Have List, Will Follow

Thursday is for Tossing

2009-07-30T06:31:00.000-07:00

WAY TO GO ME! I didn't think I'd make it a year but there's still a long, long way to go.

373. boxes (son's room)
374. toys (son's room)
375. snowman (son's room)
376. foam peanuts (son's room)
377. clay thing (we have no idea what it was suppose to be)(son's room)
378. 2 magazines (1998) (living room)
379. schedules, etc. (living room)

Thursday is for Tossing

2009-07-23T12:08:00.000-07:00

Only one week left until I've been doing this a year!

366. magazine (2000) (living room)
367. adult gloves (my room)
368. child's wool mitts (my room)
369. hat (my room)
370. seeds (expired 10/2006) (living room)
371. winter mitts (my room)
372. goggles (son's room)

Thursday is for Tossing

2009-07-16T11:14:00.000-07:00

359. bike helmet (my room)
360. adult gloves (my room)
361. child's gloves (my room)
362. child's winter mittens (my room)
363. wind pants (son's room)
364. 4 pens (living room)
365. magazine (1999) (living room)

Thursday is for Tossing

2009-07-09T05:41:00.000-07:00

Still same cupboard, same shelf.

352. windpants (son's room)
353. pjs (son's room)
354. snowpants (son's room)
355. sweat pants (son's room)
356. short sleeved white shirt (son's room)
357. snowsuit (son's room)
358. 2 magazines (1991 & 1999) (living room)

Thursday is for Tossing

2009-07-02T05:36:00.000-07:00

Continuing in the same cupboard.

345. snowsuit (son's room)
346. windpants (son's room)
347. short sleeved shirt (son's room)
348. 2 magazines (1999) (living room)
349. fall jacket (son's room)
350. polo top (son's room)
351. sweat suit (son's room)

Thursday is for Tossing

2009-06-25T05:15:00.000-07:00

There's a cupboard in my son's room that is mainly for storage. I started pulling out the stuff from the bottom.

338. winter jacket (son's room)
339. fall jacket (son's room)
340. blue sweatshirt (son's room)
341. snowsuit (son's room)
342. windpants (son's room)
343. short sleeved shirt (son's room)
344. long johns (son's room)

Thursday is for tossing

2009-06-18T14:28:00.000-07:00

Well, I didn't have as much expired food stuffs to get rid of as I thought I did, but strange it made so much empty space.

331. 2 bags of flour (expired 2/09 and 6/09) (kitchen)
332. bag of glutenfree flour (expired 6/09) (kitchen)
333. box of whole corn flour (expired 11/08) (kitchen)
334. bag of gluten flour (don't know when expires but over a year old) (kitchen)
335. box of buckwheat flakes (expired 5/09) (kitchen)
336. container of candied orange (don't know when expires but over a year old) (kitchen)
337. 2 containers of bubble bath (still haven't found anyone with a bathtub!) (bathroom)

Thursday is for Tossing

2009-06-11T11:50:00.000-07:00

I'm doing something that I've wanted to do for years. I'm pulling out everything from my food cupboards and going through them instead of just pushing things around.

324. Fruit and Veggie cleanser (over 7 years old) (kitchen)
325. TVP (expired 4/09) (kitchen)
326. cough syrup (expired 10/06) (kitchen)
327. baby food (expired 5/07) (kitchen)
328. candied cherries (expired 1/08) (kitchen)
329. tinned green beans (also over 7 years old) (kitchen)
330. polenta (expired 12/08 & 2/09) (kitchen)

Thursday is for Tossing

2009-06-04T05:14:00.000-07:00

The graduation ceremony and party went really well. Shamefully I had to still hide things in my bedroom in the corners that were out of sight from the door. But I'll still carry on.

314. candle (living room)
315. papers (son's room)
316. school calendars (son's room)
317. rock (living room)
318. doll (my room)
319. plastic flowers (living room)
320. potpourri (living room)
321. papers, travel brochures, etc. (living room drawer)
322. 3 knitting magazines (living room)
323. candy papers (living room)

Thursday is for Tossing

2009-05-28T04:55:00.000-07:00

Why is it hard to get rid of silly things - like the very broken laundry basket that has been replaced but still hanging around?

305. broken toys, etc. (son's room)
306. 5? magazines (living room)
307. fan visor (son's room)
308. boxes (my room)
309. laundry basket (my room)
310. 2 belts (my room)
311. papers (my room)
312. keychain (hall)
313. alarm clock (my room)

Thursday is for Tossing

2009-05-21T04:33:00.000-07:00

Pictures have been backlogged because I keep putting off updating!

298. pasta (expired 1/09)
299. pencil case (son's bedroom - why was that kept!?)
300. box from old souvenir (living room - same question as above!)
301. shredded receipts, etc. Finally got the shredder working. (living room)
302. knitting patterns (living room)
303. instant camera (expired 6/05) (living room)
304. snake bite kit (expired 4/99) kitchen

Thursday is for Tossing

2009-05-14T12:33:00.000-07:00

Not long before the party. I've started baking things to put in the freezer but we aren't eating things up fast enough to fit more stuff in!

284. sweat pants (my room)
285. short-sleeved top (my room)
286. 2 travel toothbrushes (my room)
287. 2 combs (my room)
288. skirt (my room)
289. t-shirt (my room)
290. summer dress (my room)
291. sweat shirt (my room)
292. 2 pens (my room)
293. expired (3/2005) unopened spice package (kitchen)
294. son's school papers (living room)
295. binder (my room)
296. wall lamp (my room)
297. pamphlets (son's room)

Thursday is for Tossing

2009-05-07T13:45:00.000-07:00

Late again!

277. jacket (my room)
278. son's school papers (living room)
279. hair combs (my room)
280. 4 magazines (1981-2003) (living room)
281. 2 picture frames (my room)
282. mini puzzle (my room)
283. crocheted dog toilet paper cover (my room)

Thursday is for Tossing

2009-04-30T11:21:00.000-07:00

On one blog I read the blogger counts everything, so I decided to separate the English and Finnish magazines that I read and count them as two items because there were more than usual.

