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I am entering the Name Your Dream Assignment contest sponsored by Lenovo and Microsoft. In this contest people describe what their dream photo assignment would be and, if they win, are given up to $50,000 to make it happen. The winner doesn’t get to keep any of the money. It all goes to making their dream a reality, up to $50.000.

Here’s my idea:

YOUNG PHILANTHROPISTS

I want to show kids that they can make a difference in the world, make them aware of different causes through the stories of other children and give them a way to help.

I would like to visit children and their families who have benefited from the help of charitable organizations. I want to document what their lives were like before and what they’re like now, after receiving the help they needed.

I’ll use the pictures and stories I’ve gathered to create a gift catalog that people can give to their children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, friend’s kids – any kid they know, or even those they don’t know. This catalog will be a kid friendly book full of colorful pictures and stories about life in other countries. It will show where other children sleep, what they eat, who takes care of them what games they play and what toys they play with. They’ll see, without being told, that these other children’s lives are different than theirs, harder.

American kids aren’t selfish and uncaring. They’re just so far removed from the suffering in much of the world that it’s hard for them to comprehend how much different life is in other places. They don’t understand how lucky they are to have been born here. Not lucky because they have mp3 players, video games and computers, but because they have a family to care for them, a solid roof over their heads, a soft place to sleep, clean water to drink and a full belly. All things many children don’t have.

I know American kids will be excited to help other children when they understand the problems, and that they can make a difference.

I don’t want to make them feel guilty that they have so much. And this won’t be a book that says, “Look at how poor and sad this kid is. You should feel bad for him.” Many of the differences aren’t bad really, just different. They will be told, though, that there are some basic needs these children aren’t getting. Maybe there is no clean water in her village or his family can’t afford the books he needs to go to school. Suddenly these aren’t grown up causes; they’re children, just like them.

Included in the price of each book will be a gift certificate that the child can spend on whichever cause touches them the most. When they make their choice that money will be forwarded on to the appropriate organization. Later, the child will receive a thank you card with pictures showing how their gift was used. They’ll be able to see how they changed the life of another child thousands of miles away.

Can you imagine the adults these children will grow up to be if they learn at a young age how great it feels to help someone else? And if they understand early on that, even when we don’t have everything we want, compared to most of the world, we have so much? This project won’t just be impacting children in far away lands, it will be impacting children right here.

So here’s what I need from you.

First,  vote for my idea by clicking on the link or on the big black button on the right. When you get to the site click “Pic It” to the left of the title.

pic-it

Please vote as soon as you can. The top ideas have already had a few days to gather votes so it’s really important that I get a lot of votes quickly.  I need move into the top 10 so more people will see my idea and vote for it.

They will require you to register on the site. After you register they’ll send you a confirmation email with a link that you have to click on to confirm that it really was you that registered. THEN log in, come back here and click on this link again and vote!

Second, please forward this post to everyone you know. I mean everyone – family, friends, coworkers, hairdresser, babysitter, kid’s friends (or their parents) soccer parents, people from church, neighbors… Just click the “share This” button at the bottom of this post. You can even write down the website so you can give it to people you see during the day but don’t email.

If I can manage to stay in the top 20 until April 3rd my idea will be presented to the judges who will determine the winner. This is such a great opportunity to make a huge difference.

THANKS!

What are you still doing here? VOTE!

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lemonade

When life gives your neighbor lemons…

I grew up in Michigan. You can grow almost anything in Michigan – blueberries, strawberries, potatoes, peas, carrots, green beans, corn, blackberries, apples, mosquitoes… I never saw a single citrus tree, though. Citrus was such a special treat that the high school marching band used to sell boxes of citrus as a fundraiser.

Now I live in Arizona. It’s pretty hard to grow most things in the desert, but not citrus. When the citrus trees start bearing fruit you can’t give the stuff away. Even food banks will refuse to take it.

lemon-tree

This is my neighbors tree. It hangs into our yard a bit so I’ve been helping myself to the lemons. (It’s ok. He doesn’t mind. I promise.)

