Works for Me Wednesday!!!

How many of you have tons of recipes collected??? Some passed down by family, or torn out of magazines or something you find on the internet and just jot down on some paper?

Well I have all those and more. I LOVE cooking so over the years I've collected numerous recipes and they are literally everywhere. It's hard to find just the right one to make and I honestly don't feel like going through piles and piles just to find that special one.

My WFMW tip today is about organizing my recipes.

This weekend I had a couple of free hours, so I took out all my hundreds of recipes, sat down at the kitchen table and literally went through all of them. I separated the ones I wanted to keep from the ones I no longer want. Then I went out and purchased a three ring binder, like the one pictured below and I also got some of those sticky photo pages like you find in photo albums.
Oh I did buy the binder that has those clear plastic sleeves on the cover. I made a cute graphic, printed it out and stuck it in there.

I arranged the recipes on the pages, which makes it easy to remove if I want to use it, or make a copy for a friend or something.

I have recipes that are handwritten by family members, especially my greatgrandmother and grandmother, so for those, I just use a clear plastic sleeve at the back of the binder, this way I still have them handy but don't have to worry about tearing them.

I also used the plastic sleeves to divide the recipes into sections. I made graphics using my Paintshop Pro for things such as Appetizers, Salads, Poultry, Meat etc.....
It looks a LOT better than having my recipes in boxes or in a drawer somewhere, and since everything is organized everytime I find a new recipe, it will be much easier to put it in the right section :)

Definitely worked for me, hope it works for many others. As always, for a list of other WFMW partipants, head on over to Shannon's blog, "Rocks in my Dryers".

Seven Things MEME!!!

A sweet sweet lady named Kim from Hiraeth, tagged me this morning for this MEME. I think I'm really going to enjoy doing these :)
I will be tagging some of you at the end, so if you don't want to be tagged and think I will list you, then just slowly move away from the computer LOL

Seven things to do before I die:

1. See my children happily married
2. Visit Ireland, Scotland, The Greek Islands and England for Stonehenge
3. Have a close relationship with God
4. Teach my daughter to cook portuguese food
5. Teach my children to speak portuguese
6. Take my children and husband to Mozambique where I was born
7. Open a book store

Seven things I cannot do:

1. Swim
2. Keep plants and flowers alive
3. Let my house become cluttered and messy
4. Chat on the phone
5. Keep a straight face when something funny happens
6. Drive a stick
7. Just let it all be released unto God's hands

Seven things that attract me to my husband:

1. He makes me laugh every day
2. He is very handsome
3. He is extremely smart
4. He loves my cooking
5. He is my best friend and is always there when I need him
6. The sacrifices he makes daily as a soldier
7. He puts us first, always

Seven things I say most often:

1. “Knock it off!” (when kids are fighting)
2. “What part of it don't you understand?”
3. “I love you Curt, I love you Jasmine, I love you Nicholas”
4. “Lola, go potty!”
5. “Lord help me!”
6. “Dagnabit!!!”
7. “That's ridiculous”

Seven books (or a series of books) I love:

1. Another Fine Mess Lord by Karon Phillips Goodman
2. And the Angels were Silent by Max Lucado
3. Bet me by Jennifer Crusie
4. Jude's Law by Lori Foster
5. Visitation Series by Lori Foster
6. The Bible
7. Shopaholic Series by Sophie Kinsella

Seven Movies I’d Watch Over and Over Again:

1. Just Like Heaven
2. Pride and Prejudice
3. Lord of the Rings
4. Office Space
5. Captain Correlli's Mandolin
6. Toy Story 1 and 2
7. Milo and Otis

Seven people I’d like to tag:

1. Courtney at Waiting on my Soldier
2. Emily at Consider how the lilies grow
3. Melanie at Supermom or not?
4. Veronica at Keeping up with the Coopers
5. Jaymi at The Flipflop Mamma
6. morning glory at Seeds from my Garden
7. Charla at Standing by my man

TREASURE TUESDAY!!!

I love tuesdays, not only do I get to sit back and reflect on something that is a treasure to me, but it reminds me of the blessings we all have in our lives. Nothing like looking at a certain item over and over again and then one day you pick it up and remember the story behind it, it puts it all in a new light.

My treasure today is very near and dear to my heart. If you've been visiting my blog for a while you remember my Treasure Tuesday about my Greatgrandmother. She meant the world to me and I always think back about the times we spent together, the laughs, the jokes and all that she taught me.

One thing I love doing is cooking, and she did too. I remember spending hours watching her at the stove and learning from her. Those were some of the best moments of my life.

When I was about 15 or 16, we sat down at the kitchen table and together we collected recipes from magazines or newspapers to make this little booklet for me. I still have it and it's one of my treasured possessions. Now mind you all the recipes are in portuguese, because, well, because I'm portuguese LOL

Some of the pages are starting to fall apart, and at first I was thinking about redoing it, but then I remembered that my greatgrandmothers hands touched it, she tied the strings for me and I wouldn't DARE undo it. I hope to one day pass it on to my daughter.

So that's my treasure for this tuesday. For a list of other participants and if you play along and want to add your name to the list, just go on over to Faith at "Faithful Mommy".

TACKLE IT TUESDAY!!!

