Dawneeskittle

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I’m a rainbow of PRODUCTIVE ideas to make YOUR life easier!

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Thanksgiving/Christmas Tip #4

It’s 23 days until Thanksgiving and somehow we need to fit a turkey in our freezer or our refrigerator – not to mention all of the other special foods we cook at this time of the year.  

So here is what I do:

1.  Look at what food I have in both freezers (one full size in my garage and one small one on the front of my refrigerator) just to get an idea of how good (oh look, the freezer has plenty of room) or bad (oh my God, we are never fitting a turkey in here!) it is, lol.

2.  It’s time to check the expiration dates on our freezer food.  You know, I may have found food from a few years ago in the freezer last time I did this.  It hides and multiplies 🙂  Take a black plastic trash bag and get rid of the really old stuff.  Also, toss that freezer burned half a gallon of ice cream you’ve been saving for your next cheat night – I know you have one.

3.  I’d love to say that I plan our meals for a month but I am just not that type of person, lol.  So, I look at what’s left and plan our meals for the next 5 days with some wiggle room and try to figure out what I can use in the freezer to empty it some more.

     a.  Leftovers nights – pull out those frozen leftovers and have a smorgasbord.  Fridays work best for this so you can eat them all weekend!

     b.  Appetizers for dinner – we have quite a few frozen appetizers in our freezer so sometimes we’ll just pull them out and share them for dinner.

     c.  Chicken tenders overload – I have a ton of them in our freezer so I like to pull out my oblong colorful oven safe plates, fill them with nachos and then layer the tenders on top.  I bake them according to the box directions time and when they are done, pull them out so we can put on cheese, sauces or other toppings.

     d.  Pizza night – get out those big frozen pizza boxes and cook them all up.  We actually did this a few weeks ago and while we didn’t eat them for a meal, it was good to have a somewhat healthy snack to grab from the fridge when we were hungry over the next few days.

4.  Clean out the refrigerator(s) of old food – I try (emphasize TRY) to clean out the refrigerator in the kitchen at least once a week, usually on Sunday when I am doing food prep.  However, I also have another full-size refrigerator in the garage which is usually for drinks but occasionally holds leftovers or extra cold items I bought on sale. 

5.  Now it’s time to make a list of what you will need to buy before Thanksgiving to make your recipes.  It took me 38 years but I finally was able to take the time to put all of my holiday recipes in one place.  This is when I pull them out to see what I need versus what I have.

I know this seems like a lot to do but it WILL help tremendously if you start this process now versus, say the day before Thanksgiving 🙂

November Musings

It’s the first day of November and it was 39 degrees when I left the house to go to work this morning at 4AM.  Last night was the first time in the 13 years we have been in our home that we did not give out candy.  We did not watch Halloween movies.  We watched “The Sopranos” instead, as a family, and had dinner together in front of the tv and it was good but it wasn’t our yearly tradition and I’m a little sad about that.

Life has not been the same since September 8th (when my wife lost her job) and I’m not sure how to get us back on track.  I tried to listen to Christmas music yesterday and I had a panic attack.  And typing that just made me realize what is different and what I need to do.

I do not like that “fear” has entered our home and our lives.  I grew up with “fear”….fear of no food, fear of no home, fear of no clothes, fear of no electricity, fear of no working car to get my dad to work, fear that the car would last to get us to the next place we had to be.  I didn’t miss that fear EVER, once I left home at 22.

It came back for a visit when I left my first marriage and I had $12 to my name.  It has popped back in at different points in my life – buying new cars, buying our homes, starting a new job etc.  I really thought it was gone for good this time though.   

We are so very BLESSED and so very THANKFUL and full of GRATITUDE right now and fear has no place in that.

This is the start of the month of what is one of my FAVORITE holidays, Thanksgiving.  My son would always say, “Mama, I just don’t know how you would like Thanksgiving more than Christmas!?”  And I would sit him down and tell him that it was the one time of the year we took to sit down and eat together with our family and/or friends and that was it – nothing else was expected.  We didn’t have to worry about physical gifts – like most of the other holidays – or going somewhere after dinner.  It was the time to realize that our real gift in this life was each other and that, to me, is one of the best feelings in the world.

When he was little I would take him out shopping for Black Friday after he earned shopping money for doing chores to get the house ready for company on Thanksgiving and we did create a lot of wonderful memories doing that.  This year, he is older and stores aren’t open as early as they once were and again, it’s different.  Change.  Always a challenge.

This year we’re going to run Dav’s Tastykake route.  I told her we should load up the cakes and go sit in the mall parking lot with some containers of coffee and water and sell it, lol.  She thinks I’m crazy.  But I remember so many Black Fridays, waiting in long lines and STARVING because nothing was open and being so THIRSTY because the stores were hot.  I still think it’s a great idea.

Well, big world wide web….thanks for listening to my musings and helping me figure out some things once again.  It’s time to help FEAR pack its bags and move on!  Happy November everyone!

Advent Calendars

We use an “Advent” calendar in our home every year – actually we use 3 or 4, lol.  We love them, because, well, we love Christmas and there is nothing more fun to us than counting down the days until the big day.

