Wednesday, March 31, 2010

What's Cooking: Chicken Enchiladas

I am making my favorite Chicken Enchiladas! Last time I made this recipe, I made both my husband and our friend Kevin sweat! I love spicy food, however with this recipe you can spice it up to your taste. The recipe is from Martha Stewart Everyday. Check out the recipe, it's easy and you can prep the night before if your crunched for time. Enjoy!

Sunday, March 28, 2010

What's Cooking: Linguine Carbonara

Tonight, my hubby is making Linguine Carbonara. A favorite in our house! Very easy and is a hit with friends and family. We substitute the bacon for prosciutto ham. Check out the recipe:

Favorite Egg Salad Sandwich

We found this Egg Salad Recipe on Martha Stewart's website and loved it! However we did modify slightly. We kept the egg yolks in the recipe. We also put the left-overs in an airtight container, which will keep for 1-2 days. Enjoy!

Simple Scrapping

Scrapbook Challenge!


I love the scrapbook, however finding the time to complete the project with work, cleaning, and enjoying life can be difficult! My current project is to complete my little brother's high school memory book. So far, I've completed Freshmen and Sophomore years....However graduation is nearing, so I'm going to start a challenge to give myself a deadline. Beginning March 28th thru April 30th, the challenge begins. 5 weeks of scrapping 2 years of events. I am estimating 20 pages to complete the book. Wish me luck and feel free to offer any page suggestions or ideas!


Here are the pages so far:



I will post my progress as I've completed the pages. Happy Scrapping:)


Coffee Chocolate Yogurt Cake

We are trying out a new version to a favorite, well trusted recipe: Yogurt Cake. My husband loves chocolate cake, and suggested "why don't we try the yogurt cake but with chocolate instead of the white cake?" So off we went to the store to get the ingredients. The cake is in the oven as we speak! Here is the original recipe:

Yogurt Cake compliments Heidi Hodgen

1 box white cake mix (pudding in mix if available)
2 containers of any flavor yogurt (strawberry our favorite)
1 1/4 c. water
2 egg whites
8 oz cool whip

Mix the cake mix, one yogurt, water, and egg whites together. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Frosting: Mix other yogurt container and cool whip, spread on top when cake is cooled.
Keep Refrigerated and Enjoy!

Coffee Chocolate Yogurt Cake

1 box chocolate cake mix
2 containers of coffee yogurt
1 1/4 cup water
2 eggs
8 oz cool whip, chocolate if available

Instructions, same as above.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Scrapbook Challenge

I love the scrapbook, however finding the time to complete the project with work, cleaning, and enjoying life can be difficult! My current project is to complete my little brother's high school memory book. So far, I've completed Freshmen and Sophomore years....However graduation is nearing, so I'm going to start a challenge to give myself a deadline. Beginning March 28th thru April 30th, the challenge begins. 5 weeks of scrapping 2 years of events. I am estimating 20 pages to complete the book. Wish me luck and feel free to offer any page suggestions or ideas!


Wednesday, March 24, 2010

A Pile of Paint Cans

Paint cans. With every project brings in more paint cans. And the space they take up! Each room has a different color in our home, plus the woodwork is painted, add in the primer and ceiling paint and it's easy to understand where the clutter originates from. I just went through the shelf and evaluated each color. I asked myself, do we love the color for the room? If the answer was no, I opened the can to let it dry out and will toss out. If the answer was yes, then I transferred the paint to empty quart size can which I purchased for $1.50/each at our local hardware store, and labeled with the color, brand, code, and room. I also have kept a file with all our paint sample swatches, fabric samples, tile, etc for reference. So the clutter has decreased to approx. half of what it originally started from. I can live with that!

Monday, March 22, 2010

Basement Project

Well, we had a great weekend! Spring Cleaning month continues as we tackled our basement. The Basement was a complete disaster...with all the house projects we have completed upstairs, everything was being dumped in the basement. So with the help of my husband, we removed EVERY item and placed in categories: Keep, Trash, Relocate, and Donate. We also removed an old huge work bench that was taking up so much space and was a heaven for clutter. We got crafty and made a shelf for the window AC units, we grouped items in categories such as Kitchen, Christmas, Gift Wrapping/Craft/Decorations, and Laundry. The finished project is amazing and a huge relief. Initially, both my husband and I were thinking we would have to buy/make a few shelving units. But by using what we had, we were able to complete this project at no cost but our time and hard-work.

Unfortunately, that means next weekend we will be tackling the Shed, where some things were relocated from the basement. The plan for the shed is to reorganize and add more space by making a loft to hold items that aren't used as much such as camping gear, coolers, dog crates, and folding chairs, etc.

