Lunch Box Ideas

Young Girl With Lunch Box on Sidewalk

I feel like we didn't even get a proper summer this year. We didn't have much time for sleeping late and no one got bored. What kind of summer is that?

Marcia and Bobby are already in "back to school" mode with summer sports. They have to pack a lunch every day (the cafeteria isn't open even if they wanted to eat there) and it's too expensive to let them do what some of the kids do and drive to the nearby fast food joint for lunch.

They pack their own and I try to have things that are fairly healthy and easy to pack as they often wait until the last possible second, no matter how often I suggest they pack them up the night before. 

Here's a list of lunch box foods I like to keep on hand that can be combined in all sorts of ways:

• whole grain sandwich bread
• tortillas
• peanut butter
• tuna
• cheese sticks or those Mini Babybel cheeses (we all love those but they're more expensive than cheese sticks so I don't buy them as often).
• yogurt
• applesauce or fruit cups
• lunch meat
• whole grain muffins
• crackers
• carrots
• apples
• granola bars
• tortilla chips (they can add a small container of salsa too)
• bananas
• plums
• hard boiled eggs (I don't make these very often, but they love them)
• Tea (is that weird?).  They love Snapple Lemon Tea, but it's too expensive for everyday.  They also like homemade tea packed in a water bottle or a re-purposed Snapple bottle.  You can freeze it the night before and it will be nice and icy cold at lunch time.
• oranges
• Leftovers (which are rare around here)
• And of course the occasional oatmeal cookie or slice of banana bread

Do you have any other good ideas for lunch box foods to keep on hand?

Keeping House in Difficult Circumstances

Sometimes the reality is that it's difficult to get all the housework done. Maybe your children are small and into everything, maybe you work outside the home, maybe you or a family member is sick. Life happens that way.

During times like these, fantasy housekeeping has to go out the window.  You're not going to be able to keep everything spotless, weed the garden, prepare gourmet meals, organize the closets and still find time to make elaborate centerpieces for the dinner table. 

If somehow you are able to do all that please let the rest of us know how you manage it.  I can't manage all that even when things aren't hectic at my house.

So what do you do when you don't have the time or energy for perfection, but you don't want your home descending into chaos?  You probably  already know what I'm going to say don't you?  Realize that you can't do everything and simplify your housekeeping routine (and I'm not talking about the fake sort of simplify like you might see in a magazine).

 

Put all the home improvement and decorating projects on the back burner.  If you don't have time to keep things at least tolerably clean, organized and have meals ready on time, don't get out the paint cans or start trying to feng shui the house.

 

No matter what is going on, your family needs food to eat at regular intervals, clean clothes to wear and a basic order in the day.   Think about the things that matter most and focus on those basic needs. Let go of perfect.

 

Focus on simple meals.  It won't hurt anyone if your menu's not fancy or even if it's somewhat repetitious.   Put a roast in the crockpot every Sunday for a month or make oatmeal for breakfast 3 days in a row; it's OK.  Keep the menu plans from week to week and just repeat them.  There are times when I'll rotate 4 different weekly menus for a few months at a time.  My family has never complained.  Having a repeated menu is better than standing at the stove at 5:30 wondering what you're going to make for supper.

Make the kids part of the housekeeping team and send them around with a duster, let them set the table or teach them to match socks.  Of course they won't do it perfectly, but they'll learn and before you know they'll be old enough to help with the dishes.  It's good for them to realize that mom doesn't just swish her ponytail in circles to get the house clean. :)

And most of all (and hardest of all for some of us)...ask for help when you need it!  Maybe you can find room in the budget for a mother's helper.  Maybe your mom or best friend could either help you get caught up or watch the kids so you can clean in peace for a few hours and you can return the favor.

Hang in there and realize that this season will pass!

“There is a magic in that little world, home; it is a mystic circle that surrounds comforts and virtues never known beyond its hallowed limits”
-Robert Southey

5 Things To Do With Table Salt

Salt and Pepper I

Y'all know I'm all about using what's handy, available and cheap, whether it's in cooking, cleaning, or entertaining. Plain old table salt has so many uses, it's natural and you probably already have some in your pantry.

