Works for Me Wednesday - Week #2 {In the Kitchen}

Keep dirty dishes out of your sink!

In my family, we dirty a lot of dishes in the morning. Even though I know I could do a lot of the prep work for my kids' lunches the night before, I typically put it off until the morning. (*See: procrastination.) So between making lunches, using little strainers and chopping boards for fruit/veggie prep, a knife for slicing/spreading, a spoon for scooping, etc., my husband typically making the kids' breakfast (usually eggs, toast, and/or oatmeal, my kids eating breakfast, my husband's morning tea, and my coffee, we end up with a sink full of dirty dishes. Since I always run the dishwasher full of dinner dishes overnight, the dishwasher needs to be unloaded in order to put the dirty dishes in there. (Yes, I'm stating the obvious here.) But no one actually feels like unloading it in the morning so everyone just piles their dishes in the sink for mom (that's me) to take care of later.

So I've come up with a simple solution that seems to make this task a lot less annoying  daunting. While I'm waiting for my coffee to brew, I fill an empty dishpan with hot soapy water and set it next to the sink. ALL dirty dishes must go here. That way, the sink is empty (and still CLEAN from the night before!), and since the dishes are soaking in hot soapy water, there's no dried egg or oatmeal stuck on any of them! (I'm still in the process of training my kids to RINSE and SOAK their dishes when they put them in the sink, and mornings are the worst. A quick rinse in the EMPTY sink and they're ready to go into the dishwasher, after I unload it. Boom. Done.

I know this may seem silly to some, and you might just think, "So unload the stupid dishwasher and be done with it." However, this is not what I'm thinking at 5:45 in the morning , after not getting enough sleep at night. (I have a child with a serious medical issue. I stay up late to make sure he's okay, and when I sleep, it's never sound. So it's not a matter of just going to bed earlier. Just to clarify.) ; )


So that's it! I hope you've enjoyed today's post for WFMW! I know this has made my life easier... well, at least my mornings, anyway. ;)

HINT: This tip also works great during dinner prep time. Just throw in your cooking utensils, measuring cups/spoons, peeler, etc. & things can soak while you eat. Then, maybe even throw in the dinner dishes!


Happy Wednesday!



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DIY iPod Sleeve & Earbuds Case {Guest Post}

(A guest post from my mom!) 

DIY iPod Sleeves — Great gifts!

I always look forward to whatever new “surprise projects” Becka puts on her wish list for me to make, especially at Christmastime. Last year it was the fun Christmas bag project. This past Christmas (2011), she wanted to give the kids some cool iPod sleeves. She had her heart set on this iPod sleeve, designed by Robyn at Dog Named Banjo...

... and this earbud pouch designed by Erin Erickson at Dog Under My Desk. (Does anyone see a trend here?)

Aren’t they just so cute?! I think it’s way cool that she just happened to find two random patterns, by two unrelated bloggers, and both blogs were named in honor of their beloved dogs—how serendipitous! I have come across many patterns for DIY projects online, and I have to say that both of these ladies did an amazing job with their tutorials, not only in the written description, but with tons and tons of high-quality pics. KUDOS to Erin and Robyn on that!

I made the iPod sleeve first. In her tutorial, Robyn does wisely caution her readers that different iPods may have different measurements. If there is one thing I would like to see her add to her tutorial, it’s a little more descriptive detail as to the exact circumference—lengthwise and widthwise—of her iPod, so that the reader can make a better judgment as to whether or not adjustments are needed before cutting. Although it appeared that her measurements would work for Brittany’s iPod, it turns out it was about 1/2” too short. Of course, even if that had not been the case, it still would have been back to the drawing board, because the sleeve is designed for a very snug fit, and after I finished it, Becka realized she forgot to tell me that Brittany’s iPod would have a plastic casing around it (which it did not when I measured it). Oops! Thank goodness we had lots of leftover fabric!

After adding a little more length and width to the measurements, I made the second one. Robyn’s instructions were easy-peasy to follow. If you decide to make one of these, I would suggest using a piece of muslin or scrap fabric to make the first one, keeping careful track of the measurements of the fabric. You don’t have to make the sample according to the full-detailed tutorial—just make two separate, unlined sleeves, stuff a piece of the batting in between, and stuff one inside the other, then try it on and adjust the template/pattern if need be. Also, keep in mind that the iPod plastic casings that have a sort of rubbery feel don’t slip in and out as easily as the metal casings do, but they still work. And if you are going to have a casing, be sure that it is on the iPod when you take the measurements!

