suziebeezieland

my favorite online organizing & cleaning resources

Hi, ladies!

I thought if any of you are in "organizational mode" and had any down-time this weekend, you might enjoy peeking at some of the following resources.  They're good sources of inspiration and motivation even if you're not ready to tackle any big projects right now. 

• First of all, our Jenny L. just recently reminded me that our kellicrowe has a couple excellent videos over at YouTube that offer some great ideas for organizing a craft/scrapbooking space. Kelli homeschools, and it's very interesting to see how she keeps all her stuff in order.  And she is cute and funny! :) (You might be interested in her other YouTube videos, too. She is organized AND creative, which is a really nice combination.)

• Looking at photos of Lisa Brown's old scrap space always gets me motivated to clean and organize prettily. :) (Hey, our Shelley L., looking at your old scrap desk when you had it in the corner of your bedroom, and then your newer desk in your house entryway (is that right?) also got me motivated, but I can't find them to link to them.)

• Aby Garvey over at Simplify 101 is also both organized and creative, so her solutions are practical AND pretty. :)  I love that.
  
  I have taken her "Quick + Simple Cluttter Control" workshop and recommend it, but even if you can't take a class, you can learn a ton by reading information on her site. 
  
  She has a blog called Creative Organizing, and you might start by simply clicking on the "organize" category (in the sidebar at left on the blog) and scrolling through those posts. Just look at the cute pictures! Stop and read when you see a subject you're interested in.
  
  She also has a good directory of articles here, great tips here (look at the sidebar at left for the categories of "home," "office," "life," and "scrapbooking"), and she sends out a really great e-newsletter regularly. (I am always happy to see it in my inbox.) 

• The organizing and homekeeping sections of MarthaStewart.com are very inspirational. Many of the ideas are too labor-intensive or expensive for me, but looking at the serene, beautiful photos gets me motivated to clean and organize around here. :)  And some of the ideas are more down-to-earth.  The organizing tips of the day are also interesting.  (There's an interesting one here titled "100 Reasons to Get Rid of It," with a list of places to donate almost anything you can possibly think of getting rid of.)

• The Home & Organizing section of RealSimple.com is also inspirational, although they are stingy with the size of their photos, which are too small to be very helpful. I also like the Solutions Directory.
  
  If you click on the mauve-colored Television tab up top and then on "Organize by Topic," you'll currently find 45 articles, 18 checklists, 68 photos, 24 how-to guides, 17 recipes, and 9 videos. (We've already watched two of them!)  Lots of good stuff, and most of it more doable and accessible for a regular gal than some of the Martha stuff.  I like the room makeover pictures. :)

• As far as putting the "pretty" into organizing goes, The Container Store is fun. So is See Jane Work, for stylish office supplies. And Kangaroom Storage.  And of course the storage and organization sections (which I've linked up) of these shops are always fun to look at: Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, Pottery Barn Teen, Land of Nod.

• I have several friends who absolutely swear by Fly Lady for staying organized.

What are your own favorite organizational and housekeeping resources?  I know there are some really good organizing books and blogs that I know nothing about.

better living in five minutes a day #11:organize your broom closet

Just outside Claire's bedroom is this skinny little broom closet. It houses our vacuum, a Swiffer, a mop, a broom, a bucket, some Pledge, some dusting rags, and a few other things.

Until about two weeks ago, I felt frustrated every time I opened it.  And then I spent about five minutes cleaning it out, and now sunshine and rainbows and happy little Smurfs spring forth when I go to get something out of it.

Not really. :) But it's so much better, and I don't feel crabby about it. And I thought to myself, "Self, why didn't you do this before? It only took five minutes."  (It actually got me going on this entire "better living in five minutes" kick.)  I have so many things like this in my house, where I spend hours each year being frustrated, when I could make things better in a few minutes.

(The can of Pledge was sitting in the living room when I took this photo.)

 

 

So here is assignment #11:

Organize your broom closet.

You may not have a dedicated broom closet or utility closet to tidy up today, so for the sake of this assignment let's just say that you're going to straighten up the area where you keep your vacuum cleaner. :)

Because we're doing this in five minutes, let's keep it fast and simple.

1. Take everything out of the broom closet.
2. Throw away or give away any cleaning products or tools you never use.
3. Wipe the shelf of the broom closet off with a wet rag or sponge.
4. Put everything back in it in an orderly fashion. :) Put the things you use most often towards the front.

Yay! You're done.  If you're inspired and want to turn this into a bigger project and have the world's greatest broom closet ever (here is an inspirational photo from Martha Stewart), check out the links that follow. (Alternately, just look at the pretty pictures to get inspired to start cleaning!)

(image from marthastewart.com)

• Organize Your Broom Closet (Real Simple)
• Organizing the Bottom of the Broom Closet (Chez Larsson)
• Tame the Broom Closet (Martha Stewart)
• Broom Closet Organizer (Martha Stewart)

a little questionnaire for you

1.  What's something you are excited about lately?

2.  What's one of your favorite places online to shop?

3.  Did you ever take any art classes when you were a kid? Do you remember anything about them?

4.  If you were going to put a quotation in your living room or family room as wall art (on a chalkboard or using vinyl wall art letters or something), what would it say?

