Sweet little sewing project

Here's a very sweet sewing project found at The Stitching Room blog -- she calls it a Thread Holder and has a complete tutorial on this quick craft. I was trying to think of other uses for it, and can see it as a holder for a tiny potted plant or potted herb. Or use some bright Mexican or Southwest themed fabrics to hold a planted cactus. Halloween fabric - a tiny party candy holder? Bandana fabrics - condiment holders for a picnic? For a cat lover, use kitty fabrics for a cat treat holder? Fill it with paperclips on your desk? Can you think of any more uses? Of course, you could always use for a thread holder!

Menu Planning Monday - Using Leftovers

This week I have some leftovers I need to use up -- about 1/2 lb of pork sausage, 1/2 lb of ground beef, one large uncooked pork steak, and some leftover rice! So my menu this week is planned around using those items. I am also picking tomatoes from the garden daily, so need to use those as well! On Saturday, Jeff leaves for a week-long business trip, so no cooking on Saturday or Sunday!

Monday

Ravioli, meat sauce

(add 1/2# cooked ground beef to homemade spaghetti sauce)

Salad with garden tomatoes and green peppers

Tuesday

Pork Stir-Fried Rice

(Leftover pork, rice and whatever veggies are in fridge)

Egg rolls from freezer

Wednesday

Pancakes and sausage

(leftover sausage)

Cooked apple slices

Thursday

Tomato and cheese sandwiches

Macaroni salad

Friday

Steak on the grill

Grilled garden veggies

Green salad

Staying on course with the DeClutter Challenge

Jeff jumped on board with the DeClutter Challenge this weekend (yippy skippy!) and began going through the hundreds (yes, hundreds) of music CD's we have. Last month he bought us both 8mg Mp3 players (he's such a sweetie), and now we're moving the music we love off the CD's and on to the Mp3 players.

Before all my frugal friends think we're crazy for paying money for this many CD's -- we aquire them frugally! Many we have bought at our local library's annual book sale for $1 each, and others are copied from CD's we borrow from the library. Of the hundreds we have, I doubt we paid full price for more than three! We've worked this out to a real system because we both enjoy much of the same music, but also have music we love the other doesn't share. So we got out three empty boxes. First, Jeff goes into the CD cabinet and chooses about 20-30 CD's he wants to put on the Player. When he's done recording them, he puts those CD's into a box, and puts them on my computer desk. Meanwhile, I choose 20-30 CD's from the CD cabinet that I want to record, put them on my Mp3 player, and place them in a box on Jeff's desk. I go through the CD's he's given me and pick out what I want to transfer, and the rest goes in the 3rd Donation box. This way we both get to pick and choose the music we want without having to wait for the other person and without missing out on any CD's, plus the system keeps us geared toward donating the CD's. I taped an index card to the donation box, and we keep a running tally of the number of CDs going in the box for tax purposes! Between the two of us we added 60 CD's to the Donation box on Saturday and Sunday. We'll both continue to work on this as we have time. I'm fascinated with the causes of "clutter" and trying to learn from this declutter challenge so I am more aware of what is causing the clutter in our house and how to prevent it. I found two statements about clutter that I really like: 1) Clutter is anything you possess that doesn't enhance your life on a regular basis, and 2) Clutter is the result of put-off decisions. The "put off decisions" is hitting home the hardest, I think. Why do I put books that I've already read and will never read again in bookcases? Because putting it in the bookcase allows me to put off the decision about what to do with it. Why do I have clothes in my closet that no longer fit or are out-of-date? Because after doing laundry, I re-hang clothes rather than make the final decision to donate or throw away. I think I have a tendency to live for tomorrow -- as in, tomorrow I'll go on a diet and that skirt will fit again; or tomorrow I will donate that winter coat I want to replace; or I may need those almost-dead batteries tomorrow, so I'll put them in the junk drawer today. The other problem I have that's tied into the "tomorrow factor" is that it's difficult for me to declutter ONE item, but much easier to declutter MANY items. Books are a great example. I can't see myself driving to Goodwill with ONE book. I will wait until there are 20 or 30 books to make the decision that they need to go. Or I will wait until my closet is full of clothes that I don't wear before going through them and gathering a donation box full. Are there people out there that continuously declutter one item at a time? I'd love to know how they do it. Last, I have to realize that trash isn't the same as clutter (see definition 1). I know when I cleaned out my junk drawer and the drawers in my desk, that I found little pieces of trash -- an empty battery package or a pamphlet I acquired somewhere and never looked at. When decluttering, there are times I'm actually just collecting trash. This is a habit I need to break! If you've not joined the DeClutter Challenge yet, I urge you to do it! The rules are SO easy -- get rid of ONE ITEM per day. You don't have to clean out an entire closet or declutter your entire family room -- just get rid of ONE ITEM each day that is cluttering your home. There is no one that can't find five seconds in their day to put one object in a donation box or the trash! You can sign up for the Challenge at My Simpler Life blog or Organising Queen's web site. It doesn't matter that you didn't start on August 1st! You can join in at any time during the month of August. And if you're lucky - as I learned I was today! - you may even win one of their three weekly prizes to help keep you organized!

