one stack at a time

Stacks of paper are common at my house. Either it's the math scratch paper, or it's the diagram hubby drew while brainstorming for work or general junk.. we've got a lot of paper. And most of it's trash.

But there are the other stacks of paper... the ones that need a home. I have a corner of my desk that used to be all stacked up with that kind of stuff. It was coupons, receipts, school papers, kid stuff, the stray recipe, computer notes for me.... you get the idea.. the stuff I needed to be able to find at times but couldn't. Well, that's not true. I could.. but I had to dig through the pile to find it. And it took time. I hate wasting time hunting for stuff because I can't get organized.So I decided to find a way to fix my mess. I sorted my stack so I could get a good idea of my categories...just how many piles I really had to work with. Enter the ascending file folder holder 'thing'. I gathered my folders and put my titles on them, filled them with my goodies and put them in my little holder. Presto! No more mess. And I can find what I need in seconds. LOVE. IT.Don't you think this is much better than a big pile o' paper? I do!

courtship

I watched the show 17 Kids and Counting last night. It's new on TLC and features the Duggar family of Arkansas. I am fascinated by them and I admire them. I'm fascinated of course, by the number of children they have and how they run a smooth ship and have happy, productive children. And I admire them for their religious beliefs.

Last night's episode was about courtship. Their oldest child, a son, is 20 and engaged. It showed him asking the girl's dad if they could get married, his proposal and showed them together holding hands. And that's all we're going to see. Holding hands. Because they're saving their first kiss for their wedding day. In the world today where anything goes and 'sex' is everywhere, these two are taking a pretty unpopular stance. But I admire them for it.

Boo and I went through Passport to Purity together a while back. We didn't do some of the dating parts, but we may do that sometime. She has no interest whatsoever... so I'm not in a rush. And at school they're doing True Love Waits and a book called Dateable. When you put all this info together, she's getting a very strong picture that you need to wait until you're old enough to be serious, to even enter a relationship and what the criteria for a dating partner/potential mate are.

I so wished she could have watched the Duggars last night (she was supposed to be going to sleep lol) as they are doing it right in regards to instilling in their children the desire to be pure and not give themselves away sooner than they should. It's sad to me that this family is seen as a freak show because of their religious beliefs (not talking about the quiver full movement here) and the fact that they are a clean cut, happy, productive family. I've seen much smaller families that can't pull that off! LOL

It just stuns me now far we've strayed as a country sometimes. And yet I don't know why seeing this fresh faced family is the thing that brought it to mind last night when it's splattered across the headlines, on billboards and on just about every TV show currently airing.

2 Chronicles 7:14and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

We need to pray for our country.

kinda like fall, y'all

Well, it's beginning to sorta kinda act a little bit like fall. We're below the high 90's for our highs now. It's been raining and it's in the 60's at the moment. Every year when fall starts rolling around, one of the first things I want to eat is chili... since of course, chili is 'winter food'. We'd sweat to death if we ate it in the full heat of summer.

So I've decided to jump at this little dip in the temps and make chili for dinner tonight. And because we don't eat red meat, that would usually present a challenge. But thank you thank you to Rachael Ray for creating Indian Summer Turkey Chili for her block party special. I piddled with the recipe until we could eat it without fire shooting out of our eyeballs liked it. Unlike some turkey recipes, we can't taste the difference. I'm. not. kidding.

Here's MY adaptation:

1 package ground turkey BREAST - leanest I can find
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 tablespoon grill seasoning for steak
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
1/2 an onion, diced
1/2 green pepper, diced
1/2 cup chicken broth
8 ounce can tomato sauce
1/4 cup Kraft Hickory Smoke BBQ Sauce
1 can kidney beans, drained - optional

1. Place turkey meat in pot. Season meat with: chili powder, grill seasoning, cumin and worcestershire sauce. Begin browning.

2. Prepare the onion and pepper. Add to meat when it's beginning to brown. Continue cooking through.

3. "Deglaze" with broth and add tomato sauce and bbq sauce. Add beans, if desired.

4. Bring to a bubble and let simmer for a bit.

YUM-O! Can't wait for dinner tonight!

a miss manners moment

We went to eat dinner tonight at a little Chinese place in a nearby suburb. We eat there pretty often.. so much so that one of the waiter's knows our order before we even sit down. Every now and then we like to mix it up a little bit and get something different.

We were eating and just generally chilling out toward the end of our meal and Boo started bugging Daddyman for some of his Sprite. The two of them have this funny bond between them... the cutting up and general silliness can get pretty bad. (I've been known to say "all right you two...!) Tonight she kept asking and asking for some of his drink. She was drinking water, which she always does because she her tummy can't tolerate a whole carbonated drink order like that. Anyway.. back to the nagging... she kept asking and Daddyman finally put his glass near her but began to take some long sips. I was thinking he's going to drink it all right there in front of her...just for spite. But nope!

