Menu planning

\ 6 Comments

One of my worst homemaking skills is menu planning. I don’t know why, but I am so lacking in this area. I’m really good at shopping sales to get us great fruit every week, though I haven’t figured out how to have ripe fruit available every day.

But when it comes to menu planning, I’m… bad. Sunday afternoon generally finds me scrambling to put together some sort of a menu so that we can go grocery shopping. By Friday, we’re usually scraping the bottom of the barrel and wondering what to eat.

This week I’m going to try something different. Yes, it’s Tuesday and I haven’t gone grocery shopping yet. But I planned out a menu through Friday night and then we’ll go shopping Friday as soon as my hubby gets off work. This way I have two days to put together a comprehensive menu that covers Sabbath through the following Sunday evening. That will get us back to grocery shopping on Sundays like I prefer to do.

Wednesday – vegan mac & cheese – This is a really good recipe. I’ve made some tweaks to it, but I really like it.
Thursday – pumpkin coconut curry from a vegan cookbook
Friday – orange chicken-style tofu – Another really good recipe. I’ve made some major changes to this recipe so I’ll plan on posting mine once I figure out the last change. I’ve stopped using processed sugars while cooking, only using a bit of honey and dates. So I’m going to figure out if I can make this recipe with honey and then post it. Yum!

I’ve already put together a shopping list. Surprisingly, we already have most of what we need for each of these recipes but we’re missing a key ingredient. No bread for the mac&cheese. I might have everything for the curry. And no tofu for the orange tofu. Oops.

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: ,

Household projects

\ 4 Comments

One of my current projects is putting together a recipe book. Hubby and I have been eating a vegan diet for the past five months but half of my recipe collection requires dairy. It’s time I finally update my recipes.

I’ve been looking for a three ring binder for quite awhile. I wanted something pretty and durable. After looking at Wal-Mart, Target, Office Max, Amazon.com, and Staples, I finally found the perfect binder.

I love it. It’s very elegant and pretty. Perfect for a homemaker!

Now I have to type out all of my recipes. I’ve recently fallen in love with Microsoft’s OneNote program and am slowly adding all of my recipes to a virtual notebook. I love that the notebooks can be set up with tabs so I can easily find the recipe I’m looking for. It’s so much easier to use than Word.

I’m still trying to perfect my “refried” beans recipe. The last batch came out rather bland. I write down all the ingredients in each batch so that I can figure out the perfect combination to make fat free, flavorful beans. Making “refried” beans from a bag of beans is very simple and just involves tossing everything in a crockpot. I also know it’s way cheaper and healthier than buying them canned. But I’m still trying to perfect the taste.

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: ,

Busy times

\ 5 Comments

Why is it that house guests wear me out so quickly, even when I love them? I wouldn’t trade this time for the world, but the pace of our days is much busier than I am used to. Combine that with my increased exercise these past two weeks and Sabbath couldn’t come at a better time.

We’ve already been really busy. Wednesday evening, hubby and I took my brother and his wife to the Phoenix Art Museum. When we finished exploring the museum, we stopped by the library, Whole Foods, Starbucks, and ColdStone. No worries; I’m being strict with my diet and didn’t partake in either Starbucks or ColdStone but both smelled really good.

Thursday morning, we completed a 45 minute cardio session with a P90X DVD. The workout didn’t seem as hard as the Jillian Michaels’ 30 Day Shred DVD. The P90X cool down left much to be desired so we left the house and walked 2.5 miles. In the afternoon, I taught my brother and his wife how to play one of my favorite games – Ticket to Ride. They seemed to enjoy it and my hubby and I enjoyed the opportunity to play with four total players instead of our usual two.

Thursday afternoon saw me spending another hour or so finishing up my mom’s cloth napkins. Then we all carpooled up to The Cheesecake Factory to celebrate Mother’s Day with my mom. The restaurant has really good hummus. I wish I could figure out how to make my hummus taste like that.

After dinner, hubby, myself, my brother, and his wife all stopped into Macy’s to search for a birthday present for my mom. Her birthday is the second week of June but we will be celebrating it over Memorial Day (along with my dad’s birthday and Father’s Day). My brother is traveling to Iraq the first week of June so we are cramming a bunch of celebrations into one long weekend at the end of May.

This morning I skipped my exercise. I was just too tired from all the running around we’ve been doing. Thankfully, I’ve been waking up about 20 minutes before the rest of the house so I’ve had quiet time each morning to read from the Bible. That’s a nice blessing. Later this morning, my brother, his wife, and I visited a nearby mall looking for the present he couldn’t find last night. After an hour and a half of visiting nearly half the stores in the mall, we declared it an unfruitful trip. At least we got a lot of walking!

Now my brother and his wife are off to pick up his daughter. They, my mom, and her boyfriend are going to a concert tonight. Hubby should be home any time now, as soon as he finishes with his client. Because I’m the only one home, I took the opportunity to catch up on dishes and tidy up the kitchen. Then I decided I might as well vacuum. While vacuuming, I figured I might as well sweep the kitchen and clean out the cat litter boxes. Even though I’m very tired, the work kept calling my name and it’s a pleasure to know that my hubby will return home to a clean house and a calm wife.

