This is my freakish “junk drawer.” You know the drawer. At my house, it’s in the kitchen. It used to be a mess. The place you put something when you don’t know where it goes. So full of stuff it sometimes gets jammed because something is sticking up inside.
Today it looks like this: (click to see a larger and more detailed image.)
But the BEST part is that it has looked this good for YEARS. Seriously. YEARS. How? By applying the Underwear Principle and answering the question “Where Does it Go?”
The drawer went through more than a few changes before it finally ended up in this particular configuration. The key to its long term organization was to pay attention to what happened inside the drawer after I organized it the first time. One glance and I could tell what was and was not working for my family. What were they stuffing in there? Was it consistent enough to make a “home” for it in this drawer? For all the things currently stored in that drawer today, the answer was yes. For all the other stuff they were tossing in there? I found a “home” for it someplace else. (like receipts, cough drops, business cards, cell phone chargers . . . you name it. It all has to have a home or it will end up in the junk drawer. Or worse. On my kitchen counter.)
In case you can’t tell what’s in here, let me give you a little tour. In the top back left, we store extra tape and staples. Along the back, from left to right, we keep lip balm, rubber bands, safety pins and paper clips. Back to the left, in the white rectangular bin we keep tools (screwdrivers, a little hammer, usually an emery board and often a Tide pen). Next, in the tan rectangular bin we keep highlighters and a staple remover. In the large black drawer organizer, we have pencils and markers (I love my Sharpies). Below that are pens and mechanical pencils, separated by a small plastic bin holding pencil lead. Below that, in the bottom left corner, it’s pretty easy to see what’s there: Tape dispenser, stapler, sorted change and calculator. Then over to the right, we have colored ink pens, a stamp dispenser and extra stamps, and in the front, we have scissors and hole punch. You can probably see the rulers we tuck along the right side of the drawer.
Notice that everything is in containers and none of the containers are round. I hate round containers. They waste space.
I mentioned before – I LOVE my Vidalia Chop Wizard! Last time I showcased this wonderful little gadget, someone commented that they were surprised that it could handle tougher veggies, like onions and carrots, so I thought I’d show how the chop wizard handles onions. Notice that I’m using the smaller chopping grate this time and check out the time on the little red clock.
Again, I PROMISE you – I did NOT touch that little red clock! I just LOVE this thing! Chopped onions really are a breeze!
But you probably noticed I didn’t finish all three onions. I actually filled up the chop wizard and had to stop to complete my “onion chopping ritual,” so I thought I’d go ahead and include it in this post as well. I usually chop onions in bulk to freeze, but I only had three today. Here’s what I do:
I chop all the onions I’ve got, either using the chop wizard OR, when I’m really in a hurry, I use my Oster food processor attachment. (I have a 1990 Oster Kitchen Center, but for smaller jobs, I keep my 2003 Oster blender on the counter because it takes most of the same attachments. Isn’t it cool that the attachments are interchangeable?) Anyway, I had an extra 5 minutes today and I really prefer the onions chopped in nice little squares – they’re just prettier than the shredded onion that the food processor produces.
Then, I lay out the chopped onions on a large metal cookie sheet for flash freezing. Flash freezing refers to the freezing technique where you lay out something individually, best on a metal cookie sheet (it gets colder much faster than a cutting board), and freeze it quickly. It keeps the food from sticking together in a big frozen ball of goo. REALLY great for freezing any kind of berry!
Then, I sit here for about a half an hour and write this post. (besides, I need my coffee.) I usually leave the onions in longer because I forget about them. If you can leave them for an hour or two, that’s actually better. I once left them in overnight with no problems. At a minimum, you want ice crystals to form.
When the onions are frozen, I move them from the cookie sheet into something better for freezer storage, such as a Ziploc bag. I stack the bags in the freezer and because they are flat, they take up very little space. (I was going to include a photo of the frozen onions on the cookie sheet, but you can’t see the ice crystals, so it just looks the same as the pre-frozen cookie sheet photo.)
Later, when a recipe calls for onion, I’m ready! They defrost really fast! I leave the bag on the counter for a few minutes and when I take the slab of onion out of the the Ziploc, it just crumbles.
That would be the Microsoft Excel cell formula to generate a random number between 1 and 100. You know, like when you have a drawing and need to pick a random number for a winner? Like I do here at Pragmatic Compendium every week? (it doesn’t have to be between 1 and 100. the number “100” can be replaced by any number)
I’ve posted detailed instructions and a screen shot for this little time saver over at the Pragmatic Computing blog, so if you are tired of drawing little pieces of paper out of a hat every time you want to “select a winner,” head on over and check it out!
Of course, don’t forget to enter this week’s clean sweep(stakes) giveaway while you’re here!
I love any gadget that makes my life easier and speeds up a job! I got a beautiful ceramic knife for Christmas two years ago and I used to dice red, yellow and orange peppers by hand. Not anymore! Check out the time on the little red clock.
I PROMISE you – I did NOT touch that little red clock! I just LOVE this thing! Chopped onions are a breeze!