Any suggestions to reduce the clutter of paint cans? With us repainting each room, we have a whole shelf devoted to these supplies, and endless paint cans... Your thoughts are much appreciated!

Friday, March 19, 2010

Freecycle

With my spring clean up, I've been working hard at de-cluttering the house, especially the basement. Due to limitations of what the salvation army can take, I've listed items on Freecycle here is Lowell. Within an hour, my bike and toilet shelf were gone! I've listed other items such as my husbands college desk, an old coffee table, and a chair we no longer have space for and they have also been claimed. The whole purpose of Freecycle is that the item must be free with the goal of keeping things that can be re-used from landing in the dumpster. So if you live in this area, I would def. check it out! Here is the website: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freecycleLowellMA/

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Spring Cleaning Kick-Off

Now that the sun is shinning and the tulips are budding, I've started my spring cleaning. Excitement is in the air!

First, I started with the Master Closet by pulling out all cloths between my husband and I. 3 piles, donation, keep, and trash were made and I went to town. Things were donated that we no longer wear, don't fit right, etc. What a great feeling to get rid of all that clutter!

The next step was to go through things in the basement. Clutter has quickly accumulated there due to our endless house updates/projects. A call was placed to Salvation Army and they are picking up a truck full of stuff as we speak. What a great feeling to get rid of all the stuff we no longer use, and give to someone else in need.

And now the scrubbing begins. I started with the ceiling, sweeping away cobwebs, cleaning light fixtures and washing windows and walls. So nice to see the sun through freshly cleaned windows.

Will keep you posted on my progress this weekend.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Weekly Cleaning Schedule

After reading Unclutter your life in one week by Erin Rooney Doland http://unclutterer.com/unclutter-your-life-in-one-week I decided to create a weekly cleaning plan. By creating a weekly plan, the goal is to do 20-30 minutes cleaning sessions during the week and eliminate having to take a full day from the weekend to do house cleaning. My plan for the week is as follows:

Monday: Kitchen & Dining Room
Tuesday: Bathrooms
Wednesday: Bedrooms
Thursday: Living room and Porch
Friday: Basement

Last week, I experimented with this plan, and it was great. And for the first time, we went away for the weekend and I didn't feel stressed that the house was a mess. It was great to come home to a clean house! And by keeping the cleaning session to less than 30 minutes, it doesn't feel overwhelming. Happy Cleaning!


Friday, March 5, 2010

Excel Grocery List

Tired not enough storage space for food, and having duplicate cans of the same item, I decided to solve this never ending problem. With inspiration from Shannon, I compiled a handy grocery list with excel format. I obtained a store directory from my local grocery store and sat down and went to work. I organized the grocery list according to the store map. This way it will also save time while shopping, and prevents you from backtracking for the forgotten item on the list. I plan to print out copies, post them on a clip board and hang in a handy location in the kitchen. This way who ever is in charge of grocery shopping for the week will know exactly what we need and won't be buying things that we can't store. Here is an example of what I've done. Enjoy!

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Media Organizing Tips

Each day I plan to do small little projects to increase productivity and ease the hassels of daily life. Today's project focused on organizing my media collection including cookbooks, reading books, DVD's, and our game collection.


I first started off with my reading books and alphabetized them by author. During this process I set aside books that needed to be returned to their owners, books that we could donate to salvation army, and books we wanted to keep.


As for cookbooks, I organized them in one location next to the stove for easy access and reference.


For the DVD collection, some of our movies were stored downstairs due to space reasons. Which meant these movies haven't been looked at since we moved here 5 years ago. So with a couple of wine boxes, we are now able to view our DVD collection and easily pull out a movie to watch when the mood is right. As for future, with our Netflix and Rocu box, we won't need to buy/store any more DVD's which is eco-friendly and saves the hassel of finding all that space needed to store and also money!


My husband and I love to play games together. It's a fun and competitive and allows us to have quality time together. So in turn, I decided to group all of the games and stack them in an un-used corner, so they are easily accessible. Also being able to see them instead of tucked away downstairs, will give a visual cue of something we can do.

Upstairs Bathroom Project

A broken tub and oversized radiator forced us to renovate our 1930's bathroom. Here are some before and after pics.

The Bathroom when we Purchased the house in 2005




















Bathroom during the renovation


















And the finished Project. White Subway Tile, Floor tile with a little sparkle, Pedestal sink, new tub and toilet.
















Last but not least, a new space saving radiator. More to come when the last finishing touches are completed included paint, medicine cabinet, and fixtures




Welcome to kwHodgePodge

Well first things first, I never thought I would be starting a blog. However recently, I've been wanting to create a journal of my life and projects, so I thought the best way to log the information was via blog. My goals for this year include, less is more, focusing on living green, finding new uses for old things, and keeping life simple.