As I’ve blogged before, I’ve been obsessed with creating privacy for our chain link fence. For the past several months, I’ve been thinking about how to add privacy to the chain link fence, either through planting shrubs and trees or through adding a fence screen of some kind. The fence drives me crazy, because there is a schoolyard with a playground behind it. Kids are out in the playground throughout the day, and even after school for after-school care. The kids are nice and friendly, and always want to know what we are eating, etc., when we try to have our dinners out on the Continue reading...
Creating Living Space in the Basement
Basements have to be the WORST place to declutter. At least mine is. I've been wanting to create a playspace for my kids in our home's basement for years now, but haven't gotten around to it. That's because our basement, which once once fairly neat with only a few boxes piled in it, is now a mess. When my twins were tots, I didn't have the time needed to keep the space clean, so whenever we had stuff that we needed to store, we just threw it down in the basement. To top if off, we accumulated belongings from family and friends that is now stored in the space. I have set up a play area Continue reading...
Is Our Furniture too Fat?
I have been on the lookout lately for a simple, small-scale sofa or loveseat to place in my living room. The room is on the small side and quite narrow, so I don’t want a massive coach or sectional that will take up the whole room. My house is about average size, just above 2,100 square feet. So you’d think that finding an appropriately sized sofa or loveseat would be a fairly simple task. But it isn’t. I’ve been to nearly every furniture store in the suburbs where I live – places like Raymour and Flanigan, Ethan Allen, Pottery Barn and La-Z-Boy, only to find that most of the furniture Continue reading...
TGIF, But Not for the Extra Clutter
It's Friday, which means that the end of the school and work week is nearly here. It's also the day that my children, their eyes bright and searching for praise, empty their school bags out in my living room the minute they get home. Before I know it, the floor will be covered with artwork, drawings, homework and countless other items. I love looking through their work, but dread adding them to the pile of other treasures that sit in my home office waiting to be filed -- either in the "circular" file that only I know about, or to be placed among the many piles of my children's artwork, Continue reading...
Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes
Every Thursday, mom blogs Centraljerseyworkingmoms and the Harried Mom host Thursday Crock Pot Buddies. In the recipe series, the moms try out a new crock pot recipe each week. I was chatting with CC Fowler of Centraljerseyworkingmoms the other day about the cooking fest, and decided to join in the fun. I decided to make my life easier for myself Monday, and so I made a slow cooker supper of Sloppy Joes that afternoon. The recipe was quick and easy to put together and the meal came out tasty! This is the recipe, which I adapted from Dawn J. Ranck’s and Phyllis Pellman Good’s Fit-It and Continue reading...
Styling the Kitchen
The kitchen is literally the heart of my home's open-floor plan, so since moving into our house just over 9 years ago, I've been working to upgrade it's look. We opted for oak cabinets when we moved in, so we purchased a big oak table with Windsor-style dining chairs to match. I know oak cabinets aren't in favor right now, but I like the retro down-home look of our kitchen. For a long time, I had my eye on Broyhill's Attic Heirlooms china hutch, so when a local furniture store had a similar one at a great sale price during a going-out of business sale, I snatched it up. I later Continue reading...
Readying a Spring Garden
Spring has sprung, so on Sunday, I prepped my flower and vegetable garden beds. With the weather so nice, my kids wanted to play outside, so I decided to hit the garden store in the morning, so I could work on the gardens while they played. The first thing I did was add mulch to our front flower bed. We already have a few blooms coming up for spring – in that garden bed we have tulips, daffodils and hyacinths – and I want to keep the weeds down once the flowers start flowering. I bought two bags of mulch, but it wasn’t enough to cover the garden bed, so I’ll be back to the garden store Continue reading...
Kitchen Organizing Tips for Busy Moms
It’s often said that the kitchen is the heart of the home, but unfortunately for many moms, the kitchen is often the central point for something unwanted – piles of clutter. So, I am always searching for new kitchen organizing tips! My kitchen tends to accumulate a lot of clutter, too. My kids like to do their homework on the kitchen table (even though there’s a desk for them upstairs), so we often have to take the time before dinner to clear off homework, pencils, books, etc. The kitchen table is also where I tend to leave the mail for my spouse to see when he comes home, so junk mail Continue reading...
Privacy for a Chain Link Fence
For homeowners whose backyard backs to a chain link fence, lack of privacy can be an issue. Finding ways to create privacy for a chain link fence can be difficult. Such is the case with my home's backyard, which has a schoolyard behind it. The school's chain link fence separates the school playground from my home's backyard. The playground is filled during the day and some afternoons with children who are very curious about my activities should I venture into the backyard when the schoolyard is filled. (Luckily, the schoolyard is quiet and empty most weekends.) So, if I'd like to use Continue reading...
Is It Time to Toss the Condiments in Your Fridge?
Open the door to my home’s refrigerator, and one usually find bottles and bottles of ketchup, salad dressing and other condiments on the door’s shelves. Even worse, the bottom drawer of my fridge tends to accumulate those sauce packets that are free when we go to Taco Bell, McDonald’s and the local Chinese restaurant. Which got me to wondering: How long do condiments last? What is the shelf life of things like ketchup and salad dressings? I did some research, and found out that things like cocktail sauce, salad dressing and mustard last a lot less longer than I thought they did. Website Continue reading...