winemaiden.com » 2008 » November

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing the most special Thanksgiving to all of my readers, blogging friends, and EC droppers. May you all enjoy abundant blessings not only tomorrow, but the whole year through.

Thanksgiving Trivia

PhotobucketA little assorted trivia in the spirit of Thanksgiving.

  1. In 1939 to facilitate retail sales, Franklin D. Roosevelt decided to move Thanksgiving to the third Thursday of November.  There was much controversy as some Americans celebrated “Franksgiving” and some kept the original Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November.  Some even celebrated both!
  2. The first Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade was held in 1927.  The original characters included a drum major, a dragon, and Felix the Cat.  They were filled with air (not helium) and were tied down with sticks and ropes.
  3. The tradition of tugging the wishbone to bring good luck stemmed from an old English custom.  The folklore is that the person left holding the larger part would be the next to marry.
  4. Benjamin Franklin pushed for the turkey to be the national bird of the United States. Thomas Jefferson who opposed him, however. The legend goes that Franklin then named the male turkey a ‘tom’ to spite Jefferson.
  5. The female turkey makes a clicking sound and it is the Toms that make the gobble sounds.  These gobble sounds can be heard up to a mile away!
  6. Turkeys raised on farms can’t fly. Wild turkeys can fly short distances at up to 55 miles per hour.

Frugal Thanksgiving Decorating

Just because we may be having to pinch those pennies a little harder this year does not mean that we shouldn’t make an effort to decorate and make things special for Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is a wonderful opportunity to gather with family and friends and show our gratitude and appreciation for the many blessings we have in our lives.

There are many long-held traditions on this day…one of which is a menu that stood the test of time through the generations.  The turkey, stuffing, carrots, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, beans, pumpkin pies, cranberries, and fresh-baked rolls all make up the traditional meal that we are looking forward to right now!

Thanksgiving decorating has also withstood the test of time.  It is steeped in harvest bounty.  From the cornucopia spilling over with harvest goodness, to Indian corn and colorful apples, and squashes.  Wreathes made from fruits, nuts, and ribbon are a lovely addition to any door this time of year.

Here are a few ideas for decorating and bringing in some seasonal decor on a budget.

  • Table Centerpiece: Search for natural material outside. Some ideas of things to look for are seed pods, leaves, pine cones, acorns, and lightweight twigs. From the store buy walnuts (in the shell), apples, squash, gourds, corn, and colorful vegetables. Thanksgiving is a harvest celebration so food items fit perfectly!  Choose one to three types of natural materials to use in your Thanksgiving centerpiece.  If you use too many it will look cluttered.  Choose a base for your centerpiece. A natural branch, a low basket, a tray, or even a glass plate or mirror are good items to use. Add the natural material you’ve chosen and glue it in place using a hot glue gun. Add some ribbon in a fall color to complete the centerpiece.
  • Table Runner: Buy an inexpensive table runner in a light cream color. Provide fabric markers for your guests and have each person write down something they are thankful for. After Thanksgiving, pack the Thanksgiving table runner away until next year. It will be interesting to see what changes a year bring.
  • Fall Candlesticks: Buy some apples that will stand up straight with the stem directly on the top. Core each apple.  Make sure your hole in the apple is vertical. Stick a tall candle in each cored apple. Put a candlestick on each end of your Thanksgiving centerpiece.
  • Autumn Leaves: Buy some inexpensive silk fall leaves.  Scatter the leaves around the house – on the mantle, on tables, in the bathrooms, and in your Thanksgiving centerpiece.
  • Candles: Buy fall colored candles inexpensively at a dollar store and place them around the house.
  • Potpourri: Mix dried pumpkin slices and pieces with nutmeg, cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, allspice berries, bay leaves, dried orange peel, etc.  Place in a decorative bowl. Consider adding dried hydrangea blossoms or marigold petals for beautiful fall color.
  • Baskets: Rustic apples tucked away on beds of straw and placed in colorful baskets with a shaft of wheat tied in a plaid ribbon will add beautiful decor to a mantel.

However you spread the bountiful cheer around your home this year, the most important thing to remember is to take the time to be mindfully thankful for all of our blessings!

Cooking in a Small Kitchen

Trying to cook in a small kitchen with limited counter space can be a frustrating experience. With just a little ingenuity, imagination, and organization you will find that not only can you really cook and entertain…you can do so successfully with great results!

Here are a few things to incorporate and/or keep in mind as you organize your work space.