270. 3 English magazines (2001-2002) (living room)
271. child's black sweat pants (son's room)
272. child's book (my room)
273. package of balloons (who knew that they could meld together?) (my room)
274. skirt and blazer (my room)
275. 7 Finnish magazines (2001-2003) (living room)
276. child's petangue balls (my room)

Thursday is for Tossing

2009-04-23T13:28:00.000-07:00

Well I really fell behind! I didn't want to miss a day so I had to force myself to find 14 things to get rid of! One of these days I'm going to look at my old posts and count how many magazines I've gotten rid of because I still have untouched piles and I'd like to have a bit more incentive.

256. beige jacket (my room)
257. patchwork pullover (my room)
258. 5 magazines (2000-2003) (living room)
259. cleaning brush (kitchen)
260. batteries (kitchen)
261. expired dates (11/2008) (kitchen)
262. 3 children's books (my room)
263. navy blue jacket (my room)
264. stripped top (my room)
265. flowered blouse (my room)
266. black short-sleeved blouse (my room)
267. green child's sweatpants (son's room)
268. black child's sweatpants (son's room)
269. expired (4/2008) chocolate bar (my room)

Thursday is for Tossing

2009-04-09T11:23:00.000-07:00

Decluttering has become such a drudgery!

249. 2 clip toys (son's room)
250. toy soldiers, etc. (son's room)
251. expired food (kitchen)
252. toy gun (son's room)
253. toy microphone (son's room)
254. toy phone (son's room)
255. 5 magazines (1991 - 2008) (living room)

Thursday is for Tossing

2009-04-02T10:28:00.000-07:00

We've been trying to work on my son's room this week. We packed up all of his medals that were hanging on the wall and now that area looks so bare.

242. travel guides, maps, etc. (living room)
243. bag of tiny toys, etc. (son's room)
244. 3 balls (son's room)
245. 5 yo-yos (son's room)
246. timetables, course pamphlets, etc. (living room)
247. catalogues (son's room)
248. 2 magazines (20o1 & 2004) (living room)

Thursday is for Tossing

2009-03-26T07:43:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that there is still expired food in my cupboards. I need to take everything out and check the dates!
235. 12 Pringles containers (son's room - he has outgrown his collection)
236. empty cookie package (kitchen - reminder of our last trip home)
237. 4 magazines (living room & son's room - 1991 - 2007)
238. shredded receipts from Jan - June 1999 bank statements (my room)
239. 4 telephone books (living room)
240. course catalogues (living room)
241. expired nut packages (kitchen)

Thursday is for Thursday

2009-03-19T09:13:00.000-07:00

My son's finals are finally over. I haven't thought to ask when he'll hear the results but I know it will be a while. Now we can spend time on his room. At least I hope so! He still has to focus on studying for his university entrance exams.

228. Long-sleeved top (son's room)
229. undershirt (son's room)
230. boy's dress pants (son's room)
231. shredded receipts from July - Dec 2000 bank statements (my room)
232. strawberry licorice (kitchen) (a souvenir from my last trip home over 5 years ago)
233. 4 magazines (2000-2004) (living room)
234. containers (kitchen)

Marcia at Organising Queen is having us focus on our computers this month. I'm not doing well. I only decluttered 21 emails and I have so many email accounts to go through.

Thursday is for Tossing

2009-03-12T11:29:00.000-07:00

I still have a lot of bookmarks to go through and either put them in files or delete. I try to shred 2 months of receipts a day but for some reason I hardly noticed them this week even though they are sitting quite close!

221. boxes (my son's room)
222. pizza boxes that I've saved (one's from 2001) in case we need a large piece of cardboard (kitchen)
223. play dough mold (son's room)
224. shredded receipts from Jan - June 2000 bank statements (my room)
225. 2 magazines (2202) (living room)
226. sport shirt (son's room)
227. sleeveless top (son's room)

This week's Challenge from Marcia the Organising Queen was to delete bookmarks and blogs from our computers. I was able to delete 45 bookmarks but I still have a long way to go.

Tuesday is for Tasting

2009-03-10T13:05:00.000-07:00

I wanted to enter Chocolate-Covered Katie's chocolate giveaway and to I went over to look at her blog and for extra entries in the giveaway you can make one of her recipes and blog about it. I tried the Little Vegan Mashed Cauliflower recipe last week and this week I made her Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.

I've been wanting to try more cookies made with oil instead of margarine and so this recipe was a good opportunity to do so. I didn't have any Ener-G egg replacer (I don't even know if they have it here) so I used corn starch instead. I found the texture to be more like a shortbread, but my cookies didn't look like the ones on Katie's blog, so I don't know if it was the cornstarch or that all of my ingredients are from over here. I'm thinking they would taste good also with a bit of peanut butter in them.

Thursday is for Tossing

2009-03-05T08:36:00.000-08:00

I haven't been in the mood to read this week so my magazine reading has slowed down some.

214. jean shirt (son's room)
215. white shirt (son's room)
216. long johns (son's room)
217. boxers (son's room)
218. shredded receipts from 2001 bank statements (my room)
219. 2 magazines (2001 & 2003) (my room)
220. old containers (kitchen)

Tuesday is for Tasting

2009-03-03T11:38:00.000-08:00

I read on someone's blog that Chocolate-Covered Katie was having a chocolate giveaway! I went over to look at her blog and if you want more entries in the giveaway you can make one of her recipes and blog about it. So I looked around to see if there was anything I would like to try. For some reason I don't buy cauliflower very often but when I saw the Little Vegan Mashed Cauliflower recipe I thought it sounded interesting.

I was a bit weary about adding such a big piece of broth cube because I wasn't sure if broth cubes over there were the same consistency as here. I was afraid we would end up with chunks of the cube in our food but we didn't. I only used 1/3 of a cube and I left out the garlic because we don't eat anything from the onion family. My son and I had it for supper and we both thought it was something we would eat again. We had it with store-bought vegetable balls. I had the leftovers cold for lunch the next day and I liked them that way too.

