The Good Wife

Week 9 of the Weekly Organization Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (The Good Wife) — Wed, 23 May 2012 03:54:00 +0000

This is week 9 of The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenge! This week focused on creating a home recycling center (plus dealing with trash).

I am a little stupid excited about this post (yes, which is AGAIN late). I haven't been this excited about something so small in a long time. I knew the topic of a recycling center and trash was coming up and I was dreading it. For the longest time I had a very disorganized way of dealing with recycling and trash. The Good Husband got a hand me down trash container from his uncle. Basically it is a large, very ugly wooden box that houses the garbage can. Previous to the ugly wooden box, I was begging TGH to build me something similar to this. But he refused and said that it couldn't be done or he didn't have the time or the space or the tools or something. So he brought home the fugly container and thought that would satisfy me. It didn't.

You notice no photo of the fugly thing? Yeah. B.c it is that fugly. I am ashamed it lives in our kitchen.

So for months our small trash can lived in the fugly box, taking up less than half the space in it, since it was built for another trash can which we didn't have. All of our recycling - paper and cans and plastic - were stored in paper bags next to the trash in the fugly box. And I hated that damn thing every time I had to throw something away.

I wanted a nicer container. Even better, I wanted a pull out one that all the nice homes have. So I lurked around the internet and found this baby. And she was beautiful and it was a happy day. But I am cheap and didn't want to spend that much money. Weeks went by and I wondered how I could get rid of the fugly container and trash can and have a recycle center.

Then it dawned on me to remove the last two shelves of the pantry, the ones that housed our pantry surplus, canning goods and 'taters and onions, and put the recycle center there. Yet, I waited to buy it. What would I do with the canning supplies? What would I do with the 'taters?

And then last weekend when it was Mother's Day and our anniversary, TGH took me on a romantic trip to Lowe's and we bought the containers using a 20% off coupon and he came home and installed them. And it was a beautiful and happy day.

On the bottom of my pantry, I now have a marvelous pull out recycle center - with lids!!

The white can I use for paper and cardboard. The green container I use for cans and plastic. We have to keep the glass in a trash can in the garage since the city only collects glass a few times a year.

But even with the awesomeness of the new recycle center, I had to deal with the problem of where to put the 'taters and the onions. Then a good friend pinned this on Pinterest and I found my answer.

I originally wanted all three to hang on the back of the pantry door, but there was no room for the onion and 'tater bag once we got the recycle center installed. So the garlic and shallot bag hangs on the pantry door.

And the onions (left) and 'taters (right) live inside the upper pantry that holds all the crackers and cereal and chips. I used Command hooks so I didn't even need to drill a hole.

I have solved the problem of a shitty recycle center, by replacing it with a new, efficient one and I found a great way to store my produce in my pantry.

The trash can, however, still lives in that fugly box until I can get TGH to make me a nicer one. We just ignore it for now.

Organize along with me in The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenges

Week 8 of the Weekly Organization Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (The Good Wife) — Fri, 18 May 2012 04:18:00 +0000

This is week 8 of The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenge! This week focused on meal planning and grocery shopping.

There are two distinct phases to my meal planning - eating during CSA/Farmer's Market Season and eating without. Eating within CSA/FM season is a little tricky to plan ahead since I only sometimes have a clue as to what I can expect. I also have to make more trips. If we eat completely local for the week, I have to make four trips:

~Saturday morning for all day Saturday, all day Monday and breakfast and lunch Tuesday.
~Tuesday night for dinner that night and all day Wednesday.
~Wednesday morning for all day Thursday.
~Thursday night for all day Friday.

It can be overwhelming and a bit tiresome and frankly why I don't do it every week during CSA season.

The next phase, which I wager is much more common among average shoppers, is more predictable and easy to plan. Typical meal planning involves using store ads to help plan meals. Most sales run Sunday through Sunday. Since I like to shop on Saturday, it gives me almost an entire week to go through the ad, choose recipes and make my grocery list.

Using the ad for the week of May 13 - 19 my meal plan looks like this:

The Shopping List

Meat

Certified Angus Beef, Ground - $3.49/lb
Center cut, bone-in pork chop - $2.49/lb
Fresh boneless, skinless chicken breasts - $2.19/lb

Produce

Kale
Garlic
Onion*
Endive
Grapes
Celery
Shredded Cole slaw mix*
Green onion
Taters - 2/$5

Tomatoes - 2/$4

Dairy

Store brand sour cream - $1
Store brand organic eggs -$2

Store brand cream cheese -3/$4*
Store brand shredded cheese - $1.88

Frozen
Store brand ice cream - 2/$5*
Store brand frozen veggies - $1
Store brand frozen tater tots - 5/$10

Pantry

Store brand pasta sauce - $1
Store brand pasta - $1
Store brand hamburger buns - $1
Store brand tomato sauce - $.69
Frenches Mustard -$1

KC Masterpiece BBQ Sauce - 2/$3

Hidden Valley Dressing - $2.99**

General Mills Cereal - 3/$10
Tortillas*
Mayonnaise

The Menu
Monday - BBQ Pork Sandwiches with Cole Slaw
Tuesday - Pasta
Wednesday - Tater Tot Casserole
Thursday - Chicken Salad
Friday - Breakfast Tacos

The items on the list in bold are store sale items.
Items marked * have a store coupon
Items marked ** have a manufacture coupon

Since the template I have in my Brains of the Operation, aka Household Binder, have categories for each shopping item, it is easy to group items together to make shopping easier. I also star the items on the grocery list that have coupons and paperclip my coupons to the list.

We also generally eat the same thing for lunches and breakfast, so I add the same items each week without regard to sales and usually only meal plan for dinner. I have also left off a lot of pantry items, since I generally have all my spices on hand. At the end of the month or if there is a really good sale - such as baking supplies around Thanksgiving and Christmas - then I add the items to the shopping list.

All in all, it takes about an hour or so one night a week to meal plan and create my shopping list.

Organize along with me in The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenges

Week 7 of the Weekly Organization Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (The Good Wife) — Sat, 12 May 2012 16:18:00 +0000

This is week 7 of The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenge! This week focused on organizing coupons.

I will confess that I don't use a lot of coupons. I have found that for the things we buy - organic/local/whole foods - there just aren't a lot of coupons out there for me. Plus our Sunday paper is now something like $3. No thank you.

However, I have found there are some coupon tips that help me keep organized.

The first one is online coupons and mobile coupons. Two of the local stores I go to have mobile coupon apps that allow me to "clip" coupons to my account and then when I am in the checkout, enter my PIN number and apply all the coupons to my order. I can log into my account at any time to add or delete coupons and when I view the ones I have clipped, they are separated into different categories for me.

Online coupons are another great resource. I used sites like Deal Seeking Mom and Red Plum to score coupons on things I will buy. I also sign up for emails from my favorite stores - Target, Meijer, Kohls - so I can have coupons emailed to me. I save on trees and ink and the gas used to haul coupons to my door.

When I meal plan for the week (more in the coming post) I reference the coupons I have clipped, make note of them on my list and head to the store.