5.  Do you have a favorite old (black and white, or "classic") movie?

better living in five minutes a day #10:get rid of the cobwebs(this is not a metaphor)

If you have spiderwebs in the corners of your ceilings or even hanging in wispy strands from the ceiling, you probably hardly even see them anymore. 

Here is assignment #10:

Get rid of the cobwebs in your house. (I am sorry, but the cobwebs of your mind cannot be cleaned out in five minutes. That is another assignment entirely.)

Take a broom, a mop, or a Swiffer cloth on its Swiffer stick thingy, and go around knocking down any old cobwebs you see.

Hint: If you are going to use a broom, and your broom is dirty, take it outside and brush it on the grass (if you live somewhere where grass is currently showing) for awhile until the dirt is off it. You can also brush it on your front mat.  This is to keep dirt from falling on your head when you knock down the cobwebs. :)

better living in five minutes a day #9:figure out your minimum daily chores

{pillow by our lovely & talented catherine thursby}

Hi! :)  The point of these "mini-assignments" is to tackle small projects or problems that are hanging over our heads and bugging us each day that we walk by them. Most of these assignments give some immediate gratification, but I'm also throwing in a few assignments that involve five minutes of planning now to make your life easier later. Today's assignment is the latter.

If I had to pick one assignment out of all fifteen for you to do, it is today's.  This has been extremely helpful to me over the past two years.

Here is assignment #9:

Take five minutes to walk around your house and figure out a daily chore routine.

I know many of you already have a good daily routine and are disciplined about doing it, but I also know some of you feel as if this needs to be a more formalized part of your day.  And some of you feel like you're coming apart at the seams. :D

Make a list (either written down or just in your head)(mine is in my head because I don't like making lists) of nonnegotiable daily chores. This is the stuff you'll do daily (just like you brush your teeth) unless you get sick or something unavoidable comes up. This list will be different for each household! If you have a new baby, for instance, your entire list might be "Do one load of laundry". :) I know if you work outside the home that you have specific challenges involved in getting stuff done, and you probably play catch-up with many chores on the weekends.

There's an article over at Martha Stewart.com entitled Six Things to Do Every Day, and includes the following:

• Make the bed
• Manage clutter
• Sort the mail
• Clean as you cook
• Wipe up spills while they're fresh
• Sweep the kitchen floor

If that list works for you, then use it. :) I didn't like the part where it said "Insist that everyone in the household do the same." I really don't like that Martha. At least, I really dislike Martha the Public Persona. She is arrogant and competitive, and she brags and interrupts her guests rudely.  But maybe Martha the Real Person is nicer, and I should give her the benefit of the doubt. I do like Martha Stewart Living OmniMedia, Inc. however, and all the cool stuff they come up with.

But I digress. :)

I made my own "minimum daily chore chart" (inside my head) when Claire started preschool, and then revised it again last fall when Claire started kindergarten and I was worried that I would waste too much time each day. (I'm always tempted to spend one million hours a week goofing around on the computer.) On Thursdays and Sundays when I'm busy in the morning, I do this stuff in the afternoons, but it still gets done.

When I was trying to decide what to do, I just tried to think of the things that would have the biggest negative impact if I didn't do them, and the biggest positive impact if I did. And I tried to think about what would make my peeps happy. :)

Also, I'm unwilling to spend more than one hour each day on such a routine, so my list is doable in an hour. I do it between 8 and 9 after I drop Claire off at school and come home.  If you have more or less time, tailor your list accordingly. :)  The main thing is to make it a routine and just do it.

Here's my own list, in case it's helpful to you:

Master Bedroom

• Make bed
  It takes up most of the room, and dominates. It doesn't matter what else I do if the bed is unmade.
• Swiffer floor and top of nightstands and dressers
  The dog and cat both sleep in the bedroom at night and the fur builds up quickly on the floor. I have allergies, so I have to Swiffer or I'll sneeze all day.
• Clear clutter
  I tend to leave stuff on top of my dresser because it's a big flat empty horizontal surface, so I clear that off each morning.

Bathroom

• Wipe down faucet and handles, counter, and toilet seat with Clorox cloth
  I do it in that order and throw the cloth away -- I do a more thorough bathroom cleaning once a week.
• Clear clutter
  I just make sure the bin of hair stuff is put away and that there aren't ten million teeny tiny little Hello Kitty barrettes lying around. :D

Kitchen

• Throw in at least one load of laundry each morning and then fold it when its done.
  Our washer and dryer are in the kitchen. Our laundry basket is in the bedroom closet and overflows pretty quickly if I don't keep up.  I know doing laundry weekly works better for some of you.
• Unload dishwasher every morning
  The ideal is then that we load-as-we-go all day. This is the ideal. :)
• Wipe down counters with Clorox cloth and keep sink rinsed.
  I do a bigger cleaning with spray bleach or kitchen cleaner and a sponge periodically.
• Make sure we have cereal and milk, and run to store if we're out.
  Bob is actually really low-maintenance as far as chores go, and does everything for himself, but he likes cereal every morning and is sad if we're out, so I really try to make sure we have it.
• Stack paper clutter if I can't clear it
  I usually have a stack of paper going on the kitchen counter.

