Posting Posts

So now I've learned a new way to "work to be lazy" with my blog.  I often thing of a bunch of ideas at one time, but just posting all of them since like a waste, so I have "discovered" that I can alter the "post options" on the blog and can write something anytime and then schedule them to appear at a later date.

So nice.  I like to think once and post often.

Actually I like to not think at all but that's pretty... uh... lazy... but more importantly, unproductive.

So anyway, just letting you in on my new secret.  This post was written on May 23rd and will be posted to the public on June 6th.  So, if you're reading this, happy June :)

Meal Swap Revisited

So, a while ago I wrote "this" post about a meal swap I was about to join.  Can I just say, "WOW".  This has been successful x 100.

Partly because my friends are the awesomest coolest cooks.  Ever.

Partly because my awesome cooking friends cook things that aren't in my usual repertoire, so on the "meal swap dinner" nights we're not eating the same old thing.  Again.

Partly because I didn't make the dinners (obviously) so its like getting take-out 6 times a month.

Partly because I can "Work to be Lazy" by cooking 6 meals all at one time then just pulling something from the freezer 6 other nights.  

Partly because its cheaper to cook 6 meals of the same thing.  So I can be "Lazy AND Cheap", which you know I love.

Partly because I can think about dinners once and not have to think about it for 6 dinner times that month.

Partly because I can cook the batch meals after the TinyTwo have gone to bed and kind of enjoy creating a meal without anyone screaming at me... having to take someone to the potty... having to referree... having to have little people "help"... having to stop what I'm doing to get someone's toys out from under the couch......

Last but certainly not least...

Partly because we have an excuse every month to get together to actually swap the dinners and so we stay and talk and drink coffee and eat whatever yummy thing my friend "who has 2 small children, is pregnant with her 3rd, which will make 3 under 3, and yet gets much more accomplished in any given morning than I do in a week" has made us.

Just Get it Gone

My new favorite form of straightening and cleaning the house is to de-clutter it.  I figure, I can touch this item one time, right now, put it in the "Donate" box, and never have to clean it/pick it up/organize it again.  That, my friends, is the lazy way to clean ;)

My mom said today, "Do you have anything else to de-clutter?"  The problem is I keep buying things, or we don't need things anymore, or the more I de-clutter, the less I realize I need.

And then there's the TinyTwo.  Clothes, toys, and even dishes have a cycle related to what time in their lives the kids are in.  For example, I just emptied out the "Kids Drawer" in the kitchen, which was full of plastic cups and plates and sippees and bowls and tops to sippees and inserts to sippees and on and on.

We've switched them mostly to glass, so today I took the plunge and emptied out some of the last remnants of babyhood.  :,(

This very sad occasion did, however, free up a bunch of space, in which I placed the tops to the Pyrex and the tops to the sauce pans.
A drawer just for tops!
So exciting!  (sigh.  my life.)

This left the other cabinets to be more "spacious", and, so, easier to clean and keep organized.

Easier- is the key word here.
Easier=Lazier
and lazier is always the goal here people.

2 scoops

Actually, a lot more than 2 scoops.  I recently bought 2 sets of measuring cups (at the dollar store, just so you understand what kind of major investment this was).  Anyway, I put those little 1/2 cup scoops and 1/4 cup scoops into all my containers- like the popcorn container that I always use a 1/4 cup scoop for and always have to go looking for it (and it, somehow, is dirty).  So, now, the popcorn has its own scoop.  The oatmeal container has its own scoop.  The flour container and rice containers also got new additions to their containers.  I had a few 3/4 cup scoops leftover (which I never use anyway because I'm not good enough at math to do fractions in my head ;) so I stuck them in my kids' kitchen for them to play with.  This is another example of how I'll work a little now to be lazy later :)

shopping from home

Harris Teeter is having a week of FREE "Express Lane" pick-up, their online shopping.  If you have the option in your area, and especially if you've never tried it, now is the time!

Meal Swap Revisited

OK, so back in April I did "this" post on the meal swap I was about to join.  Can I just say, "WOW".  This has been a success x 100. 

Partly because my friends are the awesomest coolest cooks in the world.

Partly because the meals are often things that aren't in my repertoire, so its not eating the same old thing for dinner.  Again. 

Partly because I don't cook the meals I swap for (obviously), so its kind of like getting take-out 6 times a month.
 
