back, they have so many great items, I think I may be addicted!

So that was part of my day yesterday besides working. I hope you enjoy looking at my newly renovated Loft area of my home. I know I love it and can't wait to share all the great wonderful projects I create!

I've found my Zen!

“Usually we think of peace as the absence of conflict, change and turmoil, a state which seems impossible to attain in this ever changing world. But the truth of the matter is that turmoil and conflict are not our enemies. It is through difficulty itself that we find the road to lasting harmony. This is the essence of Zen teaching and Zen practice.

The road to lasting harmony is not a passive state. It is a lifelong practice which must be actively maintained. In scripture it states, "Seek peace and pursue it." This requires dedication, persistence and understanding of what peace truly is. It also requires and mindful attention. These days the stakes are too high not to do this.”

As deep as this sounds, I have found that all it took to find my Zen, was to organize my pantry. A messy pantry for me causes chaos, at 5am as I struggle to make lunches only to find empty boxes in the pantry with no food, therefore forcing an early morning trip to the grocery store. I know, I know I'd be less stressed if lunch was made the night before. On occasion that does happen, however sometimes I just don't get around to having time to do it. My sleep is precious to me so if my time is consumed by, showers, laying out clothes, TV shows being watched and autographs being signed, sometimes I just don't have time to make lunches before I go to bed. And seriously, who takes the last granola bar and doesn't throw away the box, anyway? I mean we just went grocery shopping, I would have bought more granola bars if I had seen the empty box and known we were out. I can answer that question with 1 word, BOY! Besides being out of food and not knowing, I also tend to have an abundance of particular items. I mean, how many boxes of Macaroni and Cheese do we really need? There are only three of us living in this house, and if you opened up our pantry you’d think we lived off of the 12 boxes of Macaroni and Cheese and the 6 boxes of Jiffy Cornbread mix. What a waste of money, because it was all buried in my pantry and I didn't even know it was there.

So I am proud to say that the crazy that was once my pantry is no more! Peace within me has been found and order has once again been restored. Yes, for it to stay this neat and organized it will take some work, at least in my household, but we will prevail.

So this mission all began with a trip to IKEA. You have to love IKEA and all of its very inexpensive wonderful items, yet when you are a shop-aholic, you have to be very careful and do what I did and purchase a large piece of furniture, even though that piece of furniture was originally was sent us on our mission to IKEA in the first place. So I guess the impulsive part was buying canisters for the pantry, but hey come one, I had good reason, did you even look at that before picture? So with our very large piece of furniture, a throw rug (Did you really think I would just pass up the $15 throw rug that would look perfect in front of the futon in our game room as it matched perfectly? No way $15 for a rug that’s, well a great deal, and did I mention it matched perfectly?) and several really cool jars in tow I made the 45 minute trek home to begin my personal cleansing.

Although it is still not the prettiest pantry in the world, hey we are real people who eat real food, and I'll never have a pantry as pristine and proper as the one in my previous blog, but I can try. This pantry is very organized and represents us, so deal with it! The top shelf is my baking shelf, where all the cake, cookies, jello and such can be found. The next shelf down is my pasta and rice shelf followed by my canned goods and all of misc pantry items. The next shelf of course is the snack shelf and finally the paper goods. So now I know exactly what I have and what I will need the next time I go shopping. Isn’t life just grand?

I'd like you to know that no actual food items were removed from the pantry, everything from teh before picture was put back in ( I think I removed 1 bag of stale chips, the other bag of chips was poored into this really cool air tigh container, no more stale chips!) The only things removed were the boxes that housed the snack food, as they were replaced with the nice cute IKEA jars. It just goes to show how a little bit of organization can give you so much more room. I was a few jars and organizers short, but hey what are you going to do? Next time I go to IKEA I will just have to pick up a few more, a great excuse to have to go back right?

So doesn't the before pictures remind you of the show, the messiest house in the country, or whatever it is called? I'm a bit embarrassed, but hey it's a crazy life, and for the record, my house is usually very clean and organized, don’t judge me by my crazy now clean pantry. LOL



BEFORE CLEANING:

AFTER CLEANING:

Pantry, Fridge and Freezer Essentials

Ever wonder what you should always have available in your pantry, fridge or freezer at any given time? Well here is my practical list of items, I keep on hand, that I actually use in my recipes.

SPICE RACK:

Cayenne pepper

Bay leaves

Ground cinnamon

Sweet paprika

Dried rosemary

Crushed red pepper flakes

Dried thyme

Dried oregano

Kosher salt or Sea Salt

Black peppercorns

Steak Seasoning

Chicken Seasoning

Blackened Seasoning

PANTRY:

Apple Cider Vinegar

Red Wine Vinegar

Distilled Vinegar
Red Wine

Sugar

Brown Sugar

Flour

Various Dried Pasta

Pasta Sauce

Roasted Red Peppers

Garlic

Onions (yellow, white and red)

Lemons

Chicken Broth

Beef Broth

EVOO

Vegetable Oil

Tuna

Rice

Various Canned tomatoes

Bread Crumbs

Baking Soda

Cornstarch
Cereal

Potatoe

FRIDGE:

Soy sauce

Tabasco sauce

Ketchup

Worcestershire sauce

Maple syrup

Mayonnaise

Dijon mustard

Yellow mustard

Milk

Unsalted butter

Large eggs

Cheddar cheese

Bacon

Sherry Wine

White Wine

Pepperoncini

Pickle Relish

Balsamic Vinegar

Parmigiana Cheese

Fresh to have on hand with weekly shopping:

Parsley
Cilantro
Rosemary

Basil

Lettuce

Tomatoes

Mushrooms

Shallots

Scallions

FREEZER:

Nuts (almonds, pine nuts, walnuts, etc., keep your nuts in the freezer, nuts have oils in them and this helps them from not rotting)

Frozen vegetables (broccoli, corn, peas, spinach, etc.)

Frozen fruit (blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, etc.)

Frozen Chicken (Skinless Breast, Thighs and drum sticks)

Ground Hamburger

I know it appears to be overwhelming, but most of these items keep for a really long time and you can make almost any recipe with these items. Usually you will have to just pick up a few items in the store to make most dishes (at least rachel ray dishes).