Dining Room

• Swiffer
• Clear clutter
  The dining room table is another big empty horizontal surface in the dead center of our house, and it fills up fast with junk!

Claire's Room

• Make bed
• Pick up and have her pick up before she goes to bed

Living Room

• Dust
  Black furniture! It's covered with dust every single morning when I wake up. It drives me crazy.
• Vacuum
  If I didn't have pets and allergies, I wouldn't be doing this every day!
• Swiffer
• Straighten pillows on sofa
• Clear clutter

Other

• Feed and water pets
• Scoop catbox
• Water potted plants
  I do not do this daily in the winter!
• Iron Claire's school clothes
  She has "wardrobe," which is a modified uniform requirement.

I guess this looks like a long list (or maybe if you're a good housekeeper it looks like a short list!), but it actually goes really fast. (I iron at night.) Really, I put on some music, zip around, and it's done.  And then I can enjoy it all day.

I promise you, having such a rhythmic routine in your day, whatever it is for your own house, will make you feel good when it's done. :)

ps  I know a couple of you wanted some shopping suggestions included in these posts, which totally cracked me up. :D I'm not sure what to suggest to make your daily routine easier. Swiffer cloths and Clorox wipes?  I will tell you that our talented Catherine Thursby has some fun pillows in her shop right now!

god's thoughtfulness

My friend from college, Tim Clark, and his wife, Wakako, are missionaries in Sapporo, Japan with Asian Access.  Tim is from Portland, Oregon, and Wakako is from Japan, and they've been married just over a year.  Sapporo is in Hokkaido, which is the island farthest north in Japan.  It gets really cold! Wakako had a really sweet blog post this week about it.

flickr teacup mosaic

1. Hazel Atlas Ripple C/S, 2. Red Dot, 3. Fiesta Red/Orange, 4. Bunnies in teacups, 5. Green I, 6. cuppa heaven, 7. 14. Lilac, finally!!!, 8. teacup, 9. Crafting 365, day 173 - pink teacups, 10. Book Club...teacup...13/04/07, 11. citrus, 12. Yellow Teacup & Saucer, 13. FANTASTIC!, 14. cuppa normal, 15. Pansy Teacup, 16. chá IV, 17. And More PINK! Check out the gold trim, 18. Full Red Teacup and Saucer with Teabag Isolated on White, 19. it's gonna be a bright bright bright, sunshiney day!, 20. bird teacup, 21. green x 2, 22. "My kind of tea party!", 23. lilacs in daddy's teacup, 24. Tea n' Rose, 25. strawberry tea

better living in five minutes a day #8:organize the kids' schoolwork

I have absolutely not had a handle on dealing with Claire's incoming schoolwork this year. I have folded a couple pieces I liked in half and stuck them into her School Years keepsake book, but it's hard to know what should go in there until I've seen everything for the whole year. The pocket has filled up already. :)

I've thrown out most of the daily schoolwork, but that kind of stresses me out every time I do it because I think it's all cute, and I think I could scrapbook some of it later, somehow.  And I'm confused about what to do with the big stuff.

So anyway, I went looking online yesterday for ideas for organizing kids' schoolwork, and who should I find once again but the Pleasant Real Simple lady? And her solution is easy, easy, easy. Some of you probably already do this on your own.

So here is assignment #8:

Come up with a system to handle your children's incoming schoolwork if you don't already have one that is working for you.

(I know that not all of these mini-assignments will be applicable or interesting to everyone.)

Here she is. The Pleasant Real Simple Organizing Kids' Schoolwork Lady:

(I had a bin in the garage that would work, and made room for it in the cabinet under the kitchen counter where all my paperwork lands.)

saturday in vienna

On Saturday, we met up with Mollie and Andraz in the morning and headed out for some sightseeing.

As much as we had loved Rick Steves during the rest of the trip, it was so nice to have charming local tour guides. :) Here is our cute gang. The ample-looking woman on top of the statue behind them is Empress Maria Theresa, and she is facing the Hofburg, which is the Emperor's palace.

This gives me the big chance I've been looking for to start rambling about the Habsburgs! :D (Sometimes in English we spell it "Hapsburg," with a "p.") If you don't want to know about them, just skip the next few paragraphs until you get to the sentence that starts "for now" in bold hot pink writing. :)

You will hear a lot about the Habsburgs if you go to Vienna. I think they are very interesting. Complicated, but interesting. In fact, since returning from Vienna, I have been going through an "Obsessed with the Habsburgs" phase, and reading everything I can about them.

In a nutshell, the Habsburg Monarchy (a.k.a. "the Habsburg Empire") reigned in Austria for about 640 years, from about 1278 through World War I, when they had a messy demise. (The name of the empire changed a couple times to reflect changing territories and political conditions, and technically, the last member of the House of Habsburg was Maria Theresa, who married a Lorraine, so afterwards they styled themselves as "von Habsburg-Lothringen" -- "of Habsburg-Lorraine").

You may not know Maria Theresa, but you've probably heard of one of her kids: Maria Antonia, now more commonly known by her French name, Marie Antoinette. Maria Theresa was very skillful about marrying her kids into the right families, which often helped avoid wars and expand the Habsburg empire. Unfortunately for Marie Antoinette, however, she arrived in France just in time for the revolution, and managed to get her head chopped off in 1793 for treason during the Reign of Terror.

