The Kitchen Project

If only this was my kitchen: 

 I am going to attempt to modify my life by automating my kitchen and meal routines. 

If there are three time/energy sucks in my life they are: 1. cleaning 2. tidying and 3. meals and kitchen traffic

We have housecleaners which helps totally with number 1. (cleaning) and I am so so so so infinitely grateful for the ladies who clean my house weekly. Having the cleaners also helps with 2. (tidying), though it puts tremendous strain on me for the one day they come to the house because I try to perfectly tidy and order everything so they can come in and sweep the place clean to great effect. 

Number 3. (meals/kitchen) are a problem area for me because I find myself lolling around the kitchen....what is the British word for this?? I cannot think of it!!....all day and also snacking all day leaving me with rather lackluster interest in concocting and executing delicious meals for the rest of my deserving family. 

While I want to have delicious and healthful meals, I do not want to spend a lot of time cleaning up after the meal (or during it, as many people suggest). I am usually already triple-tasking in the kitchen as-is-- unloading dishwasher or loading it, talking on the phone or listening to a podcast or just relaxing and watching my dish bake. 

I have already tasked my instant pot with a lot of great options but I want now to keep myself and my kids out of our kitchen and guest room area. That way we have have a meal, clean it up, and lock it off to stay clean for the next meal.

I also want it all pre-planned and pre-prepped so I don't have to spend time in the kitchen. I don't know if this means once a week cooking, pre-portioned containers, or meal-by-meal cooking with pre-prepped ingredients. It's sort of yucky to eat pre-made oatmeal, waffles, or eggs, in my opinion, when they could easily have been fresh. 

My first attempt for this week is to put the baby gate up in the kitchen walkway to bar entrance from the babies and kids (AND myself, though I can just step over) except for three times a day for meal prep. Maybe I should stick a fruit bowl on the dining room table in case the kids want a snack. One orange each or one apple each for each day, to be replenished the next morning. 

Any advice? My week one journey will be the fruit bowl and the baby gate. To be discussed next week. 

We Don't Have Much Food Except Cheese

The whole middle shelf isn't even used by us!

 Wow I didn't think we had a food organization issue but I'm still barely started in the kitchen. Ever since I started trying to use through my food a few years ago (thanks Jordan Page and shelftember) I've dreamed of this. I'm trying to use random pantry items. 

Today I'm using old canned artichokes to make a soup that doesn't appeal to me too much and H will call it "strange" although it's from an award winning cookbook. 

Crowd sourcing recommendations because what do I know?

Wait!! The artichoke soup w chickpeas and spinach is delicious!!

Puttin' my feet up to sit a spell

 If I keep going I overdo it. Stop after each few drawers so you can pick up the next day. I took yesterday mostly off so I could go to a donation drop off

Granting my Appliances Some Breathing Space

 They've been holding their breath too long. 

There are two places we store non-perishable food (besides the spice cabinet I showed a few days ago) and this is the first. Not tidied to perfection but I'm not about perfection now, just the quick swoop to rid extraneous things we aren't using in the here-and-now. 

Love using our commemorative wine glasses LOL! 

Top of the fridge bread "basket" and chocolate protein powder my better-self uses. Not my current self. But I'm not ready to toss. 

Okay so maybe we need to have 100 parties to use up this stuff below?  Too pricey to dump but we rarely rarely touch it.

 

No-junk Junk Drawers and beginning to address books

 This green dresser is in our living room. The top right drawer holds masks, snagged pacifiers, one pen and pencil, and Bobby pins that I need to get a tray for. Also a phone stand so the kids don't fight over holding my phone. 

The left side and bottom drawer have some rustic boys' art prints I hope to hang someday. They need a new home, this dresser in the living room isn't suitable for them. The remainder of the dresser is 99% empty. Maybe I should move it out of the living room. 

Ta-da! Beautiful bunch of wasted space. Should I move it somewhere more useful or leave it because it suits this room? (Great find, Bridget!) I have the missing drawer pull but can't find the right sized screw to affix it. 

This China cabinet/book hutch has Henry's text books and other reference books including some theology and catechism books in the drawers and cabinets because they are never used (but H wants to keep) and I doubt the kids will try to get them out. 

On top are magnatiles and duplo Legos out of reach. 

The shelves of the hutch are not where I want them. Honestly books (kids books and school books and Henry's books) are hard for me to manage. I keep books I don't even like because I think they're good for the kids to have access to. 

I need to work more on books. I have them in pockets all over the house and that's not ideal.

This is the main space for grab-able kids books (they also have some in their bedrooms). I rotate them often and keep the extras in our storage unit in Woodbridge. I'd like to greatly pare down even with rotating. These rarely get read even with rotating. 

Functionality over fluff

This is going to be mostly a random posting of photos that I hoped to share with my mom about my simplifying journey. I will probably end up having photos of every space, but I will go slowly over time. 

 

Having The Right "Stuff"

Having the right equipment can make all the difference in approaching cleaning tasks. I discovered that I dislike using washcloths to wash dishes unless the dish had almost no food or gunk on it. I much prefer using a dish scrub brush with bristles to wash dishes. I find that washcloths get gunky and funky and never seem to get free of all the food particles you wipe up.

