Friday Five... Organized Refrigerator!

Hey people! I've been pretty quiet this week... I know, but for good reason.  We've decided to keep Ace home for one more year of preschool at home with mommy.  It was a last minute decision, which has had me scrambling to plan out the coming months of fun learning activities.  I want to make sure my "baby" is ready for kindergarten when it's time.  More on our preschool at home to come.

Today, I want to share my organized fridge with you.  I know some people might be thinking... enough already!  Organizing the fridge is just one small step from being OCD, but it's really not.  Lot's of good can come from having an organized fridge.  For one, less food is spoiled.  If you always put your leftovers in the same place and clearly label them, you are more likely to not forget about them in the back.  Also, with an organized fridge you will (or should) spend less time looking for things with an open door, which lowers you fridge temp, and causes it to work harder, therefore jacking up your electricity bill!

Yes... I absolutely see the irony in this picture with the doors wide open.

Now that you know why organizing the fridge is a good thing, lets talk about how to organize your fridge.  As with any project in my home (or anywhere for that matter) I start off with some research.  Turns out, I am not the only one into fridge organizing.  I have gained lots of newfound knowledge in terms of where to store things.  The last time I did a fridge shuffle I kind of winged it and just moved stuff where I thought it looked best.  This was not conducive to long lasting food, which is why I did so much research this time around.  There is tons of info out there, But I will keep it simple and share just 5.  So here we go...

Friday Five: Tips For Organizing a Refrigerator.

1. Milk.  When I was mentally planning out my new organized fridge, I was thinking of placing my milk on the door along with our OJ.  I just thought it would look good there and be a good use of space.  I figured that would be the best place, Wrong!! Milk is supposed to be placed as far to the back of the refrigerator as possible, and is best kept at a temperature of between 38 and 40 degrees F.  

2.  Meats and Cheese.  I keep my meats and cheeses in the same drawer.  Keeping them together makes for easy sandwich making.  Ziplock storage bags are my best friend.  We don't go through meat super fast.  So when I buy it, it is separated and frozen into smaller portions.  I keep only small amounts in the fridge at a time, and the rest is kept in the freezer.  It is best placed in the lower section or where ever is closest to the freezer.  

3. Fruits and Veggies.  While people often group fruits and veggies together, these two healthy food options should be stored separately.  Veggies do best in high humidity.  In my fridge I have a humidity controller, and it is now set to its highest level.  My berry type fruit (strawberries, blueberries, and grapes) get a water and vinegar rinse before being sliced and placed in glass containers for easier snacking.  This is great for the kids, because they basically want what they see.  Too bad I have a problem seeing the chips I hide from them, or the cookies for that matter.  I have recently begun storing my other fruits out on the counter.  This again is so they are in the kiddos (and mine and hubby's) faces.  If you were going to store your fruit in the fridge it should be in a low humidity drawer often called the crisper.  I used to think the crisper was the place for veggies since crisp lettuce is way more appetizing than wilted... turns out I was wrong.

4. Labeled Leftovers.  I always store my leftovers on the top shelf, so they are in my face and I am more apt to use them.  Even then, sometimes things don't get eaten, or I forget how old they are.  Then I had an idea.  To all you Pinterest junkies out there, ever see a great tip and file it in your brain under one of these days?   I do, all the time.  A while back I saw a cute idea to use chalk on a lid for labeling the date of leftovers.  While cleaning out one of my school drawers in the kitchen I came across one of my chalk markers.  HELLO!! I immediately tested it out on my lids.  It didn't work quite so well.  Then I tried it on the actual glass and it was perfect.  Even my hubs was impressed, which is not easy to do.  Generally, leftovers are good for 4 days, although I typically give my leftovers a week in the fridge before tossing or eating them.  Now we can clearly see when something needs to be eaten, no more guess work!  FYI - I've been using this system for about 2 weeks now.  It works, but the glass tends to sweat so the chalk is always wet.  It doesn't bother me, or the hubs, but I can see it bothering some people.  

5. Containers.  Don't be afraid to containerize in the refrigerator.  Putting like items together makes grabbing things quickly, easy.  Again, we need that fridge door to be open for as short a time as possible.   I use a fridge binz for juice boxes and another bin I grabbed from my pantry to contain my refrigerated snacks.  Now it's packed with Danimals yogurt smoothies for the kiddos.

