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. 

15 things I don't pay for

I find having to remember to buy certain things a bother.  Yes, I'm that lazy.  Also, I'm pretty cheap (I know, those are 2 ongoing themes here) and I prefer to buy something once instead of over and over and over.
So, here are some things that I don't buy (at least not very often)

1. Paper napkins:  I bought a bunch of cloth ones.  Plus, I use the ton of kitchen dishrags for the kids faces and hands.
2. Paper towels:  I use the ton of kitchen dishrags I have to clean up spills.  The tablecloth also catches a lot of spills.  The dishrags get tossed into the laundry with whatever I'm washing that day so I don't have yucky wet dishrags hanging around.
3. Dryer sheets:  I have 2 of those funny ball-like things that stay in the dryer.  I haven't noticed a difference in static
4. Water:  We bring our own everywhere
5. Coffee:  I hate to wait and wait at a drive though to pick up coffee that I can make better at home for almost free and doesn't take but 2 minutes to make.  I tend to take a cup of coffee with me almost every time I walk out the door in the morning.  I *heart* my Keurig. A lot.  Did I do that *heart* thing right?  I've never done it before and kind of think its annoying, but for the Keurig, I'll make an exception ;)
6. I love my Diva Cup.  Love.  It.  (Girls- check it out.  Seriously. You.  Check it out.  Boys- don't...or at least don't say I didn't warn you)
7. Storage:  We keep everything we have in the space we have.  I've gotten rid of a TON lately.
8. Car payment:  We've paid for each car we've gotten since we got married with cash
9. Interest on credit cards:  We pay it off.  Every month.
10. Cable:  We don't have a TV so I watch hulu instead.
11. Movies:  OK, so I pay $1 at Blockbuster Express (like Redbox) We never go out to movies.  We're not against it, we'd just rather watch a movie at home.
12. Pre-school:  We'll be paying next year for a private Spanish emersion Pre-K program.  Otherwise, we've kept the TinyTwo at home.  I like to teach them colors and numbers and how to read myself.  It makes me feel smart ;)
13. Books:  Except for text books.  Otherwise we use the library.  I read too fast to make the expense worth while.
14. I'm testing out making my own laundry and dishwasher detergent.  I'll let you know how that goes.
15. Diapers:  Hopefully. The Princess is potty training as we speak, though back in the day when I had two in diapers I used cloth BumGenius 

What do you not buy/pay for that lots of other people do?  I'm always looking for ways to cut back...monetarily and work wise - so please share :)

Rice

I learned recently that not everyone makes rice the way I was taught.  I always wondered why people bought rice makers and complained about making rice.
An interesting twist, obviously my mom taught me to make rice, my husband's mom taught my mom this trick, back before I was born.  Funny huh?  We have interesting family history.

Without further ado, drum roll please...............

Do the usual 2 to 1 water to rice ratio (ex: 2 cups water to 1 cup rice)
Bring to a boil
Put a lid on it then turn it off and leave it on the burner
Leave it alone for 20 min
Do NOT check it and Do NOT lift the lid
Fluff and serve.

OR

Boil and cover
Leave alone for 20 min

By the way, this works for white rice only, you have to simmer the brown rice for about 10 minutes before you turn the heat off for another 40 min.

Lazy dinner equation

I tend to have a basic equation for dinner:

pasta or rice (often brown instant)
+vegetables (canned or "steam in its own bag)
+can of beans or frozen shrimp or other meat (previously cooked, chopped, and frozen)
+jar of sauce (this is endless:  salsa, tomato, alfredo, pad thai, sweet & sour, teriyaki, etc etc etc)
=Dinner


Cook the rice or pasta
Open up the cans or defrost the vegetables and/or meat, possibly with the sauce (this takes 5 minutes max)
Add everything together
Eat

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?  ;)

Lazy Crafts

For a great post on lazy crafts, click here.  The author gives lots of ideas and links to crafts that don't involve a lot of mess... my favorite kind!

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 :)