I Actually Cleaned My Oven

Yes, folks, I cleaned my oven.  Now, many of you probably clean your oven frequently.  I bet it shines.  Until yesterday, I didn’t know the inside of my oven was blue.

Let me give you a little back story.  My husband and I love Totinos pizzas.  They’re delicious and inexpensive (and unhealthy, I know, but they’re yummy…).  You cook them directly on the oven rack, so pieces fall down to the bottom of the oven.  Well, I avoided cleaning the oven for a long time.  Let’s just say that we would know dinner was done when the fire alarm went off.  Why?  Because every time you opened the oven, smoke would come out and set off the fire alarm!  We’d gotten very good about waving a towel in front of it.

Okay, so I decided to try the Easy Off Max Fume Free Oven Cleaner.  First, I sprayed the interior of my (cold) oven and shut the door.  I waited two hours and then braced myself to clean the mess.  I doubled two plastic grocery sacks, cut and folded paper towels in half, got them wet, and laid them out in a grid for easy grabbing.  I did open the windows, because the lemon scent was a bit strong, but there were no “fumes.”

Make sure you wear gloves.  I used yellow, kitchen gloves, and they’re now stained lovely dark colors.

I was so surpised at how well the Easy Off worked.  The charred bits wiped off like water.  It was extremely messy to clean up, and I went through a lot of wet paper towels (I’m glad I cut them in half to be economical), but my oven is now clean!  Hooray!  So, the next time your fire alarm goes off when you open your oven, consider Easy Off Oven Cleaner.

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How to Make a Journal Jar

I recently found instructions on The Idea Door regarding making journal jars.  This way, my journal entries will be a lot more varied and they’ll include more about my history.  I like the idea of writing in my journal each day, but I often wonder if I have anything to say besides, “I did laundry and made chicken noodle soup today.”

The Idea Door has four pages of journal prompts that you cut out, fold up, and put in a jar.  You can decorate your jar with a ribbon or a label.  The website also has journal prompts for kids, which I might use for my students.  We’re doing a lot of writing, and I was surprised how my journal entries flowed with a prompt regarding my history.

Cut out each journal prompt.

Here are some examples.

Fold each slip of paper.

Add a bow if you like.

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The Freezer Clean Out

This past weekend, in preparation for a shopping trip to buy groceries in anticipation of cooking delightfully-delectible dinners, I realized that I didn’t know what was hiding in the depths of my freezer.  Thus, I printed a Freezer Inventory from Organizedhome.com, took everything out of my freezer, organized it, wrote down what I had, and put everything back in the freezer.  I have a basket on the left for meat and a basket on the right for vegetables.  I put the fruits in the shelving on the door.  I stacked pizzas on top.

I was surprised to find that I had 3 bags of cooked chicken fajita meat, a pound of raw shrimp, and two bags of tortillas.

I divided my Freezer Inventory (I printed two pages) into meat, vegetables, fruits, and other.  Here are some pictures.

My freezer at the beginning of September

Freezer October 19

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Where to Buy Laptop Lunchboxes

 

Here is a laptop lunchbox (Whimsical Color).

 

 

I’ve found that Amazon.com sells Laptop Lunchboxes for $26.95 and up.  There are five different colors to choose from: Primary, Black, Periwinkle, Pink, and Whimsical.

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Laptop Lunchboxes (Bento)

My husband and I have started using tupperware for our lunches.  In turn, we’ve had to buy larger lunchboxes to fit said tupperware containers.  I use a backpack lunchbox and my husband uses a traditional, insulated, square lunchbox.

Why do I have such a big lunchbox?  I pack lunch, morning & afternoon snacks, often breakfast, and sometimes dinner.  If there’s room, I’ll try to fit a 1-liter water bottle inside.  Having a backpack lunchbox allows me to have my hands free for other materials, like graded papers (Like they actually get graded at home!  I prefer to exercise, eat dinner, and relax every evening!) and teacher books.

Our current lunchboxes.

Just some of our food storage containers.

Of course, when I saw Bento Laptop Lunchboxes on more than one blog, I was instantly intrigued!  I’ve read nothing but good reviews.

Here is a laptop lunchbox.

I’ve read online that the lunchboxes:

• are Eco-friendly
• cut back on plastic baggies and individual wrappers
• allow you to buy lunch items in bulk
• look “cool”
• keep your lunch organized with separated foods

Here are two other blogs that mention using Laptop Lunchboxes:

• The Fabulous Mrs. C
• Nature Moms

Do any of you use them?  If so, let me know your opinions.  Where did you buy them from?  I haven’t seen them in supermarkets or other retail stores around here, so I’m assuming that you have to buy them online.  Let me know what you think!!!  Let the comments commence!

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My Very Messy Home Office and The FlyLady’s Help

Sweet Husband’s words:  “Your office is no longer messy, Honey.  I can hear an echo.”

The first half of July, I collected items for my classroom.  To be specific, I nested.  What did I do with everything?  Well, I put everything in several piles in my home office.  It got to the point where I couldn’t walk around without holding on to something for balance or to keep it from falling over.

 

In the past, I read the FlyLady book (Sink Reflections) on how to keep your home organized, but I didn’t keep up with it (my house could be cleaner…).  This week, I came across a website of FlyLady teachers.  I joined the group and downloaded a copy of the School Control Journal.  It teaches you step by step how to organize your classroom while still keeping up with your homemaking.

The first lesson said to have a timer at home and at school.  I bought one for school (at home I use the timer on my microwave) and tried it out in my home office.  The lesson said to set the timer for 15 minutes and work on your desk first (home or school).  Since my home desk was a disaster, I gave it a try.

I couldn’t believe how my desk looked afterwards.  That let to the next pile, and the next pile, and so forth, until I had gone through and organized all of the things for my classroom.  I put materials for each lesson in separate bags/folders, grouped books that would be in the same categories, etc.

 

Of course, my desk didn’t stay neat and organized forever, but at least it’s cleaner (for now)!

After this, I went to my classroom (my sweet husband carried everything upstairs for me), where I proceeded to take everything out of the inside of my cabinets, as well as everything that I had piled on top of them in early June.  I now have a table of mess that needs to be organized, a table of science items, one of teacher books, one of social studies and language arts items, and two tables of baskets, boxes, etc.  At least it’s organized on tables by type of item!

This week, I plan to organize everything in my classroom!  I have 2 cabinets, and one will be entirely for science materials.  I have several rolling storage carts/chests, which I’ll use for math manipulatives, measurement tools, and other math items.  The other cabinet will be for language arts and social studies items.  I’m determined to be more organized!  I’ll continue to use the FlyLady classroom organization lessons to help.  Here’s to organization!

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How Clean Is Your Treadmill?

After I go swimming, I often have a lot of wet items that need to be hung up to dry.  Before I purchased my swim cover-up, I would have to put my work clothes on over my swimsuit if I wanted to go into the grocery store on the way home.

Here’s a picture of my treadmill and exercise bike, which often double as places to hang up wet items to dry.  Can you spot the goggles?

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