To Do List for the Week

Since The Monkey has been better at playing on her own lately, I've discovered that I can get a few things done. Ok, maybe not finished completely but started.

Yesterday I organized my closet a little bit. I pushed my old work clothes to the back, pulled stuff off of hangers that aren't supposed to be there (like my Gopher sweatpants! No wonder I couldn't find them for a year!!!), pulled out the hangers from the drycleaners that I hate and made some room for some new stuff.

I'm still at a loss for what to do with some things - like my Gopher shirts, sweatshirts, etc... I don't wear some of that stuff except for once a year so I need some sort of a catch all bin to toss it into and put it in the back of the closet when I need it. 

At some point today, tomorrow or Friday afternoon I need to go through my dresser and pull out stuff to donate. I have lots of things I don't wear much or forgot to switch out when it started to get cold. I've lost some weight and certain jeans, shorts, pants don't fit anymore that I need to get rid of.

And yesterday I found a pair of pants with a hole in the crotch. I seriously kept them. Why???? WHY??? 

Oy, I need to learn to let go of old clothes...

Kitchen Organization

Blerg. My kitchen is SOOOOO disorganized.

I've got first world problems. Not enough storage. Not enough drawers. Not enough cupboards. Just not enough of anything to store all my kitchen crap.

I'm showing you pictures of the WORST day.

And I mean the WORST day.

So judge all you want to....

 Notice the crockpot, paint, goldfish, papers, pens, etc...

The dog, goldfish crackers, full cupboards under the counter....

Dinner on the stove, the counter is too tiny for my awesome cutting board...

The markers on the counter... Flour isn't in the right spot...

Cereal and snacks on top of the fridge...

And our recycling problem. Our kitchen is too small for built in recycling bins so it goes in front of our side door. Which we never use anyway because it's just a pain in the ass. No room for shoes!!

Have I mentioned how short I am? I have to stand on my tip toes to get pots and pans back onto the pot rack. I wish it were lower but it looks like the shelf isn't wide enough to lower so I'm just going to have to deal with it.

In any case, these pictures were taken a few weeks ago and we've already made improvements, which I'll have to update you.

Bimmer Man will be putting a shelf above the kitchen sink (I'm going to rip out the blinds because we don't close them anyway, so what's the point of having them if we don't use them???), where I'll have a winter herb garden - basil, sage, I'll try growing oregano and maybe a few others. I'll see how many pots I can fit on an 8 inch wide shelf.

I bought a cart from Ikea - I put that where the garbage can is, moved the garbage over, pulled the organic waste out of the entry and put that next to the garbage can so it's easier to drop organic waste into the bin when I'm cooking. On the cart I pulled out the most used items from under the counter - mixing bowls, lids, etc... and then I also put on it kitchen cloths, dish cloths, garbage bags, organic waste bags, storage bags and then I think I can also fit the aluminum foil on it.

Bimmer Man is also going to run lighting on the inside of the lower cabinets so I can push The Beast (my mixer) back into the cupboard and we don't have to pull everything out to look for just one thing.

In the next few weeks I'm going to go through every single kitchen item and PURGE. I mean really PURGE. Donate what I don't use or I've used only once. My goal is to have an organized kitchen by Spring so when our CSA starts, I'm not wasting food because I'm too lazy to look for a kitchen gadget to cook.

Bye-bye clutter. Hello, happy McTatty!

Wordless Wednesday

Toddler Activity - Family Book

I have a HUGE family. I mean HUGE. There's about 25 of us???? Maybe more, maybe less. I don't keep track anymore.

But since we don't see everyone all the time, I want The Monkey to know her family. So I compiled pictures of everyone, cut them down to 4x4, glued them to 5x8 cardstock, hole punched the top, added a book ring, labeled everyone (just first names and their family "title").

I was going to laminate them but I didn't have a laminator at the time. Now I do. So I'm thinking I might laminate them...

Why I Don't Baby Proof

There's no point to it.

At least not that I can see.

I've been in other parents homes where EVERYTHING is baby proofed and it's fine.

However, if I did that in my home and then brought The Monkey to a home where nothing was baby proofed all I would be doing was saying, "Non, ce n'est pas pour toi!" Or the english translation - No, that is not for you!

So, I don't baby proof. I don't do it because I want her to learn how to behave not only at home, but also in public.

We have gates because she's not great at going DOWN stairs by herself (but the gates aren't up, they're just sitting by the staircases).

Oh, and I like saying NO.

I think it's great for children to hear. No, you can't do that. No, you can't do this. Well, actually in french it's "No, ce n'est pas permis!" which is "no, that is not allowed!" It teaches boundaries, limitations, and also - expectations.

