Easter Dessert

Have you seen any of the crazy good recipes on Pinterest these days?  I recently fixed this one that my daughter made and it was oh so delish! 

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The mango avocado salsa was TO DIE FOR!!  I highly recommend!!

On Easter Sunday my husband and I will be heading over to my sister’s for lunch and I am in charge of dessert.  For some reason, I always want to try new recipes on holidays, which sometimes has gotten me in a pickle!  I think my problem is that I don’t just pick a new recipe; I seem to pick the difficult ones!!  My thought is “but it LOOKS so good & pretty”!  So, this time I thought I would go with something that was "easy to intermediate" on the "difficulty" scale!

I think I have narrowed it down to these three!

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Stay tuned to see which one I go with and I will let you know the results!

Oh, and for those of you working on your garage for the March challenge, because of Easter Sunday being the 31^st, I won’t be revealing mine until April 1!!  You can send your pics in anytime and I will share with the "O is for Organize "community!

Thanks for stopping by!

Kim

Take Out Menus

It’s Tuesday’s Favorite Things Day!

As I mentioned last week, I have started a new topic at O is for Organize:

These are a few of my Favorite Things

This week’s feature is:

Take Out Menu Binders

At one point in my life, when there were six of us in the house, I did a lot of cooking!  We did occasionally eat out and get take out, but it was very expensive for six of us!

Now that my husband and I are “empty nesters”, we do a lot more restaurant dining (whether it be going there or take out) and we have ended up with quite a collection of menus.

I know you can typically find menus on the restaurant websites but, for us, we like to be able to look at it on paper!

I wanted one place to keep them together and organized and I found this one at one of my favorite shops!

The binder included pre-printed labels and blank ones that you can write the category yourself.

Any kind of binder would do the job.  If you can’t find a pre-made one or don’t want to spend the moolah, you can always make one yourself with a regular binder and labels that you probably already have laying around the house.

The idea is to have a central spot to keep them organized and easily accessible because, after all, when you're hungry, you're hungry!  Who wants to go hunting for the menu, right?

How do you keep your menus organized?  We would love to hear from you!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Kim

Cuffs Aren't Just for Clothes Anymore

Have you ever purchased an iron that has that little compartment where the cord “magically” disappears into it with one quick pull?

If you answered “yes” to the above question, then chances are you have that same iron that after a short period of time looks more like this:

I have to admit that I am the proud owner of one of those irons too!  It seems like no matter how gentle, how careful, how methodical I approach that cord, I can never get it back in his lovely little home.

I finally decided to “give in” to the little sucker, and came up with a different solution for storing the cord.

Let me introduce you to my new best friend:

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The clamp is adjustable so you can fit it to your specific needs.  To remove the clamp, you simply pull back on the button and it releases itself!  I can't even tell you how much I love these little suckers!

Of course, once I found it, I started looking around the house/garage to see where else I could possibly use more!  And, since they come in various sizes, the options are unlimited!

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I found this brand at Lowe's!  Same concept just a little different style.

I wonder if I could use some fun Duck Tape print to pretty this one up?

If you decide to head over to your local Home Depot or Lowe’s, you may want to write these brands down and go to Customer Service before engaging in a scavenger hunt to find them!  My shopping experience at both stores was more like the proverbial "needle in the haystack" search!

Ahhh....so much better!

p.s. I should mention that I am in no way receiving any compensation from Home Depot or Lowe's or anyone else (for that matter)!

Springtime All Around Me

I know for some of you, it hasn't felt at all like Springtime due to crazy weather, so I thought I'd send a little bit of Spring your way!

Butterflies are in the air!

Looks like this little chick found some sunlight!

Some sleepy beepies!

I have been spending my day getting ready for some family that will be coming in town for Easter.  Can't wait to see everyone!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Friday and great plans for the weekend!

Do something nice for someone you love!

Kim  

Annie Sloan Strikes Again

On a recent shopping excursion with two sisters a couple of weeks ago, I came across a sample size of Annie Sloan Coco chalk paint and fell in love with the color.  Not knowing what I was going to use it on, I bought it anyway and knew it would be put to good use one day!

Coco

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While I was taking a short break from the garage and suppose to be relaxing for a minute, I couldn’t help but zone in on a small table in my dining room.

You may have noticed this table before in a previous post here.  The size of the table is perfect for this small wall but the color has always bothered me. 

That was when my relax time shifted from the sofa to the table.  Annie Sloan painting is so easy and quick that, to me I justify it as relaxing!!  Why do I play such head games with myself!

The first thing I did was wipe the table down just to make sure there was no dust on the table. 

Then I put the first coat on the table and drawer and waited about 30 minutes and then applied the second coat.

It was several hours before I got back to the table, but not necessary to wait that long.

After the paint was good and dry, I decided to try sanding the handle as well as several edges to give it a distressed look.

I applied the soft wax followed by the dark wax with my new Annie Sloan Medium size brush.  I think it makes a big difference in applying the wax!

I store playing cards in the little drawer and sometimes when one or more of my sisters are in town, we play a lot of cards.   It was one of my Mom’s favorite pastimes and I often think of her when going to this table to grab the cards.  I think she would have loved the table!

Anyone else taking a break from the garage?  What are you up to instead?

Have a great day!! 

What to do with Gardening Tools & Lawn Equipment?

As I am working on my garage this month, I'm contemplating where all of our lawn & gardening items will be stored!

Here are some ideas that I have been looking at for inspiration:

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One option could be a separate unit placed somewhere in the backyard off the garage.

