Rocks In My Dryer

So Sweet Your Teeth Will Hurt

(Stay to the end for a giveaway!)

I have confessed my particular weakness for organizing containers of any shape, size or color.  When KangaRoom contacted me about about their products, my first thought was, "Kangaroos?  That means pockets!  POCKETS!  And maybe even zippers!"

It's just almost more joy than I can bear.

Their stuff lives up to the cuteness of the name.  KangaRoom has been featured in Domino and Real Simple and all those other magazines that make me twitch with happiness.  They offered to let me try out something from their Joey and Jane kids' line, and they sent me this.

Oh, y'all.  It's a set of organizing bins shaped like chocolate cupcakes.  The "cake" part is a zipper, and the "icing" part is a drawstring pouch.  With a little cherry-shaped button on top.  For twenty dollars a set.

I have to compose myself for just a minute.

You wouldn't believe how much stuff will fit into these, and they are so easy for my little daughter to use.  Here's a picture of the smaller cupcake, hard at work in her room:

I'm so tickled with the KangaRoom products that I asked them if they'd be willing to give one away to you.  They said yes!  So head over to KangaRoom, look through all their clever stuff (don't miss the kids' line), and come leave a comment on this post saying which product is your favorite.  I'll draw a random winner from all the comments, and they'll win a $50 gift certificate to KangaRoom.  I'll announce the winner this Thursday morning.

Have fun!

THE COMMENTS ARE NOW CLOSED.

Breathing

There is a pile of grass-stained soccer cleats in the floor of my van.

The leaves we never got around to raking last fall are cheerfully decomposing, revealing their hidden treasures of rusty Hot Wheels cars and Legos underneath.

Strange contraptions are appearing in my backyard, contraptions made of a stick, curling ribbon, a deflated ballon and Scotch tape:

Curious holes appear around my backyard, most likely dug using my good spoons.

My daffodils bashfully reveal their color, while the hyacinths get ready explode right into theirs.

Something in me stretches, and yawns, and breathes deeply.

It must be spring.

Wonder Woman Is Just a Chick In Tights

I think the "momosphere", as the mom-blogging world is sometimes called, is a lovely place.  It's a fantastic way for women to connect and gain ideas and encouragement.  It's an especially sweet tool for moms of preschoolers.  That is a precious stage of life, but it's an isolating one.  As we peek into each other's homes via our blogs, we get a glimpse of women who are struggling with the same things we are.  We can urge each other on to be better, to try harder, and this is mostly a beautiful thing. 

Mostly.

But I think it can also lead us down the well-traveled road of comparing ourselves to other women.  I've walked that road myself.  A lot.  Considering that each woman is facing unique challenges, unique life situations, unique marriages, unique socio-economic issues, etc., comparing yourself to another woman leads only to heartache and frustration. 

We're not the same.

And the momosphere, for all the good it does, makes it easy to fall into the trap of wondering why we can't do such-and-such the way so-and-so does it.  We peek into each other's homes without knowing the whole story.  Despite how it sometimes feels, reading a woman's blog is NOT an extended look at every detail of her life.  It's a brief glimpse.  Even those of us who value transparency in our blogging couldn't possibly share every detail, every struggle, every sin that sometimes knocks it down.  It wouldn't be practical or wise. 

Take blogging for what it actually is:  a brief glimpse.  Say it again with me: It's just a brief glimpse.  Know that there are factors at play in that blogger's life you will probably never now.  Some have husbands with flexible and helpful schedules, others have husbands who are gone for days or weeks on end.  Some women don't have husbands at all.  Some women have unusually high energy levels, others simply do not (and that's a biggie--don't discount it).  Some women have children in school for hours a day, others are educating their kids themselves.  Some have a great deal of financial freedom, while others are struggling. 

And I do not mean to say that it's acceptable to make excuses for areas where we need to improve.  We should all be seeking excellence in every area of our lives.  But excellence will look different in each woman, based on her own abilities and challenges and calling. 

