More closets

WARNING! Some content may not be suitable for Type-A, OCD, organizational perfectionists. Continue at your own risk...

The BEFORE pictures of the remaining upstairs closets

 Wow, it's even worse in pictures. How embarrassing.

To be continued...

New Recipe - Healthy Chicken Tortilla Soup

Stole my post from the cooking blog I participate in... enjoy.

So not only was this soup a breeze to make (much easier than I anticipated) it tasted awesome! (And smelled awesome cooking.) The ingredients you see below, all four of them, were basically it. Add some chicken and stock and tomatoes... yup.

As you can see I did use some cilantro. I'm not a huge fan, so I halved the amount. It was fine. I left out the spicy ingredient and used a little vegetable stock along with chicken. For the tomato I used a 15 ounce can of no salt added, diced tomatoes. I took Gal One's advice (and, well, the commissary had no other option...) and used bone in chicken thighs (I took the skin off).

When I went to get the food processor out, the cat decided he would take up residence in the empty space...

While the chicken was cooking in the first step, I pureed the remaining ingredients. Again, easy!

I also used that time to toast the tortilla strips. Thanks again Gal One for the cooking time advice!

The before (above) and after (below). I was a bit heavy handed with the salt on my tortilla pieces; beware!

The final product. We loved it. It was a cross between tomato soup and chicken noodle. Nice and light and different without being "weird". My other half thinks we should add some red beans next time...?

My last comment on the new recipe; I'm glad I didn't cut it in half. Usually I assume it will be too much food for us. This was gone in two days. I think I might double it next time. Because there will most definitely be a next time!

I can't wait to see what next month's menu will be!

Master Closet

Earlier this week I started with a few small closet/ storage spaces. It inspired me to tackle the bigger spaces! So this Wednesday I did a shopping trip to Wal-Mart (shudder) and for about $100 purchased everything I hope to need to re-organize 4 closets.

My dream closet is full of beautiful hard woods, and that includes hangers, but for a 1/4 of the cost black, plastic hanger had to do. At least they're all uniform now. And the kind where things don't go sliding off one end or another.

I thought about clear storage tubs... but frankly I don't want to see all those extra clothes. The stuff up high in our closet are things like sweat shirts and workout clothes and other things we never actually use ;-) So for the same price I got canvas bins. Thinking I will add labels once all my closets are this pristine.

Actual work time was about 3 hours. Not bad. And that included tearing apart both our dressers. (J was at work and couldn't complain about every article of clothing I decided to pitch...) I ended up with a huge mess of crappy wire hangers and three trash bags full of clothes to donate! Yippie :)

BEFORE

 

DURING

 

AFTER

 

Reading Nook

Master bedroom seating area, reading nook, call it whht you will but it's finally done! A free chair, a build-it-yourself table, a Pottery Barn lamp shade, an ugly lamp base and a can of grey spray pain later... here you have it!

Goals revisited

Remember my list of 2012 Goals? I am happy to report that I'm off to a good start.

It's the second week of the year and I've got my calendar color coded. I've also got cards written and addressed, ready to go through the end of the month! Go me :)

I also have my first book read and filed away in my bibliofile (thanks for the Christmas gift Mom!).

And I've started getting the storage spaces cleaned out and organized. I started small (the shelves in the garage and laundry room) but it already looks tons better. And, needless to say, I feel much better. I'm actually excited to tackle some of the more ugly closest upstairs. I will keep ya updated!

BEFORE

AFTER

I don't have pictures of the garage (sorry!) but here's the fridge, newly scrubbed and re-organized. :) Is it strange that it makes me sooooo happy?

First book of 2012

The Alchemist

My first book of 2012. I read this on our way home from Florida for book club. It was really short and easy (read it in a few hours) but lovely. It's about a boy who becomes a Sheppard because of his love for travel; and then his travels take him farther than he ever believed. Read it, you'll love it!

Pottery Barn

J and I spent this past Saturday shopping in the Sacramento area. He really wanted to visit a golf super store and have a putter fitting/lesson. I wanted to see the big mall and the new Hobby Lobby.

It was a great day. J got a new golf club for free by trading in his old set of clubs and I got my first visit to a real life Pottery Barn store. I didn't want to leave. I would like our entire house to look like that store. I made my first Pottery Barn purchase; a lamp shade on clearance! For $18 I took home a piece of the magic. Now I have to find a lamp base to go with my shade. I'm thinking white or grey.

New Years in Florida

We flew into Orlando (non-stop from San Francisco!) on Wednesday. We drove down to the beach on Thursday night. Friday was our first full day at the beach :) And then the boys grilled out that evening.

My sister and I walked literally miles and miles of beach searching for seashells (even found starfish and saw dolphins one day!)

The sun setting on the old year. Goodbye 2011!

Good morning 2012!

All in all it was a great trip! We saw lots of family, played cards, ate out, the boys golfed and we all enjoyed the weather. It was fantastic and I think New Years on the beach should become a tradition.

Silent Sunday

Silent Sunday