Weekend Update

We have been having a great weekend and I remembered this time to take photos for my blogger friends.

Our little air conditioner has been chugging along and making the downstairs nice and warm. Not hot but warm. I guess I keep thinking that because I'm not chilly or cold then it isn't working but that is what I hate about air conditioning, being too cold. This little unit cools the air just enough that we aren't sweaty and uncomfortable or hot. That is a victory in my opinion.

Saturday morning I did some more organizing around the house. A trip to the container store on Friday got me 2 drawer organizers that are working out great. The first is in the kitchen. We have a lot less drawer space in this kitchen so most of our tools go into one drawer and it was a jumbled mess. I found a drawer organizer that you cut to fit as you need it and it works great to divide up some of the tools and keep them from sliding around and making a big mess. The divider did displace a couple tools that were really just too big for the drawer. One was our handheld strainer (which we love and use almost daily). I was listening to a pod cast on organizing and the professional organizer mentioned that the inside of door cabinets is a huge untapped resource and she specifically mentioned hanging your colander there. So I mounted the strainer and splatter screen on the inside of the door with 3M hooks. I also worked on organizing my main cabinet so that I could fit my appliances inside and get them off the counter top where they had been sitting since we moved. I want the counters to be clear most of the time. We are used to pulling out appliances as we need them and just leaving out appliances that are in heavy use (like the blender when on a smoothie kick, or the toaster when there is a new loaf of yummy bread). That system works for us. (The counter photos shows where they used to all sit. Now it's clear).I also want to share my lazy susans. My main food cabinet is a large corner cabinet which means it is almost 20" deep. It was impossible for me to see all the way back there and to arrange things so they were all visible. I found these heavy duty 18" lazy susans at the container store (they can hold 100 pounds each) and they have made a world of difference. I can spin them and see everything, even on the second shelf. I can still hide a few things on the side if I need to but most importantly I can see everything I have. Love them.

The other drawer I organized is the little file cabinet in the office. The Bronx apartment had a built in desk that held all our pencils and staples and stuff. We bought this small Galant file cabinet with drawers from IKEA to replace the built in. I found a great organizer at Container Store that is expandable on the sides and it fills the drawer perfectly and had lots of spaces for all our office supplies. I love it when I find the perfect product for the job.

Saturday afternoon Greg and I walked around the neighborhood to take a look around. We poked our heads into the vegan bakery down the street only to find out it isn't a vegan bakery really. They specialize in making vegan marshmallows (remember that marshmallows are made with gelatin which comes from boiled animal bones, hooves and tissues so it isn't even vegetarian) and marshmallow products and apparently they only sell wholesale. The girl who owns it told us that they will be selling soon in local Whole Foods Markets so be watching for Sweet and Sara products. She was so sweet and gave us some free goodies. We got 2 peanut butter smores and a box of coconut marshmallows. All were super yummy. Greg hates coconut so those are all mine. We shared a smores bar last night and it was da bomb. Marshmallow on a thick layer of sweetened peanut butter on a layer of graham cracker crust all covered in dark chocolate. I am salivating just remembering it. Luckily there is another one down in the fridge!

Then we had lunch at De Mole where Greg tried a grilled cactus burrito. We were trying to figure out what cactus tastes like. Kind of like bitter bell peppers but in a good way. I had a boring quesadilla (not a lot of vegetarian options) but it was all really yummy and the guacamole and salsa were really good. Only negative in my opinion was they don't sell margaritas although if you bring them tequila they will make you one (no liquor license). That is pretty common in NYC. We are so happy to have so many great little restaurants around us again.

Then it was home for a nap and another trip to IKEA. The new catalog is out by the way! They sent me a postcard to let me know my desk was back in stock and that they were holding one just for me. Unfortunately when we got there is turned out to be a computer glitch and they were still sold out! Man was Greg mad. He already hates IKEA and that was just the icing on the cake. I still say that despite the constant lack of stock and computer errors like that the customer service is pretty good. They offered to ship the table top to me for free since this was my 3rd trip. I was going to demand that anyway so I am glad they offered. So it should be here this week. It is exactly like the scrap table (Galant) but it is smaller and will be at normal desk height. That's all. We finished our evening with dinner (sloppy joes and salads) and Greg searched online for a non-IKEA alternative for our dining room chairs and then some TV before bed. It was a great day!