Thursday is for Tossing

2009-02-26T08:12:00.000-08:00

I have tried to read the thinner magazines and now I'm working on some thicker ones and they seem to have lots to read in them, so it might take me longer than I thought.

207. shredded receipts from 2002 bank statements (my room)
208. shirt (son's room)
209. navy blue snapped sweater (son's room)
210. jean vest (son's room)
211. cinnamon (expired in 2004) (kitchen)
212. 6 magazines (1989-2004) (living room)
213. instruction booklets, etc. (son's room)

Thursday is for Tossing

2009-02-19T12:54:00.000-08:00

Yikes. I can't believe it has been over 200 days since I started to actually do the decluttering I've been trying to do for years.

200. (!) 2 children's sweatshirts (son's room)
201. boxer shorts (son's room)
202. sleeveless top (son's room)
203. shredded receipts from 2005 bank statements (my room)
204. 3 magazines (living room)
205. fleece top (son's room)
206. paper from beside old computer (living room)

Thursday is for Tossing

2009-02-12T11:47:00.000-08:00

Another week closer. I'm not doing very well in my bedroom (I would like to handle one thing a day) but the bank statements, magazines and living room are going OK. The Organising Queen's challenge for this week is books and magazines. I can't imagine going through my books yet. It's easier to get rid of discards from the library that I've either bought or picked up for free.

193. blue top with ties (my room)
194. long johns (my son's room)
195. top with squares (my room)
196. shredded paper (my room - 2003 receipts from bank statements)
197. paper from beside old computer and 2007 calendar (living room)
198. flour (kitchen - best before 2007! how can it be so old all ready)
199. 5 magazines (living room - 2002 - 2007)

Wednesday is for Work

2009-02-11T11:22:00.000-08:00

I seldom remember to take the camera to work before the children take their work home. This time the littles and the bigs both made the same heart cards. The littles made a different cat than the bigs but they had taken home before I thought to take a picture.

<- "To a friend"
"Friend" ->

Thursday is for Tossing

2009-02-05T12:57:00.000-08:00

The Organising Queen's decluttering theme for February is the home office. I don't have one, but I do have most of the stuff here and there!

186. 2 long-sleeved undershirts (son's room)
187. sweat pants (son's room)
188. top (son's room)
189. pieces of wood from something my son made when he was little (son's room)
190. shredded paper (my room - almost all of the receipts from 2004, though I kept the bank statements and some of the bills. I guess this could come under the heading of my home office.)
191. 4 magazines (living room - 2001-2005)
192. cardigan (son's room)

Thursday is for Tossing

2009-01-29T10:48:00.000-08:00

I'm glad I was able to borrow the shredder, though it is getting a bit boring and I still have a long way to go.

179. Brushes (kitchen - dare I admit it - 6 dish brushes and 14 toothbrushes. I use them to scrub things like the bathroom floor drain so I can throw them immediately away. I didn't realize that I had so many because they were in different places.)
180. Bits and pieces from utensil drawers. (kitchen - last week's kitchen decluttering theme at the Organising Queen, was cutlery and utensils. )
181. 3 bottles of nail polish (my room)
182. shredded paper - this will probably be a weekly item for a while until I've gone through several years of bank statements.) (living room)
183. 5 magazines (living room - 2002 - 2007)
184. cake pan (kitchen - this week's kitchen theme at Marcia's blog was baking pans and cooking stuff.)
185. 2 belts (my room)

Before and after photos of the cutlery drawer (more cutlery drying on drying rack).

Before and after photos of utensil drawer. They red utensil holder sits on top of the things in the bottom of the drawer.

Thursday is for Tossing

2009-01-22T09:13:00.000-08:00

Still chugging along with the decluttering.

172. white shirt (my bedroom)
173. long sleeved undershirt (my bedroom)
174. t-shirt (my bedroom)
175. shredded receipts, etc. (living room - I've been saving them until I could borrow the shredder.)
176. rolling pin (kitchen - It was cracking and my son got me a new one for Christmas.)
177. 2 magazines (living room)
178. 2006 calendar (living room - I took the thick cardboard covers off to use as bookmarks in library books in case I don't finish the book and forget to take the bookmark out.)

I forgot about this week's kitchen challenge but I'll try get it done this weekend - I've already started.

Thursday is for Tossing

2009-01-16T13:55:00.000-08:00

I started a private blog for myself so that I can set up a schedule of what needs to be done - decluttered, washed, cleaned, etc. I think that it will take time, but be of help.

165. catalogues and flyers (living room)
166. flippers (son's room)
167. ball (son's room)
168. pin wheel (son's room)
169. 6 magazines (living room)
170. ear phones (son's room)
171. sling shot (son's room)

Marcia, at Organizing Queen, is helping us declutter our kitchens by having a theme each week in January. This week's theme is dishes and bowls, but I didn't have any that I wanted to declutter. Marcia suggested that we show how we store them. I know the picture is a bit blurry but you get the idea. The dishes in the front are the ones we use everyday (and some are on the drying rack, drying) and the ones in the back are for special occasions or if we need dessert bowls.

Thursday is for Tossing

2009-01-08T09:03:00.000-08:00

This week we finally got around to decluttering the floor of one of the cupboards in my son's room. There's a place for another shelf so we needed to make some room to fit it in. He's so tall and his clothes take up more and more room, but hopefully he has stopped growing.

158. bouncing board (son's cupboard)
159. inflatable swim ring (son's cupboard)
160. velcro ball catchers (son's cupboard)
161. papers (son's desk cupboard)
162. cardboard and papers (son's cupboard)
163. 3 mugs (kitchen- Marcia, at Organising Queen, kitchen declutter theme for this week was mugs and glasses)
164. 5 magazines (living room)

Thursday is for Tossing

2009-01-01T14:30:00.000-08:00

I was talking with my sister and she told me that she has started to declutter and is trying to use up all of the food in her cupboards. I've never mentioned to her what I've been doing all of these months. It was such a strange coincidence, as we live on different continents.

Marcia, at Organising Queen, has taken the kitchen for January's declutter theme. Each week has a different theme and this week's is Tupperware or plastic containers. I can't imagine throwing Tupperware away, as it is too expensive. I don't have much anyway and I (think I) use it all.