Preparing to fight Time Warner Cable

I have always appreciated our cable company, Time Warner. Here in the greater Cincinnati area we have always had the BEST cable service. We've been subscribers for 20 years, and happy with TW for 19.7 of those years. I can't think of 5 times in all those years our cable has been "out", and if I have had to call the service department for one reason or another, they have always come out promptly and on time -- unlike some of the horror stories you hear of people waiting for days for the cable company to show up. When TW approached us about six months ago to sign a two year contract with them to lock in the current price we pay, I thought it was a great idea. Cable rates, like everything else, go up consistently, and this would be a way to lock in our current rate. Before I go on with my story, do you know you can negotiate with your cable company? Every year our cable bill goes up, and every year my husband calls TW and asks them if they can do better on the rate, and every year we finagle a deal and save money on the monthly bill. Right now we're saving about $50 a month over what their standard billing is for the services we have! Back to my tale of woe. So we get the contract in (yes, I read it), sign it, send it back to them. Poof. We're all kinds of happy because we've locked into a good rate with a cable company we are extremely pleased with. Then everything goes crazy. Time Warner completely changes their service -- their program guide, their DVR supplier, even their remote controls. And it is A W F U L! We lost many services that we thought were standard -- being able to fast forward in 15 minute increments on recorded shows, being able to search the TV Guide by Keywords (ie, "quilts") to find shows to record, being able to set up a show to record weeks and even months in advance, being able to "prioritize" shows so if you have your DVR to record more than two shows at a time, you can tell it which is most important, so you don't record a silly Japanese game show instead of the last show of a cliff-hanger series you've been watching. It's all gone. Now we have a DVR service that hates us. It's completely non-user friendly, it hiccups and burps when you're trying to watch a recorded show. If I don't check the shows to be recorded every day, it will record shows I don't care so much about instead of the ones I do (not great for vacation), if you're watching a show you recorded it will suddenly jump to the end of the recording and won't let you watch the last 30 minutes of a show.... and more more more more. I can't tell you how frustrating this is! Last night Jeff and I wanted to watch Thursday night's Olympics. First, the DVR froze and had to be rebooted, which now takes a full 15 minutes instead of the old 2-3 minutes. When we finally got the DVR unfrozen, the show we wanted to fast forward through (the purpose of DVR's, afterall, is to skip through all those commercials!), and it wouldn't let us fast forward. So we sat through two hours of volley ball and beach volley ball (ugh) to finally get to the gymnastics we wanted to watch -- and the DVR jumped to the end of the recording and wouldn't let us watch it! Now there's 90 minutes of my life I'll never get back! So here I am, tied to a two year contract (with grave monetary penalties if you don't stay subscribed for the entire two years) for a service that I dislike, paying the same amount of money each month for a lot less quality and less services than I had just a few months ago! I'm not one to sit back and be taken advantage of, and I feel strongly that's just what Time Warner has done. (wiggling eyebrows) I have a plan of attack: First, I'm calling TW on Monday and explaining all the problems we're having, and give them a chance to fix it. They should at least be able to fix all the burping and jumping and blank recorded shows. Next, I'm getting the name of someone - someone big - at TW that I can write to. And I'm going to write and let them know just how unhappy I am and that I want OUT of this contract. I firmly believe they sold the contract as one thing (a way to avoid the increase in cable rates for two years), and gave me something else (locked me into a service that is poor quality with less services). That's not right, and I plan on letting them know. (The last time I did one of these plan of attacks was with Cincinnati Bell, who was offering services before they were ready and suddenly my phone was connected to someone else's number and voice mail! After I wrote my letter, I was asked to speak to the marketing department and was put on speakerphone to say what I had to say! And got six months of free service from the whole fiasco.) If Time Warner doesn't release me from my contract, I plan on contacting the State Attorney General's office and seeing if they can help me. I am paying big bucks for this service, and I firmly believe that what's going on is NOT right. They locked me in by waving a carrot in front of my nose, without telling me of the drastic change in quality of services that were coming up in the immediate future. I have never been hesitant about standing up for myself, especially when big corporations are abusing me as a customer. It's one thing to sit back and whine and complain about things, but it's pointless unless you follow through and actually do something about it!! And I plan on doing something about it. I'll keep you posted. You're on notice, Time Warner!

