Works for Me Wednesday: Good Things folder

I've ripped things out of magazine for years. A good recipes, a parenting tip, whatever might come in handy at some point in time. But after a while, those magazine pages start to pile up and before long you have so many stacked up you don't ever bother going through it all.

A couple of years back I started putting all of my "Good Things" in 3-ring binders. Using page protectors, I'm able to keep them clean and organized. I have one for recipes, another folder for general house/entertaining stuff. But the folder that I am the most proud of is the folder full of good things for kids.


I've broken the folder down into four categories:


Section #1 (separated by dividers) is kind of the catch-all. All of the parenting ideas that you see in magazines. You know the cute ideas but you know in reality will never happen? That's where those go.

Section #2 is kind of like section #1 except it's all about fun crafts to do with the kids. I can't say that I've ever used a lot of the ideas that I have in here (isn't that what preschool is for?) but it makes me feel like a good mother just to have 'em.

Section #3 is a good one. These are fun recipes that only a kid can appreciate, like a cupcake made to look like a basket ball hoop (for March Madness) and doughnut holes made to look like acorns (for fall break.)

Section #4 is my favorite. It's the party section. All of those cute ideas that you see for birthday parties go in here. Some of the cutest birthday cake ideas that I've ever taken credit for came from this section.

I can't say that I look at this folder weekly, but I do take it off of the shelf with my recipe books and other "Good Things" folders occasionally to flip through it. The best part is having a place to put that recipe for cupcakes that look like corn on the cob.

Organization. It's a good thing and it works for me.

Old Frames and Old Magazines Make New Art

This isn't really housework--more about house decorating--but it was still a house project that I tackled, so I think it works.

I had these bird prints hanging in my kitchen. They go all around the backsplash, underneath the cabinets. I hung them there because the granite only goes about a quarter of the way up the wall and the wall looked very blank.

The Golfer has never been too crazy about the bird prints. He says they look like an old lady's house (which makes sense since they came from my step-grandmothers house--who by the way had great taste.)

Then in a recent copy of Better Homes and Gardens I saw a girls kitchen decorated with vintage copies of Gourmet magazine. The covers were framed and looked both vintage and modern at the same time. Very cool.

So I found some old copies of Gourmet magazine on eBay. They aren't very vintage, but I bought all 12 copies from the year 2000--the year I got married--which I thought was cool--for only 99 cents.


Being the good recycler/reuser that I am, I decided that there was no reason to buy new mats and frames when the ones I had worked perfectly fine. So I carefully removed each bird print (there were 6 in all), cleaned up the glass and the frame, and carefully removed the magazine covers that I wanted to use. I used removable acid-free tape to secure the cover and...tada!


I think they turned out fabulous and only cost me 99 cents (plus $8.49 in shipping--but still, all for under 10 bucks!)

Bye-bye birdies!

It's all cuteness and pink!

So I finally got my last check from Disney--the last big money from the big mouse.

I've gotta tell you, I liked getting those checks. For a writer it was decent money for simple, bi-weekly work. It made me feel like I was financially contributing to the family--made me feel not so guilty about the little now and thens that I bought...well...now and then. Plus, getting a formal check with Mickey holding up a big globe made me feel pretty cool.

When we bought the new house, the Golfer and I discussed getting a little help to help me clean the house every other week...now and then...and agreed that my Disney check would pay for it. Basically, I'd work to have the house cleaned so I could work. Made total sense. When I was "released" from my bi-weekly job, there went my bi-weekly help.

The Golfer must have felt sorry for me about the whole thing, because he told me that I could spend my last check however I wanted. Even though there were all sorts of things that we needed to buy for the house, things that we wanted to save up for, he told me to splurge on myself.

See why I married him?

Like any good bag-whore, my mind reeled with the possibilities. Maybe the Gucci that I've always wanted. No, too expensive and would look odd being carried next to my "Recycle Today for Tomorrow" T-shirt. Maybe a Kate Spade. Not as expensive--a nylon tote seems more eco-friendly than Italian leather.

I got online and searched. And searched. Browsed through Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom's without ever leaving my desk, which by the way, was specifically invented for mothers like me who aren't quite brave enough to take her young children into a handbag section of a high-end department store to browse around.

I had the money for all of two days and it was starting to burn a serious hole in my old tote bag. But this money was significant. It was money that I was still very proud to have earned and I wanted it to go to a good cause--do something to better my world, not just make it look better.

So, I started given the whole thing some deep thought. Why not take this money, money that I had earned writing, and use it to buy something that would help me earn more money writing. And then it dawned on me. A laptop. I would buy a new laptop. The laptop that I had was six-years-old and didn't have a wireless card in it. So basically, it was useless. And heavy. And old looking. And not nearly as cute and inspiring as the pink one that I saw in Best Buy recently.

Currently, I am writing this in my bedroom far away (okay, down the hall) from our home computer. It's a cute little Sony that's all girly and pink.

I'm not sure if it will help me get any more writing jobs, but like any new toy I am anxious to use it and any good writer knows that you can't get any writing jobs if you aren't writing everyday.

This little laptop makes me want to sit in Starbucks for hours on end,maybe even finish up the young adult novel that in it's fifth revision and could be pretty darn good if I would just bite the bullet, get off my fat butt and finish it. And then maybe some big publishing house will discover me and want to publish everything I have and the Los Angeles Times will beg to run my column...daily! and then other papers will see it and want to follow their lead and I will finally achieve my dream of being a nationally syndicated columnist. All because of my new cute little laptop that inspired me to do my best work EVER!

Take that, you big ol' dumb mouse. Take that!

E...I...E...I...O

"and on that farm they had a blast...e...i..e...i...o!"

When I first told the boys last Thursday that we were going to a farm, they were less than thrilled. I told them that there would be farm animals and that we got to pick our own fruit and vegetables and that it would be awesome! but all my talk did little to enthuse them.


Then we got to the farm and all that changed.

My friend Jenn had told me about Underwood Family Farms before and I had seen pictures of her daughter picking strawberries there. It looked and sounded like so much fun, when Jenn invited us to tag along last week I wasn't about to refuse. It didn't disappoint.


We bought bags of carrots for $1 to feed the animals. The kids could put the carrots into these tubes that shot the food down to the animals. Less risk of tiny fingers being mistaken for the carrots I guess.


The Monkey chased this poor peacock around for a while. Since this was a family farm for children, I figure the peacock was use to it. Notice the big sign about safety. I think the Underwoods are a little paranoid. I guess I would be too if I was running a business filled with farm animals and small children.

After a quick climb to the top of a haystack...


...it was time to head out to the fields to pick some fresh fruit and veggies.


The Cheese was all business when it came to picking strawberries. He had his own plastic basket that he completely filled. The Monkey picked a few...but he ate them all before getting them into his basket.


Next were the raspberries (we ate as many as we picked) followed by zucchini, cucumbers, yellow squash, green leaf lettuce, Romain lettuce, and finally...

...zinnias.

After a picnic lunch and playing on the farm's playground, we headed home to clean our treasures.

I showed the Cheese this strawberry that he had picked. Isn't it the most perfect little strawberry you've ever seen? Who knew that I could be so giddy over freshly picked fruit?

This was the head of Romain lettuce that I yanked out of the ground. We had it for dinner and it was fresh and yummy. (The Golfer thought I had lost my mind when he saw that I was taking pictures of lettuce in the sink.)

I've had many great experiences since moving to California...regular trips to Disneyland, the beach, Coronado Island, Legoland, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Carmel, etc...etc...but this little day trip over to Moorpark to visit Underwood Family Farms ranks right at the top.