Awesome Easter Craft!

I wanted to quickly post a favorite activity that our family does at Easter time. It's really easy, but you need a collection of 100% silk ties. So it might be too late for this year, unless your husband has a bunch of old ties sitting around, or you're off to the thrift store sometime today. My kiddos are harassing me for breakfast, so I'll just give you the link, and a pic of the ones we did last year. Enjoy! By the way, this is from a cooking website that I LOVE, and every single thing I've made from there has been phenomenal. So spend some time perusing!

LINK to Silk-Dyed Easter Eggs Tutorial

Sixth Zone

For the sixth and final zone, we will be in our garages and yards. This is my LEAST FAVORITE area to clean and organize, so keep your fingers crossed for me that I'll actually be able to get something done!

Yard/Garage
CLEAN
• Dust front entryway
• Sweep front porch
• Shake out/sweep front and back mats
• Sweep back patio
• Sweep garage
• Pull weeds
• Trim hedges/bushes/trees
• Mow lawn
• Clean out car
• Clean kids’ toys
• Clean patio furniture

DECLUTTER
• Organize shed
• Put away stuff on garage floor
• List things on Craigslist
• Take stuff to Goodwill
• Go through boxes and shelves in garage

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

I wanted to share an awesome recipe I came across and tried tonight. The Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars are delicious! Also, they are super easy, require no baking, and can be pulled together with ingredients you always have on hand. You just need butter, peanut butter, chocolate chips, graham crackers, and powdered sugar! I took these to a baby shower tonight and they were a big hit. They taste basically like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. Yum!

The only change I made (taken from the comments on Allrecipes) was to add a heaping spoonful of both shortening and peanut butter while melting the chocolate, so that the chocolate doesn't crack so much when you're cutting and serving it. It worked well, so I would definitely recommend making that change.

Link: CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER BARS

PS: This ain't health food. But enjoy. :)

And one more thing: Why didn't anyone tell me I still had a Happy New Year background on here? That's like letting me walk around with baby spit-up in my hair!

Sandwich Skewers

I wanted to post a meal idea that has worked really well for my picky 2-year-old. I put out a platter with chunks of cheese, bread, and deli meat, and give my kids skewers (carefully supervised, LOL). Then they can build their own sandwich skewers for lunch! It doesn't sound real sneaky, but for some reason my 2-year-old will eat TONS of deli meat this way, whereas if I put it on a sandwich he wouldn't touch it. Sometimes changing it up a little might just be the way to go!

Cushion Cleaning

I've happened upon a strategy that's working great for getting my kids to pick up their stuff at the end of the day. We try to clean as we go, but invariably, the day ends with odds and ends scattered around the front room. A simple, "Clean up your stuff in here!" has not worked as well as I would like.

What I've been doing is assigning each person a couch cushion, and taking a few minutes to put everything on their cushion. Then my kids (ages 4 and 2) come in and I just tell them to clear off their cushion. I know that for every thing I've put on that cusion, they know where it goes and can reach its spot. Things that go up high, or are theirs but they may not know where to put it, go on my cushion.

This is a little more work up-front, since I technically have to pick up everything in the room first, but the cleaning part goes WAY more smoothly than having them find what's theirs in the room and put it away. I think the important part is for them to learn to take responsibility for their stuff and put it away. Also, embarrassingly, I often realize that way more of the mess is mine! Oops!

But overall, it has been working great! They know where to find their stuff, and they know where to put it away. We're definitely going to keep going with this system.

Also, just wanted to note that posts are going to be pretty scarce the next few weeks. I'm finishing up a huge portfolio for my credential, completing my Master's, and planning a move with my three young kids. So, put me on a blog roll so you don't miss anything, and I'll try to pop in here and there to post the good ideas rattling around in my head!

Fifth Zone!

This week and next week we are cleaning our bathrooms and laundry rooms!

