Summer is Here!

It's been a few days now but I am just now fully realizing it.  Joaquin slept until 9:30 which is a telltale sign that summer is indeed here.  We are all playing Wii. Well, they are playing Wii.  I'm sitting here stressing out about vacation.

As a true Cancer, I like to be home.  Traveling is unnerving to me but here we go.  We leave on Friday so as organized as I am I have started the packing process.  Here are some tips you might find useful.  They help to take the stress out of packing and traveling.

If your laundry has piled up, now is the time to start making some headway.  Nothing sucks more than looking for the shirt you wanted to pack only to find that it is at the bottom of the hamper.  You will come back from your trip with laundry so it is nice to start with an empty hamper.  Have the kids help! 

Yesterday we dusted off the suitcases and we are deciding what we actually need to pack first.  With having to pay to check bags these days it wise to assemble what you will be packing and THEN choosing your suitcases.  Doing it this way will save you some money if you can consolidate all of your belongings.  Hailey demanded her own suitcase.  I said she could but she would have to pay the baggage fee.  She has now reconsidered her decision. 

Leave the suitcases in an area where they can be added to easily.  Finish packing and zip them up!  Now we have time to focus on other parts of the trip.  I'll be back soon with more!

HAMBURGER HELPER

Sorry this post is a day late.  Year after year, I always seem to forget how hectic the last week of school is.  You'll want to plan a couple hours to make these recipes but the big pay off is that you will have several meals in your freezer.   That means more time at the pool or whatever it is you prefer doing other than slaving in a hot kitchen.

These recipes utilize some canned goods but if you prefer to use fresh, knock yourself out.  In recipes like these cans are fine.  If you are concerned about sodium, choose the low sodium varieties.

You will need 6 pounds of ground beef or ground turkey. Our family likes a 50/50 split of ground turkey and the leanest ground beef available at the store.  Using lower fat meats also save a step since it won't need to be drained of fat. I know 6 pounds seems like a lot but it goes a long way and is worth the effort.

The first thing you will need to do is to simply brown all the meat.  If you don't have a large enough pot, you will want to do this in smaller batches.  You will be dividing it into 3 batches after it is browned.  From this meat we will be making:

Pasta sauce with meat
Multi purpose taco meat
Chili con carne

PASTA SAUCE

A family favorite around our house.  Getting the veggies chopped finely enough is key to hiding them from picky eaters.  This sauce is so good that they may not even notice the vegetables.  Feel free to add or omit veggies you don't care for.  The onion and garlic are key so try to keep those in your formulation. 

2 pounds cooked ground meat
1- 28oz can of crushed tomatoes
2-15oz cans of tomato sauce
1-15 oz can of beef broth ( I use the low sodium)
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 cup finely chopped carrots
1 onion finely chopped
I cup diced zucchini squash
3 cloves of minced garlic
1 tablespoon dry Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Brown all the vegetables for about 5 minutes or until tender.  The carrots may still be a bit firm but that is just perfect.  Add the cooked ground meat and stir, cooking for about 5 more minutes to blend with the vegetables.  Add the remaining ingredients and simmer for about 15 minutes. 

MULTI PURPOSE TACO MEAT

This one is ridiculously easy.  Once you have the seasoning in your pantry, you'll be able to whip this up any time.  Another plus is that you control the salt!  I use this for tacos, enchiladas and nachos.  Our family loves it on a taco salad.   All you need in addition to the ground meat for this one is:

1-2 teaspoons of ground cumin
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1-2 tablespoons of chili powder ( not the hot kind)
red pepper flakes to taste.  I only use 1/2 teaspoon.
1-15 oz can of tomato sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Put all of the above ingredients into a large pot.  As soon as it is blended together add the cooked ground meat and simmer for about 10-15 minutes.

CHILI CON CARNE

2 pounds of cooked ground meat
2 red bell peppers
1 large onion chopped
6 cloves or garlic, minced. (feel free to add more or less)
1-28 oz can crushed tomatoes
2- 15 oz cans diced tomatoes
1-15 oz can black beans rinsed
1-15oz can pinto beans rinsed
1-15 oz can kidney beads rinsed
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons chili powder (again, not the hot kind)
red pepper flakes to taste- I use no more than 1/2 teaspoon
salt and pepper to taste

Saute the bell peppers and onion along with the garlic until soft.  Add the tomatoes and the cooked meat.  Simmer that for about 10 minutes.  Add all of the beans and simmer for another 10-20 minutes.

Chili is something that is great on its own but don't forget the hot dogs and hamburgers!  I like chili served over rice too.

