useful things

last week, i posted about how to clean your house in approximately 20 minutes a day by following this list of tasks to do each day over the course of 30 days (please only do 1 of these tasks a day...the list is meant to take you 30 days to work through!...there was some confusion about how a person could possibly work through all of those tasks in only 20 minutes a day! no, that would definitely NOT be possible!). this cleaning plan has been very useful and helpful to kirk and i and has even inspired us to tackle some organizational projects that have long been neglected! this got me to thinking about other useful things. so here's a few useful things that i've been enjoying lately:

*my brother the chef got a fancy-pants set of knives for

christmas which prompted the question: "what utensils can you not live without?" i realized that i'm fairly simplistic, i need a GOOD chef's knife, but it's pretty much the only knife i'll use; wooden spoon, a classic; kitchen shears for trimming fat and tendons off of poultry, cutting that too-large-for-the-toaster slice of bread, and opening those ridiculous bags of shredded cheese that say "tear here" but always manage to screw up the resealing zipper (you know what i'm talking about, i'm sure of it); a good spatula; and measuring cups (i RARELY bake, for which purpose i'm sure measuring cups are essential, however i use them for measuring and estimating food portions...see useful thing #2). obviously, these are not the only utensils that i use in the kitchen, but definitely the most frequent flyers. so, what are your essential utensils that you can't live without?

*online food journal: i've kept a "journal" of the food i eat since november and it's made me a MUCH more conscious eater. i've not really changed what i eat, still allowed myself to have all of my favorites (popcorn at the movies, coke, cheese, CARBS), but i feel much more knowledgeable about how much i'm eating, portion control, planning ahead, and creating balance. so (fingers crossed!), we'll see how it goes!

*my bike: since the stress fracture (or the almost-stress-fracture), i've not been able to run or play soccer or anything high impact. therefore my bike has been my best friend! also useful is the trainer that it sits on that allows me to ride inside, like a stationary bike, instead of having to hit the frozen roads in january!

*food processor: this was a gift from my mom and i haven't even used it yet but i have loads of plans for it! can't wait to make pesto and use it to try so many new recipes! right now, i just have ideas in my head, so if you have favorite pesto recipes or any other recipes involving the wonders of a food processor, do tell!

that's the short list of my useful things. later this week: more pictures of found objects from my parents' basement, the back of the drawers under the stairs, and etsy. also, a post highlighting the buchheister family "christmas" in january.