Welcome to my home, family and travel blog!

visiting the grandparents: a survival guide for families

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 10:17:13 -0800

You love your mom and dad. The kids love them. They love you and the kids.

So why is visiting them so difficult?

You’ve got a generational gap going here. Even though your mom and dad adore your kids, they’re probably not used to having little ones underfoot. If you’re not around kids much, you forget how much noise they make, how messy they are – and how needy they are.

And that often translates into your feeling uncomfortable in your own parents’ home.

Here are some tips for making that trip to Grandma’s house for Thanksgiving dinner a little more pleasant this year:

☺ Create a play area: If you have infants or toddlers, you have to have some area that’s safe for them to roam. That doesn’t mean grandma and grandpa have to childproof their whole house. But if they could just childproof one room, you could at least put little Davey down somewhere.

☺ Set parameters (and perimeters): That said, do not let your children have run of Grandma’s house. Even if she insists it’s OK. Your parents need their privacy. Set down limits on where they can and cannot go.

☺ Best behavior: Explain to your children that even though Grandma and Grandpa are family, it’s their house, not yours and they must behave like guests. That doesn’t mean not have fun but it does mean use their manners. Ask before they get snacks or turn on the TV. No roughhousing – unless Grandpa starts it, of course.

☺ Establish ground rules: If you feel comfortable, talk to your mom or dad about what the rules of their house are. Don’t assume that the rules for your kids are the rules you grew up by. People change.

☺ Encourage volunteers: Ask your kids to help out. Just because they aren’t at home doesn’t mean people are going to wait on them hand and foot. Give each of them a couple of things they can do each day to help Grandma and Grandpa out. But check first. Grandma may not want Jessica setting the table if she’s using her family china. And the kids trying to help Grandpa shovel snow may be just getting in the way.

☺ Take a break: Every now and then give yourself and the parents a break. Take the kids away and let the grandparents have the house to themselves for a while to regroup. They are older than you. They have their routines, so help them keep their sanity.

☺ Schedule adults-only time: Get the kids to bed early so your parents can enjoy just being with you. You might want to schedule a sitter so can take them out to a relaxing, grown-up meal.

☺ Be prepared: Take toys, books and games for the kids. I’m always amazed at parents who don’t bring things to keep kids amused. Relax your rules on TV watching. Keep them quiet and amused. You -- and everyone around you and them -- will be thankful.

☺ Create only win-win options: Don’t put your kids in losing situations. They’re not dolls your mom can put on display for her friends to admire. They can only sit still so long. Do not expect them to make it through a long formal dinner. Norman Rockwell was wrong on this one.

☺ Use (lose) the spouse for an hour or two: They’re not his parents. Get him to take the kids to a park so you can enjoy being a daughter again -- and actually have time to talk to your family. If they're his parents, well, return the favor in advance by excusing yourself and the kids for a while so he can get reacquainted as a son. What a concept!

Finally, if staying with the parents just seems too much of a strain, bite the financial bullet and book a room at a nearby hotel. It will cost a little more, sure, but it may just save your family’s relationship and everyone’s sanity. Not to mention keep you in the will.

closet control freak: clearing closets

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:58:55 -0800

Does it take more than a minute to locate a favorite in your closet? Do your freshly laundered or dry-cleaned clothes come off the hanger in need of pressing? Do you wear the same clothes each week, even though your closet sports an updated wardrobe?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, your closet’s in dire need of a makeover.

Let’s get it started

Start by removing all the clothes and accessories from your closet and organizing them by type: shirts, pants, suits, dresses, coats, shoes, belts, and handbags.

Set aside the things you don’t wear anymore, and consider their future. Possibilities for dealing with these items include:

☂ Store winter or summer garments until the appropriate season
☂ Update seasoned clothes by having them altered.
☂ Donate the hopeless items to charity.
☂ Make some quick cash by selling less-desirables on consignment.
☂ Give soft, worn clothes new life as cleaning or car-washing rags.

What to do with the leftovers? You’ll probably find numerous wrinkled but wearable items you’d forgotten. Make a mental note to place these “aha!” items in plain view.

Now is a good time to evaluate how well past storage methods have worked till now. Too much time spent searching for the right shirt for that suit? Simple solution: Consider hanging the two pieces side by side.