Time for another Tackle it Tuesday. It's actually unbelievable how many parts of the house I think are organized but then on closer inspection, they're not.

Janice from 5 minutes for mom, came up with this brilliant concept called Tackle it Tuesday. You take a small or big project, anything that you have around the house that needs to be done, and you take before pictures and after, then post them. It's our way of getting the house organized while being able to still enjoy blogging and not feeling like we're neglecting anything.

For a list of the participants and to play along, go on over to 5 Minutes for Mom.

So here is my project for this tuesday. My computer desk.

I do most of my work from the computer desk. You all know how it is, it's not just used for blogging, it's used for my graphics projects, paying bills, surfing, library, you name it.
With that in mind, it gets pretty neglected at times. I tend to sometimes have my lunch at the computer too, so there will be a cup or a plate, kids cups, toys etc.

One thing I've noticed is that the more cluttered it becomes, the less I get done, it's just not condusive to productivity for me.

So anyway, I tackled this project yesterday and now this is what my computer desk looks like. Much better and I'm giving myself a pat on the back!!! :)

Weekends and Food don't mix!!!!

Yes you heard right, I said that "weekends and food don't mix". Wanna know why?
Because for some unknown reason, as soon as friday night comes around I go on this food eating spree. Anything that crosses my path gets eaten, well, not ANYTHING, but food wise.

That's why I went from 133lbs back up to 135lbs. DAGNABIT is all I say!!! So I was sitting in bed last night and thinking about my paranoia with my weight. Yes it's a disease, I used to think it was just a way of thinking but it's not, it's really a sickness, one that has taken over my body and mind for years and years. This feeling of never being happy with the way I look, always wanting to look smaller and thinner and prettier and whatever. How could you not right? Every magazine you look at is filled with these skeletal girls with beautiful skin and no dark circles under their eyes (unlike a hard working mother who never gets enough sleep).

So I'm laying there and I think "Lord, I really need help, I'm tired of feeling unhappy with my body, I'm tired of worrying about every bite I take, I'm tired of wondering if I'll ever be back down to the size I used to, so I need you to take this into your hands, Yes I know, I ask you constantly to take a part of my life into your hands and it's usually somethingMAJOR , but I figure if I can give you the big things and you so easily take care of them, why not the small ones, that should be a piece of cake for you (mmmm cake, wait, see what I mean). So from this moment on, it's in your hands."

I'm happy to announce that from this day on, it's in God's hands. If it's his will that I loose weight without starving myself then great, but if it's his will that I stay the same size for the rest of my life, then you know what? So be it!!!
And don't shake your heads at me and think "oh yeah, like it's THAT easy". It is, everything and anything is easy and possible with God, we just make our lives difficult.

Now that I got that off my chest, let me tell you about our trip to the Volcanoes. As usual no family trip is ever without some sort of funny incident right???
Well seeing that Nicholas just got potty trained this past week, at first I was going to put a diaper on him (yes I know, silly mommy would just make it worse), then I thought "no I can't keep doing that or he will regress". So I let him wear his big boy underwear. BUT, he is still at that stage where if he has to go it's gotta be now, he doesn't understand the concept of holding it in for a bit until we get to a restroom. What does a mommy do in a situation like that? Well, the mommy grabs the nearest bucket and takes it with her. LOL

So we take a bucket in case he had to go potty. We get to the Volcano and climb up to the top. That in itself was an adventure because it's steep and we kept sliding, not to mention I'm so unfit that halfway my legs started feeling like jello......at least now they feel like they look right? I'll just embrace it LOL (hubby would be mad if he heard me say that, he says my idea of my body is very distorted).

This was the view halfway to the top, you can see our truck parked at the bottom.

We made it to the top and the kids collected some lava rocks and then we went back down again, by the time we got to the bottom I asked Nicholas if he had to go potty and he said yes. Out comes the bucket and then daddy says "wait, he's a boy let me just take him and see if he does it". Well, I was at the back of the truck with Jasmine, giving Lola some water and I could hear this.

Daddy: Ok Nicholas, now go potty.
Nicholas: I can't!!!
Daddy: Yes you can, I've pulled your pants down, just go potty.
Nicholas: No, I can't, I can't do it standing up.

LOL yeah so I passed him the bucket and then he finally did. So I said to hubby "look I've done my part, I got the hardest one done, he's potty trained and using big boy underwear, the REST is up to you, I can't show him the whole standing up thing" LOL You should have seen his face!!!! Priceless!!!

Here's some more pics from yesterday, including some of the shiny blue rocks we picked up too.

There ya have it, just a few more pics.

Last night I watched "Captain Correlli's Mandolin". LOVED IT!!! Was really sweet and Nicholas Cage and Penelope Cruz were great together :)

So what do I have planned for today???

1. Go over Living room carpet once more with Carpet Cleaner.
2. Return cleaner to self help.
3. One load of laundry.
4. One pile of clothes to Iron.
5. Sweep and Mop kitchen floor.
6. Return movies to the Library.

Not bad at all, I should be done with all of this by lunch time.

With that said, I'm out of here. Amazing how much of a mess the kids can make when left to play for a few minutes while I write this entry.
Have a wonderful day and remember to Thank God for all the blessings in your life :)