On Sunday we woke to quite a bit of fresh snow. We decided to rent snowshoes and go for a hike. We didn’t make it too far up Raven’s trail because we were having to “break trail” which is pretty tiring when you sink down up to 8 inches into the snow but we got to enjoy a nice day, burn some calories, and spend some good family time together!

The day before Valentine’s Day was just too perfect for a soak in the hot tub. We grabbed a bottle of wine while snowflakes were falling and made the dash through the carport. Pepper has been good about getting us to use it more often. It seems like a waste to have it at temperature and not using it so we pop in up to a few times a week. I especially love it when it is snowing.

_{»crosslinked«}

One of the tenants of the Game On Diet is to take on a new good habit. For this round my habit is to organize one thing for at least 30 minutes each day. I decided to organize the kitchen drawer that has most of the miscellaneous cooking and serving utensils in it. Sometimes I open up that drawer and just stare at it trying to see what I’m looking for. Here’s a simulated before shot. (Simulated because I had actually already emptied it and sorted the drawer so the normal chaos is definitely not represented!)

So I emptied the drawer out and sorted through the stuff. I gathered the things that could go to the thrift store and bagged them up. I checked the other drawers, the sink and the dishwasher to make sure I wasn’t missing anything and then I started organizing the remaining utensils. I sorted those piles into a somewhat logical arrangement. I knew I wanted the most frequently used items in the front of the drawer I also paid attention to the width of the utensils and was sure to put similar sized items in a column together so the construction of the dividers would be easier.

Then I used some thin birch plywood that we’ve been using for our Scrabble Tile Coasters to make the vertical dividers. I ended up making the horizontal spacers out of small pieces of red cedar. I used my brad nailer to connect the spacers and the dividers working from one side to the other. I put additional spacers that alternated openings on either end so that the dividers would be fixed on both ends of the drawer.

Then I put almost all of the utensils back in the drawer!

Clockwise from top left; bag clips and other oddballs, tongs, garlic presses & cheese cutter, more small oddballs, long oddballs, teaspoon & tablespoon measures, serving spoons, spatulas, pizza cutters and bottle stoppers, rubber and wood spatulas and our whisk.

A few things were moved to the adjacent drawer that has the spoons and forks. Primarily the wine corkscrews and bottle openers but also a pair of wooden salad servers that were just too big and bulky for anywhere. They join the kitchen scissors and the can opener. I also sorted through the drawer below the one I made this organizer for. It has utensils for the grill like large tongs and spatula, kabob skewers, cedar planks and other grilling stuff as well as our ladles and potato masher (that are too large to fit in the thinner top drawer) and fancy serving utensils – the kind of stuff you get out to serve salad when company is over.

I really liked working on tidying up that drawer. If only I could figure out how to better arrange the pots, pans, and lids or the collection of plasticware that always seems to end up losing lids…

Pepper and I have begun another round of the Game On Diet.  And tonight she’s packing up our meals for during the day tomorrow.  Thank you!

I received a Valentine’s Day goodie bag from the high school!  I have been working on a one minute long 80s remix for a cheerleader to use for a camp she’s going to.  I’m not charging for it.  But I got a nice goodie bag out of the deal!  Unfortunately, I’m trying to steer clear of sweets right now though.  That’s ok – they’ll keep!

The way to some men’s heart might be through their liver.  Pepper got me a great collection of Guinness for Valentine’s Day.  She arranged them in a heart shape with a red ribbon too!

Today marks one month of a concerted effort to eat better, drink bad things less, drink more water, exercise, sleep adequately… And there are definite results. Here’s a graph of my weight.

I dropped 11.5 pounds in 4 weeks. I have rebounded a little in the last few days. But weight isn’t the best measure of fitness. Yes, I had a goal of losing weight. I’m right about where I had originally hoped to be but would love to shed another 5 pounds. By the way, one pound of human fat is about 2 cups worth. Here’s a chart of my approximate body fat percentage over the past 3 weeks.

I’m happy to see that declining as well. But I definitely notice a difference in the fit of my pants. A long time ago I realized I was no longer a 32 but was a 33 or even 34 inch waist. Right now I suspect I could fit into the size 32s that I got rid of long ago. For now I’ll settle for cranking my belts one notch tighter when needed!