Are you a mix-and-matcher-on-the-fly type? Group clothes by color (so you can quickly scan for the day’s color du jour) or by garment type, placing jackets next to shirts and pants beside shirts. Decide whether it would be easier to view your clothes by type (work clothes and weekend fun stuff), color or length. Revamp the closet accordingly.

Double your space by adding a second rod below shorter items such as shirts and folded-over trousers. Then hang more of the same there.

Alternatively, consider adding shelves for your T-shirts, sweaters, and shoes beneath hanging items. After all, when your clothing is buried in dresser drawers, it’s out of sight – and usually out of mind. What’s more, hanging a knitted or lightweight garment on a hanger can distort the shape of the fabric, requiring more frequent – and time-consuming—dry cleaning.

Dealing with the detritus What about all that extraneous junk that ends up cluttering drawers and dresser tops? Hang a mesh laundry bag in your closet for socks, stockings, handkerchiefs, and other small items. Loop belts over a hanger next to pants, or hang on hooks inside the door. Store hats or bags this way as well.

Still more stuff than room to stash or store it? It’s time to bring in reinforcements. There are plenty of inexpensive organizing tools than can help you maximize even the tightest spaces. Back-of-the-door shoe bags keep shoes off the floor and in plain sight. Also consider racks for scarves, ties, belts, hats and other accessories.

Still need options? If the basic design of your closet leaves you short a hanging rod or three, you have options: consider a new or antique freestanding armoire or wardrobe; a prefab closet kit (available at home- speciality and organizing stores) and retool the space yourself.

Or, hire a closet designer to create a system (search your local Yellow Pages under “Closets and Closet Accessories”) or do an online search for a designer near you.

CLOSET TRUTH:

Professional closet organizers generally allot one linear foot (30 cm) of hanging space for 6 suits, 8 dresses, 12 shirts or 6 pairs of pants.

Ms. Clean Jeans says -- No hang-ups allowed!

clothing care chic

Sun, 9 Nov 2008 18:55:42 -0800

What good is a cashmere sweater after a waiter spills a glass of red wine on it? A leather jacket that's mottled with mildew?

They're as good as new if you know the tricks of the fashion-care trade. Most of today's fabrics and blends are actually designed to be cared for at home.

Considering the average load of laundry is valued at about $500 and that an average family sends eight to 10 loads of laundry for a spin in the washing machine each week, the answer is as important for your wallet as it is for your wardrobe.

Here are a few tips that may save your family’s wardrobe:

Basic Blends

✓ With any fabric blend, tailor your cleaning to the most delicate component of the garment. If either fiber or the trim or binding requires hand washing, dry cleaning or low temperature washing and drying, this will determine the cleaning care.

When in doubt, wash or dry clean according to the primary fiber in the blend.

Fine Fabrics

✓ Cashmere: Got a red wine spill? Wash on the delicate cycle -- or by hand -- in cold water. Don't wring cashmere -- you'll damage the fibers. Reshape and lay flat to dry away from direct heat or sunlight. To remove excess water after washing, gently roll in a towel.

✓ Pashmina: Don't be afraid to wash this silk and cashmere blend. It spent 30 to 60 minutes in water just below the boiling point followed by two washes during the dying process that made it so lustrous-looking. Wash in warm water with a gentle, natural shampoo such as Aveda. Lay flat to dry. Machine drying can damage fibers.

✓ Linen: Linen washes well because it is stronger wet than dry. A 60-degree Celsius wash is most effective as that temperature smoothes the surface of the flax fibers allowing stains to be released easily. Don't pack the washing machine to capacity when washing linen because the highly absorbent fiber can absorb twice its weight in water. Always iron linen when damp -- first on the wrong side to eliminate creases and then on the right side to enhance the fabric's natural sheen.

Other Fabrics

✓ Beaded blue jeans: Turn inside out and wash in cool water, hand wash cycle. Dry flat or on a dryer rack -- not in the dryer.

✓ Lycra: If the other fibers in the garment are machine washable, this is the recommended method for cleaning Lycra.

✓ Hemp: This natural fabric washes well because it is stronger wet than dry. Machine wash in warm or cool water, permanent press or casual cycle. Hang to dry. Dry cleaning is not recommended.

✓ Cotton: Don't get in the habit of taking your cotton garments to the dry cleaner. The chemical process may distort the color.

