A Slob Comes Clean

Waffle-Iron Pizza Pockets

2013-05-17T16:01:40Z

This was a total experiment. An I-wonder-if-that-would-work recipe.

And . . . it did! These Waffle Iron Pizza Pockets were great, and a huge hit with the whole family.

I had seen Erin mention making cookies in a waffle iron (a new concept to me!) and in the comments, someone mentioned making Grands biscuits or cinnamon rolls this way.

That got me thinking about my most-viral-on-Pinterest recipe for Pizza Snowballs.

So I tried it.

Ingredients:

A can (or however-many cans) of refrigerated biscuits. I used the small biscuits instead of the grands because that’s what works best in my Pizza Snowball recipe. However, I think Grands would work fine for this.

Pepperoni

Mozzarella cheese (I used string cheese because it was less messy than shredded. I think sliced mozzarella would actually work best.)

Marinara Sauce for Dipping

Instructions:

Pull the biscuit apart and stack the bottom half with pepperoni and mozzarella. You could do one full biscuit on top and one on bottom, but I think this would be too much bread.

Just place them in the waffle iron and cook like you would waffles, watching the ready light.

I was amazed at how quickly they cooked through.

Advantages of this method:

You can make a small batch for a quick lunch.

Overall, it’s less messy than the Pizza Snowball method.

You don’t have to turn on the oven, even though I got a little warm standing at the waffle iron.

You do not have to be as precise about sealing the pocket as you do with the traditional method of making pizza pockets. The waffle iron squishes and cooks everything together.

It’s fun!

Disadvantage of this method:

You can only cook a limited number at a time, rather than just leaving it to cook in the oven.

(Y’know, while you run around the house finding lost cleats and gloves and slapping on some mascara!)

We took these to our baseball game, and ate EVERY last one.

See my other picnic recipes here.

Summer’s Coming!

2013-05-17T17:35:33Z

Summer’s coming, and I’m soooo excited! I can’t wait to spend all day every day with my kids.

But I know it also gets crazy, so I’m doing what I can to be ready. Out of my last Zaycon order of chicken, I baked about fifteen pounds to freeze and have ready for quick and easy suppers this summer.

I’m also trying to get things ready for summer here at the blog, so I have a few requests for y’all.

1. Be sure to download Teaching Kids to Clean over on Facebook soon. It is almost set to go up on Amazon, so I’ll be taking it down as a Facebook freebie. There will be days when I’ll offer it for free on Amazon, but go ahead and save it now so you won’t need to worry about missing those random/occasional free days.

2. Have you considered sending in a decluttering project for me to share here this summer? So many of you comment that it helps you to see my before and after photos. I’d love to see yours! You can write up a guest post OR just send me before and after photos! You can share your name or keep it totally anonymous. Send posts and/or photos to aslobcomesclean @ gmail . com with the spaces removed.

3. This last one is a personal plea from me. If you have read Drowning in Clutter? (Don’t Grab a Floatie . . . Drain the Ocean!), would you consider reviewing it on Amazon? Pretty please?? You can write a review there even if you did not purchase it through Amazon. I’d greatly appreciate it!

Have you started preparing for summer? How?

Maybe Hubby Is Right (Maybe)

2013-05-16T13:38:53Z

There are a few things that Hubby automatically does that I automatically don’t.

He was a ripe old 32 when I snagged him, so he had lived on his own for a while and is quite handy at dish-washing and clothes-laundering.

He checks pockets before washing jeans and . . . uses dryer sheets.

It’s not that I purposely DON’T do these things. It’s just that they’re the kind of small details that never, ever occur to me. I could (and do) say it’s because I’m so focused on getting the laundry done or that I’m just not that concerned about static.

But when it comes down to it, I despise washed Kleenex just as much as the next guy and I get irritated when my loose-fitting dress pants look like leggings as they cling to my thighs.

I do think he has a point. See that tissue in the picture? It, along with fifty-ba-jillion of its siblings, were stuck to a load of laundry where I’d obviously neglected to look for it before it went into the washing machine.

And it’s held to the wall by the lovely static that might have been prevented if I had used one of the dryer sheets that sits in my cabinet.

So I admit it. Hubby’s right on this one. Unfortunately, me admitting that doesn’t have much impact on whether or not I’ll remember to act on it next time.

When Does it Really Not Matter?

