Reorganizing the Coat Closet.

So, as you know, I've started going through the house and reorganizing things.  I'm shedding things that I don't need, use or think are beautiful.  When I come home in the evenings, I want to have that cozy feeling like when you put on your favorite warm sweater.... ahhhhh, home.....  When we invite friends and family over, we want them to feel the same way.  We want them to feel like they can kick off their shoes, climb on the couch, grab a blanket and hey! how 'bout a beer over here!?  Or more pie please!  You know, comfy.... but still pretty and organized.... oh boy do we need organized! 

 

Coat Closet BEFORE

 

 

So here we are at the coat closet.  Don't you just love that jumbled mess of boots and who knows what in the bottom floor of the closet?  Coats crammed in like sardines tickling your fancy right about now?  I thought so.  Now I have cleaned out this closet before and it always, ALWAYS ends up looking like this.  Luckily I've been reading Kelly's blog  www.imperfecthomemaking.com

 

She's an inspiration to clutter bugs like myself.  You should check it out, this girl rocks!  Seriously guys, she's awesome... if you love anything homemaking, you will like her blog.  She did the same thing to her house with beautiful results, so I said to myself.... I gotta get some of that! 

 

So I went through each item in the closet and I thought for sure my husband was the coat hoarder y'all.  Nope.... it's me.  I have 7 jacket/coats.  A work coat, 3 fashion coats, a regular winter coat, a lighter winter coat and a jacket.  Seven!  My husband has a measly 5 and he donated one last night.  My son beat us all by only having 3.  He does have 2 more jacket/coats upstairs in his bedroom closet that he will need to grow into before he can wear them.  They were both in the coat closet before and I was thinking.... why?  So up they went.  I decided to get rid of the Kirby vacuum carpet shampoo attachment since I have never used it and never will.  However,for what ever reason I had decided I needed to keep it for ohhhhh 8 years now.  Toss.  We donated a couple games that Ashton has outgrown and moved our boots upstairs with the rest of our shoes..... isn't that an interesting idea???  I moved kitty litter supplies to the newly cleaned/organized  kitty litter closet (yes my girls require an entire closet for their litter box) and all we had left were the remaining coats, exercise equipment, games and hat/glove baskets.  Now readers, I'm ashamed at how dusty the bottom of that closet was when everything came out..... how does that even happen?? 

 

As I stood there with the beautiful empty closet, I thought to myself, wouldn't it be great if I had one of those cute little shelves so I could set things on the top and store things in the cubbies?  Tiiiinnnnggg!  This is where this little lovely comes in.....

 

 

I had this sitting empty in my bedroom.  It used to hold old pictures and photo albums. BUT since I recently cleaned out the little cabinet in my sitting room and put all the pictures together in one place (gee why did it take me so long to figure that one out?)  this baby was just praying for a job.  So, I put this shelf on its side and wahhhhlaaaaaahhhhh..... perfection. 

 

Coat Closet AFTER

 

Nice huh?  Now I might actually use those dumbbells since I don't have to wrestle junk out of the way to find them.  Did you notice that we have 3, count 'em 3 free hangers?  This has never happened.  Our guests could actually hang up their coats instead of plopping them down on a chair for our kitties to lay on!  I would like to eventually paint the inside, because hey, Kelly does that and I can say it really does make a difference.  But, that will be a later date.....this is a really good start though. 

 

 

So, do you have a closet or room that just make you crazy?  Please tell me I'm not the only one!! 

 

 

Until next time friends...... next, I face the armoire, which I also call the mess that must not be mentioned.  Wish me luck.  





Thanksgiving thoughts....

Hey Everybody!  I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.  We had a great time at my mom's house.  It is so nice to sit around the kitchen table and talk after a big family meal.  I am truly blessed. 

Here's some pictures of us at the pumpkin patch last year.  This past year we couldn't go during the day since we are working the shop, but we went to the night time Corn Maze and Hayride in the Dark!  It was so fun and now that our boy is getting older, he loved the spookiness of it all. 

On the home front of homemaker kim, I've been working on reorganizing and taking a serious look at all the stuff in my house.  Like a lot of the moms on the blogs that I read, I want things that are either beautiful to me or useful in my home.  So, I'm slowly going through the house.  So far, we've done my son's room, which he is used to doing.  We always go through his room at this time of year to make room for his gifts (lucky mug has birthday and Christmas a month apart)  We like to teach him to think about kids that don't have toys like he does.  I've also still been trying to make things from scratch as much as possible. 