1. Scour tiles with a mixture of salt and vinegar. They'll be shiny in no time.

2. Remove kitchen odors from your hands. If your hands smell like garlic or onions, make a little paste of vinegar and salt and scrub with it (provided you don't have any cuts on your hands because - ouch!).

3. Clean cast iron. If you have food stuck on your cast iron skillet, don't use soap, just sprinkle with salt, scrub and rinse.

4. Set tie-dye. Before you wash your lovely and artistic creation soak it in a mixture of 2 cups warm water to 1/3 cup salt for about 20 minutes.  We made tie-dye t-shirts at VBS one year and didn't do this before we washed them.  The colors ran and the kids were so disappointed that their shirts didn't stay vibrant and pretty.

5. Sprinkle salt on a lemon half and use it to scrub your copper pots to restore their shine. Rinse thoroughly afterward.

Organizing the Laundry Room

Dry Your Washing Automatically

We should all do what, in the long run, gives us joy, even if it is only picking grapes or sorting the laundry. - E.B. White

My laundry room is, for some reason, one of the hardest rooms in my house for me to keep organized. I think it's because we use it for so many purposes and it's not really very big. It's the place where we get our clothes clean of course, but has other functions as well. We come into the house through the laundry room from the garage so it serves as a "mud room" where the kids leave their jackets and sometimes their backpacks and shoes and also contains our "overflow" refrigerator, and my ironing board and iron.

I have learned a few tricks over the years to keep it from becoming an overwhelming mess.

1. I don't want the laundry to get out of hand, so I do some every day.
2. I keep the detergent, bleach, etc. in a cute enamelware dishpan on top of the washer. That way I can see it and know when I'm running low, but it's contained in one spot so I don't have to hunt it down every time I wash a load.
3. I use the wall space and the top of the refrigerator. I have hooks on the wall for jackets and bags and a wall organizer that holds my ironing board, iron and spray starch. The top of the fridge is where I keep empty lunchboxes during the summer and when not in use during the school year. They are in an old laundry basket. I also keep a trash can handy for things like lint, used dryer sheets, and sometimes candy wrappers and other odds and ends I find in pockets.
4. I regularly go through the lonely sock stash. I match up what I can and cut the rest up for rags. These are perfect for times when you need to clean up something really yucky because you can throw them away with no guilt.
5. No clean clothes are allowed to stay in the laundry room once they are dry. I have a bar to hang drip-dry clothes, but as soon as possible after they are dry I put them away.
6. About once a month I mop the laundry room floor and wipe down the surfaces of the washer, dryer and refrigerator. I also wash out the laundry basket. It seems to be a repository for crumbs and dried grass.

What room is hardest for you to keep organized?

Let it go

Raking Leaves


Perfectionist: Noun(a person who is displeased by anything that does not meet very high standards)

Order and cleanliness at home is wonderful but life is just not perfect and our homes will never be immaculate and magazine ready as long as we really live in them. I don't know about you, but at my house as soon as I finish all the dishes, someone deposits a dirty glass in the sink. I finish raking the leaves, and more fall. I do laundry and everyone wants to change clothes. Sometimes you have to walk away from it and make the decision to do something fun and creative. Enjoy your home and your family and focus on the pretty flowers on the table or the scented candles in the bathroom, and look over the dusty lampshade and dog hair on the sofa. Let's not make ourselves and our families miserable trying to achieve something that's impossible.

I'll step over the football cleats by the front door and won't notice the muddy footprints on the carpet at your house and you do the same when you come to mine? OK?

Spray Paint

Yesterday started my week of home improvement. :) I got my barstools touched up with spray paint. My kids are hard on them and we use them every day so they were looking a little worse for wear. They look so much better now!


If you're going to use spray paint for more than about 5 seconds, be sure and get one of these handy sprayer trigger thingys. They're cheap and worth it to save your hands.

And by the way, did I mention that in addition to preparing for guests, we are hosting a cookout for 16 people this Saturday? I'm off to Sam's.

I've hardly made a dent in my list of projects for the week. I'll be sure and keep you updated on how everything is going.

Easy Wall Art

I've been wanting to change my wall art on one of the walls in my living room. I found a metal star and a wooden sign that says "home" on sale for 50% off at Hobby Lobby, but I wanted to add something to it.

