29 Day Organizing Challenge Coming Soon!
For those that aren’t following me on Facebook, you might have missed my exciting announcement about my upcoming 29 Day Organizing Challenge taking place in February!! It’s going to be awesome and I’m super excited about all the awesome sponsors that are coming on board to provide AMAZING prizes for the winners (to be announced soon!). Time to start thinking about which room you’d like to work on. More in depth details can be found on the Challenge tab at the top of my site. Check it out!!
You don’t want to miss this!!
Vinyl Fridge Menu Planner On Sale Now!
Last year I did a giveaway for an awesome fridge menu planner made out of vinyl. It was really popular and I knew that I had to find a way to bring it into my shop. I’m so excited to tell you that today is the day!! You put the planner on your fridge and use a dry-erase marker to write your menu right on your fridge. It’s available in two sizes for you:
- Small Vinyl Menu Planner (12″ x 17″)
- Large Vinyl Menu Planner ( 24″ x 35″)
There are only a limited number of quantities available so don’t wait if you are interested. To check it out please visit my shop here. You’ll need to log in/sign up to view this weekly deal. Please note that Opensky at this time only ships to US addresses.
Also did you know you can earn Opensky credits by inviting your friends to join Opensky? These credits can be applied towards future purchases. Once you log in you’ll find more information about it and get your special referral link at the top of your Opensky page.
My friend Toni from A Bowl Full of Lemons is a big fan of Opensky and has purchased a number of things from my shop. She then tells her friends about it and earns shop credit when someone buys using her link. In fact the other day she was so happy with the over the door organizer she bought from me that she even blogged about it. I got so excited when I saw it because it’s also one of my favorite products too! She even said it would be okay if I shared one of her pictures to show how she’s using it for organizing school supplies in her home.
- credit: A bowl full of lemons
Love that! Go check out her site to see many more pictures of her set up and how she organized everything so beautifully!
Menu Plan Monday ~ Jan 23/12 – menu planning with picky eaters
Happy Monday everyone! Glad to see you are back for another organized week! I’m so sorry if you are experiencing errors when you visit on Mondays. Sometimes with everyone trying to get on the site at once it acts up. I’m going to be upgrading servers as soon as I figure it all out. Thanks for your patience!
If you are looking for a yummy dessert sometime soon, I highly recommend this Cinnamon Roll Cake. I made it for church potluck yesterday and it was so good!
Another recipe I tried last week was this one for Classic Orange Julius, I couldn’t resist. Go check it out and I dare ya not to want to make it right away :)
Stumbling Block:
Menu planning when you have picky eaters:
I’ve heard this one many times from readers. They spend time making dinner that everyone then complains about eating. That is frustrating for sure. The last thing we want to do though is operate a restaurant style kitchen. It’s hard enough to get one meal on the table never mind four or five. The best piece of advice I’ve ever gotten to this regard was from a book by Ellyn Satter called How to Get Your Kid to Eat: But Not Too Much. Her golden rule is this: parents are responsible for what is presented to eat and the manner in which it is presented. Children are responsible for how much or even whether they eat. Of course this sounds easier said than done I know but following her advice worked really well for us. My youngest (6) is my pickiest but he finally understands that their will be no substitutions. I think this is why leftover night is so important to him. He calls it “picking night” and he loves to be able to pick and choose for himself his favorites from the leftovers. He really looks forward to this night and makes the other nights he doesn’t get to choose a little more bearable. In the latest issue of Today’s Parent they also suggest, in addition to the above golden rule, the following tips:
- offer two choices: one familiar, one new, in small portions
- play with presentation (although I’m not a big fan of this one)
- don’t worry your child won’t starve. Even one bite (or a lick) of a new food is a start and maybe the next day it will be two or even more
The one other thing I want to recommend to you, especially in the case of a picky husband, is to get your family involved in the weekly menu planning as much as possible. Sit down as a family and let them be a part of selecting menus and recipes. I do this with my husband each week myself and sometimes he has no suggestions and other times he really has a craving for something that he’d like me to make for him (like this week and beef stew!). Another tip that might help is to simply select 5 recipes for the week but don’t assign them to a particular night until the morning of any given day. That way your family can decide based on what they feel like eating that day rather than it be pre-determined. Also get your kids involved in the prepping of meals. It helps reduce your workload and also gets them more excited about what they are eating.
Additional Resources:
The Science of Picky Eating and a podcast ~ @ Meal Makeover Moms
Picky Eating Series ~ @ Raise Healthy Eaters
Anyway hope that helps a little. Feel free to add what works for you in the comments!
