Laundry? Fun? My Laundry Game

I, like most other housewives, have a hard time with laundry.

I know, I know, I've got it easy. There's just the two of us, of course, so I'm rarely swimming in piles of laundry. It can take us three weeks to go through our whole wardrobe, and even then it may only be four loads.

Regardless of the infrequency, I really find it onerous to wash whites.

I love washing towels. I don't mind doing darks. But it's a chore to do the whites. Why?

Because I'm obsessive when it comes to matching socks, and despite my best efforts it seems there are always mismatched socks at the end of folding time. And it bothers me a lot. I disdain having to match a white sock with a gray one, or a long one with a short one, or a blue banded one with a red banded one. While it's fine in the human sphere, I don't believe in interracial sock marriages.

Last week it came to a head.

"I need to go fold those clothes. But maybe I should just play a game of Mahjong Titans first."

6 minutes later

"Hm. That was too easy, maybe I should play another to verify I'm a Mahjong champ."

10 minutes later

"Drat, I almost had it that time. I think I need to play again so my win percentage doesn't go down."

8 minutes later

"I should really fold that laundry. I'm wasting time... I could've done so many other things. Maybe I could just play one mo... NO!! Self, go fold that laundry!"

*grumble grumble*

Flash of inspiration.

"Why don't I play Mahjong with the socks?"

I whipped those whites in record time. And while I didn't win, I can't wait to play again.

Finding My Decorating Style

When I moved into this little rental house after our honeymoon, I wanted to make it comfortable... but not too comfortable. We were only supposed to be here a year, you see. It was our "temporary home," before we bought a "real house." I didn't want to get too attached to it, so I didn't want to make it too cozy.

Well, years have passed, and it doesn't look like we're moving anytime soon. The time has come to make it feel really comfortable, because, by golly, it's our home!

But I've never really decorated before. I mean, my dorm room at college had some nice artwork cut out of a book and sticky-tacked to the wall, but I could hardly pull that off here.


I don't know what my style is. Simple, I think, but functionally elegant. I don't like clutter, or little breakable trinkets that need to be dusted and carefully guarded.

Painting, sconces, ironwork, artwork, candles, mirrors, wreaths, curtains, rugs, pillows, topiaries, furniture... I'm not quite sure where to start.

For now I think I'll start by straightening the picture on the wall.

What's your style?

My 4 Qualms with Monthly Menu Planning (+ A Download)

I've hit a snag in my housewifery.

Monthly Menu Planning.

AAGH!! While I used to feel so on top of it when I finished making a monthly menu, those words which used to bring a creative explosion of delight at the endless possibilities now strike dread and terror into my innermost being.

Once a month grocery shopping, while great for my budget, just isn't cutting it for me anymore, for four reasons.

 #1. Planning 90 meals in one sitting requires brain surgeon-like concentration. I don't know about you, but it's really hard to anticipate our cravings a whole month in advance, plus add variety, new recipes, and flexibility into the mix. On the occasions when I've actually done this, it takes a really long time to plan out a month of dinners (even figuring toast and eggs for breakfast and leftovers for lunch) and write down all of the ingredients for the shopping trip. I lose interest an hour into the venture.

#2. When I inevitably stray very far from the plan, I feel like a failure. Flexibility is necessary with any plan, but I get ambitious when crafting the menu plan and think I'll actually wake up 45 minutes early to make blueberry muffins on a Tuesday three weeks from now. When I sleep in on that Tuesday, I realize I've set myself up for failure.

#3. I miss some really great sales. Chickens: $0.79 lb. Two pounds of sharp cheddar cheese: $3.99. Avocados: 4 for $1. It invariably happens that after I've spent our grocery budget, there'll be a great sale like this. "Do I buy it for next month?" Once or twice this would be fine, I suppose, but it happens just about every week which leads me to #4.

#4. Mammoth waste. I started monthly menu planning last Summer when I was getting most of our produce from the garden. But now that I'm getting a lot of produce from the store, the amount of waste as the month draws to an end is disgusting! It seems like such a "duh" thing (did I really think a head of lettuce would last indefinitely? or a gallon of milk would never expire?) but it still surprises me anew each time my wilty soggy fuzzy green dripping cauliflower hidden in the back of the crisper drawer needs to be tossed onto the compost pile.

The obvious solution would be to buy the bulk of the food once a month, and then do weekly or bi-weekly trips to the store for perishables. But I'm just not controlled enough to stick to a budget with that many trips to the grocery store ("but the Shitake mushrooms and imported Dijon mustard were on sale, darling!").

It's been said that a man will pay $2 for a $1 item he needs, but a woman will pay $1 for a $2 item that she doesn't need. Amen to that!

So I'm experimenting with a new method. Bi-weekly menu planning. 

By cutting my budget in half and allowing myself to spend it in full every two weeks, I seem to have reached a compromise. It's not nearly as overwhelming to plan two weeks. I don't dream quite so big when the deadline for the meal isn't so far away. I can take advantage of the loss-leader grocery ads. My broccoli stays crisp until the next shopping trip. Voila, works for me!