Growing up without lemon trees nearby, I thought Country Time was the best lemonade ever. Then, a couple of years ago, I tried fresh lemonade. Oh. My. Gosh. I don’t even know how Country Time sleeps at night calling itself lemonade. Fresh lemonade is so good. I had no idea. I want you to try it, even if you live in Michigan. Just go by a few lemons. I know they’re expensive there, but splurge just this once. You deserve to know what real lemonade tastes like.

So here’s what you do.

Buy yourself some lemons, or, if you’re lucky like me, steal some from your neighbor in the middle of the night. You’ll probably need 5-7 depending on the size and how tart you like it.

lemon-bowl

Then cut them all in half

cut-lemons

and juice them.

A few years ago my dad got me an electric citrus juicer.

lemon-juicer

They’re not very expensive, so if you have room, and think you’ll be juicing citrus a couple of times a year, this might be something you’ll want to invest in. For those of you in Michigan, where citrus is worth it’s weight in gold, you probably won’t get enough use out of a juicer so you can just juice them by hand. They won’t come out this clean though.

juiced-lemon

If you live in Michigan you’ll juice your 5-7 lemons and skip to the end of the post for the lemonade recipe. If you’re lucky enough to have a neighbor with a lemon tree, though, you’ll want to keep going until your garbage can looks like this so you can have real lemonade all year round.

juiced-lemons

The juicer will strain a little bit of the pulp and seeds, but your still going to have quite a bit in there.

lemon-juicer-seeds

If your daughter freaks out about the seeds let her dig them out herself.

lemon-seeds-katie

After you’ve juiced your lemons, measure out 2 cups of juice and pour it into a freezer bag. I put mine over a measuring cup to make it a little easier. Make sure you push the bag close to the sides of the measuring cup to eliminate as much air as possible, otherwise your juice won’t fit. And again, when you seal the bag, try to get most of the air out, it’ll freeze better.

lemon-juice-pour

Stack your bags and freeze them flat. If your freezer has wire shelves you might want to put a piece of cardboard or a baking sheet under the bags of lemon juice until they’re frozen.

lemon-juice-bags

Here’s the recipe for lemonade. I forgot to take a picture of the finished product, so for now just imagine a tall, frosty glass of fresh tartness. This is so easy and will make even a simple meal of burgers and dogs something extra special.

2 Cups lemon juice
1 1/4 Cups sugar
6 cups water

Mix until sugar is dissolved.

Like my salsa recipe, this recipe can be adjusted to taste. I like mine a little tart. If you like yours a bit on the sweet side you can reduce the amount of lemon juice or increase the sugar.

If you’ve never had fresh lemonade before, please come back and tell me what you think!

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My favorite organizing books

I hope by now you’ve had a chance to read the books I recommended that motivate me to get rid of all the junk in my house: Clutter’s Last Stand and It’s All Too Much. If so, I bet you’ve got a lot less stuff in your house right now. I know it’s hard sometimes. We think we’ll need all of that stuff, someday – when we have more time, when we have more kids, when we get a bigger house, when we move to Hawaii. We really don’t need any of it. And the benefits we’ll experience because we got rid of it will far outweigh any benefit from having it on hand if we ever need it.

The next step is to figure out what to do with the stuff we are keeping. You don’t have to keep all this stuff forever. As you get rid of things and figure out that you not only can live without them, but that you can live better without them, you’ll be motivated to get rid of more.

We’re always going to have things, though. If we don’t figure out where to put it all, our house is going to be a mess.

I mentioned before that I love reading about organizing, but not much of what I’ve read has been much help. There are two books, though, that have changed the way I look at organizing.

organizing-from-the-inside-outMany years ago I saw Julie Morgenstern on TV and bought her book, Organizing from the Inside Out. What was different about her approach is that she didn’t tell me what containers to get or the “right” way to organize a filing cabinet. She told me to look at my trouble areas, figure out why they are trouble areas and then think about a new way to do things.

