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Archive for the ‘Entertaining Ideas’ Category

Declutter and get organized

Posted in Entertaining at Home, Entertaining Ideas, Home and Garden, Home Decor, tagged , , , on January 5, 2012| Leave a Comment »

I’ve heard a lot of buzz in my circle of friends lately about decluttering, cleaning things up and getting rid of junk.
I’m all for cleaning out what is unused and unwanted. A good rule to follow is that if a thing is not beautiful, does not bring you joy or serve a purpose, get rid of it!

How many of us have things cluttering up our homes and lives that don’t have a purpose, are no longer beautiful or does not bring us joy? I know I can think of a few right off the top of my head.

Do you have things that are broken and not repairable that you keep around. Do you have items that make you frown when you look at them? Things that have less than happy memories attached to them? Get rid of them!

Start with one drawer or cupboard and then keep going until you have gone through every storage tub, closet and hidden nook and cranny.

When you clear out all that extra stuff, it’s like dumping a bunch of unwanted, unneeded baggage that just weighs you down. Once all that clutter is gone, take a deep breath and look around at all the room you have to welcome new things into your home or life that do bring you joy, that have a purpose, or bring you beauty!

You’ll also find without all the clutter, you’ll have more room for the most important things in your life: the relationships!

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Stocking up for Entertaining

Posted in Entertaining at Home, Entertaining Ideas, Holidays, tagged , , , , on January 4, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Right now is a fabulous time to stock up on basic entertaining pieces. With year-end and after Christmas sales going in most every store, you can find  pretty much everything you need to get started entertaining at ridiculously low prices.

Some of the finds you might look for are:

• Table linens – yes there are a lot of holiday patterns on sale, but if you look, you can also find some neutral whites or creams.

• Cloth napkins – if you want to impress your dinner guests, pick up a few. Just be prepared to go to the work of removing grease stains and keeping them pressed.

• Serving pieces – you can find bowls, platters, tiered trays, salad sets. Go for plain styles or patterns that can mix or match with pieces you may already own.

• Dishes – amid all the snowman and poinsettia patterned pieces, you’ll find some sets of plain white dishes. Pick up a box or two to make it easy to entertain. If you find them on a 50-75 percent discount, it won’t take too many parties before you are saving money by not buying paper plates. Not only that, but you’ll feel a bit like Emily Post when you set a beautiful table that your guests admire.

• Silverware sets – I’ve seen several in the past few weeks in with the holiday stuff. Grab a set or two if you are in need of more silverware.

• Extras – candles, placemats, chargers, bases for centerpieces, are all on sale with the holiday leftovers.

While you are at it, stock up for next Christmas on things like holiday napkins, wrapping paper (but only the good kind), greeting cards, ribbon, lights, and ornaments.

She Who Needs to Stock Up

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Drenched in Butter

Posted in Captain Cavedweller, Entertaining at Home, Musings, tagged , , , , on January 3, 2012| 2 Comments »

Last week, Captain Cavedweller and I had a few days off and he took me to the big city where there were multiple malls, yummy places to eat and fun things to see and do. It was wonderful.

On the morning we were getting ready to come home, we skipped the hotel breakfast and went to a restaurant around the corner. Walking in the door, I was quite excited by a sign that said they had pumpkin pancakes.

For a girl who loves pumpkin, this was a great way to start off my day.

We placed our orders and sat chatting, waiting for the food to come. Our waitress was friendly and polite, checking on us often to make sure we were fine as we waited.

Then she came bearing a plate full of delicious smelling pancakes with a beautiful ball of whipped butter on top.

Although the next thirty seconds happened too quickly for me to recall the details, Captain Cavedweller seems to be able to recall them with startling clarity. It went something like this:

• The waitress started to set down the plate of pancakes in front of me.

• The butter became airborne. Literally. According to CC – it actually launched off the plate and flew through the air.

• Eyes as wide as saucers, I grasped for the butter, catching the whipped ball in my hand. But not before it had slid down my silk shirt and front of my jacket.

The poor waitress looked mortified as I held the butter in my hand. Let me tell you, there are not enough napkins in the world to make a mess that monumental all disappear. She ran to the kitchen and returned with a wet towel. Afraid to smear in the butter, I carefully blotted what I could, told her not to worry about it and enjoyed some really tasty pumpkin  pancakes with cinnamon whipped cream.

The entire time we were eating, CC had to keep swallowing down his chuckles. When we walked outside, he couldn’t take it anymore and started laughing. “Did you see the butter fly? Man, that was something!”

