The Good, the Bad, and the Ridiculously (time-consuming, expensive... yet) Ugly

Well, let's get right to what you want to hear about, OK? Because there's no use pretending that you're all that interested in the good.  You'd rather hear about the bad and the ugly, admit it. Well you're getting 2 for 1 with the following pictures of my latest (perhaps last?) DIY project. They are indeed both BAD and most definitely UGLY. So ugly they are now in the trash. (No green comments, please. You'd have to see them to realize how unrecycleable they are...)

Maybe first you should see my inspiration. I am not super creative, but I am usually a first-class copycat. So I googled 'painted curtains' and found this post. I have the same Target curtains, and the pictures looked exactly like I wanted mine to look - so I had my willing "craft assistants" tape all NINE of my family room curtain panels for me. (Winston on the right, and my visiting son-in-law Nathan on the left.... Nathan loves doing projects for his favorite mother-in-law...especially if it's the night before he leaves...and very late at night!)

I went ahead and splurged on 3 bottles of fabric paint because, after all, I did have 9 panels.



It took every last drop to get ONE SINGLE PANEL painted. It might have been because I used disposable foam brushes, which the never-wrong-internet said would be perfect for the job.

Here are the other 8 panels hanging in  my carport, expertly taped and waiting their turn. My plan was just to do one after the other until I hung them up in my family room later that day - my family room which would eventually be as gorgeous as this one.  (Note that she sewed her stripes on... Which means she obviously has more discretionary time than me....Or a lot more smarts! Most likely the latter.)

I don't have a picture of Alex, my painting assistant, but he did mention to me that he thought the paint was going to show through the back of the curtains. (Alex is smarter than his mom.) It definitely showed through, but I figured we could line them (next year...or the year after...). Plus they are on the back doors that line our pool deck, so maybe I wouldn't care. And it was dark when we put them up so my biggest concern was just whether the yellow/gold was too much with my green walls (It was...)

 Turns out my biggest concern shouldn't have been the color... cuz when daylight came, we noticed a bigger concern. You can see every doggone paint stroke from the blasted, paint-eating foam brushes.

Moral of the story? Next time I get that creative urge (sometimes confused with discontent...) I will just do something cheaper and fail-proof, and more temporary.  Like move furniture.

 

I realize no one will be able to muster even an ounce of sympathy for me when I say that my living room is too big (whine, whine..) but it has been very difficult to figure out how to place my furniture in this room. But I keep trying. Because my husband enjoys the thrill of never knowing where the couch is. (This is especially fun in the middle of the night!)

My pictures are grainy (I need you..and your camera...Lea!) but you can see my idea was to try to create little "areas" within the big room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It feels good to be blogging again. Even if my impetus was to vent over the stupid striped curtains.

And did you notice I didn't even try to make any excuses for my continued absence? I'm tempted to blame it on a visit from these guys... (but they were only here for four short days, so I guess my multi-month sabbatical is not wholly their fault.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Success!

I wasn't going to blog today (shocker!), but I knew some of you might be having some serious laundry-post withdrawal so I put my selfish writer's block (aka laziness) aside to come over here and link to this. jewel.

Of course, my motivation was higher since she said such nice things about me. (Please note the title she gives me. And use it when you speak of me in the future, please.)

I love success stories, don't you? And I'm amazed at how seemingly small things (...and I confess, I was worried when she first emailed me pictures of her too-small-for-my-family laundry bins)
can make all the difference in how we view our daily tasks.

Seeing Kristin's success (almost) spurs me on to continue my Making It All Work series. I've implemented about 2% of the system, but it's transformed my calendar and my to-do list.

More later. (Do I say that a lot?)

P.S. Can I get a witness to Kristin's offer to come clean my shower stalls? Do you think she does tubs, too? (Do you think she remembers I have 7 sons?!)

P.S.S. Kristin is a new blogger - but you'd never know it from the way she writes. And wait until you see her amazing revolving slide show of her gorgeous children. No sinful, coveting, blog envy here. Just the facts.

Mega Laundry Solutions

Some Moms Who Should Definitely Know are sharing about laundry systems, and I couldn't help but jump right into this 'agitating' discussion. This is one (and about the only) area of homemaking I have down to a sweet smelling, neatly folded science. 


 And I'm sure  now that I've proudly stated that fact, I'm bound to wake up tomorrow morning to a house full of wet bunkbeds (and it wouldn't be the first time, I can assure you of that.)