General Tips

✓ Dry by weight: Dry lightweight clothes first separately to help prevent damage and shrinking. Lightweight, delicate fabrics such as lingerie are sensitive to heat and should be dried while the machine is cool. Average-weight garments like pants and dress shirts should be dried next followed by heavyweights like towels and jeans, which can handle the hot drum.

✓ Dry fuzzy stuff separately: Separate lint-shedders, such as fuzzy sweatshirts, chenille robes, flannels and towels, from lint-keepers, such as knits, corduroys and permanent press and synthetic fabrics.

✓ Leather: Gently blot liquid stains with a clean cloth or wipe with a clean damp cloth. Treat mildew stains on leather garments by blotting a small amount of antiseptic mouthwash on the affected area.  
Read Labels

If a label says “Dry Clean,” instead of “Dry Clean Only,” it may be hand washable.

But with most garments, be sure to follow the manufacturer's care instructions as these take into account all parts of the garment, including linings, trimmings and special finishes.

potty talk - creating cool houseplant containers

Sat, 8 Nov 2008 19:46:00 -0800

The right pot can make or break a plant.

That $100 exotic palm from the fancy nursery is going to look tacky in a green plastic pot. But the $10.99 palm from Costco will look elegant in a Chinese ceramic container.

Plants are the botanical equivalent of the basic black dress. And containers are the accessories that can dress them up or dress them down.

But before we start accessorizing, let’s talk about the basic requirements of a container: It must be large enough to stabilize and nourish the plant; it must protect your floor from dirt and moisture; and it must provide adequate drainage for the plant.

Size: Generally, the taller the plant, the larger the container it needs. This is both an aesthetic and a physical requirement. A tall plant needs a large base to stabilize it; plus it would look weird in a tiny pot. You can often repot your new plant in a container one to two inches larger in diameter than the one it came in. Do not go any larger, or the plant could get root rot as the excess soil will hold too much moisture for the roots to absorb. If the plant still looks too large aesthetically for the pot, simply set the pot inside a larger decorative pot.

Drainage: Your container must have drainage holes or the plant could get root rot. However, you don’t want the plant draining onto your cherry hardwood floor. If the pot you love has no drainage holes, fake it. Put the plant in a smaller, plastic container with drainage holes, then set the plant into the holeless container. Cover the top of the pots with sphagnum moss and no one can tell the ugly container is in there. And, of course, if your container does have drainage holes, you must have a saucer underneath. Do not cover the drainage holes with gravel. If you’re concerned about the soil coming out, cover the holes with a coffee filter. But usually this is not a problem.

Matching the Decor

Containers come in many types of materials: clay, ceramic, plastic, wicker. Choose the materials that best complement your décor.

Plastic: Plastic containers have the double whammy of being ugly and nonporous, so air cannot get to the roots of your plants. They are, however, both light and cheap. I often keep my plants in plastic containers set inside ceramic ones. That makes moving the plant much easier because you can move the plant and the heavy container separately.

Clay: The primary advantage of clay containers is that they are porous, so over watering doesn’t pose much danger as with other containers. However, since they are porous, you need a nonporous water barrier between them and your floor. Some clay pots have patterns imbedded in the surface and can look quite elegant indoors. Most clay pots, however, are more appropriate on the porch or patio.

Ceramic: Ceramic containers are expensive, nonporous and heavy. Their saving grace is that they are very attractive and mesh better with home interiors than plastic or clay. I have an Asian theme in my living areas so I’m always on the lookout for ceramic containers with that feel. Since ceramic containers can be molded into any shape and decorated in any pattern, you can find pots that complement any décor from French provincial to Country Cottage.

Rattan: Rattan containers usually work best in a more casual décor. Baskets are relatively inexpensive and lightweight. Since you can’t put soil into them, just use the pot within a pot trick (put a plastic saucer under the pot in the bottom of the basket). You can buy a huge basket for a fraction of the cost of a ceramic pot.

Reusing Pots

Pots can be reused but do take the precaution of cleaning it thoroughly first to remove any resident bacteria. Scrub the pot with a solution of 1 part bleach to 9 parts water. Then rinse thoroughly.

Other Materials

Don’t be timid. Any container can contain a plant so don’t be afraid to experiment. I’ve seen plants in copper watering cans, teapots, antique wash bowls. Use the pot within a pot method and you can switch containers every week if you’d like.