I think I’m going to read for awhile until my hubby calls to say he’s on his way home. I picked up several Christian nonfiction books about marriage and homemaking and I’m excited to see what I can learn. I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend and a very restful Sabbath!

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: , ,

Regular posting

\ Leave a Comment

I really want to return to regular posting, at least 3 posts each week. I have things to write about and I’ve been thinking about a number of issues (homeschooling, health, homemaking, leisure time, etc). My husband has been having a very busy and stressful week at work and that somehow rubs off on me. When he’s harried and rushed, I stress. I wish I could be a peaceful island in the midst of his busy storm but I become stressed as well. Hence, no posting this week.

In lieu of a deep post, I am leaving this quote. It has spoken to me and continues to challenge me to bigger and better things. May I always continue to learn and strive toward betterment!

“Conviction is worthless until it converts itself into conduct.”
~Thomas Carlisle

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: ,

Who knew I had so much?

\ 2 Comments

Why is it that my house always gets messier before it gets clean? In the book I just finished reading, The Rewards to Simplicity, Mrs. Pierce recommends cleaning out closets before tackling the rest of your house. At first, this seemed backwards, as no one but myself and hubby ever see the closets. Once I finished reading the chapter, her advice made total sense. When you clean out the closets, you have room to store and put away the stuff around your house that should be in your closet.

With that objective in mind, I started cleaning out the closet in our master bedroom. I should have taken a picture first. We had stuff piled up on the two shelves so that they couldn’t be utilized. Two long racks were stuffed full of clothes. I had stacked two boxes on the floor and one on the shelf that was full of winter clothes and clothing that didn’t fit at the time I packed the box. Too bad I forgot where my winter clothes were packed and went through this winter with only half of my sweaters.

I discovered that our cats picked a big hole in the carpeting to the rear of the closet and one of them had peed on a jacket that had fallen on the floor (that explained the cat pee smell that we couldn’t pin down). That will teach me to not pick up my clothes. The cats are no longer allowed in the closet.

I pulled out all the clothes that fit in one of these categories:
1 – They don’t fit and I don’t like them anyway.
2 – I don’t like them.
3 – They don’t fit my standards of modesty (my skirts have gotten longer and I rarely wear pants).

The clothes on the right side of the chair are those that I’m keeping. Most are winter clothes and need to be packed (and remembered) for next winter. I’m also keeping the clothes draped across the back of the chair as they finally fit again. Yay! The huge stack on the floor is getting donated to charity, all in great condition.

I’m not sure what to do with the jeans… there are five pairs sitting on the chair right now, most too small but in good condition. Even when I reach my ideal weight, I won’t wear them. I’ve been collecting jeans for awhile to make a denim quilt but I kind of feel like I should donate the pairs that can still be worn. I’m not sure what I’ll do with them.

I have a lot of clothes and I only wear a small portion of them. Is this where the 80/20 rule comes into play, only wearing 20% of my clothes 80% of the time? In my need/desire to simplify, I’m cleaning out the closets. I can’t wait until I can actually find the piece of clothing I am looking for!

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: ,

These Days

\ Leave a Comment

I am finally getting back into a schedule, though it all revolves around my hubby’s work schedule. Sometimes he is home and sometimes he’s at client sites all day long.

My mornings consist of exercise, Bible study, breakfast, and cleaning. I try to have all the cleaning done by noon. This gets me into the habit of abiding by the time of use plan that goes into effect May 1 with our electric company. They charge more for electricity usage from 11 to 7 on weekdays over the summer so I try to do my housework, baking, etc. on the off-peak hours. It’s one way I can keep the electric bill lower.

In the afternoons, I study Japanese for about an hour, read, quilt, and work on other projects around the house. I have a list of projects about a mile long that I want to tackle but I’m trying to concentrate on only one thing at a time. Last week and this week was devoted to finishing up my quilt for the church. I put in my last stitches this afternoon and will be dropping the quilt off on Sabbath. I think tomorrow I’ll take pictures and post them here in remembrance of my first quilting efforts.

The rest of this week I will spend my project time prepping for a quilting session with my mom. We’re getting together early Sunday morning to start working on Hazel’s mystery quilt. We are dreadfully behind but hope to really dig in on Sunday and complete as much as possible so we’re not lagging so far behind. I have to wash all the fabric and iron everything before sundown on Friday. After that, the only time I’ll be working on that quilt is when my mom and I get together for a quilting session. This will be my second quilt and her first.

