Let The Games Begin

Yesterday was cleaning day at Chez Goodneedle. Do you have a dedicated day for scrubbing, vacuuming and dusting? I don't remember why or when Friday ever became that self-assigned day of the week for me, but it has been for as long as I can recall. I have a method and an order, I try not to let anything interfere. I don't love to clean house, but I do enjoy living in a clean and organized home more than the alternative, that's my deep-seated incentive. I discovered this three-minute toilet cleaning video a few months ago, it has been a game changer for me. Okay, so toilet-cleaning has to be one of the most dreaded household chores, but-- if you make a game of it, as I now do, it's accomplished thoroughly and rapidly. I set the stop-watch app on my I-pad and try to beat the clock; my toilet-cleaning time to beat now is two minutes, thirty-nine seconds. I can be competitive, even with myself! For the rest of the house I use a weekly task chart and revel in checking off the chores as I go. I also turn up the music as I work and dance while I dust. Give it a try, see for yourself, make your cleaning day as enjoyable as possible; but, above all, avoid distractions. Don't defer any jobs for the next day, you want to completely confine cleaning day to a single one or it will drag on forever; remember-- the objective is to get to all those activities you actually like to do. Friday is behind me now, (hallelujah!) a clean and organized home is the Saturday pay-off. What recurring task is it that you dread? Can you devise a way to make it more enjoyable, or, at least, tolerable? Grocery shopping is mine, and all that it represents: from the menu planning to the list making, from the actual shopping to the bag schlepping, unloading and putting away. So far I haven't devised a method for dancing through all of that! Ideas?

Life is Good!

On this, the twelfth day of November, I am grateful for my home.

 

What's For Dinner?

This is a frequent sight in our kitchen: a grocery list is being populated with needed items based on recipes from the meals planned for the coming week. How do you tackle this task? My approach to the job has become something of a ritual. My recipes are stored in expanding folders labeled accordingly: main dishes, breakfast foods, breads and coffee cakes, vegetables, salads, etc. What appears to be a mess here is actually quite orderly (at least to my thinking). I know what I am looking for while hunting for my tried and true lasagna recipe: it's hand jotted on the end flap of the lasagna noodles box. Who else would know this? I'm guessing no one. But, that's the way I have saved all my favorites. Some are penned by my mother, my grandmother, my daughter, my mother-in-law; these are the treasured recipes, the ones I return to over and over. I know which one is on what sheet of paper by size, color and design. These are not the only recipes I possess, not by a long shot!

Nearly thirteen years ago Mr. Goodneedle built me this cookbook cabinet for my birthday. I desperately needed a way to organize an ever-growing cookbook library. It was designed for this space; I wanted it to be tucked away, in plain sight, in this corner of our kitchen. You can see how many cookbooks it holds; on the top shelf of the bottom section, behind the doors, is my box of "organized" file folders. Do I use all of the other numerous cookbooks in my collection? Occasionally, yes. Do I have other recipes in virtual folders on my computer? Of course I do; I use online sources for new recipes that I want to try and am constantly spurred on with additional ideas by sites like Pinterest too. And yet, where do I always return, week after week? Yep, you know it, those files crammed chock-full of handwritten recipes proven by generations to be exactly the meal that I had in mind; there is great comfort contained there. So, what's for dinner at your house?

Life is Good! 

Peppermint Pursuit

So... it was a few weeks before Christmas and I was searching for peppermint ice cream. I had already been to four grocery stores and they had none. Zero. Zilch. Nada. My only hope arose as I was checking out my few, measly, peppermint ice cream-less purchases when the checker asked me if I found everything I was looking for. "No", I responded, "I am looking for peppermint ice cream". I tried to make my voice sound desperate, I believe I succeeded because he immediately went to the customer service desk to check. Another gentleman emerged with an official-looking order book. "No", he replied, "we don't have any coming next week, but we should get an order in after Christmas". Now I am thinking "what's the point in that" but, instead, I held my tongue and asked him if he thought they'd have much call for peppermint ice cream after Christmas. He assured me that they would. Okay, what do I know? I ended up buying vanilla and it was fine served to guests with my Christmas cookie tray. It wasn't my first choice. Yesterday Mr. Goodneedle and I stopped at Coldstone for a treat; he had a birthday coupon.  I ordered two scoops of Peppermint Crackle, I felt entitled! It's a blend of white peppermint ice cream with chopped York peppermint patties and crushed candy canes stirred in; it was incredibly fabulous... and, the date was December 30th! Okay, so, yeah... maybe the guy in the grocery store was right after all; peppermint ice cream might just span the seasons, ice cream this good will definitely be around at least until the New Year!

And...isn't everything better with a York peppermint patty on top?
(I know, that's a rhetorical question).

Life is Good!