Now go potty!

cleaning Up after pets

Fri, 7 Nov 2008 14:50:57 -0800

Removing Hair

Cat hair is notoriously difficult to remove from clothing as well as upholstery. My favorite method of getting it off furniture is simply to dampen my hand and rub it gently along the surface. The fur sticks to my hand and I just rinse it off. If you’re too squeamish for that method, try rubbing it with a dampened sponge. Still another approach is to vacuum the upholstery at least once a week.

Removing Odors

A new product called Febreeze does a nice job of eliminating pet smells and it’s safe for most upholstery and carpets. Or, you could try placing a scented fabric softener sheet between the cushions of the sofa (or wherever the animal naps).

Removing Stains

Pet Piddle: This problem requires a three-prong solution. And a lot of time and effort.

1. Absorb excess liquid with a white rag or paper towels. Blot on a solution of one-quarter teaspoon of mild liquid laundry detergent and one cup warm water. Repeat until there is no more stain transferring to your towel or rag. (Never rub the carpet.)

2. Blot the spot with a solution of two tablespoons ammonia in one cup water. Rinse with warm water. Repeat and blot dry. Then blot the area again with a solution of one cup white vinegar and two cups water. Rinse again.

3. Cover the area with several layers of paper towels weighed down with a heavy object. (I sometimes just stand on the towels.) Continue changing the paper towels until the carpet is dry.

Pet Poop: An even messier problem to remove.

Gently scoop up the solids with a spoon or spatula. Take outside.
2. Blot with a solution of two tablespoons of ammonia in one cup of water. Let soak for several minutes. Blot and repeat until the stain is removed.
3. Rinse with cold water.
4. Blot dry.

If any odor remains, sprinkle baking soda on the spot. Let it sit overnight, then vacuum.

Warning: Some stains just won’t come out. And be careful not to use too much water on the spot. If the urine gets into the pad underneath, you’ll never get it out. The carpet will look clean, but then the urine will wick back up from the pad. If this happens, patch the carpet (as well as the pad).

Cleaning the Litter box

We swear by the clumping cat litter. Urine clumps so you can scoop it and other solids out of the litter box without changing all the litter. Scoop the box as many times a day as you have cats. One cat: once a day. Three cats: three times a day. You get the idea.

Always use gloves when you clean the litter box as cat urine and feces can carry viruses, worms and bacteria.

At least once a week, change the entire contents of the box. Fill the pan with hot water and a half-cup of bleach and let it sit for 10 minutes. Then rinse well and dry.

Add fresh litter and your cat is back in business.

make your own thanksgiving table decor

Thu, 6 Nov 2008 22:56:43 -0800

Don’t want to drop a bundle on decorating the Thanksgiving table this year? Here are three deceptively simple, crafty ideas guaranteed to perk up any turkey day decor.

① An Au Naturel Thanksgiving Runner

Have the kids gather huge, colorful leaves from the yard.

Help them glue gun them together to create a back-to-nature table runner for your table.

✓ Finish the look with a casual sprinkling of berries.

NOTE: Be sure to place a cloth runner under the leaves to protect the table’s finish from the natural moisture of the leaves. And don’t leave the arrangement on the table too long.

② Leafy Placemats
For your kitchen table, let your kids design their own paper placemats.

✓ Gather a variety of leaves of different sizes, shapes and textures.

✓ Position white paper placemats over the leaves.

✓ With a peeled crayon, lightly rub the top of the placemat until the outline of the underlying leaf appears.

✓ Repeat with other leaves and different colored crayons until you have a pleasing pattern.

Enjoy. You might want to make some for the grandparents, too.

③ Twiggy Napkin Rings
You’ll need: Pipe cleaners in fall colors and some small twigs with leaves or berries.

✓ Twist two or three pipe cleaners of brown, gold or orange together.

✓ Wrap the pipe cleaners around a small 2-inch bottle or can.

✓ Twist the ends around a small twig that has either berries or small leaves.

✓ Remove from the bottle or can, and your napkin ring is ready for service.

getting the house ready for entertaining

Wed, 5 Nov 2008 16:31:40 -0800

Got guests coming for Thanksgiving dinner? Or for the first night of Hanukkah? Maybe you’re having a Christmas cocktail party. Don’t wait till the guests rsvp to begin your preparations. Here are things you can do ahead so you can be cool, calm and collected when you open the door.