The earbud cover came next. I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly it came together. The tutorial calls for a 5”-or-greater 1” zipper, but all we had on hand was a 4” zipper, which worked just fine, with very careful attention to the alignment. We used one of those little round keychain holder thingies to attach the earbud holder to the iPod. I love how they turned out! I have to make a confession that I am a little slow sometimes, and I didn’t “get” that the musical pattern in the lining was a deliberate choice, because, well, it has a musical theme, for a music player. Duh!

Much to the surprise of both of us, Brandon said he would like to have one too. That wasn’t in the original plan, because we assumed he would think it was too frou-frou. What do we know LOL! Becka happened to have some black music fabric as well, which would make it look more masculine. So I whipped one up for him too! 

We had planned to make him an earbud cover as well, and we thought the thick sport zipper she had on hand would really add to the masculine look. But the sports zipper was so big and bulky that it made it impossible to achieve the perfect circle of the cover, so we abandoned that idea, at least for now.

I highly recommend these two patterns if you want to make your own cover. Both of these ladies have lots of other fun sewing projects on their blogs as well, and I may have to try some of them out too.

 Happy sewing!

~Karen 

Works for Me Wednesday {In the Kitchen}

I'm starting a new series! 

My schedule can get quite hectic sometimes so when I'm home, I tend to spend a lot of time on Pinterest. coming up with different ways to save time, money, space, and most of all, SANITY. And I often wonder if any of these ideas would be helpful to others working on the same goal. Some ideas I've used for years, and others I have more recently implemented into my everyday routines. So I've decided to do a weekly post to share some of the ways I make my life run just a little smoother. Hope you enjoy!

I don't have an island in my kitchen and my counter space is limited so I needed to find a way to display a recipe to refer to it while I'm cooking. This counter is where I do all of my prep work and it's right next to my stove so I use a simple 3M Command hook along with a binder clip to hang my recipe. It's right in front of me at all times and it saves my precious counter space. Lately, I get most of my recipes from the web, or my collection of cooking magazines, which makes this method work really well. When I'm finished with the recipe, it goes into a page protector and into my recipe binder. (I'll share that in a future post!) Simple and easy solution for viewing recipes!

Do unclaimed cups drive you CRAZY? I don't know how many times one of my kids has gotten a drink, just to set it down and forget about it. Then, later, they won't drink it or reuse the cup because they don't know for sure if it's theirs. Or, they have friends over and they will get everyone a drink... in the SAME kind of cup and no one knows whose is whose!! GRRRRR! Well, here is a very easy solution. I bought this set of BPA free cups at Reuseit.com, and purchased some chalkboard labels on ebay. I stuck them on the cups and I use a chalk marker to write the kids' names on them. The chalk comes off easily with just a swipe of the thumb before putting them in the dishwasher. I've been using these since last Summer and the labels have not come off. This has saved me a lot of sanity.

HINT: This also works GREAT for guests!

I have an undying love for Mason jars. I think it comes from growing up in the South. Seriously, I don't think I could ever have enough of them lying around. I like to pick them up at garage sales, flea markets, and leftover stores, however, they don't always come with lids. Did you know that most mayonnaise jar lids will fit regular-mouth Mason jars? Yep. Just save those lids. When you buy jars of food, be sure and check the lid before recycling it to see if it will fit any of your lidless Mason jars.

Over the course of the last few years, I have slowly but surely eliminated almost all store-bought cleaners and have replaced them with all natural, SAFE, homemade versions. Here's one of my favorite all-purpose mixes.

Using a 1:1 ratio of vinegar and water, add this to an empty spray bottle. Add a few drops of essential oil such as lemon, orange, peppermint, lavender, or pine. The essential oil is not, well, essential for this recipe, but it really helps cut the vinegar smell. This cleaner works great throughout the kitchen and smells fresh and clean. I use this on counter tops, stove tops, linoleum floors, kitchen table, microwave, outside surface of appliances, and in the sink. This cleaner costs pennies to make and you will feel good about using something safe for your family.

Take your shopping list to go! I learned this great tip from Julie at Less-than-Perfect Life of Bliss, where her shopping list is written on a chalkboard and not very portable. Even though mine is on a pad, I don't always want to tear it off if I'm just going out to run errands and may or may not end up at a grocery store. I just like to have the list with me, just in case, meanwhile, we can continue adding to it at home. I've already ended up using it a few times, although I hadn't planned to, so I was grateful to have the pic on my phone!

So there you have it -- My first 5 WFMW tips, shared. Have a wonderful Wednesday!



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