Minti - Member - muchmorethanamom - Blog - Archive

16:00

27 Visits

This post is from from my other blog here

Love is being an auntie.

I love my Auntie Sasha!

Or, to paraphrase her words, love is us getting married and having kids so that she doesn’t have to!

See more pics in the Love Thursday flickr pool and at the Love is All Around Us blog.

You have until midnight tomorrow to enter to win some beautiful baby gear at MMO!

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Nov

2006

Anytime genitals are talking, I’m listening.

01:00

43 Visits

This post is from from my other blog here

Here’s an awesome vid illustrating how a girl gets pregnant. Hosted by…genitals!

God, I love the internet!

(It’s not that I have nothing to say. It’s that I’m busy making Christmas presents. Happy Wednesday!)

I have a new renter in my sidebar for your blog-hopping pleasure!

Nov

2006

Dear Rylan - Seven Months

14:15

47 Visits

This post is from from my other blog here

Dear Rylan,

You are seven incredible, amazing and beautiful months old.

For your daddy this month, the very most exciting thing was finally hearing you say “Dada!” Once you said it, you didn’t stop and now you say it constantly. I’m ready to start hearing “Mama” again!

You sit for a lot longer now. Unless something to the side distracts you, you easily sit for a minute or more. This month you amazed me by pulling yourself up to standing using a stack of diaper packages leaning against a wall! You’ve been pulling yourself up using our fingers for a long time but this was the first time you did it without help. Your legs are so amazingly strong! You just leaned forward on the diapers, pushed with your legs and up you went. You looked into the mirror and giggled at yourself proudly. You’re so darn cute! You roll around the room like a crazy man, too. You can cross 30 feet in less than a minute and you get into everything. We’re in trouble when you start to crawl! You’ve recently begun to…slither? You slide on your belly and you’re so close to crawling. It won’t be long, I’m sure.

You weigh 16 lbs 13 oz and you are 28 inches long. You gained a pound in weight and half an inch in length this month. It’s really no wonder. You eat like it’s going out of style. You still nurse really well and eat two very large meals per day. The only thing you don’t like so far is chicken. I tried a jar of organic chicken casserole and you ate that, so it must be the texture of the stuff I made. We’ll keep trying, but we’re okay with you choosing to be a vegetarian if you want.

Grandma Betty bought a booster seat for her table so that you can sit with us at meals there now, and you sure love it! It’s much easier than feeding you in your Bumbo chair when we’re visiting. It’s so cool that we bought you one to take to restaurants and to other people’s houses. You eat much better in a chair that has a tray for you to bang on.

Your sleep has been really wonky for over a week. You have your first cold, which is really sad. We’ve elevated the head of your mattress, which seems to help you breathe, but you get snot all over me when you nurse and it gets really bad when you cry.
You haven’t been going to bed until around 8:30 pm and have been getting up at 5:30 or 6:30 am. You’ve been waking up to nurse at least twice (often 5 or 6 times) and sometimes have been staying awake for an hour or two in the middle of the night. You haven’t been napping well either. This all comes after two weeks of really great daytime sleeps where you put yourself to sleep twice a day for 1.5-2 hours, so it’s a bit of a shock to the system.

You had a wonderful first Halloween. You were a monkey. And a lion. We couldn’t resist either costume (okay, I couldn’t resist) so you got both. You wore your monkey to yoga in the morning and your lion to baby group in the afternoon. Then we combined the two and called you a lonkey!

Life gets better every day, Rylan, and it’s all because of you. Everybody loves you so much! You’re a lucky kid, but we’re even luckier because God gave us you.

I love you,
Mommy
…

Seven Month Portraits

(I edited out the boogers. You’re welcome.)

