Now Wii see it, now Wii don’t!

In a previous post (Coffee Table Conundrum) I mentioned I had a plan for the Wii balance board and I’m finally going to share it!

The problem: I don’t like the Wii board on the ground under stuff. If you move the thing it’s hiding under it is revealed and a trip hazard. It also collects a lot of cat hair under it – ick! I also don’t like it on the coffee table top or shelf. It’s ugly and disrupts any organization. BUT, to use it, it needs to be handy! What to do, what to do?

The Wii board on the left.

The solution: Attach a discreet  Bracket under the coffee table!

Now it’s no longer visible, but it’s easy to get to! Yay me!

Interim baby stuff

We have needed lots of supplies to care for Robin, but now that we aren’t changing and maintaining oxygen and feeding tubes, I was able to downsize our supplies a great deal:

That’s FIVE tubs of stuff! I got it down to one basket and we keep two tubs handy for drying:

We’re getting closer and closer to my ideal counter top! 🙂

Coffee table conundrum

I couldn’t stand the coffee table anymore:

So I put stuff away, moved many baby supplies to the nearby changing table, and reorganized the rest. I know a lot of this stuff will have to be moved once Robin gets more mobile, but for now, this works. Tomorrow I’ll show you what I did with the Wii balance board!

Here’s the final set up!

{this moment}

{this moment} – A [Sunday] ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. As inspired by Collecting the Moments … One by One and SouleMama

File scanning break!

I am making astonishingly good progress on scanning my files!  I’m taking a quick break to share this letter I wrote to my property managers from several years ago.  I never sent it because I knew when I moved out I needed to be on relatively good terms with them when I insisted they give me my full refund, but I was really irritated with them when I wrote this letter.

July 21, 2006

InterWest Properties

Portland, OR

To Whom it May Concern;

Thank you for your concern regarding the safety of your tenants (or more accurately: your concern for your liability insurance rates). This concern is evident in your request for the removal of the bicycle depending from a hook in the stairwell written and postmarked on 7/11/06 and which was received on 7/14/06 (sadly ,the day I went camping for the weekend). The bike was removed this morning (the tenth day) around 11:30am. I would like to take this opportunity to assure you that the decision to place the bike on said hook was not thoughtlessly contrived nor implemented.

Let me demonstrate this by first explaining the reasoning that led to its placement. Since there is no adequate place to store my bicycle it has been propped up against various items. If I want to open the window, I have to move the bike into the dining room. If I want into one of the cabinets in the dining room, I have to move the bike into the living room. Someone wants to sit at the end of the couch, so we move the bike against the sliding glass door. We want to be out on the deck, we must move the bike again. I do not want to store the bike on the deck (per the suggestion in your letter) where it will get wet and rusty (which is not recommended for safe riding) as well as detract from our enjoyment of the deck. Combine this nuisance with the serious problem of carrying the bicycle down the stairs if I want to ride it. First I have to navigate it around the dining room and out the door, then somehow down the steps. I am grateful I only fell down the last three steps the last time I tried it. I was far more frightened by falling than really hurt (a few bruises on a shin), but spent the rest of the afternoon conjuring up visions of what could have happened had I tripped at the top of the stairs. I concluded I needed a more efficient and safe way to store the bike and get it downstairs.

I purchased a hardware hook, certified to hold up to 75 pounds (more than twice the weight of the bike), an eyelet to ensure the bike could be locked up against theft, and a length of rope (certified for up to 150 pounds/foot). I took the time to find the wooden beams in the ceiling and wall before I installed the hooks. These hooks were not installed over the second floor landing, nor the stairs. Passage past these hooks was in no way impeded, rendering the claim of “fire-hazard” unnecessary and inaccurate. I had no qualms whatsoever in the security of the bike and was completely confident that it would not (“god-forbid”) fall onto anyone on the first floor. I am more worried that I will fall through the weak floor in my bathroom onto the downstairs neighbors.