151. plastic bottle (kitchen)
152. plastic containers (kitchen - Marcia's kitchen theme for this week)
153. basketball outfit (son's room)
154. 12 newspapers (my room - they are all finished! All we have to do now is read the articles I've cut out.)
155. swimming suit (son's room)
156. summer pjs (my room)
157. child's t-shirt (my room)

Jan/2009 Edited to add: Last spring and summer we were given several subscriptions to daily newspapers as gifts. The gift givers subscribed to them and then told us that we would be getting the newspapers. I'm not much of a newspaper reader and my son reads the news from his phone (though at first he thought that he would read the papers too, but reality is that he doesn't have the time), so they piled up. I didn't want to throw them away without reading them, but I kept putting off doing it. I needed to force myself to do it but now I'm glad it's done.

Tossed it Thursday

2008-12-25T06:16:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays!

Marcia, at Organising Queen has suggested that she post a decluttering theme for every week and I think it is a great idea. There's no time like the beginning of the year to start!

144. 18 newspapers (maybe I'll make it after all!) (my room)
145. long-sleeved undershirt (my room)
146. 4 magazines (living room)
147. sweat shirt (my room)
148. summer pjs (son's room)
149. 2 pairs of half length underwear (son's room)
150. spaghetti (kitchen - used up from cupboard)

Monday is for Menu

2008-12-20T09:33:00.000-08:00

My son suggested having a vegetarian meal for Christmas but then decided that maybe he would like fish. Our tentative menu is as follows.

Meal
Salmon Steaks with Sweet Red Pepper Sauce (I'll use Atlantic salmon and leave out the wine.)
Smoked turkey breast (store bought - only a little piece)
Twiced baked potatoes (Though I leave out the bacon and onion. I bake the potato the day before with the pumpkin pie, make the filling and stuff the potato skins and leave them in the fridge until the next day when I bake them again.)
Sweet potatoes (but I'll cut them into cubes instead of fries)
Mushy peas (I'll just use a potato masher to mash them)
Cucumber Fan

Drink
Punch (going to try 2 parts orange juice, 1 part pineapple juice and 1 part gingerale)

Bread
Lori's Quick Rolls (easy to make and we like them)
Cheese Bread

Dessert
Pumpkin pie (my own recipe - I use carrots instead of pumpkin because we can't get pumpkin here)
Vegan Lemon Bars (I haven't tried these. I was looking for something eggless and I'll probably use butter! I'll only make it if there are any good lemons in the store.)

Other baking this week
Finnish Cinnamon Cookies
Date and Coconut Tosca Cake (recipe and video are in Finnish)

Tossed it Thursday

2008-12-20T06:26:00.000-08:00

Slim pickings this week and late again!

137. 2 newspapers (my room) (It looks like I'm not going to get them done by Christmas. My new goal is before the new year but that mean reading 3ish papers a day! Good thing I'm on holiday now.)
138. Catalogues and flyer (living room)
139. Long-sleeved undershirt (my room)
140. Musli package - finally it's finished. I've been trying to eat it up before it expired but it wasn't to our taste and so it was difficult. (kitchen cupboard)
141. Drink concentrate (kitchen fridge - good thing we didn't like it because I noticed that it had expired.)
142. 2 t-shirts (son's room)
143. cardboard pictures (living room - I've had them for a few years meaning to make Christmas cards from them but as it hasn't happened yet I have to assume that it's better to get rid of them)

Marcia, at Organising Queen has some tips on how to declutter and organise books on her most recent Friday Declutter Challenge post. Thankfully my books are basically tidy and we try not to buy new ones, but all of the magazines bother me!

Tossed it Thursday

2008-12-11T11:05:00.000-08:00

We've started sorting through my son's clothes cupboard. I'm hoping we can get it finished during the Christmas holiday because he seems to be away from home so much!

130. 5 newspapers (my room)
131. pajamas (son's room)
132. pajama top (son's room)
133. microphone (son's room)
134. shorts (son's room)
135. 2 earphones (son's room)
136. belt (son's room)

Marcia, the Organizing Queen, hosts a post every Friday where you can add a link to your decluttering post. Have a look at what others are decluttering.

Tossed it Thursday

2008-12-04T14:24:00.000-08:00

The week before last went so quickly that I forgot my decluttering! And then I forgot my blog password and I couldn't find it written down anywhere.

116. 2 newspapers (my room)
117. 8 magazines (living room)
118. man's shirt (son's room)
119. sweet and sour sauce (kitchen - used up from cupboard)
120. candies (expired)
121. noodles (kitchen - used up from cupboard)
122. 6 t-shirts (son's room)

These are all clothes that are too small for my son.
123. white pants
124. sweat pants
125. polo top
126. t-shirt
127. black pants
128. shorts
129. long sleeved t-shirt

Marcia, at Organizing Queen, has assigned spots for things that need to be returned to other people and for things that they are going to give away. Maybe I too should be a bit more organized.

Tossed it on Thursday

2008-11-20T07:51:00.000-08:00

I didn't even think of newspapers this week! I hope I'll be able to get them read by Christmas (my sort of deadline). I have started reading the magazines in the living room. I should count them and see if I can get them done by the graduation party, though I can't estimate how long it would take to read one as there might be just the article I bought the magazine for that is worth reading or lots of things to read.

109. weights (my son's room - back to owner)
110. jean shirt (my room)
111. child's polo (my room)
112. 4 magazines (living room)
113. broth cubes (kitchen - expired)
114. instant chicken soup (kitchen - used up from the cupboard)
115. Lego catalogues, ads and boxes (my son's room)

Check out Marcia's blog Organizing Queen to see what others have decluttered this week.

Tossed it on Thursday

2008-11-13T12:17:00.000-08:00

102. 5 newspapers (my room)
103. magazine (living room)
104. hand lotion (my son's room)
105. spelt flour (expired), tomato soup and hollandaise sauce (used up from the cupboard)
106. shirt (my room)
107. pants (my room)
108. blouse (my room)

I enjoy looking at what other's have decluttered. Visit Marcia's blog Organizing Queen to see who else is decluttering this week.

