Once a month cooking?

I guess it has become very popular via the internet to cook for 3-4 days straight then freeze your food so that you only cook once a month. Pretty cool, huh? I normally cook all day Friday or Sunday so I have meals for a week. Problem? I'm a totally picky eater. I love fresh veges. Let's face facts, you freeze a vege and it becomes mush!!! So I cook the main dishes and have the side items cut up and waiting for the week. This time around I did cook meals that needed squishy veges like beef stew.

Also, little known fact, Ronnie is extremely lazy. Take the cooking for example, I don't do cook for the week to free my weeknights, I do it so I don't have to wash so many dishes. I HATE washing dishes. HATE IT!!! I know, lazy, right? No. I have had skin problems since I was little and when I wash dishes it hurts my hands. I really can't wear gloves either because of the moisture issue. So a lot of cooking on one day results in minimal dishes and ouchies during the week.

I really wish I had taken photos of this endeavor but alas I did not. So no photos of the aftermath that was my crazy weekend. I did cook more then I normally do because I had a small deep freezer full of food that needed cooking! What did I cook you ask?

-Beef Stew
-Spaghetti
-Lasagna
-Stuffed Pasta Shells
-Manwich (totally for my husband only)
-Chicken Noodle Soup
-Chicken Penne Alfredo (I will add fresh broccoli once it is rewarmed. I loves the crunchy broc broc)
-"Refried" Beans
-Carnitas
-Chicken Enchiladas (Lazy style)
-Lumpias
-Beef Pot Roast
-Breakfast Burritos


AWESOMENESS! Oh recipes would be awesome too. Well that will come little by little.

I came and I conquered!!!!

Okay let's face it, if everyone was a carpenter or if everyone had mass quantities of money or if everything in the world was free, all our houses would be organized and pretty or cluttered as all get out. In my case, if I had mad carpentry skills and the equipment needed, I would build some AWESOME organizers, shelves and the like, problem, I have tried and I suck. Next if I could afford buying the "perfect pantry" from The Container Store it would cost me roughly $663 without the shelves. Soooooo, yeah, I am NOT paying that much. Over the last few months I have been buying containers here and there. Most of them have been the same type since I want it to be pretty. Although I still need more containers, that way all of them are the exact same, I think I'm okay with it.... Well for right now. So what did I do? About a year and a half ago I tried placing everything in cardboard boxes and labeling them, well between Husband Doodle and my little helpers things have gotten out of hand. See?

A lot of the things we had were either brand new or had such a small amount we should have tossed it awhile ago. Did somethings go bad? Yes. Did I fall for the free items, cheap items and promotional ones? Yes. So after getting rid of these items I have made a new rule: I DO NOT buy anything we don't already know and love. Don't get me wrong, it is wonderful to try new things but I won't buy any new products unless I have sampled it because I do not want this mess to happen again. So for a grand total of $138.72 I bought 12 plastic bins all of them came with lids but I couldn't use lids on some of the containers, 3 sets of different plastic ware, 6 cereal bins and 1 can organizer. I do still need a spice rack and I bought a dry erase board and attached it to the door and wrote everything we had and how much we had so I can keep track of all this fun stuff. I also need to label things but that will have to wait until A) my label-er reappears or B) I buy the ones for my printer. You ready to see the beauty of an organized pantry Ronnie-style? 

Very bottom of the pantry: Cans, sugar, tomato soup, left bin is the snack bin, right bin baking supplies. 

The snack bin has snacks already divided and ready to grab. Granola bars, Goldfish crackers, fruit leather, Auntie Annie fruit snacks, just yum yums.

First shelf: Pastas, tomato paste, tomato sauce, enchilada sauce, assorted sauces (aka Manwhich) PB and Jelly.

Second Shelf: Cereals, chips, flours, rice, oatmeal, brown sugar and beans.

Bottom shelf: Left bin: just bread stuff. I hope to start making my own bread soon. Middle bin: Salad dressings, other liquid things like vinegar and oils. Individual containers of chocolate chips, trail mix, nuts. Too the far right more cereal. 

Top shelf: Left bin: can chicken, dried fruit, seasonings. Both white baskets: different spices Right bin: Assorted Asian-y goodness. 

I came. I decluttered. I conquered. 

Declutter the fridge!!!

When we moved into our house we didn't have a refrigerator and we needed one CHEAP! Well the one we bought was suppose to be complete. Well it was missing the baskets in the door, the top split shelf, the bottom shelf and the crisper. To replace all these missing pieces it was going to cost over $500 to replace these pieces let alone to ship it to us. I have bought some of the pieces like the top shelf and the missing baskets. We still need the crisper drawers and the bottom shelf which will cost me about $350, which once again, we don't have. So thanks to my gracious Mother-in-law we were able to buy things to straighten out our fridge. Here's the before:

I have to keep the meat in the bags to ensure no yuck yuck gets anywhere. We also had to keep all produce in Debbie Meyer's Green Bags, which FYI are the BEST at keeping produce fresh. We had strawberries fresh and hard (Silly lady strawberries aren't hard.) for almost 13 days. Totally the best $10 I ever spent.