Partly because I can cook one evening after the TinyTwo have gone to bed and be able to kind of enjoy creating meals without anyone screaming at me that their hungry or that someone stole their toy or that they need to use the potty or that some just hit them or.... 

Partly because I can cook 6 dinners all at one time, which is the ultimate way to "work to be lazy".

Partly because its a lot cheaper to make 6 of the same dinner, which is another ways I can be lazy AND cheap.  You know how I love that.

Partly because I can turn on the oven, throw in a meal and go out to play at the playground here or swim at the apartment's pool.  Please don't lecture me on this if you find it offensive or overly irresponsible that I leave while my oven is on.  I am lazy after all, I never said I was responsible.  Also, I'm not gone that long.  Anyway, we get back from playing and, VOILA! dinner is ready and waiting.

Partly because the meals are in disposable containers, (aluminum trays if they're oven friendly and freezer ziplocks if they'll go into a frying pan or microwave) which means clean-up is fast.

Partly because my kids love it when I say "so and so's Mommy made this for you!" and are more likely to eat whatever it is.

And last, but certainly not least,

Partly because it gives us an excuse to get together one morning a month to do the swap and just happen to spend all morning talking and drinking coffee and eating whatever my "super star friend with 2 little ones and is pregnant with a 3rd and still gets more done in most mornings that I do in a week" makes us to snack on. 

Shoe Shelf

I HATE looking for shoes when its time to go.  Hate.  It.  Few things make me as enraged as flying through the house trying to find the other 1" sized baby shoe to match the one in my hand.  Seriously.  So, I've tried very hard to train the TinyTwo.  They are 2 and 3 and now know (most of the time) to take off their shoes as soon as we get in the house and place them on the "shoe shelf".  We don't have a proper coat closet near the door so I made a make-shift "drop-off" spot instead.  Now, when its time to go, I say "Put on your shoes!" and they do.  They don't do well searching for things.  Then again, neither do I.  So anyway, now the shoes are there and there's less scrambling right before we leave the house.  And less yelling.  Usually ;)
By the way, it took months of reminding them every time we walking in the door, and reminding them to go back and put the shoes away if they forgot.  I work for laziness, remember?  ;)

No frantic cleaning

My mom is driving down today for a visit.  This used to entail a feverish cleaning today.  (I always wait until the last minute, even on feverish cleaning ;)  This is not to say that my mom is one of those condescending or critical mothers- she's not at all.  I would be, however, embarrassed at the state of my home.  For anyone (even my mom) to see past the living room (which I was able to quickly get "clean" by throwing everything upstairs) required some effort.

Not today.  Today I realized every room but my son's is picked-up.  He is there playing right now, and could have it clean in 5 minutes.  Also, my dishes are clean.  There's no sink piled high.  I "actually" cleaned the house on Monday (very quickly- a quick vacuum and dust)  Wow- I was thinking to myself this morning- what a transformation!

Now, honestly, part of this transformation is really the kids.  Instead of having an infant, which has been the case the last 3 1/2 years, I now have a 2 year old and a 3 year old.  And they both sleep through the night :)  Two toddlers sounds, to some, like a lot of work (sounds like heaven to those of you with 4, I know ;)  I find them to be a ton less work now that they play together, can feed themselves and (the newest task mastered) can put on their shoes by themselves.  Anyway, the point is much of my change was outside of my control.  Especially the sleep part.  I love sleep.  I so missed it for so long.  Having sleep (and getting to drink coffee again after a 3 year hiatus during the consecutive pregnancy, nursing, pregnancy and nursing years)  makes me a lot happier.  And more energetic.  Not that I would ever consider myself energetic.  Just more energy than before.  Before was a tired time.  So so tired.

What was I talking about?  Oh yeah.  My transformation.

So, some of the change came from life changes, but some came in the inspiration from, specifically 2, websites/blogs.
I've mentioned them before, but I certainly need to mention them. Again.  This time in more detail.  Lucky you.