Wednesday at Work

2008-11-12T11:37:00.000-08:00

I work part-time at a play school. One group has three and four year olds and the other has four and five year olds. They have their times on alternate days. Now that father's day is over it is time to get started on Christmas things because they aren't at the play school for many hours each week. So this week the younger ones decided what shape 'gingerbread cookies' they wanted and were helped to cut out out the shapes (most don't know how to cut yet). Then they used a hole puncher and glued the dots on. Then they glued sugar pearls onto the dots. We had thought that the older ones could cut gingerbread figures out of felt by themselves but it was too thick so they were pre-cut for them. They did the sewing themselves with some guidance as to where they should put the needle. They look quite nice on the wall.

Menus on Monday

2008-11-10T11:36:00.000-08:00

Last week we didn't follow the list very well. My son's grandmother brought over some pea soup and then my son was away one evening. But he did make the cashew rainbow trout and I used the heated oven to make the 'Mix in the Pan' Chocolate Cake that was quite good and too easy to make. (I mean it would be too easy to make another one soon!)

So this week's plan is as follows:
Beet and cottage cheese pasta (two meals)
Chicken noodle soup (that we didn't have last week)
Mashed potatoes and parsnip, carrot casserole (from my son's grandmother) and the Spiced Kidney Bean Burgers that I had on the list a few weeks ago and didn't get to try.
My son goes to his father's this weekend so I'm going to see what's taking up all of the space in the freezer and eat some of it.

I thought that I had used up the last of the carrots and bought a new bag, only to find that I had an unopened one in the fridge (in the wrong place). Does anyone have any good recipes to use carrots in? Please leave me a link or suggestion in the comments. Thank you!

Tossed it Thursday

2008-11-06T09:01:00.000-08:00

A slow week because I'm sick. My head doesn't like moving around.
95. 4 newspapers (April and June - my room)
96. paper holding arm thingy for the computer (living room)
97. 16 posters (from my son's room)
98. laundry basket full of boxes from electronics, etc. that my son has bought during the last few years and we've kept in case they needed to be repaired (from my son's room)
99. gravy package - I wasn't able to make anything from the cupboard this week because our schedule changed but I did find this package. We aren't into gravy but I was surprised to find that it expired 2 years ago!
100. ONE HUNDRED! windbreaker and pants (my room)
101. 5 each - blogs, bookmarks and emails

Please go over to Marcia's blog Organizing Queen and see what other people have decluttered this week and join us in the decluttering journey.

Menus on Monday

2008-11-04T06:37:00.000-08:00

I'm not feeling well so I'm hoping that I can stick with the menu for this week and not have to make extra trips to the store.

Homemade Rice a Roni (but I'll use whole wheat pasta and brown rice) with chicken balls
Cashew Rainbow Trout (the recipe is in Finnish) with some kind of oven potato. My son will be making this and hopefully there will be enough for two days. And seeing that the oven will be on, I'm going to make a 'Mix in the Pan' Chocolate Cake for the first time.
Chicken Noodle Soup (to use up the noodles in the cupboard).

Tossed it Thursday

2008-10-30T07:17:00.000-07:00

Marcia, at Organizing Queen, asked us last week to tell what we would declutter this week so that we would be accountable for it. I was able to meet my goals.

88. I want to eat up the packaged and tin foods in my cupboards so that I have room for the other foods that don't fit there at the moment. So this week I used up a tin of bean sprouts that I've had for a while. It was the first time I had bought them, so I kept putting off using them. The recipe was from the back of the tin.

89. deleted 14 blogs, 7 emails and 7 bookmarks
90. 4 newspapers (from my room)
91. bits and pieces from toy shelf (from my son's room)
92. reminder holder (from living room)
93. jars that I've been saving (from kitchen)
94. toy car that my son made when he was little (from a shelf in my room)

My decluttering goals for next week are to get rid of something from my room, my son's room and the living room, use up something from the kitchen cupboard and then emails, etc.

Menus on Monday

2008-10-26T13:25:00.000-07:00

Shrimp and peanuts with egg noodles (My son will be making supper! He tried out the recipe this weekend at his father's and already tweeked it!)
Finnish Carrot Casserole (from my son's grandmother) (here's one version if you want to see what it is like) and chicken balls
Pork with orange sauce (to declutter a tin of bean sprouts from the cupboard - one of this week's goals)
Crashed Hot Potatoes and Spicy Kidney Bean Burgers

Baking this week (I'll try to make them eggless.)
Japanese Peanut Cookies
Spooktacular Halloween Cupcakes

Tossed it Thursday

2008-10-23T04:07:00.000-07:00

There is a cupboard in my son's room that is missing the bottom shelf. I have been using it as a good place to pile up unused clothes - those that are too small for him, those that I have bought for myself and haven't used yet or too often and other things like pillows and an air mattress and pump. I've started pulling out stuff from the pile so I can go through them. Once I found the first seven things and took the picture I realized that I'm procrastinating again! I'm suppose to focus on visible items in order to be ready for spring. I need to put signs up like 'FOCUS ON THE GOAL' or 'NOW WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?' or even 'Is it in plain sight?' And why do I keep procrastinating about posting the week's decluttered items? I will have declutter the stuff from cupboards, etc. but it would be nice to have clean visible surfaces first.

What I've decluttered this week:
81. winter jacket
82. child's jean jacket
83. child's top
84. child's jeans
85. fall jacket
86. spring jacket
87. windbreaker

Marcia at Organizing Queen has asked us to leave a comment on her blog about what we are going to declutter next week so we will be accountable for it. I think that that is a great idea. Maybe I will try to do that on my blog too. So next week I'll declutter at least 5 blogs, emails and bookmarks, at least one packaged food (I want to try not to use many processed foods but I don't want to throw away the ones I have. I don't have much cupboard space either and I'm tired of food being stored on the table or counter.) and one item each from my room, my son's room and the living room. That's 5 items already.

