My online organization system

(I am double-dipping with this, since it is both my Works for Me Wednesday post and my Keeping Creative Kitchens post.)

When I became aware of the wonderful world of blogging, I was quickly overwhelmed by the amount of tips, advice, and information I received. I would start at one blog, where someone would share some bit of incredible information, then they would have a link that led me to another bit of incredible information. Before I knew it, I was visiting so many different places and picking up so many bits and pieces of things that I wanted to remember.

Can you say "information overload"??

Another frequent habit was reading something and thinking that I would remember it down the road, or that I would at least remember that so-and-so was the blogger who had the really great recipe that I wanted to try the next time I had company.

This "remembering" system really didn't work out for me.

At some point towards the beginning of my web-hopping journey, I stumbled upon a blogger who had created a separate blog, just for storing information. I thought it was a neat idea, but I was still under the impression that I could remember the things I really wanted to remember, so I never thought about implementing the idea for myself.

Then, one Wednesday, while browsing all the many great ideas shared through WFMW, I suddenly remembered this ingenious idea. I created a new blog for myself, with the purpose of using it only to store information for my own personal use. It was one of the best things I did in 2008!

I set it up through my blogger account, and created it to be a private blog. I am the only invited viewer/author. I did this for two reasons. First, I want to be able to jot down information in my own short-handed way, and not have to worry about it being understandable to other people. Second, I use it to keep track of things that I don't necessarily want others to view, such as what I got everyone for Christmas (and where it was hidden).

Now, anytime I see something online that I want to remember for future reference, I create a new post on my information blog, write a little blurb about why I am storing the info, create a link to it, label it appropriately, and publish the post.

For instance, about six weeks ago I came across a blog that had tips for creating freezer meals. After reading those tips, I remembered storing some links to recipes that I wanted to try, and thought they might be good candidates for freezer meals.

So, I went to my information blog and clicked on my "recipes" label, which brought up all of my posts related to recipes. I browsed through and found the links, plus a few others I had forgotten about. I added a new label to those posts called "freezer meals", and also created a new post so I could store the blog with the freezer meal tips, along with some other links I picked up along the way. Someday, after I finally clean up all the Christmas decorations and have motivation to cook again, I will return to those posts and hopefully plan a time to create some wonderful meals and put them in the freezer.

I have labels for kitchen, laundry, cleaning, organization, parenting ideas, entertaining, couponing, etc. (I have more than 30 labels, and continue to add new ones as needed.) I also used this to keep track of my Christmas planning for the year - anything related to the Holidays got a "Christmas" tag. This allowed me to keep track of what cookies I wanted to make, the links for those recipes I had found online, what ingredients I needed to have for each of them, what I needed to shop for, etc.

This has become such a useful tool for me, and I am no longer overwhelmed by trying to track all of the great ideas and recipes I find online. I'm sure there are other systems out there that are designed to help people keep track of these things, but this is what works for me.

Head over to Rocks in My Dryer for more WFMW ideas and to Meant to Be for ideas on Keeping Creative Kitchens.

P.S. I would like to give credit to the blogger who originally had this idea. However, since I read about it many months prior to implementing it, I didn't save the link and now have NO IDEA who that person is. **sigh**

WFMW - Toddlers in the kitchen

Today is an "in the kitchen" theme for Works for Me Wednesday, which is highly convenient because I was already planning to write something about the kitchen. I love it when things work out that way!

When we moved into this house a few months ago, I knew I would have to do things differently because Kaitlyn would go from having ZERO access to the kitchen to having FULL access.

I read on someone's blog that she created a special cupboard in the kitchen for her kids, where they could easily access a few specific things, and decided to do a version of that in my kitchen.

(I wish I could remember where I saw this so I could give proper credit.)

I designated the bottom drawer as Kaitlyn's. In it are her cups and bowls. (All of her sippy cups were in the dishwasher or dirty when I took this picture - it isn't usually this empty.)


I also have a small island, and in its cupboard I keep all of my plastic containers:

The most convenient thing about this setup is that whenever Kaitlyn is curious about things in the kitchen and wants to get into cupboards or drawers at her level, I can direct her attention to these places.

She has learned that she has full access to this drawer and cupboard without mom getting upset. I let her pull things out to her heart's content - it's a harmless way to keep her occupied while I make dinner or clean up.

At some point I plan to reorganize some of my other cupboards and will more fully utilize the empty space in my island cupboard, but anything I put in there will be Kaitlyn-friendly - plastic measuring cups, bowls, etc.

Also, as she gets older, I will start to include snacks or other food items, like cereal, so she access them by herself.

Visit Rocks in My Dryer for more in-the-kitchen tips and ideas!

Works for me Wednesday - Pandora

A few months ago, I was introduced to the wonder of Pandora. Here's how it works:

1. You type in the name of a specific artist, or a song, or a style of music.

2. Pandora will find music similar to the artist, or song, or style of music that you entered, and will play it for you. For example, if you enter "James Taylor", it will create a playlist based on his style of music that will include some songs from him, and lots of songs by other artists like him.

3. If you create an account, Pandora will give you the opportunity to provide feedback on the songs you like or don't like. If it plays a song that you really like, you can give it a thumbs up. If it plays a song that you hate, you can give it a thumbs down. This helps the site to refine exactly the type of music you want to hear.

The great thing is that you can create lots of "radio stations", and every time you log in you can choose one you have already created, or you can start a new one.

And, the thing I REALLY love about it is the "QuickMix".

The QuickMix allows you to combine several of your stations into one big playlist. I love this because my musical tastes are all over the place, and Pandora allows me to bring them all together in one big group hug.