He finished his last long sip and then licked around the end of the straw real good and then told her she could have some. She sat there stunned for a second. (At this point, I'm laughing my head off as quietly as I can.) And then she drank the rest of his Sprite. Miss Manners would be sooo proud.

I can see the black tie event invites just pouring in.

lessons from a watch

I know people everywhere are concerned about the financial crisis in our country. I am too. But just like Antique Mommy, I think not enough energy has been put into just how we got into this mess.

Let me tell you a little story...

When I was quite young... probably late teens... I saw this watch I really wanted. But I couldn't afford it. It cost something like $100 or something like that. It was gold and a Seiko and had a little chain and it was just a thing of beauty. And it fit me. Another big consideration because I had and still have super thin wrists and not just any old clunker watch looks good on me. But this was perfect. I made many trips to the jewelry counter at Sears to gaze upon it's loveliness. But I could only gaze, because I couldn't afford it.

So I hatched a plan. I could see if Sears would issue me a credit card. So with my parents permission, I applied. And wouldn't you now it... yes they would! I was elated. I bought my watch with my new credit card. I excitedly awaited my first bill to come in the mail. Would you believe it... they told me I only had to pay ten dollars. Ten dollars! I was thrilled! At this rate, I could have this watch paid off in less than a year and I would barely feel a thing.

So I paid my minimum payment for quite a few months without looking at my balance... not like I was oblivious to how things worked or anything. When I finally looked at my balance, I was nowhere near getting my watch paid off! I was stunned! I probably wasn't even half way there.

So I had to hatch a new plan. This time I would give until it hurt a little bit. After all, I wasn't making that much money. But I gave a lot more than the minimum payment and finally began to see my balance going down. I had the watch paid off in no time. When I calculated the actual cost of my watch, it made me a little sick to my stomach. But it was a lesson learned. You can't get something without giving up something... and 'credit' wasn't really created to benefit me, as much as the lender.

I've continued through life being very conservative with things. My husband grew up that way as well. When we bought our first (and only) house, I worked and we put all of that money in savings and put a down payment on it... not a huge down payment.. but something. Even though 15 years have gone by, and we could move on, we haven't. Other people would be shocked at what our house payment is... and jealous. Where we live isn't perfect... oh the stories I could tell. But it has allowed us to send our daughter to a wonderful private school in our area that we could otherwise not afford, had we grabbed up our McMansion when we finally felt like we had two nickels to rub together....like a lot of financially strapped people we know. It has allowed us to save up for our new car purchases. It also allows us to give charitably to causes we are interested in. It's not all going down a rathole to a bank somewhere.

Antique Mommy has posted a three post piece on finance. Click here for part one, part two and part three.

go pink

Even though pink is my favorite color, I'm not writing today about what a wonderful color it is. Nope.. something a little more serious. Today was my annual smashing squishing pinching mammogram. And as much as I dread sitting in that little waiting area in that funny little 'pancho' waiting my turn...feeling ever so ummm unsupported... it's an important thing. And as much as those slabs of ice ice cold plastic and metal plates just send shivers down my spine and make me want to put on a sweater rather than a funny little gown, it's important.

So if you're putting it off... if it's past time for you... go ahead and have it done. I was pleasantly surprised by my mamo clinic this time. They moved and got some new technology and I was in and out in 20 minutes. Yes I was! So GO PINK, ladies!

organizing herbs/spices

Ever since I've been 'in charge' of my own kitchen, I have hated searching for and retrieving herbs/spices for recipes. H-A-T-E-D! It was always a mess and it took me forever to find what I needed. I could 'organize', but it wouldn't take very long for everything to be a mess again. And then every night I'd be digging around for what I needed... fussing and fuming about what a mess things were in.

I brought up this point with my contractor when we were redoing our kitchen. His suggestion.. and something that he assured me his wife LOVED when he redid his own kitchen, was the corner cabinet/lazy susan spice rack thing. Well.. I thought about it for a while and then decided to go ahead and have one put in my new kitchen. But you know what.. I still hated it! HOW in the world does one organize a CIRCLE? I was stumped until....

...I 'discovered' the label maker. I made labels for all my spices so my eye can travel across the lids of all the jars where I put the stickers and look at (basically) one font to find the spice I need. I also organized them in alphabetical order with the most used things in front....putting things used less often on the back row near the other things starting with that letter.

Since I've done this, I can find my spices quickly and I haven't had to reorganize or straighten up my spice shelves even once! And it only cost me the price of a label maker, since it didn't require any special new shelves or bottles or jars etc. AND of course, the label maker is a multi-tasker. Alton Brown would be so proud!

Putting labels on my spice jars works for me...for other kitchen tips and tricks, visit Works for me Wednesday at Rocks in My Dryer here.