Tossed it Thursday

2008-10-16T09:08:00.000-07:00

Now I'm having to start actually looking for things to declutter rather than notice things that I can get rid of. Not that there isn't a lot still to get rid of but I'm going to have to start going through things. Or maybe not yet. I put a ticker at the bottom of the page and so I should focus on that first. I want to be able to keep my bedroom door open when the guests are here so that means I can't hide everything extra in there! Maybe I should move the ticker up to the top of the page. Take a look at Marcia's blog to see what other people have decluttered this week.

74. jacket
75. shirt
76. celiac test that I took last spring!
77. ski pants
78. shorts
79. old blood sugar meter
80. 21 blogs from bloglines

Menus on Monday

2008-10-11T05:45:00.000-07:00

I've been looking at the menus people have posted on I'm an Organizing Junkie for a few weeks and decided that I'll post mine too.

With it being Thanksgiving this week, we've been thinking of what we want to eat. Neither of us are big on meat anymore, so we want to have something vegetarian/vegan. We'll be having our meal sometime this week or next. It depends when my son will be home early enough to have it. I've found a few recipes I'd like to try, so our menu will be something like this: Salisbury Steak (or I might get lazy and buy some chicken breasts) with vegetarian gravy, crash hot potatoes and vegetables or a salad. And pumpkin pie of course, but it will be made with carrots as I can't get a pumpkin here. Or maybe I'll try Pumpkin Pie Brownies. Edited to add: I decided at the last minute to bake some rolls and I used Lori's Quick Roll recipe for the first time.

For the rest of the week I'm thinking of the following.
Macaroni casserole that my son's grandmother sent over.
Leftover Black Bean and Tortilla Bake from the freezer
Homemade Rice a Roni with something from the freezer.
Pasta with Peanut Sauce (but I'll purée some peanuts to use them up instead of using peanut butter)
Homemade pizza on the weekend if my son is home.

Toss it Thursday

2008-10-09T12:50:00.000-07:00

I need to write out my declutter roster and stick it noticably on the wall somewhere so that I can work on it! See what others have decluttered this week at Organizing Queen.

67. 2 pairs of gloves (one to charity and the other to garbage)
68. 2 dickies (to charity)
69. empty laundry softener (I don't think that I've used softener this year so why am I keeping this empty container?)
70. empty juice bottle with an expiry year of 2000 (again why am I keeping empty containers?)
71. jars to glass recycling and lids to garbage (see above question)
72. empty cotton swap containers (again with the useless, old containers)
73. empty pickle tin (sigh)

Toss it on Thursday

2008-10-02T06:27:00.000-07:00

This past week went quite quickly. I was surprised when my co-worker wished me a good weekend. I've started going through my bloglines list and it's hard to decide what to delete. I have files for different topics, so now I think I'll just do one file at a time. I also took out my winter hat, etc. box and went through it.

60. 25 blogs deleted from my bloglines list
61. 3 hats
62. scarf
63. 2 caps
64. head band
65. aluminum sauce pan
66. unpaired glove

Menus on Monday

2008-09-30T09:15:00.000-07:00

packaged shrimp soup
frankfurter soup
stuffed peppers
frankfurters and french fries
try out a brown bean recipe like this one with rice

Tossed it Thursday

2008-09-25T10:31:00.000-07:00

I haven't done very well this week. I've been so tired and I haven't had any motivation to declutter. Even though I've napped everyday after coming home from work, I still feel tired. It seems to be taking longer getting used to being at work, after all of these years, than I thought it would. Have a look on Marcia's blog to see how the others are doing.

53. 65 emails. One good thing about trying to come up with 7 things to declutter this week, it made me read and declutter some emails.
54. book (to a friend)
55. empty sweetener container (why have I kept this when I've had a new one since last year?)
56. local phone books (from 2005 & 2007)
57. typewriter (back to its owner)
58. blouse (to charity)
59. child's sweater (to charity)

Menus on Monday

2008-09-23T11:32:00.000-07:00

store bought pizza
leftover pea soup
spaghetti and tomato sauce

Tossed it Thursday

2008-09-18T10:03:00.000-07:00

It's so nice of Marica to keep hosting The Friday Declutter Challenge. I think I would have given up this week otherwise!

If anyone visited and peeked into my bedroom, they would wonder why I feel that I'm struggling to declutter things because there is so much in there to declutter! This week has been hard and I only gathered up the things today.

I suppose most people would just get rid of their old unread newspapers but I do want to read them. I haven't had the energy to read one a day this week. I had planned to write in this post that I really should let the kind people, who send us their free subscriptions bonuses, know that my son can read the news on his phone so that maybe they know someone else who would like the gift. Then my son told me today that his aunt had just sent him a text message that she was forwarding her newspaper to us for the two weeks she is going to be away! My goal for them is to read them on the day they arrive so I don't have to add them to the piles.

46. Empty plastic dishwasher detergent containers. I've been saving them in case we got our dishwasher fixed but it's been 3 years so I guess it was time to let them go. (I forgot to take a picture of them.)
47. 80 emails
48. Chatelaine magazines (1993 - 1997). Hopefully that's the last of them.
49. jars and lids (will they ever end?)
50. newspapers
51. books to a friend
52. microphone and wires back to their owner

Menus on Monday

2008-09-15T09:57:00.000-07:00

OK it's really the Saturday after, but I want to keep track of what I've been planning.
- leftover chili and rice
- french fries and fish
- potatoes and fish fingers
- bourbon chicken and pasta
- macaroni and cheese
- pea soup

Tossed it Thursday

2008-09-11T13:49:00.000-07:00

I haven't had much time this week to decluttered as I've been tidying up and that hasn't included getting rid of stuff, just getting it out of sight.

39. newspapers (to recycling)
40. belts (back to the person who gave them to us)
41. swimming shorts (charity)

42. papers, flyers, etc. (to recycling - I should do this when the bag is full not overflowing!)