Nov

2006

Ask the Internet

07:22

36 Visits

This post is from from my other blog here

From a rookie mom to the rest of you…

What would you do if your kid suddenly started waking up to play for an hour in the middle of the night? Lay him down, he screams. (And we don’t do that here.) Rock him, he coos and smiles at you with wide-awake eyes. He’s not hungry and won’t nurse. Sometimes it’s 10 or 11 pm. That’s do-able. It’s 3 am that’s not so do-able. He’s started “napping” at supper time and then staying up later, too, and is getting 3-4 less hours of sleep/day than he was a few weeks ago.

Thanks for sharing your wisdom. Now, go enter the contest and tell at least one friend about it. Pretty please? Maybe you’ll get a little ‘thank-you’ gift from Much More Opinionated~you never know!

(Oooh, just wait for the next review. It’s SO awesome. And they’re sponsoring a contest as well! If you don’t win, you’ll want to buy it for sure. I guarantee it. It’s not greedy to enter them all, you know. Go on. Just do it. All the cool kids are.)

Nov

2006

Do you have discerning taste and like free stuff?

11:53

25 Visits

This post is from from my other blog here

Then don’t forget to add the MMO image to your sidebar. Click here to get the code.

Head over there for a new post and another contest! Email your friends. Phone your family. Spam your co-workers. Get everyone to check it out and enter the contest! The more clicky love we send our sponsors, the more sponsors we’ll have! (And if you like free stuff, that’s a wonderful thing!)

I only give away the really good stuff. If something gets a bad review, I’ll tell you all about it but I won’t give it to you. That would just be mean.

Nov

2006

Love

20:29

33 Visits

This post is from from my other blog here

Love is thinking there’s nothing cuter than ‘poop face’

while eating

or while attempting to take 7 month portraits.

And really, is there?

See more pics in the Love Thursday flickr pool and at the Love is All Around Us blog.

Happy Love Thursday.

Nov

2006

When in doubt, whip it out!

12:57

41 Visits

This post is from from my other blog here

A meme, I mean. Pervert.

Stole this one from Badger, because I had to. You’ll see what I mean, and then you’ll steal it from here. And that’s okay.

Before we begin, I must inform you that I have a new renter! Click on his thumbnail in my sidebar to send your clicky love to the Foo Logs! (Why Foo? I dunno - let me know if you figure it out!) It looks like an entertaining read, and he seems like an all ’round great guy. Say hello from me!

Onward.

1. You can press a button that will make any one person explode. Who would you blow up?
Hmmm. In order to keep US homeland security away from me, I’ll have to go with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

2. You can flip a switch that will wipe any band or musical artist out of existence. Which one will it be?
Easy. Celine Dion. Like nails on a chalkboard.

3. Who would you really like to just punch in the face?
Who me? I’m a pacifist! But if you made me, I’d punch the dude who was in the news recently for putting a bag of puppies weighed down with rocks in a lake. Okay, you wouldn’t have to make me. I’d kick his ass.

4. What is your favorite cheese?
Extra sharp white cheddar.

5. You can only have one kind of sandwich. Every sandwich ingredient known to humankind is at your immediate disposal. What kind will you make?
Grilled organic chicken breast, sharp white cheddar, bacon, tomatoes and fresh basil on some sort of nutty 100% whole wheat bread with mayo and pepper.

6. You have the opportunity to sleep with the movie celebrity of your choice. We are talking no-strings-attached sex and it can only happen once. Who is the lucky celebrity of your choice?
Not even for a million bucks. I can’t stomach the thought of sleeping with someone I don’t know, even in my imagination. Ew.

7. You have the opportunity to sleep with the music-celebrity of your choice. Who do you pick?
See #6.

8. Now that you’ve slept with two different people in a row, you seem to be having an excellent day because you just came across a hundred-dollar bill on the sidewalk. Holy crap, a hundred bucks! How are you gonna spend it?
Sadly, probably on toys or clothes for Rylan, or maybe groceries. In my dreams? On a pedicure and a massage.

