Archives for March 2012

March 29, 2012 by: The Domestic Fringe

My Mission: Organization Part 2

I couldn’t leave yesterday’s post alone, now could I? There had to be a part two, because by now, every single one of you thinks I am a slob. I am not. I’ve been reformed!

I ran to the dollar store and bought eight little plastic boxes. Eight isn’t a magic number, but since I had a $10 bill, it worked with the budget.

Those little drawer organizers came in sets of three. Now that’s a bargain! The colors are what they had and cheapskates can’t be worried about the color of organizers that will be hidden in drawers and cabinets, at least this cheapskate isn’t worried. I’m new to the whole organizing deal, so don’t burst my bubble and tell me everything should match. Ok?

First I tackled the drawer that was a sea of serpent like phone charger wires, webcams, and other assorted chargers. I moved all those to a plastic box and put the chargers we use the least into little baggies, so the wires don’t become like a bowl of spaghetti.

If I were really organized I might move my chapstick to the bathroom and put it in my makeup case, but I like to have a Burt’s Bees chapstick in every room. Call me crazy. I am. I just hate chapped lips and I’m addicted to this stuff.

Here’s the cabinets in my kitchen island. Pretty impressive, huh? It might not be Martha Stewart good, but it’s a far cry from the jumble it was this morning.

I have a box for chargers, a box for extra party supplies (like ribbon, tissue paper, extra balloons, etc.), a box for for packing supplies that I use for my Fringe Vanilla (including my business cards), a box for batteries, and a box for kitchen gadgets that I only use once in a while. Now I need labels, but one thing a time.

Is there a twelve-step program for reformed slobs?

Maybe we should start one…hmmm…God grant me patience to accept the clutter I cannot change…ya, I don’t know. If you hear of a program, pass along the info. I’ll try and find a sponsor.

That’s as far as my ten dollars and ambition got me.

You must check out this kitchen though. It’s like nothing I have ever seen. Ever!

After you look at it, you’ll be finding yourself a sponsor and signing up for twelve-step program too.

Today I’m linking with…

Happy Weekend! I can assure you, I will not be thinking of organizing this weekend, so don’t expect more pictures next week. 😉

March 29, 2012 by: The Domestic Fringe

My Mission: Organization

For some reason, I’ve had the urge to organize. It’s almost a nesting instinct, but it’s coming ten years after my last pregnancy. What can I say? My hormones must be slow to catch up with my life.

I actually walked into my closet with every intention of reorganizing the space to make it more useful and pretty, but after shifting around some clothes and scratching my head, I gave up in despair. I don’t have an ounce of organizational fortitude. I don’t know how to do it. My mind thinks in colors and swirls, not in straight lines. My thoughts aren’t even organized. How did I expect to organize a bunch of clothes, shoes, books, linens, pictures, sporting equipment and a wedding dress (yes, those are really the contents of my closet).

Then today, when I was filling the dishwasher and wiping down the kitchen counters, all I saw was clutter. I’m terrible with clutter. I do throw things out and despite FringeMan’s long-held belief, I hate the random papers my children constantly bring home from school. I admire other people’s order, but as much as I try to emulate it, chaos creeps in like an unwanted house-guest.

I’m going to bare my very ~~soul~~ mess to you in a desperate plea for help. I need organizational intervention. Is there a TV show for that? I’m not a hoarder, so don’t even think about calling them and I really don’t have enough stuff to qualify for Clean House. Believe me, I’ve thought of taking every single thing we own and dumping it all into the three rooms we most need redone. I figured one call to Clean House and all our remodeling problems could be solved. That plan might have worked if we lived in California, but I’ve never seen them come to NY. Besides, I honestly don’t think we have enough junk. I could borrow some though. Keep that in mind when dishing out recommendations.

Example A, Kitchen Clutter

Originally I put this little wooden tray on my counter to collect the smalls. I know I’m not the only with with smalls, but I may be the only who has no clue what to do with them. I thought this was a step towards being better organized. Turns out it’s a magnet for clutter.

What in the world does an organized person do with their bread? That’s my question to you world.