Take a look at my organized refrigerator... isn't she pretty?

One more bonus tip - I read this tip years ago, before I ever owned a home.  When one of your shelves is getting slightly low on food, move the few remaining items to another shelf or area.  Give that section or shelf  a quick wipe down (2 minutes... seriously!!).  I use a vinegar and water solution.  If you do one shelf at a time as they begin to empty it's easier to maintain a clean fridge.  I use this strategy and it really helps.

Thanks for reading!

Leiah

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A Coffee and Tea Staion

Hey there!  So, on Sunday night I was smiling.  Seriously smiling... And tired.  It was 12am (I guess that makes it Monday night.) and I had just finished organizing the last cabinets in the main part of my kitchen.  Yeah, I still have the Command Center to spruce up and the fridge and pantry need some love, but the main part is done. It's like wow, every cabinet door I open reveals a clean and seriously organized space.  I'm in love.  My cabinets have finally become part of my home, a place to store things for my family, and not just a place to hide or stash stuff.  Check out my baking station if you missed that!

Today I want to share my coffee and tea station.  It, along with my baking station, has been apart of my kitchen from the start.  It's the place I set up our coffee maker on move in day (or weekend).  It sits right  between my fridge and toaster.  Easy access for creamer, and cream cheese for my breakfast bagel.  All my little tea things tucked nicely into a little basket, It made me happy for a long time.  I was perfectly content making my coffee at home, occasionally a green tea with lemon.  Then Dunkin' Donuts released it's ice cream themed summer flavors, one being Butter Pecan.

I kind of lost my mind for a while.  Like, I was seriously a little cray cray!!  The kind of crazy who would load the truck with 3 kids in pj's (and sometimes a dog), take a 10 minute drive to Dunkin Donuts (closest one), then wait in a 5 (sometimes 10) minute line, then order a medium (or large) iced butter pecan coffee (light and sweet of course), then drive 10 minutes back home, kind of crazy.  I mean I had to have it.  I was taking the drive 3, sometimes 4 times a week, just for an iced coffee!  However, like I said, I am recovering.  Too much sugar, too many calories, too much money, too much wasted time in the car!  I decided it was time for a change.  So to help entice myself back to my little mini coffee and tea station, I gave it a bit of a makeover.

This is what it used to look like.  By the way, please excuse these pictures.  I am neither a photographer, or user of fine equipment.  This picture was probably taken with my iPhone, and the after pics were taken late at night, definitely with my iPhone.

Anyway, there's a lot of crap in there!!  Sorry, but seriously, remember I said there was just so much space.  All the empty space was calling for random crap.  I do most of our school time in the kitchen, so there is a lot of school stuff stashed away here and there, in all the empty space.  There was even Easter grass! SMH!! That's Shaking My Head in case you didn't know.   So, yeah, you see all those empty containers?  They were used here and there for projects or activities for the kids, but this is not the place to store them.  There's construction paper, that doesn't even fit nicely.  A mess, just a mess!  You can't even see my cute little basket I had all my teas and things in.  I had long since grown out of it, but never changed or upgraded... until now!

Just so you know what we are looking at.  This is the area directly to the left of my refrigerator.  No Kale Chips tonight, I had only some crystal light in my favorite Wonder Woman tumbler to keep me going.
  

Here's my finished project! Smile... I did just looking at this dark, slightly blurry picture!

crooked much?

Okay from the top: I'm keeping my mason jars here because they are used for drinks, but very rarely, mostly for parties.  On the opposite side I have my seasonal mugs.  I always use the brown polka dot ones for hot chocolate.  I'll switch them when the seasons change.  I've been placing most of my rarely used items on the very top shelves.  I'm tall (5' 8") but still have trouble reaching the top shelves, and I don't want the hassle of getting a step ladder out frequently.

The next shelf down is protein powder for smoothies and shakes, as well as extra NutriBullet accessories.  That is my cute little basket I've always had!  Glad I found a way to make it functional again.

