FLYLADY WEEK 1 - Kitchen & Laundry

 Good afternoon, friends!

I'm still on a deep cleaning around here and trying to get stuff put in some semblance of order in the office. 

But it's also Week 1 of the cleaning process for the rest of the house.

This would normally be the week I deep clean the laundry room & kitchen but since I leave Wednesday for a writing retreat/ conference, I'm doing the quick pass-throughs.

Aside from clean sheets for the bed this week, I've tossed a cleaning bomb into the washer. I always wash the cat beds and dog sheets last thing so the cleaning cube for this washer is mandatory. I've also cleaned/ deodorized the kitchen sink drains (I have a dual sink).

To do the drains, I put a 1/2 C. of baking soda into each drain, followed by 1-1/2 C hot white vinegar. Once that's worked a bit then I follow with 3-4 C of hot water to flush the drain through.  I normally only do this once a month but if the drain seems sluggish later in the month, I follow the same process. Easy clean and no stinky drain or chemical tablets.

I also have the #MealPlanMonday series on my YouTube channel. Here's this week's video. It's not overly exciting but maybe a tidbit or two will catch your attention.

That's it for me this week. I have other things planned for this video but I'm really pushing to finish Book 2 of my Ozarks, Planned To Perfection series. An Ozarks Christmas has been out for several years. Time for Book 2 - An Ozarks Homecoming - just got away from me in much needed research and live in general.

Be safe, Be prepared, Be Blessed!

~ Kelly

A FRESH START!

Hi, everyone!

Happy Wednesday.

This year just seems to fly buy. I'm slowly getting the house in order. 

For the past several months I've been focusing on our homestead projects, stocking the pantry ahead of Bob's retirement last December and finding  new places to clear out to make room for homestead storage. 

Now that I have that in line, I'm starting to focus on the monthly cleaning schedule again and trying to get my studio in order. I've been pitching, rearranging; all while getting back to the business of writing.

I still want to put stuff in Etsy but with the postal service not doing it's job, I'm afraid to ship anything unless I do it through UPS and I don't think people want to pay that price - even though I have. UPS is just more dependable. 

Anyway, I just wanted to pop in and say posts will be more regular. I put them in my planner yesterday for the entire month of June as well as stickies on my production kanban board. I've missed the structure of my planners and the board. 

I hope you're still here and will hop back on the train. We're going places with new topics related to the homestead. I can't wait to share them with you.

Be safe, Be prepared, Be Blessed!

~ Kelly

SEMI-KETO FRIENDLY BREAKFAST COOKIES

 Good morning, everyone!

I haven't been here in awhile but I have it scheduled to change that.

A writer friend of mine asked for my 'keto' breakfast cookie recipe so I thought it would be easier to share it with her here.

Three important notes:

I don't make these completely keto-friendly. First, I'm not on keto, just low-carb. To that end, I use real milk chocolate chips. There is about 1/4 C. in each batch and I only have 2 each morning. You CAN use Lilly's chocolate chips but I don't find them cost-effective on a limited income. 

Second, you need to refrigerate them They will mold quickly.

The other note is that almond flour seems to make things dry. To help this, I wrap two in a paper towel and microwave them at about 12 min. and they aren't as dry.

With that in mind, here's the recipe:

Preheat Oven to 350* F.

1-1/2 C. Almond Flour

1 Scoop Vanilla Protein Powder (I use the equate brand from Walmart but you can use your choice)

1/2 C. Melted Butter

2/3 C. Sweetener (I use Stevia)

1 tsp. Cinnamon (optional but good for blood sugar suppoprt)

2 Large eggs

1 tsp. Vanilla

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp salt

chopped nuts (optional)

Sift dry ingredients together. Add butter to combine, then add eggs & vanilla

Scoop out onto parchment lined baking sheet (easier cleanup. - treat these as you would a choco. chip dough)

Flatten slightly.

Bake until edges are golden - about 10 minutes.

Remove to coolling rack. 

I cut strips of the parchment paper from the baking sheet into strips about the width of the cookie and wrap 2 cookies per strip then store in air-tight container in the refrigerator. 

Yields about 12 cookies.

Enjoy!

Be safe, Be prepared, Be Blessed!

NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS WEEK - By State

 Hi everyone!

I'm trying to get back to business. My studio still isn't in shape but I'm getting there a little every day.

As I look around at all the stuff I have, I wonder if it's really worth keeping everything to potentially lose it at some point.

Memorial Day weekend of 2024 brought a realization, that just because I don't live in 'tornado alley' doesn't mean this part of the country can't be affected. In fact, I question whether or not that alley is widening. 

If you watch THIS video from Jordan Hall, you'll see just how close the tornado came to my house. In fact, at the 8:42 point you'll see the cyclone begin to hover over my house for several minutes before moving on, as if it were deciding whether or not to drop a tail and have some fun. 

I know I can't live with the 'what if' necessarily, but I can do everything possible to be prepared - all of us can AND SHOULD.

In a couple of weeks, I'll be back to regular posts. I have an editorial calendar set up but I don't work well in chaos. I should have this mess reigned in in that length of time. I have to. My grandgirls will be visiting this summer and we need space to play with artsy stuff. 

I'm also going to be talking Pantry, Menu Planning, Garden, Emergency Preparedness and back to my Fly Lady cleaning system so I hope you'll stay tuned. 

In the mean time, check out THIS PAGE from the NWS Preparedness Week by state. Missouri is this week so I'll hope to have something to share on Friday as to what I've been working on. 