My brother, his wife, and his daughter are coming to stay with us for five days in May. I’m hoping to have all of my deep cleaning complete for the living areas of our house. I also have to clean up the spare bedroom so that they have a place to stay. We have a mattress on the floor in that room and tons of boxes filled with who knows what. I wish we could afford to buy a second bed so we had a proper spare room, but we can only provide a mattress, home-cooked food, and our company. Ah, the joys of being broke. 🙂

It looks like my hubby is about finished with his work assignment so I am going to go cook up my black bean burgers. The recipe looks really good and I’m hoping it will turn out tasty!

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: , , , ,

Spring Cleaning – Kitchen

\ 2 Comments

For various reasons, I have been feeling an urgent need to deep clean our apartment. The weather is beautiful, which brings memories and promptings of spring cleaning. I’ve been sick off and on for over a month so I’ve fallen even farther behind in my cleaning. I’ve been reading articles from Ladies Against Feminism which are awakening even greater desires to be a better homemaker. Last but not least, I saw a post somewhere issuing a challenge to eliminate clutter.

In between bouts of sickness, I’ve been tackling the kitchen. So far, I have sorted through every single cupboard and pulled out all utensils, dishes, food, etc. that we do not use. All of the extra dishes were dumped into a big box and I will be storing it in our spare bedroom for three months. At the end of three months, if I haven’t needed anything from the box, I’m selling it all on craigslist. There is enough in that box to qualify as a good kitchen starter set. I don’t know why we have so much extra stuff.

Here’s what I’ve thrown out so far (this does not include the storage box items):

Old rice
Bag old powdered sugar
Couple muffin tin liners
4 expired bottles of spices
2 icky ice cube trays
2 measuring cups
2 cat toys
Dried up superglue
Expired cat ear mite medication
2 tea lights
3 cat medication syringes
5 lids with no containers
Old spatula
2 chipped Pyrex dishes
Dried up package ArmorAll cleaning wipes
Feather duster
Really old bottle of apple cider vinegar

Whew. Feels good to have all of that junk out of my kitchen.

I’ve also wiped out all the cupboards and drawers, organized all food and dishes, scoured behind and under the fridge, and cleaned the floor and one wall of our trash room (tiny little room with one shelf and room for the trash can and broom). I still have to mop the floor, finish the walls in the trash room, clean the oven, scour the inside of the fridge, and have hubby wipe down the ceiling. For some reason, there are food splatters on the ceiling above the stove. How is that possible?

It feels really good to be spring cleaning. It’s a lot of work and it’s taking days because I’m doing such a thorough and perfectionist job of it (besides being sick). When I’m done with the kitchen, I’ll be tackling the living room and then the bathroom. Fun stuff!

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: ,

Mishaps

\ 2 Comments

When will I learn not to multi-task? Today’s attempted multi-tasking resulted in a messed up pie crust, a load of towels sitting in the dryer wet, and two seams of sewing that now need to be ripped out.

But I did get a lot done today – dishes, vacuuming, three loads of laundry, a pumpkin pie baked, Bible study, exercise, and some time spent with hubby.

We’re headed to the laundromat tonight to wash a couple blankets as we have guests arriving tomorrow and Wednesday. We’re not using the heater in our apartment and they will probably appreciate having clean blankets to use at night.

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: ,

Preparation day

\ 3 Comments

On Fridays, I try to make sure the house is clean before sundown. I iron all of our church clothes. I wash my hair. On Sabbath, we leave all of the dirty dishes in the sink or in the dishwasher to be cleaned on Sunday. The only thing I have not yet been able to integrate into our household is pre-cooking.

Sabbaths usually find me in the kitchen for each meal preparing something easy but doing all the work. I have not yet wrapped my mind around the idea of pre-chopping/washing/slicing or pre-making our Sabbath meals. This is not yet a habit but something I desperately need to work on.

Today was a little bit different, though. We have company coming over in an hour to spend some time with us tonight and share dinner with us. Hubby and I made homemade pizzas this morning. We mixed up, kneaded, and let the crust rise. We chopped up all the toppings. Now, when our guests arrive, we just toss toppings on the crusts and bake. Easy.

I also assembled a lasagna for lunch tomorrow. When we get home from church, I will just pull the pan out of the fridge and bake it. Then I’ll toss in the frozen garlic bread and bake that as well. Easy.

Why can’t I make this a habit? It feels good to sit here and know that sundown is in half an hour but I’m ready for it. I’m ready to spend time with family, friends, and God. The house is clean and peaceful. I have the Christian radio station playing on my computer and incense burning on the table. I’m ready for the Lord to visit.

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: ,

Fridays – Bathroom

\ 1 Comment

Friday’s cleaning assignment is the main bathroom. I have to:

  • Sweep floor
  • Mop floor
  • Change towels
  • Wash sink
  • Clean mirrors
  • Scrub the toilet
  • Wipe down shower

This week has been a total success with my cleaning schedule. We have company coming over for lunch tomorrow and I didn’t have to spend the day running around and frantically cleaning the apartment. I still have a few things to do that will take awhile (my desk!) but I’m making progress.

If Jesus came over to visit this evening, I wouldn’t be embarrassed by the state of our home.

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: ,