5 Favorite Home Hacks

Life is difficult.  Time is precious.  We are all busy.  Here are my Favorite Cleaning and Organizational Hacks that make my life easier.  Please let me know yours!

1. Keep cleaning products where you need them the most!  I keep everything I need to clean the bathroom right under the sink.  No walking around the house to find supplies!

2.  My dishwasher is my absolute favorite appliance.  I was 28 before I had one, so I feel like I'm still making up for lost time!  I put everything that can possibly be cleaned into it.  My dishwasher helps me clean plastics, kitchen racks, combs and hairbrushes, you name it!

3. Shelves!!  What can I say about shelves and cubbies except that I LOVE them.  They make it possible to get everything off the floor and in its proper place.  I get a warm fuzzy feeling when I pass the home organization shelving aisle in any store.  They make my life easier:)

4. Command Hooks.  I put small command hooks on the sides of my garbage can so that I can hook my bag to them.  The bag doesn't fall into the can anymore!  I use command hooks to organize my jewelry on my closet wall.  It's so nice to clearly see the items that I wear the most instead of digging through a drawer.

5. Lestoil.  If you ever have a grease stain on clothes, this product is the best greasy spot remover I've found.  Because we cook a lot, we get grease stains on clothes regularly.  Lestoil has saved some of our favorite clothes!  It's petroleum-based, so it has a strong smell.  But it works like a charm.  I apply with a toothbrush, let it sit for a minute, then launder as usual.  That takes care of most spots.  If necessary I repeat, or let it soak overnight in water with Lestoil.  

Feeling Bogged Down? It's Time to Lighten Up!

This is a great time of year to lighten your load.

Do you have extra time with these long winter nights?

Storage bins and organizers are on sale everywhere.

Why not go through closets and drawers and clean out?

Here are some tips:

Easy to get rid of items 

- books you will never read again

-gifts you've never used

-kitchen gadgets covered with dust

-dated furniture and pillows

-old sweaters/jeans that you don't wear

-old sporting equipment

-extra blankets, sheets, bedspreads

-office/craft supplies you don't use

Donate these to a good charity.

Animal shelters take old sheets and blankets!

Harder to get rid of items

-sentimental family items

-old photo albums

-"Grandma's" dishes, doilies, etc.

You don't have to keep everything!  Try to pare down the volume of these items and keep ONLY the really special ones.

Also, some items can be re-purposed into something

you will use and truly enjoy having.

**It doesn't honor your loved-ones to pile boxes in your garage or attic.  I have some very special items from my mother that I use and treasure.  I re-purposed her hand-crocheted lace tablecloth into curtains for

my living room.

  I have a few pieces of her jewelry that I wear often.  And I have several small  "memory" boxes to hold mementos from my childhood and my sons' early years.  

The items I chose to keep easily fit on one closet shelf and don't bog me down.  It takes some time to make decisions about what to keep, but it's time well-spent.

If you take the time to lighten your load and give to a good charity, you won't regret it:)

Blooming Rosemary??

 Happy New Year 2018!!

May this year be marked by blessing and

God's favor for all of you!

I wrote a post last fall about bringing tender herbs inside for the winter.  In previous years I have wintered-0ver my lemon verbena, rosemary and mint.

Here's the link to the post:  Bring Your Herbs Inside

This year I only transplanted my rosemary plants because we love to use sprigs to infuse butter for steaks.

Well...imagine my surprise last week when I went to water the plants and saw this:

Beautiful pale violet flowers on my Rosemary in January!!

Who knew that this plant bloomed?  I certainly didn't.

I suppose this is a good way to start the new year.

I need to be prepared to learn lots of new things and look for unexpected gifts all around me.  I'm starting this year with thankfulness for my family, my friends, and so much more!

What gifts are around you already this year?

Nonna's Pizzelles

I decided to make Italian Pizzelles to serve for dessert.  I haven't made them in over 20 years.  I got this recipe 
from a friend's Nonna (Italian for Grandma).
Her cookies are delicious. And because I'm now a "Nonna" I knew it was a good sign that these pizzelles
were going to be great:)

Here's the recipe:

3 large eggs

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup butter melted then cooled

1 1/2  to 2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

Anise Oil or Vanilla to taste

Beat eggs and sugar together.