For the average, non-extreme couponer, having everything mobile or in a coupon holder I got from the Target Dollar Spot, helps me organize my clippings.

Organize along with me in The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenges

Friday Randoms - Mommy War Edition

noreply@blogger.com (The Good Wife) — Fri, 11 May 2012 18:38:00 +0000

By now you have no doubt seen the newest cover of Time:

The cover story deals with the topic of Attachment Parenting and how it can drive women to extremes. I haven't read the Time article yet b/c I am too cheap to buy either the online or print edition, but this article comes after some hot debate in the feminist blog world.

I read several feminist blogs. Some of them are Mommy centered while some aren't, so it is interesting to see one side argue that parenting styles like AP are decidedly unfeminist while the other side argues AP is nothing, if not feminist.

First, let's outline the 3 basic principles of APing: co-sleeping (which IS NOT bed sharing, more in a second), breastfeeding and baby wearing. The Good Husband and I practiced all three but only after the arrival of The Good Daughter and only as a natural extension of our own parenting choices. I had never heard of APing until TGD was a few months old and another mom commented on my sling at the Farmer's Market and said something about APing. I went home and Googled and shit! Lo and behold, we were APing without ever hearing about Dr. Sears, which is probably a good thing since all his opinions on vaccines make me want to take a hot poker to the eye.

For the first six months or so, TGD slept in a bedside bassinet. We wanted her close at hand, but we didn't want her in the bed with us. And just so everyone knows, sleeping with the baby in your room but with the baby in their own bed is CO-SLEEPING. Sleeping with a baby in your bed is BED SHARING. We bed share now on occasion but TGD is almost 3. I wasn't comfortable with her sleeping in our bed until past the age of one. So I hope that clears up some of the :::gasp! looks of horror::: I see pregnant women get when they spit out they "would never!!!!" co-sleep, thinking they might roll over on their precious and smoosh them. I also nursed for 4 months before, due to latch issues, pumped for another 7 months. This allowed TGD to get all that wonderful stuff that is in breast milk, but it also allowed TGH or anyone else to feed her. Baby wearing was just easy for me b/c I am lazy and wanted my hands free when carrying the kiddo around.

The idea behind APing is that by having a close attachment to your baby in the beginning, by sleeping next to them, not allowing them to cry excessively, to have a lot of physical contact, you lay the groundwork for a confident, independent child later.

Now the argument floating around feminist blogs is that AP is the very much a tool of the patriarchy in order to keep women oppressed and in a state of mommy martyrdom, since it is implied that only really good moms are the ones that stay at home with a kid on the tit 24/7 for the first two years.

I disagree with that and only some of it is due to the fact that I self identify as an AP. First of all, there is nothing that states only moms can AP. Yes, men are lacking the biology to allow them to lactate but thank god for the breast pump, b/c it allows anyone to feed the baby breast milk. And as far as I know, it is the actual milk and not the time on the tit that is of the most benefit. A baby and the person feeding it will bond even if no tits are a-swingin'. Also, as far as I know, a penis doesn't hinder co-sleeping or baby wearing at all. To imply that only a mother can do all these things and AP her baby is actually sexist to all the great and supportive men out there and diminishes the important role they play in the lives of their babies.

Let's not forget too that while infant formula has been around since the time mothers were giving cocaine to babies to help with teething, it wasn't until the post war era of better living through science that formula really took off since there was no way something natural a woman could produce would be any way as good as what a man in a lab could create. Then misguided feminists of the 70s and 80s took up the formula loving battle cry as a way to free women from their natural bonds as they entered the workforce in droves. Its no wonder then that breastfeeding rates were at an all time low in the 80s.

I work full time, as does TGH, so someone else is raising our daughter and soon to be son for us. But having a caretaker that believes in the same basic principles of APing, someone that is attentive, interactive and loving with your child means they will still form all the basic attachments AP spouts.

The idea that only women can provide a nurturing and loving environment for babies is sexist at best and dangerous at worst. It fails to acknowledge the importance supportive people of both genders play in her life and that of her child. By focusing on the idea that APing is mommy centered it is creating the impression that it is oppressive and mothers are the sole responsibility when a child fails, when the opposite is true. APing can be about taking the easiest and laziest way out with the help of everyone in the life of the baby. It is very much a "takes a whole village" type of approach when it is often painted as isolating and lonely.

Winner of the Complete Customized Household Binder Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (The Good Wife) — Fri, 04 May 2012 17:41:00 +0000

The winner of the Complete Customized Household Binder Giveaway is Tamara!!

Tamara will receive one complete, customized Brains of the Operation, aka Household Binder.

Don't be sad, kittens if you didn't win. You can print all the templates for your own OotO, right here.

Thank you so much to everyone that entered.

Week 6 of the Weekly Organization Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (The Good Wife) — Tue, 01 May 2012 15:19:00 +0000

This is week 6 of The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenge! This week focused on organizing recipes and cookbooks.

I imagine like most people I have a collection of hardback cookbooks as well as a ton of recipes saved online.

For the cookbooks I use almost everyday, I like to leave them on my kitchen counter. These live next to the fridge. I have the cooking bible - the joy of cooking as well as the first cookbook - better homes and gardens - there as my go to resources. You would be shocked to know that I still haven't memorized a damn pancake recipe and have to look it up every.single.time. I also have some special fatass diabetic cookbooks and some baby cookbooks as well. I try to keep these at a minimum, one - out of shame that I can't memorize a recipe and two - to keep my counters clutter free.

But I also have some cookbooks that I don't use as often. Those live in the cabinet above these cookbooks. They include some old Rachel Ray cookbooks, slow cooker cookbooks and some passed down to me that I don't use but feel bad about getting rid of.

I also have a collection of recipes I have saved from magazines over the years. These live in my Brains of the Operation, aka Household Binder, in a folder in the back. I like to try a new recipe three times before I decide to keep or toss it.

The next type of recipes I have are all the online recipes I have collected. Pinterest has fueled the addiction, especially since they all come with pretty photos. I have a board for cooking, for baking, for cocktails and for freezer meals and once a month cooking. Just for fun, I have a canning board too.

I also love the site and app for Epicurious. The app allows you to save recipes and create shopping lists. I also recently joined All Recipes, but haven't had a lot of time to really get a feel for the site yet.

Eventually I might create a master list of favorite recipes that I can add to my BotO, but for now, both the online and IRL collections will have to make due.

Organize along with me in The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenges

Friday Randoms: 50 Shades of Grey, Working 80+ hours a week

noreply@blogger.com (The Good Wife) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 13:55:00 +0000

Hey you, reading this blog? Are you a mom? Do you live in the suburbs? Are you computerlly social, on the Twitters and the Facebooks and the Pinterest? If so, I bet you have heard of the hottest "Mommy Porn" book there is right now - 50 Shades of Grey.

I will confess that I am a little annoyed by the whole thing.

Remember that time in 7th grade when you thought you were so fucking cool because you bought Green Day's Dookie because your best friend's older, college attending brother talked about how cool it was? And then you walked around school, trying to be punk rock in your uniform and you thought you were badass, until the more popular girls started talking about it and sang all the lyrics to Basket Case at the next school dance? And you couldn't help but roll your eyes and call them out as posers, since everyone knows you totally liked Green Day before they were popular?