Here’s an example of how that worked for me. I love to read. I’ve usually got more than 20 (or 30) books checked out of the library at any given time and lots of magazines that I’m trying to read.

When my kids were little I used to sit outside and read while they played in the front yard. When it was time to go inside my reading material ended up on the coffee table, the floor near the door, next to the couch, the entertainment center or any other spot that was easy to reach. It wasn’t pretty.

While reading Organizing from the Inside Out I realized that this was an area I needed to work on. I did have a home for my reading material, a bookshelf that was in another room, they just never made it there. I moved that bookshelf to the living room, right behind the door, and literally never had a problem butting my books where they belonged again.

the-house-that-cleans-itself

The House that Cleans Itself by Mindy Starns Clark  uses the same basic philosophy – work with your natural tendencies instead of trying to force yourself to behave in a way that isn’t natural. What I love about this book is that she takes you step by step through finding trouble zones, figuring out solutions and setting up your house, room by room, to require less work. I’ll show you what that looks like with before and after pictures from a room in my own house later.

BONUS BOOK

30-days-to-a-simpler-life1A few months ago I checked out 30 Days to a Simpler Life by Chris Evatt and Connie Cox.. I was looking for a book about being less busy but this book is actually about simplifying your life by getting by with less stuff, one day at a time. (The first little part of each “day” is a short project. The rest of the suggestions will take more than one day.) For example, choose one or two nail polish colors that you like and get rid of the rest. Use towel hooks instead of towel bars so you don’t have to fold your towels every time you hang them up. Move rarely used kitchen utensils to a box on a top shelf in your kitchen. Or better yet, get rid of them. No more digging through a drawer full of stuff you use once a year to find something you use every day.

I just love this little book. The chapters are short and offer a ton of great tips on simplifying different areas of your life. I won’t be using all of them but there are enough good ones to make this a book worth reading.

Have you read any of these books? What solutions have you found for your trouble zones?

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The 2nd Best Salsa Ever

I should probably start by telling you why this is The 2nd Best Salsa Ever and not THE Best Salsa Ever.

Years ago we had some neighbors who made The Best Salsa Ever! It was so good that when they gave us a jar for Christmas we wouldn’t waste it on just any chips. We called all over town to find our favorite chips. (now out of commission, otherwise I’d tell you about them.) I was desperate to learn how to make it because I couldn’t bear to eat store bought salsa after eating The Best Salsa Ever.

I asked them for the recipe but they said they didn’t know, they just throw stuff in until it tastes right. I asked them to measure the ingredients before they start and then measure again when they were done to see what was left. They hemmed and hawed but never gave me the recipe. I’m slow, but eventually I figured out that they just didn’t want to share it and I would have to live without.

A few years ago a friend of ours (Hi J!) gave us the recipe I’m going to share with you today. While it’s not quite as good as The Best Salsa Ever it is very close and super, super good. We prefer it to any salsa that comes out of a jar and haven’t yet tasted restaurant salsa that we like any better.

Here’s what you’ll need:

3 ½ to 4 cups cilantro leaves
2 or 3 dried red peppers, at least one without seeds
1 28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes
1 dash of garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1/8 red onion (umm… forgot to put it in the picture. You’ll see it later.)

All of the amounts above can be adjusted to taste. I don’t like a strong onion flavor so I don’t put a ton in. If you like it hotter you can leave the seeds in both peppers or add an extra. Just experiment with the recipe and make it your own.

The first thing you need to do is strip the leaves from the cilantro. This is everyone’s least favorite job. We used to do it by hand, but then I discovered the cool extra tool the people at The Pampered Chef built into their kitchen shears.

All you have to do is put the stem of the cilantro into one of the holes in the handle of the shears. (There are 2 different sized holes so just adjust for the size of the stem.)

Before long you’ll have a blender full of leaves and a pile of naked stems! We still don’t like it but it’s much easier now.

