Clean it up and move it out

I am an organization person. I make lists for my lists. The neater .... the better. One of the first apps I got for my iphone was a grocery list and to do list. I have a goal that would be amazing, though somewhat obsessive, if I could do it. I want to have every drawer, closet and cabinet in the whole house free of clutter and only keeping things that I actually use. If someone was to walk into my house I would want to feel confident that they could open any drawer and not cringe that they would randomly choose "the shove drawer". Sounds easy in theory, but as humans we hang on to a lot of crap!

I hope to get rid of my "shove drawer." You know what that is .... it's the drawer that you have unconsciously designated to have all the crap on your counter top or floor shoved into it when someone stops by on short notice so the area appears clean. The shove drawer .... we've all got one. Ok well I have one and will be rid of it before this post is over!

Before I tackle the shove drawer I decided that I would start with the upstairs closets. I keep my beading supplies in my yoga room closet and my sewing supplies in the guest room closet and I shove all the random stuff in the armoir. It's a big mess, I can't find anything I need when I need it and it drives me insane to have all this clutter in every room of the house. I gave myself until March to do it, but I was able to pretty much get it done in 2 nights after Devon went to sleep.

Before ....


After ....

I know this picture doesn't look THAT different, but I organized all my gift wrapping stuff and found a place for my beading lap board.

Before ....



After ....

Empty (except for the stereo). Just the way an empty bedroom closet should look.

I even got that AWESOME painting hung on the wall that my sister, Elizabeth, painted for me last year for xmas.


Before ....


After ....

The left side is all my beading stuff and the right side is all my sewing stuff. It all fits nicely in one cabinet instead of 3 closets. Needless to say I threw out about 4 garbage bags of crap that was either unusable, actual garbage or outdated copies of Yoga Journal from 2005. Each of the black trays is labeled and contains and entire tray of the same color beads. Makes it easy to find what I'm looking for.

So go through you house and choose a place to start that needs a little attention and let the de-cluttering begin! If you do one cabinet a day or one area a week your ENTIRE house can be organized in about a month. That is unless you live in the real world (and have a toddler following you around un-doing what you just did) by the time your month is over you probably have to start again ;) At least you know it will only take a few minutes to straighten it up and not a whole day.

P.S. The "shove drawer" is no more.

Couldn't help myself

There is a phenomena that occurs when people are in groups and a "crisis" happens. A crisis could be a vast and wide array of events so I use the word crisis very loosely. It could be a murder, watching someone hit a parked car and leaving the scene or an argument. It is called "the bystander effect" or the "Genovese syndrome" (sounds like jen-o-veece). It basically means that people assume that someone else will "take care of it" (ie: call police, help them, etc) so everyone who viewed the event essentially does nothing. It was named after Kitty Genovese, a woman who was stabbed, raped and murdered in a hallway of her apartment building. As she was being attacked a woman shouted to the attacker,"Leave her alone!" but didn't call police and went back into her apartment. He left her in the hallway to die only to return 30 minutes later to stab her repeatedly, rape her again and take $49 from her wallet. A few minutes after the 2nd attack someone called police, but she died a short time later. Approximately 38 people in her building heard the attack, but took no action.

The only reason I shared the Genovese story is to let you know where the syndrome comes from. Despite what we may think about our individual character, the majority of us are MORE likely to do nothing if other people in the group do nothing as well. What I'm saying is if you think something wrong is happening YOU have to take it upon your self to do something about it. Don't assume that someone else will. Don't worry what others will think of you because when you're doing the right thing that doesn't matter anyway.

So .... I went to a movie last night with some girlfriends. It was with Gerard Butler and Jamie Fox. It was called, "Law abiding citizen." In spite of how I describe it it was actually a good movie. It is rated R, however, and is very graphic. There is a brutal home invasion, stabbing, execution .... there is a lot of violence and there are F-bombs. It is pretty graphic to say the least and one scene left me feeling a little queasy watching my LITERAL worst nightmare play out on screen. I know I said that I liked the movie in spite of all the bad stuff I just mentioned, but it was one of those movies that you couldn't figure out what was going to happen so in that way ... I liked it.