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Or, I could repurpose the pegboard that I removed last month when I had my laundry room makeover here.

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I had to put this one in too; I love the idea for grilling utensils storage!  I see a DIY project in my future.

Here’s a little sneak peek at what I’ve been up to in my garage lately!

Can anyone guess what I'm up to?

Hope everyone is having a great Wednesday!

A New Topic at O is for Organize

It seems like I find myself saying “that’s one of my favorite things” a lot whether it be an organizing tool, baskets, cleaning products, clothing, and definitely “food”!!

That being said, I thought I would have a new topic on a regular basis called:

These are a few of my Favorite Things

Real original, huh!

So, today is my first and it is none other than:

Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day

If you are already a fan and use these products, then you know what I’m talking about when I say that the variety of scents available  is simply divine!  If you haven’t tried any of their products, you don’t know what you’re missing!

With names like Lemon Verbena, Rosemary, and Lavender, just to name a few, you can imagine the aroma while wiping kitchen counters or tossing a Lemon scented dryer sheet in with your clean clothes.

The products are available in Household Cleaners, Hand & Body Care, Laundry, and Air Fresheners.

“Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day believes in a better way to get a good clean.  Chock full of plant-derived ingredients and essential oils, our household cleaning products are powerful against dirt and grime.  Garden-fresh scents uplift your mood while adding a little spring to your step.”

I like to put different scents of hand soaps in each bathroom so that my family can enjoy a variety of aromas.

If you go to their website here, you can type in your zip code and it will inform you of stores in your area that carry their products.

So, while I reiterate that this is “one of my favorite things”, I can’t really pick a scent that is my favorite, because I love them all!

HappyOrganizing!  

Organizing Work Outfits

On a recent visit to help my daughter, Kelly with some organizing issues, something occurred that made me realize I needed to write about it on my blog.  But first, let me say that I cleared it with her (sort of) before I started typing.

There are many things I admire about her. Typically, she has a lot of patience, stays calm, cool and collected and overall is a pretty tidy individual.   However, determining work outfits is definitely not one of her finer attributes.  We had a really nice visit and I was just about ready to head home on Monday morning when she was getting ready for work and that’s when things got a little dicey!

When I spoke above about many things I admire about Kelly, I should have also mentioned that she is a very stylish dresser.  She likes to look nice for work (nothing wrong with that), but when she’s “not feeling it” well…that’s when her closet transforms into a tornado aftermath!  I watched her as she changed outfits one after another, after another, and another.  And with each outfit change, a little less patience, a little less calm, cool and collected, and definitely a little lot less tidy!!

This is where I would normally insert pics of a BEFORE shot but I knew better!  You will just have to use your imagination.

The bigger issues that I discovered from this dilemma that she seems to have, as she says, “just about every workday morning” are, and I quote:

1. It makes me late for work.
2. I worry about the traffic and getting in an accident because I am rushing now.
3. If I don't think I'm dressed appropriately/professionally, I end up having an overall bad day at work.

So….as I sat there that morning (calmly) I remembered something that I had seen on pinterest and on the internet..CLOSET ROD DIVIDERS!

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Of course, there are many to choose from like these for children and babies:

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But for adults/teens, I could only find blank ones from The Container Store.  Nonetheless, I have ordered them.  I’m sure she will get creative with what she wants them to look like.  I just want to see them put to good use and maybe help keep the streets of New Orleans a little safer in the morning!!

With just a little preparation time on a Sunday evening, the outfits can be predetermined for the work week with maybe a few minor adjustments for weather conditions.  This will also save time on the back end for aftermath clean up!

I’m pretty sure, her hubby might even thank me for this one!

Does anyone else have a similar situation with a certain family member or maybe even themself?  You may want to consider this small investment!

Happy Organizing!

March Challenge Update

We are at the half-way mark for our March Garage Makeover Challenge! How is everyone doing? Are you, like me, doing a total overhaul, or maybe you only need some tidying up?  Then again, you might have fallen in the category of “lucky ones”.  If so, I hope you are using this time to give your vehicle a good cleaning!

I have been working on a project or two to get our garage overhauled! If you read my post for the last couple of days, you know about my Paint Project. This past Monday in Organizational Tips I shared a trip to Home Depot for a tracking system for the garage wall.

Since I was distracted by the BH&G's Spring issue of Storage magazine, I thought today, I would talk about what we actually went there for.

After searching the store on our own and not really finding what we had in mind for hanging items on the wall, an enthusiastic, sweet saleslady apparently could see the look of “I can’t find what I’m looking for” on our faces and asked us if she could help us find something.

She willingly walked us over to this Rubbermaid Garage Organization System.

Exactly what we had in mind!

Unfortunately, the inventory was looking pretty scarce.

But this saleslady was not going to let that stop us! She jumped on one of those electronic lift things and rode to the top of the aisle and found what we needed.

Here’s a pic of my husband watching and waiting…

I'm pretty sure he was thinking  that he wanted to hop on that lift himself

I will share in a later post all the pieces and parts we left the store with and how I determined what our needs would be to get everything that we wanted up on the wall.  I can say that if you too are looking for a system to hang things in your garage, based on the research that I've done, this looks to be a very sturdy and user-friendly system.  It is a little pricey depending on what your needs are, so try not to be sticker shocked when you see the prices!!

If you have a pleasant experience with a salesperson, handyman, or maybe it’s a family member, take a few extra seconds and let them know how much you appreciate their help. I’m pretty sure it will put a smile on their face!
 

Hope everyone has a great weekend and Happy St. Patty’s Day!

Kim