Do you see that empty space?  At first, I was a little concerned.  Would I fall back into my bad habit and stuff it full of something I need to hide?  NOPE!  I have a plan.  This area is strictly for drinks, and drink making.  It is not for school supplies, or a wooden letter D, or Easter grass, or any other random item that needs a hiding spot!  If something goes in that spot, it will belong and be a perfectly welcomed member of the drink community.

Anyway, I decided at the last minute to add my blender because A). there was space, and B). it made more logistical sense, since a lot of things I use for smoothies, are in the fridge or freezer, and of course its for making drinks!

On the bottom shelf, under the blender, I have a few mugs.  My husband doesn't drink coffee or tea often, but I leave his "Good to be King" mug with in reach just in case.  I typically rotate between 3 mugs, the other is in the dishwasher of course.  I also keep the travel mug handy for when the need arises.

Next to the blender I've placed two new bins.  I love these bins, I picked them up from Lowes by the way.  One holds coffee and chocolate.  Those packets are actually Carnation Breakfast drink.  Sometimes I make the boys a chocolate banana smoothie using those.  The other basket holds my growing tea collection and tea ball.  They fit perfectly on the shelf and keep all the loose packages nice and neat.

On the bottom shelf under my two bins, I have items I use for smoothies, tea, and coffee.  I placed some Truvia packets in the white sugar bowl, I have a ton of little spoons for stirring, mixing, and even adding ingredients.  There's almond butter, and ground flax seed that I snagged from my baking cabinet.  I mostly use it in smoothies, so it makes more sense here.  Behind my little sugar container is a small bottle of agave nectar.  My health nut uncle talked me into trying it as an alternative sweetener and I have not regretted it.

So that's it for my coffee and tea station.  I guess it's more of a drink station at this point.  There are still a few things I'd like to do, the main thing being, to add cute labels to the bins.  Also, I want to get another Better Homes and Gardens container to put the protein powder in.  I just think it will look a little prettier that way.  SMH and LOL at pretty protein powder!!

I'm heading out of town for the week, and I'm not one of those super organized blogger's who has posts lined up, Sooo I'll have to share more next week.  Until then, have a wonderful week... and enjoy these last few precious moments of summer!!

Leiah

Kitchen Tour: Organized Drawers Part 1

Ever write an entire blog post so all you have to do in the AM is add pictures and then post.  Then, something goes terribly awry and you’re left with the first three sentences.  Sigh… yeah, that happened. 

I am not letting that get me down, because I have completely organized all my kitchen drawers (- 1, more on that later).  I mean seriously I am super excited.  Yesterday, While walking through my kitchen with a crying baby on my hip, a whining 2 year old close behind, and a 4 year old asking one of his 45,867,967 questions, I opened one of my drawers, and laughed out loud… it made me that happy. 

Anyway, before I get on with the tour, let me give you a bit of a back story.  We all love a good back-story.  Right?  Okay, actually this will serve as an excuse as to why some of my cabinets and drawers are so disorganized.

You ready for it?  My kitchen is huge.  Yes, I know that is a piss poor excuse, but hear me out.  It’s the largest kitchen I’ve ever had, this includes while growing up when I didn’t actually own a kitchen.  Because of always having a small kitchen we didn’t have much stuff.  I am not one for buying things that can’t fit in a space.   We had no appliances (save a toaster), a minimal number of pots and pans, as well as the basics in terms of cutlery, dishes, and serving things.  So when my hubby and I unpacked and moved into our home, there was A LOT of empty space.

As our family grew (and grew), those empty spaces began filling up.  Suddenly our walk-in pantry that at one point held only a few cans and jars was now chock-full of our most recent SAMs club run.  The cabinets and drawers that had been empty were slowly getting filled with all kind of random things.  Ever have an extra drawer? It becomes a junk drawer; multiply that by 5 or 6.  Even the cabinets just started getting filled with stuff.

In the past I have made some attempts to wrangle our kitchen, even going as far as Googling what people actually keep in their kitchens.  Some of those attempts very successful some so so, but I’ve never done a top to bottom clean out, overhaul.  Until now!

So with out further ado, welcome to my Kitchen Overhaul Tour.  Check out the Art Center Here.  

The Main part of my kitchen is a large U shape with a center island.  In this post I'll start at one end of the U and go around. The island drawers will be in a separate post.   