So if you're reading a blog--any blog--and you're feeling you don't measure up, then pause for a deep breath.  That particular blogger may seem to have the world at her feet, but those feet may be covered in blisters.  Love her, send her your best wishes, and learn what you can from the things she's doing well.  But know that ultimately you are accountable not to the blogosphere, but to the people you love best, and your God. 

Life Without DVD Cases

Despite all evidence to the contrary, Rocks In My Dryer is not going to become an organizing blog.  Plenty of other bloggers are doing that a lot better than I could.  (Especially since they're all organized and I'm, you know, not.)  But so many of you have asked about the Great DVD Case Debate of '08, I thought I should give you an update. 

In short, they are gone.  I had one tiny moment of panic as I carried the box to the curb, but it passed, and oh, my friends, life without DVD cases is sweet indeed. 

I'll refresh your memory.  This was the "before" picture:

We completely emptied every DVD case (taking out both the DVD and the paper label).  We put the DVDs in a regular travel CD case, and I stacked all the papers into one Ziploc bag:

Remarkably, this is how many empty DVD cases we had (demonstration aided by my six-year-old son):

Do you see how much space that was using?  It was like getting rid of a six year old!   (Now that I think of it, the DVD cases didn't eat or talk back nearly as much.  But they weren't nearly as cuddly, and their burping skills were much less impressive.  We'll keep the six year old.)

I posted to Freecycle about our empty cases; much to my surprise, there were FIVE takers.  I didn't have to haul all that stuff off, and it's being used by someone who actually wanted it (someone who must, incidentally, have more storage space than Martha Stewart.)

Now for the moment of truth.  Here's the cabinet with the DVD cases gone:

That plastic drawer that used to store our cassettes (also purged) now holds our camcorder accessories and an assortment of miscellaneous wires.  (My husband, God bless him, is unable to throw away miscellaneous wires.  He lives for miscellaneous wires.   I'm convinced he could wrap the globe three times.)

And that beautiful, almost-empty top shelf is all that's left of our DVD collection.  They all fit in that case, with the Ziploc bags of papers stacked neatly on top.  At some point, I'll containerize that space and try to use it up more efficiently.  But not until I've had a few weeks into breathe in its beautiful emptiness.  Tonight, as a family, we're going to join hands and dance in circles around this cabinet, while doing rhythmic gymnastics with all the miscellaneous wires. 

 

I'm So Organized, I File My Pop Tarts

Not really, but I thought that made a splendid post title. 

A more apt post title would be Somebody Stop Me Already With The Containers. 

I've already told you that I've declared 2008 The Year Of Less Stuff.  I'm continuing to purge mercilessly, and it feels good.  Taking a cue from some of my favorite organizing blogs, I'm putting the stuff we're actually keeping in containers.  Because I reason that if it resides in a cute plastic bin, I will never lose it, right? 

We'll see.

I have a sordid history with containers and organizational systems in general.  If you don't believe me, you can just ask my Hubs, who has witnessed the whole 13-year journey (and has the garage full of empty containers to prove it).  I seem to be able to get things in a good container-y system, labeled all pretty, but then I forget where I put them.  Or I get in a hurry and stop using the container.  Or I just change my mind. 

But I'm determined that 2008 will be different, and I am madly containerizing this whole darn house.  My most proud accomplishment so far has been the Pop Tart box.  I hate it when my kids open a twin pack of Pop Tarts, eat one, and then just toss the the unsealed pack back in the cabinet.  It gets stale quickly, and that's just wasteful.   

Enter the freakishly organized Pop Tart box.  If I were actually this organized, this next picture would probably be kind of scary.  Rest assured in the knowledge that next month my pop tarts will most likely have resumed their stale little spots in the back of the cabinet.  But for now, this is my crowning glory:

Look!  A spot for the Pop Tarts.  And look!  A hinged lid:

Is that the most beautiful thing you have ever seen?

But the containerizing doesn't stop there.  I also emptied out the cabinet we use for kid art supplies and computer supplies.  If I had a before picture, this next shot would be considerably more impressive (but that would have required forethought, and we're only tackling one organizational skill at a time around here.  Baby steps, y'all.)

