Share My Recipe Sunday - Sandy's Captain Crunch Cereal Zucchini

We got these zucchini out of our garden. Alex was out measuring it each day and discovered it was growing about a 1/2 inch a day. He was thrilled to go out and pick the first 2!

1 large zucchini
2 eggs
1/2 c milk
2 c Captain Crunch cereal (or off brand)
1/2 c flour
olive oil

Slice the zucchini.

Crush the cereal in a plastic bag until pretty fine. Put in bowl and add flour.
Stir mixture. (These amounts are approximate as I did not measure. I added the flour because the cereal alone was not sticking well, so you can play around with the amounts). Put this bowl aside.


In another bowl mix eggs and milk. You can salt and pepper to taste.

Heat the olive oil in a sauce pan on medium heat.

Dip the zucchini into the milk/egg mixture.
Dip into the cereal/flour mixture and cover both sides.

Place in oil and cook on both sides until brown.


Place on paper towels to soak up the extra oil. Then serve. Yummy!



Come join Share My Recipe Sunday! Just add your recipe onto the Mr. Linky. Pick up the button and put it on your site with your recipe. Link it back here. Be sure to visit often! Pick up some other recipes and visit other site.

Office Desk Drawers - Can you find a paper clip in yours?

Office desk drawers can often become office junk drawers with everything in them....and you can't find a thing when you look.
You can easily change out a drawer with just a little organization and some drawer organizers.

There are many places that have drawer organizing units, from The Container Store to Target...but you really don't need anything elaborate. You can find little baskets at the dollar store. You can use ice cube trays to separate out paper clips, rubber bands, etc. The boxes that your checks come in make great little organizers.

Just use your sorting skills as you go through your things.
1)Keep - Use it, love it, want it
2)Donate - Don't want it, can't use it, do not like it (but someone will)
3)Move - Goes into a different room or space
4)Storage - Seasonal
5)Trash/Recycle - Broken, torn, can not donate

Go through the zazillion pens that are in your drawers and test them. Get a piece of scrap paper out of your trash/recycle and test each and every pen. If it doesn't write right away then pitch it. If it is a marker and is dim..pitch it.
You can make a bag of pens to go in the car, take with you to your office or donate them if you have too many.
Use the baskets and separate your items so they are "like with like".

Simple as that you can have nice looking desk drawers and will be able to open them and actually find things.

Office Organizing - Colors can make your office Great!

Colors are important to most of us. They can affect how you feel, how you think. You want your office to be fun to go into. Make you feel productive and happy. What colors make you feel good? What ones do you love?
If you notice in my office I have bright colors...but I didn't paint the walls, I didn't add expensive curtains or carpet. I got cubbies in the colors I liked and made my own "Ikea" tower with the cubby units from Target. (Love cubbies!!)
I also added pails that I found at a garage sale and the little ones from Target. I have a hot pink magnetic board on my desk (an upcoming review and giveaway by the way).
If I go into another color mode..I can change it up real easy.
But when I walk into my office it just makes me feel happy!

Mini Office - You don't have to have a whole room

If you have a home or small apartment that is "office challenged" then you can find a place to call your own. Here are some ideas

1)If you have a chair you sit in routinely in the living/family room, you can set one up there. You just need a side table where you can set up your sorter like in the picture above.

This shows the whole thing. I got two of the cubby units from Target and hooked them together for my table. I have 4 compartments to use. Two on the front side that I use a cubby basket for my trash can, then the other 3 are for books. (The other 2 slots are on the back side)
I have a portable file (Hecht of an Organizer) that I use for my business files. If we have company over I can pick it up and move it out of site.

I then have this over the arm organizer that holds pens/calculator, plugs for my camera and phone, chargers and a flat top surface that I usually have my Blogging notebook sitting on.

2) Closet not being used. Take off the door (it can be left on, you will probably just have to move your chair out to close the door) and hanger rod. You can paint the inside to make it look cute. You can build in a shelf for your desk. You can add some more shelves above it on the wall for storage of your items. On the right and left hand walls you can put up a magnetic board, bulletin board or more shelves. (I am picturing a single door coat closet when I talk about it)

3) An old wall unit or armour not being used can be used for an office.