About 15 minutes into the movie, out of the corner of my eye, I see a mother, her 2 year old daughter, her 4 year old son and 6 year old son get up and leave. What the WHAT!!!??? WHY were they in that movie in the first place? They left the theater so I was just glad for that.

They returned a few minutes later apparently back from a bathroom break.

My friend sitting with me was equally appalled, but it didn't seem to bother anyone else. Why wasn't anyone politely (or flat out yelling at her) to take her children out? Why did they sell her tickets in the first place? There weren't any children's movies playing so they couldn't have bought tickets and then gone into the R rated one. I just didn't get it.

They settled into their seats just in time for a very graphic stabbing attack. I was sick. My face was hot and I. Was. Furious. I am definitely not one of those "this-is-how-you-raise-your-children" parents. I have my opinions and will offer them if the parent asks me, but generally keep them to myself. We can't do everything right all the time. We all make mistakes and take missteps as parents. I get that. But taking your 2, 4 and 6 year olds to a violent R rated movie just seems an obvious thing to NOT do.

I got up, found a manager and described the situation.

SIDEBAR: Apparently after 6:00 they do not allow children under 12 in rated R movies. WHY that rule only holds after 6:00 is beyond me. Like the time of day should make a difference.

I told her that I was not trying to be a bitch, but now that she had the information she could do with it what she would.

I was so proud of her because she followed me into the theater and promptly escorted them out. She also saw yet ANOTHER family of 3 equally small children sitting near by and escorted them out as well.

I know that it will probably not change this woman's mind that subjecting her children to this kind of thing is not healthy. And God knows what they see at home, but at least they will think twice about dragging their little ones to a movie at that theater in the future.

16 months: Devon (January)

Devon is just hysterical. I mean .... really hysterical.

I started keeping track of Devon's milestones at the beginning of the month. When they happened I jotted them down on the 'ole bloggedy blog that way by the time the end of the month rolls around it's already written. Easy peasy. He is doing so many new things I must have re-written this 6 or 7 times to keep up with all the changes.

He has now figured out how to get himself up on the couch all by himself much to my dismay. Within a few days he has learned to get himself down as well, although, I still have to make sure he doesn't face-plant-off-the-couch so I have to be within arms reach most of the time. I put all the couch pillows down on the floor just in case ;)He is becoming SO independent he will play by himself for about 15 minutes at a time. He will cruise around the living room playing while I make dinner or empty the dishwasher which has been such a big help.

He has started his "Movers and Shakers" classes again twice a week and he is not into them yet. He is such a shy kid ... not one to really venture away from me so it takes him a few weeks to get the hang of it and actually have fun, but when he's into it he loves it. We go to the gym 3 times a week and he has a blast there with all the new toys and the teachers positively doting on him.

Now that it is warming up I try to get him to the park a couple of times a week so he can wander around and play in the sand. Joe made a little sand box in the back yard so we'll go out there when mom is too much of a "hot mess" to go out in public ;)

He has discovered pickles and loves them. I give him a home made orange juice popsicle with dinner and he LOVES them. He calls them "pop".

His new words are cheese, duck, nana or nanana(banana), cracker, shoes, cat, car, blue, baby, baloon, bubble, peacock and shirt. Though about half of the time "shirt" ends up sounding like "shit" and peacock just sounds like "cock" and we all have a good laugh. There are TONS more that I have heard him say, but he only said them once so I don't count those. He says "pa" for cup "ba" for bottle and my favorite "What's that?" as he points to every thing around him. So curious ....

On Tuesday (a few weeks ago by the time this posts) he could "tell you what the cat/lion" said with a distinct meow and growl. By Saturday of the same week he can can do sounds for dog, owl, fish, cow and my personal favorite "bee" to which he makes a "zzzzz" sound and shakes his head side to side. Adorable. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly kids learn at this age. He makes a "funny" face (sucks his top lip in and pushes his bottom lip out) and makes "fishy" faces. He positively loves "twinkle, twinkle little star" to no end and has me sing it to him as I rock him to sleep each night, while he eats, while he plays, while we drive .... pretty much all the time. He loves books and can't get enough of them to the extent that he would rather have me read him a book than play with his toys. He still loves peek-a-boo and I am happy to oblige him in this neverendingly sweet game.