Yeah, that's what I feel like when I see that damn book mentioned. Did you know they did a piece on it in the New York Fucking Times? I rolled my eyes and snorted and thought to myself "50" was soooo two winters ago. I read that shit back when it was Master of the Universe and Snowqueens Icedragon had the playlist linked to every chapter.

You see, the bestselling book was once one of many, many, Twilight fan fiction pieces. I used to read Buffy the Vampire Slayer FF in college but abandoned it years ago. And then a little over a year ago, I stumbled upon Twilight FF. It was a strange day that day, considering I hate and refuse to read the original Twilight. I was sent, by a friend, a link to a very dirty, very graphic, wonderful FF. I devoured it in a day. And then I asked her for more and low and behold 50 was one of them. And I read it in a day too but it was and never will be my favorite FFs.

So when I hear people rave about it now, I can't help but think they are reading SPAM quality writing, when they could be reading grass fed, free range, humanely raised Kobe beef quality writing. But then I would have to reveal just how much Twilight FF I have read over the last year. And that is embarrassing. Even more so is the fact I can recommend better BDSM FFs or Happily Ever After FFs or Angsty FFs and on and on.

The other day it was mentioned on CNN and when I did my snort, eyeroll thing, The Good Husband gave me the side eye and asked if he wanted to know.

No. You don't. These things are better left unsaid.

I am coming up on the busiest time of year for me at my job. 80+ weeks are routine. The last time I routinely worked 80+ hours was my junior year in college. I had one job that I worked from 6 am to 2:30 pm, followed by my second job from 3:30 to midnight. The Good Husband and I were just dating, so we would see each other for about an hour after I got off working my second job. I was a major bitch and I am surprised he stuck it out with me. It was draining but it paid well.

But now I am too old for this shit.

And I can't even up my caffeine intake to offset the hours.

