Susie's Notes and Pictures
Now I have a small collection of recipes to use for baking cakes, breads and cookies. I will be moving up to pies next week. I have been thrilled with the excellent results of my baked from scratch cakes so far. I can’t wait to try some of the different icings and frosting types on the different cakes. This is fun – but fattening. I will be doing longer walks and some aerobics with my Wii to help keep off the extra pounds.
One of my good friends is going to be retiring in the next year. She’s moving to Florida. Her and her husband are trying to decide if they want to buy a home or have one designed specifically for them. They looked up Boca Raton Architects and found a variety of places willing to work with them to make the choices that will be best for them.
It must be really exciting to design your own home. I know if I ever got to design my own home I would have a huge kitchen with space for every appliance I would need. Lots of cupboard space and storage throughout the home. I hate not having everything have a place of it’s own. Of course I would want a large walk in closet for all of my clothes and shoes. A deluxe bathroom with walk in shower and over-sized, whirlpool bath tub would also be on the list. I would also want a place to entertain in the backyard. I love the new homes with almost a full kitchen built right in the back yard. I wouldn’t go too crazy but I would for sure want a grill, sink, and some type of refrigerator, along with nice counter tops for food preparation.
I’ll have to call Nancy and ask if she needs any help thinking of what she would like to have in her home. I bet I could help her come up with a few luxuries or necessities that she and her husband would love to have in their new home. When it’s finished I’m sure I’ll want to visit all of the time.
This afternoon after I got off work, I planned to meet someone to pick up a baker’s rack that I found online in the classified ads. I’m going to use it in the garage as an extra storage area for the larger boxed items in our pantry. This will make a lot more room in the kitchen and make it possible for me to shop sales more frequently and stock up when there is a really good deal. I got out my notes that had the address scribbled on it and read the address signs on the street as I tried to make my way to the correct location.
It took me about fifteen minutes of driving up and down the street before I finally found the place. I eventually gave in and called the guy that I was purchasing the rack from because I was reading every one of the address plaques and couldn’t seem to find it. He came outside and said he was wearing a red shirt. As soon as I saw a man in a red shirt I turned the car around and headed in his direction. No wonder I couldn’t find the place, the address plaque was obscured by a big tree in front of the building. I paid the man, loaded it into the back of my car and came right home.
I’m really excited to have the extra storage and organization space in our garage. I bet I won’t have any trouble at all filling it up with everything I have planned to buy this weekend to restock the house.
After spending the weekend organizing my kitchen pantry, the rest of the cabinets seemed jealous and were screaming to be made over too. I started the same way I did with the pantry by taking everything out. I found these great wire shelving units that I used to sort out all of our cups, bowls, and plates. Now when I want a plate I don’t have to dig it out from underneath the bowls.
A handy lid sorter helped to keep all of the lids to my pots and pans in an easily accessible area. I mounted it to the back of the cabinet door and it didn’t take up any additional space. Instead of putting all of the baking pans in the cabinet laying flat, I got another sorter from the organizing store that helps me put everything away vertically. It has a bunch of dividers to put things like cookie sheets and muffin pans in and not have to dig them out from each other.
After organizing my kitchen I’m feeling inspired to tackle other areas of the home. I don’t want to go overboard but walking into my kitchen now and being able to get anything in a second is a breath of fresh air. I don’t know why I didn’t do this sooner.
Organizing our kitchen pantry has been a chore I’ve been putting off doing for awhile now. I hate opening it up and seeing stuff everywhere and not being able to find what I’m looking for. Here’s my plan to have a headache free pantry.
First, I’m going to start by taking everything out the pantry and sort them items into similar types as I remove them. This pre-sorting will save me time when i go to put everything back. Once I have everything out of the way I’ll take the items I have sorted and put them in some type of box or basket. I haven’t decided if I want to use wicker baskets or plastic boxes to be honest. Either way the purpose of these bins will be the same. Each bin will house each category of items. This will make it easy for me to find items in the pantry and will make putting things away much easier.
I also want to get a few shelving units to organize all of my canned foods and spices. I’ve seen some really neat can sorters that make it so you can hold up to triple the amount of cans in the same space. As for my spices, I want to make them all visible so I’m not pulling five and six bottles out at a time trying to find the right one. A tiered shelving unit will make them all visible but I’m also concerned about it taking up a bunch of space. I think I’m willing to sacrifice a bit of unused space underneath the tiered organizer to make getting what I’m searching for not only easier but faster.
Finally I’ll label all of the bins and shelves. I’m going to use a combination of pictures and words so it helps everyone in the family regardless of reading level. This will hopefully make unloading groceries and such easier for my husband and kids. I won’t have to hear, ” Mom where does this go?” or, “Where is the peanut butter?” Everything will have it’s place and I will be headache free, at least from the pantry that is.
So after I realized my bathroom needed some extra cleaning, and I didn’t want to use harsh chemicals I did some research. I found that I can use white vinegar to clean my bathroom and most any dirty surface. Mix 1 cup of white vinegar with 1 cup of water and out it in a spray bottle. I just put this is an empty spray bottle and will use it to clean my bathroom and kitchen. It’s supposed to cut through soap scum and hard water deposits, not to mention dirt. This will be good for the counters and floors.
For tougher areas like the inside of the toilet, I’ll use the vinegar undiluted and straight from the bottle. I’m also going to soak my shower heads in this to remove all of the gunky build up. I bet once it’s been soaked for a few hours they fixtures will brand new.
Post contributed by Alfredo Gaines
This morning the ADT HOME security system team came to install a new security system for our home. I contacted them last week to look into getting an alarm system because several houses in the neighborhood have been broken into recently. We have lived in the same house for twenty years and never really had any problems with crime. Whoever this burglar is that has been breaking into really has interesting taste. It is not the usual home burglary where the thieves steal things that are easy to hock on the black market and at pawn shops. This criminal has been breaking into homes and cleaning out the cooking wear. Pots, pans, cooking utensils, anything in the kitchen that you can think of, this person has been stealing. It is the strangest thing. I just can’t imagine what kind of thief just takes kitchen things. Surely it is someone who is trying to get money for the metal, because they aren’t just stealing the copper pots and pans! I’m glad they won’t be breaking into our house, it has taken me a really long time to accumulate everything in my kitchen!