Speaking of the downstairs neighbors . . . We have taken to referring to one of them as “GodDammIt” since he seems compelled to yell it repeatedly throughout the day – although he is not limited to that phrase, nor the “day.” He likes to yell at two in the morning at his video games. Or at 11pm in the evening while throwing his bike around in the parking lot. Or yelling “Cunt” or “bitch” at another neighbor – who is male and doesn’t deserve either invective. I particularly enjoy when GodDammIt decides to rearrange the walls and plumbing downstairs at midnight – or that’s what it sounds and feels like with the walls and bathroom fixtures shaking in concert with his bellowing. When his tantrums become too much to bear we have found that simply yelling incoherently and jumping up and down on the floor quickly quiets him down. I have been pleasantly surprised to find that when GodDammIt gets really aggressive and demonstrative, the Hispanic families in our complex call for reinforcements and a pickup truck full of young men arrive shortly to glower their disapproval at him.

Anyway, back to the bicycle. With this method of storage removed as an option, I have decided that I don’t want to mess with it in my apartment anymore and am giving it to friends to store for the time being. So, now you don’t have to worry about anybody getting hurt. I had thought of storing it in the closets supposedly available to us in the laundry room. But since my request for a key to the laundry room was never honored I don’t want to put it where I might not get it. Which reminds me! I am impressed with the two reminder calls I received regarding this issue. Your office sure is on top of this! It just amazes me because I left four messages regarding the key to the laundry room before I finally actually got to talk to Tina about it. And even after my second reminder call to her, I have never received it. I am sorely tempted to disregard your request and messages just as mine have been disregarded.

This reminds me of the car that has been “disregarded” in the parking lot. It has never been moved (or even entered?) since we moved in to our apartment in January. I thought it had an interesting camouflage interior material until my roommates drew my attention to the fact that it is an incredible growth of mildew on every surface that lends it that splotchy look. The dust covered cobwebs shrouding it attest to its neglect.

Speaking of neglect, I’m reminded of the child we refer to as “Naked Knife Boy” who lives across the parking lot on the second floor. He looks to be about three years old and is often on the deck in only his diaper with a pen knife carving on the deck railing. He is very friendly and likes to talk and share disturbing information such as “rat poop is not food” and a story which has subsequently led us to discreetly referring to his parent as “Scat Porn Mom”.

Porn reminds me, too, of the guy who sells Goodwill gems to anyone he can talk to off the street. We call him “The Guy Who Doesn’t Want to Sleep With Carrie”. He likes talking to pretty young women. Don’t get him wrong, he loves his wife and doesn’t want to sleep with you, but he likes their pretty smiles. He lives in my building, too. Next door to “Ferret Camero Kid!” We’ve never seen him, but you know he’s around because of the unmistakable stench of ferret. My neighbor shared with us that we wouldn’t want to use the laundry room after he was there because of the huge amount of cockroaches and other bugs attracted to his filth and your laundry smelled like ferret when it came out of the dryer.

Anyway, talking about the laundry room has reminded me that, those same neighbors gave me a key to the laundry room (since you never did) and I went down to check out my storage closet. It was full of stuff and padlocked closed. I called your offices numerous times and sent letters, but you never did anything about it, either. I can only assume you were guarding the safety of whomever it was that used my storage closet the five years I lived there.

Thanks for your concern!”

Note cards.

I take after my father when it comes to greeting cards: it’s a surprise if I think about it. Unlike my mother, who sends birthday, anniversary, and graduation cards to both her and my father’s extended family. She is punctual about it and spends time and effort picking out the right card, year after year, for them all. She’s amazing!

I stink at it! I am so bad! Despite watching her for years, seeing how much value she feels it has .. I don’t.  I just don’t feel the same. I’m also indifferent about giving gifts.  Sure, I love you and value our relationship, but I don’t feel like it’s important for me to find a token gift that very often isn’t useful or enriching to the person who’s birthday it happens to be.  Now, when I DO find something that is perfect for anyone, I don’t hesitate to buy it!  Often without too much regard for price. If I KNOW that this gift is something that will fill the recipient with joy and excitement and will likely get lots of use – consider it bought.

