Friday Favorites

NY Times DIY Cooking Handbook - small kitchen projects that any cook can tackle

Meat Charts - "These meat charts for beef, pork, lamb and goat are a great resource to help you understand where various cuts of meat are located on the animal."

Make Custom Color Chalkboard Paint -I do wonder if this works as chalkboard paint is expensive. And this would be a good less expensive solution

Scone Tutorial - looks like a good recipe and step by step directions with photos

Tax Prep - for those who haven't been done taxes yet this list might help you start gathering things together

Spring Cleaning

It is now officially SPRING! And that means spring cleaning is here. I honestly think that it is one of my favorite times of the year. I started a little early this year as I knew I was going to have a busy spring. I have been going through closets and dressers. I have piles ready to donate, mend/repair, repurpose and toss. I have had my toothbrush out scrubbing all the grooves of the faucet and cupboard door handles. And it made me feel so good....see I must a masochist?

Once again I thought I would share my spring cleaning lists. I have done just slight updates to the lists. A few little changes/additions.

Spring Cleaning Lists
Living Areas
Dining Room
Kitchen
Bedroom
Bathroom
Closets and Laundry Room
Basement, Attic and Garage
Outside

Spring Forward!

Although I know not all the readers have to reset their clocks for Daylight Savings madness, the time change can serve as a reminder to do some twice a year household maintenance.

Specifically, this is a good time to change the batteries in your smoke detector. Early fire detection can save lives, as I've seen over and over again in my job. Just a few months ago, a 12 year-old boy in my county was awakened by the sound of the smoke detector and alerted his family and they all got out of the house safely.

Some other things you might want to consider doing while resetting your clocks:

* Wash the Windows inside and out
* Change your online passwords
* Change your windshield wipers
* Check batteries in your emergency flashlights
* Clean the baseboards in your house
* Pull out the fridge and dust/vacuum the coils
* Rotate/Flip Mattress


Those are just a few ideas I had. What about you? What things can you add?

Keeping the House Tidy

For me, keeping a tidy house is an important part of my service. I feel like having a neat and clean house for Sir to come home to makes things more relaxing and pleasant for him. Part of keeping the house neat and tidy is taking some time every day to maintain it.

Having a systematic way to move through the house and tidy as you go is important. One of my favorite tips is to take a laundry basket or other basket with you and place items that need to be removed to other rooms into it as you go. This is nice if you have an especially large house, or more than one story to tidy. Also taking tools you need with you in that basket is helpful as well.

I work from the kitchen to the back of the house, because our kitchen is the center of our house and the table seems to be a catch-all for everything that comes in the door.

Kitchen/Dining Area

* Make sure all dishes are washed or moved to the dishwasher
* Clean off kitchen table, remove all junk, sort mail and place it next to Sir's chair.
* Wipe down table, counters and stove. I use a microfiber cloth and anti-bacterial spray or vinegar and water solution.

Living Room/Family Room

*Corral the remotes and either place them on top of the appropriate equipment or on the table next to Sir's chair.
* Use electrostatic duster on all surfaces and TV screen

Bathrooms

* Check the mirrors for spots and wipe down.
* Using sanitizing wipes, wipe all surfaces (I prefer Lysol wipes with the scrubbing surface)
* Use toilet brush in the potty. I keep mine in a mixture of 1 cup bleach/1 cup water. I would not recommend this if you have small children or pets that can knock it over or if it doesn't have a lid that seals the top of it off.

Hallway, Office, Bedrooms

* Run duster over surfaces
* Straighten pillows/bedspreads
* Tidy desks, side tables and dressers

I also sweep the floors. I have hardwood so I just use either my broom/dustpan or a small stick vacuum. I do it every day because I have cats so there is hair and kitty litter that needs to be swept up. Plus, I clean litterboxes ever day.

Another thing I do is try to do at least one load of laundry a day. This way it doesn't pile up. I say try because laundry is not my favorite chore. I'm okay with the sorting and washing but the folding and putting away I despise.

I have found that if I make an effort to tidy every day it takes me less than 20 minutes, dinner dishes not included.