Here's the link to my previous post on laundry - complete with cutting-edge pictures of my family's amazing, individually labeled, (white, plastic) laundry bins. After you read that post, be sure not to miss the sequel. Because just like everything else in a large family, we needed more than one (booths in a restaurant, pews in a church, carts in a grocery store, refrigerators in a kitchen. It always takes two.)


 I'd write a new laundry post but why should I?  Don't need to.  My system is still working like a charm. Seriously. The only time it gets slightly out of control is after a Boy Scout campout, when my 5 Scouts come home stinkin' to high heaven. (And if that's what high heaven smells like, I'll be completely happy to stay in the lower part, thank you very much.) 


Maybe I should start a new blog called Pioneer Woman Washes
and Dries. 


This just in - One of my favorite, and more attentive, blog readers just reminded me of the sequel to the sequel laundry post. In this post I tell about the dot system - and get an award for Bravest Blogger (and most embarrassing mother.) I'm so proud of me!




After you've had your fill of my laundry solutions, be sure you get all the dirt from these gals.

Check out the other All in a Day Bloggers...

Carrie @ Our Full House

Christi @ Where the Creek Meets the Lake

Elizabeth @ Yes They’re All Ours

Kathy @ Kathy Mom of Many 

Kristy @ Homemaker's Cottage 

Lori @ Happy Busy Mama

Monica @ Natural Mama

Renee @ Bakers Dozen

Schedule for Summer Success

I'm not one to complain (cough:cough), so I haven't mentioned much on my blog about the various special needs of my children. Most of them have ADD (trust me, it's real), one has cerebral palsy, one guy has major OCD/Tourettes; mix in a little Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and add a mother with her own "issues" (mostly depravity) and you get a family that thrives on routine - and prayer.

Actually, most children are more secure and well-behaved when they know what to expect. Flexibility is great, but you need something to flex 'from' or you end just plain disorganized, if not lazy. Spontaneity is more appreciated when it doesn't occur on an hourly basis.

And yes, those who know me can go ahead and count this as just more advice from a B.O. (Flylady's abbreviation for someone who is Born Organized.) However, the desire to plan my days is more of a survival technique for me than anything I inherited.

"Those who fail to plan, plan to fail", right?

I'm not keen on failure. But that's the guaranteed outcome when I wake up late, have no idea what we're eating for breakfast (lunch of dinner), and don't have a clue whether we can play all day or if there's important work to be done.

"But, it's summer!" (notice the quotes...) Summertime means more hours together, more time to relax and smell the (weedy) roses. Time to play unhurried games, make home-made slushees, and finally have leisure time to read all those books (I can't stop buying) on our shelves.

So, right around June 1st, instead of throwing the schedules and chore charts out the screen door, we simply "summerize" them.

And the children thrive.
And the mom is happy.
And projects slowly get crossed off the list (so I can keep adding more.)
And game pieces get found (or the game goes in the trash),
And math and spelling are reviewed.
And we all live happily ever after.

And we get a TLC show offered to us.

Here's the way our days are going this summer:

Kids wake an hour after mom - I like to start the day ahead of them. Vital.

Morning Chores - Never changes, year-round, no thinking required (make beds, gather garbage, unload dishwasher, feed cats, check pool, etc.)

Breakfast/Bible - I try to have my quiet time before the kids are up (preventive measures), then I can use our breakfast time to read to them. We're currently going through this.

More chores (We simply can't get enough of them. We're chore addicts!)- These are planned out by me, sometimes during that Power Hour before they wake up, sometimes taken from an on-going list I make during PMS, when everywhere I turn I find something that irritates me and proves my life is falling apart. For example, today one son re-painted a coffee table; another cleaned refrigerator coils; two children scraped paint from baseboards, and the other vassal cleaned the back porch, then wiped out the inside of the washer and dryer.

This is gruntwork that wouldn't usually show up on your weekly to-do list. But, it's so satisfying to have it completed. Which is why sometimes I walk around amidst my laborers, popping chocolate kisses into their sweet, subservient mouths. For real. I did this today. One for them, two for me.

These last one hour. If they finish early, the lucky-duckies get another chore....plus extra time on the computer (otherwise EVERY chore would take the complete hour...because my children are smart - - - when it comes to doing less work.)

