Food organization - yes, I am channeling Tracy Benjamin with the labels. (I love her.)

I put a basket which is sturdy and attractive and has a lid, on top the little refrigerator in the kitchen. And I put the things that other people eat, but I do not want to see nor eat, in this basket. Pretzels, crackers, cereal, pita crisps, etc.

And both refrigerators now look like an Alzheimer patient lives here.

I labeled shelves.

With three of us using two refrigerators, things were getting ignored. Lost in the shuffle. So now everything has a spot.

And labeled shelves is sort of like the basket. I eat things off that shelf. I do not eat anything from those shelves. Simple but effective on several levels.

Medication is in the drawer on the upper left.
The cases of water are to help regulate the temperature of this refrigerator.
 

Tracy Craft Night

http://www.shutterbean.com/2017/ladies-craft-night-valentines-party/?

Really great idea. Kids of any age tend to love this type of thing.

I attached the link because her pictures are gorgeous.

We had guys (26 and 27) making a gingerbread house at Thanksgiving with no arm twisting.

Middle was very happy doing headbands over Christmas break.

Most of youngest's friends love to draw and paint and do crafts.

So, from preschoolers to adults, very fun things to do.

We play a lot of games and cards when we have extra people, but arts/crafts are very good idea too.

So is cooking (not baking, COOKING). Many a boy has been my cooking assistant.

Tracy links

Shauna gets the credit for finding Tracy originally.

I get Tracy's weekly post in pictures.
http://www.shutterbean.com/category/my-everyday-life/
I love getting it.

My husband says she has an incredible eye for photography. I also forward it on to my kids. My older two are overtly artistic. My youngest is too, in different ways. But I do not think you have to be artistic to enjoy Tracy.

She lives a very unique life (she only has one kid, her work is art, she travels, she lives in San Francisco area).

When her recipe food posts hit my inbox, I delete them without opening. I can tell by the title that it is a recipe.

Her food pictures (in her week in review) do not bother me. She takes pictures of food for a living. She also cooks things separately and cooks ahead. I have learned a lot from her about sorting, storing, labeling. So I look at her food pictures from an organization viewpoint.

So, for example, I did not look at what food she served for thanksgiving. I looked at how she did her table. I look at how she packages her pre cooking as she preps and puts it in the refrigerator too. Etc.

Alcohol is in a lot of her pictures, that does not bother me either, I just ignore it. But I just wanted to forewarn.

Blue painters tape now lives in my studio, kitchen and computer room because of Tracy. I label a lot of things. Dates, content, owners names. (When we were at our friends over xmas, I realized how much I use blue tape when she did not have any in her kitchen. Drove me a little nuts.)

She used to write another column for Homefries on organization.
http://homefries.com/category/high-straightenence/
There are some good posts there.

This post started because I was thinking about how Tracy rotates her clothes.
I had to look to remember what she calls it - capsule wardrobe.

I searched the word "capsule" on her blog
http://www.shutterbean.com/?s=capsule
And you can see past posts on that topic.

I am not suggesting following her fashion trends.
I am suggesting looking at how she thinks about her closet.
I look at all her organizational posts this way - the labeling and the sorting,
but not necessarily the content.

Still cleaning out pictures -

This is Burn Notice on Netflix, screen shot while I was watching on my iPad. If you notice the metal rack of glasses with leaves on them, on the left side of the picture, behind her, we had the exact same ones when I was little (I am 53).

I did not want to copy her picture. SO -
This is a Shutterbean picture, please click and go look. (Love her weekly recap in pictures.) I think this (son's first day of kindergarten) is one of the all time great pictures. I am showing it because she often includes a 'sign' in her pictures to commemorate a date. Really good idea. Not all the time. But sometimes. This is an actual thing with new babies now..

I bought this lamp at a garage sale. The woman just wanted it out of her sight because originally it had a glass (Tiffany kind of shade) and she broke it. I watched ebay and garage sales for replacement shade. I never had the lamp with me. I never figured out right shape and size. Finally took it to a lamp repair shop, in October, after years of using it without a shade in various rooms. I asked for help in knowing size and shape. Owner of shop said - I think I actually have something that will work in the back. She came out with this, used, $20. Sold. Color and size and style - perfect. 

Lending Library for kids on a neighborhood street.

A really great idea - a toddler safety seat next to the baby changing station in a women's bathroom. Middle and I saw these once, her iPod battery was dead, so we could not take a picture. Months later she was in another town with her boy and saw them again and this time got a picture.

"You'll always be my best friend, you know too much." On the pillow on the back of the couch. My therapist's office.

A weekend when we had a houseful including our little 6 year old. Yes, when we have a houseful, you can tell by the living room. You can also see just a peek at all things gaming to the left of the picture. That is a wooden water buffalo stool with the wii on it. There are two TV's and a whole host of electronics in that corner. Sprite bottle is either middle or youngest, on occasion helps with stomach. This is the puppet theater middle and I found at a garage sale the summer before last (I think). You can see a pile of puppets behind the theater and also a bin of them near the horse. That silver light (right side, on table) is from Walmart, has a nice heavy base and is great for detail work like painting. Pottery piece in far right corner of the picture is bust made by middle in high school art class. 

A corner of middle's room at college. Those elephants are cut from extra scrapbook paper. One is going the opposite direction, on purpose. The light fixture is from a garage sale. Have to have super low watt bulbs in it or it gets HOT.

This is also in middle's college room. It is the same one we give for Confirmation gifts. That is decorative washie tape (I think) around the light switch. Very middle.