So here are some before shots.. GASP!! Shame on me... I know it!!!  The two top left are the worst.  I was keeping (some of) the kids' school supplies in there.   No matter how much I packaged all the pocket chart cards in baggies and what not, it was still a mess.  These are only some of my drawers, I figured, you didn't need to see all my mess.

For all of the drawers I removed everything, vacuumed crumbs, and washed them down with warm soapy water.  I used a square, and utility knife to cut my liner.

Remember, it always looks messier before it looks better (at least when I do a project).

Here we are mid way through on Day 3.  Yes, it took me three days to do just my drawers, take a look at that mess up there again.

Okay, on with the good stuff!!! So this may be a photo overload for some of you, but here we go.

 You can't see it, but there is a window above the sink the faces my backyard.  The bright window in this picture faces the side of my house.  The door with the wreath is my pantry.  The first set of drawers I will show you will be the drawers along the far right of the picture above, basically facing the back of the house.

These two drawers are side by side and the closest to the Art Center.  One holds everyday place mats, the other, kids utensils, straws, and plastic utensils.

 These two are side by side and next to the sink.  I keep everyday dish towels and cloths in one, and seasonal in the other.

 I keep my regular flatware in this drawer which is right next to the dishwasher.  All our grilling tools are in the other drawer.

 The following drawers are at the bottom of the U if you will.  There is a window that faces out the side of my house.  This is typically where I do all my baking.

The drawer in the top picture holds serving utensils, coasters, and bottle openers.  It is basically my entertaining drawer.  The other drawer has sandwich cutters, along with cookie cutters I sometimes use on sandwiches.  My cheese graters. are in the back of the drawer because they are rarely used.  My food processor does most of my grating.

These are my two baking drawers.  The drawer in the bottom pic is closest to the oven, and houses all of my most commonly used baking tools.  The other drawers hold my less commonly used baking tools.

Okay peeps.. almost done, hang in there!!

This is the drawer under the oven.  Remember I said I did all my drawers except one? This is it.  Totally forgot about it. Imagine my surprise as I was dancing around the kitchen snapping after photos and I stumbled on this.  Oh well.

These last two drawers contain all of my storage baggies, and food wrapping.  There is no before shot of them in the messy mishmash up at the top because they look the same, except they now have liner.  These drawers are right next to my fridge and are now coming up the other side of my U shaped kitchen (follow all that?).  There are actually three drawers side by side, the bottom pic being the center drawer, but I have no idea what to put in that last drawer.  So it's empty, until I give it a job.

I always keep a sharpie in this drawer for easy labeling.

WOW... that was long.  I think I'll break the reast of the tours into even smaller sections.  If you made it to the end... Thank you so much for hanging out!!  I'll be back through out the month as I complete more and more projects in my kitchen.  I hope you'll join me.  I promise not to make them so long as this.

Until next time, 

Leiah

Kitchen Art Center

It's August!!! You know what that means, Kitchen Overhaul Time!!

As the first stop on my Kitchen overhaul I'd like to share with you our Kitchen Art Center.  I added this sometime last year, although I can’t quite recall when.  This area only needed a quick wipe down since it is pretty easy to keep organized.  Of course I first saw this idea perusing Pinterest, and I jumped on it!! The original post is from Modern Parent Messy Kids... Go check it out.

The shelf l used is from Ikea.  I believe this is the Ekby shelf and brackets with the Bygel rail and plastic containers.

The plastic containers are holding erasable color pencils, pipsqueak markers, crayons, and dry erase crayons.  I love the cups because it’s easy for the boys to clean up.  On the shelf I keep a supply of papers, finger paint, tape (so I can quickly display works of art), extra markers, dry erase wipes, stamps, paintbrushes, glue, and scissors.  I already had the little tin buckets, got them from Target way long ago.

You may have noticed that it's pretty high up.  I DO NOT want my kiddos having access to art supplies whenever they feel like it.  These are by request only.  

This was the easiest project ever.  It makes art really simple.  Like, I'm making dinner and Ace is whining and Bear is getting into something (any and everything).  Me: "Hey guys, you want to dot paint?" Instant quiet... And very close to where I am, so I can keep one eye on them.