Maria Theresa let her favorite daughter, Maria Christina, marry for love, but all the other kids got married off for politics. Also randomly interesting is the fact that Maria Theresa's grandson, Emperor Franz II, was Napoleon's father-in-law.

Here's something to think about: Maria Theresa was the most powerful woman in Europe, and was either pregnant or with a newborn for most of her reign. (She had 16 kids.)

Her rival, the Prussian emperor, said "When at last the Habsburgs get a great man, it's a woman." :)

She was married to a dude named Franz I. I should mention that rather than "dude," his actual title was "Holy Roman Emperor." Maria Theresa was "Holy Roman Empress." Imagine going through life with those titles hanging over you. Every time you got mad at your husband, you'd think, "I'm arguing with the Holy Roman Emperor!" or, if you were really bent out of shape, "Wow, the Holy Roman Emperor is a big jerk!"

Franz I is not really important in the overall scheme of things, but Maria Theresa is one of two Habsburgs worth reading about. She came in at the end of the feudal system, and was a great social reformer. She provided six years of mandatory education for kids, gave free health care to everyone in her realm, and welcomed Mozart (a boy genius) into her court, among other things.

Her great-great-something (I don't know how many) grandsons, Emperor Franz Josef, is the other Habsburg to know about. He and his very in-vogue wife, Sisi, are featured prominently if you go to Vienna.

For now, here is the entrance to the Hofburg Palace. The Emperor only used the center arch to enter. :)

This is Heroes' Square at the Hofburg. You might recognize this balcony. It's where, in 1938, Hitler stood and announced that the German Reich was annexing Austria.

This statute of Archduke Charles, who was the first guy to beat Napoleon in a battle (which helped folks quit thinking Napoleon was invincible, and signaled the beginning of his end), is also in Heroes' Square. But what I want you to see is behind it. See the little house on top of a building?

Here's a closer view of it, which I took later in the day. Do you know what it is? It keeps the workers warm when they're restoring buildings during the winter. I think this was one of my favorite things.

Here is Mollie pointing to something in an interesting fashion, and here is Claire looking intrigued. (We staged this photo for posterity.)

Here's the domed roof of the Hofsburg Palace, so you can see more of the detail.

Hey, here's something really cool. (I mean, in addition to the horsies and the historic Cafe Griensteidl.) See where Bob and Mollie and Andraz are standing?

They're looking down at these Roman ruins, which are right smack there in the middle of Michaelerplatz, just outside the rear entrance to the Hofburg. (Claire is standing in front of that entrance at the photo at the top of this post.) The ruins were uncovered from 1990 to 1991.

As we walked, Mollie told us that one day she was strolling along and passed this courtyard.

Why hello, horsie! It turns out that the famous Spanish Riding School is located near the Hofburg, and this is where the Lipizzaner horses who perform at the Winter Riding School are stabled. I was excited to see this, because when I was younger and completely horse-crazy, I had a Lipizzaner calendar and Lipizzaner posters in my bedroom.

One thing I had really been hoping to do in Vienna was go to a café. I always feel cautious about saying "hey, I'd like to do this" when I'm in a group, because you never know what everyone else would prefer doing. But I just went for it and said "hey, I'd really like to go to a café." I'm so glad I did, because Andraz led us to the Café Central! (Trotsky, among others, brooded moodily whilst drinking coffee here.)

 

 

Here is Claire with her older twin, Mollie.

They bonded pretty quickly.

Hey, have you ever had roasted chestnuts before? I had not, but Mollie introduced me to them. I was surprised because they were soft, and very similar to potatoes. I loved them.

This backpack is ubiquitous in Vienna, because the government gives them out when you have a baby.

Hey, here's a daytime photo of Haas-Haus juxtaposed with Stephansdom.

Here's a lady in the process of parallel-parking a Smart Car between those two existing cars.

Claire also bonded quickly with Andraz, and at one point expressed disappointment to me that he was already married to Mollie. Who among us did not feel that same disappointment? Andraz is charming in every way. Bob said that even he would marry Andraz.

So now we're walking towards a restaurant for lunch, so I think I'll stop here for now and post more of our Saturday in Vienna photos later this week. Here's the Volkstheater:

And I'll leave you with a photo of a streetlamp I liked.

friday night in vienna

So after Salzburg, we went to Vienna on December 5th. Claire and I missed lunch on the train (long story) and I had promised her an early dinner at McDonald's when we got to Vienna, so that's where we headed after we checked in.

This was the chandelier at the McDonald's we went to:

I continued to be on the lookout for cute Smart Cars. :)

This is Mariahilfer Strasse, where our hotel was. It is the biggest and busiest shopping area in Vienna, and we got there on a Friday night.  The general concensus was that next time we'd like to stay on a less commercial street.  But our hotel was very nice -- modern and clean -- and we were within walking distance of some lovely sights.  So after fortifying ourselves with Big Macs, we went to look around a bit.