9. You just got a free plane ticket to anywhere. You have to depart right now. Where are you gonna go?
Wales.

10. Upon arrival to the aforementioned location, you get off the plane and discover another hundred-dollar bill. Now that you are in the new location, what are you gonna do?
Get a beer in a small pub and look for Glyn.

11. A demon rises out of Hell and offers you a lifetime supply of the alcoholic beverage of your choice. It is…?
Dry red wine. I don’t think they have it in hell, however. Wine is purely heavenly.

12. Rufus appears out of nowhere with a time-traveling phone booth. You can go anytime in the PAST. What time are you traveling to and what are you going to do when you get there?
I’d go back to when my mom was little (date omitted - you’re welcome Mom!) and play and ride horses with her.

13. You discover a beautiful island upon which you may build your own society. You make the rules. What is the first rule you put into place?
Play time, all the time. The more fun you have, the more you earn.

14. You have been given the opportunity to create the half-hour TV show of your own design. What is it called and what’s the premise?
Apparently I have absolutely no imagination.

15. What is your favorite curse word?
F**k. I think it WAY more often than I say it. I usually only say sh*t. I enjoy writing/blogging them far more than I enjoy saying them. It’s just fun. I don’t know why.

16. One night you wake up because you heard a noise. You turn on the light to find that you are surrounded by MUMMIES. The mummies aren’t really doing anything, they’re just standing around your bed. What do you do?
Probably sh*t my pants. You?

17. Your house is on fire! You have just enough time to run in there and grab ONE inanimate object. Don’t worry, your loved ones and pets have already made it out safely. So what’s the item?
Our server so we can access all our files once.

18. The Angel of Death has descended upon you. Fortunately, the Angel of Death is pretty cool and in a good mood, and it offers you a half-hour to do whatever you want before you bite it. Whatcha gonna do in that half-hour?
Snuggle with my family and tell them I love them. Lots.

19. You accidentally eat some radioactive vegetables. They were good, and what’s even cooler is that they endow you with the super-power of your choice! What’s it gonna be?The ability to freeze and change time, giving us an endless childhood with Rylan while slowing all the awesome parts and speeding through the crap. Literally. Like 2 millisecond diaper changes and lots of long drawn out laughter and games.

20. You can re-live any point of time in your life. The time-span can only be a half-hour, though. What half-hour of your past would you like to experience again?
Thirty minutes of my wedding day.

21. You can erase any horrible experience from your past. What will it be?
Wouldn’t YOU like to know?

22. You got kicked out of the country for being a time-traveling heathen who sleeps with celebrities and has super-powers. But check out this cool stuff… you can move to anywhere else in the world! Bitchin’! What country are you going to live in now?
Hmmm. Sweden? Ireland?

23. This question still counts, even for those of you who are under age. You have been eternally banned from every single bar in the world except for ONE. Which one is it gonna be?
I’m not a bar-fly anymore. Those were the good old days. I’d much rather have friends over here ~ wine and board games go well together, no?

24. Hopefully you didn’t mention this in the super-powers question…. If you did, then we’ll just expand on that. Check it out… Suddenly, you have gained the ability to FLOAT!!! Whose house are you going to float to first, and be like “Dude, check it out… I can FLOAT!”?
Whee! That would be so fun! Probably my girlfriend Leah’s house. She would get more of a kick out of it than anyone else.

25. The constant absorption of magical moonbeams mixed with the radioactive vegetables you consumed earlier has given you the ability to resurrect the dead famous-person of your choice. So which celebrity will you bring back to life?
Elvis. Not because I like him, but because I’d really enjoy screwing with the minds of the people who thought he was alive all along.

26. The Gates of Hell have opened, and Death appears. As it turns out, Death is actually a pretty cool entity, and happens to be in a fantastic mood. Death offers to return the friend/family-member/person, etc. of your choice to the living world. Who will you bring back? Oooh, tough one. Probably my maternal Grandpa because I didn’t get to meet him and I would like to. He sounds really cool.