I moved most of the kids' art supplies to another cabinet, and I was left with this:

The bin on the lower left is for new computer paper.  The bin on the bottom right is for old paper that has printing on one side, leaving the back side still perfectly fine for drawing.  Because oh-yes-indeed we are reducing, re-using and recycling.  I feel so green I could ribbit.

Thus concludes today's foray into my mad organizational binge, and you are most welcome to ask me in two months if any of it still looks like that.  I'm not hopeful. 

Tell me--what's your most clever use of containerizing?  Because there are a handful Rubbermaid containers in the state of Oklahoma that I haven't bought yet, and I'd love to find a reason to nab those last few.

Purge Along With Me

If you get sick, do not come to my house.  We have no medicine.  And I know this because I spent an entire afternoon scouring through our medicine closet, tossing away the expired bottles (which was basically all of them).  I was ashamed to learn that over half the contents of the little pharmacy in my bathroom expired in 2003 or earlier. 

I even found some Vick's Vapor Rub that expired in 2000.  But really, can Vick's expire?  I mean, it's not like you ingest it; it's just supposed to sit there and smell like death.  The older the better, wouldn't you think?  It would be kicking off chemicals so putrid that your sinuses would be open enough to hold a party inside.

In the interest of totally showing off transparency, I'm showing you a picture of the finished product.  Note the medicines sorted by ailment.  BY AILMENT, people--that is some fine work, if I do say so myself:

That basket at the top labeled ortho?  That's not ortho- as in -dontia, but ortho- as in -pedic.  I thought that was a much more sophisticated label than WE ARE GETTING OLD AND THINGS ARE STARTING TO CREAK AND HURT.    

The bathroom closet project took on such a life of its own; before I knew it I was digging under cabinets and in drawers and mercilessly throwing away anything that stood still.  Hubs even asked me if I was pregnant and nesting.

(Evidently the poor man skipped Chapter 47, Section 18C of The Husband's Instruction Manual:  When your wife has eaten so much sugar that she has had to wear elastic-waist yoga pants for two weeks straight, that would not be the best time to jokingly ask if she's pregnant.) 

I am not a packrat; I actually take great pleasure in throwing things away.  But I always feel the need to be very careful that anything that is salvageable should go to a friend or a charity.  It's kind of an obsession, actually.  What if I gave this sweater to Goodwill and they sold it for $1.25 and were able to buy some sweet little child a school lunch?  The PRESSURE!

But that kind of sorting takes time, something I simply didn't have.  For the one and only time, I gave myself permission to just chuck it all in the trash.  And you should've seen the trash bags marching their way down to my curb.  I was a woman possessed.  I was afraid I'd get carried away and throw one of the kids away.

I have been ruthless this year.  Old board games that nobody plays?  Toss 'em.  Old board games that kids like but the parts are missing?  Toss 'em.  7,237 Happy Meal toys?  Toss 'em.  Kids' art projects that aren't significant enough to save?  They're gone, never to clutter my home again.

And it felt so good, so freeing--symbolic even, of starting the new year out with a clean slate and less cluttered mind.  I'm dubbing 2008 The Year of Less Stuff.  I want to be purposeful about what I bring into my home, and what I allow to stay here.  I want to teach my children to do the same.  In the short term, it keeps thing neater; in the long term, it emphasizes to my kids one of the biggest lessons we hope they learn from us:  STUFF DOESN'T MATTER.  PEOPLE DO.

Join me, if you'd like.  Start slowly, if you need to--you can earmark a special box in your garage for charity, and make it your goal to toss just one thing in it per day.  Or pick one closet or drawer per week (or month) and purge your heart away. 

You can do it!  I'll be standing here, cheering you on.  With very clear sinuses.  And bad knees.

Christmas Open House

Our fabulous Southern hostess BooMama is once again hosting a Christmas Tour Of Homes.  I played along last year, and except for the kitchen, NOTHING in my house has changed in the last year. 

Well, maybe the carpet has more stains.  But other than that, no changes.  All the Christmas decorations are in the exact same spot, so if you are so inclined, you can go look at last year's post. 