It's also convenient when we are doing a real deal art or school project.  The pocket chart is there, and I can grab scissors or glue sticks easily.  While we do have a lot of other art and school supplies (kept in another cabinet), these are our most frequently used supplies.  I love this so much that I added the same center to our playroom!  

What are some ways you like to store and organize art supplies?  Leave a comment and let me know.  If you like what you're reading, how about liking the Rosey Glasses Facebook Page, or Following us on Twitter!

Thanks for reading,

Leiah

Laundry Room Reveal

Originally Posted October 2011

Last week I was pretty quiet on the blogging front, but for a very good reason. I have completed my new and improved laundry room. It was a lot of work (isn't everything with two very small boys?), I mean ugly work. You know, the kind of work when your sweaty, your hair is in a messy pony tail, you've got hubby's old paint cover t-shirts on. Yes... It was ugly work, but soooo worth it. I am in love with my new space. Come on, let me give you a tour.

This was the view from the door... Remember?

Booooooo!

This is what my space looks like now. I breath a little happy sigh whenever I enter now.

I chose to go with Behr's Burnt Almond. I had hopes of maybe Honest Blue because we had some left over from another project, but it was flat and I needed a semi-gloss. I also toyed with the idea of pink stripes because I love all things pink... But my husband (who is not into pink as much as I am) shot that idea down pretty quickly. Pshhh, like he even does laundry... Anyway, we have Burnt Almond in our main living areas so I knew I would love it.

When I first decided to re-do my laundry room, I really thought about how to make it as functional as possible. I knew it needed to be easy to clean, and organized. I also wanted to make sure I could neatly and nicely find a home for everything. Enter baskets! I found these baskets at Walmart. They came in sets of three. I bought two sets... I used some of the extras in other areas of my home.

I replaced the wire shelf with this Lack shelf from Ikea.  While I was at it, I lowered it to make it more functional for me.  I'm actually 5' 7" and I still had to get on my tippy toes to reach the other shelf.

I also made this valance from some curtains we weren't using.  I just cut the bottom off and used hemming tape because I'm not a big sewer.   I added these cute flowers made from an old t-shirt. I followed this tutorial from Delightful Order.  I adjusted mine a bit for the size I wanted.

I knew I wanted to use glass jars to hold my borax, lol... I typically store clothespins with my craft things. But this idea from Delightful Order was so cute, they have a new home in the laundry room.

My little painted jar vases are one of my favorite additions to the laundry room. I made different shades of pink with some leftover paint from my craft room. After the jars were painted I just wrapped some hemp cord around the opening, and used hot glue to hold it in place. I think they add the perfect touch of femininity and are perfect for holding my roses. They were super easy and wallet friendly too.

I added storage over my sink because (in my very humble oponion) sponges laying on the sink looks sloppy.  My bloggy friend MeMe gave me the great idea to save cute jars and paint the lid to hold things. I think I'm going to keep the loose change I find in one, and possibly sewing things in the other. No, I'm not a big sewer, but I can replace a button or fix a sock with a hole.

I found lots of cute missing socks ideas on Pinterest. I made this one using chalk board spray paint, a dollar store frame, and my new favorite craft purchase... Chalk ink markers. I tied the ribbon to little screws I put in the wall and used my clothespins to clip some socks... Is it crazy that only my husbands socks ended up here.  

I used the same method and materials to make some wall cute wall art.  BTW, do you see the red handle from my mop sitting there in the corner.  I need to keep it there, when the dogs drink they make a huge mess and I need it close, also the floor get s mopped once a week.  I just haven't been able to figure out a place to put it.  I thought of hanging it but the hole in the handle is awkward and won't hang right on the hooks I have.  Any ideas out there?

Latoya over at the Scott's crib made some super cute wall art using toilette paper. I borrowed that idea and made some fun wall flowers. Perhaps I'll add a how to later this week. I added a few for some cute accents around the space.

And one more pic just because I love it so!

So that's it, hope you enjoyed my little tour (well, I guess that was an exteamly long tour).  Now for my next project... Hmmmm, I'm thinking some mudroom love.  What do you think?

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Making the World Cuter Monday