43. expired food

44. broken toys
45. candy box

Menus on Monday

2008-09-08T10:26:00.000-07:00

spaghetti and tomato sauce
chili and rice
cauliflower soup

Tossed it Thursday

2008-09-04T11:50:00.000-07:00

32. May 2008 newspapers
33. Aug 2008 receipts (to paper recycling). I decided to start shredding them but I only have my son's little toy shredder and it took sooo long to do this. Either I'll have to reconsider shredding them or save them up and borrow someone's adult sized shredder.
34. overhead lamp (to attic in case we need it when we move)
35. balcony railing plant holder (back to owner)

36. 50 emails deleted. I've got a long way to go. This is only one of my email addresses. Marcia, of Organising Queen, has a picture of her inbox on her site and I'm aiming for something like that!

37. Son's sweatshirts and shirt. I'm counting this as decluttered even though I'm just moving them to my cupboard. I'm not sure how cold it will be at my new job during the winter so I'm keeping the sweatshirts that are too small for my son until I know. If I don't need them then I'll give them away.
38. magazines

Menus on Monday

2008-09-01T11:44:00.000-07:00

- store bought Greek meatballs with french fries
- baked or mashed potatoes with veggie fingers
- try out Easy, Inexpensive Lentil Tacos
- homemade chicken noodle soup

Scheduling on Sunday

2008-08-31T11:20:00.000-07:00

This week's goals:
- my sister's card
- my sister's gift
- 7 old newspapers √
- separate son's blue bookcase from the cupboard below √

Sorted it Saturday and the Last of August Decluttering

2008-08-30T12:17:00.000-07:00

I sorted August's bills and receipts.

Organizing Queen's and My Simpler Life's August Declutter Challenge has come to an end. My last three items for the 30 days was #29 - baby food jars and lids, # 30 plastic bags that we can now take back to the store for recycling and #31 a leather jacket that I forgot to take a picture of before gifting it away today.

What did I learn from this challenge? I suppose the main thing was that even though I know I have too much stuff, it was sometimes (OK maybe more than sometimes) hard to find things to get rid of. I really enjoyed going to all of the sites and seeing what they were getting rid of, though I seldom left a comment (I should improve on that!). It was encouraging to see that I'm not the only one on the decluttering journey.

Maybe I should break down each room and work on one area at a time instead of looking for things from all of the rooms? Maybe a mind map would help.

Now that I've been thinking about it I think that I would prefer to work a bit on each room instead of concentrating on one room at a time. What comes first to mind in each room:
Hall - boxes
Kitchen - cold cupboard
Living room - desk
Son's bedroom - long sleeve top shelf
My bedroom - desk or something else

Thank you Marcia and Beth for having this challenge. Who knows if the 31 plus objects would still be in my home if I hadn't found your challenge.

Tossed it Thursday

2008-08-28T10:54:00.000-07:00

August is almosted finished and there are only a few days left of the August Declutter Challenge over at Organizing Queen.

22. expired food

23. tins and glass to recycling

24. brown shirt to charity
25. 10 newspapers from April - July (paper recycling)
26. soap bottles (I fill up our hand soap pump from these and I tend to keep several bottles and pour out the last bits at one time.)
27. 19 magazines from 1993 - 1996! (I was hoping to find someone who would like to read some English magazines but I guess it's time to give up.)
28. broken cd cases (paper to paper recycling, plastic to my son's friend who will use them to build something)

Scheduling on Sunday

2008-08-24T01:16:00.000-07:00

I don't think that I'll do a daily schedule anymore because I tend to change the days anyway.
This week I should
- read 7 old newspapers √
- knit 14 rows √
- rearrange end kitchen cupboard so that I can put the small machines on the lower shelf instead of moving one of them to another place in the kitchen when I need the space and bring the other one from the living room into the kitchen so I remember to use it. √
- make a decision on how to finish off my sister's gift and do it, now that I'm tempting frozen shoulder fate by knitting.
- work on emptying son's blue cupboard at least 4 days
- find a birthday card idea √
- make the birthday card

Sort it Saturday

2008-08-24T01:12:00.000-07:00

Well I didn't work on any papers today, but I did sort through my socks to come up with 6 pairs without holes that I could wear to work. I don't wear shoes at work as I'm working with children and they are usually on the floor and I haven't found something soft enough and airy enough. I'm usually barefoot at home so I don't want to wear shoes or slippers all day.

Tossed it Thursday

2008-08-22T09:19:00.000-07:00

Yikes! A whole week has gone and I haven't been doing much. My son started back to school and I got a job after not working for a long, long time and I haven't felt up to doing more than getting through the days. Hopefully once we find our rhythm things will go better.

This week's list for the August Declutter Challenge over at Organizing Queen.
Top row
15. newspapers (we were given 2 free subscriptions to 2 different newspapers for a total of 5 months and I'm still trying to read the older ones!)
16. magazines (there are 2 magazines I get for free and then pass on to 2 women who don't get them) (I'm kind of slow at passing them on)
17. soft drink bottles (we bring them back to the store for a refund and it's easier bringing them home than returning them!)
Bottom row
18. serpentine streamers (they've been on a bookself in my bedroom for years)
19. instructions and packaging to a blood glucose meter I don't use anymore (garbage and paper recycling)
20. expired blood glucose test strips - I didn't realize I had so many (garbage)
21. plastic containers (play group)

Tossed it Thursday

2008-08-14T07:27:00.001-07:00

Somehow I forgot Wednesday!
8. ice cream containers - to a play group
9. Lego ads - paper recycling
10. old books - to the library
11. very old children's magazines - to a teacher I know, or if not, paper recycling
12. melted lid - garbage

13. long brown dress
14. blue jacket

7 newspapers to paper recycling

Tallying it on Tuesday and I Won a Prize

2008-08-12T07:49:00.000-07:00

I'm doing the August Declutter Challenge over at Organizing Queen and I won one of the first week's prizes. It's a Christmas planner. Christmas still seems so far away but it will be here before we know it.