I found some mismatched old frames I had put up in a closet and I used my handy dandy can of black spray paint to make them all match. then I printed some pictures of the kids in a sepia tone and backed them with scrapbook paper. I think they turned out really cute.

When I am trying to decide how to arrange pictures on the wall, I arrange them on the floor first. That way I can see how they'll look and I won't put extra nail holes in the wall. Here is everything laid out on the floor, and in the final arrangement on the wall.

Laundry

Laundry
I had a wonderful birthday yesterday! Thank you ladies for all the comments and birthday wishes. I am having such fun reading through them. I love thinking about what life might be like in all the places that you live. Some as near as my own lovely state and some across the globe. You are the sweetest readers in blogland!

Today I'm playing catch up around the house, especially with laundry. Two days of not doing any has led to a huge Mt. Washmore calling my name. :) I found some HE detergent at Sam's that I'm looking forward to using. It is Ecos all natural detergent with organic lavender. I love the scent of lavender! Doing laundry is more fun when your detergent smells good don't you think?

I also have to find time today if possible to buy some groceries. If I get a chance this evening I'll show you the results of my birthday shopping. My mom insisted that I spend all my money on myself and not use it to buy groceries or something for the kids. Now what ever gave her the idea that I might do something like that? :)

Everyday Joys

I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God
Isaiah 61:10






A puttery day at home is all I needed to rest and refresh my soul.

Cleaning the Fridge

I mentioned in yesterday's post that I cleaned the fridge. I cleaned both the inside and the outside. I always forget about the top of the fridge...out of sight out of mind I guess, but I remembered it this time.

I had report cards, pictures, artwork and reminders of upcoming events on the fridge and I decided to take them down. I think it looks so much neater and cleaner now.


You can see the pretty magnets that I got on my trip to Japan.


I didn't get rid of everything though. I just moved it to our "overflow" fridge in the laundry room. I kind of like it in there. It's like my own personal bulletin board. :)

The basket on top of the fridge holds everyone's lunch boxes when not in use.

Laundry System

Laundry on a Clothesline
When my children were very young, I didn't really have any sort of a system for laundry. I just did loads when we ran out of clean clothes to wear. :) We were constantly searching through the laundry basket to find some item of clothing. I don't know that I saw the bottom of that basket for years. This, of course, resulted in lots of tension around the house when Peter needed a baseball uniform for the game in half an hour and it was crumpled up on the laundry room floor, or Mike needed his blue dress shirt to wear to work and it was wet and sour because I left it in the washer all night.

I was finally forced to change my ways when we put our first little house on the market. Cindy was a tiny baby and all seven of us were crammed into three bedrooms and 1300 square feet. I cleaned and de-cluttered like a madwoman for a week before the "for sale" sign went up (with lots of help from retrohousewife).

I soon came to realize that often realtors would only give 15 minutes notice (if that) before bringing clients by to see the house. I HAD to stay on top of things. The large laundry room was a great feature of the house and I wanted to show it off. That couldn't happen if they had to climb over a mountain of dirty clothes to even get in the door. :)

That was when I decided to get a system in place to make sure that my laundry stayed done. My goal was to keep the laundry done often enough that there was never a huge pile or laundry forgotten in the washer or dryer.

The first thing I did was to buy a larger laundry basket. Seven people make a lot of laundry and even if I did laundry every day, one of those tiny round baskets wasn't going to work. Next I had a talk with the kids. Everyone but Cindy was big enough to put their laundry in the basket every morning (even two year old Marcia). If their laundry was found anywhere but the basket...early bedtime.

I decided that with the size of our family, I needed to do laundry EVERY day to stay on top of it. I got into a routine of starting a load first thing in the morning (I still do this) and I also realized that I had to fold and put away the clean laundry immediately. No more piling load ofter load on the couch or my bed to fold "later". I had the kids help me listen for the buzz of the dryer and remind me to get the clothes out.

Once I got into the habit of doing laundry every day it was such a relief! It was amazing how it lessened the stress level in our house. No more frantic searching for matching socks, no more clean clothes left to wrinkle. I finally mastered the laundry and it was no longer mastering me!