27. What’s your theme song?
Matthew Wilder’s Break My Stride.

And, just like that, it’s over.
Now, go check out the Foo Logs, k?

Nov

2006

Help With Snot

12:42

36 Visits

This post is from from my other blog here

We have snot. A plethora of snot. And we need help. We’ve been sleeping in the same room as Rylan at my parents’ place for 4 nights and nobody has gotten any sleep. We can’t even fart without waking him up.

I don’t know if it’s teething or a ’snot-only’ cold or a combination of the two, but the kid can’t sleep for more than an hour at a time. He gets runny boogers all over my boob when he’s nursing. I’ve never had to deal with a sick kid before. The last time I thought he had a cold, he coughed, like, 10 times in 2 days and it was over. He’s never had more than the odd “pickable” booger. I’ve elevated the head of the mattress (took me 4 nights to figure that one out. moron.), used saline drops, sat awake in the living room recliner while he slept on my chest and turned into a cranky-ass sleep-deprived snotbag myself. Help. Please. What do you do for a snotty kid? Do those homeopathic teething thingies really work? Do they do anything for snot, or just pain? If so, where can you get them in Canada? Your preference: cool mist or warm mist humidifier? Eucalyptus in it?

He might be snotty, but he’s totally happy and squealing regularly. We all just need some freakin’ sleep. You know?

Oh, and he really needs to take a crap.
< / rant >

Nov

2006

Proud to be a Canuck

09:53

1 comments

47 Visits

This post is from from my other blog here

Hey - today’s giveaway of the day is a photo program! Looks pretty cool. And…free! It’s a $30 value. Get it by midnight if you want it free!

Since I have many international readers now, I thought this might be fun…

Take this Canadian Slang Proficiency Test and leave your score in comments.

When you’re done (but not before - no cheating allowed) check out this Wiki list.

I had no idea some of these were purely Canadian.

I should really get my butt off my chesterfield, put on my bunnyhug and my toque and head over to Tim Horton’s for a double double and a nanaimo bar. I hope they remember to give me a serviette this time. Hosers.

Links courtesy smartcanucks.ca

—

New guest post up over at MMO.

—

Nov

2006

Alternatives to Costly Photo Software. (And a funny and an appeal.) Updated

07:25

33 Visits

This post is from from my other blog here

I received a few emails asking for photography and editing tips after posting the results of my first portrait experiment and my first outside job. Here’s a money saver for you if you’re not interested in buying Photoshop or Elements…

1. Paint.NET. A much better alternative to MS Paint, and it’s FREE! It supports layers, offers unlimited undo functionality, has lots of special effects and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools including great cloning and text manipulation.

or…

2. PhotoPlus6 is also free (version 8 is $4). It also has great special effects and great cloning. The text manipulation isn’t as good, but there are other things that make up for it. Like real customer support from serif.

They both have their benefits. They’re free, so I recommend that you try both and see which one you’re comfortable with! I, personally, prefer Photoshop (I’m working with CS2), but for those of you who aren’t either professionals or hopelessly addicted to photography, either of these free programs will work wonderfully.

[Edited to add: Picasa 2 is also great, but doesn’t have the editing capabilities of these programs or Photoshop. It is, however, completely ‘dummy proof’ and fairly automatic. Thanks for the reminder, Deb!]

[Edited to add: Free software giveaways daily here No Microsoft stuff. New stuff by the smaller developers that usually costs money. Download and install the day it’s linked and you get it free! Link courtesy Dumb Little Man.]

Oh, and, ahem…next time you’re in a hurry because your kid is napping? Do it, Pronto.

You have until MIDNIGHT TONIGHT to enter the current contest at Much More Opinionated! Make sure all of your friends and family know about it. You do not have to be nursing to use it! You could even give it as a gift if you’re the lucky winner. Helping send traffic to my wonderful site sponsors will bring more contests and more chances for you to win some very cool stuff! (Please note: Comments are now turned off over there.)