OK, back to the salsa. After you’ve paid one of your kids 5 bucks to strip 3 or 4 cups of cilantro leaves (I just measure using the markings on my blender) you need to cut the onion. I’m sure you could figure this part out on your own but I’m including pictures because I feel bad that I forgot to include it in the ingredients picture. It’s called a red onion, but it’s really more purple. I cut it down to 1/8  and then chop it up a bit more so it doesn’t take as long to get blended up.

Next just dump everything in the blender. It’s really easy to get the seeds out of the red peppers. You just snap them in half and shake. The seeds fall right out.

Now turn on your blender until it turns a beautiful yucky green color. (I think I added a bit too much cilantro.)

I usually taste it at this point and add anything that seems to be missing. We think it tastes better cold and because we’re not particularly patient we throw it in the freezer for a few minutes. But sometimes we can’t even wait that long.

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My favorite clutter busting books

I’m an organization junkie. That doesn’t mean that everything is in it’s place in my house. Just wait till you see… While I’m terrible at keeping things organized I do like order. I like looking for systems that will keep me organized and make things as easy and automatic as possible.

Over the years I have read countless books and magazine articles about getting organized. With all of the information on the topic I’ve taken in I should have the cleanest, most organized house in the state, or at least on the street. I don’t. Most organizing articles I’ve read have told me that a country cute basket and $5 plastic shoe organizer will solve my organizing problems. They didn’t. And most books I’ve read are full of charts and schedules and new ways to label files that I couldn’t keep up with. BUT, there are areas of my house and my life that are more organized and work better because of things I’ve learned in those books and magazines and there is a difference in the way my house looks today compared to my house 10 years ago. The ideas that have made the biggest difference in my home can be broken down into 2 categories – getting rid of stuff and working with your (and your family’s) natural tendencies.

GETTING RID OF STUFF

I have a love/hate relationship with stuff. I feel claustrophobic around too much stuff. I like clean surfaces, open spaces and order. Unfortunately I really like gadgets and tools, too. I like to have just the right thing available when I need it. Partly because I’m lazy and the right tool can make any task easier, and partly because I’m a perfectionist and the right tool can ensure that things are done RIGHT. I do think I chose the right name for this blog, don’t you?

I also like books. I really like books. And magazines. And choices. I like lots of choices because what if I’m not in the mood for the king sized pillow and want to use my standard sized pillow? And I’m a “I might need it some day and what if it’s not made any more or I can’t afford to buy another one” kind of girl, too. Do you see my problem?

I have 2 books that make me want to get rid of everything I own and sleep in a cardboard box. I read them every couple of years when I’m feeling overwhelmed with my stuff. I never really get rid of everything I should but things get a little better each time, and when I decide I can live without something I’m usually able to keep it, and it’s kind, out of my house forever.

Clutter’s Last Stand by Don Asslett is a classic.

He tells you not only why clutter makes life harder, but he’ll give you permission to get rid of certain things, like books. Have I mentioned I love books? I love looking at them, and reading them, I love the way the feel and I love the way they smell. I really love books. It feels so wrong to throw books away. All that smooth paper and black ink, the binding, the pretty cover… I try to give books away whenever possible but sometimes a book just isn’t worth passing on – like a 2005 Writer’s Market, or a 2000 guide to DisneyLand… If anyone’s going to need those, they’re better off getting the updated version than getting my outdated one. When I get done reading this book I’m itching to get rid of EVERYTHING!

My other favorite get-rid-of-all-the-junk book is It’s All Too Much by Peter Walsh.

He talks about what hanging onto things costs us, too, but what I love most about this book is that he breaks the process of decluttering into non-scary chunks, like The Trash Bag Tango. Every day spend 10 minutes going through your house with 2 bags – one for garbage and one for items to give away. You can do this with a third bag for items to sell, but me? I would just end up with a huge pile of “to sell” clutter so I give it away or throw it away. That’s not so hard, right? Imagine how much better your house would look after just a week of this.

I’ll share my favorite organizing books in a future post AND I’ll show you some before and after pictures of my house. Don’t worry, I’ll warn you first so if you have a weak stomach you can skip those posts. While you’re waiting, run to the library and get these books. They really are great motivators.

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