Ethan Scott

Craft things and playroom

I finally managed yesterday to finish sorting out the playroom. I'm proud to say that it no longer looks like those terrible before photos! I've 'decanted' if you like, the craft supplies into smaller ziplock bags, and stored those in a small box (I think once upon a time D bought me flowers in it...). The excess stuff, beads, sequins, googly eyes, pom poms, and the like, are in their own larger bags in a box that my veggies used to come in when I was working. ( www.aussiefarmers.com.au ) I miss my veggie man. He always brought such yummy things. Unfortunately it's not an expense we can justify right now, not when I've got seven days a week to go and buy fresh veggies and fruit from the greengrocer 5 minutes away..

Anyway, the whole area has had an overhaul, so it now looks much more organised, and there's a spot for 'toy time-out' - Thanks to one of the lovely EB mummies who suggested it on her blog (can't remember who, if it was you, please say so!), so when the toys aren't put away when they need to be, I can put them into toy time-out and they don't get played with again until I put them back, which may not be that day, depending on how cross I am hehe. Will post photos once the kids have packed their things away.

So far today I've been doing five minute blocks in each room, I'm now on my 15minute internet break LOL. I've got lots of things I've been procrastinating, so today, I am going to tackle one! For me, it's the kids' clothes. Their wardrobe, to be specific. There's just no order in it. What I want to acheive is a system, whereby they can go there, pick an outfit, and be done with it in 5 minutes (they are girls though, so this could take longer..). So the plan of attack is this:

1. Take out all the clothes, hangers, etc.
2. Assign one rail per season
3. Place clothes back on hangers, putting outfits together (ie pants hanging with the jumper, little shawls with their appropriate dresses, and school uniforms together on one hanger)
4. Place all back in wardrobe.

Will let you know how I go! Who's with me? All you have to do is pick one room, cupboard, or drawer, or anything else you've been putting off, list the steps to acheive it, and then give yourself a treat for doing so well (mine will be chocolate)

Playroom

I need ideas.

My playroom is a constant bombsite. It stays clean for maybe a day or 2, but then turns to complete chaos in just a few minutes. Where am I going wrong? J (my stepson) sleeps there too, hence the bed, but he just doesn't clean up after himself, and the girls are just as bad at putting things back where they belong. All the tubs are labelled, with pictures too, so they know what should be going where, they just don't seem to get it.

I haven't done anything at all in there today, so please excuse the mess everywhere, and the fact that the curtains are still closed...

ANY ideas at all would be hugely awesome, so thanks in advance everyone :D

Living Room (again)

So I've managed to get the living room back under control. It didn't take too long this time, which is encouraging! Here are my before and afters...

Kichen (again!)

Fell off the wagon a little bit there, but have woken today with a fresh burst of energy, and the weather has cooled down, so very happy about that!

Here are some before and afters of my kitchen. I washed the dishes before I took the first photos as they were everywhere... too embarrassing!

Kitchen before...

Kitchen after (I've since moved the broom and the containers on the side of the bench, just too lazy to take new pictures.. And the cupboard door is closed now too LOL!!!

Meal Planning and organising Food!

Someone on the EB forum asked what sort of meals I have on the meal plan, so I thought I would share it here in case anyone else is interested in how I did it. So here is a step by step how-to :)

• The first thing I did was to work out what meals we'll eat, not necessarily pleasing everyone all the time, and allowing for fussy children who may just want salad (we eat a lot of salad here)
• I then went through that list and categorised it, so meals from the freezer got an F, meals that everyone loves got a red star, and meals that can be taken to work as leftovers got a black circle.
• I've made wednesday my baking day, so I also chose 4 relatively easy recipes for baking, one was new, the others tried and tested.
• Once that was done, I put the days next to the meals. I had managed 28, but culled some as I was doing this that I realised are too messy/fussy/time consuming.
• Then all I did was rule some lines on 2 sheets of A4 paper, wrote the days, numbered the weeks, and did a legend down the bottom (I've allocated D one night a week to cook, and he needs to know what to grab for lunch too hehehe). Obviously I wrote in each box too, and it's now on my fridge where it can't be lost/forgotten about.

Some of the meals we have are as follows..

Gnocchi with garlic cream sauce

Fried Rice

Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Chicken

Macaroni Cheese with corn on the Cob

Chicken and asparagus Quiche and salad

Homemade pizzas

Tuna Bake

Lemon Chicken Pasta

Lemon and Lime Tuna Spaghetti

And a lot of other things such as Tacos, and your standard meat and 3 veg meals.

I always try to do at least one cooked lunch during the week, and a cooked breakfast each weekend, usually when D is home from work, so I've factored those in as well.

Another tip I found useful when I was working is to work out which night (or nights) are the worst for cooking, the ones you're likely to rely on takeaway or cereal for, and plan for those first, get something that is easy and quick to prepare, or better yet, prepare it the night before (which will be easy as you will have a plan). When I do the shopping, I try to cut up any meat and veg that I know won't be used before it goes off, and freeze it. for example, if we're doing a stirfry, I will cut the meat in advance, and freeze it with the marinade over it, so it's all done for when I want to cook it. Same with things like broccoli and pumpkin. We eat a lot of those in risottos, and we have mashed pumpkin and potato sometimes, but otherwise it just ends up getting thrown out, so I discovered that cutting it up, dunking in boiling water and then icy water, and freezing, cuts down on a lot of food and time wastage..

The trick is definately to make sure you've got your meal plan where everyone can see it, that way you're accountable. I find K gets really excited when she sees we'll be having corned beef or mashed potato, so she's reading and holding me accountable as we speak.

The next timesaver I've put in place was to work out when you do your grocery shopping, (mondays here) and divide the weeks up into 'shopping weeks'. I've written shopping lists for each week of the meal plan. Obviously there are some double ups, so I will need to check the pantry, and I'll still need fruit and snacks, but it's going to save a lot of time and money buying things we don't need or already have!

Happy planning!