Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Death and Taxes

I had intended to finish our taxes yesterday, but I became absolutely consumed with cleaning out the front closet and the newly appointed school desk.

I didn't take a "before" shot of the closet, but it was far more labor intensive than I had expected.  I got rid of our incomplete board games and tossed some unnecessary posters that were lingering from the mister's conference marathon a couple of years ago.  I also got his exercise equipment straightened and some of it stored in the cabinet.  Oh, and I found Legos.  That's always a celebratory event around here.

I even got a little carried away with organizing
the coats from oldest to youngest wearer.

The desk, however, is something of a crowning achievement.  It has been, for years, a catch-all for just about everything under the sun and it has been in constant disarray:

I forgot to take the "before" when I started.
This craptastic mess is about halfway
to being done.  Shocking!

But then it became this dazzling beauty!  There was 
indeed a desk under all of that hideous mess!
A lone basket of yarn remains underneath the desk on a little
shelf, but that's only because I have yet to overhaul
the new catch-all for the crafting stuff.

The moral of the story is that we have too much stuff, especially for the space in which we live.  Simplifying has been freeing, and I'm all too thrilled that the children now have a place to sit and do their school stuff and the desk is no longer such an abomination to the living room.  I also plan to paint it white, but that can wait.  "That'll do, pig," is all that is ringing in my living room right now. :-)

In culinary adventures, we tried a cauliflower crust for pizza the other day!  It was an exciting and tasty experiment, but unfortunately a one-time thing.  The crust had the consistency of soggy bread, which couldn't help but overshadow the absolute deliciousness of it.  Boo...


Steamed and wrung out "riced" cauliflower.

Add cheese, a myriad of herbs, an egg...

mix it together and ball it like a dough...

and then slap it on a cookie sheet lined with parchment, 
spread it thin with your fingers, bake it, top it, bake it again,
and that's it!

Still...  "soggy bread" texture...  sigh...

Anyway, we are celebrating the finalization of our taxes and the death of crammed, terrible clutter in the living room!  Next up is the kitchen!



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