Same thing with cards. I don’t look for cards for people. I just try to write notes to people when I find myself thinking about them.  I’m not that good at it (so if you haven’t gotten a card, it’s not because I’m not thinking of you!), so I have a little book that helps me.  You saw it here yesterday, in my desktop sorting basket:

I had an opportunity to use it today and it occurred to me that I should share it with everyone!

So, I think this was a gift or give-away from my mother – a simple, small notebook.

Some people are always eloquent, with legible handwriting, and accurate spelling.  Not me. I have found I waste fewer cards if I wright a rough draft.  Even if it’s just a couple sentences – I’ll mess up the spacing or their name or something. So, I write it out here and try to check my spelling and grammar.  An extra benefit is I can look back and see what I’ve written to people in the past!  It’s fun to see what I thought was noteworthy in my life when I wrote it.

Inside, I keep a flag on the next empty page and a note card right inside. More often then not, the card there works for what I want. When I open it up, I’m ready to write!

If that card doesn’t quite work, I can turn to the back where I’ve glued an envelope and put in a variety of other cards. I also keep some address labels here.

Since I write these cards right by my computer I have instant access to my address book (Google’s Contacts) and my stamps are stored in the same space as the book, so I am able to draft, write, and address the note without a hassle!

{this moment}

{this moment} – A [Sunday] ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. As inspired by Collecting the Moments … One by One and SouleMama

Taming the chaos 6, 7 and 8

I have finished chapters 6-8 in Organize Now!, which coincides well with the blog-iverse trend of organizing our paperwork and/or offices this month.   Chapter 6 was regarding Finances (see my previous post), 7 is Bill Paying Systems (also taken care of along with 6), and 8 is Receipts & Taxes.  We are fortunate in that our taxes are pretty straight forward.  We have taken care to track and keep the paperwork the last few years for our free lance work, but neither one of us has made any significant money to be taxed or to exceed our standard deductions.  Even last year won’t be too bad with my and Robin’s hospital stay since we spent less than the minimum needed.  So, from reviewing last years taxes, I think this year we’ll only need three folders:

1. Expenses – for items that might be deductible (medical bills, child care) and insurance explanation of benefits
2. Income – to verify against our W2s, etc).
3. To Pay – for those bills that are still mailed to us (everything else is automated).

I keep these in a Longaberger Sort and Store desktop basket (Which is being retired soon.) along with my notepad for letter drafts (I write a rough draft of all my letters and notes because my spelling and handwriting are horrible!!); note cards, stamps, and (coming soon!) Project Life cards.

Next up in the Organize Now! book are:

Week 9: Organize Your Files – I am working on it! I have a lot of weird miscellaneous stuff to go through and scan or just finally DO, but I have the bulk of it taken care of.

Week 10: Organize Your Magazines and Newspapers – We don’t get newspapers at all and we get three magazines total and they are all organized already (my two magazines are on my scrapbooking shelf and the husband passes his off to his father).

Week 11: Organize Your Email and Social Media – This is also done already.  I keep these things in check pretty constantly.

Week 12: Organize Your Mail – Also done! We don’t get much mail and I am very good at opening, sorting and dealing with the mail right away.

SO, after taking care of my files, I’ll be moving on to the section “Organize Your Things” where I’ll be working on organizing Robin’s toys, then my crafts and photographs.  There are other “Things”, but these three things alone are going to take me a LOOOONNNGG time.  Heck, the scrapbooking shelf has already been a big project for some time now…  But, I’m excited to be able to mark it off!!

Other scrapbook shelf plans

I thought I’d jot down my plans for the scrapbooking shelf reorganizing!
I’d like these photo boxes to go with the green notebooks, etc, or come up with a complementary color. I’m also not thrilled with how my off sized albums are fitting.