I will do an update on the garden soon with pictures.  Believe it or not, we are still pulling fresh greens from it.  Financially we are doing pretty well.  We stick to our budget closely, but we are so blessed that the business is able to pay for our bills. 

How was your Thanksgiving?  And.... how do you spend your "Black Friday"?  Are you a doorbuster addict or are you like me and love to just take it sloooooowwwww?  I'd love to hear from you!

Meet Toby.

 

 

Hey Everybody,  This is a bad picture, but as you can imagine, the subject is a wiggly little monster.  Who is this you ask?  Meet  *Toby*  ..... ahhh, isn't he a cutie? 

 

 

 

 

 

Exactly one week after losing Harry, when my heart was far from healed, this little boy showed up in our bushes at the front of the house.  I was working in the garden when I heard his tiny voice.  I went into the garage to get a shovel and I heard a little tiny meow.  I stopped in my tracks thinking... no, it can't be..... I walked over to the bushes and out popped this little tiny baby.  Cute as a button and he walked up to me cautiously. Even though I tried to resist the urge to go pick him up, I just couldn't.  It wouldn't hurt for me to comfort him a bit and check to see if it's a boy or a girl?  No, of course not. 

 

 

 

Crap!  It's a boy!  Did I mention how cute he is?  So, here in the midst of my grief, the universe decides that I need a sweet little 5 week old boy...... a CUTE 5 week old boy.  No.  I'm not ready for this I thought.  This would be wrong.... I mean, I just lost my Harry.  So, I crunched up some food for him and crossed my fingers that his Momma would come back for him.  That was at 2:30 in the afternoon.  He had not eaten any food at 7:30p.  He was too young for that food.  I took pictures and sent them to hubby.  Let's let him decide..... yea, that's what I'll do....

 

 

 

So, Hubby arrives home and I take him out front to meet the little one.  But instead, we hear only crying... scared crying.  Help! crying.... he was stuck underneath the steps.  He had crawled into a crack under our steps and couldn't find his way out.  Luckily after putting my fingers in the hole and calling him a few times, he came out.  My husband's first response was "Oh my goodness!"  I think he was shocked at how cute he was as well.  He said "You better go get this boy some food or he'll starve!"  Hubby and son took him inside while I went to Target and got him some baby mush supplies. 

 

 

 

 

He needed some help getting started eating the mush, but took to it pretty quickly.  He ate like he was starving!  Momma never did come back for him.  He is pretty small so we figured that he just couldn't keep up with the group and got left behind.  But that's OK.  I miss my Harry.  He will always be with me, but this boy makes the hurt go away a little bit. 

 

 

 

I guess you have figured out by now, that he is a part of our family now.  He is almost 10 weeks old and full of energy!  I love love LOVE this boy!  He is the prettiest kitty I've ever had!  (Shhhh, don't tell the other kitties!) 

 

 

Here's to being just one kitty short of being the crazy cat lady! 

 

 

Have a Happy Thanksgiving everybody!  I already have everything I could wish for and am so thankful!!!   PS- Hubby says Toby is my Christmas gift, hmmmm, I wonder if he'll sit pretty under the tree with a ribbon on his head?  :)  











Homemade Yogurt

Hello Again Everybody!

I've been dipping my toes into the world of cheese, butter and yogurts.... wow!  So much fun!  We love fresh mozzarella and now I can't see going back to buying the bricks at the grocery store.  Not only for the taste, but the price is so much better.  For the price of a gallon of milk, I can have a pound of yummy mozzarella and get some ricotta as well! 

Last week I made my first batch of yogurt.  I had tried a different method once before but I didn't like the consistency at all.  With the method I used this time, it came out perfectly.  The only adjustment I think I'll make next time is to let it sit for 8 hrs instead of 7.  This will give me even firmer yogurt and more of a stronger taste.

You will be amazed at how easy it is!  Again, why pay for something you can simply make yourself!?  Why pay for something when I now know exactly what is in my yogurt?  Here's what I did. 

I took a quart of milk and heated it slowly to 185 degrees Fahrenheit. While it was warming, I turned my oven on to preheat at 350 degrees for 2 minutes.  Turn it off when two minutes is up.  You want your oven good and warm, but not hot.  Let it sit while you finish heating the milk.  I then cooled the milk down to 110 degrees F quickly in a ice water bath.  It's a good idea to use stainless steel so you can go from hot to cold with no *ahem* accidents..... Once the milk is cooled, stir in 2-3 Tablespoons of a good quality plain yogurt.  I used Greek yogurt.  Be sure that it is plain and says that it has live cultures in it. 