We’re busy with family stuff all weekend ~ watch for a guest post at the other place and hopefully I’ll be checking in here and there.

Nov

2006

Wednesday Five

10:24

40 Visits

This post is from from my other blog here

Other people do the Thursday Thirteen, right. So, why not?

1. Rylan got a new toy from Discovery Toys (Which I sell now, kind of. Actually I just buy them from myself because I hate parties.)
He’s nothing if he’s not industrious. When he couldn’t reach it from his Bumbo, he just used his feet to pick it up.

2. I went all Molly Homemaker this week and made this hideous thing…

to protect Rylan’s head and the heads of his friends as they learn to crawl. I made three; one for each side of of the railing that wraps our stairs. First, I sewed the ties on the inside of the f*cking thing. Then I sewed about 2 1/2 metres without noticing my bobbin was out of thread and there was just one lonely thread following me along my journey. Then I cut a hole in the fabric by accident. It’s done now, and I hate it. Molly Homemaker, my ass. Thank God I have university degrees.

3. My second Molly Homemaker project hasn’t taken a disastrous turn yet. I saw these, which are absolutely beautiful but *cough* $285 *cough* American dollars. So I’m making my own. For $25 Canadian dollars. Notice the lack of choking on the price?

Not that her gorgeous creations aren’t worth that price. They are extremely labour intensive. However, my time doesn’t cost me anything while Rylan’s napping.

4. With the selling/buying of Discovery Toys (addictive, much?) we have a plethora of itty bitty ankle breakers lying around. To solve the problem, I bought a few elegant ~~bathroom garbage cans~~ toy bins (ahem) to stash the toys in corners. Rylan has recently discovered where I’ve been hiding his stuff. Jackpot!

5. I believe I might have mentioned my Discovery Toy addiction? Well, I get weekly shipments of styrofoam peanuts now. I feel kind of guilty throwing them out, and you can only keep so many for gift wrapping. Since one of the main reasons for my addiction is the non-toxicity of the toys; i.e. good for my kid, good for the earth etc, and my city doesn’t recycle styrofoam (wtf?), I appeal to your vast creativity and knowledge. What do I do with these?

(And, because I’m all about keeping up the flow, you get a picture!)

Nov

2006

Pimping x3 (Updated)

08:23

32 Visits

This post is from from my other blog here

Updated with code at the bottom…

I have a new roomie over in my sidebar. Please click and check out Scooter McGavin’s 9th Green. Surprisingly, his blog is not at all related to golf. He writes about music, TV, sports and politics and it looks like he updates every day. Go send him some clicky love from MMTaM, would ya?

Oh, and if you’re free tonight, check out Kristen’s first Blog Talk Radio show from 10-11pm EST tonight. (8-9 pm mountain time, for you locals.)
Tonight, she’ll be talking about:
*Feminist Parenting: The good, the bad, and the Husbands…
*Frank and funny talk about clueless husbands, racy girls toys and clothing, and a friendly debate with two other bloggers.

Have you been to Much More Opinionated yet? Have you entered my current contest? Funny how lurkers come out of the woodwork when there’s a prize involved. Hmmmm. I already have over 40 entrants, 38 of whom I have never heard of. I’m so glad you’re all reading, but leave a comment once in a while, would ya?
(Don’t worry, commenters and real life friends don’t get precedence over there - prize winners are all selected using a randomizer. But that doesn’t mean you don’t have to say hello sometimes. It’s just good manners. I love you all just the same.)

Could you do me a favour? (or a ‘favor’ if you’re American…) Could you pimp the new place at your blog? Pretty please? With cherries on top? I’ll like you for a blurb in one of your posts, but I’ll love you and be your best friend for a permalink in your sidebar.

Click here to get the code.
Thanks, yo.