We walked down to the Opera. Here it is:

Do you remember the Sachertorte I ate on the Sound of Music tour when we were in Salzburg? (You don't? How could you forget it? It was delicious!)  This is the Sacher Hotel, who now own the trademark for the Original Sachertorte. (There was some controvery involving the pastry shop Demel, who now holds the trademark for "Demels Sachertorte," which differs from "Original Sachertorte." It's nice to see that intellectual property lawyers get to work with desserts sometimes, and not just software and bootleg DVDs.)  

Despite the fuzziness of this next image, this parked car remains the crown jewel in my collection of Smart Car photos:

 

We were all very tired, and really overwhelmed by the crowds and commercialism everywhere we walked that first night. I spent a lot of time in Vienna in the early 90s, and just didn't remember Stephansplatz and Kärtnerstrasse being so busy and so . . . neon. But there were some lovely Christmas decorations.

And Stephansdom itself is always exciting to see.  If you look at this next photo, you'll notice that while Stephansdom is very Gothic, you can see a rounded, very contemporary building at its left. This is the Haas-Haus, which I think somebody told me replaced a building or buildings leveled during WWII. Although it was built in the late 80s, so I might be off on that. (Dear Junior High Googlers Using This Blog Entry to Write Your Vienna Reports at the Very Last Minute: You might want to do some fact-checking elsewhere. Love, Suzanne.)

Stephansdom itself survived the bombs of World War II, but suffered fire damage at the end of the war.  Its original timbered rooftop burned up, and its big bell crashed to the ground.  It was rebuilt by 1952 because so many people donated money for its reconstruction. There are interesting photos inside showing the damage.

Here's Kärtnerstrasse, which kind of feels like Times Square or something. (Actually, I've never been to Times Square, so how would I know?)  As I look at the photo now, it looks pretty and exciting, but when I was walking around, I just wanted to find a nice quiet place to sleep.  Every trip has bits like this, where you know you should be appreciating something, but you're just too wiped out.

This caught my eye, though. Look at that light fixture through the big window.

 

And who doesn't love a store wrapped in a big bow?

Meanwhile, while all this walking around was going on, Bob was texting his cousin Mollie, who lives in Vienna with her husband, Andraz.  He was texting her because we were figuring out where to meet for dinner that night.  Mollie and Andraz both work for the United Nations, and met each other in a U.N. ski club.  Isn't that romantic? Mollie and Andraz were the highlight of our entire trip, and I will tell you more about them (and our fun day with them) in my next Vienna post. (Because we did all get a very good night's sleep that Friday night, and went on to have a great Saturday.)  And I will show you their very cute apartment.

In fact, our Mollie is here in suziebeezieland, and I'm hoping she'll tell us if I wrote anything wrong about Vienna in this post here. :D 

So that Friday evening, we met up with Mollie for dinner, and for now I will leave you with this shot of Miss Claire enjoying the end of her day in that restaurant. :)

better living in five minutes a day #7:clean out your kitchen junk drawer

Here is assignment #7:

Clean out your kitchen junk drawer. I did it and timed it, and it is doable in five minutes, which surprised me. :) It's not particularly fun, but you only have five minutes of unfun to survive.  For me, this five minutes of unfun will eliminate a good eight or nine times each week that I open this drawer and feel a mixture of stress and disgust. And my junk drawer was shameful.

a shocking view of "before"

If you wish, you may buy an official junk drawer organizer. I picked one up a few years ago at Target.  It came with stickers for customizing the spaces into basic junk drawer categories: buttons, loose change, keys, small tools, batteries, etc.  I used to keep swimming goggles in my junk drawer to wear when I chopped onions. For some reason, my junk drawer organizer did not provide a preprinted "swimming goggles" label. :)

As you can see, having an organizer hasn't kept me from making the junk drawer a messy dumping ground.  It gives me good boundaries to shoot for, though.  The Everything Organizer at The Container Store is similar to the one I have. 

You don't have to buy a special organizer.  You can use small bowls, icecube trays, egg cartons, or shallow cardboard boxes (such as the boxes tea bags or checks come in) to keep the little stuff from floating around.

Here are my humble suggestions for getting this project done in five minutes:

1.  Open your junk drawer, and pull the kitchen trash can over to it.  Also have a basket or bag nearby.

2.  Quickly take everything out of the drawer and plop it all on the counter, so that you can wipe the debris out of the bottom of the drawer.

3.  Working very quickly, sort everything into the following categories:

• Trash -- Throw trash straight into the trash can.

• Should be stored elsewhere -- Put these things into your basket or bag, and return them to their rightful homes when you're all done organizing the drawer. (Ideally, a junk drawer should only contain items you use and then return to the junk drawer when you're done. But for me, it's also a place I can throw stuff when I'm too busy or lazy to put it where it really goes. I have an official button jar in the craft room, for instance, and I have a bin in our hall closet that stores batteries. And the garage has a tool rack, but I avoid going into the garage whenever possible.)

• Ask hubby -- This includes the stuff you're afraid to throw out in case it's important, such as mysterious keys or intriguing pieces of hardware.

• Keep in junk drawer -- Place this stuff back into the drawer where you'd like it to go.  If you don't have organizers in the drawer, just try to keep it to one layer of junk so that you can find things.