Be safe, Be prepared, Be Blessed

~ Kelly

A NEW MONTH - Decluttering Continues!

 Good morning, everyone!

I'm still waiting for cooler weather to move in and STAY! Because I'm such a hot box, I've still be running AC in the afternoons. I'm so going to hate my power bill.

First week of the month means I'm back in the laundry room & kitchen. Thankfully, since the laundry room has been decluttered I just have general cleaning in there and I can put up the Fall/ Halloween decor. That makes me happy!

This week, I plan to declutter the kitchen. I probably won't get to all of the cabinets as I have a jam-packed creative month over on the creative YouTube channel and Blog. If you are a paper crafter, I'd love for you to check them out!

The space above the cabinets really needs a deep clean. I'll start with taking down glasses & cups we don't use and packing them up for the thrift store. I also want to declutter & reorganize the food cabinets. I tried a rolling can dispenser type of thing but it just isn't working out. I also have canned food up there from 15 years ago!  Yeah, sad, huh? Thankfully, it's veggie pasta additive so I can spread that in the compost, wash the jars and can something I'll actually eat. Lesson learned.

Lots to accomplish today, and none of it involves the cleaning list. That will come later in the week.

What are you working on this week? Decluttering? General cleaning? Prepping for holidays? 

Be safe, Be prepared, Be Blessed!

~ Kelly

FLY LADY - Week 2 - Office

 

Good morning!

I realize there was not a Friday post as I'd planned. I was too busy actually 'stocking' my pantry to share with you. We'll get to that in a moment.

I did get the laundry room cabinets decluttered and the one drawer I needed for the food dehydrator supplies. I delivered a large box plus a small one to the local thrift store. I didn't get to the other drawers. Really, there is only one. I'll put it at the top of the list for next month - or hand it to Bob while he's home alone this weekend. lol

In the mean time, this week is all about the office. 

There are things in the living room that need to come back in to this space, but not until I get some other things configured first.

I'm still organizing art supplies.  Last week, I finally started breaking down Paper Pumpkin card kits from Stampin' Up!. Many were partly used, a few just opened to see what the kit was then closed and added to the stack. 

This is what I started with last week:

I've taken care of over half of this collection. Some are in envelopes to finish working up and others were nothing more than the tissue paper and the stamp set.  My plan is to finish those TODAY. Then I can use the work table to get other stuff organized. 

I have two 3-cube units to put together. One side should hold 'most' of my planner collection. Then I'm backing that with another unit in my 'sewing' corner but will actually hold writing related journals. I'm trying to configure that corner to have a comfy chair to curl up and write during the evenings for writing sprints or note taking. Still not sure there is actually 'room' in this corner but I won't know until I start configuring.

When I get this part done, I'll be able to put away printed planner items I've collected and sorted out on the sofa bed. From there, the sofa bed will get folded back up and ladder shelves put back in place.

I was initially leaving the sofa bed out from when we had company early last month because I was supposed to have company the last week in September then again the first weekend in October. Since neither of those are happening, I can get the furniture all back into place.

For now, I'm headed out to the garden to pick tomatoes. 

Last Friday I cooked down a large batch of chicken/ turkey carcasses I had in the freezer to turn into broth. I've had (3) 1/2 gal jars in the fridge letting the grease all come to the top. I can remove that this morning and get the broth into jars for the pressure canner. I got a good three cups of meat from that slow cook. I'm going to break that all down into two packages for the freezer. There isn't enough to can but from the freezer, the meat will make quick soup additions at some point. 

I also did and IQF (Individual Quick Freeze) of sausage patties. By freezing them individually first on a parchment-lined cookie sheet, the patties will retain their shape when I put them through the Food Saver. I do this with a lot of things I want to keep their shape.   So those, along with Tyson chicken nuggets will get run through the food processor this morning.

As you can tell, not a lot of 'cleaning' will be done this week but the food needs to take priority. As my mom used to say "canning doesn't keep".

What is your Action Plan for this week? What do you need to get out of the way so you can accomplish other things?  Let me know in the comments below.

Be safe, Be prepared, Be Blessed!

~ Kelly

BACK TO LIFE!

 Good afternoon, everyone!

I have puzzled the past few weeks about resurrecting this blog and I've decided if I don't try to do too much here, that I can manage.

One thing I discovered is when I quit posting 'Flylady' and housekeeping stuff, I quit following my action plan - and the house shows the defunct plan. 

I'm gradually getting back on track and began working my house cleaning routine this week. 

This week is all about the laundry room and the kitchen. For this month, I want to focus on decluttering. I have a box ready to start adding items to for donation. There are things in the three laundry room cabinets we don't use. I also need to clean the 'laundry' drawer out completely. The drawer is directly below the new food dehydrator. I need the space to keep the extra screens and the dehydrating foods book. Time to clear the 'cookbooks' out of the living room and put them where they belong.

The laundry room/ kitchen is always the first week of the month. I'm pretty sure I won't get to decluttering the kitchen this month. I can do that in October.

After this post, all other cleaning posts will run on Mondays. Friday's will be used for 'Things To Stock Up On Now' kind of posts. I'll explain more about that post on Friday.

In between the posts will be scattered based on if something crosses my path I think you'll find of interest, basic preparedness or what's going on in my kitchen at the time.

I hope you'll come along for the ride. If you have wisdom to impart on any of my posts, please do leave a comment. I'd love to hear from you. 

Be safe, Be prepared, Be Blessed!

~ Kelly