Here's a glimpse into my day:
6am - alarm goes off
6am-6:15am - Paul and I lay in bed trying desperately to get up and out of bed and mostly failing.
6:15am - Paul hops out of bed to shower and I read blogs on my phone for 5 more minutes
6:20am - Up and into biking clothes. Packing clothing for work into bag.
6:30am - Prep something for dinner - Either a crockpot meal or taking something out to thaw.
6:45am - Morning Devotionals.
7:15am - Out the door for my bike ride to work.
And I'll admit often, I don't successfully get up until almost 7, which means no devotional time and a race through all the tasks.
8am to 4:30pm - Work
4:30pm - 4:45pm - Get dressed for the bike ride home
4:45pm - 5:30pm - Bike ride home
5:30 - 7pm - Dinner time - prep and eat.
7pm - The rest of our house does the dinner dishes.
7pm to 9pm - I usually have some sort of meeting at this point and am out or busy.
9pm - Come home wanting to rest but needing to finish cleaning up after dinner (since my helpful housemates usually still leave a few dishes around) and organizing the house.
9:30pm - Realize I have to make lunches STAT - 6 of them.
I make 6 lunches each day.
Usually that's 6 salads.
Sometimes the two green bowls (for Paul and Duncan) get leftovers.
9:50pm - Realize that I have 10 minutes to relax in front of the TV with a glass of Sangria before bed. Only 10 minutes! this is the best and saddest part of my day.
10pm - In bed. If he doesn't have too much homework Paul goes to bed too. We chat and then go to sleep by 10:30 or 11.
As you can see there isn't a lot of wiggle room during the week. I realized that if I was ever going to get the little tasks around the house finished then I just had to make some time.
Enter plan "Stay up until midnight for a week and do lots of work". It's not a very catchy name. But it's been effective. It's made me struggle to get out of bed before 7am BUT it's also the reason that I have tons of cooked and processed meat in the freezer waiting to be thrown into crockpots and casseroles. It's the reason my closet in my bedroom is finally organized again and all my laundry is hung up. And it's the reason my pantry and cupboards look great.
I was too busy working to get before pictures but honestly it wasn't that bad. It just wasn't working for me. It looked fine though. But function matters more than looks, and this new system is functional and looks good.
I invested in risers from walmart. And man....was that ever smart.
This is my can storage -
the basket is home to all the canned stews and spaghettis and chili's.
It's the "easy meal for students or Paul" basket.
And below that is a container with Hunt's Pasta Sauce Cans - that container will be covered in paper at some point - I find the brown tomato bin particularly not pretty.
The easy meal basket is easily moved out of the way for access to the goods behind.
Next up is my pantry.
At Walmart I purchased more of the risers and then stackable bins.
Behind the stackable bins are things like my breadmachine or extra flour.
I can easily move the stackable bins to get at them, but they easily fill up the space in the back, since my cupboards are so deep.
I'm feeling very very happy about all this.
Speaking of things that make me happy. I finally got to use my house warming gift from my parents - a serving buffet. Usually for LG I don't ahve the food ready early enough to need to transfer it and keep it warm. But this week I was ahead of schedule - I was making Broccoli Fettucini Alfredo w. shredded chicken and bacon. Mmm. I was ready in time to pop it into the serving buffet, leaving the oven free to heat up the garlic bread and bake Chocolate Almond Cupcakes and Mocha Brownies.
Also as I mentioned last week, I've been in love with my black boots again. Apparently, also my grey sweater because...tada...
Different days but basically the same outfit.
How does that keep happening to me?
I can't stay away from my favorites.
Boots, skinny jean or legging, undershirt, blouse, long necklace and cardigan. it's my signature winter look. And it's easy. And I own it in many many different combinations.
Anyways, Paul's mom Nancy and her husband Cris are coming to town today. Woo! So I am excited to hang out with them and with Katie and Joel. We plan to eat good food, have tasty drinks, and explore the beauty that is Vancouver. It's been bright and crisp lately with awesome views. I can't wait for our bike ride around Stanley Park - it'll be my first time doing that!
And if you're noticing that my mother-in-law is coming and I've just executed a big cleaning and organizing of my house and you're wondering if those are related...well...lets just say it's very helpful motivation!
Mostly though I wanted my house to be in order so that I could get Nancy's help on design stuff since she's a genius with that.
Alright, lunch break is over. Back to work!
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