First I removed the medicine and relocated it to a kitchen drawer. It joined the vitamins, Advil, and other assorted medical type things. Can you tell we have sinus problems?

Forget the Netti-Pot. You can drown yourself just as easily with one of these giant size saline filled bottles, providing you’re into drowning yourself with saline. I don’t want to assume.

I sorted and relocated. I even threw away the garlic that began growing a new plant. What I wonder is could that actually grow into a full plant if I just let it hang out on my counter until summer? I mean, it’s easier than tilling a garden. Know what I mean?

Where does an organized person keep strawberry flavored straws? Better yet, where do you keep your bread? I threw mine in a cabinet, but if my kids ever find it in time to make toast before school, I’m certain it will be green with mold. I just don’t think cabinets were meant for bread, but I could be wrong.

At first I reduced my mess down to this. Better, but not where I wanted to be, so I pushed through my thoughts of mediocrity and set my dreams on a clean counter.

Success.

But…oh, ya, there’s a big but, I’m a bit of a “closet slob”. That’s what my husband tells me anyway. I think I’ve become rather creative when it comes to hiding my junk, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I’m a creative keeper not a closet slob. Please understand that.

Until I look for a phone charger or the cord for my camera.

Please tell me you have one of these drawers? Better yet, tell me how to clean it!

This is the face of my failure, a little cubby-hole under my counter. It’s where I stash cookbooks, papers, the dust buster, a few bottles of Fringe Vanilla with crooked labels, and the pitchers I hate until I really want a glass of iced tea or lemonade and then I love them. Oh, and the old irons are acting as bookends. Can’t you tell?

Help me here. Is this stuff even supposed to be organized?

Every time I think I’m making strides, I see something like this and realize I’m on the other side of the world from true organization. It could take me more than 180 day trip to get organized.

At least my jewelry has stayed neat after this project.

So, how do you hide your junk?

Where do you keep your cookbooks?

Are you neat and tidy by nature or are you a recovering slob like me?

If anyone dares suggest I sign-up for the Fly-Lady program, I will be forced to clutter my counter back up. I tried that once a long time ago and the emails telling me to shine my sink and put my shoes on almost drove me to insanity and beyond. I wanted to email her back and tell her there’s more to life than a shiny sink. I mean that!

I’m sure Fly-Lady is a lovely person, but I can’t handle her. All I want to know is where to put my bread. That’s all I ask. Kay?

Anyone want to volunteer to help me tackle the closet?

I’m over at Life in Grace Girls talking about Fringe Vanilla if you’d like to pop over. It’s a busy day. 🙂

March 28, 2012 by: The Domestic Fringe

Easter Bonnets, Florals, & All Things Spring – It’s WIWW

Do you dress up for Easter?

Another hairdo I can manage on my daughter. It takes a long time, but it's just a bunch of twisties. If you spray the hair so it's damp when you twist, it will survive anything without falling out.

We do. Except last year. It was the year of the ugly Easter. In all fairness, I tried. I really did. It’s just that I waited until the last-minute to go look for a dress. I put on a hundred, found one I liked, and then decided it was too expensive. That’s the day I became an Easter renegade. I wore something too old and too casual for a resurrection celebration.

You see, I own a lot of dresses, it’s just they are mostly casual cotton dresses. The kind you wear with flip-flops or sandals, not the I could totally top this pastel ensemble with a bonnet and toss eggs from a basket kind of dress.

I have one turquoise dress with little pink flowers, a gingham ribbon belt, and a matching cardigan sweater. It’s my old faithful. That dress has seen at least 6 or 7 Easters, but someone shrunk it. Must have been that broken dryer of mine or something. I just can’t seem to breathe in it anymore. Actually, I don’t think I can zipper it, but you really don’t need all the sordid details. I just folded old faithful up and put her at the top of the closet. I am confident she will see another Easter, but until then, I bought a new dress.

Yes sir-Ree. I prepared early this year! If you know me well, that is nothing short of miraculous. I have a teeny-tiny habit of waiting till the last-minute. It’s a terrible shortcoming and I’m not proud of it, but this year is different. I have an outfit for Easter and so does my daughter.