Now you're done, except for returning stuff where it goes and asking your husband if the mystery key opens a hidden treasure chest full of gold and pirate plunder that will make you rich beyond your wildest dreams, or if it's just a key to the back door of the house you lived in five houses ago. (When it comes to keys, there is a 99 percent chance he will also say "I have no idea what that is for." The only way to guarantee that it is useful and needed is to throw it away.)

"return where they belong" items that were in my junk drawer

"after"

It's not beautiful, but it's organized, and I feel calm when I open it. Light tools I use indoors frequently are here, as well as spare change, buttons, furniture felt pads, velcro hangers, keys, the battery charger, refills for my Glade Plug-Ins, some little pieces of plastic I had to ask Bob about (they're dishwasher replacement parts), etc. (The word "etcetera" was invented to describe the contents of junk drawers.)

I just now Googled "organizing junk drawers" in the hopes of finding some pretty, professional photographs of clean junk drawers to show you here at the end for motivation. (I'm always motivated by pretty pictures.) Martha Stewart doesn't believe in junk drawers, apparently. (I figured as much.) But I did find this nifty little video over at Real Simple. She says pretty much exactly what I've just been typing (what else is there to say, really, about cleaning out junk drawers?), but it's a professional operation over there at Real Simple, so it looks very pretty. :) Here is the Pleasant Junk Drawer Organizing Real Simple Woman:

That's all for today. :)

better living in five minutes a day #6: shine your kitchen sink

My camera battery is recharging, so today I'm cheating and using an older photo of my kitchen sink. But you get the idea. :)

If you've been doing these assignments, so far we have gotten rid of the dead plants in our house, taken a bag to Goodwill, figured out a way to simplify the daily bedmaking, cut back on the inflow of junk mail, and tidied up the bedroom nightstand. The idea with all of these assignments is to fix small things that bug on a daily basis, so we're not walking around our houses thinking "I should do something about that. I should do something about that. I should do something about that." :)

Here is assignment #6:

Shine your kitchen sink.  I don't do FlyLady (I tried a few years ago but it stressed me out), but she has a good system for shining her kitchen sink.  It takes more than five minutes because you have to let it sit for an hour, but the part where you are, yourself, expending energy only takes about five minutes. :)  So without further delay, here is FlyLady's Shiny Sink 101. (You really only need to read steps one through eight.)

a little questionnaire for you

1.  If you could go anywhere on vacation this spring, where would you like to go?

2.  If you could study with a great chef, a great gardener, or a great artist, which would you choose?

3.  What kinds of posts would you like to see more of or less of in suziebeezieland?

4.  How has the economic recession affected your family?

5.  What kind of purse or bag do you carry on a daily basis? Are you happy with it?

better living in five minutes a day #5: clean up your nightstand

before

Welcome back to our 15-part series "Better Living in Five Minutes a Day," with your host, Suzanne "I believe I have spilled coffee on everything I own" B.

Here is assignment #5:

Clean up your nightstand. Mine is small and pretty spartan to begin with, but it needed five minutes of attention. I took everything off it and dusted it. I dusted underneath it, too, and found a dust bunny so big it looked like we had another dog!  I dusted my lamp, and the lampshade, and the lightbulb.  (Swiffer cloths work well on lampshades. So does the soft brush attachment on a vacuum cleaner.)  I added a bowl to corral my books in, and some flowers just for pretty, because I always see nightstands in magazines with flowers on them and like it. :D  I also wiped the spilled coffee off the wall behind it. (Gross!)

after

If you have a lot going on on your nightstand, you could add little bowls or baskets or dishes to coral things like jewelry, medicine, or Kleenex packets.  If your reading light isn't good, this is a good time to change the lightbulb, too.  Maybe put any books and magazines you're not currently reading elsewhere.

I got an email that cracked me up, because somebody said these assignments would be more fun if they involved shopping. :D  If you want to go shopping for your nightstand, you could buy it a cute clock or a cute coaster for your morning coffee.

But I want the spirit of these assignments to remain: they're fast, easy, and free. :)

That's it for today!

the chocolate fountain

My nephew turned eight last week.  This is unfathomable but true.  Also unfathomable but true is the fact that he has grown three inches since September.

Sunday we celebrated age eight at his house with a birthday party. The girls dressed up in their finery.

We had make-your-own-pizzas. And a chocolate fondue fountain! Which is every bit as gooey and fun as it sounds.

There were bananas, pineapple, strawberries, chocolatey cookies, salty pretzels, cheesecake bites, and marshmallows to dip into it.

Afterwards, there was some basketball, and some sneaking back inside for more marshmallows.

Busted!

this & that

I can't remember the last time I have had such busy weeks. I'm sorry for the lack of photo-filled posts lately. I'll work on that. I'm just running around like a crazy woman.

Next year, I need to make January "Doctor Month" and make February "Dental Month," because I have over-scheduled trying to do both, and I have honestly spent HOURS the past couple weeks sitting in waiting rooms.

I was shocked and dismayed (but I got over it) to have my first three (THREE!!!) cavities ever, and then I needed a deep cleaning which they do in two parts. And I had to have a little surgery on one tooth and its gum above it.  (The tooth and the gum both had mysterious notches in them. They've been there as long as I can remember. My dentist, who is twelve years old, asked if I poke that area with my finger. I don't. But could you poke a dent into your tooth? Really? I wonder if I poke my tooth at night when I'm asleep? That would be a really weird habit.)