So now you will have all this sauce and meat.  If you notice, my simmer times are quite short.  We will be freezing all of this so we don't need to be too concerned about our flavors blending.  This will happen in the freezer saving you even more time. 

Once your concoctions have cooled we can go ahead and freeze them.  You can freeze them in containers of any size that works for you.  I like one cup servings so that if I need some for lunch to take to work I'm only thawing what I'm eating.  Regardless of the size you choose, you will have several meals at your finger tips. 
The time invested up front saves you so much time in the kitchen later. 

Have fun with the extra time you created. Next week I'll give you a couple of things to make in your crock pot.  Yes, I said crock pot.  Summer is the BEST time to use your crock pot so dust it off and get ready to fire it up!

Who worked on their journal? + meal planning simplified

I hope everybody had time to enjoy themselves a little during the holiday weekend.  Now its time to get back to business.  If you worked on your journal, its time to review if you have not already done so.  Have you found any lost time?  If so, where are you losing time.  Is it mainly one time of day or is it scattered throughout your day. 

Wherever you found the lost time, its time to turn it into productive time.  Even 15 minutes can make a difference.  Spend a few minutes working on paper clutter or take that extra time to catch up on your DVR. However you choose to use the time is up to you. 

Since the journal discovery was so short I'm adding meal planning as a bonus. 

MEAL PLANNING SIMPLIFIED

What to have for dinner.  How many times does that question come up.  The easiest way to tackle the issue is to make a list of everything you make and like and ask your children to do the same.  If your 3 year old likes macaroni and cheese, add it to your list and build a meal around it with a salad.  Better yet, find a mac and cheese recipe worthy of 5 star dining.  You may be surprised to find a rather long list.  Keep this as a master list.  You can save it on your computer, laminate it or put it on your fridge for easy reference.  Just remember to have it where you can have easy access to it.  Try another recipe or two per month or even once a week if you are the adventurous type.  Once I try out a new recipe, I always ask my family if it is something they liked enough to eat again.  If the answer is yes, it goes on my master list.  After doing this for a while, you will have a nice list to work off of.

Once you have your list, take out a piece of paper and put the days of the week on the paper from top to bottom.  Populate the days of the week from your master meal list.  If you are having take out or going somewhere else for dinner on designated days, put it on your list. 

After you have made your menu for the week, make a shopping list for the items you need.  You should only need to go to the store once during the week if you plan accordingly.  Just by doing that, we have eliminated wasted time on little trips to the store for this or that. 

Be sure to save the weekly menu.  I like to file mine in a binder.  I use them as reference and repeat whole weeks.  Its super easy and its gets even easier the longer you do it.  

Give this a try and see how it works for you!  Next week I will feature ground beef three ways.  Take a peek at your grocery ads to see who is going to have ground beef or ground turkey on sale.  You will need 6 pounds but it will be worth it.  I promise!

Journaling your day

This fella has all the time in the world!

 Where does the day go?  How can it be this late?  These are two questions many of us ask ourselves each and every day.  We all know how it goes.  It's a vicious cycle.  We start a load of laundry which leads us to the stray sock.  We take the stray sock to the bedroom of the child it belongs too and then you find yourself doing other things in their room.  An hour later you say to yourself  oh yeah, I forgot about the laundry.  Lather, rinse repeat and sure enough its dark and you haven't given a second thought to dinner.  

Distraction is every one's enemy.  Nobody escapes.  How bad of a victim of this are you going to allow yourself to be.  After so many disappointing days of getting nothing done I was determined to find where I was losing so much time.  How was I ever going to find the missing link.  I decided to start a simple journal to see if I could expose where father time was stashing my valuable lost minutes, hours and days.  I logged trivial things as well as family events and things I actually enjoyed doing.  It exposed horrors and indiscretions I had no idea I was making.  I spent an hour tweezing my brows?  Wait a minute, I checked email for three hours?  I was on facebook for how long?  Unbelievable!  I thought I was reading the journal of a professional lallygagger.  It couldn't be me wasting all this valuable time.  

You may be asking me what the assignment is.  All of these entries are going to be paired with an actual assignment you need to participate in.  How else are you going to make the changes.  You are not going to change your life and free up time simply be reading my blog.    
Get yourself a journal or a note book.  I don't recommend using a computer for this since you will want to keep this journal with you at all times.  I often use the notepad on my iphone.  I always have it with me.  Do what works best for you.  Treat yourself to a nice one with a pretty picture or buy a simple one from the drugstore.