  • Minimize – It’s natural for kitchens to tend to become overgrown in gadgets if we allow this to happen.  Keep only what you use and give away everything else.  Be ruthless as you go through your drawers because the less clutter you store the less frustrated you will be on a daily basis.  If you have rarely used gadgets you can’t bear to part with, store them elsewhere.  Keep a list of these items so that you can easily locate them when you  need them.
  • Buy compact appliances – Having small appliances will help keep your premium counterspace as free as possible.  Consider a hand-held mixer instead of a standmixer…buy an immersion blender instead of a conventional model.  A mini-processor would be a good substitute for a full size food processor.
  • Store cookbooks in bookcases – Obviously, not in the kitchen!  Or better yet, find your recipes on the internet!
  • Use vertical space – Utilize shelving.  Shelving units are relatively inexpensive and easy to install.  A peg board on the wall is a great way to store utensils and even small pots and pans.
  • Clean as you cook – Keep sudsy water in the sink to wash your dishes as you cook.  Place refuse and trash in a waste can immediately also.
  • Stack vertically – When cooling baked items on racks, stack the racks on cans going up vertically instead of spreading them out on the counter.
  • Create additional surfaces – Expand your counterspace by finding other horizontal surfaces.  You can place items on top of the refrigerator, on the stove top, or even pull out a cabinet drawer and set a cookie sheet on top for additional space.

Any additional ideas?  Everyone can always use more space – especially with holiday entertaining approaching.  Please share with us!

Apples 101

There are over 3,000 varieties of apples…ranging from tart to super-sweet…in a beautiful array of colors as well.  In 2002 the average US consumer ate about 16 pounds of fresh apples, and 26.4 pounds of processed apples, for making a total of 42.2 pounds of fresh apples and processed apple products consumed!

Archeologists have found evidence that humans have been enjoying apples since at least 6500 B.C.  I am not surprised by this at all…apples are just about the most perfect fruit that I can think of…lots of variety, durable, and so many different ways to enjoy!

I’ve compiled a list of the most popular varieties with added info about how to use them but this is far from a complete list. If I’ve missed your favorite, please let me know and give me the details about it and I’ll be glad to add it to this list!

Apple                                      Characteristics                                   Best Used For

Arkansas Black                        Crisp and juicy                                   Eating/sauces

Baldwin                                    Crisp and juicy                                   Baking/eating

Braeburn                                  Crisp, sweet/tart                                Eating/sauce/pies

Bramley                                    Sweet and tangy                                 Baking/sauces

Cortland                               Fragrant and tangy                           Salads/baking/sauces/eating

Empire                                      Super crispy, sweet, juicy                   Eating/salads

Fuji                                           Sweet and juicy                                   Eating

Gala                                          Crisp, fragrant, slightly tart                 Eating/baking/sauces

Golden Delicious                   Juicy and sweet                              Sauces/baking/salads/eating

Granny Smith                             Tart and crisp                                     Baking/eating

Gravenstein                               Crisp and tart                                      Baking/sauces

Idared                                        Juicy, fragrant, and tart                       Baking

Jonagold                                    Tart, juicy, and crisp                           Eating/Baking

Jonathan                                    Crisp and juicy                                    Eating/sauce/pies

Lady Apple                                 Juicy, very sweet                                 Eating/baking

Macoun                                      Firm, fragrant, flavorful                      Eating/baking

McIntosh                                    Tart, juicy, spicy, soft                         Eating/sauces

Mutsu                                         Crisp and juicy                                    Eating

Northern Spy                               Very flavorful and firm                       Baking/eating

Red Delicious                              Crisp and mildly tart                          Eating

Rome Beauty                                Slightly tart and firm                         Baking

Spartan                                        Slightly sweet and slightly tart          Eating

Winesap                                       Sweet and juicy                                 Eating and sauces

So…what is your favorite apple?  Did I miss it or is it on the list?  My family loves Fuji apples the best for great fall eating.  My favorite baking apple is Idared.

Anyone Can Learn To Fold TShirts Like This

I’m sure you’ve seen this folding technique…this one always totally baffled me until I finally decided to learn how it’s done. I mean…if they can do it, certainly I can, too…right? RIGHT! It’s not so hard…it just looks great when it’s done fast and precisely.

I found this YouTube video that reduces it to a technique that anyone can do. Try it! And then go clean out your t-shirt drawer! Give away any tshirts that you haven’t worn for several months and you’ve tackled a little organizing project for the day…yay you!

Reduce the Mental Clutter

It’s no secret that clutter gets in the way and reduces creativity and productivity. A basic tenet of any organizational plan is to reduce clutter. There are two types of clutter…physical and mental. Physical clutter speaks for itself and I plan to devote a fair amount of attention to this in future entries…today I want to focus on mental clutter. We can’t see mental clutter…but the results can be every bit as destructive as physical clutter.

Have you ever felt paralyzed because of feeling overwhelmed by too many details or bits of information to remember? Here’s the key to avoiding these feelings…write everything down!