So this morning was the second half of the cleaning and the little tooth surgery.  My appointment was at 10.  They got me into a room at 11, numbed me up at 11:30, and started working on me at 12.  I finished Agatha Raisin in The Quiche of Death while I waited. (I wanted something that would distract me from worrying about needles.)

I am still alive, so I'm thinking it's all good.

Yesterday I spent some time at a lab which had 27 people in the waiting room. I waited an hour (I started Agatha Raisin in The Quiche of Death) and then found out my doctor hadn't had it okayed with my insurance company, so that appointment is rescheduled for next Tuesday.

It's just been kind of like that lately.  But not so bad with a fun book to read, really.

I've been doing lots of fun stuff, too! My nephew turned eight last week (how can that be?) and Claire has started GymnastiKids (with Grace) at school on Wednesday afternoons.  Her class also had a birthday party for the teachers (did I tell you I'm the party room mom for kindergarten this year?) and that turned out fine.  I really appreciate the teacher and her instructional aides.

I got the very fun job of coming up with the table decorations for our school's silent auction this year,  which will be in April. I had a little meeting about that yesterday morning to see if my idea was okay, and it was! (See photo above. Imagine it on a very sunny yellow tablecloth.)

I should tell you about the little mini chalkboard. That's a little picture frame/easel combo that comes from Michael's and costs $3 and some cents. (If you are local to me, please don't go buy one, because I have to buy twenty more. Ha ha.) 

The "glass" in the frame is just plastic or Plexiglas or whatever that stuff is, so I slid it out (it comes out the bottom of the frame) and painted it with chalkboard paint. (It took three coats . . . about ten seconds per coat, with maybe 15 minutes dry time in between each coat.) Then I wrote on it with a chalk ink marker. I was thinking it would be cute to make one of these for home that said "Happy Birthday!" with a heart on it, and set it out when somebody has a birthday.

My old printer that eats cardstock is no more. (Yay!) It has been replaced with a broken Epson Artisan 700.  I spent the morning (before the dentist appointment) on the phone with Epson customer service in India. (I always want to make friends with those guys because it would be so nice to have a friend in India, and I want to ask them questions and find out where they live and what they do, and how they like their jobs, etc? I really always want to just chat, but I think the Epson powers-that-be would probably frown upon that.)

Epson is sending me a brand new Artisan 700 to replace the other brand-new-yet-broken Artisan 700 that arrived yesterday. (I was on step two of setup . . . plug it in and turn on the power . . . and I got an error message that said "error. turn off." or something like that.  It also made an alarming grinding sound.)

Claire's best friend from her class is coming over tomorrow for a playdate, and Claire is so excited she can hardly breathe. I'm hoping she made it through school today without just exploding from excitement.

Gracie (my niece) sewed Claire a blanket for her hamster stuffed animal, whom Santa brought from Germany. Claire named the hamster "Liesl."  :)

The blanket is squishy, like an exercise mat for hamsters. (You know. Hamster Pilates and Hamster Yoga.) It is the cutest thing ever. Look.

better living in five minutes a day #4:cut back on junk mail

Junk mail takes up space on my kitchen counter before it takes up space in my trashcan. It is obsolete, because the companies I'm really interested in have websites, and I will go find them myself.  It uses up trees. And the catalogs make me think I need stuff that I don't need at all.

If you care to join me on assignment #4, it is as follows:

Take five minutes today to cut back on the amount of junk mail you receive. The United States does not currently have a comprehensive Do Not Mail Registry, but Do Not Mail has a handy opt-out tool that will reduce the amount of junk mail you do receive.  You can fill out the form in a few seconds, and then quickly print out the personalized letters to mail.  This will cost you 17 stamps and envelopes.

If you live in Canada, visit the Red Dot Campaign and fill out the Canadian Marketing Association's Do Not Contact Service.

'tis a gift to be simple, 'tis a gift to be free

better living in five minutes a day #3:simplify the bedmaking

My mom and sister are really good about making their beds every single day. And their beds are gorgeous. Me, I'm not so good. :) But I've been much better since I made it all simpler.

(I'm not trying to patronize anybody with these little assignments. I'm just sharing some things I have trouble with myself, and hoping some of you will be encouraged.) (All the beds in today's post are pictures torn out of magazines.)

Here is assignment #3:

Take five minutes to walk around your house and think of ways you might simplify the bedmaking in your house.  An unmade bed can irritate you every single time you see it throughout the day, and having a bed that is difficult to make raises the chances that you won't make the bed every day.

Here are a few ideas to make you more prone to tackle this daily chore.  If you don't have any problems with the bedmaking, then you're way ahead of things! :)

A family friend of ours has seven kids, and she really has some good, smart housekeeping habits.  To make it easier for her kids to make their own beds, she has removed the top sheet and blankets, and replaced them all (European style!) with washable comforters. Each morning the kids simply smooth out the bottom sheet, fluff their pillow, and fold the comforter in half at the bottom of the bed. This seems like an especially good idea if you have bunkbeds, or a bed against a wall.