Add cooled melted butter a little at a time. Beat well.

Gradually add enough flour to make a very light dough.

If you want thicker pizzelles, add more flour.

You can substitute orange flavor or coconut rum instead of vanilla.

If you want to roll them for filling do it as soon as you take them out of the iron.

Let cool completely on a rack or tablecloth before packaging.

I have an old electric pizzelle iron that I wasn't sure exactly how to use. I didn't grease the iron enough for the first 2 cookies and they stuck and burned!

So, make sure you grease your iron well! I used a little margarine and then some oil to keep the plates greased.

I put small blobs of dough about the size of a ping-pong ball using 2 spoons.

The pizzelles cooked on the iron for about 45 to 50 seconds until lightly golden. I lifted them with a metal spatula and let them cool on wire racks.

I got 40 pizzelles from this recipe and they were wonderful!! Tony gave them his stamp of approval,

and that means a lot:)

Some interesting family history: here's my mother's pizzelle iron (made in Italy with her initials, CR - Rose Ciotti)

that she used her whole life.

I remember vividly sitting at the kitchen table, rolling out her pizzelle dough into small balls so she could stand at the stove the cook each one for about a minute on each side. I wish I had pictures of those moments:) Mom, I hope my pizzelles are as good as yours!

Things I'm learning from my grandson

This past summer I became a Nonna to my sweet grandson, Lorenzo.  I am blessed to be able to spend some time with him and I'm amazed at the simple life lessons

that I'm learning every day.

1. Our needs are simple.  If you spend time with a baby, you know that we only really "need" a few things in life.  Lorenzo is not impressed with money, style, politics, fame or beauty.  He needs love, milk, and clean diapers.  Why do we complicate such a simple life?

2. Slow down.  There is no such thing as feeding a baby quickly.  It doesn't matter what I had planned, if he's hungry and it's "milk time" I need to sit down and savor this special time to bond with him while he drinks his milk.  Sometimes I get too busy and I really need to stop and sit down.

3. If you make a mess, clean it up!  I have many funny diaper stories to tell Lorenzo when he grows up.  But it doesn't matter how dirty the diaper is, all I need is a clean rag to wipe away all the mess.  Even though he is so little, I truly believe he likes to be clean and dry.  He appreciates my care.  It makes me thankful for all the people who care for me.

4. Smile and laugh.  He is starting to smile and laugh a lot.  I can't even identify what he is so amused at sometimes.  He seems to laugh while looking up at my living room ceiling!  He loves to be outside and look up at the sky (and the ceiling of my porch).  He is very content to lie there, smiling and laughing.  It makes me think about what I'm not looking at and smiling about.  I believe God's gifts are everywhere if we would just pay attention.

Bring Your Herbs Inside!

We use fresh Rosemary all year long for cooking.  Tony especially likes to infuse butter with garlic and rosemary for a filet mignon steak sauce.  It's wonderful!

I have 3 lovely rosemary plants in the garden.  Rosemary is an annual and is not hardy in my climate zone.

 I successfully kept them alive last winter in the house and I will do the same this year.  Here's how:

First I dug up the plants and shook off as much dirt as I could from the roots. This way I don't bring bug larvae into the house!!

Next I planted them in a box with fresh potting soil.  Here are my happy plants in my sun-filled office where they will thrive all winter!

Many herbs are perennials and will return next year on their own.  I know my chives, thyme, oregano and mint will greet me outside next spring after a long winter's nap.

oregano

mint

Homemade Vegetable Broth

I'm always looking for ways to cut out waste.  I compost most of my kitchen scraps from fruits and vegetables.  I recently found another way to use those scraps.

Here's how to make your own vegetable soup broth:

Put your vegetable scraps (carrot ends, cauliflower stalks, broccoli stalks, cabbage cores, celery ends, kale stalks, etc...) in a labeled bag in your freezer until you have a gallon ziploc bag full.

Place the contents in a crock pot and fill with water.  Cook on low for 8 to 10 hours until the broth is a rich dark color.

Strain and pour the liquid into containers and freeze until you need some nutritious broth for soup!