Making My Home Sing ~ Battle of the Paperwork

I thought I better get back with it and attempt to make my home sing!  My original plan was to call this "Paperwork Week" and stay off the computer the rest of the week, but that isn't very practical.  However, if I post the next couple of days, it will just be some quick pics and a few words.  I've GOT to keep my focus on the paperwork because it is attacking!

I have a cabinet about to explode with all the unorganized cookbooks, recipes, stacks of miscellaneous paperwork shoved in when no time to organize, etc.  It's scary.  I can't share a before pic with you - it's that bad!  Too embarrassing and I know hubs would not appreciate it.  Just imagine a large computer cabinet (no computer in it) with doors that fly open and paper starting to shoot at you from every direction!  That would be close.

Since I can no longer locate things I need in there, I know it's past time to organize.  Also, I need to find tax paperwork which I have conveniently mixed in.  Speaking of taxes, do you realize all the stuff that bloggers have to show on their taxes?  I just discovered that even not-for-profit, hobby bloggers have to show the value of all items received for reviews as barter income and the value of giveaway items should also be declared.  You can deduct some expenses like giveaway shipping, etc. but still - ugh.  And you certainly can't pretend like you don't remember receiving those items when you've blogged about them for all the world to see, including the IRS!  If this is news to you - here are a couple of links for you to look at with some good info here and here.   But enough with the bucket of cold water!

I'm going to attack the paperwork - all day Tuesday.  That means I'm going to go offline that day.  I will attempt to stay off the computer all day so I won't get sidetracked - no e-mail, no blog reading, no commenting, no twitter, no facebook (hands shaking in anticipation of withdrawal).  If you don't hear from me on Wednesday, you'll know that the cabinet got me.  :)  I'll try to have an update for you on Thursday.

I hope to be so organized when I'm done that my home is singing an opera - LOL!  Oh and the dishwasher repairman is supposed to show up tomorrow morning - that'll make ME sing!  Only 26 days without an operating dishwasher.  Sigh.  Bright side - 26 days without any other large appliance in our kitchen would be slightly more difficult.

Are you a super-organized paperwork person?  How are you making your home sing this week?  Stop over at Mom's The Word to see how others are making their homes sing and tell Nan to get well while you're there!

Have a marvelous Monday friends!

Giveaway Winner And Making My Home Sing ~ Planning

Remember the fabulous Paperspring giveaway?  There is a winner!  The winner is...

The Real Me (Kim)

(I know, I know - I promise you that I went to Random.org and put in my comment numbers and it came back with #1.  I personally think that Kim has found a way to hack into the Random.org site, but that's just me.  LOL!  :)  She is my friend so I can talk about her like that...)

Congratulations Kim!!

Now the 25% discount for Paperspring.com is over, but my U.S. readers can still get a 15% discount on all products through the end of the year!  Just use code "stop4C15" when checking out.  And they always offer free shipping!



I love joining in with Nan at Mom's The Word for Making My Home Sing!  I thought it was about time I get back to making my home sing since Thanksgiving is approaching!  Hubs helped make it sing by renting a Rug Doctor this weekend.  So nice to know that carpet, rugs and couches are nice and clean!  Just in time for Thanksgiving guests!

I was doing my planning for Thanksgiving.  Once I have the menu planned, I schedule out what to make on which day in order to get everything done in a timely manner with the least amount of stress.  Believe it or not, that means I will be preparing some things Monday thru Thursday next week!  We eat in early afternoon on Thanksgiving day so our travelers have plenty of time to relax after the meal before driving back.  That doesn't leave much time on Thursday to prepare food, so the more things that can be made ahead of time, the better!

As I was spending time planning out which dishes to cook on which days, I realized something.  If I didn't do all that planning for the meal, things would not go smoothly.  Some dishes wouldn't even be made; things wouldn't be ready on time; I would be constantly stressed out.  Hmmm...so why would I think that keeping up my household would be any different?

Without planning my household duties - not everything gets done; things don't happen in a timely manner; I am constantly stressed out about it.  So I have some planning to do.  I'm still trying to decide just how specific I need to be and what will work best for me.  But I will start with a list of all the things that need to be done this week and split it up among the days.  We'll see what happens!

Do you follow a specific housecleaning schedule or do you just do what needs to be done automatically?  Do you just list out what needs to be done each day as it comes?  What system works best for you?