I discovered Flylady.com 3 1/2 years ago right after my son was born and I started staying at home.  She has a couple major points that have stuck with me.  The most life-altering was that we've heard "If you can't do something right, don't do anything at all" throughout our lives by well meaning parents.  This is intended to teach a child a certain work ethic- which I certainly agree with.  It doesn't, I don't think, necessarily translate into the adult world where we  have so much to do everyday.  Lots of things need to just get done.  Not done perfectly, just done.  Flylady has more of a "Just Do It" mentality than a "Do it perfectly or you have failed so you shouldn't bother doing it at all" that I had before.  Another part of the "Just Do It" mentality is that few things around the house take as long as we think they will.  Unloading the dishwasher for example. I.  Hate.  It.  Hate.  Doing.  It.  Occasionally I'll time myself and discover that it only took 5 minutes.  Why on earth was I so avoiding a task that doesn't physically hurt me, and is only a 5 minute one?

Flylady also has habits she wants you to develop.  One is the swish and swipe, where I keep shampoo in the toilet wand holder and swish everyday  whenever I think about it.  I also keep windex wipes that I wipe down the entire bathroom-- mirror to sink to counter to toilet everyday whenever I do the previous.  Another habit is quick cleaning the house once a week (vacuum, dust, mop, wipe down mirrors, purge paper, change sheets, empty trash).   The last habit is doing an entire load of laundry everyday.

The other major instrument of change and inspiration is missminimalist.com  I discovered her right before we moved in June.  Something clicked in my little lazy brain.  Wait a minute, I thought, less stuff = less to pick up/less to organize/less to keep track of/less to clean/less to find places for.  I need to jump on this bandwagon immediately!  I did, as I was packing, toss/donate a bunch of stuff.  The big overhaul, though, was after the move.  I only unpacked as needed (the kitchen, the clothes, the kids favorite toys first, everything else stayed boxed until I decided I needed it, then I would unpack that box)  After a few months I realized how many boxes I hadn't even looked at, nor even though about what was in them.  I went through all those boxes and donated a ton of stuff.  We can actually get in the closets.  The kids don't have so many toys they don't know what to do.  We can pick-up the house in 5-10 minutes.  Its wonderful.  We also pared down our furniture.  It makes our space seem bigger without so much stuff.

So there you have it.  My lazy journey in  organization and a "clean" house.  It continues :)

SparkPeople

I love SparkPeople.  Love.  It.  If you want to track your calories, fiber, fat, protein, water, or "anything else you can think of" intake, it will do it for you electronically.  Awesome.  You just plug in what you ate that day.  Simple.  Easy.  Brilliant.  Oh, and its FREE.  My favorite price.

For example, I am having an egg sandwich made from EggBeaters, with 2 pieces of wheat toast, salsa and light miracle whip.  I have this for lunch on occasion.  So, I have made this a "group" that the program saves.  All I do is go to my "Food Groupings" and click "Egg Sandwich".  Done.  Now I know that I am consuming 105 calories, 16 carbs, 2 grams of fat and 9 grams of protein.  It also calculates my daily totals at the bottom.  Wow.  I obviously would have never done that on my own.  I understand Weight Watchers online program is very similar.

Either way, its nice.  Easy.  Quick.

Thanks to my friend for mentioning calorie counting today.  You've again inspired me ;) and reminded me that I "was" doing so too.  Until I got distracted.  Again.

Tablecloth

I keep a tablecloth on the table.  It seems kind of fancy but thats not really the reason.  Obviously.  Knowing me.  Obviously the real reason is that I'm lazy.  I hate to scrub the table.  Eight times a day.  Every time the kids eat.  Blah.  I hate that if I don't clean the table right away I have to scrub it later.  Even if I do wipe it down right away, before all their little baby dirty spills dry, I still have to often scrub it.  Blah.  That's for the birds.  I find it much easier to have several, washable tablecloths that I just toss in the washer ever couple of days.  Easier.  That's my line. I got the idea from a friend of mine with 4 kids. That's twice as many as I have.  Which makes her twice as smart.  And twice as motherly.  And twice as good at inventing ways to not make extra work.  Not that she's lazy.  She does, after all, have 4 kids.  She is, however, efficient.  Like I want to be.  Except with 2 less kids.

Work to be lazy.

This morning (BEFORE my first cup of coffee mind you) I unloaded the dishwasher and started to quick-soak dried beans.  This doesn't sound very lazy- but it was.  If I unloaded the dishwasher, I could load it through out the day and not have to worry about a sink full of dishes after dinner.  If I quick-soaked the beans, in 2 more steps later in the day I would have dinner ready right about now (5pm) without hardly any work.  So you see, I'm so lazy I'll even work at it and for it ;)