This year, I thought I'd do a close-up highlight of a few favorite Christmas items around my home.  For starters, here's a closer look at the fiber-optic snowman that sits on our entry table.  Because, you know, nothing commemorates the birth of our Savior like a fiber-optic snowman:

Next is my table centerpiece.  BooMama told me when I saw her house in Birmingham that she hangs Christmas ornaments from the light over her dining room table.  I know how to steal a good idea when I see it.  Be sure and notice the surge protector lying carefully slanted next to the wreath.  It took me hours to get it positioned in just the perfect spot--it's a very important part of the overall effect:

This is our much-loved nativity scene, or, as Joseph calls it, "the Jesus guys."  Notice the poor wise man in the lower right-hand corner.  Evidently this particular wise man was so wise his head just blew right off:

I bought this next piece for a dollar at an estate sale last year.  I think the embroidery is just beautiful.  I'm such a sap at estate sales--it kills me to see people's life possessions being handled by strangers.  Although clearly it doesn't bother me so much that I will pass up a bargain:

Oh, and that little soldier standing next to the frame in the picture above?  You probably thought that was a nutcracker, but you would be wrong.  In our family, that's a Brother Finger Cracker, and I'll leave it to you to figure out why.

Next are a couple of my favorite ornaments.  Every year when Hubs was a child, his grandmother bought him a silver Lenox snowflake engraved with the year.  You can just imagine how excited a nine-year-old boy would be to get a silver snowflake.  But his mom had the good sense to keep them, and now the whole set is on our tree.  They're absolutely beautiful; the collection is one of my favorite Christmas things in our house.  Every year I tell Hubs I only married him for his snowflakes:

When I got married, my mom gave me several of my favorite childhood ornaments.  This Mrs. Claus is one of them:

And by the way, yes, our tree is fake.  I'm allergic to the real stuff. 

That's it from the Dryer house.  I can't wait to browse through all the entries at BooMama's place, so head over there and participate!

 

Works For Me: Amazing (and Easy!) Cornbread

This is the third recipe I've posted in as many weeks, which can only mean one thing:  our world is coming to an end.  And actually, I think I might have posted this one before, but it bears repeating. 

With all the nasty weather around, these are perfect days for curling up with a big bowl of soup (ideas here) and this cornbread.  It's so absolutely scrumptious that you could just about plop in a scoop of ice cream and call it dessert.  If, you know, ice cream tasted good with corn.

TO-DIE-FOR MEXICAN CORNBREAD:
2 pkgs Jiffy cornbread mix
1 med onion, chopped
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 can cream-style corn
1 1/2 cups sour cream
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 can of Rotel, drained (include the whole can, drained, if you like it extra spicy)
1/3 cup vegetable oil

Mix that together until it's a big gloppy mess.  Pour into a greased 13x9 casserole dish, bake at 350 for 50-55 minutes. Serves 12 or more.

If you'd like to play along with WFMW, check out the guidelines here first.  Then leave your link below!

Oh, and just in case you didn't see it yesterday, don't miss the details on the fun Praise Baby promo going on right now!

