31 Days to Get Organized Challenge – Day 3: Set up a Donation Bin
Today is an easy one for me! I’ve already done this! I have been collecting stuff to donate for months! It’s called hoarding! 😉
No, in all actuality I have a big pile of stuff to take to my favorite thrift store: Deseret Industries.
I will be taking a large donation in during the month of May! Can’t wait!
31 Day Get Organized Challenge: Day 2 – Conquer your Master Bedroom
Hey kids! Day two of this challenge! Are you pumped?
I’m actually kind of beat, to tell you the truth. But I did my ten minutes… and am I finished? NO.
Here is the video today!
I am actually not going to do a full blog on this one but I want to share a funny story about my husband and I that kind of explains our relationship (and the state of our master bedroom!).
I was in the bathroom one morning, getting ready, and when I left the bathroom to go downstairs, my husband is standing there, looking at the bed.
Husband: Why… are there tongs on the bed? There weren’t tongs when I woke up this morning, right?
Wife: Oh, no.
Husband: So… why are there tongs on the bed?
Wife: Oh, they were in my purse. (Exits to go downstairs.)
Husband: … That does not answer my question at all.
That pretty much sums up our relationship and the state of my bedroom and purse!
He still doesn’t know…
Tomorrow’s Challenge: Set up a donation bin!
31 Day Get Organized Challenge: Day 1 – Folding the Laundry
So excited to start this Get Organized journey as a way to kickstart my new blog! I don’t know that I will blog about this every day because that might get a little too much (and distract from my progress!) but I am excited to share about this particular topic today!
So, two things about me.
1) I love my mom but she ruined me for life. She is the laundry master and always took amazing care of my clothes growing up and while she taught me to do laundry, she also usually did my laundry for me. So, I never really knew what a privilege it was to have someone take such amazing care of your clothes. I know, first world problems. 🙂
2) I love clothes. And I have a horrible time giving away or (gasp) throwing away the ratty ones.
And now that I have this amazing job, I can afford the frocks that I like and have no excuse to keep the older stuff that I no longer wear.
SO, basically I just live in a sea of clothes that I do not wear but have no intention of getting rid of.
SO, I’m kind of like this. But instead of clocks (that are useful), clothes. SO many clothes. Clothes I haven’t worn since before I had my son. Old costumes from when I used to do community theatre. MATERNITY CLOTHES. Also an assortment of clothes that my child has worn through his various sizes. LOTS of stuff I do not wear and will never wear again.
And I rotate about 20 different outfits that I actually wear, which live in two different places: my laundry baskets or my dryer.
Contents of my dryer aka my dresser. I’m an adult!
When I do move things out of my dryer, they usually make it to the couch or chair.
THIS COUNTS AS A CLOSET ACCORDING TO MY LANDLORD
And sometimes… if they garment is really special or dry clean only, they get to hang on my coat rack… along with my child’s parka.
Wait… you don’t keep formal dresses on your coat rack in your living room?
SO, this is my secret shame. Well, not so secret shame because I don’t have a ton of shame in my game because I have a busy life and my house isn’t like a creepy hoarder house by any means. But this was a PERFECT first challenge for me! SO, tonight I folded everything that was in my dryer and two more loads! Feels good and I feel like if I just do ONE load of laundry a night a week (and immediately bag up what I am GIVING AWAY) then I will be caught up in… approximately a million weeks 😉 Just kidding. We’ll see how long it takes me to get my laundry situation under control! Stay tuned!
Tomorrow’s Challenge: Conquer your Master Bedroom
31 Day Get Organized Challenge: It’s Not All or Nothing
I’m a not-so-newlywed. I had an amazing wedding at the end of 2014 to the love of my life, Jeff, and he moved in with my son, Dylan and I in November.
Kind of.
I was in the middle of changing jobs when we got married and my primary focus after the wedding was getting settled in a new job. A VERY abbreviated honeymoon, LOTS of stress, lots of changes all at once compiled onto also combining households My husband had the majority of his life stored in the home of his mother and as ashamed as I am to admit this that he has not fully moved in as we approach our six month anniversary.