This is What We’ll be Wearing – Easter Edition.

I did two things I do not normally do.

1. I ordered a dress online. 2. I spent more than $20 bucks on it.

I do not regret ordering this Garden Tour dress from Modcloth. I love it! The fit is very flattering for my body shape and it has charming little birds tucked into that floral print. I assume this dress will be my go-to Easter dress for the next few years.

Notice it’s floral?

Are you digging the flowery rage in fashion this spring?

I’ll be honest. It scared me to death at first. I had visions of my great-grannies closet in my mind, but I’m embracing the bouquet look, little by little. FringeKid and I will be bug magnets. Why not?

After I bought the dress, I realized I didn’t have any shoes to wear with it. It’s a universal female problem, as I understand female problems. I ordered these Miz Mooz shoes online, because I never find really cute shoes at my local stores. I found these on sale on Amazon.

Miz-Mooz Lacey-t-strap Pump

I am officially in-love with Miz Mooz shoes. They are pricey, but I got these for almost 1/2 off the going price, so I’ll consider it a score. They are SO comfortable and not even difficult to walk in. I think I could wear them out and about all day without a problem. They do run 1/2 size small, so size up if you ever buy a pair. They have adorable shoes. Adorable.

FringeKid will be wearing this cute dress from The Children’s place. I wish I could make the photo larger, but we’re stuck with the thumbnail. She’ll also be wearing these cute sandals from K-mart. She’s super-spyched to wear these shoes, because they are “high-heels”. She’ll be very sophisticated.

The best part is…

I think she may wear this hair for Easter.

We’re going to Georgia for Easter!

I can’t wait. We’ll be spending Easter at my aunt’s house and my brother, sister-in-law, and my two adorable munchkin nieces will be meeting us at my aunts. We haven’t seen them in forever! I’m so glad my kids get Easter week off for their spring break. We’ll also get to visit with my husband’s family while we’re away. It will be an exciting week.

So there you have it. I still need to find my son an outfit and FringeMan is stuck wearing something he already owns. He has no female chromosomes so he doesn’t mind a bit. Thank God!

What about you?

Do you and your family dress up for Easter?

Do you have any special plans for the holiday?

Have you risked shopping for yourself online? How did that work out??

I’m over at Monday Mingle…come visit!

Also, join me at The Pleated Poppy and Transatlantic Blonde for What I Wore Wednesday.

March 26, 2012 by: The Domestic Fringe

Washed, Dried, & Waiting to Wear: Why This Woman Sundenly Likes Laundry

Saturday landed me in the laundromat. It wasn’t an all too terrible experience. Besides the machines eating coins faster than I could dig them up from under the car seat (and from pockets of old coats and in-between couch cushions), it was nice to have all the laundry washed, dried, and folded in about two hours, give or take an hour since I don’t own a watch.

Usually I am doing laundry ~~every waking minute of my life~~ almost every day. I know some people pile it all up and save it for a once-a-week marathon, but my washer tends to leak and it would be a full-on flood if I did twenty loads in one day. Besides one of us is always running out of something, especially FringeMan. I doubt he has enough work pants and sweatshirts to make it through a week. So, I wash often, until my dryer died an untimely death and forced me to the laundromat.

I can only hang so many clothes in my house to dry before I get claustrophobic and feel like I’ve been sent to a sudsy purgatory. Because the weather was cold and dreary, outside was not option. It’s really never an option since I have nowhere discreet to hang clothes. I doubt my neighbors want our undergarments waving in their windows. Know what I mean? We just don’t have much of a yard.

All those words and I could have just said, Saturday I went to the laundromat. Why you stick with me, I’ll never understand, but I do appreciate.

So while I’m in the laundromat twiddling my thumbs and keeping my children from using a wayward sock they found as a slingshot to sail quarters through air, I thought how nice it would be to have multiple washers and dryers in my house. I mean, imagine… not one, but two commercial size loaders whipping the dirt from clothes faster than you fill the hamper…it’s almost as good an idea as hiring a housekeeper. Ok, not really, but it’s still a good idea. Too bad Sears doesn’t have a two-for-one sale.