✱ Silver: Get out the silver utensils, serving dishes and candlesticks and give them a good polishing.

✱ China and crystal: Save time by popping the holiday china and crystal in the dishwasher several days or weeks before the big event. Then you don’t have to worry about spots and dust when you’re setting the table. Did I say “dishwasher”? I sure did. Most modern china and crystal is dishwasher safe – as long as you load carefully so that pieces don’t clank against each other. If you have any reservations about their safety, test wash one piece before filling the racks. Hand wash heirlooms and pieces trimmed in gold or silver.

✱ Holiday linens: Inspect, clean and iron your festive tablecloths, runners, napkins and placemats.

✱ Flowers: Plan and/or order your centerpiece for your dining room table as well as other floral arrangements. (Idea: Drape leftover Halloween pumpkins with autumn leaves and spray paint the whole thing gold for a very simple, elegant centerpiece.)

✱ Coat closet: Empty out your coat closet so it can contain all your guests’ coats. Position a coat rack or wicker bins where guests can leave purses, umbrellas, gloves, etc.

✱ Fireplace: Clean the hearth, fireplace screen or door and tools. Have wood and matches at the ready.

✱ Traffic: Your regular floor plan may not accommodate a host of people. Move furniture so to create intimate conversation areas as well as good traffic flow. Set up the bar in the living room or den to keep people out of the kitchen.

✱ Powder room: Make sure it’s sparkling and put out new towels and soaps. Do not put lighted candles in the bath if there will be children running around.

✱ Declutter: Go through your house and remove nonessentials from every surface. Put them in a box in the attic until after the holidays. This action serves many purposes: It removes delicate items that visitors might inadvertently break. It clears surfaces for drinks. It clears surfaces for holiday decorations. And finally, you might decide you can live without that junk and get rid of it for good.

✱ Guest rooms: Remove most of your personal items so the room will feel like their own during their stay. Empty drawers and closets so they can unpack. Make sure they have an alarm clock, radio, reading lamp and some books or magazines. Leave a basket of fruits and snacks and some bottled water. Their room should be their little refuge if they need some down time (you might need some, too). Install a night light to prevent falls in strange rooms in the dark.

✱ Guest baths: Again, empty some drawers so they have a place to put their toiletries. Put your best towels out. Remove your medications and supplies from the medicine cabinet and stock it with aspirin, antacid, cough drops, toothpaste, shampoo and other items they might need.

Wow! The house is looking great, isn’t it? Your holiday season is off to a stellar start.

8 things to do now for a sane holiday season ahead

Sun, 2 Nov 2008 14:16:15 -0800

The problem with the holidays is that they are way too short between them. Halloween just ended, and we’re still taking down the spider decor and wondering what to do with the huge candy stashes around the house. But don’t blink - Thanksgiving is less than three weeks away, with its own decor, cleaning to get ready, and then of course there’s the massive turkey feast.

And just when we’ve sated our Thanksgiving appetites, we’ve got just four short weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year to make all our family’s fantasies come true. (Forget Santa – we all know who the head elf is here.)

So, Ms. Elf – how are you going to pull it off?

Get out your calendar and a pen and paper. You’re going to make your own Christmas list to ensure you successfully navigate the whirlwind celebratory season ahead.

➊ She’s making a list. On it, you’ll jot down all the special occasions, dinners, parties, traditions, etc., that you cannot possibly live without. Include everything from Thanksgiving dinner to the school Christmas play to your annual cookie exchange to Christmas Eve services.

➋ Check it - at least twice. Now write down all the occasions that already have firm dates. Pencil in tentative dates for all unscheduled events, putting as much time between them as possible. These dates may change, but at least you’ll be mentally holding a space for them.

➌ Add a behind-the-scenes work list. Here list of all the chores and special projects you need to accomplish by the end of the year. (Holiday shopping, Christmas cards, gift-wrapping, Christmas portraits, decorating, any special handmade gifts you’ll be doing with the kids.) Estimate how many hours each will take and write that down, too.

➍ Who’s on first? Prioritize these tasks and assign all a drop-dead, gotta-be-done-by date. Schedule as much as you can in November. Some things have to be done early, anyway. (If you send personalized holiday cards, you have to get those family photos taken right away.) Other work-ahead tasks include cleaning and organizing for the holiday, shopping ahead and mailing gifts to the friends and family back home before UPS really gets slammed.