Pork tenderloin en croute + herbed potatoes = yummmm

I got both of these recipes from one of Emeril Legasse's cookbooks. It is all the best recipes from his restaurants in one book. The recipes are anything but quick and simple, but they are great for that special ocassion. I have found that if you do a little prep work ahead of time the actual cooking time isn't that bad.

The first couple of times I made it I found it to be very time consuming, but once I figured out how to time time things (ie: put the potatoes in the oven first then start the pork) it didn't take much more time than anything else I make.

The secret to perfect, herbed potatoes is this .... do NOT stir them while they cook. Cover them with herbs and oil and let them cook for 45 minutes at 400 and walk away. Being in one place on the pan gets them crispy .... turning them makes them soggy.

I was going to make this for a fancy Xmas Eve dinner, but we got home too late. Then I was going to make it as a fancy Xmas day dinner, but we were too exhausted. So this became the Day-after-Xmas-fancy-meal. It is pork tenderloin covered with a Cajun mustard, mushroom saute, and wrapped in puff pastry. The potatoes are SO good in just olive oil and fresh rosemary, oregano, basil, salt and pepper. Absolutely cravable.

15 months: Devon (December) Xmas and food

What a crazy month it has been! 3 weeks ago Devon would walk until he fell then he would crawl the rest of the way. 2 weeks ago he would walk, fall, slowly stand back up and stagger around like Frankenstein with his arms out. 1 week ago he he would slowly walk without falling (for the most part) and now he is just cruising all over the house. It is the cutest thing to see him so mobile and the look of pride on his face as he "runs" from one room to the other. He tucks his little arms up like wings and he just goes!

I have a baby gate for the upstairs, but I need to get 2 more gates since there is a set of stairs going up and a set going down to the laundry room from the main floor. We are working on his stair climbing and descending abilities, but he's not quite there yet so the hideousness that IS a baby gate is needed. His favorite things to say are: cat, Dada, spoon and the most recent (and my favorite) is,"What is that?" It comes out more like,"Wass sat?", but 2 days ago it came out as 3, separate words,"What is that?" It was hysterical. He loves pizza (thanks Dada), salmon, fig newtons and pears. He is figuring out how to use a fork and spoon (a boom, boom, boom as he calls it)and is becoming so independent. It is so cute to watch him play and use his imagination. He is stil taking a 3 (sometimes 4) hour nap and is getting back to a regular sleeping schedule after weeks of staying up late.

My Monkey Bread was quite the labor of love. It took me from 8am to 5pm to let it raise, fold, raise, mix, raise, raise, raise, raise and though it looked beautiful it wasn't the "sweet sticky bun" I thought it would be. Joe's family seemed to like it and even said that they liked it "not so sweet", but I thought it was a huge let-down considering all the time it took. I don't think I would make it again since it took so much work, but at least now I know I can make it if I needed to.

I wanted to post this picture because I have discovered a great gadget. (the clear hourglass on the far left with the handle) I am not one for gadgets in cooking .... it's cheating in my opinion. I have a toaster, a Vita Mix blender, a mixer, an electric can opener and that's it. I don't have a food processor, though I may cave since one-handed-chopping is damn near impossible with a baby on your arm. I do love this little chopper though. I saw that my Mom had one of these and when I saw it at Bed, Bath and Beyond for $7 I scooped it up. It chops nuts either fine or coarse depending on which way you turn the crank. Plus, the bottom part is a measuring cup so you no longer have to chop then measure it out. Very helpful.

We spend Christmas with my family, but Christmas Eve with Joe's family. They always do a full dinner and then we open gifts. It is so much fun for me to see all the kids opening their gifts and watching them react to what I chose for them.