A picture is worth...

This is just such a fabulous picture of Brayden that I have to post it for the world to admire. How cute is this kid?!?

DeClutter Challenge Update

It's Friday (yay!) and time to report in on this week's declutter challenge. Days 9 and 10 (Saturday and Sunday): You can view photos here (posted before I knew the "rules" say you need to post all photos in one post on Friday). I decluttered my spice cabinet and the top of my bookcase in my office. Day 11 (Monday): - VHS movies we've watched as much as we're going to watch -- off to Goodwill. Day 12 (Tuesday): - Obvious garbage and broken things out of the kitchen junk drawer. Day 13 (Wednesday): - Reference books I no longer use - My daughter took them for her work. Day 14 - Thursday: - From my hutch - Paper cups, plates and napkins leftover from my daughter's baby shower 2+ years ago. Off to Goodwill. Day 15 - Friday: I have a 3-drawer organizer on my desk that I use to hold mailing labels, scratch pads and misc. small office supplies. I cleaned out what I didn't need or like, or what was trash. What I'm learning: I still insist I'm an organized person (stomping feet!).. lol As I decluttered, I was proud of the fact that all my spices were in the spice cabinet, all my VHS tapes were together in a drawer in the family room, all my scratch pads are in the stationary organizer, etc. But I've also learned that I do have a tendency to 1) let things into my home that I actually don't care for all that much (free mailing labels are a good example!) and 2) have a tendency to let little pieces of paper trash build up in drawers! I also have a tendency to "stash" things I think might be useful in the future (the baby shower cups and plates), but that actually just take up space until I get around to throwing them away. Lessons learned!