This is the “big sized paper” shelf and I’d like to cover a box to put it all in. Then an open paper divider for the papers one shelf down can sit on top of it.

I’d like the pen drawers to be white, but … meh. Those papers on the left will go up a shelf.

Paper labels are going to cover the drawer fronts and that’s all that’s changing here!

Prettier boxes will store my vintage articulation card collection and stamps and supplies.

And then I’ll put up some framed photos and be all done! 🙂

Food town planning

Last month I made the following meals and here’s what I thought about them:

1. Beef and Cabbage (my own ‘recipe’) – a tasty and simple concoction. I’m not sure how it would freeze… maybe after it’s baked? But we eat it pretty quickly once it’s cooked, so that’s sort of moot.
2. Amazing Lentils and Kale from (allrecipes.com) – (what I said in the previous post) “It really is amazing. Easy to make and my carnivorous husband ate it and the leftovers readily. He did mention ham at some point, but it wasn’t too important to him.  Serving it with rice or bread may have made it last longer, but it already fed us for three meals, so I’m cool with that.” Again, it did not get frozen.  I’m not sure how well it would work if it was frozen pre- or post-cooking.
3. Meatloaf with Rosemary Potatoes (from Baked in the South) Didn’t care for the taste, the loaf was squishy, and there was (relatively) significant preparation before freezing.
4. Honey Sesame Chicken (from Baked in the South) Tasted alright, but not stellar. Loved how easy it was to bag, freeze, and cook.  I may do this again, but change the seasonings.
5. White Chicken Chili (from Baked in the South) Another one that only tasted alright.  The husband liked it more than I did. Pre-cooking the chicken was a pain (says the super lazy girl).
6. Beef Stroganoff (from Baked in the South) Bleh. I really didn’t care for this one, either, but the husband liked it.
7. Thai Chicken Wings with Peanut Sauce (from Baked in the South) We ate it, but thought it could be a little more ‘thai’. Also, I’m not going to use drumsticks next time, maybe healthier chicken filets.
8. Indian Chicken Curry (from Skinny Mom’s Kitchen) – (from my previous post) “although it was a “cook everything now and freeze your leftovers” type of meal it was pretty good.  I felt there was way too much cinnamon in it and would have easily benefited from onions, peppers, and carrots too.”
9. Salsa Chicken (for Quesadillas) (from Skinny Mom’s Kitchen) – Dude, shredding chicken is a pain! But it tasted alright in Quesadillas.
10. Pho (which isn’t a freeze-ahead kind of meal, I just wanted to use some rice noodles and my husband loves Pho!) – I never made it. Didn’t find any marrow in the one store I asked at.
11. Spinach and Feta Oven Omelet Breakfast Bagel Sandwich (from Skinny Mom’s Kitchen) pretty good. I still often chose cereal or pb&j over these, though.
12. Blueberry and Banana smoothie packs as inspired (from Skinny Mom’s Kitchen) ended up making very large or two servings!  Otherwise, same thing – cereal or pb&j trumped! I think because it was so big, you had to pound on the frozen lump to get it to break up enough for the blender to blend it.

What I learned:

• I preferred the “no prep other than chop and measure” and “open, pour, and heat” meals.
• I am incredibly lazy.
• Raw and frozen potatoes don’t cook very well. They turned black and had a grainy texture.  I wonder if they would work better if submerged in a sauce?
• Frozen and reheated mashed potatoes do work well, though! At first, after the mashed potatoes were thawed, it looked watery and gross, but as soon as you heat it up it was fine!

Planning for this time!!

ON HAND:

• 3 lbs lentils
• 1 lb small red beans
• 1 lb brown rice
• 2 cups parsnips
• 1 cup beets
• 1 cup potatoes
• 3 carnival squash
• 1 lb cheddar cheese
• 1 bunch of kale
• 1 large cabbage

SALES:

• BOGO Free meat sale!
• Baby carrots
• Jackson sausages (digital coupon)
• Eating Right Meals (digital coupon)