If you feel like making your home sing by cooking yummy stuff, you might want to check out all the recipes that were linked up last week for Tried and True Thanksgiving Recipes Week at What's Cooking At My House, or Tidymom's Love The Pie party going on today, or the virtual Cookie Exchange at Frugal Creativity!

Go see what's making more homes sing at Mom's The Word today!

Have a great Monday!

Making My Home Sing ~ Homemade Peanut Butter

Another Monday - another chance to join in with Mom's The Word so we can make our homes sing!

I'm trying to make my home sing by taking on new homemaking projects each week. This past week I decided to attempt homemade peanut butter! I used this simple peanut butter recipe from Grocery Cart Challenge. Gail has lots of great homemade frugal recipes over there and this one sounded easy enough.

I gathered up my ingredients, making sure to buy the peanuts from the bulk bins to really keep the cost down.

Next I processed in my food processor. It took a lot longer than I expected to get a fairly smooth texture. It's not perfectly smooth, but close enough for us!

Here it is in the jar, ready for the refrigerator. It does firm up a little more after being chilled.

I thought the taste and texture was similar to the natural peanut butter we usually buy. Gail's recipe called for up to 2 tablespoons of honey; I used just under 1 tablespoon of Agave Nectar and that was plenty sweet for us. Hubby and I could even handle it with no sweetener - yum!! I was really surprised at how simple it was to make peanut butter - I will continue!

This week I'm not sure I'll be taking on any special projects as my Dad is arriving today for a visit and will probably stay until Friday. Visiting with family will be what makes my home sing this week!

How are you making your home sing? Stop by Mom's The Word to see how others are making their homes sing.

Have a wonderful Monday!! See you tomorrow for Tea For Two-sday!

I'm also linking this up to Do It Yourself Day at A Soft Place to Land. There are so many great projects linked up for you to check out!

Making My Home Sing ~ Master Grocery Shopping List

Welcome to another Making Your Home Sing Monday! Don't you just love the thought of starting a week with a singing home? Right now, my poor neglected home is singing "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" - LOL!

Last week, I tried making yogurt (by the way, made a second batch - still quite thin, but tasty) and this time I wanted to create a master grocery shopping list. This is something I've thought about for a long time. When I make a list, it takes a while and I don't always organize it just right to keep my grocery shopping simple.

I finally did it! This isn't a list that could be used by others since I have organized it according to the order I shop the aisles of my Winco store. I also listed items that I purchase most often for my family. You could certainly use the idea to create a list that works for you though!

I listed each aisle with items I buy most often in the order that I see them and added some blanks to write in other items I might need. I put it in columns and kept it small so that I could print 2 on 1 page. I should clarify - that would be "we" since my hubby helped me do this in a spreadsheet. My hubs gets a good discount at Kinko's so it makes more sense to make copies than use up printer ink. But to further frugalize (that should be a word, I think) it, I'll be doing 2-sided copies. I'll have to remember not to throw away my list so I can use the other side! I will circle the items I need and write in the extras.

I haven't officially tested the list yet. I'm hoping to today. I'll make my list and shop to see if I need to make any adjustments before copying a bunch of them. I figure this will save me at least 10 minutes during list-making and at least 5 minutes in the store while trying to figure out what I need. That doesn't sound like a lot of time, but it does add up. And the even bigger benefit for me is that it makes the whole grocery-shopping thing (menu, list, shopping, putting away) seem just a little easier - mentally. That makes me much more likely to accomplish it in a more timely manner!

I think I'll take on making homemade peanut butter next. That sounds more fun than coming up with some sort of rotating menu plan. :)

Before I can test this list out though, I must do the GOBS of dishes waiting and get my kitchen cleaned up and singing a happy tune!

What are you doing this week or today to make your home sing? Go check out Making Your Home Sing Monday for a great card file cleaning system idea and see ideas linked up from others!

Have a great Monday! See you tomorrow for Tea for Two-sday!

Oh, and in case you were wondering - I am still planning on doing a Fall Fruits Week, but I'll do it in October. I'll keep you updated as we get closer, but it will include recipes with pumpkin, apples, pears, cranberries and chocolate along with opportunities to link up and giveaways! Our homes will be singing Fall songs!

Making My Home Sing ~ The Homemade Yogurt Project

I'm joining up again with Nan from Mom's The Word for Making Your Home Sing Monday! You really should stop by her blog to read some great posts and to see what other people are doing to make their home sing!

