Mamahood.org » domesticated

What’s for dinner?

Jenn — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 16:09:26 +0000

Man do I hate that question, because a lot of the time even I don’t know the answer to it, and I’m the one responsible for making dinner! I think I’d rather spend all day reading the fine-print of an extended service plan, rather than plan out a week’s worth of meals. But you know, my problem isn’t a lack of supplies (I routinely stock our freezer with vacuum-sealed meats, as well as plenty of frozen vegetables and side options; our fridge is full of milk, eggs, butter, condiments, and basic produce essentials; in our cabinets are potatoes, rice, pastas, and a few pasta and other non-perishable side items, as well as plenty of soups and baking essentials) or an unwillingness to cook, it is just a MAJOR lack of creativity.

I keep tabs on Tastebook and a variety of recipe websites, but lately I’ve been picking up those cute little themed recipe books that most grocery stores keep in stock at the checkout lanes. You know the books… some will be about soups, others about casseroles, others about comfort foods, etc. I’ve often found the best recipes in those books. Bonus: since they include plenty of pictures, Alyssa and Ryan will often flip through and pick out something for dinner, which I think is just TOO cute! ♥

What do you do to find & manage dinner ideas? Or are you just one of those awesome Martha Stewart-y women that can whip up a terrific meal idea at the drop of a hat?

I finally did it!

Jenn — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 22:07:06 +0000

I’ve done a lot of pre-spring cleaning in the past two weeks. First the kids’ bedrooms, then their closets, then the laundry room, then the bathrooms, then underneath all of the furniture, then the pantry, then our closet, then our bedroom, then my computer desk. And finally, the one thing I’ve been putting off for more than a year: the two cabinets beneath the kitchen sink.

It’s not that I have an aversion to my kitchen, or the contents of the cabinet. It’s that our kitchen sink sprung a leak about a year or so back, a slow leak that we didn’t notice for a few, er, weeks. When we did, Dan fixed it, and he cleaned out everything, but some mold had begun to accumulate. Since then many of the cans were looking a bit rusty and just overall gunky (don’t ask me what the gunk was. Quite frankly, I don’t want to know. I’m sure I could have made human growth hormone or penicillin out of it!), and have I mentioned my aversion to mold? Seriously, it makes me want to run screaming in the opposite direction.

But I womaned up, grabbed a garbage can and cleared out probably three quarters of the canned goods in those two cabinets. Most of them had expiration dates of ’08 and mid-2009, but there were a few ’07 cans in there as well. Whoops!
Once I cleaned out the gunk, I wiped down the floor of the cabinets, rearranged the metal wired shelves I have underneath there, and then reorganized the remaining canned contents, boxed contents and cleaning supplies.

Fun times! But not so fun of a time for the garbage collectors (they come tomorrow). That one can is HEAVY. Sorry guys.

Pre-holiday cleaning

Jenn — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:13:08 +0000

Around this time of the year, for the past few years, I have made it a habit to go into the kids’ bedrooms and do a thorough cleaning. I take two garbage bags and the vacuum cleaner with me. In one bag I collect toys that are worthy of being donated. In the other I collect broken toys, toys whose mates are missing, papers, and random bits of this and that. The first bag goes in my car, so that I can donate the toys to an area shelter. The other bag goes out for the trash.

Yesterday evening I tackled Alyssa’s room first. That took the longest, because I had a huge pile of stuffed animals to weed through, and I needed to move her bed so that it would reside against the other wall, since it’s fall now and there’s a slight draft from her bedroom window. Then I moved on to Ryan’s room. His took almost as long, because I was on the lookout for anything he could possibly chew apart and eat. He’s got the whole Pica issue going on, so I made sure to remove foam-like toys, cheap plastic toys, and flash cards and books.

After I finished weeding out toys and trash, I organized both of the kids’ toy shelves. These things are great:

They’re also a pain because it’s easy to yank out any of the bins and dump the contents, which Ryan does at least once a day.

Anyway, with Alyssa’s birthday party one week away and Christmas ten weeks away, I’m happy to report that both rooms are thoroughly cleaned out!

I love my vacuum!

Jenn — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:06:31 +0000

I have had the same vacuum for five years. I bought the same type that my mother has had since the mid-90s. It’s a Sharp upright vacuum, with the twin engine that is sealed. Emphasis on the sealed, because a sealed engine means that you can pretty much suck up anything that will fit around/through the rollers and not worry about breaking a belt or part of the engine itself. To date, my vacuum has sucked up normal debris, along with:

Play-doh (soft & dried)
Pieces of hard pretzels
Coins
Small screws, nuts and bolts
Legos
Crayons
Small pieces of jewelry

Like I said, if it fits, up it goes. Ironically, the only issue I sometimes have is getting a particularly large amount of cat hair wadded up in the detachable hose, but that’s not a big deal to dislodge.

So my vacuum is five years old, and my mother’s is closer to fifteen years old. In that time we’ve never had to worry about purchasing a replacement 115334 vacuum motor, or any other major part. My mom has had to replace the roller belt twice, but that’s a normal wear & tear type of item that does give out after a while, and we’ve both had to replace the illuminating light that is on the front of the vacuum.

In conclusion, this vacuum is definitely THE vacuum to have if you have kids and/or pets. It’s also a lot cheaper than those hideously overpriced Dysons. I paid around $180 for mine, and I think the slightly higher end model is still under $250. I’d recommend this vacuum to anyone looking for a decent vacuum that is built to last.