If your bedroom allows it, don't have beds against walls. They're really hard to make when they're pushed against a wall. These beds are adorable, for instance, but imagine how hard it must be to tuck that comforter down on the wall side. These twin beds are still possible to lean over and make, but double beds are really tricky when against a wall. When Claire's bed was against the wall, I think I only made it twice a week.

If you like the look of beds with tons of fluffy pillows all over, but then aren't making the bed because it's too complicated, consider this: a made bed without all those pillows looks nicer than an unmade bed with all those pillows. Think about getting rid of all the pillows you don't actually sleep on.  (If your style is modern or contemporary, you've probably already done away with the excess pillowing.)

I admit that I iron my pillowcases (my friends mock me) because I don't use shams or decorative pillows on top of them. This doesn't sound like I'm simplifying, but actually it only takes me three minutes a week to iron eight pillowcases (four on our bed and four on Claire's), and no time at all arranging superfluous pillows every day and night.  I iron them because I like the bed to be simple, but not all wrinkled. :) 

Here's an example of cute yet very labor-intensive pillowing.

If you can't stand to get rid of decorative pillows, maybe just have one, like this cute bed:

Make your bed as soon as you get out of it in the morning. It will take three minutes (seriously . . . time yourself) if you have streamlined things, and then it's done.  If someone is still in the bed when you're ready to make it, just roll him onto the floor. :D

Think about buying good sheets, or asking for them for Christmas or a birthday some year.  Good-quality cotton sheets smooth out quicker and easier than thinner versions. We have one set of sheets on our bed that we bought six years ago from Lands' End. These are the only sheets we have used in six years.  (I bought some new Cath Kidston pillowcases in 2006, because I thought they were cute. But I didn't need them, I just wanted them . . . the old ones were still fine.)  I estimate they've been washed and dried about 312 times, and they're still going strong.  We just got the 270-count percale sheets, so they weren't even top-of-the-line or anything.

If you aren't making your bed because you hate tucking in the sheets on the side, then quit doing that. :D Get a quilt, coverlet, or bedspread that goes to the floor, and leave the sides of the sheets and blankets underneath untucked. The bedspread will cover it up.

If your style is more elegant or formal, you probably won't like this next photo, but look! The blanket is serving as a coverlet, and isn't even tucked in. It's kind of cute. :)

I really like the "camp" or "dormitory" style bed, where you each have two pillows stacked on top of each other, and everything is smooth and uncluttered. But then you can make it softer and sweeter by using soft, sweet prints. Look at this bed, for instance:

Here's another example of that two-stacked-pillows style. But this one takes time to make because everything is tucked in:

I prefer this (it does have one little decorative pillow), because there is that quilt hanging down, covering a multitude of tucking-in errors. :D

This bed looks complicated to make because it's against a wall, and the blanket setup takes some fiddling with.  But again with the cute stacked pillows, this time with prints stacked opposite each other for interest.

I always thinks cats are beds are also very nicely decorative. :D

These beds are too fussy to make even though they appear simple, because they're against the wall on one side, and there is some pillow propping. Also, think how tricky it must be to fold those blankets at the end of each bed with those benches in the way!  But look at the bedspreads . . . they cover the whole bed, go down to the floor, and go under the pillows. This is a good idea.

Same problem here. Super cute, but think about making it. You wouldn't, and then it wouldn't be so super cute.

And below, again, the wall problem. But these beds would be quick to make if arranged away from the walls . . . again, the quilt on top is thick (covers lumpy bedmaking!) and goes under the pillows to cover the top of the bed.

White coverlet all the way up to the top again, and white stacked pillows. Easy-peasy, and all white looks streamlined and airy even if there are lumps and imperfections in your bedmaking.

Look! This bed doesn't even appear to be made all the way. (It's professionally rumpled by a photo stylist, but still.)  If all else fails, just get all white sheets, pull them up a bit when you get out of bed, and pretend you're a French artist living in an atelier who scorns bedmaking and must go create important art. :D

easiest fajitas ever

My mom told me about using the seasoned steak strips available at Costco (they come in a big bag, refrigerated but not frozen, with two separate sealed bags of steak strips inside) in fajitas, and they are DELICIOUS. I can't remember who makes them, but I'll let you know when I get some more. 

Although I have to tell you that when I was at Costco, I also couldn't remember who made them. So my sister and I called my mom, and she couldn't remember who made them. So we just looked for them, and found them. So you can, too. Seasoned steak strips. Big bag.

(I've also seen Tyson seasoned steak strips at regular grocery stores. I don't know what they taste like, but you could try them.)  If you also use frozen peppers, you can make fajitas with almost no prep.

This is a good recipe to memorize in case you're at the grocery store and can't think of anything else to make. :)

• bag of seasoned steak strips
• bag of frozen red, yellow, and green bell peppers
• one yellow onion, sliced (you want big circles, not chopped squares)
• tortillas (I use Mission flour tortillas, fajita size)
• sour cream

Cook the seasoned steak strips in a bit of cooking oil according to the package directions. (I think it's for six minutes.) Remove the meat and cook the peppers and onion together in a bit of oil until soft.  (I overcooked them this time because people were in my kitchen talking to me and I can't multitask, but they were still good.) Serve with warm flour tortillas and sour cream.

 

My family gobbles this right up. :)