One tool that's always really helped me with meal planning is this simple Weekly Meal Plan PDF.

So, I know there are as many ways to meal plan as there are women to do it, but how do you do it in your home? Weekly? Bi-weekly? Monthly? Freezer cooking? Skin of your teeth?

This post is linked to: We are THAT Family.

Easy Cheesy Garlic Butter Twisted Breadsticks

Grab the button here and come join us, or just link to another site with a recipe you're going to try... or post a recipe in the comments!

For most of my adult life (which isn't terribly long), I've been afraid of yeast breads. Banana bread? No problem. Zucchini bread? Boo ya. Sandwich bread? Uuuuum... why would anybody make that?

When I was very young, my mom made incredible sourdough bread. She stopped making it around the time our dear family friends opened an "old world bakery" and started supplying us with all of the delicious fresh bread we could ever want. So I never learned the skill.

But then I got married. And my mother-in-law makes homemade bread all the time; often with home ground wheat. And my husband's eyes light up when she takes a loaf out of the oven. And... well... I just had to acquire the ability to produce that same light, by golly!

So I set out to make bread. And ouch, my fears were not unfounded! Horror of horrors, failure in the kitchen: something I wasn't really accustomed to, anymore. Brick, after brick, after fallen loaf, after flavorless hockey puck, after denser than a neutron star dead-weight anvil. (For the record, Wikipedia claims a neutron star is as dense as the entire human population compressed into the size of a sugar cube).

Though my husband would eat every boulder I set before him, and graciously nod and remark, "mm hm," while checking to see if his teeth were intact, I soon surmised that the look in his eye inspired from my baking was less the expectant light of approaching culinary comfort than the resigned anticipation of impending indigestion.

But I was determined. While giving myself a pep-talk before another 4 or 5 hour attempt, I came upon a simple recipe. Breadsticks.

"Maybe... oh maybe. The time investment is small, the ingredients are few... aw... what the heck?"

And I made them. And I made 4 mistakes in the recipe.

But it didn't matter.

They were light, and chewy, and flavorful, and airy, and little puffs of cloud that beautifully accompanied my chicken soup. They were incredible!

And then it happened.

"Where did these come from?"

"I made them."

"You made them?"

"Yes!" with an air of playfully haughty defiance.

"These are amazing!"

And thus began my love for homemade bread. Boosted by this breakthrough triumph, I gained the confidence I needed to conquer the loaf. Now, when my husband smells bread when he comes home, there's the joyful appreciative glint in his eye.

Success.

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So if yeast makes you run in the opposite direction, please give this easy little recipe a try. In about an hour you'll enjoy hot homemade fresh breadsticks. And maybe your husband's eyes will light up, too. He's worth it.

Recipe note: I can vouch for the deliciousness of replacing 1/2 of the white flour with wheat, but I haven't tried more than that.

Easy Cheesy Garlic Butter Twisted Breadsticks


Credit: Image and adapted recipe from Favorite Family Recipes

1½ cups warm water
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. Active Dry yeast (not instant or bread machine yeast)

Sprinkle the sugar and yeast into the warm water and let that sit for 5 minutes. Then add:

3½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp Salt

For brushing/sprinkling:

Melted butter (a few Tbsps.)
Kosher Salt
Garlic powder (not garlic salt)
Parmesan cheese
Fresh or dried Parsley or other Italian herbs (optional)

1. Mix until smooth (if you have a mixer with a dough hook, it's even easier) then let raise for 10 minutes.

2. Roll out dough into a large square on a floured surface. Brush with melted butter, sprinkle with garlic powder, cheese and herbs (optional), and then sprinkle with kosher salt.

3. Fold in half and cut into 1 inch strips (with a sharp knife or pizza cutter).

4. Preheat oven to 400°F. 

5. Twist each 1 inch strip and place on a greased or parchment-lined cooking sheet. Let sit for 15 to 20 minutes to raise.

6. Bake at 400°F for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately after baking, brush with more butter and sprinkle with garlic, kosher salt and grated parmesan cheese.

Serve with marinara, alfredo sauce, or ranch for dipping, or as a side with your favorite soup or pasta dish.

What have you made, lately?

Undercover Dishwashing

After almost 5 months of grimy icky disgusting dishes coming out of the dishwasher (hand-washing the particularly grievous ones before putting them away), we finally have sparkling clean dishes!

The problem started earlier this year when our state banned detergents with phosphates in them (Cascade). "Oh, no problem... all detergents are the same, right?"

NO!! All of our dishes on the top rack had this sandy ick on them. I rubbed my hand over a freshly washed glass and it scraped my knuckles!