4) Under the stairs storage area. Paint it, put in a light and desk. There is storage on the steps above (make shelves there) and on the side walls.

Be creative...think outside the box. A corner of your family room maybe that you can put a small table or corner desk may work.
If you have a kitchen counter top that you can steal a corner of.
Let me know what creative office space you may already have or take pictures to let me see what you have created!!

A Home with a 250 sq.ft Family Organizing center? See it at BIA Parade of Homes!

Come to the BIA Parade of Homes in Dublin Ohio! It is being held in Tartan Ridge subdivision.
This is a house you have to see if you happen to be in the Central Ohio area in the next couple of weeks. Romanelli and Hughes built this home and their head designer Sarah Schnulo designed this area. She told me that they had this 250 sq ft. area to work with and she and another designer with a total of 7 children between the two of them designed it. There is a secondary washer and dryer (main one is on the 2nd floor) to wash sports uniforms when the kids come in from their games. They have a hamper to throw them in. There is a seat to take off shoes, shoe cubbies, hooks for coats and book bags and a walk through pantry!!

The garage is outfitted by Premier Garage as only an organizer might fully appreciate...well..I bet many husbands would too.

The children's bedrooms have a built in desk rather than a window seat. I think this is a much more efficient use of this space.
The house is designed in zones. There is a children's zone with their own back staircase that leads from their bedroom area down to the basement kids game room.

They even use the space under the staircase with built in shelves.

Ok...I am going to mop up the drool now. I love this house!! There are features everywhere that just make it an awesome house that any Professional organizer would just die to own.
I also went through another home by M/I Homes that has one heck of a woman's closet!!
Go to my Review blog to read more on it and have a chance to win tickets to see it and several other wonderful homes at the BIA Parade of Homes in Dublin Ohio.

Office Organizing Can Be Fun! ?..well it can!

This is my office. I share it with my husband, his desk is just to the right of mine. The office is small...but I am still happy we do have it.
If you do not have an office or anywhere you can call your office but want to make one you need to consider a few things.

1) Usability/Accessibility - if it is in the back of the basement, will you actually use it? It needs to be some place you will use it.
2) Heating and cooling (if you are thinking of a basement, extra room or so forth).
3) Convenience - Does it work for you and your family?

You may consider these areas -
1) Kitchen - Is there a section of counter in the kitchen that you could call your own and set up a mini office?
2) Family room - Could you set up a mini office by your chair. (post on Thursday will show pictures of my mini office)
3) Corner of a room that you could put a small table or corner desk?

Zones
If you have an office, or an area in the family room that you do your paperwork, or a table in your bedroom....you need to make "Zones". Zones break down the office into what you need the most and use daily (Zone A) to items you don't use very often and can store elsewhere in the room. (Zone C)

Ok...so artist I am not! But this gives you the idea of what I am talking about.
You are in the center (of course....isn't it always about us?...LOL, sorry..goofy mood) and the circle closest to you is your Zone A.

Zone A - Things you use daily and need close at hand. You don't have to move to get these items.
1) In box for papers
2) Pencils/pens
3) Tape
4) Phone
5) Stapler/Scissors
6) Letter opener
7) Sticky notes
8) Paper
9) Trash can
10) Calculator
11) Computer

Zone B - Items that you may have to roll your chair around to, but are still close and accessible. You do not have to get up out of your chair.
1) File cabinet
2) Printer/copier/fax
3) Shredder

Zone C - In the office, but you have to get up and walk to.
1) Office supplies
2) Extra file cabinet - maybe files you don't access as often
3) Book shelf with reference books.

This gives you an idea of how I break it down. But you want to be efficient when you sit down to work in your office. You don't need to jumping up and down or you may not get anything accomplished.

More to come on Office organizing Thursday and Friday of this week. Stay tuned!