Right.

Because I was now walking across the hotel parking lot drenched in butter and somewhat annoyed. It wasn’t the waitresses fault, but I didn’t think CC needed to find the whole thing quite so amusing.

Returning to the room, I dug to the bottom of my suitcase to find two Shout wipes and gently wiped off the excess butter. Rolling up my shirt and jacket, I put them in our dirty clothes bag, hoping a miracle would occur and the stains would be gone when we got home.

Lucky for me, we had gone shopping the previous day and I had some new clothes to wear.

When we got home, the butter stains were worse, instead of better. So I whipped out my bottle of Dawn dishwashing liquid and liberally applied it to the butter-stained areas. I rubbed it in gently, rolled the clothes back up and let them sit overnight. I washed them in warm water and voila – the stains are gone!

So the moral of this story is always make sure you’ve gone shopping and have new clothes to wear before you eat breakfast – just in case there is any flying butter.

She Who Has an All New Meaning for Drenched in Butter

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New Year’s Goals

Posted in Captain Cavedweller, Entertaining at Home, Holidays, tagged , , , , on January 2, 2012| Leave a Comment »

May all your troubles last as long as your New Year’s resolutions. 

~Joey Adams

I love this quote! How many New Year’s resolutions are forgotten by the time the last holiday sugar cookie is eaten or the December credit card bills arrive?

Instead of spouting unrealistic resolutions, try setting realistic goals for 2012.

Captain Cavedweller and I sit down on New Year’s Day and we each write a list of goals. I seal them in an envelope and put it away until New Year’s Eve. It is a lot of fun to open the envelope and see how many of those goals we achieved. Some are short term goals, some may take us all year, but there is a great sense of accomplishment when we can check them off and say “Yep, totally did that!”

The best way I know to set goals is to use the SMART goal method. Here is how it works:

 SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely.

To get a specific goal, ask yourself the who, what, where, when and why questions. Who is involved? What do I want to accomplish? Where will this take place? When will it take place? Why do I want this to happen?

A goal that is measurable is one that can be tracked by progress.  When you measure progress, track results and meet deadlines, it spurs you on toward greater accomplishment. Ask yourself questions like “How many?” “How much?”  “How will I know the goal is accomplished?”

Attainable goals help you identify what is most important to you. Once you do that, you can figure out step by step how to make it happen. You will develop the attitude, skill and ability to reach that goal.  This part of goal setting requires planning. You need to think out each step of action you need to take to make the goal happen and the time frame in which you’d like to see the results. Even goals that are a stretch (ones that get you beyond your comfort zone) are attainable when you grow to reach them. If your goal is get out the door on time in the morning, what specific steps can you take to make sure it happens?

To be realistic, a goal must represent an end result you are willing and able to achieve . You can have a stretch goal that is up there in the stars and still have it be realistic. You are the only one who can decide how lofty your goal should be. Just make sure it represents progress. Some of the highest goals accomplished didn’t seem that difficult because they were a labor of love or evolved from a deep passion. If you honest-to-goodness believe your goal can be accomplished, then it is probably realistic. You can also determine if a goal is realistic by looking at past accomplishments or determining what conditions or factors need to exist for the goal to be realized.

A goal is timely when it is tied to a time frame and has a sense of urgency. The steps leading to the accomplishment of your goal will also be time-based.

So let’s look at a goal. You might set a goal  that states   “I will lose weight this year!”

While that is a good start, when you make it SMART, you make it doable and provide the basis to hold yourself accountable.

“I will lose 50 pounds by 5 p.m. Dec. 20, 2012″ is a SMART goal.

Anyone could show up at 5 p.m. Dec. 20, 2012 and see if you have lost the weight.

This is where you will also create your action steps. You might write down something like:

“To achieve this goal I will …

• Exercise for 45 minutes Monday through Friday between 6 and 7 a.m.

• Eat balanced meals with plenty of fruits and vegetables, consuming no more than 1,800 calories a day.

• Drink 64 ounces of water every day.

• Check in weekly with Susie and Jane to h0ld me accountable to my goals…”

You get the idea.

When you share this goal with at least two other people, it will hold you accountable and help keep you on track.

The last part of the goal is setting a reward for yourself when you achieve it. Put it in writing and hold yourself to it. What realistic thing would you award yourself for meeting the goal? A pedicure? A new outfit? A spa day? Think of something that will give you some inspiration to keep going when you feel yourself dragging.

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