An Advent calendar was used at one time for religious reasons but we use it as simply a countdown to Christmas.  We start on December 1 and each day we either open a box for a piece of chocolate or open a door for a Lego piece or move a mouse on a calendar.  It’s a blast and makes us appreciate the season just a little bit more.  Call it a family tradition that we know is going to get passed down to our next generation.

If you love family traditions as much as we do, here are a few ideas for Advent Calendars that you can start with your family this year:

Thanksgiving/Christmas Prep Tip #3

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Each time you go to the store or buy something online, pick up a gift.  It can be a stocking stuffer, a gift card or an actual gift but get started now.  Keep a list of what you buy in your purse, wallet or phone and remember where you hide your gifts at home – especially if you have little ones! I can remember many years where my mother was up all night on Christmas Eve trying to remember where she stashed gifts but blaming it on Santa, lol.

Sometimes we help Santa and our elf-on the shelf Chestnut with the Christmas shopping and they really appreciate it.  Especially since Chestnut loves to give Gavin a small gift or note everyday between the day after Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve.  This can take a lot of energy out of a little elf!

And yes, Gavin is a teenager and he still LOVES his elf. Don’t stop a tradition you started with your kids just because their getting older. This is what really makes the holiday special for them.

Another thing I have done in the past is to buy gift certificates to DO my Christmas shopping ahead of time when I see them on sale.  I know Black Friday and after has the best deals (usually) so I’ll buy myself gift cards and keep them to shop in November and December.

Just one more tip to help you out during the holidays!

Thanksgiving/Christmas Prep Tip #2

Each time you go to the grocery store pick up one thing that you know you will need for your holiday dinners. Now you may be thinking, I don’t even know what I’m going to cook tomorrow much less in a couple of months but really, don’t we all cook the same dishes every holiday?  If this is the first time you are cooking a holiday dinner then you really need to start getting ready!!

Hint: Gather all of your recipes that you use for the holidays, old ones new ones that you’ve been thinking about trying, and put them all in one place. I keep mine in a small holiday binder and that way I just need to pull that out every holiday season and make my shopping list.  If you don’t have any recipes, ask family members to share some with you or search online.  There are millions out there so don’t get overwhelmed.  I suggest making a list of what you would like to have at your dinner and search for a recipe that fits each one.

Once you have your recipes together it’s time to make your shopping list.  Don’t spend any longer than 15 minutes on this and try hard not to get distracted.  I sort my list by perishable and non-perishable items.

Today I noticed that they’ve started to put the baking items on sale so I picked up a bag of sugar. Flour, brown sugar, and butter were also on sale. You don’t need to get everything all at once but what you do need to do is when you get home, find a box and label it “Holiday Food DO NOT TOUCH”. Not that most of our families would ever make anything for themselves, lol, but you never know. Store it in your pantry or on a shelf in your closet and then each week put what you bought at the grocery store in it.

By the time your first holiday meal rolls around you won’t need to buy anywhere near as much as you normally do. Plus you won’t be stressing because you already have your list made so you know exactly the items that you still need to pick up.

Just Freeze It

Now there are some items that can be frozen and then thawed as it gets closer to the holiday. I freeze butter, shredded cheese, turkey broth, and bread. I have heard that you can also freeze milk and heavy cream in ice cube trays successfully.  I also freeze mushrooms and onions to use in my homemade stuffing. They tend to be cheaper this time of year than in the winter months.

Confession: I have to be honest with you there’s not much that I won’t try to freeze because I hate to waste food. The only thing I remember that did not freeze successfully so far is cantaloupe, although I have read that it can be done.

Recipe Swap

If anyone would like to swap some favorite holiday recipes I would love to do that too!  I have some great ones.  Oh and if anyone has a good biscuit recipe I would love to also have that, lol. I can’t make a good biscuit to save my life.

Thanksgiving/Christmas Prep Tip #1

It’s the end of October and for the first time in months we are feeling cool breezes here in Maryland.  I opened up all our windows, turned off the air conditioning and enjoyed the smell of the falling leaves today.

It made me think of how busy we’re all going to be in the next few months with Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years and many of the other holidays and special events others celebrate.  I also started thinking about a lot of other things including what is happening in the United States and overseas and how it is affecting us – as in we the people.

I’m not going to get political because that’s not what this site is about.  I’m simply going to say that we all need to start being nicer to each other.  The world is a harsh enough place and there is already too much hate out there.  If each one of us can take the time to do one nice thing for someone – a friend, a neighbor, a stranger – then maybe we can turn this country around one person at a time with a simple concept – love.

On to my first tip for getting ready for the holidays….

Declutter.  Do it now.  Take a bag, any bag, and walk around your house for 15 minutes a day and get rid of the clutter.  The trash, the water bottles, the magazines, the things that we almost don’t see because their just there.  Then take another bag and fill it with the things you and your family no longer love.  As soon as its full, take it out to your car so you can drop it off at Goodwill or whichever thrift store you choose.  I use GreenDrop.com and they come directly to my house and pick up my bags but I know not all locations are covered so check it out and see for yourself to save a trip.

