Organizing: Day 7 ~ Pantry part 2

I actually have a really large completely useless kitchen. I have cabinets everywhere but not many of them are very functional. I have an entire wall of home-made cabinets. These may be the dumbest cabinets I have every seen. They are all different sizes but only slightly. The drawers are just stuck in a hole. Because of all of that, some things only fit in the cupboard if I put it in on the left side and twists till it's in half way and then twist it again to get it in the space. Then I have to put other things in front of it in the strange leftover space. I am constantly taking things out to get things out or in the cupboards.

Then there's the pantry. It is also completely dumb. Thanks 1983 for your dumb cupboards that make you think you have lots of space but really you just used an entire wall for a tiny little shelf! Welcome to the world of owning a home 30 years old. For some stupid reason, the 80's came up with really great ways to waste space.

Okay, all the ranting to say that I actually have an entire wall of small cabinets for a pantry. I have to reorganized this space on a regular basis. It seems every time I go to the grocery, there isn't room to put what I just purchased and yet I really don't have anything in the cupboards.

If you remember, a few months ago, cleaning the top cupboards of the pantry is what got this whole blog going. Now I've moved to the bottom (one side of the bottom). I think it looks really great now but then again, my kids haven't touched it yet. I may have to reorganize this space again. I didn't get rid of anything (except the trash the kiddos left behind) but I cleaned and reorganized and I feel good about it!

Yuck!

Feels so much better.

Green/Clean: Day 3 ~ Shaving Cream Cleaner

I hate to even show the pictures on this project...mostly because I'm showing the world my dirty tub. I will say that hubby is a mechanic, so my tub pretty much looks this dirty within days of cleaning it. With that said, I found a cleaner that is WAY cheap and super easy to use. When I told a friend this, she asked if it was the Magic Eraser (by Mr. Clean) and I laughed and said, "No, I said cheap." I know most people may think the Magic Eraser isn't that expensive, but when you have to scrub "Mechanic Slime" off of your tub every week, it's certainly not cheap anymore.

My new saving grace in the bathroom: Shaving Cream.

Okay, I just have to say, this came from a bit of a discussion in the bathroom during a deep clean one night. I was telling hubby it would be nice if there was some sort of bleach foam that would get into all the cracks and crevices that didn't cost an arm and a leg. I was using vinegar and baking soda and was making some headway, but certainly not the kind I needed to make. I'm really on a natural/cheap cleaning supply kick. I've discovered about 1,000 ways to clean with vinegar and/or baking soda and it has been AMAZING. Somehow, this miracle concoction was just not cutting through the slime and oil that hubby brings to my tub every day. I was using all the elbow grease I had and then hubby started to jump in and help and believe me when I say he has far more elbow grease than I and still wasn't making the dent I was wanting.

All of a sudden, in a stroke of genius (not sure if it was hubby or I) but we remembered using shaving cream as a kid on our desks at the end of the year and how much dirt it cleaned off of the desks (that we cleaned most everyday). It was just what we needed to get into all the corners and crevices in the tub.

We sprayed some cheap shaving cream that I think I get for a dollar a can for hubby and used way less elbow grease and produced a sparkly, clean tub!

Dirty Shower...yes, I see that grime.

This was after trying to clean it with vinegar & baking soda.

Shaving Cream

Hubby's Elbow Grease. 

Rinse.

AMAZINGLY CLEAN SHOWER!!!

It's certainly not perfect and living with a mechanic I have resigned myself to every having a perfectly white tub again, but it is so much better and made little birdies sing in my head the next morning when I showered...and that is PRICELESS.

Donations: Day 6 ~ American Girl Doll Bed

My donating heart has spread...a mother could never be so pleased.

My eldest daughter has been cleaning her room for the past year. I'm really not exaggerating here. She is a "stuff" kiddo and has a room full of stuff. She is constantly cleaning her room. Every day I walk by and can't imagine how she cleaned her room for hours the day before and needs to clean it again.

On one of her recently hour long cleaning sessions, she decided to let a large item go. She's a teen now, so somethings are just not as important to her anymore. She decided to donate her American Girl Doll bed. I set it out in the living room for a couple a days to see if she still felt that way as time passed. Then about two weeks after we put the bed in the living room, the girls had a friend spend the night and she brought her American Girl doll.

Within hours of the friend being over, my eldest daughter asked if she could give the bed to her friend. My heart swooned. I asked her if she was sure she was ready to give it away. She said yes with a huge smile and said she would rather someone use it and love it then it just sit in her room taking up space. That afternoon when the friend's mom came to get her, I made sure she was okay with this transaction being it isn't a small item. Mom said yes and the friend had a wonderful new bed for her doll.

Life is good. We experienced the joys of giving and letting go and freeing up space and purging and cleaning and I'm SO HAPPY for my daughter. She still has a lot of stuff and still always needs to clean...but one thing is gone. Every little step counts!

Organizing: Day 6 ~ Nail Polish Stash

Having three daughters has created quite a nail polish stash. Years ago, I put up a cute little shelf in their bathroom that had three shelves (one for each). They lined all their nail polished on it and wow was there quite a collection.

Recently I went to paint their nails and discovered a few things about the collection. Some where junky little kid nail polishes that rub off in a few hours and where really too young for my pre-teen and teen girls. Then there were ones that were so old they separated or were so crusty you couldn't get the lids off of them.