➎ Designate dates. Going back to the calendar, assign specific dates for each of the chores and projects you listed above. Space these out so that you will accomplish a little bit each week. The whole idea here is to avoid that last-minute crunch. Now you’ve got a plan for the holidays. All other invitations or events will be juggled around your basic schedule. This way you just might avoid wrapping Santa gifts at 2 a.m. on December 25.

➏ Enlist a family of volunteers. Hey, why should you have all the stress – er -- fun? Go back to your list and see what you can delegate to whom. Give each assistant elf an area (or two or three) of expertise. Maybe your 15-year-old daughter loves to wrap gifts. Your 8-year-old loves to bake, your teenage son with his new driver’s license wants to do all the shopping. Or maybe, you’d better save him for the manly jobs like putting up the exterior decorations. Whatever. Just memoralize the chores with a chart listing each family member and the chores they need to accomplish each week to ward off the Grinch. After all, the more everyone pitches in, the more time you have for family fun.

➐ Plan to Have Fun. If you made a plan and included the family and you’re still feeling overwhelmed, maybe you’re trying to do too much. What can you leave out to keep the joy of the season intact? Remember that quiet evenings are also a vital part of the holiday season. Make sure you schedule some down time on that calendar as well. Write it in red.

➑ Resist the urge to outdo 2007. We keep raising the bar on ourselves. Whatever we did last year, we feel we need to do bigger and better this year. The dinner will be more spectacular. The gifts will all be custom wrapped to fit the recipient. We really will go caroling this year….Sound familiar? Tell yourself what you tell the kids when they write out their wish lists: You can’t have it all. And even if you could, it would not make you happy. The trick is to make what you do have very, very special meaning for everyone involved.

Finally, take time to love your children and make your home warm and welcoming – and if it’s a bit messy? Let it ride. You are not super mom. You are mom. And that’s super enough.

the holiday countdown begins

Sat, 1 Nov 2008 20:59:44 -0700

It’s November. That can only mean one thing: The countdown to the holidays is underway.

None of us are ever prepared for the holidays. Things just get too crazy, too fast. You want to strike a happy balance: You want things to flow smoothly, and you want to have a lot of fun. But you don’t want to go to the extreme of wrapping Christmas gifts in July. After all, a little last-minute rush gets the adrenalin pumping.

Since it’s too late to wrap your Christmas presents in July, anyway, your adrenalin rush is safe. But you don’t want to be frantic, either. Here are some tips on getting a handle on the holidays – and still have time for your family.

Get a Jump on the Holidays: Kitchen Survival Guide

Give yourself an early present and reorganize your kitchen now for the holidays. When you’ve got four pots on the stove, a turkey in the oven, a ham in the microwave and 18 hungry people in the living room – you’ll be glad you did.

Cleaning Out

First, get rid of everything you are not going to use this holiday. To be organized and sane, you need space and lots of it! Open up your cupboards, cabinets, drawers, pantry, refrigerator and freezer and take everything out. Clean the empty area and then – now this is the trick – only put back what you are going to use over the next two months. Pack up the rest and stick it in the garage.

❋ Cabinets and cupboards: Replace the summer patio ware in your cabinet with your holiday serving dishes and good china. Find and clean the roasting pan, bread pans, etc. Replace your everyday glasses and cups with ones that match.

❋ Drawers: Put your silver in a handy drawer. Find the holiday gadgets (basting thing, candy thermometer, meat thermometer, cheese knives, cheese holders, etc.). Tuck barbecue skewers, forks, etc. in for a nice winter nap in the attic.

❋ Pantry: Be ruthless. Is anyone really going to eat that six-month-old opened bag of Oreos? Toss. What about the cans of soup no one liked? Charity bins. Have the spices been there as long as the house? Trashcan. Make room for foods that people are actually going to eat.

❋ Refrigerator and freezer: Nothing says “ick” like a dirty refrigerator. Dump everything out. Clean it from top to bottom. Toss the stuff with old expiration dates and any jellies dating back to the last century. Make room for the goodies you’re going to be cooking.

Regroup

❋ Rethink your cabinet and drawer plan. Which cupboard is really best for the glasses? Which counter is more convenient for the coffeemaker? What drawer should the corkscrew be in?