Last week I said I wanted to make my home sing by taking on the making of homemade yogurt. Well, I did it! It didn't quite turn out according to plan, but we ate it all and I'll be making it again this week.

My friend (Thanks Katie!) had made this yogurt recipe recently and was successful. It's a crockpot yogurt recipe from the blog A Year of Slow Cooking (if you're looking for slow cooker recipes, it's the place to go!). If you look up the recipe, you'll also want to read the suggestions and ideas in the comments. My friend added unflavored gelatin to hers before it sat for 8 hours and it turned out thick and creamy. I decided to be rebellious (there's that streak again) and make it just the way it stated on the blog.

Here's the milk and yogurt (as a starter) that I used. I didn't mean to get nonfat yogurt - oh well.

I made the yogurt so that it sat overnight in the slow cooker with a towel wrapped around it. And in the morning? It smelled like yogurt and there were some parts that had solidified a bit. I probably shouldn't have stirred it all up at that point, but I did. That's when I realized that I had some sort of yogurt "soup."

Here's the yogurt after being chilled and ever so slightly thickened! I was told that I should try straining overnight through cheesecloth, but my hubs said not to bother. He was enjoying putting it in a glass, stirring in some jam, and drinking it. I put mine in a bowl with some agave sweetener, a splash of Trader Joe's vanilla, and ate it like a cold yogurt soup! It was yummy! And we finished off the last of it blended up with fresh peaches and raw sugar - mmmm.

I'm going to make it again this week. I will still be rebellious and not add anything to thicken as I want to see if I can improve it first. I believe that my slow cooker did not stay warm enough, so I will heat a bit longer, store it in an insulated bag and towels overnight, and let it sit a little longer. It can't get any thinner - LOL!

To continue improving my homemaking skills to make my home sing some more, I'll take on another project this week. I want to make a master grocery store list. I would like something that lets me circle the items I need and have it in the order I shop at Winco. I'll let you know what happens!

Are you trying anything new to make your home sing this week? Any yogurt improvement suggestions?

I'm also linking this up to Your Life, Your Blog at Real Life! Head over to read what others are up to and link up your own post from the previous week!

Have a fabulous Monday!

Making Your Home Sing ~ Start With JOY

I hope you've enjoyed a lovely weekend! Pleasing to You is having a 100th Post Party and is asking everybody to link up posts about JOY! Since I wrote here about how I want to find JOY to make my home sing, I thought it would be a good post to link up! Go there to read what brings others joy!

I've been wanting to start working on making my home sing, so this meme is perfect! I plan to take on a new homemaking project each week. I'll post about them on Mondays as part of trying to make my home sing (and maybe even linking to Tackle It Tuesdays at 5M4M).

I will take on my first project this week and post about it next Monday. My first project will be making homemade yogurt. I already have the recipe and my hubby is very excited for me to attempt it!

I was inspired today to try to focus on JOY when it comes to being a homemaker. I will be honest - I struggle greatly with homemaking. I'm a stay-at-home mom with 1 son who attends a Christian school. I have the time and the ability to take wonderful care of my home and family. I have no excuses. So why oh why do I constantly fall short? I know it is sin in my heart. I believe it is selfishness and rebellion. I want to do what I WANT to do and cleaning floors and washing dishes are not high on that list! And I certainly don't WANT to do something that I'm told I HAVE to do! Sounds childish, doesn't it?

I am childish, but I am also a child of God. I was reminded today of just how very blessed we are as children of God! I don't deserve all the things that the Lord has blessed me with, but He has blessed me just the same. I WANT to shift my thinking to consider the things that I have to do as things that I get to do. I WANT to be a blessing to my family. But I can't do that...on my own! I HAVE to ask for God's help. He can help me overcome these struggles and make that shift. He can help me make my home sing! Instead of being a reluctant homemaker, I can be a homemaker filled with JOY!

I hope that you'll stay with me on this journey. And I do ask for your prayers in this area my friends. It means so much to me to know that I have your support!

Oh, and just so you're not overly impressed by my chocolate and dessert creations, you should know that behind every yummy picture is a complete kitchen disaster! :)

Have a JOY-filled week!

Stop by Mom's The Word to see how others are making their home sing! I'll see you back here tomorrow for Tea For Two-sday!