Well I'm back from my tech free week! I must say it was very liberating. It was nice not to be a slave to certain television shows (not that I watch that many!), or feeling like I had to constantly update my FB status and check in on various people. I did very much miss blogging though! I did sneak a peek at a few blogs once or twice and it all got me to thinking more about my blog.
I was reading an article about making things easier for new parents. One point was to aim low and knock down your standards. This really resonated with me. I constantly want to do this project or that project (esp. some really neat ones I've seen on some other blogs lately!), or deep clean the house, or organize every nook and cranny, or take better photos and have a nicer blog. But I must be realistic and as a new mom who works full time outside of the home I just don't have the ability to do these things right now. Plus I want to spend the time with my daughter and not cleaning! I applaud all the moms who seem to have their acts together and have multiple kids. I'm not whining by any means. I am very blessed. But I know what I can and can't do and I need to let go of some things right now.
So I'm going to be more realistic about my blog. I'm giving myself a personal goal of updating at least once a week and if I can do more I will or if I do less, so be it. I hope I'll still have some followers! This blog doesn't have the beautiful photography and mad Photoshop/Picasa/Picnik enhanced photos and I have accepted that it will not for the forseeable future. I did get Photoshop Elements for Christams and I do hope to have a chance to actually play around with it soon.
In the spirit of aiming low, one of the things I do want to tackle is better organization around our home. All of the closets can stand to be cleaned and there are definitely better ways to utilize spaces in our home. I'm going to tackle this little by little. One of the first things I hope to tackle is the cookbook mess pictured above. When we first moved into this house, all the cookbooks fit neatly in this upper cabinet. But hubby and I both like to cook and quickly aquired many more cookbooks (hubby just got two more for his birthday today) and the clippings of recipes began to grow (see the dilapidated folder at the top? Yep, that would be the clippings). Now we have this nightmare going on (and this isn't even all of them - there are more on my nightstand and in a basket in our living room!). Hubby and I are hoping to clean out a shelf in our coat closet and use that area for cookbooks. If we ever get to this task, I will post some after photos.
For all you home cooks - How do you organize your cookbooks?
P.S. Where the heck did Blogger put spell check? Please excuse my typos.
8 comments:
I'm afraid my cookbooks are looking a tad like yours. I even went out and bought a bigger bookcase for them and now that's full, too, and they're sideways on top of verticals. The big problem is the recipes printed off or torn out of magazines and the paper. Or all the cooking magazines!
But I applaud you for setting your own guidelines and "lowering" your standards. Sometimes I feel like I HAVE to post more or more creatively or whatever, and the truth is sometimes I just can't. I don't think you'll lose followers, we'll just remember not to stop back every day in wild anticipation! But we'll be back -- at least I will!
(And now, this week, on to the linen closet!)
Hi Karla,
Screw the photos, we're really only interested in you anyway! Your posts are great with or without them.
All I have been doing this month is purging and organizing. It feels good when it is done.
I have cook books in 2 places. A few on my counter that I use all the time and some others is a closet off my kitchen, but still easy to get to. I really need to get rid of a few of those, too.
Settings limits for ourselves is never easy and our kids have a way of really demanding so much from us. No matter how you slice it, don't forget to save some time for you and your joys. If Mom is happy, then your little one will be happy. Not to mention, Hubby, too.
Take Care,
Tammy
karla, if you are working full time and you're a new mom and still somewhat sane I congratulate you! don't worry...nobody is getting everything they want to done! I hope you are well my friend! xo natalea
I really admire you and your husband for having a tech free week.......
I feel as though I'm in a constant state of trying to organize our 'stuff' and our life.
When I try to organize my cook books, it is a big deal with me too. I get so frustrated when I'm looking for a particular recipe and I can't find it or remember which book it's in ...or if it's in my big file folder with clippings...........let us know if you find the solution.. Meanwhile mine are on a shelf in a a drawer.
I'll be checking on your blog 'whenever' you have the time to blog..... I'm here to stay.
Hi Sugar Bear,
I'll come over one day and help you organize your cookbooks! Although I will probably just end up flipping through them while you do all the work. Ha! I also want to organize all the recipe clippings I have. Maybe we can buy binders and dress them up with some neat papers and bits and bobs. (I sound like you!) Then we can put the clippings neatly in a binder or if we are super ambitious we can even type them up a few at a time. Sister bonding! I think this is the biggest comment I ever left on your blog!
Love ya,
Shelley
HI Karla!
I was hooked on the foodnetowork for a few years, then along comes Martha and all of her recipes in my mailbox everyday!
I sorted them out into categories: chicken, fish, appetizers, deserts. put them into two binders(deserts and appetizers were in together.)
Then along came MORE clippings. Then I put them into piles, "make soon" "make later" huh. Now i have to go and weed out the ones I KNOW I'll never make and then If I do not make by the end of the week pile, throw it out! let.s see if I can do that one! hahaha
I know believe I prefer cookbooks. Someone already organized them for me :) hehehe
*** I asked my brother(no children) once how our Mom could do it with 6 kids and our Dad sometimes gone a week at a time for work. He said... mary, she did not have them all at once, she worked up her knowledge... I was so shocked and happy at my brothers answer. so smart!
You will get along beautifully Karla!!! You have your priorities in order:
Big Hugs,
Mary~ the one who will always come back to say hello to a sweet friend :)
hi karla
thanks for visiting my blog. I have been so behind in blogging and have decided like you, will do what I can when I can.
i havae my cookbooks on a shelf in the pantry but before the fire john had made me a bookcase in the kitchen where they were displayed
remember in organizing to always look for ways to go UP the wall or on the wall for display space
love you
catie
Cookbooks? Mine are up on a high shelf above the fridge, gathering dust and they never come down. LOL. My weight watchers ones, the only ones i use are wedged between the microwave and the wall. Afraid I'm not so organised myself....
And if you post once a week, I'm happy! happy to hear from you and see your lovely family and know that you are living your life!!!
Spell check... hmmm I wondered the same thing. But I realised that they underlined the incorrectly spelled words in red in the post as they are written. I guess that's the extent of it...?? Not sure about the new blogger editor, as I change my pics around with HTML and this HTML confuses me much more than the old one did!
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