A Colorful Way to Get Organized

Another tip I saw on Pinterest was to organize your year week by week. I have no dilusions that this will work as it should, but I am hoping to get it to work atleast a little as any little bit of organization can certainly be hellpful! The idea is to have a folder for every week. In that folder, you have menu's, to do lists, birthdays, doctor appts etc.... basically instead of a planner book, you have it in file folders. I THINK I can handle this. But  I have to make it colorful and fun to even get me started. So I whipped out the folders and the label maker (that always makes everything look organized! BEST PURCHASE EVER!!). And away I went.......

Now on the inside I came up with my own idea. I listed all the things I would want to keep track of and none of them were too terribly long, in fact a post it note would probably do it. Anything longer, I can add a piece of paper if need be. But for the general reminders, small pieces would be best and why have a bunch of them shoved in there. If they are stuck to the sides of the folders already spread out, I can just open, take one look and there you go! PLUS I have the added bonus at the end of the year, of just ripping those off and resetting for the following year OR, if something gets changed, or needs replaced, just lift and be gone! New one easily slides in....if only we had a post it government.....oh sorry, I was dreaming again! So again! I had to make it colorful and fun to motivate me to actually use it!

Last but not least, I used to open the bills, highlight the date, three hole punch them and put them in a binder......ya, done doing that! Half the time, the three hole punch would inevitably punch out something I needed to be able to read. OR the holes did not line up right etc.... not to mention all the work. So I simplified (colorfully ofcourse). I just open them, highlight the date (this really does help immensly when you have to go back to look at something) and stick them in their appropriate folder. Now at the end of the year, I can pull them all out (in order of course) and put them in one big manilla envelope and write the year on it. The best part is when that time frame you need to keep them is up, you can just start a fire and use the envelope as kindling! No more digging for this and that. Btw, I also added the number of them month in the corner, simply because when a bill is dated it is with the numbers not the name and so when I was back filling, it was quicker.

Sooo that is the story of my colorful organization. I LOVE bright colors. They put me in a happy place!

Pinterest Epic Fail....well sort of

So I decided to attempt a recipe I found on Pinterest. Here is the original blog I got it from...   (sorry, don't know to get that nice little different colored link where all you have to do is click on it, so you will have to cut and paste) http://scrambledhenfruit.blogspot.com/2010/11/caramel-stuffed-apple-cider-cookies.html

The picture on there looked so nice. I bought into it! But just like Martha Stewart pictures, the real thing, made by real people, never turns out that way! I should have known better. Working with caramels have never turned out good for me, but I had a surge of optism in me and a cool day begging me to make something "fallish". So Grace and I decided to give it a whirl. 

We followed the directions. We made the dough, formed the dough around the caramels, baked, so far so good. But then.... things were going TOO WELL obviously. The directions said, "When cookies are cool enough to be firm but still slightly warm, carefully twist off of parchment and allow to finish cooling upside down (either on the parchment or on a rack.)" Soooo THAT is what I did! Well, half the time, the carmel just remained on the paper while I lifted the cookie off, the other half I used a spatula (which I had to soak the caramel off afterwards) and had to wipe the carmel back onto the cookie IF the cookie didn't fall apart while doing this, then I had a blob of caramel across the bottom.....

 I think the cookie at the top of the bottom picutre, is what was SUPPOSED to happen.....but as you can see....most did not.... Finally on the last batch out of the oven, I just let them cool on the paper completely and you know what, they turned out great! No problem getting them off either! Lesson learned..... however she was correct in needing to eat them warm, otherwise the caramel gets too hard. So you should warm them either in the microwave or by sitting on top of a mug of hot tea/coffee before hand.
                          

Even Hunter was willing to walk away....ok not really, he was looking at me like he wanted one and by the time I took the picture, he was walking away defeated....just like me!

End review....More trouble than they were worth. They wouldn't be bad or hard without the carmels though, so I may attempt them again without that. But in the meantime, we went back to our old trusty stand by......the ever true chocolate chip cookie recipe....NOT from Pinterest!