Devon has hit that age where he hands you stuff until he is out of stuff then he takes the stuff away from you only to give it right back. Everything around Joe was handed to him by Devon. Notice in the first picture what is in Devon' hand. Then the 2nd picture Joe has it.

Devon handed Joe pretty much all the stuff that is laying around him and Joe thought it was just hysterical. I am so happy to have caught Joe's boisterously, wonderful laughter on film.

We did Christmas morning at our house in the morning around 8:00am. Devon sort of just had a birthday and he's only 1 so I didn't feel inclined to get him lots of gifts. I did, however, get him some wooden alphabet blocks, some wooden puzzles and a pop up toy. One of those "thingys" with 5 animals in a row then you hit a button and they pop up. He had a great time playing them before passing out for his afternoon nap. I got Joe some accessories for gadgets that he has gotten over the year (ie: Kindle, ipod, etc). He got me an iphone and the "Big Top" cup cake and 3D cookie cutters where you make the pieces and assemble them so the cookies can stand on their own (sort of like paper dolls in a way). The Big Top cup cake is basically a cake mold in the shape of a cupcake that is a little smaller than a basketball.
I made this big fuss about it when I saw it on TV so he got that for me. I would never have thought to get myself an iphone, but I have to say that I love it. It is so great. I love the "apps" that I've gotten so far and it really has allowed me to be more organized which I am all about. I got apps for grocery shopping, Epicurious (gourmet cooking recipe site), to do lists, baby games, and an app that helps me keep track of how much water I drink. That last one may seem funny to you, but I could literally go all day and only drink one cup of tea. Not so great for my kidneys among other things. This helps me make sure I am getting what I need.

Christmas at my Mom's was amazing this year. Maybe I was in a good mood, maybe I had enough sleep, maybe I just enjoyed watching Devon truly enjoy his first real Christmas (he was only 3 months last year), but I had a great time. There were lots of people there and it was loud and chaotic and great.

I call this one "Makin' out with Aunt Jane."

I got this funny little vest at Savers and thought it would be fancy for Christmas. My Dad square dances so all of the kids got him bolo ties to wear when he dances. My little sister got him a "Sherriff" star, but it was little kid size .... hysterical.

My Dad put it on Devon and it totally completed his outfit.
These are the bolo ties I got him.

All in all it was a great day and it was full of all the magic that Christmas can have .... if you're lucky.

Beyond Bread

Let's just go ahead and say it .... I am not a good baker. I can cook perfect pork tenderloin en croute and herbed potatoes as one of my regular, rotating recipes without batting an eye, but baking has always been tough for me. WHY is this? I learned to bake a pie when I was probably 7 years old so why do I still have a hard time with it?

It's probably one of those I-suck-at-this-so-I-will-focus-on-what-I'm-good-at type of things. I don't want to be one of "those Moms" who can't bake anything. The horror! Is it so much to ask for it to taste good AND look good?

My Mom has been baking since I can remember. My whole life she baked. Let me put it this way .... she baked all the desserts for my wedding. She bakes bread for her church every Saturday and has often given me an extra loaf which we literally inhale in about 2 days. I was telling a friend of mine about this and I said,"My Mom bakes bread every week. It must be easy." To which she said,"I know your Mom .... she just makes it LOOK easy." True statement.

I thought that I would just "give up" and get a bread maker to do the whole thing for me. I even priced out the one I wanted. A fancy $150 machine that could make French rolls among other things. The thought of spending that much money on a machine that could "cheat" me into home made bread bugged me. I realized that I could TOTALLY make bread on my own and gave up the machine idea all together. I have a college degree for crying out loud! I can SO do this.

I got out my fancy bread making book .... The Bread Bible. This book is incredible. If you follow every instruction you will make perfect bread probably every time. That's what I hoped anyway. The recipes are precise (IE: 2 cups and 6 and a half tablespoons of flour), a little fancy, a little fussy, and time consuming. Fine by me. As long as I could make what I wanted to make and have it turn out I am just fine with time consuming.