Complete Customized Household Binder Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (The Good Wife) — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:58:00 +0000

~~~~This giveaway is now closed. Thank you.~~~~

I am very excited to announce a giveaway for a complete, customized Household Binder!

Do you love the Brains of the Operation aka Household Binder templates I have created? Do you wish you could have your very own but customized for your own needs?

Say you love the weekly cleaning checklist but would love to modify it. Or you love the daily checklists but you don't have diapers or children's clothes to wash. Or you would love different categories on the budget templates.

Now is your chance to have you very own binder as well as every BotO template customized as you like. You can include your name on each template as well as customized categories. I will be happy to work with you to create your very own, personalized BotO binder.

What you will win

You will receive

~One 1 inch binder, patterned (such as the one above) or a solid color containing:

~Dividers

~One business card holder page

~Customized printed templates including:

Automobile Log

Budget Worksheet (Monthly Bill Checklist, 2 page Monthly Budget worksheet, Monthly Budget Overview, Yearly Bill Tracker)

Calendar (2012, blank perpetual)

Cleaning Schedules (Weekly Cleaning Checklist, 2 page Spring Cleaning Checklist, Monthly Cleaning Checklist)

Important Account Numbers and Contact Lists (3 page Important Account Numbers List, Emergency Contact List, Restaurant Contact List, 3 page Business Contact List, Personal Contact List, Blank Business Contact List)

Daily and Weekly Dockets (6 page Daily Docket, Weekly Docket, Daily Food Tracker, Weekly Food Tracker)

Home Maintenance Log

Medical Logs (Healthcare Costs Tracker, Medication Log, Physician Log)

Menus and Shopping Lists (Freezer Inventory, Fridge Inventory, Pantry Inventory, Weekly Menu Calendar, Monthly Dinner Menu Calendar, Shopping List Template)

Party Planning (2 page Party Planning Template)

Pet Log

Sitter Notes
~Digital copies of all the templates listed above to print extras

How to score the complete customized Brains of the Operation Binder
Leave me a comment below for each entry to be counted. This is mandatory. Include your email address somewhere in your comment.

Score more entries
~Become a follower of the blog and post telling me

~Subscribe to the blog via email

~Follow me on Twitter and tweet this. Tweet: "Complete Customized Household Binder Giveaway from @thegoodwifeblog bit.ly/I3UZw3" Leave a comment with a link to your status.

~Like me on Facebook, The Good Wife Blog. Leave me a comment telling me you did.

~Follow me on Pinterest and pin this post.

~Post about this giveaway on your blog or elsewhere. Leave a comment with a link.

Good Luck!

The giveaway ends Wednesday, May 2 at Midnight Central. The winner will be selected using random.org and announced on the blog on Friday, May 4. I will contact the winner via email and they will have 24 hours to respond. If they fail to respond, a new winner will be chosen.

If I do not have an email address for you, you cannot win.

This giveaway is sponsored by The Good Wife.

Week 5 of the Weekly Organization Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (The Good Wife) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 19:54:00 +0000

This is week 5 of The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenge! This week focused on organizing the freezer.

We are now at the half way point in having a wonderful, completely organized kitchen. Aren't you just bursting with excitement?!

I can't believe I made it to week five before I fell behind in posting. I am sorry for the delay. I was sick this weekend and now The Good Daughter is fighting off a zombie infection, so I have been running on a little sleep and a lot of caffeine. I will also confess that my freezer could stand a major organizing overhaul but for now, I will give you the basic principles I use to organize it.

Just like with the pantry and kitchen cabinets, I like to group similar items together. For the freezer, that translates to roughly veggies, meat, sides and treats.

The organization flow for the freezer involves keeping meat that needs to be used first on the top shelf, at eye level, as well as treats for The Good Daughter. I also like to keep this shelf as uncluttered as possible, so the light in the freezer will work it's way down to the lower shelves.

The second shelf holds sides like taters and frozen pasta. The third shelf holds meat that doesn't need to be used right away. I like to check dates at the end of the week and move anything close to getting freezer burn to the top shelf so I can use it in the coming days. Frozen veggies live in the bottom shelf to keep all the bags contained.

The shelves hold ice cream and frozen fruit.

I am planning a huge overhaul of the freezer in the coming months as I prepare for the arrival of The Good Son. I have collecting freezer recipes galore, in the hope that he doesn't decide to come three weeks early like his sister. Once I have most of my meals prepared, I will feature my new and improved freezer in another post.

Organize along with me in The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenges

Sloppy Janes

noreply@blogger.com (The Good Wife) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Traditional Sloppy Joes call for ground beef but I like to use ground turkey or chicken to make it healthier. I also like to make mine from scratch, so I can avoid HFCS.

Who am I kidding? I usually have to make the sauce on my own b.c I am too lazy to go to the store and actually buy a can.

But when you make it on your own, you can also add some spices and different flavors and then try to convince your husband it is from a can. Good times!

Ingredients:

1 pound lean ground turkey or chicken

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper

1-2 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon prepared yellow mustard

3 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

3/4 cup ketchup

3 teaspoons brown sugar

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

~Brown meat in a large skillet over medium high heat until cooked through. Drain.

~Combine the remaining ingredients and heat on medium until hot. Serve immediately.

recipe by:The Good Wife

BotO - Babysitter Notes

noreply@blogger.com (The Good Wife) — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 15:58:00 +0000

I'm told that normal people leave their kids with babysitters while they enjoy a night out. We have done that once in the almost 3 years that The Good Daughter has been alive. We need to get out more.

One source of anxiety for me the one time we left her with a sitter was making sure she knew what to do. I wish I had had this template then. It would have given me peace of mind and allowed me to enjoy the shitty movie The Good Husband and I went to see that night.

I also babysat a lot in high school and college. So much so, that I almost made as much money from my babysitting jobs than I did my actual job at the time. I would have loved something like this when I watched kids for a new family the first few times. Everything is laid out clearly and easily accessible. Hanging this on the fridge or next to the phone would have been super helpful. And by seeing all the areas on the template, it reduces the chance that Mom or Dad might forget to tell the sitter something.

The template includes where you will be at while the sitter is watching your children, emergency contact information for both parents and additional emergency contacts, instructions for each child including what and when they eat, if they have any homework, activities they are allowed to do, rules they need to follow, bath and bed times as well as any medication needed. In the event of a true emergency, the contact information for the police, fire and doctor are listed along with your address if the sitter needs to relay it.

The template will help relieve any anxiousness you might have when leaving your kids with a sitter. Now, just don't pick a shitty movie to see.

You can download a copy of this template for your Brains of the Operation aka Household Binder, here.

Homemade Chicken Stock

noreply@blogger.com (The Good Wife) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 19:35:00 +0000

This is the first time I made chicken stock. I don't know why I was always intimidated by it. It couldn't have been easier since you just throw everything in a pot and forget about it. We had a whole chicken left over after roasting the other night, so I just threw the body in the stockpot along with some veggies and a few hours later - walla! - the perfect base for soups and to flavor rice.

Ingredients:

1 - 2 whole chicken carcases, bones and meat

3 large yellow onions, unpeeled and quartered

6 carrots, unpeeled and halved

4 stalks celery with leaves, cut into thirds

4 parsnips, unpeeled and cut in half

20 sprigs fresh parsley

15 sprigs fresh thyme

20 sprigs fresh dill

1 head garlic, unpeeled and cut in 1/2 crosswise

2 tablespoons kosher salt

2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns

Directions:

~Place everything in a 16 to 20-quart stockpot. Add 7 quarts of water and bring to a boil.

~Simmer, uncovered, for 4 hours. Strain the entire contents of the pot through a colander and discard the solids. Use immediately or store in containers and freeze for up to 3 months.

recipe modified from: Ina Garten

Week 4 of the Weekly Organization Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (The Good Wife) — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 16:19:00 +0000

This is week 4 of The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenge! This week focused on organizing the refrigerator.