Here are the "stations" in my current QuickMix:
Salvador
James Taylor
Bon Jovi
Disco
The Righteous Brothers
Hillsong

See what I mean about my tastes being all over the place?

Another great thing (how many times have I said that now?) is it has introduced me to new artists. (Or old artists that I've heard of, but never paid attention to.) When I hear a song that I like but don't recognize, I'll click over to Pandora and it will give me all the info about the song/artist/album.

AND... it's all FREE. No commercials.

That totally works for me! Take a peek at Rocks in my Dryer for more great Works for Me Wednesday ideas.

Works for Me Wednesday

I'm not participating in WFMW this week (I enough going on right now, thank you very much!) but I did at least want to post a link to it, because it is a themed edition: recipes with five ingredients or less.

And who couldn't use some really fast and easy recipes?

So, there you have it. My good deed for the day. If you find something really good, please come back and share it with the rest of the class!

WFMW - Stopping nighttime leaks

Kaitlyn definitely inherited my bladder. It can hold a lot. A LOT. And no matter how much we try to not give her a lot to drink before bed, she somehow manages to store it all up and wake up with a very full diaper.

She very rarely would soak through during the night, but in the morning it was always a race to get her diaper changed before she went to the bathroom again. We seldom won the race, and she would end up with wet PJ's. (Or worse, she would pee while we were changing her.)

Then one day I discovered these:



And there was much rejoicing throughout the land!

They work so well for us. Since we've switched to using them at night, we haven't had one problem with leaks. Woohoo!

If your kids are still in diapers, and if they have trouble with leaks at night (or first thing in the morning) I highly recommend these!

Head over to Rocks in My Dryer for more Works for Me Wednesday tips and ideas.

WFMW - Entertaining with Sloppy Joes

I am here to announce that I have found my signature "having people over" recipe. You know, the go-to recipe. The one that everyone likes and is easy to make. The one that I can practically recite from memory.

Drum roll please... It is this sloppy joe recipe from Rachael Ray.

(Thank you Sara for being the one to introduce me.)

You might be thinking, "Um... Sloppy Joes? Really? This is your go-to recipe?"

Yep.

I have made this recipe several times now and the three times I've made it for company it got rave reviews. In fact, I heard from a reliable source that a certain red-headed brother-in-law of mine had four sloppy joes the time I made it for my family.

What makes this recipe so special?

I'm glad you asked! First, it's delicious. It's a grown-up version of sloppy joes and is so much better than using a canned sauce.

Second, I can make it ahead of time and then reheat it just before serving it.

Third, it is very unpretentious and is a kid-friendly dish. Almost everyone can appreciate a good sloppy joe*. And for the stage of life that we're in, we have many years in our future where we'll need to have kid-friendly meals if we're going to have people over.

(*Side note: the recipe calls for a red bell pepper and an onion, which some people might not appreciate. I'm sure you can leave these out and it will still taste yummy. The last time I made them I left the onion out but kept the pepper in, and one of our guests, who isn't incredibly fond of peppers, asked what kind of tomatoes they were. :-) He was surprised to learn that he was eating peppers.)

Fourth, it's easy to find simple sides to go with it. French fries, chips, potato salad, and veggies with dip are all things that go great with this.

I also have to mention that these fruit bars from The Pioneer Woman make a great dessert to finish off the sloppy joe meal.

And another thing I have to mention is that if you struggle with having people over because you feel like everything has to be perfect, you must read this post by The Queen B. I've been trying to work on this and her post was a great encouragement.

Head over to Rocks in my Dryer for more Works for Me Wednesday ideas!

WFMW - Using the lint roller

On Sunday as I walking around the house, getting ready for our open house, I was in the dining room and bent down to pick something up when I noticed crumbs under the table. LOTS of crumbs. They had somehow missed the reach of the broom from the sweep up we had done the night before. Grrr.

I looked up and happened to see the lint roller. I grabbed it and used it to quickly "sweep" up the crumbs. It worked beautifully! I then carried it around the house and used it to touch up other areas - floors, window sills, and other miscellaneous surfaces.

Another great use for this is to pick up that last little line of dirt that I can never get onto the dust pan. We have lots of wood floors in our house so I use the broom and dust pan a lot, and there is always that last stubborn little bit of dirt that refuses to get on board. Now I can just roll it right up with the lint roller - woohoo!

I got on the 3M site and found this page with other creative uses for a lint roller. If you have others to share, I would love to hear them!

For more Works For Me Wednesday tips and ideas, visit Rocks in my Dryer.

Works for Me Wednesday - Awesome Fruit Dip!

This is my first week to participate in the Works for Me Wednesday carnival hosted by Rocks in my Dryer. I've received some pretty cool tips from checking out what other people have posted and decided that I should join in the fun.

This weekend I had my family over for dinner, since my sister who lives in California was home for a visit. (And by the way, I think she should move back. I mean, who wouldn't choose the never-ending winters of the midwest over the sunny beaches of SoCal?) For dessert I made an incredibly easy fruit dip. Here is the recipe:

Fruit Dip

Prepare one box of sugar-free butterscotch pudding.

Mix in fat-free Cool Whip, until you get a the consistency and taste that you like.
The end.

I told you is was easy! I also made a version where I mixed the pudding with whipped cream cheese. Mmmmmm. Everyone LOVED it. It's especially good with apples because the butterscotch gives it a caramel-like flavor. My sister brought chocolate chip cookies and everyone loved putting the fruit dip on the cookies, too. And it's good on graham crackers. And it's good all by itself. Mmmmmmm. And the Cool Whip version is FAT FREE. Woohoo! (Well, it's not fat free if you put it on cookies...)

Head on over to Rocks in my Dryer to see more WFMW tips!