Otherwise I haven't had a good deleting week at all. I couldn't be bothered to look at my bookmarks and I added more!
45 deleted emails

Menu Planning Monday

2008-08-11T09:09:00.000-07:00

pasta salad with kidney beans (my son is staying late after school, so he needs his supper with him because he won't be home until 7.30ish)
pasta salad with garbanzo beans (same reason as above)
pea soup (my son's grandmother made it and brought us some)
rainbow trout with cashews that I've been trying to have for a few weeks now

Schedule it Sunday

2008-08-11T08:58:00.000-07:00

Mon
read newspaper √
bind off knitting and sew in ends √
phone D √
Tue
read newspaper √
choose this week's work clothes √
Wed
read newspaper
put laundry away
come up with master list of meals
Thu
read newspaper
sort through son's long-sleeved tops and see how many he'll wear this year
Fri
read newspaper
google cookie recipe (pb?)
Sat
read newspaper
library and veg fest
Sun
read newspaper
carnival?

Sort it Saturday

2008-08-09T14:17:00.000-07:00

My son has a box of lego instructions and other lego papers that I want to put into a binder. I've worked on it as far as I can on my own. My son has a friend for the night and his part will have to be done next week.

Fix it Friday

2008-08-08T14:15:00.000-07:00

I was suppose to repair a backpack but I left it until late and I found it too dark to work on it. I'll try another day.

Tossed it Thursday

2008-08-06T05:14:00.000-07:00

10 newspapers to paper recycling
1. A toy bee - to charity
2. broken noise maker - garbage
3. baby formula scoops from the toys we are sorting through - garbage

4. pink and white windbreaker - charity
5. flowered skirt - to a friend if she wants it, if not, then to charity
6. short-sleeved blouse - charity
7. cotton cardigan - back to the woman who passed it on to me, if not, then to charity

Wednesday's Workbook

2008-08-06T04:24:00.001-07:00

I bought an accordion organizer (or whatever it is called) for my son's more official papers (bank, receipts, health, etc.), so that they would be all in one place. Now we just have to come up with 12 headings and sort them.

Tuesday's Tallies

2008-08-05T04:49:00.002-07:00

45 emails deleted
39 bookmarks deleted

Menu Planning Monday

2008-08-04T13:45:00.000-07:00

store bought frozen pizza
try out Ten Minute TVP Taco Recipe
rainbow trout with cashews that we didn't have last week
mashed potatoes with sausage from freezer

Schedule it Sunday

2008-08-03T04:49:00.000-07:00

Mon
read newspaper √
son's papers √
knit 2 rows √
google vegan chocolate chip cookie recipe √
make said cookies √
Tue
read newspaper √
son's papers √
knit 2 rows √
google sock patterns √
empty blue and green back pack √
Wed
read newspaper √
son's papers - he wasn't home much, so we put it off until tomorrow
knit 2 rows √
look through sock patterns (I found a site with 600 free sock patterns, so this will take a while!) √
wash blue and green back pack √
Thu
read newspaper √
son's papers √ Finished!
knit 2 rows √
look through sock patterns √
Fri
read newspaper √
knit 4 rows √
repair blue and green back pack, if it is dry -started but not finished
Sat
read newspaper -oops forgot all about them!
knit 4 rows √
Sun
read newspaper √
knit ribbing √

Sort it Saturday

2008-08-02T14:12:00.000-07:00

Cull July's receipts and bills - done
- I was suppose to sort something else but I didn't feel like it and seeing that July was over I worked on July's banking stuff.

Fix it Friday

2008-08-01T06:29:00.000-07:00

rapair alarm clock - done
- a digital alarm clock fell off a bookcase and died. I couldn't get the battery cover off to see if it was just that the battery out of place and I put it aside. I kept glancing to where it use to be to look at the time, so I decided to really force it off. It was just that the batteries were out of place.

Toss it Thursday

2008-07-31T10:18:00.000-07:00

7 newspapers to paper recycling
1 veggie bag full of (non-recyclable) garbage from my son's blue bookcase

Wednesday's Workbook

2008-07-30T11:06:00.000-07:00

Repair son's pj tie - done

Tuesday's Tallies

2008-07-30T11:03:00.000-07:00

I haven't had as much time on the computer this week.
30 deleted emails
10 deleted bookmarks

Menu Planning Monday

2008-07-28T00:35:00.000-07:00

Leftover Honey Baked Lentils with rice
Leftover Veggie Burger Patties with mashed potatoes
Cashew Rainbow Trout (if my son is home long enough to have it.)
Freezer leftovers for me when my son isn't home.

Schedule it Sunday

2008-07-27T02:22:00.000-07:00

Mon
- sort out fridge - done
- dust and rearrange puzzle shelf and add son's puzzles from blue bookcase - done

Maybe making a schedule is harder than I thought!

Sort it Saturday

2008-07-27T02:16:00.000-07:00

Cull May and June receipts and bills - done
- I don't like doing this so I usually do 2 or 3 months at a time. It's basically deciding which receipts I should keep and putting them with any bills into that month's bank statement and putting them away.

Fix it Friday

2008-07-25T08:59:00.000-07:00

Glue vacuum hose - done
- I've been using an old vacuum hose because the handle came off of the proper one. I tried to tape it and used some of my son's glue but neither worked. Today I hope to try a different glue and see if it will hold.

Toss it Thursday

2008-07-24T02:43:00.001-07:00

To paper recycling: 7 newspapers
To charity store: 1 pair of shorts, 1 jacket, 1 top

Wednesday's Workbook

2008-07-23T11:20:00.000-07:00

We are trying to sort out my son's room, so that he can re-arrange it.
Today we worked on the blue bookcase.

Tuesday's Tallies

2008-07-22T07:19:00.000-07:00

31 deleted emails
31 deleted bookmarks

Menu Idea Monday

2008-07-21T07:39:00.000-07:00

My son hasn't been home much these past few weeks, so even though I had decided to plan our meals ahead of time because everyday is the same problem - what to make for supper, I'll put it off until school starts. For this week we'll have:
Baked Ziti (My son made it today because I want him to start cooking and we'll have the rest the next time he's home for supper.)
Honey Baked Lentils (I haven't tried this recipe yet) with Baked Rice and I'll eat the leftovers when he's at his father's this weekend.
Homemade Lemonade, so I can use up the lemons