Mine has two blade sizes, so you can dice even smaller than what you see in these pictures. And it’s DISHWASHER SAFE! The best $20 I spent last year! (and, no. I didn’t get paid to write this – I just really like it.)
This post gets more hits on my blog than any other, largely due to my long time friend, Charlene Davis over at Busy Mom’s Recipes! She linked to the Underwear Principle and her people just keep coming!
When you read text on your computer monitor, do the fonts seem . . . grainy? Do the edges of the letters appear ragged? Especially italicized text?
On my Pragmatic Computing blog, I posted a “Pragmatic Tip” explaining how to make fonts appear clear and sharp. I LOVE the way text looks on my computer monitor now!
Changing this one little Windows setting can make a big difference. It works for me!
Vista users: Clear Type is the default setting for Vista, but I’ve updated the Pragmatic Computing post to include instructions to change it, just in case someone is interested.
Ever leave a comment on a blog and REALLY want to remove it later? Maybe you have an embarrassing typo, maybe you shared just a little too much and have “commenter’s remorse” or maybe you accidentally posted a comment on the wrong blog post. I’m sure there are other reasons.
The good news? You may have some options!
If:
You have a blogger account* AND
You are logged in AND
You leave a comment on another blogger blog
Then:
Go to the blog where you left the (unwanted) comment.
Find the page where your comment appears.
Next to the comment, you should see a trash can icon. Click it.
On the confirmation page, click “Delete Comment” and you’re done!
*Did you catch what I wrote? A blogger ACCOUNT. I didn’t say a blogger BLOG. At least, not an active, public one. You don’t have to switch your blog platform. You don’t even have to create a “real” blog. You can create a blogger account, create a “bare bones” blog, make it private and ba da bing. You have a blogger account. Then, when you comment, use OpenID to link to your active blog, whatever its platform – BUT make sure you are logged into blogger when you comment.
Because, if you aren’t logged in to blogger when you comment, you won’t see a trash can next to your post later. Here’s the thing. If you have a blogger account, but use OpenID to sign your comment, you won’t be able to delete your comment UNLESS you were logged into blogger when you posted the comment.
ohhhhh. (in the link above, blogger explains a few other reasons you may not see a trash can next to your comment)
I did that this morning. And then I had to email the blog owner to beg her to delete my comment for me! (no. I’m not telling who it was. you’ll go read my comment before she deletes it. I’ll give her public credit for inspiring this post AFTER she gets a chance to remove it.) UPDATE: Thanks, Amy for deleting my stupid comment.
You can also manually add a “delete” button on your blogger blog by inserting some code into your template. I found these instructions which provides the code allowing the comment author to delete it. I get the impression this would be for commenters who don’t have a blogger account. I haven’t tried it yet, but I probably will (Pragmatic Communion and Pragmatic Computing are hosted by blogger).
It is unfortunately not possible to edit or delete any comments you have left on another WordPress.com blog.
The best thing to do would be to attempt to contact the blog owner.
bummer.
Anyone know how is this handled by Typepad? What about other blogging software platforms?
Ever leave a comment on a blog and REALLY want to remove it later? Maybe you have an embarrassing typo, maybe you shared just a little too much and have “commenter’s remorse” or maybe you accidentally posted a comment on the wrong blog post. I’m sure there are other reasons.
The good news? You may have some options!
If:
You have a blogger account* AND
You are logged in AND
You leave a comment on another blogger blog
Then:
Go to the blog where you left the (unwanted) comment.
Find the page where your comment appears.
Next to the comment, you should see a trash can icon. Click it.
On the confirmation page, click “Delete Comment” and you’re done!
*Did you catch what I wrote? A blogger ACCOUNT. I didn’t say a blogger BLOG. At least, not an active, public one. You don’t have to switch your blog platform. You don’t even have to create a “real” blog. You can create a blogger account, create a “bare bones” blog, make it private and ba da bing. You have a blogger account. Then, when you comment, use OpenID to link to your active blog, whatever its platform – BUT make sure you are logged into blogger when you comment.
Because, if you aren’t logged in to blogger when you comment, you won’t see a trash can next to your post later. Here’s the thing. If you have a blogger account, but use OpenID to sign your comment, you won’t be able to delete your comment UNLESS you were logged into blogger when you posted the comment.
ohhhhh. (in the link above, blogger explains a few other reasons you may not see a trash can next to your comment)
I did that this morning. And then I had to email the blog owner to beg her to delete my comment for me! (no. I’m not telling who it was. you’ll go read my comment before she deletes it. I’ll give her public credit for inspiring this post AFTER she gets a chance to remove it.) UPDATE: Thanks, Amy for deleting my stupid comment.
You can also manually add a “delete” button on your blogger blog by inserting some code into your template. I found these instructions which provides the code allowing the comment author to delete it. I get the impression this would be for commenters who don’t have a blogger account. I haven’t tried it yet, but I probably will (Pragmatic Communion and Pragmatic Computing are hosted by blogger).