Nov

2006

Announcing a new arrival…

13:49

39 Visits

This cute little button will live permanently in my sidebar, and I’ll also let you know here when a new review is up over there.

This post is from from my other blog here

Nope, not a baby.

Okay, maybe it is a baby.

It’s my new blog! Much More Opinionated is a site dedicated to reviews, recommendations and roasts. It’s brand spankin’ new and I’m SO excited about it!

It’s also the first blog theme I have ever designed by myself. Actually, I had help from Chelle and she kindly let me use the Apple Blossoms theme she made for this blog to work from, but I kind of did it! She’s a great teacher, though.

I’ll be reviewing books, baby gear, parent gear, customer service, electronics…you name it.

I also welcome your reviews. If you have something you feel strongly about, email me your review at muchmoreopinionated [at] gmail [dot] com for editing and I’ll post it with a link to your blog (if you have one).

If you produce or sell something you’d like to send me for review, email me.

If you have a suggestion for something you’d like to see reviewed, email me.

So, head on over and let me know what you think ~

So far, I have comments enabled over there but I’m not sure if I’ll leave them up or not. Your opinion?

(Oh, and did I mention you can win stuff from the companies I review for?)

Nov

2006

Canadian Baby Buddy Gets Huge Props

06:25

40 Visits

This post is from from my other blog here

I’m over at Props & Pans today…come check out what I have to say about an awesome Canadian-made product. If you’re pregnant, a new mom, an experienced mom, like to read, like to watch tv, have kids that like to cuddle up with a good book…if you’re human, you need one of these!

——————————————————–

If you would like to recommend a Canadian-made product for review, email me at muchmoreopinionated [at] gmail [dot] com.
I also have a new site in development ~ once it’s ready, products no longer need to be just Canadian so send those too!
The new site should be up in the next day or so…watch for it!

Nov

2006

Back.

08:17

26 Visits

This post is from from my other blog here

Change of plans. We were embarking on a 7 hour drive so I could present at an early childhood education conference when we met freezing rain on top of snow. Since our lives are worth far more than the few hundred dollars I would have made, we’re back. I probably pissed some bigwigs off, but at least my baby has a mommy, right?

We have some good friends up there whom we were really looking forward to seeing, so that part of it sucks.

The BG was coming with me to hang out and look after Rylan so he’s got 5 days (4 now) off to hang with us at home now. We plan to rearrange the basement, buy some shelves to get books off the floor, work out, drink lots of tea and cuddle on the couch.

I started my 43rd book of the year and will probably finish it this weekend.

Rylan is invited to a birthday party tomorrow which we can now go to, and my friend is having a ‘chemo party’ tomorrow night before she begins a long course of treatments next week.

If I have time, I also might work on a felt project I’m making for Rylan, a carseat cover I’m sewing (for the next baby because that’s how long it took), a banister cover I’m sewing to protect crawling heads from bashing through the bars, shampoo carpets and much more.

Our fur-babies are at Grandma and Grandpa’s because we were supposed to be gone. It’s terribly lonely here without them. How do people stand living without pets? I can’t imagine it. But at least I can clean the carpet.

Have a great weekend! Any big plans? Little plans?

Nov

2006

Busy.

10:05

39 Visits

This post is from from my other blog here

Chloe and Maverick would like you to please feel sorry for them. They had needles. Chloe ruined the vet’s shirt with her blood. (Nothing scary - needle hit a tiny blood vessel. She didn’t notice, but it was sure gross). Thai would like you to know that he is above all that stuff. He is the King of avoiding the vet. (His terminology). Little does he know, his turn is coming…

Back to blogging Sunday-ish. Have a fantabulous rest of the week and weekend!

Nov

2006

My first “job.”

19:26

37 Visits

This post is from from my other blog here

You know this new addiction of mine? You know. Portrait photography?

Here are the results of my first gig.