Once you have the notebook start logging what you do as the day progresses.  Start with the first thing you do when you open your eyes.  If you like to linger for a half hour over a cup of coffee, please do.  Just make sure your write down how long you actually spent. Don't edit or change your habits so that your notebook looks good.  You should be the only one reading it so be honest.  If you took a three hour shower, write it down.  If that five minute phone call ended up taking two hours, write it down.  Just write, write and write some more until your head hits the pillow.

Continue to journal each day.  Review your recent entries at the end of the day.  Are there patterns emerging?  Are there things you can change?  Are you in awe of things you thought took less time than they actually do.  You may find things in a day or it may take you a month to find where your lost time is.  Take as much or as little time as needed to make your discoveries.  This is not a timed assignment.  Once you uncover the lost time, it can be slowly converted to productive pockets of time.  

My next article will be how to analyze and unlock lost time.  We will then apply that lost time on more desirable endeavors.  Until then, journal away!

Today is the only day that you will see two entries from me.  Once I post an article, I will give you a weeks time to absorb the content and try it on for size.  Remember, Rome was not built in a day.  Let me know if you have a specific issue and I will try to address it in the form of an article.  Most problems do have a solution.  

Time for everything

When my husband and I decided to start a family, many people warned me that I would rarely have time to make jewelry.  This new baby would suck up all of my time and it would be impossible for me to carve out time to create.  I refused to buy into that.  After all, I am super organized and never even gave what I was told much consideration.  Why should I have to give up something I love.  

Creating jewelry was not only a viable business for me.  It was a way for me to relieve stress.  I felt giving it up was simply not an option.  Sure, it would be harder but I figured if I scheduled the time like any other appointment there would be sufficient time to continue.

As my pregnancy progressed I wondered what my days would be like when we brought home our bundle.  The last few weeks of pregnancy allows you way too much time to ponder.  I tend to over-think so sitting at home waiting for baby to arrive sent my thinking into overdrive.  

The day arrived and I put my website on hold. Who knew when I would ever find a spare minute to check in on it.  I experienced what I would consider to be an average delivery.  The three of us came home and got settled into what would be the new business as usual.  Once our little bundle was fed and tucked into our bedside bassinet I decided to check on my website and open it again for business.  That was close to ten years ago and I never gave it another thought.  We welcomed our second bundle almost 5 years ago and I'm still going strong.  Both of our children lead active and busy lives and guess what?  There is still time for everything I want to do.  Imagine that!

My next few articles are going to be dedicated to organization.  When I speak with people who fret over what they are not able to accomplish I find lack of organization to be the missing link.  There is so much frustration over incomplete projects and goals that go unmet.  It doesn't have to be that hard. I'm not saying it is easy because it is not.  You have to allow flexibility and disruption into the equation as things may not always go as planned.  

The next article will be about keeping a simple daily journal.  I can almost guarantee that you will find pockets of lost time you can apply elsewhere in your life.  How exciting would that be?  Stay tuned and remember to take 5 minutes TODAY to smell the fresh air, listen to the birds or simply stare out a sunny window. 

Lets be honest here...

...while I love seeing pictures of peoples beautiful studios, the reality is that you almost have to make a mess in order for the creative process to work. I try to start each session with a clean desk and studio and end up with a huge mess within minutes. My ideas spiral out of control and more stuff is brought out of their shiny containers and spilled onto my workspace.

People often ask me how I find the time to make jewelry and run multiple websites with a job and two young children. The answer is easy- I make time for the things I love and for the people I love. If you are waiting until the house is clean and the laundry is done, you will never have time. We will be doing these chores until we take our last breath. What's the hurry, they are not going anywhere.

With that being said, go ahead and make a mess and enjoy yourself today! After you are finished making your mess, check out my new shop dedicated 100% to earrings. All earings, all of the time.

Felt Notebook Covers

Reorganizing my craft supplies always inspires me. I'm sure this is partly due to the fact that I forget that I have all of these supplies ready to go. I was looking for some beads and happened upon my drawer full of felt. I originally bought the felt for Hailey. She wanted some for something and I am always willing to go shopping for supplies. As usual, I could not decide on which colors to buy so I bought a whole stack.

I just love making these little notebook covers. I have made these for teachers gifts and they have been so well received. Once I cut out the felt, I put my embellishments on. I learned the hard way about doing this the opposite way. Once the embellishments are on, I top stitch the cover with embroidery floss.

The nicest thing about these is that when the paper is used up, all you have to do is run down to your local drug or stationery store to buy another one. Surprisingly, these little covers hold up well in your purse or bag. You can check these out in my etsy store.