MamaBlogga

As I’ve mentioned before (probably several times), Hayden is a very particular, meticulous little guy. Naturally, he was deeply disturbed to discover that one of the fluorescent bulbs in our kitchen had given up the ghost argon.

Every time we turned on the lights, every time he looked up at them (and this light is visible from the kitchen, living room, family room and dining room, so this was a lot), Hayden informed me anew “Night! Night! B’oken! B’ake it!” (Light! Light! Broken! Break it!, for those who don’t speak Haydenese).

If you’ve ever had a two-year-old, you know—this can get old very quickly. Finally, I told Hayden a week ago that Daddy would fix it soon. This placated him for a while, though he would often remind me “Daddy pits it.”

After four or five days, though, this excuse began to wear thin with Hayden. This week, when I told him Daddy would fix it soon, he looked at me. “Mommy pits it,” he nodded solemnly.

Apparently the kid knows who gets things done .

I can’t remember where I first saw the idea for this natural air freshener, but it’s easy and, I think, Christmas-y: perfect for late fall and early winter. Best of all, it’s fairly easy, if you have the materials.

Materials:
Cookie sheet
Aluminum foil
Pinecones, rinsed

Put the aluminum foil on the cookie sheet, then put the pinecones on the cookie sheet (yes, in that order ).

Put the cookie sheet into the oven and set it on 200 degrees (or ‘warm’). Bake them for 30-45 minutes: piney goodness.

The pinecones also open up and may drop their seeds: pine nuts!

And they’re ready for crafts. And who doesn’t love pine cone crafts? (Okay, okay, you can put your hands down.)

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Part of the Scribbit Winter Bazaar and Works-for-Me Wednesday!

I have to brag about my husband. While he was home alone for two weeks, he tackled the huge project that has been on my to do list every month for more than a year. We don’t have any before pictures of our closet/laundry room, but let me describe it to you: The laundry shelf was organized—but that was about it.

There was a stack of very large Rubbermaid containers with some random things in them that reached to about hip height. Sometimes this stack ended up in front of the dryer door and had to be shoved aside. Usually it was between the extra washing machine and the built-in wood shelves, effectively blocking off 2/3s of the room. On top of the dryer and the extra washing machine were all manner of precariously stacked items that belonged somewhere deeper in the closet, but either we couldn’t get back there or they didn’t fit anymore. Things like Christmas decorations, painting supplies (we’ve been done painting for almost a year and a half)

The beyond there, the closet was completely impassible: a box fan, a storage drum, a couple hundred pounds of pasta (no, really), ski poles and boots (we haven’t been skiing since before we were married) (oh, and we have no skis), an old printer—and that’s just what was on top.

I was moved to tears to come home to this:

Oh, and did I mention that he does laundry—and dishes?

I’ve been cooking for myself for a while now, but I still remember the feeling I had the first time I was able to make chocolate chip cookies without making a special trip to the store. I felt like a competent chef and housekeeper—I had flour, sugar and eggs on hand all at the same time, without even planning it! (I always had chocolate chips; duh.)

I wanted to feel like a competent homemaker as often as possible. So once we were settled in our house, I compiled a list of the best things to always have on hand. Warning: it’s very long.

Baking powder (non aluminum) Baking soda Cocoa Vinegars (rice, red, cider) Flour Cornmeal Molasses (unsulfured) Vanilla extract Shortening Sugar (white & brown) Vegetable oil Peppercorns for grinder Ground nutmeg (or nutmeg nuts) Garlic powder (or fresh garlic) Rosemary Bay leaves Basil Sage Thyme Ginger Cloves Curry powder Sea salt Pasta (lasagna, macaroni, spaghetti, linguine/fettucine) Pasta sauces (spaghetti, alfredo) Chicken broth Beef broth Chocolate chips! Dessert mixes (cake/brownie) Jiffy mixes (muffins & pizzas) Crushed tomatoes Diced tomatoes Whole stewed tomatoes Tomato paste Pineapple Applesauce (especially for Hayden!) Black beans Chili beans (though I usually just use black beans now) Pickles (dill, sweet relish/cubes)

Evaporated milk Enchilada sauce Potatoes Onions Cereals Bread (with one in the freezer) Bisquick Whole oats Tortillas Salsa Soy sauce Ketchup Mustard (yellow, dijon) Honey Peanut butter Macaroni & cheese Syrup Jams Ranch dressing Italian dressing Mayonnaise Lemon juice Milk Butter (unsalted) Eggs Cheese (cheddar, mozzarella, ricotta, American, Parmesan) Lunchmeats Veggies (lettuce, carrots, green onion, peppers) Yogurt Yeast Chicken Beef (ground, steak) Bacon Frozen veggies (broccoli, mixed, peas) Frozen juices Tuna Corn Green beans Cream of chicken soup Canned fruits (pears, peaches or salad) Rice

Obviously, this list is suited to our tastes and our household. It’s designed to create a “home grocery store” (and/or a year’s supply) so that I can create most of our family’s favorite recipes at a moment’s notice (or, for slow cooker meals, several hours’ notice…)

What’s essential in your house?

Okay, okay, I’m not jumping on the bandwagon, but this is the first post of my product reviews category. Don’t worry, I’ll keep them out of my feed and off my front page (unless you ask otherwise), other than the occasional really cool post. This is one of those.

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This is a little bit hard to admit, since I really don’t want you all thinking that I’m the dirtiest person ever. It’s a long story (in fact, it started about the same time I started to blog), but the basic plot is that our old fridge slowly died. Who knew it would take two weeks to get a new one? Luckily, we had a minifridge from Ryan’s apartment days (and a kind neighbor with a deep freezer).The minifridge was our only fridge for almost a month. And it was good to us, but once our new fridge arrived, we were not good to the minifridge. We transferred our food out of it and then just left the dirty minifridge to rot.And rot it did. After 10 months, you can’t imagine what it smelled like. I’ll show you what it looked like, but please don’t think less of me!

So, there’s this Bounty One Sheet Challenge Contest, and I figured, hey, I’d like a $30,000 kitchen (even if it would make it hard to move away)—that’s the grand prize for 100-word “Challenge” stories entered before Saturday. So I gave it a shot.

Unfortunately, it took more than one paper towel to eradicate the quarter-inch-tall mold formations in my minifridge. Go look at that picture again: they’re in the crevices in the wall—they’re on the door shelves and seal, too. However, one paper towel did clean the walls, the wall crevices, the door, the door shelves, the rack shelf, the tiny freezer, the lid to the bin on the bottom (the dirtiest part) and most of the shelf behind it before it was just too wet and dirty to do any more good. It also held up incredibly—although it was soaking wet and really, really disgusting (did I mention this mold is probably deadly?), it probably could have finished the job.

I ended up using another paper towel, though, to clean off the bottom shelf and in and around the bin. On, and the door seals. Yeah, there was even mold there. Blech.

Let’s hope this makes little fridgie go to work with Ryan one of these days like we’ve been planning for the last two years.