But in other words, it also means that she waits until I'm not looking and grabs something she shouldn't have - like my crochet hooks, scissors, pens, pencils, glue, touches lamps, glass vases, keyboards, etc... And how do I deal with that?

I ask her for them. And she gives them to me. Instead of freaking out over scissors and objects she shouldn't have, I have her hand them to me like it's her job and guess what, she does it. Phew. That took a few days of practice and quite a few sticky crochet hooks but we've got it down. And now instead of grabbing stuff she points and says either MAMA or DADA which means she knows objects belong to someone else besides her.

But I've lost two kitchen drawers (out of 4 drawers total!) to things that she can play with and grab while I'm cooking. There's still a battle going with a third drawer that has items like the wine corker, pizza cutters, cookie cutters and a few other objects she shouldn't be touching. I WILL WIN. I WILL PREVAIL AND KEEP MY DRAWER.

Blerg. It's a battle between and almost-two-year-old vs. the adults.

But it's parenthood. It's teaching, it's learning (for me too!), it's about shaping behavior.

And I feel like this is really applying my dog-training skills to children (like teaching Rusty to LEAVE IT).

Oy.

Parenthood.

I WILL WIN.

Puppets!!

In The Monkey's ECFE class, our instructor recommends all toys that do not limit creativity - so anything where kids can be creative and explore their imaginations. Art projects, blocks, Legos, music toys, books, a box of recycling, etc... Less of the toys that limit imaginations like a princess Wheelie set or a Princess set of dolls. We do puppets in class and The Monkey really enjoys them (plus there's a song to sing with them and she LOVES music and singing, did I mention that she jams along to Tom Petty, Hugo, and Britney???).

The puppets below were like $12 from Amazon - I think they're sold by the Oriental Trading Company though. Cheap, good old, imaginary fun. I did buy one expensive one from Lake Shore Learning (it was $12) but it's large and fits my hands better than the Oriental Trading Company ones.

The general idea: play pretend with puppets, make up stupid songs, make the same animal noises over and over and over and over again to learn different animals (which I do in French and English)

Contact Paper Window Art

Making art is something that most toddlers like to do. After perusing Pinterest for awhile I found a few blogs with toddlers and the kids really enjoyed contact paper.

The Monkey really only liked it for a little bit - but I didn't have any tissue paper squares (which are coming in the mail today!) so I had to modify it a bit and use pom poms. Did The Monkey like the pom poms? Well, let's just say that they ended up all over the floor and NOT on the contact paper. 5 minutes and she was done. SO we will try this again with the tissue paper squares later today. 

The general idea: tape contact paper to a window. Give the kid something that sticks really well and enjoy the peace and quiet for a bit. 

Also, I just realized that from the pom pom picture below - my hands are getting to get wrinkly. I need to buy some really good hand moisturizer.

Living Room Rug. I Need A New One

Our living room rug is junk.

Ok, it's really two $19.99 rugs from Ikea put together. One corner has started rolling up, which means that I trip, The Monkey trips, the dog lays on it which makes it worse. Oh yeah, and it gathers dog fur like mad. I really hate it. Or them. 

At this point I just can't justify spending $2000 on this rug from Crate & Barrel:

So instead I may have to settle for this rug from Pier 1:

Meh, I don't know... I've been debating rugs for so long. I'm drawn to grays and blues but warm tones and browns work better. 

Plus we'll also be walking on it with dirty feet and grinding Goldfish crackers into it.

I need it to hold up for at least 10 years. 

Make a Car Out of a Box

Super easy idea for something to do with a toddler -

Grab an Amazon box, get some crayons and get busy. Don't forget to make a hole for a key so your toddler can "turn it on" because really, what's a car without a key???

Menu Planning Monday

Blerg. It's so hard to do menu planning.

But it's inevitable, if I don't do it we end up eating frozen pizza 3 out of 4 times... SO... I HAVE TO MENU PLAN.

Part of the problem as a stay-at-home mom is that I have to plan for two meals per day (breakfast is easy!). And I like to cook so I cook. I'm only really good at planning out meals 4-5 days in advance. I change my mind, I realize that veggies go bad, Simone is having an off day and I just can't cook. It happens. Life happens. Whatevs...

This week is easy -

Monday:
Lunch: Leftover lasagna from last night
Dinner: Calzones - with stuff from the fridge (pizza dough, pasta sauce, mozzarella), and steamed cauliflower

Tuesday:
Lunch: leftover calzones OR spinach tortellini
Dinner: Crockpot teriyaki chicken with potatoes & carrots

Wednesday:
Lunch: leftover chicken
Dinner: T-bone steaks with baked potatoes and frozen veggies

Thursday:
Lunch: Mac & cheese with frozen veggies
Dinner: Pot stickers & fried rice