Sears, do hear me? Your washers and dryers are too expensive! Can I become a product tester or something? We have lots of dirty clothes.

After I finished fantasizing about super-capacity red washers, I thought about how lucky I am to have a washer and dryer. I could be walking to a creek to beat the body odor out of my son’s gym socks. Praise the good Lord for modern conveniences!

Then I thought that in the olden days people wore their clothes multiple times before washing. I mean, they must have. They didn’t have many clothes to rotate. My mind kept thinking. I couldn’t stop it. They only bathed once a week and I doubt they had deodorant. Good heavens! They must have stunk like dirty dogs in the rainy season.

I know what my son smells like after gym class and I force him to bathe daily, against his better judgement. Imagine if we only bathed once a week? Our furniture would smell like toe jam and armpits. I have a terrible sense of smell and still, I think I would die of olfactory overload. No amount of candles can cover week-old rot.

So this morning when I woke up to find the hamper full. I did not even complain. I just pushed the pile of clothes down as far as they’d go and determined to buy a bigger hamper.

I’ve decided I like laundry – clean, folded, and waiting to wear.

The end.

March 25, 2012 by: The Domestic Fringe

May The Odds Be Ever in Your Favor

Total Hunger Games Dorks

Once upon a time, I did not think much about The Hunger Games. Then I finally read the books and the story got stuck in my head.

Before reading this series, I listened to all the hype and feared they were a repeat of Twilight. No offense Twilight lovers. I did read the first two books. I’m a reader and had to see for myself what all the vampire love was about. If I were still sixteen, I may have been head over heels in love with the Twilight series, but in my stage of life, I could not get beyond the second book. That’s just me. Obviously many, many people are fans.

The Hunger Games is completely different. For about two weeks, I dreamed of the Games every night. Crazy right?

I bought the series a few weeks ago when my husband was out-of-town for about two weeks. I figured I needed something to keep me busy, to pass the days until my hubby came home. Expectations were low, and I was pleasantly pleased with the books. It’s the story line that gets me. Maybe it’s just my overactive imagination, but I can see a world where a self-indulging class of people, the Capitol, rule their part of the world through fear and manipulation. I can transport myself into a world where everything needed for life and sustenance comes through the government. When you put yourself in that place, The Hunger Games don’t seem like such a stretch anymore. The United States and all of North America could indeed become Panem if the circumstances were right.

The premise of the book is genius.

It could be us, our children who must fight for their very lives, forced to kill others in an arena while people watch for entertainment. It’s gruesome and inhumane. It’s completely believable.

After I read the books, I gave them to my son to read. He’s twelve, but he was practically born a teenager and has only aged since birth. They are written for teens and I would not recommend either the books or movie to younger children. They are very violent, but we’ve had the best conversations about the story.

Psyched to see The Hunger Games

We left for the movies Friday night with high expectations, maybe too high. I’ll try to give you my review of the movie without any spoilers. I hope. If you haven’t seen the movie, maybe you want to check out now, but if you read the book, I don’t think I’ll ruin the movie for you with my comments.

What I liked:

1. The actors were terrific. The whole bunch of kids did a wonderful job. Loved Effie Trinket, Katniss, Peeta, Haymitch…they were all great.

2. Loved the costumes in the Capitol.

3. The movie did follow the book. Besides how Katniss got the Mocking-Jay pin, not too much was changed.

What I didn’t like:

1. The camera was so blasted shaky. At times, I could hardly watch. We started off the movie sitting towards the front, but about two minutes in, I had to move to the back. FringeBoy was not long behind me. I sometimes get migraines from movies that flash images on the screens and have shaky cameras and this movie was terrible for that. Maybe they saved money on production costs by using less cameras? I have no idea, but I think they could have done a better job filming it.

2. I would have loved to see more of the people in the Capitol. They had lavish costumes, but we didn’t get to see much of them.

3. If you didn’t read the book, I don’t think you could have gotten a clear sense of the story. Maybe the movie needed a narrator in parts? Maybe Katniss could have told her story while they were flashing through scenes? Not certain, but I think it needed more story. They showed very little of what life was like in the Seam. I thought the viewer could have benefited from more story.