2013-05-15T13:31:39Z

Three weeks ago, we decided to start our summer break for our weekly church home group meetings.

It was a logical decision. People get busy as the school year winds down.

I said something about baseball season and Mother’s Day and such, but inside I was thinking about one wonderful thing.

I wouldn’t have to clean!!!

I can now say, three weeks later . . . that I haven’t.

I’ve been rehearsal-directing and field-day-attending and choir-trip-chaperoning, but I most definitely haven’t been cleaning.

(Other than the times when I couldn’t avoid it.)

I’ve kept up with Laundry Day (mostly) and the dishwasher keeps on running every night, but the house is showing the effects of my attitude.

Blech. So now I feel guilty. Because if I’m honest, my totally-rational reason for not cleaning isn’t that I’m busy (even though I am), but that . . . . it doesn’t really matter.

It doesn’t matter if my house is clean because as far as I know, no one will be ringing my doorbell any time soon.

Meanwhile, we’re starting to trip over things. And lose things.

“We” being the people who live here, who do see the house every single day.

“We” being my kids who wouldn’t be able to invite a friend over at a moment’s notice right now.

I’ve come a long way, but it’s so hard to break myself of the “Woo-hoo! No one’s going to see the house so let me get consumed with doing something that’s NOT cleaning!”

Ugh.

Don’t Judge a New Habit by Its First Day

2013-05-13T17:40:03Z

I love getting emails from people who are excited about giving Laundry Day a shot.

But then I get nervous.

Because even though a weekly Laundry Day has improved our home by leaps and bounds and is perfect for my needs-to-see-an-end-to-the-task personality type, that first one . . . is brutal.

And overwhelming.

And it doesn’t give you any idea of what Laundry Day really is.

That first day, you’re washing outgrown clothes that never made it into the rotation when you were only doing Survival Loads. If wedding guests over-gifted you with bath towels, there’s a chance you’ll need to do six or seven loads of towels.

A chance.

When the next Monday rolls around, and you feel like you JUST finished Laundry Day (since maybe you did), it’s easy to rationalize not doing it again. I mean, it’s not like you have as many clothes as last time . . .

Which is the point.

It’s the second Laundry Day that will give you hope. That hope comes when you see how much ONE week of laundry really is. And how much less time it takes to do ONE week’s worth of laundry.

It’s the same with doing the dishes. If you’ve read 28 Days to Hope for Your Home, you know that the biggest thing in the e-book is getting into the habit of doing the dishes every day.

But the very first day isn’t a reflection AT ALL of what the habit is going to feel like.

The first day is a make-up day. You’re making up for all the habit-free days.

It’s not until the second day of the habit that you actually get to see what it’s going to feel like. Then you’ll see what one day’s worth of dishes actually is in your house.

You can guess and you can assume, but in my personal experience . . . my guesses and assumptions were/are always wrong.

Picnic Idea: Chicken & Bacon Sub Sandwiches

2013-05-13T15:52:59Z

It’s picnic season again! Have you checked out my picnic ideas and recipes?

Just to be clear, I’m not talking about spreading a checkered blanket on the ground and spending the afternoon searching for cloud pictures in the sky.

I’m talking about portable meals that we can eat while watching my boys play baseball.

These chicken and bacon subs are SO easy.

They are based upon a recipe from the eMeals plan I’ve been using for a while now, but I changed them up a little.

Ingredients:

2 to 3 chicken breasts

Package of six deli rolls

One package of “real” bacon bits

Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Optional:

Sliced Avocado

Ranch Dressing

Instructions:

The original recipe from eMeals says to cook salt-and-peppered chicken strips in a skillet. I did that the first time I made these, but this time I used pre-cooked chicken breasts that I had baked and frozen in bulk from my recent Zaycon order.

Using the pre-cooked chicken made this an assembly-only recipe.

Separate the deli rolls, and lay them on a cookie sheet.

Cover the bottom halves with a single layer of sliced, cooked chicken.

Spread the bacon bits on top of the chicken.

Cover with shredded mozzarella.

Put in a pre-heated 400-degree oven for 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

Optional:

Add sliced avocado and/or spread ranch dressing on the top bun.

Wrap in foil and head out the door!

These did great wrapped in foil, and my older son’s sandwich was still warm when he ate it during the second game after 8 p.m. (I made them at 5:15.

I put together individual bags of chips, and it was a great and filling supper.