(I purposefully only chose faceless prints to share with the interweb - she’s ~~impregnito~~ incognito.
Even though the copyright is mine, I respect her privacy.)

Nov

2006

It changed my DNA.

07:45

28 Visits

This post is from from my other blog here

Sunday afternoon, a couple of friends and I went to a performance of Annie.

Annie has long been one of my favourite musicals. I have great memories of my mom taking me in my elementary school years and I have seen the movie several times. The music sticks in my head like gum to a little girl’s pigtail. But never. NEVER. has it moved me to tears.

Several times Sunday afternoon I felt the familiar sore throat and watery eyes coming on.

The opening scene features Annie sitting in the orphanage amongst her friends singing about and wishing for her parents. Two minutes into the show…Sore throat? Check. Watery eyes? Check. I couldn’t help by imagine Rylan - all alone - and wondering where his parents are.

In one of the final scenes, Annie introduces Mr. Warbucks to her friends as “Daddy Warbucks.” Sore throat? Check. Watery eyes? Check. Rylan just said ‘Dada’ for the first time a couple of weeks ago. I, of course, imagine him with nobody to get excited when he says ‘Dada.’ Nobody to come running when he calls.

I’m pretty sure becoming a mother has changed my DNA. I’ve always been emotional (the BG is amazed at how many commercials make me cry) but not like this. This is a soul-deep ache for mothers and children everywhere.

Living in Canada we are incredibly sheltered from the woes of the world. We have our problems, for sure. But the homeless here are, for the most part, hidden. I wonder how many parentless children there are in the world. In orphanages. On the street. In African villages. In Europe. In inner city USA. In Canada. All of them deserve loving parents. None of them chose to be born where they were. I don’t know what we did to deserve to be born Canadian and to loving parents, but here we are. As my mom says, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” I didn’t really understand the true depth of the meaning of that phrase until adulthood.

I know we have enough love in our home for as many children as need us. Bedrooms? No. Love? Absolutely.

I know we can’t save them all. Maybe all we can do is do the best we can by our own child and raise him to want to make a difference.

I know we can’t save them all. But wouldn’t it be nice?

Nov

2006

It’s getting spicy around here.

07:33

25 Visits

This post is from from my other blog here

Slap my ass and call me Martha. I have a good thing to share for the weekend.

The spice storage area is one of those things that drives me kind of nuts when it’s disorganized. I was preparing dinner last week while a friend was over for a visit. She got a peek inside my spice cupboard and suggested I ‘blog it’ to (a) share a wonderful organizing idea and/or (b) remind you of what a freak I really am. Take your pick.

First of all, I have an entire cupboard devoted to spices and cooking accoutrements. The top shelf is only herbs & spices and the bottom is other seasonings, kitchen string, hot pads etc.(In my old house, I had a drawer in which the spices could stand up with the lids visible but we’re way short on drawer space in this house and my new system keeps everything together.)

On the right, a metal tin containing all of my spice jars. Behind that, a plastic bin containing all of those little refill bags. On the right, the Costco sized containers of spice for things we use more often.

Each of the jars is labelled on top (I heart my label maker - big time) and arranged alphabetically in the bin for easy access. The refills in the back are also alphabetical and I keep a small recipe card in the bin with a list of the refills I have so I don’t purchase doubles.

I keep my refill bags sealed with bag clips from The Pampered Chef (expensive) and, now that I’ve discovered them, from Ikea (cheap, and exactly the same). Just be sure to clip them closed with the name of the spice visible so you don’t have to open things to see which green herb is actually in there.

There. I knew you didn’t have enough to do this weekend. Have fun organizing your spices!

Do you have a good thing to share? Let me know!

Nov

2006

Six months of nothing but love…

09:01

44 Visits

This post is from from my other blog here

Happy Love Thursday!

See more pics in the Love Thursday flickr pool and at the Love is All Around Us blog.

Oct

2006

An Open Letter to Poop

22:01

34 Visits