Since I can't really stack things without damaging my produce I have to use the baskets. So after about an hour of washing, drying, emptying, cleaning and filling THIS is the result!!!

Very top shelf apples, oranges, broccoli, cheddar cheese, eggs, my husband doodle's lunch, breakfast burritos waiting to be frozen and milk. My second shelf has two containers to hold meat and loose things to the left. So that little drawer is my cheese and lunch meat drawer, which also has my bacon, the bottom  is basically an empty waste of space so two lettuce keepers, I'll tell you how well they work in a day or two, 3 containers with reusable tags, another bin, and a produce keeper made by Rubbermaid.

Look how pretty my door looks!!! Our butter dish had some yuck yuck in it so right now it is soaking so I can put it back. So now I have an awesome fridge not as cool as some people but I do what I can with what I have. All my new containers were from *drum roll* The Container Store. I know I have totally fallen in love with this store. So I hope inspiration ensues and motivates you to declutter somewhere in your home. Good luck!

Empty space?

Yes I just realized that this picture isn't straight. Thanks...... So I have this space in my house next to the stair case in my living room the is, frankly, pretty useless. If I put a couch or any "large" piece of furniture there you really can't get into the house. It is 3'5" along the light wall and 6' along the stairs. So what to do? We tried a chair and bookcases but there wasn't enough light, like I said the sofa was out of the question, computer corner but the TV was too distracting...... So what did I do? (Use your awesome powers of whining to get a larger house? Demo'ed the whole thing "Extreme Makeover" Style?) I used it!!! (That would have been the next guess) I took the desks my daughters' had in their playroom and an organizer I got from Goodwill and turned it into a school corner. The furniture is small enough that we can maneuver around it and light enough that we can move it. Check it out!!! MWHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Mommy 1 Odd Floor Plan 0 

WIN!!!!

Except for the fact that my pictures look fine on my camera but then are out of focus and slanted on the computer....... Fail.....

The other new lunch box!

So when I went to The Container Store I also got this nifty lunch box for my Lily and Boo to share from their Auntie Momo and Untel Gub Gub. Yes for some reason he is the only Untel everyone else is an Uncle.


So what did I pack her? Human souls!!!! Well I had some leftover grilled chicken that I shredded added celery, onion and mayo to make her chicken salad which I stuffed into two little dinner rolls. Carrots with ranch dressing, kiwis, apples and I made her some blueberry/strawberry tea. This is everything laid out for a better view. I really do like the separate containers. I do try to make her lunches more fun but this came in real handy considering I was running 20 minutes late this morning. Since I could cut the fruits and veges and still keep them away from the sandwich it took less time and was still cute.

Here is the lunch box from the side and top. (Jeez this lady needs a better camera! I can barely see the details!!!) I know I need a better camera to capture the details better.... (She's reading my mind AGAIN!!!!!)

Simple short and sweet lunch box. I'm looking for more little cookie cutters that aren't too expensive when I find some I will let you all know. Also I have a declutter project and the first sewing project for my "resolution" that I am planning to complete here soon. Tune in next time same Ronnie channel, same Ronnie station.

New Year new box!!!

My sweet sister-in-law, the Mo-Mo, gave our family some gift cards for the holidays and my Lily's birthday. She received so many toys that it seemed like a waste to buy her more so I bought her a new lunch box. (Good gravy this lady has a problem with lunch boxes. Does she collect these things?) It is, wait for it........a Lego box!!!! I got her three of them, one large box and two smaller ones from here. That is so not what I went in there for. I swear that store is a swirling vortex of inspiration! I saw so many things that I just wish I could buy. I also picked up an over the door hat organizer and an awesome trash can. Sorry I get side tracked by pretty organization pretties! Now, as I was saying, I got my Lily another lunch box!

Now what happened was, I packed the whole thing and then tried to get the lid on the smaller Lego boxes and that totally didn't happen because I packed that stuff in. (Thanks, Captain Obvious we can see that the smaller boxes are open since there is no space for the lids.) So for the first school day of the new year she got ham chunks, flower carrots, chopped apples, ranch dressing, heart shaped kiwis and the "Rainbow Brite cake," as my mommy calls it, that she had for her birthday this weekend. Pretty cool, huh? (Oh my gosh! I want to make that cake!) You know I should make a tutorial about how to make this cake. (It's like she can read my mind!!!)

So New Year's resolutions. Does anyone have any? I want to read to my kids at least 5 times a week. I get very nervous reading out loud so I don't like doing it and sometimes forget too. So reading to my kids more often is one of my goals. Next I want to use all the fabric I have. I know, big project, but since both my sewing machine and Serger are finally fixed I think it should be done. What am I going to sew? No clue yet. I don't know what I'll do since I do have a LOT of it but we'll see. Any suggestions to start me on my path? Next I want to drink more water and tea and exercise a little every day! I know most people set really high goals but I want to set mostly reasonable goals and she where I go. So in short new box, pretty cake, lots of goals!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!