Each aspect of housekeeping has to be planned and thought about. I guess my plan was hoping that if I ignored Mt. Washmore long enough it would go away. :) If you are in a laundry nightmare, I want to encourage you to learn from my mistakes. Sit down and work out your own laundry system. If you have lots of small children at home, as I did then, your system will of course be different than an empty nest couple or a couple with teenage children.

Let's conquer Mt. Washmore! :)

P.S. We sold the house in only four weeks and got our asking price.

House Hunting

Daylilies
The ranch has gotten to be more than my parents want to tackle, so in about a month they are going to be moving closer to town. They still want to have a couple of acres for the horses, but no more "middle of nowhere, dirt road" living.

I went house hunting with Mom yesterday and we had such a good time! I would love to tag along with a realtor for a couple of days just so I could see all the houses. One in particular that we looked at yesterday I just fell in love with. Her style reminded me of Ruthann's. She wasn't there of course when we looked at the house, but I wanted to ask the realtor to give her my phone number and see if she would be my friend. :) Her house was just so warm and cute that she must be the same. I want to know the names of all her paint colors and where she bought everything and did she put up the bead board in the bathroom herself, and...

I'm inspired to take a fresh look at my house and see what I can do on my (extremely) limited budget.

Caring for your front loading washing machine

Servis Washing Machine
I am LOVING my new front loading washing machine! I can put lots of clothes in it and it is SO quiet. The clothes spin so well they are nearly dry when they come out of the washer. I'm also looking forward to big savings on my water and electric bills. I can't believe that our clothes are getting clean with so little water.

I've found, however, that a front loader is much different than a top loader. It seems that it is quite common to have problems with odors. I've talked to friends and researched and I think I've figured out how to keep the odors away.

1) ALWAYS use HE detergents (they are low sudsing) and use as little as you can get by with. From what I hear, liquid HE detergents work better. That's all I've used so far.

2) Wash in warm or hot water. This seems to keep the inside of the machine cleaner. I do this anyway, because our clothes just don't come clean in cold water whether in a top loader or a front loader.

3)Run the "basket clean" cycle at least twice a month.

4)After your last load of the day, dry the rubber seal and leave the door cracked open.

5)Occasionally take off the little front panel in the lower corner and drain. Make sure nothing is clogged in it. It is made to catch small items that are left in pockets, etc. and it can start to smell if left too long.

6) Don't use liquid fabric softeners. They leave a "scum" on the inside of the washer that is hard to get off with so little water coming through. Just use dryer sheets if you need to.

I'm hoping that my washing machine will last for many years with a little preventative maintenance.

Smells Like Home

Peonies
One of things I loved about visiting my grandmother was how good her house always smelled. It's important to me that my house smell nice too. That's one of the reasons I've always used scented laundry detergent and fabric softener. I would tuck a fabric softener sheet in the linen closet or under the trash can liner in the bathrooms...maybe another between the mattress and boxspring in the guest bedroom.

I recently read an article about the toxic chemicals in scented laundry products and air fresheners so I have decided to stop using them. No point in taking the risk of endangering my family.

So how do we make our homes smell good without the use of toxic chemicals?

1) Baking: My personal favorite. :) Several years ago we had some furniture delivered. I had brownies baking in the oven when the delivery man showed up and he kept going on and on about how he could smell them as soon as he walked in the door.

2) Fresh flowers: Have fresh flowers in your entry way. Beautiful to your eyes and your nose!

3) Linen spray: I have a lavender linen spray that is scented with essential oil. It's so nice to spray on my pillows before I go to bed.

4) Keeping the trash emptied: This probably goes without saying, but it's easy for the trash to get stinky quickly.

5) Baking soda and lemon juice: These are great cleaners and also great ways to keep your drains clear and smelling good. Pour some baking soda down the drain and follow with lemon juice (or vinegar). Let it bubble for a while then follow with boiling water.

6) Non-toxic candles: Be sure to buy candles that don't have lead in the wicks.

7) Homemade potpourri: If you don't have time to bake, put some orange peels, cinnamon sticks and cloves in a small saucepan and cover with water. Simmer on a back burner.

8) Scented non-toxic furniture polish: I love the scent of freshly polished wood furniture. Daddy Van's has some that smells really nice.