Bathrooms/Laundry Room
CLEAN
• Wash rugs
• Scrub floor
• Clean tub toys
• Scrub out shower
• Scrub in and around toilets
• Wipe down scale, plunger, toilet bowl cleaner
• Wash walls, doors, doorframes, and baseboards
• Clean air vents
• Wipe down washer and dryer
• Clean out lint trap in dryer
• Wash/replace shower curtain
• Wipe down washer and dryer
• Dust around sides and back of washer and dryer
• Clean inside of washer

DECLUTTER
• Organize drawers
• Organize under sinks
• Organize medicine cabinet
• Throw out old makeup
• Throw out any empty bottles by sinks or showers
• Go through shelves in laundry room
• Throw out any trash in laundry room
• Check detergent, fabric softener, stain remover

Fourth Zone!

Master Bedroom and Office!


CLEAN
• Wash windows
• Wash walls, doors, doorframes, and baseboards
• Dust/polish furniture
• Dust walls, knick-knacks, and ceiling
• Flip mattress
• Wash mattress pad and dust ruffle
• Straighten dresser drawers
• Clean under bed
• Clean air vents
• Straighten shelves and drawers in closet
• Wipe down/polish desk
• Put papers into piles
• Sharpen pencils
• Straighten drawers/shelves
• Dust computer & printer


DECLUTTER
• Donate old/unworn clothes & shoes
• Organize nightstands
• Throw out broken pens/pencils
• Make sure paperwork system is working
• Check paper, printer cartridges, stamps, and envelopes

Third Zone!

The next two weeks we'll be working on our Kids' Rooms and Playrooms!

Kids Rooms/Playroom
CLEAN
• Straighten drawers and shelves
• Dust
• Wash rugs
• Wash curtains
• Wash windows
• Clean air vents
• Clean under beds
• Wash walls, doors, doorframes, and baseboards
• Dust ceiling fans
• Vacuum
• Sanitize toys

DECLUTTER
• Remove outgrown clothes
• Donate or store unused toys
• Throw out any toys that are broken or missing parts
• Check clothes in next size
• Go through artwork

Game Board Storage

Okay, I admit I've been a slacker in the organization department lately. But I saw a tutorial last night that left me totally excited, and I thought I'd share.

You make a shadow box type frame for your game board, and attach the pieces to the back. Part handyman project, part organization! Can you even get more fabulous than that?




TUTORIAL HERE

Product Review

Tonight I wanted to tell you guys about a great giveaway opportunity through MOLLY'S CLOTHING. This business is run by a friend of mine, and she's giving away some great prizes in exchange for becoming a fan on Facebook, putting a button on your blog, etc.

Molly's Clothing sells really cute clothing, but my personal favorites are their cami tops. They're thick enough that you can wear them as a shirt, or thin enough that you can wear them under things. My favorite is the Molly's Mini, which hits just under your braline, so if you're wearing it under a dress, it doesn't ride up or bunch under your dress. Uh, obviously this wouldn't be a style you'd wear on its own though. ;)


The other awesome thing is that they have little girls' sizes. You know when you have the perfect dress or cardigan for your daughter, and you're searching everywhere for a plain white shirt to go under it? I have two of these for my daughter, the white and the pink, and she loves to wear them under things to make them more modest, or by themselves. If I can find a picture of my daughter wearing one, I'll come back and post it. I just noticed when I grabbed this picture off their website that these are on sale right now. Uh oh... What other colors do I need?


So go check them out! And while you're at it, join the mailing list to be entered to win some cool stuff!

Second Zone!

Here's the zone for this week and next week - the Kitchen and Dining Room! Deep clean for 20 minutes a day the first week, and declutter for 20 minutes a day next week!

Kitchen/Dining Room
CLEAN
• Empty refrigerator and clean inside and out
• Clean stovetop
• Clean oven
• Hands-and-knees mopping
• Wipe down front of cupboards
• Wipe shelves in cupboards and pantry
• Move stuff on counters and deep-clean countertops
• Clean dishwasher, microwave, toaster oven
• Wash windows
• Wash walls, doors, doorframes, and baseboards
• Clean filters and hood on stove
• Clean light fixtures
• Clean air vents
• Dust
• Wash/sanitize trash cans
• Wash/iron curtains
• Wipe down/polish dining table and chairs


DECLUTTER
• Clean under sink
• Clean out pantry
• Go through dishes
• Go through small appliances, donate ones that are unused
• Go through kitchen gadgets

"The best chicken nuggets in town!"

