Has anyone else started binge cleaning or organizing this month? What is it about January that makes you want to deep clean everything?
Winter is a good time to tackle inside jobs because, let’s face it, when the weather starts getting nicer, no one wants to be inside cleaning out that junk drawer or closet. We want to be outside, feeling the sun on our face that we haven’t felt in six months.
Even if you tell yourself that you want to do one a week, whether it’s a closet, drawer, or cabinet, that’s ten jobs done before springtime! Then, if you feel ambitious, you can knock off more than one in one week. Imagine what you can get done inside before nicer weather hits.
How is it that stuff gets disorganized so easily?
The one thing that I feel is hard to keep organized is the refrigerator. The leftovers and jars of opened salsa, cheese, and other crap get shoved to the back, not to be seen ever again! Muah-ha-ha-ha!! OK, so maybe not forever, but they get put in the back where it’s harder to be seen, and you forget about it. And let’s not even talk about under the fruit and veggie trays at the very bottom of the fridge. Heavens to Betsy! How in the world does everything land down there?
See, in our house, we have a twelve-year-old who likes to pour his tea right at the fridge. Ya, know, because it saves those five steps walking over the counter to do it. So then tea somehow ends up dripped all over under those drawers, or a container of something leaks and makes its way down there. Typically, every other week before my big grocery shopping day, I pull both trays out and wipe them good, so they don’t get bad. I like to get any produce that is starting to go bad and get rid of them before buying fresh produce.
After Christmas, there was so much food in our fridge that I had to purge. So, on December 30th, I started pulling stuff. That led to a shelf needing to be wiped off, then that drawer needing pulled out. Guys, two and a half hours later, my entire refrigerator was torn out. Like, if it was ninety-five degrees outside, and I wanted to cool off and say, read a good book, I could have climbed into my fridge and cooled off.
My daughter Kenzy walked in on the process of all this. The song “Comin in Hot” by Andy Mineo was playing loudly on my Bose speaker in the kitchen. This was my first day of not listening to Christmas music in eight weeks, so I was jamming. When she walked in, her eyes got all big. Everything was washed and drying all over our counters and bar.
“Momma! What are you doing!?” she asked.
I explained to her I was cleaning out our fridge, and she went over to open the door. Her eyes got huge.
“Oh my gosh! This is a perfect place now for hide-and-go-seek!!” she exclaimed.
I told her that it could be very dangerous and never climb in something like that if she saw an empty appliance. I explained that everything was getting put back in, but I needed to pull everything out to give it a good cleaning.
Man, I felt like I had a brand-new refrigerator. I was even flipping our deli drawer to the right side instead of the left to switch things up. Can I just say I was impressed with myself that I figured out how to put everything back once it was apart? I had a few shelf holders fight me and questioned if this went here or there, but I never once had to call for my hubby. Our refrigerator is “typically” pretty organized by each shelf, but now it’s very organized.
The following weekend I pulled all the drawers out of our bathroom vanity, washed them all out, and took everything out of the bathroom closet. I was on a roll!
Organizing is like a snowball effect; once you get that feeling of one drawer or closet cleaned out, you want just to keep going.
Like I said, just tell yourself one project a week between now and the end of March! Think of how accomplished you will feel.
Below I’ve given you a very simple but delicious dinner idea, so that way, if you spend a day, or even just an afternoon getting some things done, you have a meal you can throw together in ten minutes! Dinner will be done for you, and it gives you more time to get that extra drawer or two in. *wink wink*
It’s OK; you can thank me later.
Garlic Herb & Wine Chicken & Beans
Ingredients:
• One McCormick’s seasoning packet of Garlic Herb and Wine
• 2 lbs. of chicken cut into strips, or halves
• 1/2 lb. of fresh green beans
Directions:
Make seasoning according to package.
Clean and cut chicken, and place chicken into a bowl.
Pour seasoning over top of the chicken, and let marinate in a bowl for at least an hour or more, making sure chicken is coated.
Then, place the chicken into a 9 by 13 casserole dish. Scatter the green beans on top.
Bake at 325° for 45-60 minutes, toss the green beans in the juice halfway through.
This chicken is also amazing on top of a nice green salad.