My Menu Plan:
Monday: All-in-One Pork Chop Bake served with broccoli
Tuesday: Thai Chicken Pasta served with spinach salad
Wednesday: Slow Cooker Beef Stew served with bread machine Buttermilk Wheat Bread
Thursday: Leftover buffet
Friday: Bacon Cheddar Quesadillas
Saturday: Baked Ziti with Italian Sausage
Simple Supper Sunday
WHAT’S ON YOUR MENU THIS WEEK?
Menu Plan Guidelines, banner selections and recipe helpers are here.
More family favorite recipes here.
Have a great week everyone!
Have you experienced a purge high lately?
I’m a constant purger. I absolutely love to throw things away. It makes me feel great and light and free…whoot! Unfortunately, too many hold on to stuff so tight that they never get to feel this high that comes from letting stuff go. If you haven’t felt it in awhile, you really must. It’s simply the best!!
Since January I’ve already made two separate trips to the thrift store to drop off stuff.
Purge Pile #1
Purge Pile #2
I am pretty strict about the “one in, one out” rule. So with everything that came in for Christmas, something else had to leave. One toy in, one toy out. One sweater in, one sweater out and so on and so on. We don’t have to wait to “find room” for our new things because we simply replace the new where the old use to live (although sometimes a little tweaking is necessary). It makes life so easy and stress free and I don’t have to be the bad guy with the kids. I’ve done this with them since they were little that they just think this is the way everyone does it :)
The second pile you see above happened at about 8:00 pm one night while I was playing hockey with the kids in the basement. All of a sudden, as we were dodging this and that on the floor, the room started to feel smaller and smaller. How hadn’t I noticed it before now?
That was it, game over, mommas got to organize! The kids just roll their eyes, they know the drill.
Anyway it became very clear to me right away that we had quite a few toys down there the kids had outgrown. My baby (6) isn’t a baby anymore. Out, out, out. The toys that is, not my “baby”. So an hour later we had collected some things for the thrift store (above), a big bag for the garbage and my hubbie took out to the garage a huge play table that I will sell.
Oh how great it feels! What a sweet and glorious high!
Seriously you’ve got to try it for yourself, just don’t take my word for it.
Here’s what you do. Grab some garbage bags and fill them. End of story.
Okay, okay I know it’s not that easy for some. But it could be that easy if and when you just decide that enough is enough already. If you have more stuff than space, you purge till it fits.
As you are working, don’t let yourself get distracted in other areas of the house…remember focus on the task at hand. If you’ve got a lot of stuff to clear out then print off my purge labels and make an area for each category. Then it’s just a matter of starting. Initially you want to do a quick purge and not be held up hemming and hawing about any one thing. Put it to the side. Keep going and go back to that item later if you have to. You’ll see that as you keep moving, this purging thing gets easier. You’ll slowly start to get a small taste of the high and you’ll yearn for more. Go, go, go!
Before you know it, you’ll be done. You’ll look around and think to yourself. Gosh this gal Org Junkie really knows what she’s talking about!
Well maybe you won’t say those exact words but you will be buzzing from your organizational high.
That’s when I say to you.
Welcome to my world friend, welcome to my world!!!
Travel Jewelry Case Giveaway (closed)
This giveaway is now closed. The winner is #220 Joni!!
Today’s giveaway is for a Travel Jewelry Case from Clos-ette Too.
Features of this travel jewelry case include:
- It is discreet in its packaging; only you will know what valuables you have stowed.
- The snap-on individual pages are ideal for traveling light. Insert additional pages when you need extra jewelry storage.
- All pages fit into 8.5”x11” drawers for storage outside the case.
- Delicate faux-suede interior pages are divided into 2×2 and 4×4 pockets ideal for all types of jewelry.
- The case also features a ring holder and an earring holder.
- Each page is covered in plastic with an individual zipper for careful handling.
- Each page attaches and detaches to its sister pages for keeping things together.
- Three page inserts are included in your purchase.
- Each page has different combinations on it so that you can carry a complete jewelry wardrobe in your case if needed.
Winner will have their choice of selecting either an orange or green case.
To enter this giveaway for a Clos-ette Too Travel Jewelry Case
simply leave a comment on this post prior to Monday, January 23, 2012 at 6:00 pm PST.Winner will be selected at random. Open to US residents only.
For more information about Clos-ette Too and their other organizational products you can also find them on Facebook and Twitter.
Please note that this is not a review as I have not personally used this product myself.
-
Featured Sponsors
My Book
My Products
My App
My Challenge