I am now ensconced in an incredibly fulfilling, moderately stress free job and thriving. But now it’s my husband’s turn to be stressed: he is working two jobs as he officially joins the Actor’s Equity Association – something he has been working towards for several years. So, he is NEVER home. Compounded on that is that we have two friends staying with us briefly as one is working in town and one is waiting for her new home to become available to her. So, we’re crowded, we’re never home, and we’re pressed for time. And my mother in law is re-doing her rooms starting May 1.
She gave us six months – and ended up doing a lot of the organizing and helping us… but it’s all here. It’s all here in my three bedroom house and I haven’t a CLUE how to get organized.
And then my childhood friend posts about a group she is putting together on Facebook: 31 Days to Get Organized.
My reactions came like this:
1 – That’s really awesome! I want to do that!
2 – Oh… that is super daunting.
How in the heck can I clean every day with a full time job and a kid and a husband who is never home?
And then I thought to myself: Why is it all or nothing? Why can’t I just improve my life 15 minutes at a time? Why must I force extremes upon myself.
So – tomorrow, I am going to start this challenge. Because it actually started TODAY but my life is incredibly busy at the moment and I was moving furniture with our best friends all evening. But starting a day late does not mean that I shouldn’t start.
My Challenge for Tomorrow: Folding the Laundry
Stay Tuned!
Chilled (Or not!) Roasted Broccoli Salad
My new go-to salad to share!
Made this for book club a couple of weeks ago and it stretched into two lunches. I was serving this as a trio of summer salads for my book club so I served it chilled – but it tastes perfectly good hot out of the oven as well!
Ingredients:
- Two sixteen-ounce bags of frozen broccoli florets
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Six lemons
- Fresh mint
- Dried Sage
- Fresh garlic
- Kosher salt
- Course ground black pepper
- Sunflower seeds or pine nuts
- Parmesan Cheese (Optional)
- Bacon
Dressing:
This dressing recipe was given to me by my BFF/sister from another mister, Libby, and her mother. I use it for roasting veg and salads alike – it’s so versatile! Note that my measurements are not specific – I’m pretty picky about my spices and just have to eyeball it/taste it to make sure it appeals to my taste-buds.
- Squeeze 6 lemons, strain to rid of pulp and seeds.
- Whisk in a couple of splashes of olive oil. (This is really to taste. Some folks like an oilier dressing than others. I prefer more lemon juice – but do what’s right for you!)
- Pinch of kosher salt.
- Pinch of coarse black pepper.
- Pinch of dried mint.
- 2 fresh garlic cloves, chopped.
- 1 tsp of dried sage
Whisk it together. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place a sheet of aluminum foil on two cookie sheets. Lightly sprinkle with olive oil.
Place frozen broccoli on each cookie sheet. 1 bag = 1 sheet.
Drizzle about 2/3 of the dressing on the frozen veg. (Set aside 1/3 of it for the next day in a covered container. Best if not refrigerated.)
(Optional if serving hot: sprinkle Parmesan cheese to taste.)
Roast veggies for 20-25 minutes.
Toss with roasted sunflower seeds (or pine nuts) and coarse bits of bacon. Cover bowl and refrigerate over night.
Serve in large bowl and drizzle last 1/3 of dressing over mixture before serving.
Enjoy!
Anthropologie, you are drunk.
Having a mental health day while my honey is at rehearsal… Pretty aimless except I have approximately 700 loads of laundry to do. Perusing this Buzzfeed article while I avoid doing housework… I find this:
“Spectrum Broom” – $68????
Are you FREAKING kidding me? A decorative broom rainbow broom for the same price I spend on a week of groceries?
I then have this interaction with my friend Sarah who is obsessed with rainbows due to her two lovely Rainbow Babies:
Sarah: I WANT THAT BROOM!!!
Me: I WILL MAKE YOU THAT BROOM FOR 8 DOLLARS. IT MAKES ME WANT TO STAB PEOPLE!
Sarah: PRETTY!
Me: SO MUCH STABBING!
Then I Googled brooms and paints for a half an hour to see if I could actually make a decorative broom for 8 dollars. I think this is how Etsy shops are created.
And then I spent another half an hour reading about the conditions of their workers and got very angry. And then super tired.
And then I figured I had avoided housework long enough and it was time to actually start laundry.
And this is why I shouldn’t be tasked with the housework. How can I affect social change with so much freaking laundry to do?
It all goes back to Liz Lemon.
Hello world!
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Millennial Mormon Mom 