The fridge is probably the most used appliance in the kitchen. It holds the majority of our food but did you know that it is estimated that up to 40% of food purchased in the US is throw out without being consumed? That is a lot of food and I bet one of the reasons is due to lack of organization. Food can get lost in our massive fridges, shoved in the back, on the lowest shelf where it molds and then ends up in the trash.

A well stocked and organized fridge can help you waste less food and eat healthier.

Here is a look at our fridge.

It it organized to allow for maximum storage as well as encouraging healthy eating.

We tend to eat the first things we see at eye level, so to ensure that is something healthy and not, say, chocolate cake, I like to store washed, pre-cut fruits and veggies on the top shelf. This week, I have grapes, pineapple, oranges, apples, baby carrots, cucumber, celery and hard boiled eggs. I also like to keep a pitcher in the fridge of something like chai tea or flavored water. Since I am pregnant, I need to drink a lot daily. It is easy to make just one big pot of tea rather than multiple cups during the day. I also drink more when I can be lazy and just pour from the pitcher into my glass.

The next shelf is for dairy and lunch items. Here, next to the cottage cheese, all our yogurt is contained in one area with a clear bin. I also have cheese cubes in individual containers for easy snacking. Hummus, a pre-made sandwich, and jelly round out the lunch items.

Below the dairy/lunch shelf is the deli drawer. This contains the lunch meat and cheese I use to make The Good Husband's lunch. I also have some sliced, cooked meat in there for me.

The next shelf is the smallest and to avoid having food get lost and turn moldy, I use this shelf as our protein station. The meat we are going to eat for the week hangs out here. Sometimes marinating until I am ready for it. I also have our eggs on this shelf.

Below the protein station, I have washed produce that I use to make meals. Shredded carrots and diced cucumber are within easy reach so I can add them to sandwiches and salads. Also, after I eat the small container of baby carrots on the top shelf, I can refill it with carrots from the bottom shelf. I also like to have at least one salad prepped so I can just grab it and eat it for lunch.

The bottom two bins are the farmer's market of the fridge. Fruits and veggies that don't require prep or are overflow live down here until I need them. Once we eat all the sliced oranges, I can pull the remaining out of the bin and prep them for later.

I also have the produce we will use for dinners in the bottom drawer such as green beans, broccoli, brussel sprouts and asparagus.

The door shelves of the fridge contain mostly milk and condiments.

I keep the butter in the covered drawer to keep it cold despite the constant opening of the door. Below that lives our milk and other drinks.

Next comes our most used condiments - mayo, bbg, chili sauce, mustard, soy sauce, worcestershire sauce - the stuff I really should make but have been too lazy to.

Below that reveals our pickle obsession. Yes, that is five jars of different kinds of pickles. Clearly, we need help.

The bottom door shelf houses less used condiments and salad dressing. Hoisin sauce lives down here, along with tahini and horseradish.

Washing and prepping produce and other snacks saves me time during the week. You can see why I don't clean on Sunday, since I use that time when The Good Daughter naps to prep all the food I bought the day before. I also love to use containers to keep everything organized and within sight. By having healthy snack food at eye level, I can make healthy eating a bit more easy.

Next week we will tackle the freezer, where long term food storage is the goal.

Organize along with me in The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenges

Week 3 of the Weekly Organization Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (The Good Wife) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 04:19:00 +0000

This is week 3 of The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenge! This week focused on the kitchen pantry, spices and food storage areas.

I've talked before about how I organize my pantry. I like to group similar items together. The basic breakdown of my pantry is: canned veggies, tuna, soups on the top shelf. The next shelf is for all my baking supplies, while the third is for pasta, rice and side dishes. The fourth shelf is for onions, garlic and taters, while the bottom is extra condiments and canning supplies. I am still not 100% happy with my pantry and probably won't be until I get some pull out shelves, but for now it is organized enough.

Need to know what you should have in your pantry? Check this out. Need a way to track what you actually have in there? Use this pantry inventory.

The next area was spices. Originally I started with this and ended up with this. I am very happy with the results.

The final area for this week focused on food storage. I already store the containers I use the most for lunches in the lunch command center cabinet.

Currently I use the Fit N Fresh Lunch on the Go containers (the purple one). You can pack a ton in these things. Usually The Good Husband eats a sandwich, crackers or chips, grapes, baby carrots, raisins and celery and peanut butter. I can fit all that into the container and it holds its own ice pack to keep everything cool. I also have the Salad Shaker (the green one), which I love too. I also have mixer water bottle that is good for making protein shakes on the go. I also have some Stay Fit Snack Stackers and a Stay Fit Snack n Dip container that I loved to use in the diaper bag when The Good Daughter was a baby.

The other food storage area I use mainly for food prep and leftovers.

I like to use the Kinetic Go Green Glasslock Assorted 8-Piece Food Storage Container Set for most of the foods I will use for meal prep. There are three shapes - rectangle, square and circle. I like to stack each shape according to size and store the lids in the center. The really nice thing is that each shape has a different color lid for ease of access.

The bottom shelf of my food storage hold all my Rubbermaid containers. I have both the Easy Find Lids containers and the Produce Saver containers. I like to use the easy find lids (red lids) for lunches and leftovers. TGH takes these to work with him a lot as well. I like to use the Produce Saver containers (green lid) for produce storage and prep. These normally stay at home with us.

I bought both container sets years ago, close to 5 years or more and stored them in their boxes in our closet at our old apartment. Since then, Rubbermaid has come out with a line of glass containers that look interesting and should I ever need more, I might purchase them. In the meantime all the containers I have are BPA free, so that makes them safe for my family.

Organize along with me in The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenges

Random thoughts on pregnancy

noreply@blogger.com (The Good Wife) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 19:21:00 +0000

I didn't post a lot about my last pregnancy since the focus on the blog was still 99% food posts with crappy photos. Plus The Good Husband was laid off. My joy was a bit tempered since I didn't want to write in The Good Daughter's baby book, "Your Daddy thought of you all day while he was waiting in the unemployment line. We don't know how we are going to make rent this month, but we love you."

Thankfully things improved rather quickly and I was able to be excited and enjoy that first pregnancy in the wide eyed way that only first time moms can, thinking that sleepless nights and breastfeeding struggles will only happen to other moms.

Round two is markedly different. Whereas before when people would ask me how far along I was, I could name the week and day without thinking, now it's more like "23 weeks? I dunno." Gone is the excitement of baby showers and registries; replaced by the white hot panic of how I am going to handle a newborn all over again but this time, with the added bonus of a demanding 3 year old.

The excitement of making baby food and setting up the swing is now "I have to bring all that shit up out of the basement." I am scared the new baby smell won't last as long this time around. And since I am fairly sure this might be our last pregnancy I am trying to savor the last few weeks with a bittersweetness I might never have again.

I'm more than half way finished now and it still all feels unreal.

Noteworthy things about this pregnancy:

~It's a boy and a little weird knowing there is little baby junk just hanging out in me

~Pregnancy nightmares are the shit; in the last week I have dreamt my family was eaten by wolves, we were attacked by zombies (which is a fairly common, nonpregnancy dream for me, actually) and the baby is try to eat it's way out of my stomach

~I forgot how bad snail trail is

~I have gained 9 pounds so far, which is not bad but considering I am only "allowed" to gain 15 at the most, is depressing

~No flat, orange soda drink for me. I got to skip straight to a shot in my ass 4 times a day to control gestational diabetes

~The Good Son is going to get mostly hand-me-downs, including the nursery but I am getting a dresser for him since not having a changing table with TGD was a rookie fucking mistake. This means he will wear pink cloth diapers. But will be fabulous in them

~I have a very real and terrifying fear of labor and delivery since TGD was an unplanned and unexpected c/s

~My feet and my tits are having a competition to see which can get the biggest and most painful first. My feet are currently in the lead

~I forgot just how unique the feeling of being kicked in the vagina from the inside is. TGD always kicked my ribs and so far this boy aims below the belt.

~I haven't had any real heartburn or sciatic never pain, but I know both are just lying in wait.

25 Noncandy Easter Basket Goodies

noreply@blogger.com (The Good Wife) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 14:31:00 +0000