When the hour is up, it's Playtime for an hour. Some days I suggest a playtime activity (because otherwise they would always choose Wii or computer time, and we all know what that causes. Bad attitudes ...... and sometimes the kids are affected, too.)

When they were younger, and I was a recovering perfectionist, I had a list of every game, puzzle, card deck, and art supply we owned. We would rotate through the list making use of all our wonderful ($$) resources and stimulating our creativity. When I would tell other moms about our playtime diversity they would look at me with eyes longing to Be Me (or they would immediately leave the room afraid whatever I had might be contagious.)

There are also pragmatic reasons for having such a list. We've been out of school for less than a month and we have discarded 7 games -either because there were important pieces missing, or because the game no longer kept the kid's interest (or it was embarrassing to play - like National Geographic's On Assignment.) We've also rediscovered some games that would have stayed on the shelf had Wii been an option for play time. And I already have some framed paintings, (way too many) friendship bracelets, and a knitted eyeglass case - all because I "suggested" art time.

After Play Time, we do Summer School. Mostly math review (including some board games and electronic hand-held flash cards), some spelling, and two chapters in a Mom-assigned literature book. Then they read something from the science shelf - followed by recording anything interesting they learned in a spiral notebook.

Lunch and clean-up

Rest time - This is the time for each of us to be completely alone - very important in a large family. Vital. The children usually listen to a story on CD, a history tape, or continue to read. Sometimes Molly plays with dolls, the boys occasionally color in a Dover color book or do Legos, and I almost always use this time to read blogs and steal ideas. This usually lasts 1-2 hours, according to how tired I am :)

Afternoon chore time- This is only the necessary end-of-day stuff. Putting up laundry; cleaning out the vans; finishing any projects started in the morning, dinner prep.

More play, followed by more play - The children swim or ride bikes, do some dangerous skateboarding, or play four square in the driveway. I like the kids to be outside several hours a day, but there are certain hours in Florida where a person can not breathe, and where clothing is a huge health-hazard. Fortunately, there are only about 8 months that fit this category.

After dinner and clean-up we might watch a movie (so far, the John Adams mini-series and 3 volumes of Anne of Green Gables) or play a family game, or read aloud or listen to a book on CD. We're in the middle of an audio recording of Around the World in 80 days, and the British actor who reads it has us all in suspense (even though most of us have read the book and already know that Phileas Fogg did not rob the bank).

Occasionally my husband and I will remember we're a married couple and try to do something alone (like go over the calendar, or talk about why I can't stop buying books) in which case we banish our offspring to the basement. (And they don't mind because there is foosball, ping pong, and a pool table down there.)

Then we all usually eat ice cream and go to bed.

So to "summerize" our schedule: Eat, Work, Play, Learn, Eat, Rest, Work, Play, Eat, Play, Eat. Sleep.

Work hard, play harder, eat often. The perfect summer equation.



P.S. I noticed that I have one new follower. Thank you! I only need 6,964 more, and then I can change my name to The Debster.

Tooting My Horn - Summer Edition

"Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it." ~Russel Baker

(I need to look into whether any of my kids are writing summer quotes under pseudonyms.)

Just a slight warning. You might want to cover your ears. I'll be tooting my own horn (loudly) in the next few paragraphs. I've been away from my blog for way too long so I lured myself back with the thought of bragging about how wonderful I am. (Oh, wait! That's what Facebook's for.)

Summer is in full swing here, which means I'm finally able to focus on all the areas of our home that get neglected during the school year - with an occasional break to swim and eat Popsicles just so I don't get reported on the Mean Mommy Hotline.

I may have made a rash vow while under the spell of the first morning of sleeping in, but I decided to go back to my Preschool Mommy days and start working alongside my children vs. giving them a list and going back to check (i.e., criticize and rant about their lack of character, interspersed with lectures about the kids in Ethiopia who work in the blazing son with a sibling on their back, just to bring in enough food for the next meal - all with a smile on their face, singing like the African Boys Choir.)




It's actually been working out well. The weeds in the yard are dwindling as my children and I yank them while we discuss politics and oil spill solutions. (If you look very, very closely at the picture above you can see our nicely weeded yard just beyond the pool. Can't see it? Trust me, then. The weeds are not there. Just like my camera, which I left in N.C., which is why I'm using all these old pictures that barely relate to my post.)