Have your family join in too.  Let your kids do their own rooms.  Tell them about how getting rid of toys they no longer love will help to make room for new toys they want for Christmas and how they will go to other kids who will love them.

Decluttering will give you room to decorate, add in those holiday gifts or just SPACE to breathe.  It’s very refreshing.  Give it a try!

Let’s Talk About Cat Urine

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As a cat lover we always tend to talk about the wonderful side of these crazy animals but there is another side that needs to be addressed also. Cat Urine. It is not pleasant and when you smell it, the only thing you want to do is find a way to get rid of it.

In 2017, our male cat Franklin (1 1/2 years old at the time) decided to show his displeasure at us having the audacity to add another dog to the house (sarcasm noted) by spraying.

I found this post I wrote then and decided to update it since Frankie is spraying again because we had a house remodel.

He started by spraying around his litter box and proceeded to hit every single room in our house over a period of about a month.

The first thing I did was take him to the vet to make sure nothing was wrong. The vet said it was common for this to happen when animals are trying to exert their position in the “pack”. He said having him neutered would also help so I scheduled his procedure for the very next week.

In the meantime, I needed to get this cat pee smell out of my house!

First, you need to make sure you know where the spots are and how big of an area is affected. To do this, I used a black light flashlight I purchased from Amazon.

Let’s face it, the damn pee goes everywhere when they spray! Aside from finding it on my curtains I also found it up the wall, on my computer monitor, on my clothes, on our dressers – it was everywhere….grrrrr. The flashlight was a huge help by lighting up all of pee in a fluorescent purple color so I knew where it started and stopped.

Once I isolated the locations and removed any items I did not feel were salvageable, I was ready to get started on the cleaning.

I shampooed the rugs with Nature’s Miracle Advanced Carpet Cleaner, washed the curtains and clothing, and wiped down the walls and computer equipment with Lysol wipes – no luck. It still smelled.

So, I did what I do best and that is I researched the death out of the issue. I knew I had until his surgery day to come up with a solution because that was the day I was ripping the house apart.

It took 6 different items but I finally have succeeded in removing the smell.

Let me tell you about the products that worked for me and how to use them (on carpet).

  1. Baking Soda ($2 a box or so depending on the size)

Yes, plain old baking soda. Sprinkle it on the affected area until it is lightly covered. I then took a broom and brushed it in so the baking soda went down into the rug.

  1. Vinegar ($1 a bottle or so depending on size)

Regular white vinegar. I put it in a spray bottle and saturated the affected area. You should hear a little buzz as the baking soda and vinegar mix and work together if you have enough on.

Now, wait until it is dry. It took about 30 minutes. Vacuum up the baking soda/vinegar mix.

  1. Nature’s Miracle Urine Destroyer for Cats ($4 – $15 a bottle depending on where you buy it)

Amazon has the best price on this by about $10 a bottle but it’s also available at PetSmart and other retailers. Make sure you buy the bottle that says “Just For Cats”. It has a lovely, clean smell and you squirt it onto the affected area and about 3-5 inches beyond. Just like any liquid, urine spreads so you need to treat the spot and a little more to make sure you get to all of it. Let it soak in for at least 10 minutes.

  1. Carpet Miracle by Sunny and Honey ($19.99 a bottle depending on size)

This is only sold on Amazon and it is the BEST carpet cleaner for pet stains and odors. It does tackle cat urine well but using it with all of the other items sealed the deal. I put some of this in a spray bottle and pre-treated all the affected areas by letting it sit on them for 10 minutes.

Then, I filled up my carpet cleaner with it and went to town, cleaning and scrubbing, rinsing and then going back and treating the worst areas again.

The company also provides a short video on how to clean your carpet for the best results: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VXpRdmMQ9M

  1. Skout’s Honor Professional Strength, Stain & Odor Severe Mess ($12 – $25 a bottle depending on where you buy it)

Once everything dried I went back and sprayed this lovely new, all natural product over the affected areas. I even used it to clean the monitor and laptop he sprayed with complete success. It took me 3 times of spraying it and letting it dry before the odor was completely gone but I had tried everything else and nothing was even coming close to touching the odor.

You can purchase this at Amazon but I found the best price for it was at my local Pet Valu.

  1. Mrs. Meyer’s Basil Multi-Purpose Cleaner (About $4 a bottle)

This has the best smell! Even my son loved it and asked that his room be cleaned with it. I used this to clean the walls and it worked great – much better than Lysol.

I bought my bottle at Target but Amazon has it as well as many other online sites and organic grocery stores.

Yes, it was a lot of work but much cheaper than replacing all of the carpet or having the house professionally cleaned

TIP: It is VERY common for the chemical in the urine to break down further, even after cleaning and a diluted cat pee smell may appear a few days later. Just spray it with the Skout’s Honor and it will go away for good.

It has been two weeks and the smell is completely gone! I hope this helps someone else out there who needs it 🙂

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