The Good Daughter is spoiled rotten. I didn't do this to her. It's the fault of my folks. Since TGD is the first grandkid, they tend to go way overboard in terms of gift giving. My mom always adds "just one more" thing and that's how we ended up with with enough Easter candy to last us until winter.

Seriously, 4 full sized bags of candy. And the good stuff too.

So since we celebrated Easter with my folks early, it left me to give TGD a candy free basket. The following are 25 ideas for noncandy Easter basket goodies.

1. Crayons

2. Sidewalk Chalk

3. Popcorn

4. Gummy Bunnies

5. Stickers

6. Card game like Old Maid or Go Fish!

7. Cheddar Bunnies

8. Paper Dolls

9. Coloring Books

10. Sunglasses

11. Bubbles

12. Nail Polish

13. Board book

14. DVD or CD

15. Money

16. Jump rope

17. Socks

18. Big girl undies

19. Hair pretties

20. Raisins

21. Little People

22. Legos

23. Playdoh

24. Stuffed animal

25. Window clings

Blueberry Banana Yogurt Muffins

noreply@blogger.com (The Good Wife) — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 14:27:00 +0000

Now that I am pregnant, I am diabetic once again. My blood sugar numbers are always out of whack first thing in the morning, so I found a breakfast that was safe and stuck with it. But after 20+ plus weeks, I have grown tired of eating the same thing every single morning for breakfast.

So I decided to find something else I could eat that wouldn't be too sugary. I normally love a big bowl of cereal in the morning so that was out. I decided to try my hand at muffins. But healthy, diabetic friendly muffins. I created these blueberry banana yogurt muffins. They contain healthy, whole ingredients like oats and blueberry yogurt and banana.

I added some spices to give it a hint of warmth. The yogurt gave the muffins a slight tang but imparted a strong blueberry flavor. The muffin was dense and moist and with a small glass of milk and some turkey sausage is a great start to the morning. Way better than an English muffin and cream cheese.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 12 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 tablespoons ground flax seeds

1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1/4 tablespoon ground nutmeg

1/4 tablespoon ground ginger

1 cup old fashioned rolled oats

1 1/2 cups mashed, ripe banana

4 ozs blueberry greek yogurt, I used Chobani

2 beaten eggs

1/4 cup canola oil

2 teaspoons vanilla

oats

Directions:

~Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all dry ingredients thoroughly and set aside.

~In a separate bowl, combine all wet ingredients until well blended. Slowly mix in the dry mixture until well combined.

~Spray your muffin pans with nonstick spray. Using an ice cream scoop, fill each muffin cup 3/4 full and sprinkle with oats.

~Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes. Allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

recipe by:The Good Wife

Week 2 of the Weekly Organization Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (The Good Wife) — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 16:20:00 +0000

This is week 2 of The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenge! This week focused on kitchen counter tops and sink.

This is one of the hardest things for me to keep clean and organized in the kitchen. I mean, I think all the counter tops are clean and clutter free and then in the morning I wake to discover the dishes have fucked in the sink like bunnies and BOTH sides are full. The crockpot on the counter was also whoring it up the night before and invited the toaster and some food containers and a box of crackers and some chip clip and the random plastic bag from American Beauty floated in.

In short, its a totally mess and sets me off on the wrong start every morning.

The biggest problem is deciding what has to be on the counter and what needs to be put away. As someone that cooks 95% of our meals at home, there are just some things that need to live on my counters - my knives, the stand mixer, the toaster. I like to have everything handy but I also don't like everything cluttered.

I also like to create stations on the counters, so everything doesn't feel so cluttered.

Above the minioffice drawer in the kitchen, I have a lamp and the phone. This part of the counter is mainly used for office and paper work.

Again, using the same principle that states like items with like, I have put near the stove the things I use the most. I have this spice rack for common spices, as well as a plate to hold other spices. Keeping things on a plate or in a basket, allows them to be within reach but also contained to one area to be neat and tidy.

To the right of the stove, I have my utensils and my knives. I keep these here because I am right handed and when working in front of the stove I prep on the counter to the right of the stove and drop things in the pan that usually sits on the right front burner. In this corner I also have my electric can opener and my stand mixer.

Next to the sink I have containers with flour, sugar and tea. Since we use cloth instead of paper towels, I have a basket next to the sink that houses a few of them. This is mainly to keep them within reach and to appease The Good Husband, since he was a hard core paper towel user. I found that if I don't have them handy he will bitch about not having paper towels.

On the other side of the sink, I have a candle warmer, a bowl of fruit, my sad and ignored coffee maker, a plant I am slowly killing, the toaster and my cookbook collection.

Keeping the sink organized has posed a challenge for me. At one time I had a fancy soap and brush holder but it made the sink looked cluttered. I ended up swapping that out for a decorative soap dispenser. Then I didn't know what to do with the sink stoppers and my scrubbers.

Then I saw this at Target.

The small basket attaches to the side of the sink and holds my stopper and my scrubbies. The open wire allows things to drain and dry quickly. I put in on the side of the sink sans disposal, since that side is the one the collects the dirty dishes. I also put in on the inside wall to allow for slightly more space in the sink. I like that from far away, it's not too noticeable.

Organize along with me in The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenges

How To Smell Like A Dirty Hippy

noreply@blogger.com (The Good Wife) — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 10:00:00 +0000

I try and live a green lifestyle by avoiding unnecessary chemicals in the things I eat and what I clean with and what I put on my body.

One of the questions I hear all the time is about natural or green deodorant choices.

People are terrified of being stinky. And I don't blame them. I don't want to stink and I certainly don't want to be around anyone that stinks either. But I also don't really want to smell like a dirty hippy. You know, that smell of patchouli and condescension? Who wants to smell like that? No one. And no amount of talk at the Farmer's Market will convince me it is a good smell, just like no one will ever convince me they actually like the taste of PBR.

A good dirty hippy shouldn't smell at all. That's not to say you won't be sweaty, because you will, but at least you won't stink.

Below are the brands of dirty hippy deodorant I have used and my thoughts on each.

left to right: The Crystal, Tom's of Maine, Burt's Bees

The main difference between conventional deodorant and dirty hippy stuff is conventional stuff contains an antiperspirant. This makes your body stop producing sweat. However, since the main function of sweat is to clear your body, by blocking the sweat production from your armpits, you are just encouraging your body to produce sweat in other areas like your arms and face. So dry pits, but a soaked face. Or worse, swamp-ass.

Another big difference between dirty hippy stuff and conventional is conventional deodorant contains aluminum. Dirty hippies will tell you that aluminum will cause cancer but no science has proven that yet. I just don't like the idea of blocking my pores with aluminum, so I go the dirty hippy route.

So now that we know that I will sweat but hopefully not stink, how do these products really stack up? You're worried that you will spend all this money on this stuff and end up a stinky, social outcast, aren't you? Well hopefully you won't.

The Crystal - This was the first dirty hippy deodorant I tired. I paid around $7 with the claim it would last me a year. I believe I used it 8 months or so. You are supposed to "slightly moisten" it and then apply it. I never really knew what that meant, so I would run it under water for a second before applying it. It was weightless and scent free and for the most part I did not stink.

However, when I hit about 9 months pregnant around June of a hot as fuck summer, I thought I started to smell and I ended up switching to something conventional to get me through summer. I should note, however, that when I am pregnant, I acquire some freaky super sense of smell. I can smell the dirt outside my closed window and I constantly think I stink. I have The Good Husband smell me all the time and he says I don't. So I put the Crystal away until my body got back to normal. I still recommend this to anyone wanting to switch from conventional and I have heard great things about the roll on.

Tom's of Maine - This was the second dirty hippy stuff I tried. I love the smell - cucumber grapefruit and it glides on super easy and does not irritate my skin at all. However, I would consider this a winter deodorant since I don't think it would stand up to heavy sweating. I feel like stink issues might be more of a problem with this one. I think I paid around $6 for this and it has lasted me two winters.

I couldn't actually find this product on the Tom's website, so they might not even make it anymore. If that is the case, I might try a new version once I run out of this in a few winters and see if the product has improved. I would recommend this to people that don't sweat a lot.