Some people use a calendar…others a palm pilot…others a housekeeping journal…whatever works for you, this is the key to reducing mental clutter. The second part of this system is to take this system with you wherever you go. This is where you write down every piece of information that you need to remember. In so doing, you free your mind of having to keep these things in your short term memory.

Create a routine that works for you where you review your system to make sure that the important things are taken care of daily.

Once you have this system in place, go through and take a load off of your mind. Sit down and think through any appointments, meetings, or other important items that have been put off. Once these things are entered into your system, you can free your mind of them. Then tackle scheduling what needs to be scheduled…but don’t overwhelm yourself. Take a bit at a time until everything is taken care of. Once all of these items are scheduled into your system, you can stop worrying about them.

Be sure to take the time to cross off the items as you accomplish them. This is the best part! So rewarding!

What Is Your Organizational Style?

Everyone is different.  Everyone has their own unique styles, quirks, and personalities that make us different.  Some people are outgoing, some are quiet and shy…some are funny and others not so much.  Because of this, what works for some won’t work for others.  This is why one style of organization won’t work for everyone.  Everyone can’t and won’t get organized and stay organized in the same way.

Before you embark on any organizational project you really  need to figure out what your organizational style is first. A great place to look to get a idea about your organizational style is your calendar.  How do you keep and maintain your calendar?

  • Are you driven by details to the point of color coding each family member’s schedule for the entire year? If so, you are a detail-driven organized person.
  • Perhaps it works better for you to take a couple of extra seconds and figure out who has to be where instead of getting lost in color coding stress.  If this is you, I’d say you are a generally thorough organized person.
  • Someone who typically manages to get to appointments on time but doesn’t spend much time consulting their calendar, would be generally organized.
  • Someone who misses appointments altogether because they can’t even find their calendar would be truly unorganized.

Each of these organizational styles will work for people except for the last one.  An important thing to understand is that getting organized is a process – not a result.  The result of being organized should bring you and your family less stress – not more.  You should see an increase in productivity as a result of having your home and life organized.  The whole idea is to organize to the point where you are improving your life.  If organizational efforts are causing increased stress and pressure then reassess your efforts.  The goal is to get organized and stay organized in a way that works for your family.  Figure out what is comfortable for you.

The bottom line?  The goal of organization is to decrease stress and increase productivity with less effort.  Figure out what the highest level of organization is for you and your family that does not create additional stress.

This is the first post in a new organization series where I will share my thoughts and experience about organization in general and more specifically what has worked for me as I’ve refined my organizational system over the years.

Get Your Kids Cooking!

The kitchen is a great place to get your kids busy learning and developing. When kids cook, they are busy reading (cookbooks), performing math (measuring), watching science in action (heat alters food), learning about geography and other cultures (making foods from other lands), and following directions (recipes). So many skills can be taught through cooking in the kitchen!

Get your kids actively involved in kitchen activities and you will be surprised how much fun everyone has. Most kids enjoy learning to cook and create in the kitchen and ALL kids love to eat. What better family activity?

To start kids off in the kitchen (even when they are quite young) consider letting them:

wash fruits and vegetables
stir ingredients in a mixing bowl
measure and pour ingredients
grate cheese
set the timer
read a recipe out loud
press the “start” button on the blender or food processor

The more involved your kids are in meal preparation, the more involved they will be in the end result. This means that they will be more likely to eat a healthy, well-balanced diet and will be more likely to try new foods.

A suggestion: Let your kids choose a recipe they would like to make as a family and then shop together for the ingredients needed to make it. Kids will feel such a sense of accomplishment in helping prepare an entire meal from start to finish. Not only will they learn the cooking skills necessary to prepare a meal, you and your children will be spending quality time interacting with each other.

Fun and Frugal Fall Activities

Just because our economy is in a recession and times are tough all over doesn’t mean that families should not enjoy the lovely season upon us. I love autumn and it would be such a shame to miss out on all of the fun activities that can be found to do during this time of the year. I’ve compiled a short list of some fun (yet frugal) activities that are readily available in most areas of the country. With just a little effort any of these suggestions would create a lovely excursion. Have fun!

  1. Rake a leaf pile and jump in them.
  2. Find a corn maze
  3. Hike on a nature trail
  4. Feed the ducks or geese
  5. Do some fall baking — cookies, quick breads, pies, and more!
  6. Go to an apple orchard or a pumpkin patch
  7. Make a fall collage with leaves found on a walk
  8. Leaf rubbings
  9. Find a fall festival in your area — lots of cool activities!
  10. Make a pinecone birdfeeder with peanut butter and birdseed
  11. Go leaf peeping in your neighborhood
  12. Roast pumpkin seeds
  13. Plan a supper picnic.  This is a lovely idea, and so pleasant to sit under a tree, relaxing with a meal in the twilight.