We went through each nail polish and cleaned out the old. I think we got rid of about 20 nail polishes. Then we did nails (just another thing to do when you have a kid laid up with a broken leg).

I'm hoping that after all of this, my girls will just throw away the ones that are no longer good as they come to them. We'll see...

New Recipe: Number 14 ~ Frozen Yogurt Drops

It was Spring Break and having one kiddo with a broken leg, I tried to find a few things to make our days a little fun. This was a simple thing I found on Pinterest. It's not exactly cooking but it was a new thing so here it is. I know...we did this on Spring Break. If you haven't noticed, I haven't really found the time to blog. I'm back (I think).

I used a yogurt drink but any flavored yogurt would work.

I put some yogurt drink in a zip baggie and snipped on corner (very small snip). Then I just pipped some yogurt on a baking pan lined with wax paper. I stuck it in our deep freezer for about 15 minutes.

Viola, a wonderful frozen snack and the kids thought it was fun. We discovered the smaller drops are better. You can just suck on them. The big ones are like taking a huge bite of ice cream and can be very cold and very overwhelming. We'll definitely be doing this again. It was just too easy!

Random Acts of Kindness: Day 3 ~ Compliments to the Server

With one kiddo in a full leg cast, Spring Break looked a little glum around here. Hubby and I decided to take the kiddos out to eat at BJ's Brewery to kick off what would be a low key Spring Break.

I had been but the family had not. Well...I must just say, it was an amazing time! I cannot begin to brag enough about our evening. The food was great, the timing was excellent, and the service was a 10 out of 10! I'm really not exaggerating. The first dozen jobs I had, were in full service restaurants. It is not brain surgery but I will say our town is really laking on great service.

It was so amazing that I asked our server to get her manager and come back with the manager. She looked really scared. When we first sat down I ordered a drink I dislike and sent it back to get something different. I think she thought I was going to raise hell about it.

When the manager came over, I seriously just gushed on our service. I told the manager I was really impressed and though I had brought my family to try their wonderful pizza, it was our server that would have us coming again and again. They just created regular customers and I could not think of one single thing our sever could have done differently to make it any better. I watched our server's face go from complete worry to absolutely beaming.

He thanked me for sharing the praise. I said I'm sure he was used to only talking to customers when things go wrong and people were unhappy. He asked that I never stop doing that because it really made their night and he planned on bragging about our server at the close of shift.

My kiddos and hubby were really excited to see how happy it made them. It made our night too. It's expensive to go out to eat and we've almost given up going out to eat because it's such as waste of money to get mediocre food and poor service. This night was amazing and I hope it was an encouragement to them.

We'll definitely be going back and we'll be asking to sit in Christina's section!

New Recipe: Number 13 ~ Corn Beef & Cabbage Egg Rolls

We celebrated St. Patty's day at my parents' house, therefore I had a corn beef brisket in my fridge and needed a fun recipe to make it. When I asked my hubby if I should throw it in the freezer or make it (so we would have corn beef twice in one week) the Irish in him leapt out and said, "Make it."

Corn Beef & Cabbage Rolls

Ingredients Roll:
-Corn Beef
-Cabbage
-Onions
-Egg Roll Wrappers
-Egg (beaten for egg wash, can substitute water).

If you've never purchased Egg Roll Wrappers before, you can find them in a couple different places in the store, but always in a cooler section. They will either be near the produce or the yogurt but is almost always be the tofu. Most Egg Roll Wrappers are made of tofu.

Cook Corn Beef:
Cook the corn beef in the crock pot on low for about 6 hours. Pull the corn beef from the crock pot and let is rest on a cutting board for about 15 minutes. Shred corn beef and put into a dish and refrigerate (for about an hour till the meat is cool).

Sautee Onions & Cabbage:
Sautee about one sliced white onion in a frying pan with a little butter (butter not oil...very important). After the onion becomes clear, add in sliced cabbage (try to make the onion and cabbage slices about the same width). Add some more butter (at this point I think I used a total of 4 tbsp). Saute onions and cabbage until cabbage shrinks down stirring to make sure all the cabbage gets cooked evenly. When the cabbage is all withered down, stop stirring regularly and allow the onions and cabbage to caramelize. Allow the onions and cabbage to remain in the same place in the pan for 5-10 minutes before moving things around and letting it sit for 5-10 minutes. Continue to do this until the cabbage and the onions brown and may even blacken in some areas (though you do not want it all black). Remove from heat and place in a dish and refrigerate for at least one hour (I try to put it in around the same time as the corn beef so they will both be ready to use at the same time.)

After both the cabbage and onion mixture and the corn beef have cooled, it's time to roll.

Rolling egg rolls may seem hard, but it's really quite easy. Lay down an egg roll like a diamond with points up and down and side to side.

Place Corn Beef in the bottom 1/3 of the Roll. 

Place Cabbage on top of beef.

Fold up bottom corner.

Roll part way.

Fold in one side to the center.

Fold other side to the center.

Egg wash the top and fold over the middle.

Viola...beautiful rolls.

 After the rolls are complete, I used my deep fryer set at 375˚ and fried until golden brown (or fry them in a frying pan turning them often to ensure every side gets crispy). They can also be baked in the oven at 350˚ for about 15 minutes with egg wash on the entire roll but they do not get very crispy this way.

Served over sauteed cabbage & onions...and believe it or not ~ soy sauce.