The videos and board games are being sorted and organized, in between stopping to play a few/watch a few and dispute who won the last time we played. And closets are being cleaned out/decluttered as we listen to The Hobbit on cd and my children try to keep me up to date on which eery-sounding character is which.

Of course I have my ulterior motives. (Sanity mostly.) I didn't want my summer to start with a bunch of whining and complaining (from me.) I needed to get a lot of stuff done but I also needed to reconnect with kids who had spent way too much time with other adults (aka teachers).

Something else I've resurrected from the Things I Wish We Still Did file is Table Time, where we linger after breakfast to have morning devotions and pray ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication) around and around the table. We're working through an amazing Bible Doctrine for Older and Younger Children book, so I get to listen to my children's perceptions of the things I hold dearest - and practice not rolling my eyes or sighing when I hear some of their answers.

We're reading aloud again. And listening to fun music. And swimming until we're exhausted (and clean.) We've already had a trampoline accident, which is one of the earliest signs of summer in Florida, and I have the ingredients to make some killer edamame succotash (and I'm not being literal when I say that....No matter what my boys may say) and everyone has picked out something they want to learn to cook this summer from one of our dusty, unopened cache of cookbooks.





I'm sure my summer plans will get off-track before long. But for now I'm enjoying my first two weeks of success and tooting my own horn for the foresight to remember my past failures and try to trick them into forgetting where I live this year. So far, so good.

As long as I'm posting random, unrelated pictures, I'll unashamedly throw in a few of The World's Cutest GrandChildren during their recent visit with The World's Most Loving GrandMother.

Out with the old, In with the Refurbished

I'm not a big resolution maker. It's not that I'm anti-improvement. Lord knows- along with plenty of earthly witnesses- that I have plenty of areas that need improvement. In fact, that's why I don't make New Year's resolutions. I can't wait until the last day of any said year to work on my many weak areas.

My life is a continual resolution.

Each day I wake up, I resolve a bunch of things.

Some are lofty, and optimistic, and barely achievable in this lifetime. And some are trivial and insignificant - but checking them off my list feels really good. Plus they're much easier than trying to be nice all day, or quitting sugar (neither of which made the Top 10 this year.)

So, here are a few of the projects I checked off my list in the first few days of 2010. The proof is in the pictures.

I bought this couch, including the incredible vintage-look, soft yellow slipcover (!), for $75.00 a few years ago. (It's deals like this that keep middle-aged women traipsing into unfamiliar neighborhoods at the break of dawn.) Unfortunately, as slipcovers are want to do, it slips. So every time someone gets up from that gorgeous couch, I have to scurry over and re-slip the cushion.

I haven't really minded. Much.

.....OK, I DO mind. It's bugged the patooty out of me the entire time I've owned the doggone sofa.

But No More.

At a time when lesser women were making long lists of resolutions about trivial things like getting healthier, learning new skills, and improving their character, I was sewing Velcro onto fabric - thus ending my years of hoping people would choose to sit in the chairs.

And it took me about an hour.

Why, oh why do we put off these life-enhancing chores?

And while I'm bragging, here's the other side of the room. I finally have it just the way I want it. Four chairs circling a round, white coffee table (acquired in a savvy coffee table swap, where I traded my oversized white IKEA ottoman for a damaged brown round table begging for glossy white paint.) This is the perfect place for conversation. It was worth all that lugging of furniture...back and forth...back and forth. Right, sons?

Here it is from another view. I wanted you to see the fabric on these chairs. The chairs were "free" with the house. So I splurged a little on the fabric (thus making the chairs not quite so "free"), but I haven't regretted it one iota. Run your hands over the material. It's 3-D. Those beautiful flowers are like crewel work. Free decorating advice: Don't scrimp on fabric for smaller jobs. Get what you love. It makes a big impact - and you'll smile every time you walk into the room.

Another project-in-waiting completed. My cafe kitchen curtains have been unhemmed for almost a year. I can't remember why I ever put them up pinned vs. sewn - but once they were up it seemed like a big hassle to take them down. Turns out it was an imaginary hassle. finished this job in about 20 minutes. Pitiful.

I'm a Nester Wannabe (along with thousands of other women, from the looks of her comment section), so when I noticed that I owned some of the same fabric she owned (except mine was in a Rubbermaid container in the basement), I decided to make this cute tablecloth for my family room table. This was Not So Easy. But it looks great and I feel very Nesterish.