I wanted to start with basic white bread. This recipe describes the bread as,"What Wonder Bread, in it's soul, really always wanted to be." Sounds good to me. I like the idea of bread having a soul. About 7 hours after I made my "starter sponge", lots of mixing, waiting, rising, mixing, and more rising I ended up with these ....

They turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. They have this gloriously delicate "crunch" around the whole thing that gives it great texture and seems to hold in the moisture. This is the kind of bread that you can eat totally plain. Just good, home made, good to eat, good to look at bread.

I am writing this post now because I am waiting for my starter sponge to ferment for an hour at room temperature so I can refrigerate it over night for "full flavor potential." Tomorrows project .... Monkey Bread.

14 months: Devon (November)

WHY oh WHY do people still insist on giving me their children's' age in months after they turn 1? Sorry lady, but just say your kid is one-and-a-half .... none if this 17months stuff. Just round up to 1 and a half, it's fine. Or just say he's 1. I actually had a mom count on her fingers when I asked how old little Parker was. Turns out he was 19 AND A HALF months (like I care about the half). Why do people do this? I get it that there are milestones involved here, but no one outside your family circle and already existing close friends really care if your kid is 12 or 13 months. BUT ... since this is the way that people do things I am going to list him in months until he's 2, but THAT'S IT!! ;)

Anyway, Devon is one now and I didn't think it was possible, but he is getting cuter by the second. He gets up around 7:30 am, but is content to stay in his crib for 30 extra minutes looking at books. Joe went to get him out of bed the other day and he was flipping through "One baby laughs" like it was the Wall Street Journal. He is over teething for the moment and happily goes with me to the gym 3 times a week. The girls at the daycare just love doting on him.

We just finished the "semester" of Movers & Shakers. It was twice a week and story time is still once a week. It sounds like we do a lot of stuff (and I guess we do), but it is nice to have a schedule of things to do that get us out of the house for a little bit every day. On Fridays I either set up a playdate with Jane or another friend, go to the park or we just hang out at home. I have been trying to do the grocery shopping on the weekends so Joe can watch him and I am not dragging him on boring errands. And let's face it .... it's faster if I go by myself.

At the end of the Movers and Shakers class we put all the babies on this parachute, hold the edge and walk in a circle while we sing,"Ring around the rosie." This was the last class (of 12 weeks twice a week) and it was the ONLY time he got through this ordeal without crying. My sensitive little man.

Devon loves to click his tongue, play with bubbles, look at books, feed the ducks, make music and do anything with his Daddy. His newest "party trick" is he will "show you his muscles" which means he makes tight fists, clenches his teeth and literally shakes with muscular flexing furry sometimes even emitting a "grrrr" sound. It's hysterical.

I don't "let him" watch TV, but I have turned on "Tom and Jerry" and he was mesmerized for all of 5 minutes. He will play peek-a-boo for hours on end and is warming up to the idea of walking, but still gets around faster when he crawls which is just fine by me. He has started doing the sign for "finished" when he is done eating and with his bath. He also blows on his food .... weather it is hot or cold and it is the cutest freaking thing you've ever seen. He loves to eat strawberries, cantaloupe, peas, beef, green beans, laughing cow cheese, eggs and pasta.

I sing to him a lot and all that singing has paid off because he will open and close his little hands when we do "twinkle, twinkle" and point to the sky on the "up above the world so high" part. This literally makes me squeal with delight which makes him giggle and the song falls apart, but we always start again. It is also a super bonus when we will be driving in the car and he will be crying or carrying on and I will sing to him and he becomes instantly quiet in order to listen.

He says Mama, Dada, kitty, cat, yeah, bubble, Bob, cute and cool quite clearly, but not on demand. He is getting better at playing by himself for about 10 minutes at a time which really helps when I am trying to get dinner ready or just need 10 minutes to sit and veg. He is such a great guy and everyday I think,"He is so much fun it can't get better than it is right now." and then another day passes, he does something new and the fun continues to grow.

The Ends.