Burt's Bees - This was the last dirty hippy stuff I tried and so far it is the best at preventing odor. This is my spring and summer deodorant. I never think I smell when I wear this.

That is not to say this is without draw backs, b.c there are some. The biggest one is probably the smell. The Good Husband actually dislikes this. He says it makes me smell like a man. And with sage and lemon I probably do, compared to the sunshine and roses I normally smell like. But I don't notice the smell at the end of the day and TGH hasn't said anything lately, so it isn't that bad. Another big negative is this contains alcohol. Normally this isn't a huge deal but spray this stuff on after you shave your pits and you will be screaming like Macaulay in Home Alone. Not pretty.

I paid around $8 for this and it has lasted me going on two summers now. I feel like this is the best at preventing me from being BO stinky but now I am slightly man stinky. If you sweat a lot and are not put off by strong smells I would recommend this.

My plan is to continue to use all three of these until they run out and try two different versions of Tom's and the Crystal before going with Burt's Bees forever.

So I hope you learned something about dirty hippy deodorants and conquered your fear of being stinky. Embrace your natural smell, but not too much since you still want an active social life.

I was not paid for this post in any way. I bought all three of these products with my own money.

Homemade Seasoned and Italian Salt

noreply@blogger.com (The Good Wife) — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 11:00:00 +0000

I continued my tradition of making homemade gifts for Christmas again this year. Yes, it is almost April and I am talking about Christmas, but this photo got lost in the contents of my hard drive and I just now found it. Oops.

This year, technically last year, I made a photo book of The Good Daughter to give to my parents and grandparents, along with homemade seasoned salt and Italian Salt. Both of these were super easy and quick to make and I have heard from my mom that she won't use store bought seasoned salt anymore.

In fact, I will probably never buy commercial seasoned salt again either, since this recipe is just so damn good.

Homemade Seasoned Salt

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Kosher salt

1 tablespoon fresh ground pepper

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons paprika

2 teaspoons garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon ground red pepper

Directions:

~Stir all ingredients together.

Makes a 1/2 pint jar.

Homemade Italian Salt

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Kosher salt

4 tablespoons oregano

4 tablespoons basil

4 tablespoons thyme

2 tablespoons onion powder

2 tablespoons garlic powder

1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon fresh ground black pepper

Directions:

~Stir all ingredients together.

Makes 2 jars, 1/2 pint each.

I will say the Italian Salt is a little on the salty side. I could see decreasing the salt by as much as half and the recipe would still be flavorful. It might actually make the salt more versatile since the salt flavor will not be the first thing you taste. Feel free to play around with the recipe.

recipe modified from: Eat at Home Cook

Week 1 of the Weekly Organization Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (The Good Wife) — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 14:46:00 +0000

This is the first official post of The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenge! How did everyone do the first week? Survive?

In week 1, we tackled the kitchen drawers and kitchen cabinet organization. In the past I have talked about little things I have done to organize the kitchen, such as the utensil drawer, the kiddo cabinet, the spice rack, and pot and pan storage.

I will confess that probably my biggest challenge is not having enough stuff to fill all the cabinets and I have a lot of wasted space. Oh, the first world problems I have.

But even if you have more stuff and less space, there are several organization principles I use to help organize the kitchen.

Let's start with a basic overview of my kitchen.

And now a breakdown of where everything is at.

Starting from the side closest to the pantry and working from the top cabinets I have:

My bake ware. I chose this location (to the left of the stove) for the dishes since it is closest to the stove and it was the first cabinet large enough to hold all the dishes. This allows me to prep food on the counter below and then just grab a dish and put it in the oven. I like to group similar items together, so round and oval bake ware are together as are square and rectangle. I also like to have the lids on as much bake ware as possible, so it is easy to find and use.

Above the stove are rarely used items like all my vases.

Next to the stove on the right hand side, I have my food prep tools and bowls.

Lesser used items like my salad spinner and dressing maker are on the top shelf - both out of the way yet within easy reach. Next I have my food processor and shredder. Behind the shredder are the additional blades and the housing for the blades. On the bottom shelf are my mixing bowls and my hand mixer. I like this cabinet since it is compact and everything is neatly stored in here.

Next to this is the corner cabinet which contains serving dishes and larger cooking tools.

The top shelf holds my pampered chef mixing bowl and not much else. The second shelf contains my bread basket, serving trays and my trifle dish. I might eventually move this to the buffet in the dinning room but then what would I put in here? On the bottom shelf I have the tools I use the most - kitchen aid stand mixer attachments, strainers and colanders and my mandolin that likes to try and kill me.

Next cabinet holds all my food storage. Tupperware containers live here along with my glass containers.

Moving to the other side of the side of the window and way from the cooking tools we have the eating stuffs.

Directly above the dishwasher is the cabinet for dishes. This contains our everyday drinking glasses, which we need to replace, as well as coffee mugs and travel mugs. I also like to keep our most used medicines in this cabinet for ease of access.

In the corner cabinet I have our plates and bowls and some miscellaneous mason jars. This cabinet is home to the plates since it has more room than the cabinet with the cups. The reason being, just like with items you use the most when cooking and keeping them next to the stove, you want to keep the items that you will unload from your dishwasher close by.

Now the annoying thing about my kitchen is that with the dishwasher open, I am too short to actually reach from the dishwasher and into the cabinets where everything goes. So I have to set everything on the counter, shut the dishwasher door and then put the stuff away. Again, such a first world problem.

Next to the dishes is the kiddo cabinet.

The next cabinet is the lunch command center.

This is another double cabinet that has tons of storage. It is also right next to the fridge and above my other lunch command center drawer (which you will see in just a second). When I pack lunches at night, I can easily get food out of the fridge, set them on the counter under the cabinet and prep. This cabinet holds all the food I use to make lunches - The Good Husband's canned fruit, peanut butter, bread, etc., as well as a snack station for The Good Daughter. The cabinet is also home to the containers I use the most of lunches, as well as cookbooks I don't use all that much and TGH's lunch bag.

Now starting with the bottom cabinets next to the pantry.

This drawer is next to the phone and is the minioffice of the kitchen. I wish I had one of those nice fancy kitchens that has a little desk in it but I don't. I have to make due with this drawer. This houses copies of the phone book, pens, pencils and a pencil sharpener, along with a ruler and note pads. I also keep envelopes for mail in this drawer, along with scissors, glue sticks and a calculator.

Next to the minioffice, is my cutting board and pot pad drawer. Again, this is next to the stove for ease of access.

Under the two drawers is the pot and pan cabinet.

On the right side of the stove is the utensil drawer.

Below that is the cabinet with the cookie sheets. This cabinet needs an organization intervention which I will do soon.

Next are the only deep drawers I have in the kitchen. The top one is the shallowest and it holds my foil, wax paper and plastic wrap along with my dish rags and towels.

Below this is more food storage that needs to be organized desperately.

Next is the spice drawer. I have updated it since the last time I talked about it. I have added more jars and moved the sugar jars out of here and into the pantry.

The bottom drawer holds my baking tools and decorations. Cookie cutters, sprinkles, cupcake wrappers live in here and hide from the camera.

Next is the stuff I keep under the sink.

This is home to my cleaning supplies, as well as trash can for kitchen rags, trash bags and compost bucket.

Next to the dishwasher is the silverware drawer. Originally I had a metal silverware tray that looked beautiful but had some serious functionality issues. The dividers separating the silverware had a small gap, so the knives would end up sliding under the dividers and would get stuck. So back to Target it went and I got this nice bamboo tray instead. This keeps all the silverware separate and allows me room for knives, forks, spoons, serving spoons as well as miscellaneous silverware a the top. This drawer does need some organization help. More on that soon.

Below the silverware is the cabinet for large cooking appliances. This contains (way in the back) an electric griddle, our rotisserie and our fryer. On the shelf in the back are the accessories to the rotisserie, a juicer, our toaster oven and the shredder attachment to my kitchen aid stand mixer.