I also tried my hand at a few crafts while my older daughters were home for Christmas and could tutor me. I made these cards by myself. Id you so any stamping yourself then you won't be impressed, but hopefully some of you have no idea how easy it is and you'll be thinking very highly of me about now.

If you'd like me to send you one of these just do something incredibly kind for me. That's why I made them. To reward those who are kind (to me.)

This next project is the one that should bring me some Bloggy Kudos. (along with some ads from plastic surgeons offering to remove a few of my necks....) This is a poor quality photo of a high quality felt flower, completely hand-sewn by ME. I love these. I have one in every color - and Molly made some to wear as hair pins. I'll try to take some better pics. We have big ones and small ones and ones with buttons in the center. Do you think you can have too many felt flowers? I hope not.

Consider the next few pictures "visual resolutions". They are here to remind me of things I want to accomplish.

I want to learn how to use my camera settings. I want to be able to make the backgrounds fade out, but the front object be in focus. I also want to learn the art of tablescaping. I dabble in it, but I want to Master It.

This picture is of a quilt that I bought for $5 at a garage sale, but made the mistake of washing.
It now has a gazillion small holes in it, and a few billion big ones. I am in the process of sewing them all up, which means in man-hours I will have paid Big Bucks for my quilt.

Happy New Year to my faithful readers - and even the unfaithful ones. It is my hope that blogging will be a higher priority for me this year. I appreciate those of you who have encouraged me to keep writing.

Honor your father and mother. It never ends.

"Work while you work, Play while you play;
For this is the way to be happy all day."

Author anonymous (and in this case, dead wrong)


I feel like several apologies are due.

One for not posting.

And one FOR posting - at least for posting about the same subject ad nauseum.

I have lots of semi-valid excuses for not posting in so long. Winston's back surgery (which went well, thanks for asking); getting ready to teach 5th grade at the local classical school (more on that later as I compare and contrast for you on this new experience vs. my previous life as a homeschooler - Just a little hint about which was easier, I now have to use a rubric- which to me sounds like it should be some kind of huge, shiny, fake ruby that gets hawked on the home shopping network - but I'm pretty sure it has something to do with grading...); and then life in a big family. Those are my semi-valid excuses.

I'm not a faithful blogger. There, I said it.

But I am blogging today, so I should get some points for that on the Big Bloggy Scoreboard of Life.

Today's post, as stated in the title, is about honor.

Real honor. Not just the kind of honor that sends a card now and then with nostalgic sentiment about what a great parent you were.

I'm talking about the kind of honor that causes a grown, married child to drive down to Florida, from places northward (too northward if you ask me...) under the pretense of enjoying a restful Staycation at a parent's house - - - - then finding things like "Replace rotten bathroom flooring under house" on the Staycation To-Do list, sandwiched in-between "go to beach" and "eat at nice restaurant".

Some sons-in-law would complain when they realized they'd been duped....er, I mean..that the plans had been changed. But not mine.

Here's a picture of their smiling, servant-like, honoring faces:



And here's a picture of their dirty butts:



(also pictured - the father-in-law/boss, and two younger sons who were displaying "forced honor")

Why do they look so dirty, you may ask? Is it because they all went into this small hole?


And I would answer, Yes - and here's proof. This is Justin under the house.He actually looks like he's enjoying himself. When else can you wear a cool head lamp, skateboard around on your belly with a flashlight, and get as dirty as you want? I asked him why he was making such a silly face - but he said it just looked silly because he was holding his breath (ew....!)


And here's Warren - congratulating himself (?) or maybe just praying and thanking God for giving him such wonderful in-laws.


Pop's recent knee replacement came in handy as he was banned from crawling under houses. Instead, he manned the board-cutting station (and made sure none of his sons tried to sneak out of the hole....)


Not to be left out of a chance to serve their aging parents, the married daughters did some honoring of their own by sewing new curtains for their younger sister's bathroom. They also helped fashion a velcro sink skirt out of an old shower curtain. (I can't find a decent picture of the finished bathroom - and don't hold your breath until I do - but I'll try to find one. It looks amazing with these big black checks on the window and sink, and black toile on the shower curtain. The walls are white with black/white framed pictures on the walls. It took the girl's bathroom and turned it into a lady's bathroom, fitting for 11 and 17 yo sisters to share.