A lot of the time, we tend to leave things where we first put them, even if that spot turns out to be inconvenient. Why? Because once you move the glasses to the cup cabinet, you now have to find a new home for the cups, which displace another item. It’s a round robin effect. So take advantage of this opportunity and develop a kitchen plan. Mentally divide your kitchen into activity areas so you and your family won’t be falling all over each other as you try to work. Here are some ideas:

❋ Food prep center: Keep knives, a butcher block, blenders, mixers, food processors, measuring cups and spoons here.

❋ Cooking center: Near the stove, store pots, pans, potholders, cooking utensils, oils, etc.

❋ Baking center: Even those who despise cooking succumb to a little baking at Christmas time. And if you make it easy for yourself, you may do it more often. Gather your recipes, flours, yeast, baking powder, pans, cookie cutters, mixers and bread machine in one corner of the kitchen. Bring on the cookie exchange!

❋ Kid center: We want the kids to be more self sufficient – just not underfoot. Set aside a cabinet (in a far corner of the kitchen) that’s just for their stuff – kiddie cups, paper plates, napkins, straws, crackers, juices. Then they can get their own snack without bothering you.

❋ Guest center: You know how people congregate in the kitchen – usually right in front of the drawer you need to get to. Create a cozy little area at the bar or kitchen table where they can sit and talk to you as you work – but stay out of the way. This can be as simple as setting up an area with various types of teabags in a pretty basket, a couple of cups, napkins and scones – all ready to be enjoyed.

Shop and Stock

Have the following food in your pantry and/or refrigerator for on-the-spot entertaining.

❋ Cheese and crackers
❋ Chips and dips
❋ Cookies, biscuits and scones
❋ Fresh vegetables
❋ Nuts
❋ Miniature frozen quiches and/or pizzas
❋ Wines
❋ Soft drinks
❋ Sparking waters

Make Your Battle (Menu) Plans

Plan your main holiday meals now. Check what ingredients you have on hand; put the rest on a shopping list. Find your holiday recipes and put them in one binder in your kitchen. Find serving dishes for each entrée and make sure they are clean and ready to roll.

If you’re planning a party or a dinner party, carefully schedule the food preparation. What time do you plan to eat? Then when should the turkey go in the oven? When should the shrimp be sautéed? Make a schedule for the evening, listing all the preparations you need to do at the time you need to do them. That way the shrimp will be cooked on time and you won’t find a forgotten tray of appetizers on top of the fridge after the last guest leaves.

When 20 people are in your kitchen chatting and asking questions while you’re trying to put a five-course dinner together, that checklist could be a sanity saver.

november home checklist

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:49:19 -0700

What to Do in Your Home: A Month by Month Breakdown

Some tasks only need to be done once or twice a year. The problem is that we forget to do them once or twice a year. Or else, we tend to save it all for spring cleaning which makes spring cleaning such a daunting chore that it doesn’t occur, either.

The best plan is to break annual and seasonal tasks down by month and attack them on a scheduled basis. Nothing gets too backed up and things eventually get done. And without a major life overhaul. I also found that concentrating on one room each month is more rewarding because you can really see results.

Here’s the schedule that has worked best for me for November:

❶ Remember Mother Hubbard: Clean the kitchen cabinets inside and out. Put in fresh liner paper. Throw out foods that your kids will never eat, no matter how hungry. Check for expired foods.

❷ Drawer duty: Clean, paper and reorganize all kitchen drawers. Bring to the fore utensils you will need for holiday baking and cooking.

❸ A self-cleaning stove? Ha ha! That’s a good one! But seriously, clean the oven.

❹ Cold zone: Clean under and behind the fridge. And while you’re in the neighborhood, strip off the six-month’s accumulation of art and notes from the fridge door. Wash it and leave it bare for a change. (Well, at least till Friday.)

❺ Water taste funny? Change the filter.

❻ Make room for guests: Clean the entry closet and put in extra hangers for winter coats.

❼ Floor show: Clean the carpets before the holiday parties.

❽ And while the guys are there: Get them to clean your upholstery. You’ll probably get a package deal.

❾ Got a free moment? Clean your major appliances – washing machine, dryer, dishwasher, etc. They’ll all function more efficiently.

❿ Last but not least: Update your address books while you’re sending out the Christmas cards.