Now to decide what to make for this week’s suppertime game. I’m thinking either pizza snowballs or tacos in a bag.

What’s your favorite picnic meal?

This recipe came from the (affiliate link coming up now) Aldi Classic Family Meal Plan that I’ve been using from eMeals since January. E-meals provided me with a subscription, and I have been really surprised at how much I’ve enjoyed using it.

Our Family Sick Day: And Death to Evil Germs

2013-05-10T16:53:51Z

If you’ve been keeping up with me on Facebook, you know it’s been a crazy week.

Crazy as in . . . icky.

Icky as in . . . we all had a vicious stomach virus.

My daughter started throwing up on Sunday morning, and threw up 9 times. Nine. No, this wasn’t an I-don’t-feel-so-well thing. It was an is-there-something-evil-living-inside-me-that’s-determined-to-get-out? thing.

I kept the boys out of that bathroom, did some basic disinfecting, and lectured everyone on not drinking after one another or licking shoes or such.

(You’d think they’re too old for the shoe-licking lecture, but I always try to cover my bases.)

Monday happened, and she felt better. She hadn’t passed the 24-hours-puke-free mark, though, so she stayed home from school.

Monday evening, Hubby came home from work “not feeling so good” and barely made it through the first half of our first baseball game of the night. He arranged for friends to bring our Suburban back for me and rushed home. (NObody wants to puke in those baseball field potties!)

We got home at 9:30 and kid #2 went down. At midnight, it was my turn and at 2 a.m. my 11yo joined the chorus.

It was a horrible night.

So Tuesday was a Family Sick Day as we all acted like zombies. I could barely move.

Tuesday night, I began ritualistic doorknob/lightswitch/ice-and-water-in-the-fridge-door disinfecting.

The kids’ bathroom was the worst. I tried to get every splash-and-splatter, but it was bad. Somehow, in a sleepy stupor, one of the kids had rationalized it was fine to aim for the floor just to the side of the toilet instead of the toilet itself. Obviously, that had to be cleaned up immediately (by an about-to-be-sick-herself mama).

But today, I hauled out the mop bucket and thoroughly re-cleaned that bathroom floor and wall. (Yes. I mop walls sometimes.)

It JUST SO happened that a few weeks ago, Clorox® sent me a coupon and information and agreed to pay me for my time to do a review of their new Concentrated Clorox® Regular-Bleach anyway.

That’s good timing. Not the kind of good timing you ever want to see happen again, but good timing nonetheless.

Basically, the new concentrated stuff is exactly what I’ve always used when I enter into a War on Germs, but in a smaller bottle and you use less of it to do the same jobs. The directions on the bottle make it clear about the new recommended amounts, which is good since I’m a creature of habit. (Not always good habits . . . ) According to Clorox, it’s also easier to use in HE (high-efficiency) washing machines and improves whitening of clothes.

Since the concentrated Clorox® calls for 1/2 cup per gallon, I found a measuring cup I don’t often use (since I have two more I like better . . . ), labeled it “Bleach Only” and attached it to the handle of the bottle.

Now, I’m feeling better about our germ situation. Not completely un-paranoid (since I’m sure I missed something), but better.

And my favorite thing about the new Concentrated Clorox® Regular-Bleach? The bottle is smaller, so it fits PERFECTLY on my skinny-rolling-shelf in my laundry room!

Disclosure: I received a coupon for Concentrated Clorox® Regular-Bleach and information from Clorox, and payment for my time spent reviewing the product. All germ issues, pukey bathrooms, experiences and opinions are all mine.

One Thing That Can Stop Me in My Tracks: Allergies

2013-05-10T14:01:20Z

Pssst, this is a sponsored post. But it also contains a story about my teenage years and some good info that I’m happy to share. Just trying to be all legal-ey and let you know!

I have a long (and unhappy) history with allergies.

When we were teenagers, if I was excited about going on a date or seeing someone I hoped to one day go on a date with, Normal Friend would ask me if I had taken my allergy medicine.

She didn’t even try to be nice about it. She felt it her friend-duty to remind me that I’m a Scary-Looking Monster Woman when I have a bad allergy attack.

She’s right.

I know a thing or two about allergies. And I know the best way to prevent the Scary Monster Days is to stay on track with daily allergy medicine during allergy season.

Before my nose begins to run and my face swells up and my eyes start pouring water.