This is Brite -trying to remember how to thread my cheap ol' Brother sewing machine (which I had to buy after she took her ultra-modern, computerized machine when she got married and left me small appliance deprived.)


Jacqueline, who would rather cook than sew - and would rather have fun than cook, assisted her sister by ironing. Did this make Jacqueline miss her teen years when she ironed for the 13 of us? Rhetorical question.



And who says you can't have fun while you work? (other than the guy who wrote that poem at the top of this post..)


Well, dear readers, this is the end of my staycation posts. Feel free to go back and read them over and over again. Or....you could check out my daughter's blogs (on my sidebar) and read something fresh and inspiring. One will make you hungry - and one will make you want to order a pillow.


I'm going to try something new as we head back to school and my time gets even more scarce.
I'm going to try blogging regularly (not daily. My memory isn't that bad. I remember May.), but I'm going to blog shorter. Little short blog spurts.

(And yes I also remember that I've tried this before and they weren't all that short. But I'm growing and learning - and maturing - and I think I'd like to try again. Come back and see!)

Meet My Magazine Mentors

You may have heard the Blog Buzz that I'm blogging Every Day (except the weekends) in May about magazines. I'm on a quest to see if magazine reading is a worthwhile pursuit for an educated, savvy, middle-age (if I live to be 106) modern woman like myself. And of course, I want to share my findings with you. Because I'm just selfless like that.

After much thought, and two comments, I've decided not to limit myself to one particular magazine.

I'm going to be reporting on the wealth of knowledge I glean from the magazines pictured here:


The picture is a little blurry, but I think you can make out most of the titles, and of course you can see Dolly on the cover of the AARP magazine. Can't really miss her. In that issue she tells about getting her exercise by picking cotton, since she finds treadmills too boring. Looking at her waist size in that photo makes me actually consider getting a membership to a cotton field.


But you'll have to wait to hear more about Dolly since my magazine Pick for the Day was Cook's Illustrated (which I think is going to turn out to be one of my favorite journals....even though I don't really cook and when I do it's not really something one would want to illustrate) where today I learned the answer to a question I'm sure you've often asked yourself.

Is draining canned beans really necessary?

Turns out the answer differs according to what you're making. "Canned beans are made by pressure cooking beans directly in the can with water, salt, and preservatives. As the beans cook, starches and proteins leach into the liquid, thickening it." (I may not be a writer for a cooking magazine, but I know better than to use the word leach when talking about food....)

What I like the most about Cook's Illustrated is that they have a test kitchen that experiments around to find the best recipes, tools, ingredients, etc. - then they report their results.
With the canned bean dilemna, when they did not rinse the beans it made no difference in recipes with mixed flavors and different textures - like chili. Some recipes actually tasted better with the unrinsed beans. However, the hummus they made with unrinsed chick peas was too pasty and had less flavor.

So, there you have the definitive answer, dear readers. Sometimes you should rinse, and sometimes not.


Another really cool tip was to use a metal cheese slicer instead of a spatula when you're trying to remove warm cookies from a cookie sheet without breaking the cookies. The thin, sharp blade is better suited for this task than a thick spatula.

I definitely plan on trying that tip tomorrow!

Isn't this fun?!

In the issue I read today (March/April 2008) I also learned whether Super-Premium Orange Juice was worth the super-premium price. They compared five different juices ranging in price from $3.99 to $9.99 for 64 ounces. Tropicana Pure Premium, one of the lower costing juices, beat out Naked All Natural Juice. I'm sure it was neck and neck all the way!

And the most riveting article of all, "Can One Serrated Knife Do It All?"
And yes, wonder upon wonders, if you get yourself a Wusthof Classic Bread Knife ($79.95) or even a Victorinox Forschner 10 1/4 Inch Curved Blade Bread Knife ($24.95) you can have one knife that cuts bread, tomatoes, cake, sticky dough, and even club sandwiches.

And apparently, you can even go online and watch some behind the scenes test kitchen videos.

The recipes in this issue were also good, but I didn't feel right reporting on them until I had actually cooked something. Which may or may not happen in May. (Get it? MAY or MAY not.....)

For a free trial issue of Cook's Illustrated go to www.cooksillustrated.com
It's a cool site with tons of good recipes.

