Dogs and food...

"Awwwww...they are so cute!"

Sure, this picture shows their adorable, angelic side.  However, there is a hidden agenda here:

Stare down the human with a lot of guilt to cause the human to give up the following:

Pizza crust
Yeast rolls
Cookies
French fries

If the stare down does not work, then get in the human's face and vocalize your displeasure at not getting what you want.

I have to admit, the "stare principle" cracks me up.  I love these two clowns very much.  I admit, I am pretty blessed to have them in my life.

Medications...

I have finally succumbed.  I have to have a pill organizer to help me remember that I have taken my medications.  I tried for years to do this on my own memory, but as I get older and more busy, I keep forgetting.

I neglected to take my medication last night because I was really dragging and decided to take the dogs to bed and lie down and rest.  I read about half the book Tell Your Time regarding time management.  The book is more about managing your personal time.  I have another book I am reading about time management, Time Management from the Inside Out by Julie Morgenstern.  I am trying to understand how to apply her system for work.  I bought the notebooks from Levengers and thought I might see if the system works for me or not.

Progress report on Simple Living - 30 Days to Less Stuff and Move Living.  I have made storage spaces in my cabinets for storing my stand mixer, blender, and slow cooker.  I actually use the coffee maker and toaster, so I am leaving those items on the counters.  I do have more real estate on the counters, but I am still working on this.  I am trying to set up an area for storing the few cook books I have.  I have to admit, I probably won't buy anymore cook books.  I have a note book that I write out recipes.

I still have a lot of work ahead of me, but I feel like I am getting somewhere with the apartment clutter.  Hoping this next weekend, I can get even more done.

Update on clearing clutter...

Overhauling the kitchen.  Talk about taking on a big project.  I have managed to find and make storage spaces for my stand-up mixer, blender, and slow cooker.  I wanted to make sure that these items were easy to pull out for use.

I am leaving out the toaster because it is a heavy beast and I actually use it.  If it were lightweight, I might reconsider it.  I plan on storing the George Foreman Grill and steamer.  I never use either one.  The grill is messy and too large to handle.  I have a grill pan that is a bit easier to manage.  The steamer is a pain to clean and I use steamer bags to steam veggies.

I am going to clean out a drawer and re-arrange it.  I need to remove the rolling pin and put it elsewhere.  That way, I have more room for putting in the wash cloths or move the silverware there.  That might be the better idea.  I might even take out those items that I do not use on a daily basis and store them.

I feel good about all of this.  I just hope that I can continue on this roll and clear out the living room, then do the same with my bedroom.  That way, I have my zen back.  :-)

Technology Highs and Lows...

I am huge fan of new technology.  Then, again, there are some things where I go "Nah - I don't think so."  Not a huge fan of going out and buying a 3-D TV.  My current TV does enough for me.  Outside of that, I do not want to buy 3-D glasses to watch TV.  It really is not necessary for me.

However, some technology, I love.  When I used my Palm TX to keep track of my appointments and such, I used Pocket Quicken for my portable check book.  It was great!  I would make a payment/write a check, put the entry into Pocket Quicken, then when I got home, sync my changes and they would appear in Quicken on my desktop.  I loved that!

Well, when smart phones came around, the Palm TX became obsolete, but there was no program available that would do what Pocket Quicken could do.  Until now.  Apparently, Quicken has worked out something using the iCloud for helping sync the transactions.  Of course, I have to go out and get Quicken 2013 to make this work, but then again, I have Quicken 2011 on my desktop.  It is probably time to upgrade anyway.

Time to get back to the "cleaning".

Trying new things...

When I moved out of my parents' house in 2001, I was not a cook.  My mom was the best and will always be the best cook in the world.  I can only hope to be as good as her.

My first foray into cooking something completely on my own was when I read about a meal in Cooking Light magazine.  Needless to say, that turned into a disaster.

When I would go home, I would sit in the kitchen and watch my mom cook.  In the past, I would never want to cook because it was a chore.  Not in the sense of doing the cutting up and such, but my mom wanted it just "so."  She would get frustrated with me and I would leave the kitchen.

At this point, I would watch and ask questions.  I got the hang of how she made "goulash", so I would make a lot of that.  I talked with her about how she made tuna noodle casserole.  I got the recipes for making shrimp gumbo and hungarian chicken goulash.  All of the comfort food I loved.  I made mistakes, but I learned from them.

My kitchen in my first apartment did not leave a lot of room for putting meals together.  When I started my attempts on making banana nut bread, my mom started the plan for getting me some Calphalon cookware and cook books for Christmas that year.  She was quite happy that I was cooking because she knew that I would continue to live on my own.

I started watching a lot of Food Network and soon, I moved out of that apartment and into my current apartment.  The kitchen was larger and had more space.  Pretty soon, I was baking cakes, cooking other types of meals, actually using the cook books and cook ware.  Mom was excited when I would come home and try out a new recipe on the family.  She enjoyed my cooking for her.

Towards the end, she would ask me to make her hungarian chicken goulash.  It was her favorite and she said I made it better than she did.  Now, I do not believe that, but I would make it for her.  I had cooked a few Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners.  The one thing I never quite got down was how to make a gravy.  She would always chuckle about that.

Today, when I returned from my New Orleans trip, I have made Jambalaya.  She was never a fan of that, but with me making the pralines, she would have enjoyed that.

Achieving Simple Living - Day 3...

Day 1 - I managed to write up my dreams of what I would like to see in my life and what I really want.

Day 2 - I cleared out the underwear drawer.  Threw away worn out items and put still usable items into a plastic drawer system for storage in the closet.  As various pieces wear out, throw them out and grab from storage.  Considering how much I kept buying underwear while staying at my parents' house during my mom's illness, I have an over abundance of those items.  Same goes for socks.  This weekend, go through my make up drawers and clear those out or move stuff into the larger storage.  What is unopened/unused, I will donate to the local women's shelter.  I might be able to do the same with a couple of purses that I have. Otherwise, throw out if I have not used in 6 months.  I hate to do that, but shoot, I have to get rid of stuff.

Day 3 - today - Finding 20 minutes of just quiet time to think.  No music and no reading - just sit and ponder in the quiet.  I would do it while walking, but I end up having to walk the dogs and there is no real quiet doing that.

I feel energized.  I have a purpose and a goal.  I am taking off Friday and Monday, so I am going to step away from work those two days and concentrate on decluttering as much as I can in this apartment.  I will go through my DVD collection and only keep those DVDs that I really love.  Look to sell the ones I have that are still in good condition.

I am thinking of getting another bookcase for the living room.  There I will put my few cookbooks and other odds and ends.  See if I can donate some of the computer books I no longer use.  Luckily, I am moving towards the electronic age of using Kindle and iTunes.  That helps with the clutter.

Slowly, but surely, I will get my life under control.

Getting behind...

It seems to be a trend with me.  I get all gung-ho about doing something, then I start slowing down.  Monday night, it was having dinner with a friend who cannot understand "no" or at least, the kind ways I was trying to say no.  Next time, I will just be blunt.

Last night, I had plans to work on Lesson 2 for "Simple Living", but felt just too wiped out to continue further.  The most I did was call an old friend and talk about old times, which I really enjoyed.  Walked the dogs again, then went to grab dinner.  Once I ate, I pretty much headed for bed.  I was that exhausted.

My evenings are a lot like that.  I rush to get to the office, deal with everything in a rush there, then rush to get home to walk the dogs.  Rush, rush, rush...small wonder I am exhausted.  There has to be some middle ground.  I just have to find it or figure out how to control this "rushed" emotion.  There is a time and place for "rush, rush, rush".  Just not every day.