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133. Milehimama (Toy Safety Check - lead too!) 134. Kathryn (Toy Boxes For Dogs) 135. JB@Titus2Journey (Pot Roast Enchiladas) 136. Dawn (Low Maintenance Jesse Tree) 137. TXPoppet (coupon organization) 138. Jamie/penguinsandladybugs (recipe/XMas gift Idea) 139. Mellinda (Gift Wrap Organization) 140. Stephanie (Simple Steps to Routines & Schedules for Moms) 141. Susanne (easy cookies) 142. Pieces (displaying Christmas cards) 143. Kathleen Marie (Christmas Movies, Giving) 144. Frazzmom (child/pet proof your Christmas tree) 145. Cindy (Genius Gift Idea) 146. Womanly Pursuits (oil of oregano for burns) 147. Leann on repurposing 148. Kim (simplifying gift giving) 149. Amanda (EASY Baby Schedule) 150. Marianne (scrap supplies in homeschooling) 151. Melonie @ Workerette (eliminate library hassles) 152. Pure Joy (plastic bag storage!) 153. Janelle@NowPlayHappy (organizing digital pictures) 154. jennifer- 155. Amy @ MomAdvice.com (Booster Seat Clean-Up) 156. EmmyJMommy (Christmas Decoration Organization) 157. Mummymac (handy cookies) 158. Christina (CORRECTED! Needle picker upper & AMAZING recipe I have to share) 159. jubilee (clean those pans easily!) 160. Deb (holiday card address list) 161. SARAH @ Real Life (Inexpensive Teacher Gift Baskets) 162. Karen (poetry appreciation) 163. Ann Kroeker (ode to a rubber scraper) 164. monica (preserving family recipes) 165. Rachel Anne(secret ingredient to quick meals!) 166. Momala (Cook Ahead Chicken) 167. Motherscribe (Easy to make Holiday Candle holders) 168. A Reforming Mom (quick and easy FUDGE!) 169. Motherscribe (Easy to make Holiday Candle holders) 170. Jennifer in OR 171. Emily (PB & Honey Sandwiches) 172. Jennifer (sensory activity for kids) 173. Linda(Holiday Tablecloth) 174. Kerith@Kids With A Side Of Twins 175. Lori Beth (inexpensive, personal gifts) 176. Mrs. Troop (Organizing School Kids) 177. Alexandra(Homemade Shell Ornaments) 178. Sharinskishe (Wrap Paper Control) 179. Reynie (Cookbook Gift) 180. Shelly (Hair things) 181. Heather (soft ginger snaps) 182. Alison (Evite) 183. jenn 184. A Lefty Crochets 185. Ann (FREE Holiday music) 186. Hollie@CheaperthenCheap-Holiday Viewing 187. Clappy Shoes (great family gift) 188. Tea Party Girl (12 yo boy at The Nutrcracker) 189. MemeGRL (gift idea--wireless mouse/keyboard) 190. Sarah (Important art cheaply) 191. Mamacita (shopping safety tip for your purse) 192. Laane (magic pill) 193. Jacquie (Online Flyers) 194. Lisa (recipe storage) 195. Amyswandering (Hot Chocolate Party in a bag) 196. Chanelireli (Easy Homemade Pizza)

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I Am Trying To Imagine the Horror of Life Without Rotel

SCROLL DOWN FOR WORKS-FOR-ME-WEDNESDAY!

Several of you asked, in the comments section below, what Rotel is. 

And I wept for you.

I totally forgot that Rotel is a semi-regional product.  When we lived in Chicago it was nearly impossible to find, a little inconvenience that made Super-Bowl watching considerably less enjoyable.

Rotel, for those of you that don't know, is a canned blend of tomatoes and green chili pepppers.  It is an essential staple in anything Tex-Mex-ish, and it is the STAR of the all-important and aforementioned Super-Bowl snack:  Rotel cheese dip.  For this, you simply melt a "loaf" of Velveeta together with a can of Rotel.  Eat with chips, of course, and good luck using restraint.

(For those of you who disdain the Velveeta, I don't EVEN want to hear it.  Velveeta haters baffle me.  That is some fine stuff.)

Feel free, you Rotel lovers, to expound on your love of (and uses for) Rotel in the comments section. 

Jesse Tree

Today I'm doing a re-run of sorts; this time of year the most frequent Google search that lands people at my blog is "Jesse Tree".  I wrote about this Christmas tradition at length last year--if you missed it, below are links to all the posts. 

(And no, I don't think it's too late to jump on this bandwagon this season.  You might have to scramble a bit, but it would be worth it.  At the very least, you could begin working on your Jesse Tree for next year, while all the Christmas ornaments are on sale!  I was at the mother ship yesterday and bought a three-foot Christmas tree for $6.  It would be perfect for a Jesse Tree.)

Jesse Tree Post #1

Jesse Tree Post #2

Jesse Tree Post #3

Also, see this post at Bloggy Giveaways on the subject.