New Year's Resolutions...Here We Go Again!

I try not to make any New Year's resolutions, as it seems to just put more stress on me, and I end up failing because my expectations of myself are too high. But this year, I decided to TRY and I stress the word TRY to set some reasonable goals:

1. To work out more.. Just do it! And I have an advantage that I work the night shift and can do this AT WORK! How many people can say that about their job?

2. Eat less sugar. Sugar is my downfall...Since I quit smoking 13 years ago, I always say I just quit smoking and started eating, but sweets seem to be my frenemy..

3. Cut down on my Diet Pepsi habit...this might take awhile, but I will TRY.

4. Get some good sleep...Since I now work nights, I don't get as much sleep as I should. I have to remember that I need 8 hours! I tend to want to stay up and do things when I should be sleeping..

5. Give up some of the housework to the kids... While my kids always have done some chores, I tend to do everything myself to just get it done, and spare the drama.  Now, if they want to use their ipad, watch tv, or go snowmobiling they have to do a chore first. They have been good about things so far, but how many days into the new year are we? Haha!

Those are just a small list of things I would like to accomplish this year. I have many more, but have to start with a few as I will get too overwhelmed..

One thing I  always try to keep up is organization. Keeping my house organized and clutter-free seems to keep my mind clutter-free also. I noticed my system for medicines in our house was not working. I had them in 3 canvas bins since I don't have a medicine chest. (Does anyone have one anymore?) When the kids would need a Band-Aid, or Tylenol, or anything, they would have to go searching through the bins. I thought I had things pretty much together as far as all the cough syrups together, first aid things near each other, etc. but I guess the kids didn't get that memo! I also noticed that everything in the linen closet pretty much looked like a bomb went off, so it was time to take some organizing action. Here is a "before" pic of the linen closet:

Upper level linen closet ~ what a mess!

Talk about a total mess! And I like to think I'm organized!!! Well, I did it though. Figured out a plan that would work so the kids wouldn't mess up the medicines, and hopefully not touch anything on any of the other shelves since they have their own linen closet near their own bathroom! Here is the result of the re-organized closet and medicine "chest."

Ahhhh....organized!

What I did was two things I saw on Pinterest, one of my favorite sites for hints and tips on organizing, recipes, decorating, wish lists, just about anything! The first was the medicine "chest" shelves. Each drawer is labeled with what it's contents are for, such as, First aid: Band-Aids, triple antibiotic cream, etc. Then one for stomach ailments I labeled "digestive" which the kids got a good laugh at. Aches/pains with Tylenol, Ibuprofen and such and so on.

Each drawer is labeled!

As I went through all the medicine bins, I noticed I had multiple things that I must have bought thinking I didn't have them because I couldn't "see them," so this will be a welcome change. One thing I found I had a lot of was Q-tips, and Cotton pads, so I put them in some really cool(Vintage item of the week alert!) vintage mason jars that my sister gave me for Christmas. I think they are perfect for holding these items!

Vintage mason jars hold Q-tips and other toiletry items

My other project, was the sheets, and duvets. Another tip I found on Pinterest was to fold up your sheets, put one of the pillow cases on top, and then put them into the other pillowcase. Then it's all one package, and very organized. I took it a little step further by adding a dryer sheet in each package to retain the fresh smell.

Sheets and duvets folded and put into pillow sheet or sham

I then organized the blankets and other things on each shelf. In the bins that I had the medicines in, I put miscellaneous items such as pet care items, hair and nail care, and so on and labeled each bin accordingly. It took a little time to go through everything, and label it all, but it is so worth it, and one thing I had been meaning to do checked off my list!
Another room that HAD to get re-organized was my pantry. Some of my readers will remember it from a picture I posted on Facebook this Fall, but since then, my family seems to think this room is the "junk" room where they can just put something they don't want to actually put away. It had to be addressed. So another organizing mission took place. This pantry is wonderful, and I recommend if you don't have one, make one. This room actually used to be our office, but I needed a pantry, so my husband Erik obliged..thankfully! It holds all of my canned goods that I canned over the Summer and Fall, any overstock items I may have, the kids snacks, and all of my kitchen appliances that I don't use on a daily basis. It is so worth not having to look for this or that. I know just where everything is..

re-organized pantry

shelves are perfect for kitchen appliances

I try to keep the kids snacks well-stocked

Off subject, but anyone else receive the "Soda Stream" for Christmas? My mom bought this for the kids and they love to make their own soda pop!

I had some peppers my in-laws gave to me before they headed to Florida for the winter that they knew they wouldn't use, so I decided to make stuffed peppers with them. This is usually something I make in the Fall, when my peppers are ready to harvest from our garden, but there were 6 beautiful colored peppers, so stuffed peppers it was. Here is my great recipe for them:

Stuffed Peppers
6 large green, or colored peppers
1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef ( I used venison, since we have it this year!)
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup celery
1/2 cup green pepper ( which seems redundant, but with the colored peppers, the green was really pretty.)
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups cooked rice

Creole Sauce (to spoon over the peppers)
1 large can whole, stewed, or diced tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp salt, pepper
1 Tbsp sugar

You will also need:
1 Tbsp flour
1/4 cup water   (to make a slurry)

Cut the tops from the peppers, remove membranes and seeds. Chop onions, celery, and green pepper.

Cover peppers with boiling water in deep pot. Cook 10 minutes. Drain. Brown ground beef, onion, celery and green peppers in skillet. Add salt and pepper and rice.

Spoon mixture into peppers.

Place in baking dish. Combine ingredients for the Creole sauce into skillet, or saucepan and simmer for 10 minutes. Combine flour and water slurry and cook until mixture thickens.
Pour sauce over peppers. Cover and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Uncover, and bake 15 minutes longer.
Enjoy!
My mom gave us some croissants from Europe for Christmas, and I made some to go with this meal. Oh  WOW they were divine! The butter from Europe is said to be the best around, and you could taste how wonderful it is in these croissants!

Another thing I was thinking about over Christmas is just how grateful are our children? I don't know how grateful for things kids can be these days when everything is handed to them, and believe me Erik and I are NO exception when it comes to giving our kids everything. But I want them to be grateful. I remember my mom telling me how grateful she was when she would receive an ORANGE in her Christmas stocking. An orange. WOW. We could never get away with giving something so simple to our kids in this world. It's keep up with this and keep up with that. Our kids so far have been very good kids, so we do reward them because of it. BUT I do want them to try to be grateful, so I started a Gratitude Jar. Each day, all of us will write on a piece of paper something they are grateful for and put it into the jar. Every month, or when it fills up, we will read each piece of paper. While it may not the answer to making our kids grateful, I hope it will make them think. At first, they laughed when I told them about it, but I told them it was a requirement. When I say something is a requirement, they know I mean business. I have even had "requirements" for certain movies, such as "The Rosa Parks Story" or when "Planet Earth" was on the Discovery channel every Sunday for about 6 weeks, it was one of my requirements. Things like this to make sure my kids know certain things about history, human empathy, or our world. Here are the kids writing something for our Gratitude Jar. I even got Ethan's friend Jake involved!

Hannah writes what she is grateful for today

Ethan putting his "grateful for" note in the jar

Ethan's friend Jake gets in the grateful spirit also!

Well, another week behind us. Another week to be grateful. I know I will be once the Packers beat the Vikings!!   :)  I hope you are inspired to get Energized, Organized, and be Grateful! Let's do this together!

With a grateful heart,
~Kerry