9) "Swish" your bathroom every day: Do a quick swipe and swish of your bathroom every day. That will keep any smells from accumulating.

10) Open the windows: Open the windows first thing in the morning before the heat sets in and let in some fresh air.

Cleaning out the tea kettle

We have extremely hard water here (meaning that it has a high mineral content). It really does a number on my tea kettle. When I looked in it this morning, I couldn't believe how disgusting it looked!


So I put about half a cup of vinegar in it, and filled it up with water. I boiled this mixture for about 10 minutes (making the house smell like a pickle plant) and it looks SO much better! You can also run vinegar through your coffee maker when the minerals start to build up on it. Of course run plain water through afterward so your coffee won't taste bad the next morning. :)

Food, Food, Food

Seems like my whole day today was all about food. Shopping for food, preparing food, cleaning up after we ate food... I don't think I've stepped foot outside the kitchen all day except to go grocery shopping (and I have the laundry pile to prove it)!

I made three meals (blueberry muffins, jambalaya and cornbread, and Frito pie), plus I'm cooking for a big day tomorrow. Monday is my little brother's birthday. He'll be 38. He's back from the wilds of the Wyoming oil fields, plus we have Peter home (and as of today Bobby back from his mission trip) so we have a lot to celebrate.

After church tomorrow my parents and my brother will come over for Sunday dinner. We'll be having a Pioneer Woman menu. :) We're having The Best Lasagna. Ever. (really), Olive Cheese Bread, and the 4th of July Cake (I thought it was fitting), plus sun tea and lemonade. My mom is bringing salad and ice. She also said she would bring paper plates and cups, but I actually like to bring out my nice dishes. I have a good dishwasher and the plates and cups aren't the hard part of washing dishes anyway.

Here's my kitchen in action today. You see two skillets on the stove because I made two versions of the lasagna. One with no pork because my mom doesn't eat pork, and one regular.

See the shiny new skillet on the right? That's my new one. The handle broke off of my old one and I've been making do for weeks with my other two skillets that are not very big. As you can see by the state of my stove top, big meals like the lasagna filling don't fit too well in my cast iron skillet. Mike has been telling me to buy a new one and I finally did. I love it! I want to leave it sitting out in the kitchen so I can look at it. :) I might set it next to the bed so I can look at is as I doze off tonight...OK, not really.


I've already run the full dishwasher twice today!

And just for grins, here's last nights supper.

A Day in My Life - April

I'm joining Jenny again for A Day in My Life.

She says:

"The purpose is not to show how busy, lazy, exciting or organised your life is though it may be all of those things. The purpose is just to document a day and over a period of time document a series of days to look back on."

Be sure and check out her blog to read about her day and see the links to others who are taking part.

Today was a little different from my usual Mondays. School is out today and Mike is home. We had a very busy weekend, so today was a perfect opportunity for us to sleep in. We straggled into the kitchen one at a time for breakfast (make your own) and spent most of the morning in our PJs. It was so nice not to be rushing off somewhere. Mike and I were still sitting around drinking coffee at 10:00 am! I threw our sheets in the washer and that's about the extent of my morning accomplishments. :)

After sandwiches for lunch I made my menu and grocery list and did a quick fridge cleaning. I try to wipe down spills and throw out anything yucky before I shop. I usually go grocery shopping on Fridays and didn't get to it last week. We had an almost bare pantry and fridge. Mike stayed home with the kids, so I went to the post office and grocery store by myself. When I got home everyone helped bring in the groceries (it was a LOT) and put things away.

Once we had all the groceries put away, it was time to once again have Cindy lace up her cleats and head out to the softball field for a game.

They lost the game, but played hard. The team they played is one of the three best in the league and doesn't have any first year players. About half our team is first year.

By the time we got home it was nearly 8:00pm. I had the girls take a quick shower while I threw together a pizza. We really don't have pizza every night, it just seems that way sometimes. :)



After supper the girls got their backpacks ready for tomorrow and went to bed. Bobby and Mike settled in to watch a few minutes of TV while I checked email and started blogging.

I feel like I didn't get a thing done today. I still have a huge pile of laundry to do and the house is in disarray after the weekend. I have my work cut out for me tomorrow. :)