Conversations with a two year old

A story from my daughter. Mary was driving in the car yesterday with Brayden in his car seat in the back seat. Brayden was "screeching" -- not crying, just a high pitched yell he does in the car to aggravate the poop out of his mother. Mary said, "Brayden, do you know what Umma used to do to me when I made too much noise in the car?" (Uh-oh - amazing how this stuff comes back to haunt you.) Brayden stopped screeching and said, "Huh?" (translation: I'm listening...) Mary reached her hand back behind her seat and pinched his leg very lightly. (Yeah, I did that... just one more reason I never got a Mother-of-the-Year Award.) Shocked silence for a moment. Then, VERY loudly from the back seat: MAMA PINCHED BRAYDEN! BRAYDEN HAS BOO-BOO! BRAYDEN NEEDS BAND-AID!!!! MAMA PINCHED BRAYDEN! BRAYDEN HAS BOO-BOO! BRAYDEN NEEDS BAND-AID!!!! MAMA PINCHED BRAYDEN! BRAYDEN HAS BOO-BOO! BRAYDEN NEEDS BAND-AID!!!! MAMA PINCHED BRAYDEN! BRAYDEN HAS BOO-BOO! BRAYDEN NEEDS BAND-AID!!!! MAMA PINCHED BRAYDEN! BRAYDEN HAS BOO-BOO! BRAYDEN NEEDS BAND-AID!!!! MAMA PINCHED BRAYDEN! BRAYDEN HAS BOO-BOO! BRAYDEN NEEDS BAND-AID!!!! MAMA PINCHED BRAYDEN! BRAYDEN HAS BOO-BOO! BRAYDEN NEEDS BAND-AID!!!! MAMA PINCHED BRAYDEN! BRAYDEN HAS BOO-BOO! BRAYDEN NEEDS BAND-AID!!!! MAMA PINCHED BRAYDEN! BRAYDEN HAS BOO-BOO! BRAYDEN NEEDS BAND-AID!!!! MAMA PINCHED BRAYDEN! BRAYDEN HAS BOO-BOO! BRAYDEN NEEDS BAND-AID!!!! And on and on for the last 15 minutes of the drive home... Mary thought it was such a good idea at the time.... Another Conversation with Brayden: Jeff, Brayden and I were travelling on Friday in my car, which Jeff doesn't drive very often. We stopped at Walgreens so I could run in and use the ATM machine. As Jeff pulled out to leave, a car swooped in through the parking lot, and I mentioned a car was coming. Jeff said, "Wow - I didn't see him. There's a huge blindspot in this car." From the backseat: Umma! Brayden see blindspot? Me: No, sweetie - you can't SEE it -- it just means Umpa couldn't see to back up. Brayden: Umma! Umma's car broken and Umpa can't see blindspot? Me: No, the car's not broken. Umpa just couldn't see the other car coming. Brayden: Umpa has blindspot? Me: Yes. Brayden: Umma! Brayden see it! Brayden see blindspot! Me: Sweetie, there's nothing to see... Brayden: See blindspot! Me: No, sweetie, there's just nothing to see. You can't see a blindspot. Brayden: Umma! Umpa go in car. Umma go in Walgreens. Umma go in car. Umpa breaks Umma's car. Umpa has blindspot! Brayden see it? Me (frustrated): Brayden - ask Umpa. He's the one who said it. Brayden: Umpa! Brayden see blindspot? And on it went for another 15 minutes until we could distract him! Got to love it! DECLUTTER CHALLENGE UPDATE: I learned the hard way last week that I'm not expected to post photos of my decluttered items every day, but once a week on Friday. But don't think I'm not still decluttering every day! Here's what's gone out this week: Monday - VHS movies we've watched as much as we're going to watch -- off to Goodwill. Tuesday - Obvious garbage and broken things out of the kitchen junk drawer. Wednesday - Reference books I no longer use - off to Freecycle as these might be good for middle school and high school kids. If no takers, off to Goodwill. Thursday - From my hutch - Paper cups, plates and napkins leftover from my daughter's baby shower 2+ years ago. Off to Goodwill. If you want to join the DeClutter Challenge, you can find the info here. I stopped by the My Simpler Life blog today and once again found a great idea for those days I just don't know what to declutter next! It's a printable make-your-own declutter dice! Roll the dice and read what room or item you should declutter next. Don't you just love the way organizers' minds work?!

Back-to-School Essentials?

Admittedly, it's been awhile since I had to prepare my (now adult) kids for the beginning of the school year. But today, I was quite shocked to find a local retailer's ad for "Back to School Essentials" -- with photos of 1) an iPod, 2) a cell phone and 3) a personal Nintendo game player. Not 10 minutes later an ad ran on TV stating that amongst all countries, the United States is now number 25 in Math and 23 in Science... C'mon parents -- where are you?!? Times can't have changed all THAT much since the late 80's and early 90's. Are you actually allowing your child to take a cell phone to school? or an iPod? or a game player? Tell me it's not so... A neighborhood parent explained to me that her daughter had to have a cell phone to call home when she needed a ride after activities. Do schools no longer have pay phones??? And school administrators - where the heck are you? You sure were good at making rules when I was in school -- when and how did that change? Is education no longer your priority? Are you SO bent on being politically correct that you don't have rules against cell phones and iPod players? Shoot, we couldn't even chew gum in school without being threatened with expulsion... I can't imagine there's a whole lot of learning going on if the high school kids are sitting and texting each other or have earplugs clamped on their heads. This is all just getting too silly for words. I swear, common sense just doesn't come into play nearly as much as it used to. Don't want to go to jail? Don't do anything against the law! Want to have a good future? Get an education! Want to get a good education? Study! How hard is that to figure out?? For the very first time, I swear, I understand why so many people are homeschooling -- and Bravo to you who do. (OK, all of you except those who bought the book HOMESCHOOLING FOR DUMMIES -- if you had to read that book, you shouldn't be homeschooling.)