Tackle It Tuesday - Pantry Clean Up!

With my new found coupon addiction, I'm finding I need more room for my goodies. So I decided to break down and clean the pantry. I never use the top shelf. In fact I took this photo after I cleaned everything out (birthday candles, corn holders and a lot of expired items and cooking wine!).

BEFORE

AFTER

And now my bottom shelf with the millions of cups that never get used anyway.
BEFORE

AFTER

Enjoy being a Mom All Day!

Cleaning My Keyboard! Hint & Tip.

I was cleaning my computer and just couldn't get all the lint, hair and dust out from under the key's. The "dust off" wasn't cutting it. While it did get a lot of things out, it didn't help for that lint or hair that was stuck around the keys. So I decided to grab some double sided tape and start running it between and under the keys. That helped SO much because it could get a hold of the fuzz and things and pull them out.

Just wanted to share a tip!

Double sided tape ran between the keys is great to grab a hold of that hairs, lint and fuzz!

Visit other Tackles at 5minutesformom.com

Enjoy being a Mom All Day!

Lime Away and hard water stains in fridge!

It was time to tackle the nasty hard to clean water dispenser in the fridge! We are having a party so I decided I'd better work on it. I usually just rub it down and try other cleaners with no luck. So I decided to use some Lime Away this time, because after all it is hard water stains.

YUCK

Spray it good and let it sit a while so it can do it's thing!

Before I used this toothbrush I did wipe it down and a nice majority of gunk came out.
But I decided to give it a little more elbow grease and scrub.

If I worked harder and had a scraper I could get it all off, but this was enough for me! I have a lot of other cleaning to concentrate on so I'll call this one done for now!

Enjoy being a Mom All Day!

Tackle It Tuesday - Easy Snack

Today I'm tackling an easy snack! This can be put together in 5 or 10 minutes and only takes a few minutes to broil. A great appetizer or party food.

Wheat Bread (I used BrownBerry)
Tomato slices (Great if you have a tomato garden in the works!)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Italian Seasoning
Provolone Cheese

Take sliced bread and layer tomatoes, sprinkle of Olive Oil, sprinkle Italian Seasoning and top with provolone cheese. Put under the broiler on a bottom shelf in the oven. If you put it too close to the top or on a high broil, the bread will burn fast. You can try to cover the edges of the bread with the cheese and that will bubble nicely instead of the bread burning.

Keep an eye on it until the cheese is melted and is bubbled and brown...approx 3-5 minutes.
ENJOY!

SIDE NOTE:
You could toast the bread lightly before you put the toppings on so that the middle isn't soggy, depends on how you like your!

Enjoy being a Mom All Day!

Tackle It Tuesday - Organizing Coupons

FIRST off don't forget to check out my video interview with Peter Walsh that I did last week! There is some great tips on organizing and you can see his new collection from Office Max!

Now on to the tackle!

I have been looking around all week for things to organize since my interview with Peter and finally decided to tackle my coupons. They have been piling up forever. I knew I wanted to put them in a binder, but wasn't sure how I wanted to do it. So my friend told me she uses baseball card inserts and I thought I'd give it a try. (Thanks Kelly!)

My stack of coupons to be sorted through.

In process cutting the ones I'm keeping and discarding the expired ones.

TIP
Put your coupons on an envelope and use the envelope for your grocery list. Mark a "C" next to the items that you have a coupon for.


I decided to use a brighter binder and added some tab dividers with numbers and an index in the front. Then I can fill in the index with the coupon categories and correlate it with the numbers easier. I put the envelope with my list in the front so it's handy and can add my coupons as I make my list.

I added some clear inserts that hold baseball cards and put the coupons in them under the category number that they match from my front index.
TIP
To keep track of the expiration dates on your coupons, make a color coded list of months and mark a dot on each coupon so you can pull the expired coupons easier. This is of course if your keeping them in a category order, not in order of expiration date.

I hope this gives you some incentive to get your coupons in order if they aren't already. And if they are, please share your tips to storing and using your coupons! I'd love to hear them.






UPDATED MAY 11, 2010.... Used the book for the first time yesterday and LOVED it! Worked wonderfully! I already had my coupons pulled an in an envelope with my list on it and just used the book when I came to something on sale already to flip through to see if I had a coupon. PERFECT!

Enjoy being a Mom All Day!

Tackle it Tuesday - Pantry Clean Up

A simple task! Clean out the pantry and toss empty containers, expired items and anything we just won't use anymore. Boy did it need it. It may not last long, but it will be organized for a while anyway!

BEFORE

AFTER

For more Tackle's check out 5Minutes For Mom

Enjoy being a Mom All Day!

Tackle It Tuesday - Birthday Celebration

I'm tackling two things this week! First is trying to get my laptop back from being fixed and second is my daughters 3rd birthday on Wednesday! My husband and I are going to take her out for the day and to eat (maybe Chuck e Cheese). We are going to take her to some fun places that she can play, maybe Toys R Us since she's part of the Birthday Club and of course she will love opening her presents in the end. She really understands birthdays this year so that will make the day more fun for her and us!

Probably a Tinker Bell theme cake. I love the cake idea below (I did NOT make this cake)... seems simple and I found it and others great ones here! If I make one I'll be sure to post it. We aren't having a huge family party, just me, her and daddy spending the day together and making it special for her.





Any fun ideas you have for us to spend the day together would be greatly appreciated!

Enjoy being a Mom All Day!

Tackle it Tuesday - A Halloween Discovery!

I was at my moms and she's been cleaning out her garage. I came across a box with some Halloween houses and characters I hand painted LONG ago. What a great discovery! I was so excited to see these because it brought back so many memories! Plus they are super cute! I am impressed at my paint job! Now I am tackling putting the town up along with my other decorations and my daughter can now enjoy them.

My town!

Close up shots
Inside the mansion. I love the stairs and the fireplace!

What a cute little dragon! Love the shoe and bone in front of him. lol

Love how the car lights up.

Enjoy being a Mom All Day!

Tackle it Tuesday - Digital Scrapbook Addiction

I've been tackling an addiction this week! I usually make scrapbook kits and not page layouts, but something lately has gotten me into making layouts and I'm loving it! It is so fun to see something you put together printed out and stored in a book for your family to remember. Your kids can even help put layouts together so when they look back in a memory book they can say "Hey, I made that!". Fun Fun Fun is all I have to say. If your interested in learning more on digital scrapbooking just check out my other blog "Robyn's Chic Scraps" for some tutorials and other info!

These 12" x 12" layouts shown below all digitally done. There are a variety of programs for digital scrapbooking and some programs start as low as $60 - $80. You can make SO many things with one program it's worth the price. Creative Memories has a great program that has already made up pages for those of you who don't want to attempt to make your own. You just drop your pics in and print! Easy!

Maybe you'll have an addiction soon!

ME AND MY HUBBY!!!

Enjoy being a Mom All Day!