Over the course of the next five months, we tried everything. Vinegar in the JetDry area, homemade detergent, liquid detergent, water softener, increasing the water heater temperature, unclogging every nozzle in the danged contraption, cleaning every trap, and finally we just got a new dishwasher. The old one was older than I am, so I didn't mind upgrading that at the landlord's expense (he agreed). Nothing doing. Cloudy glasses, sandy plates, and grody dull grimy silverware.

Last Friday, out of the clear blue, we scored some contraband. For some reason the grocery store (which hitherto had not been selling the banned goods) had pulled out a secret stash of phosphate-laden Cascade. No kidding.

After paying, we smuggled out a stack of the boxes, hoping the Green Police wouldn't catch us. First batch of dishes washed... NO!!! They were 80% better than before, but still there were sandy flecks in my glasses and on the plates.

In one last-ditch effort before resigning myself to hand-washing forever, we added a scant 1/2 teaspoon of citric acid to the detergent. An hour and a half later I opened the dishwasher to survey the results. My expectations were low.

Ta da!!! Sparkling, clean, shiny, looks-like-hand-washed dishes!

I hear there's actually a band of renegade housewives who go across state lines once a month to stock up on Cascade for their neighborhoods. I think I'll try Seventh Generation next time, instead, but for now it's nice to have something that works.

Bonus joy:

My two favorite musicals are finally going on tour!! And they're both going to be within driving distance of me!! I hope you can share in the joy, too... check here and here for tour dates and cities of Les Miserables and Wicked. Of course I'll have to pawn off half of my belongings to be able to afford two tickets, but it's time to downsize anyway, right?

Stretching Your Grocery Budget: The Art of Gleaning

Last Saturday my husband and I gleaned over 100 pounds of apples.

One of the neighbors had just finished his apple harvest. I didn't know this before marrying a farmer, but there is always lots of fruit left on the trees after a harvest.

There are various reason for this, but usually it's either because that fruit was unripe when the rest of the fruit was ready, or because it is a pollinator variety that is not generally sold to the public (either because it doesn't transport well, or just hasn't been marketed). There were literally tons of apples for us, ripe for the picking.

If you live near any farms, you might consider asking the farmers if you can glean after their harvest for your family's use. It's been my experience that farmers are friendly folk and so long as you're not trying to sell their produce at a farmer's market or fruit stand, they often let you go right ahead. (But be aware that many farmers don't want children in their fields or orchards; one accident, one law suit, and their whole family's operation could go under).

By gleaning, in the past we've gotten enough nectarines, peaches, plums, apples, rhubarb, onions, peas, corn, potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, grapes, and hazlenuts to preserve for a whole year's eating; all for just the labor it took to pick them, and the nerve to ask.

We made apple juice.

Actually we brought the apples to a friend with an apple press, and he squished it all into juice for us.

It made 10 gallons!

We were going to freeze it, but we just put up 1/2 a grass-fed beef, so decided to save the freezer space and can the juice instead.

It was a fun project, and very satisfying.

I hear the Pink Lady and Granny Smith apples were just harvested.

Time to make applesauce.

Trick to Keeping House Clean

1. Kept my house nearly spotless for a whole week! Know the trick? Never be at home. If you only come home to go to sleep and take a shower, it's amazing at how things stay clean.

2. Planted another garden bed! Actually it was compulsory planting. I left the seed packet out overnight when it rained and they all sprouted. After planting a full packet each of tangy mesculun, buttercrunch and salad bowl variety, we should have enough lettuce to feed.... half the county?

3. Saved $20 in cell phone overage charges (bleh) by buying an extra 100 minutes for $5.

Check out others' small successes and share your own at Faith & Family Live.

Rainy Saturday

I feel very much like an old-fashioned housewife today (after a long week in the office, it's kind of invigorating, actually).

On the agenda:

• Patch my husband's holey jeans (yes, with a needle and thread).
• Bake bread (as per husband's request).
• Make a few quarts (or gallons if I have time) of applesauce to freeze.
  
• Make scones for tomorrow's tea.
• Wrap and freeze the bulk beef and chicken.
  
• Go grocery shopping.
• Do dishes / mop floor.
• Scrub bathrooms.
  
• Put away Christmas decorations.
• Make dinner.
• Bleach linens.
• Holy Hour.
  

Guess I'd better get started.

Why I Clean My House Every Day

• Because it's a sacrifice I can offer to God (I don't like doing it anymore than anyone else does).
• Because my husband deserves to come home to a clean house.
• Because I'm in a better mood when there's order and cleanliness.
• Because I don't like apologizing and being embarrassed about my house when people drop by unexpectedly.
• Because it's a discipline.
• Because dirty houses smell funny.
• Because my mom does!
• Because I love to see the sheer delight on my husband's face when he comes home and sees me... against the backdrop of a clean house :).
• Because I like to know where things are.
• Because it's the right thing to do.
• Because I'm hoping the order in my house will increase order in my soul.
• Because the Blessed Mother kept her house clean, and she's my model.
• Because order is beautiful.
• Because... (feel free to add your own)
  

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