4. Did you know Katniss was starving? That even Peeta, the baker’s son, didn’t always have enough food/nutrition? In the book, when they got on the train, the kids gorged themselves. They put on as much weight as possible because they needed it. They were starving at home. Death from malnutrition was commonplace. In the movie, I don’t recall them eating a bite on the train. They sat at the table and the camera zoomed in on some food, but that’s it.

Those are my main complaints. The movie was violent. I heard that some were surprised at how violent, but if you read the books, you expect this. Violence is a large part of the story.

My son asked me if they would make books 2 + 3 into a movie, and I said probably. I suspect this one will do well enough in the box office to warrant another. I just hope they do a better job with the cameras. Banish the shake for the love of all those with migraine, vision, and seizure problems. Please!

The Hunger Games movie was good, but nowhere near as good as the books.

What do you think?

Did you see it??

Are you planning to see it???

March 23, 2012 by: The Domestic Fringe

Spring: Time for Something New

Spring has sprung! At least in New York. I don’t know if winter will show his ugly face again, but I’m not even going to give it a second thought. I’m too busy with something new.

You see, after a prompting by Stacey, the editor and fearless leader of An Army of Ermas, to try something new this spring, I kind of made it my mission.

First came a new cereal.

Chocolate Special K. I know how ridiculous this seems, but honestly, I couldn’t avoid the temptation. I needed cereal and Special K is a favorite of mine. The lure of chocolate got victory over common sense and I bought a box.

I am happily mature enough to say, I like the Special K with strawberries better. Despite popular opinion, mini-bars of chocolate are not what I crave first thing in the morning.

After I ate my chocolate Special K, I ventured out to the land of literary giants. I attended a Literary Tea hosted in one of the historic homes in my town. You may recall, I wrote about my fashion dilemma here. The tea was stamped “approved” by a local British woman and the scones were lovely; however, I’m not sure I quite fit in with the literary tea drinking crowd. I’m more of a cream-filled coffee and sweet cereal type of gal myself.

So I pressed on. My next adventure took me…

You’ll have to visit me at An Army of Ermas! I’m talking about my latest, greatest “new” over there. So, come on over. You know you won’t be able to sleep tonight until you find out what I did.

No clues. I could have bungee-jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge or learned how to cook/not cook Sushi. You’ll have to read to find out. 😉

Love you all! Happy weekend to you. All comments are appreciated over at the Ermas site instead of here. See you there!

March 22, 2012 by: The Domestic Fringe

How NOT to Parent

FringeMan and I played a terrible little trick on my son the other day. Remember when we almost got food poisoning from the questionable Mexican restaurant? Well, after our dinner, we ran into Rite Aid so I could pick up a bottle of Benadryl. I have histamines that think they are superheros. Zyrtec and Singulair in the morning are not strong enough to stop them from causing chaos in my body, I have to throw a few Bendaryl into the mix just for fun.

As I strolled through the aisles, I spotted a end-cap full of cars. Jokingly I said, “We should pick one of these up for FringeBoy and tell him we bought him a car.”

You see, my twelve year-old son is currently obsessed with getting an old car to fix up. He wants it ready and waiting for when he turns sixteen, the legal driving age in New York. He’s even checked Craigslist for good deals.

He has NO money.

“Oh, ya, we have to do this.” My husband said. “This is the exact kind of car he wants.”

The poor thing. You should have seen his face light up like Times Square on New Year’s Eve when FringeMan exclaimed, “We found you a car!” I think we broke his heart a little.

Now before you go and get too teary-eyed, he already got even with me. Two nights ago I was laying on the couch watching a documentary with FringeMan when I just had to go to sleep. It was the Benadryl fighting the super-hero histamine.

I headed off to bed, but with one pit-stop. You guessed it – the bathroom.

When I flipped on the light switch and lifted the lid of the toilet seat, my heart jumped into my throat and I let out a scream. There was an unsightly little black mouse sitting right on the seat. I about died.

We are even!

To tell you the truth, I think I may just be a teensy-bit behind him. No fears. I’ll get him when he least suspects it.