See you tomorrow, when I tell you a couple of things I am NOT going to do that were suggested in the May/June 2009 issue of AARP (which mistakenly gets delivered to my address every month. They must think some old person lives here!)

Recession Love ...and Laundry Cure: The Sequel

(It's hard to choose when you have two titles you really like. So I didn't even try.)

As previously noted, my husband is frugal (for lack of a more truthful, yet respectful term).

But boy do I have a love/hate relationship with that particular character quality.

I love it when he's being frugal with things I don't care about or want, But the rest of the time (which is quite a bit), it's a nuisance.


Not getting something because it costs too much seems a little too much like self-denial, which is another one of my least favorite terms. I mean....there's already so much negativity in the world, don't you think? Must we add to it with our incessant penny-pinching?

Do we really need to be all that concerned about a little thing like how much something costs vs. how much we have in our bank accounts?

Seems so temporal. Seems so mundane. Seems so biblical (!)

Yes, I know all about Dave Ramsey, Crown Ministries, Consumer Credit Counseling, and the over 600 Scriptures that address money. Stop confusing me with the facts.


Forunately, there are times when frugality and getting what I want mix beautifully. And this Valentines Day was one of those times. My husband finally learned to speak my Love Language.


He even took a half day off from work on Valentine's Eve - It being such a special holiday to him, and all (cough:cough). I casually mentioned to him, with absolutely no ulterior motives (this time) that when blogging about our laundry system last week, I realized it would be nice to have a shelf in the laundry room.

A shelf would allow me to keep those personalized laundry tubs spread out vs. nested inside each other. That way the clothes could be folded straight from the dryer into the tubs. It would alleviate the need for a laundry delivery person since everyone could come get their own laundry whenever they wanted.


He acted semi-interested in my idea - and even allowed me to show him exactly where I would want the shelf. He was also sweet enough not to mention that there are already three shelves in the tiny room.

Soon after I heard the most romantic sound coming from the back yard. A sort of buzzing, productive sound - loud and manly. And within an hour I had this:

The upper shelf was already there, but the lower shelf is my Valentine's present. And it cost NOTHING. He already had the wood and the tools so his only investment was time - a precious gift in a large family - and energy (a precious gift at any time!)

The secret's out: Shelves and Book Cases turn me on. Nothing says, "I'll love you forever" like new storage options.

It was all the more sweet because he did it spontaneously - and quickly. (Not that he doesn't always jump right up and grant my every wish and whim....)

I told ya'll last time that my house is very big- No brag, just fact -But somehow the laundry room was an oversight when they built this monstrosity of a house. I'm thinking the previous owner must not have washed much.

Or maybe she had a maid. Or perhaps disposable clothing. The house was built in the 40's. Maybe they didn't have washing machines back then (?).

Because the laundry room is just a big closet.

The house has a living room you could hold a sock hop in.

A kitchen that could easily house our big farm table and still have room to cook and converse.

Four nice-sized bathrooms;Five large bedrooms, including one that used to be a 3-car garage (now turned boys' dorm); a basement/gameroom; even a library, for heaven's sake!;

And yet, The laundry room. Is. A. Closet.

Here's the view from the Foy-A (with the infamous wallpaper).

And here's how utterly discreet it looks from the front door. You'd never know that behind that door ,tucked in between the library and our ballroom/living room, is a smallish laundry room wreaking of sweaty shin guards and on rare occasions (yet not as rare as I'd like...) wet sheets.

I hope I don't sound like I'm ungrateful. I have come to love my cutesy, impish laundry room. I painted it a cheery color and put in wire shelves for storage as well as hanging clothes.

Having one wall with this peg-board type material allows me to keep mops, brooms, buckets, and other Very Vital, Necessary, Tools of My Trade in the laundry room, too.




Oh yeah, there's also a washer and dryer in there. That comes in handy at times.
Did you know almost any front-loading washer and dryer can become 'stackable' with a $50 kit?




And lastly, (can you believe someone could take up two, very long posts about something as trivial as laundry? Admit it, girls! I'm not your ordinary blogger),

I like to put pictures on the shelves to remind me why I'm in the diminutive, windowless (yet, cheery!) room to begin with.






"Now they show you how detergents take out bloodstains, a pretty violent image there. I think if you've got a T-shirt with a bloodstain all over it, maybe laundry isn't your biggest problem.Maybe you should get rid of the body before you do the wash.”
Jerry Seinfeld