Now place a lid on your pot (preferably a tight fitting lid), wrap it in a kitchen towel and sit it in the oven.  Now wait for 7 hours for a good yogurt that is slightly loose in consistency or 8 if you like a Greek style yogurt.  You now have plenty of time to do all the things moms like to do during the day, like laundry, dishes, ironing.....you know, all the FUN stuff!  :)  You may want to check the oven to make sure it hasn't cooled off too much.... This happened to me and I just turned my stove to warm for about 30 seconds and then turned it off again. 

Ok, now it's 7-8 hrs later.... you are tired from all that shopping, I mean, cleaning you've been doing all day..... take the pot out of the oven and remove the lid.  You should see a cheesy texture on top and maybe some separation of curds and whey.  Stir it up and place it in the container that you want to store it in.  It will be more loose right now, so don't worry, it will firm up in the fridge.  Set it in the fridge overnight.  The next morning you are ready for smoothies, plain, or spiced up with fruit and granola! 

Try it-- you will love it!  OH!  Don't forget..... save 2-3 Tablespoons of your yogurt and put it in the freezer..... for your next batch of homemade yogurt.  :)

Enjoy!!

If they had time to see....

Here's my beautiful son.  The light of my life, the reason I get up in the morning.  This guy will be turning 11 in just a couple weeks.  ELEVEN!  How did this happen!? 

He is such a blessing.  Hubby and I had been married 5 years before he was born.  It took us over a year to conceive him and had just about given up when we found out that we were expecting.  We always said that if we had trouble getting pregnant that we wouldn't do a bunch of medical procedures to make it happen, so I was thrilled beyond belief when I finally got pregnant.  I kinda always knew that I would only get one shot at this because we haven't gotten pregnant again.  So, yes, he is a huge blessing. 

That's why I'm a little saddened by our recent parent teacher conference.  Now, don't get me wrong.  I really like his teacher.  She is a ball of energy and she expects him to do well.  She pushes her students to excel.  He is having the best year he has ever had in public school.  But, he needs help.  He's behind in his math facts.  His spelling isn't great.  According to her his comprehension in reading isn't great either.  His social skills apparently need some attention as well.  She even asked if he had ADD. 

What bothers me is that she has made 2 assumptions that aren't true.  He's behind because a) he was homeschooled for second grade and b) he's an only child.  OR he must have ADD.

She assumes that he stays to himself and is shy because he's an only child.  No, it's because he was bullied to the point that he stays away from people until they prove that they are safe to be around.  She also assumes that because he is behind in his math facts and all other problems that homeschooling him is to blame.  NO!  He did great homeschooling and got the attention he needed to really understand something.... and he hung out with great kids....

I was just so frustrated because she just assumes...... she doesn't have the time to get to know him.  She has just put him in a category and there's very little that we can do to get him out. 

I'm not angry with his teacher or the school.  I'm mad at the system that makes her work with so many kids that she can only go on her own assumptions - quickly assessing the situation so that she can quickly place him and his problems in a box.

Here's to another year.......

We are so lucky!

Hi Everyone, 

Sorry it has been such a long time since I posted last.  We are finding our new normal without Harry and bringing a new boy kitty into our home, so things have been crazy.  What made things even more crazy is Sandy.  I'm sure you have either seen reports on Sandy or if you're anywhere close to the east coast, you probably felt the wrath of Sandy. 

Luckily, we made it through with no damage and with only 1 hour without electricity.  We stayed warm and cozy in our house while others lost theirs.  Watching the telethon on TV raising money for the victims of Sandy was so heartbreaking.  We knew it was bad, but we had no idea how horrible it was.  We were lucky to not be in the direct path.  We felt so bad for these people we had to do something.  What we could do wasn't much, but we donated to the American Red Cross for Sandy relief. 

We believe that sometimes, you have to give even if you can't afford it. 

I remember when my husband was out of work we were on an extremely tight budget.  We were getting by with his unemployment and my part time job income.  We had just learned that my husbands unemployment benefits were going to be cut soon, when a friend at my work had an emergency spleen operation and needed help paying bills.  I couldn't give much, but I handed over a 5 dollar bill.  The very next week, Eric got a job offer.  So, we have learned that things will work out, so you shouldn't be greedy if folks are hurting.  It will all work out. 

Look around your home today and love it.  Love the land, love the things needing repair.  Love the things that aren't as pretty as you'd like.  Love the house that maybe you feel a little cramped in.  Love the house that you call home.  Today there are families out there looking through piles of muddy rubble looking for anything they can salvage from their home.

Life has taught us yet another lesson in enjoying every minute because in that same minute, everything could change.