I also prefer to use microfiber cloths for everything. Everything! From washing tables to wiping windows and toilets to drying my face (not with the same cloths!) 

Finally, my last discovery is that I dislike using Clorox pre-moistened wipes. I much prefer to spray the liquid myself and wipe it up with my microfiber cloth. If I need to toss anything, I would rather use a paper towel. If the wipes were larger or thicker, maybe I would feel differently.

On another note, my schedule has been out of whack-- my fault! I kept the kids awake all day yesterday and didn't do my evening routine or my workout. I did go on a walk and did some nominal lunges.

Aside from yesterday (Monday) and Saturday, though, I have maintained my workout habits each day during afternoon naps. Today I took a step too far, though, and attempted a (very good) pilates workout that was just beyond my reach. I feel faint and miserable at the moment. I shall rehydrate and lay down and take a step back tomorrow for my routine. 

Here's a snippet of my favorite reading of the day from Psalm 145. I am loving these Psalms! Somehow they are my least favorite reading in the Mass, but when I am alone with the Psalms they pack a punch and reach my heart most often of all. I think it is the beauty of the verse as opposed to the prose of most Scripture. 

The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.

House Blessing Monday

Since following a home cleaning routine for the past three months or so, I have learned tricks and truths I would not have believed before. One is that I can go an entire week on one vacuum and mop session.

FlyLady recommends spending one hour "Blessing" your home by vacuuming (10 minutes), mopping (10 minutes), dusting (10 minutes), wiping mirrors and windows (10 minutes), emptying all trash cans (10 minutes) and changing your bedding (10 minutes).

I spend most of my time vacuuming and mopping, and these definitely take more than 10 minutes, but they don't take a whole hour! It's amazing how little time it takes to complete tasks that you put off for dread of pulling out the vacuum and setting up the mop bucket. Try it out for yourself and set the timer to find out that you can indeed vacuum most of your house in under 15 minutes, upstairs and downstairs, too. 

This house blessing hour is meant to be a superficial clean of only the trafficked areas (don't move the couch, although I always DO pull out the dining room chairs). I have found that it "tides me over" while I spend the majority of my cleaning time (only 20 minutes a day, or so) on the deeper cleaning in one of the prescribed "zones" that are trademark FlyLady system.

I will write more about FlyLady as I blog daily, but for today, my message to myself is that I can actually, shockingly to myself, go for the entire week until I vacuum and mop again on the following Monday's home blessing.

I used to rush to take out the vacuum daily, or at least bi-weekly. Now, I let it go as I move on to the deeper cleaning I would naturally neglect. 

Most surprisingly, after completing my Home Blessing on Mondays, I often get a wild idea to host a party during the week, and end up spoiling the nice effect of my cleaning. Rather than waking up the next morning to do a deep clean, I don't waver from my prior weekly plan, and I put off the vacuum and mopping until my next scheduled House Blessing the next Monday. I will sweep and do a cursory job of picking up noticable particles, but I am amazed to see that the once weekly cleaning actually has tide me over in each instance until the next week. 

There's no need to be a perfectionist or be tyrannized by the drive to vacuum every spec every day. Just let it go and be amazed that your floors can last the whole week. 

For the Scripture for today, may I dazzle you with this blessing of blessings! Fr. John Michael Talbot singing his glorious interpretation of Psalm 62:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAiGAyp22JI

Planning for the busy week

This week has been busier than normal in some ways with the start of the regular Fall schedule in full force. MOPS started this week, and my women's ministry program WWP starts next Friday. For a woman without a job or kids in school, my calendar is filling up!

 Much of last week's/this weekend's activity may just be mental business because I know that this coming week will be a marathon.

Tuesday I am hosting the leadership meeting for WWP (our new Parish Women's Bible Study). I am organizing it and am trying to prepare the content of the leaders meeting as well as set the table for the event.

There is a lot of information to cover but I think I am going to go with just the more needful at this time. The two hour meeting will be full with lunch, up to five kids. and all the information I have not even been able to sift through adequately. The biggest question remains whether or not all of the security clearances will have checked out by Friday. I pray to God that they will! It will not be the best scenario for me to have to fill in with babysitting for the first week. Please, God, don't let that be the case!

For the meeting, I will simply run through specifically what will happen for the first two sessions.  The first session is unique, and the second session is like most of the other sessions. Therefore, both should be covered.

I will also ask the leaders to bring one sweet or savory food dish of whatever they choose variety for the first two weeks, and after that, we will ask others to sign up.  I also would like them to bring coffee makers so we can have quick, hot cups of both decaf and regular coffee.

Anything more than that will be too much, in my opinion. I can slowly ask for help with the other areas as the weeks go on and I am able to see what needs to be done.

I will leave this post alone now, after discussing my planning for WWP leadership team meeting on Tuesday. I plan on devising my shopping list now, and need to wait until Monday to purchase so my croissants are fresh!

On to the Mass Readings for today!

One of my favorite phrases from Scripture is the Psalm for this week, Psalm 95

Come, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.

I can truly hear the song playing in my heart from my youth. How lovely. It is self explanatory.