Otherwise, I’m stuck in bed, catatonic, wearing a wet towel over my face and breathing through my mouth.

Really. It isn’t pretty. And the absolute worst is when I can’t stop everything to wallow in my nose-blowing misery, but have to work through the dripping and sneezing and itching.

If I’m planning a party in the spring, part of my preparation is consistently taking my daily allergy medicine to prevent being bed-ridden on the day when I need to do last-minute cleaning.

So when this opportunity came up to check out a new site by Allegra and CVS called MyAllerGenius.com, I was happy to do it. As a life-long allergy sufferer, Allegra has become my favorite allergy solution. If I take it consistently, I stay sneeze-free, and it doesn’t turn me into a Zombie.

(Because Zombies aren’t very good at last-minute cleaning either. I know this.)

My favorite thing about this whole thing is the text alerts. Since I have unlimited texting on my phone, I signed up with my zipcode to get a text alert whenever the pollen count in my area is high.

Right now, it’s high.

This has helped me (as a scatter-brained mama) to be sure my son is staying consistent too since his allergies are slightly different from mine.

At Allegra’s new microsite, you can sign up for the text alerts and also get access to coupons.

I was a little disappointed that I couldn’t access the coupon on my phone so I wouldn’t have to print it, but it was worth it to me to use a printer for a four dollar coupon. (I’m spoiled now that I know a phone screen can be scanned!)

I headed to CVS with my not-sick-but-not-past-the-24-hour-mark dancing girl.I may not be an avid couponer anymore, but my disappointment at the “Out of Order” sign on the magical coupon machine was intense. Thankfully, the 30 count rang up at 17.99, less than the 20.95 that was marked on the shelf.

So now I’m good to go. I’m ready for my daily allergy maintenance AND I have the reminders magically showing up on my phone to keep me from drifting through life only to be WHAMMED by a Scary Monster Allergy Attack.

Just so you know, certain unidentified evil allergens still break through on occasion, but that happens MUCH less often when I’m consistently taking Allegra.

You can see my whole purchase experience here.

At Allegra’s My AllerGenius site you can sign up for the text alerts (standard text rates apply), download a coupon, get tips for managing your allergies, and play an interactive beauty game. (Though I must say, the beauty game/app’s version of looking bad when you have allergies simply doesn’t compare to my reality . . . )

They’re also having a Twitter party on May 14th from 1-2 p.m. EST. You can RSVP here and follow Allegra on Twitter.

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® and ALLEGRA® #cbias #SocialFabric The opinions, experiences, scary allergy-eyes, and dancing daughter are my own.

The Fun Part is Easy

2013-05-06T15:32:02Z

This was my dining room table on Saturday morning:

It had been piled high with random books since I made a video more than a week before.

When I needed to make the video, it was really fun to go through the house grabbing armful after armful of books to use as props.

At that point, I was being creative, using my imagination, and doing what needed to be done to make a project happen.

After it was over, though, the excitement of carrying books (HEAVY books) was gone.

Randomly grabbing is ever-so-much more fun than sorting and putting back in designated places.

But after tripping over the (not pictured) fourth pile of books on the floor . . . for eight days, and after answering my husband’s question about why there were almost 100 books piled up in the dining room, I finally put them back.

Not glamorous in the least.

But my dining room does look better.

And I stuck about 20% of the books in the Donate Box, so there’s that, too.

Dated Clutter

2013-05-06T15:08:52Z

April was busy.

I know, because I never had a chance to share this decluttering post from the week of April 6th (my daughter’s birthday party clean-up week), and now it’s May 6th.

And it’s one of those decluttering projects that didn’t let me pretend the mess had happened overnight. Those piles were full of clutter with DATES on it.

Blech.

Sometimes I’d prefer to live within my delusions . . .

Anyway, in less-than-27 minutes, I went from this:

To this:

I know. Not exactly a great after picture.

Anyway, the point of this post is what I found at the bottom of the probably-used-to-be-a-few-piles-but-now-it’s-one-big-pile.

Can’t really pretend that’s from last week when it’s already April.

And I know coupons. So I know coupons that expired in December must have been sitting there for at least a month before that.

I was a hero for this one! My 9yo had just been looking for it just the week before. At least it didn’t have an expiration date . . .

What “dated clutter” have you found that keeps you from pretending it hasn’t been that long?