A few nights ago we tried this recipe for Baked Chicken Nuggets from allrecipes.com. I had tried one previously that was so nasty that we had to throw them away. :( But these were delicious.

I've posted before about my very picky 2-year-old. I'll admit that he has never eaten chicken (other than at a fast-food restaurant), but he gobbled these up! My daughter told me they were "The best chicken nuggets in town!" Give them a try, they were tasty!

Baked Chicken Nuggets

Ingredients
3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon dried basil
1/2 cup butter, melted
Directions
1.Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2.Cut chicken breasts into 1 1/2 inch size pieces. In a medium bowl, mix together the bread crumbs, cheese, salt, thyme and basil. Mix well. Put melted butter/margarine in a bowl or dish for dipping.
3.Dip chicken pieces into the melted butter/margarine first, then coat with the breadcrumb mixture. Place well coated chicken pieces on a lightly greased cookie sheet in a single layer, and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes.

*Notes: I also added a teaspoon of garlic powder. Next time I'll make less of the bread crumb mixutre, because I had TONS left over.

First Zone!

Okay, the first zone we are going to tackle is the Living Room/Hall. Work for about twenty minutes a day. Depending on your house and your cleaning situation, it could take much longer than this to do everything on the list, but that's not the point. Just pick what needs to be done the most and work for 20 minutes a day. We'll be back to this zone later! I'm doing 5 days on deep cleaning this first week, and 5 days next week on decluttering.

Living Room /Hall
CLEAN
• Wipe down blinds
• Dust
• Clean air vents
• Wipe down walls, doors, doorframes, baseboards
• Wash windows
• Straighten bookcases
• Clean out end tables
• Wipe down/polish end tables and coffee tables
• Clean under couches
• Flip and vacuum couch cushions, clean under cushions
• Clean fireplace
• Organize any toys
• Wash rugs
• Spot-clean carpet
• Clean mirrors and picture frames

DECLUTTER
• Purge old magazines
• Go through videos and DVDs
• Evaluate toys in living room – are they being played with enough to warrant taking up room in the main living space?
• Organize front hall closet
• Print new pictures for wall/change out pictures

Setting Cleaning and Organizing Goals

So is anyone else setting goals for cleaning and organization this year? I'm going to shift my routine just a little bit. My routine basically works, it's just a matter of motivation. Here are the sites that motivated my routine this year:

Flylady
Just Mommies Home Organization Plan

Daily, I'll stay basically the same. One load of laundry per day, a paperwork job, dishes, general pick-up and maintenance, and sweeping. Then I'll also be adding one light cleaning job per day (vacuuming, bathrooms, etc.). Then each two-week period I'll focus on one zone of the house. The first week I'll do deep-cleaning, and the second week I'll do decluttering.

I'm starting on this tomorrow, and I'll post my list to work from for the first area!

Is anyone else starting a new routine?

Master List of Dinners

Hi everyone! I need your help! I am making a Master List of dinners to make my menu planning easier. I am going to put it in a spreadsheet so that I can sort them by categories such as kid-friendly, freezable, crock pot, etc.

Can you give me your top 5-10 meals that your family eats on a regular basis? I don't want to forget anything, and I'd love some new ideas as well!

If anyone wants a copy of the finished list, just e-mail simplycleanliving@gmail.com and I'll send you one when I'm done.

Thanks for your help!

Decluttering Challenge, Day 6!

Last day! Today we are in the garage and yard! At my house, these are my biggest problem areas. For sure I will not even come close to finishing all that I have to do in here today, but hopefully I can get a good start!

• Organize shed
• Put away stuff on garage floor
• List things on Craigslist
• Take stuff to Goodwill
• Go through boxes and shelves in garage

Decluttering Challenge, Day 5!

Today we are in our bathrooms and laundry room! Here's the list!

• Organize drawers
• Organize under sinks
• Organize medicine cabinet
• Throw out old makeup
• Throw out any empty bottles by sinks or showers
• Go through shelves in laundry room
• Throw out any trash in laundry room
• Check detergent, fabric softener, stain remover