The next drawer, directly under the lunch station cabinet, is the lunch station drawer. This containers freezer and storage bags and chip clips. I eventually want to get rid of these altogether for something more earth friendly.

The next drawer is the man drawer. This houses light bulbs, tools and a shitton of batteries. I also have the charger for our rechargeable batteries in here as well as a sewing kit.

And finally, the last cabinet, below the lunch station drawer and the man drawer, is my other appliance cabinet. In it lives the blender, the waffle iron, the crockpots, the indoor grill and our pitchers.

So there you have it. The tour of The Good Wife's kitchen cabinets and drawers. I hope you learned some new organization ideas (group like with like, keep the things you use the most with the stove next to it, same for the dishwasher) that will help you create a more functional kitchen.

Next week, we will organize the counters (another huge problem for me) and the sink. Happy organizing!

Organize along with me in The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenges

BotO - Medical Logs

noreply@blogger.com (The Good Wife) — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 16:42:00 +0000

Since I am knocked up now and have a walking germ collector otherwise known as The Good Daughter, I see the doctor on a fairly regular basis. We also tend to take a lot of medicines in The Good Household. That is mainly due to the fact that The Good Husband is a big baby when it comes to illness while TGD and I just shake things off.

Also, breeding tends to create a lot of paperwork for insurance claims and by the time I remember to call the doctor's office to get the dates of my visit, the office is closed and the paperwork is due to the HR department in the morning. So I have created several templates that will help you track your doctor visits, healthcare costs and medicine taking.

This first template allows you to track your healthcare spending. This is great if you use a health savings account. I actually don't know what the hell that is, and just use it submit reimbursement claims to insurance. It tracks the date and description of the service, as well as the total, the payee and if the claim was submitted to one of the fancy HSA thingies or insurance.

You can download a copy of this template here.

Next is the medication log. This is helpful since it allows you to see what types of medication you take over a course of time and if there were any reactions. We have been lucky in that TGD has only ever had two ear infections and has otherwise never been sick. By having a list of the antibiotics she has taken in the past, we know that she has never had a reaction to any of them (unlike, say, her Momma) and we can tell the doctors there have been no issues.

This template tracks the dates started and stopped for any medication, along with the name, side effects and notes. In the name field, I like to list both the medical name and the type. In the notes field, I list the reason for the medicine, ie, allergies, infection, etc.

You can download a copy of this template here.

This last template allows you to track doctor visits. I like to have one for each doctor and patient. So for me, I have my primary care physician, my OBGYN, my eye doctor, my endocrinologist and such. Luckily, TGD has only seen her pedi and an eye doctor, so she has the smallest stack of forms. She does rival me in doctor visits, since who knew "well babies" had to see the doc so much and get so many shots?

The template includes the contact info for the doctor as well as the date and type of the visit. I have also included the amount of the co-pay, the overall cost and a space to mark the visit as paid.

You can download a copy of this template here.

Weekly Organization Challenges Complete List

noreply@blogger.com (The Good Wife) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 16:16:00 +0000

I know I should have started a 52 week organization challenge way back in January but here's the deal: I hate winter and I think it is stupid to start any new challenges in the middle of the most depressing time of the year. I know not everyone lives in a dark, cold, barren, wasteland in winter but I do. And it sucks. And the last thing I want to do is clean or lose weight or resolve to be a better person. All I want to do is eat and hibernate and watch The Walking Dead and Mad Men and American's Next Top Model.

So I consider the year to be officially started once we get out of the dead season and start the rebirth - Spring!

Spring is a great place for me to start since I usually do my big yearly spring clean in March and I am encouraged by all the new growth and flowers and sunshine around me. Plus this year I will have to begin for the arrival of The Good Baby. I know nesting instincts will kick in at some point.

So I have made a list of weekly organizational challenges, organized by room, to help me get and stay organized. I realize that I am an insane person to take this on considering I will have a newborn sometime in the middle of this project, but that's just the type of nonmedicated person I am. But please don't roast me over the coals if I fail one or two of them.

And with that disclaimer, let's take a look at the list. Feel free to challenge yourself along with me!

Kitchen March 19 - May 27

Week 1. Kitchen drawers and kitchen cabinet organization

Week 2. Kitchen organization: counter tops and sink
Week 3. Organize pantry, spices and food storage areas
Week 4. Organizing refrigerator
Week 5. Organizing freezer
Week 6. Organize recipes and cookbooks
Week 7. Organize coupons
Week 8. Meal planning / grocery shopping
Week 9. Create a home recycling center (plus dealing with trash)
Week 10. Cleaning supplies

Dining Room May 28 - June 10
Week 11. Dining room / kitchen eating area
Week 12. Homework area / launching pad

Living Room June 11 - July 22
Week 13. Living room / family room
Week 14. Entryway / mud room
Week 15. Coat Closet
Week 16. Magazines and newspapers
Week 17. CDs and DVDs
Week 18. Photos

Laundry Room July 23 - August 12
Week 19. Laundry room
Week 20. Laundry baskets and hampers
Week 21. Linen closet

Bathroom August 13 - September 9
Week 22. Bathroom
Week 23. Medicine cabinet
Week 24. First Aid
Week 25. Makeup / cosmetics

Bedroom September 10 - October 21
Week 26. Master bedroom
Week 27. Master bedroom closet
Week 28. Seasonal clothing switch
Week 29. Purses / briefcases
Week 30. Jewelry / accessories
Week 31. Shoes

Kid’s Room October 22 - November 18
Week 32. Kids' bedroom organizing challenge
Week 33. Organizing closet space for your kids
Week 34. Books
Week 35. Organize toys and games

Home Office November 19 - February 3, 2013
Week 36. Home office
Week 37. Mail
Week 38. Bill paying
Week 39. Receipts / tax documents
Week 40. Filing system
Week 41. Email and internet passwords, manuals and warranties
Week 42. Addresses / contact information
Week 43. Create personal home inventory
Week 44. Crafts
Week 45. Keep a family calendar
Week 46. Organize wrapping paper and gift bags

Basement February 4 - February 17
Week 47. Christmas decoration storage and organization
Week 48. Zombie Kit

Garage February 18 - March 10
Week 49. Vehicles
Week 50. Garage
Week 51. Pets

Exterior and Lawn/Garden March 11 - March 17
Week 52. Yard / garden

BotO - Bill Tracker

noreply@blogger.com (The Good Wife) — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 15:59:00 +0000

This is another template I created for my Brains of the Operation, aka Household Binder.

I created this bill tracker as a way to keep a record of our monthly expenses. I already have a monthly budget but this allows me to see monthly expenses for the entire year on one single piece of paper. It is very helpful for me since we do a lot of business expense write off stuff at tax time.

I was always gathering the paperwork in February and cursing myself for not writing everything down once a month over the course of a year as opposed to waiting until the last minute to get everything together.

Having your monthly expenses listed on a single page is also a great way to see how your utilities average out over the year. Is your heating bill really high in December and January like ours tends to be? There are some tips you can try to help reduce your costs, like installing a programmable thermostat.

You can download a copy of this template for your own BotO, here.

Hotdog Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (The Good Wife) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 23:13:00 +0000

The Good Daughter loves hot dogs. I blame The Good Husband. It all started after he took her to the hardware store with him and they just happened to have a hot dog stand there. Now it's all she wants to eat.

I made this one night when TGH and I were having lamb kabobs for dinner. Unsure if TGD would eat lamb, I made these as her meat option. Needless to say, she gobbled these down and half my lamb.

At first these little guys look just like a regular cornbread muffin but...

cut them open and see the hot dogs.

TGD went nuts over these. She kept calling them her hotdog cupcakes.

They were super simple to make and keep well for leftovers the next day.

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup cornmeal

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce or oil

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

6 hot dogs, cut into 4 pieces

Directions:

~Heat oven to 400 degrees F.

~In a large mixing bowl mix together flour, cornmeal, salt, and baking powder until combines. In a separate bowl whisk together eggs, milk, applesauce and sugar. Combine wet and dry ingredients, careful not to over mix.

~Pour batter into lined or oiled muffin cups, filling 3/4 of the way full. Insert two pieces of hot dog and spread batter over top to cover.

~Bake for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean Remove from pan and allow to cool on a wire rack. Serve warm.

recipe adapted from: Happy Good Time Blog found via Pinterest