Car Organization

I am an incredibly messy person.  I'll be the first to admit it. When I lived in North Bay, I was the cleaning lady.  I remember when my roommates were all at school and I went on an intense cleaning spree that lead me to the cupboard under the sink.  Of course one of my roommates came home and asked me what I was doing, stating that the cupboard under the sink didn't need to be cleaned because "no one sees under there anyways!"  It was grungy!  The people who lived there before us probably hadn't ever cleaned it.  That being said, I don't know why, but my car and my bedroom just can't stay clean.  My room is covered with my clothes, and my car has everything from clothes to bottles to movies.  It's a mess.

Seeing as my car was getting seriously out of hand, I did what any sane person would do - I logged into Pinterest and typed "car organization" into the search box!  From the pins that popped up, I gathered a couple ideas I liked, and now present you with my totally clean, totally awesome, organized car!

But first!  A couple "before" pictures.

Yup, that's my passenger seat.  Good luck bumming a ride with me.

The back seat.  Yes, those are car mats, why I didn't put them on the floor where they belong, I'll never know.

The glove compartment, everyone's messiest cranny.

And the trunk.

There's really not much hope for organizing that trunk.  I consider having my tent, pillow, and sleeping bag with me to be an essential.  That fish tank, however?  It's about time I bring that into the house.  It's been going on rides with me since I got it from a friend last February.  And the booze?  Should probably take that out too.

So, in cleaning my car, I first took everything out and piled like things together.  Movies in one pile, clothes in another, garbage in the trash.  Looking at all this, we can see where the trouble lies and what I'll need solutions for.  Clearly, I need a garbage can.  And something for recycling.  And something to hold all my... things.  And that glove compartment... something needs to be done about that.  I need a hamper too, but I should probably just bring my clothes inside more often ;)  Anyone else feeling overwhelmed?!

This is everything that was in my car, excluding the trunk.  Yes, that is apple sauce.

And this is everything from my trunk.

So, the first solution I found, was for all of my knick knacks.  There's a couple versions floating around the internet of this handy organizer by Sew4Home, and I thought I'd try to make one myself.  This didn't work.  It was a disaster.  I cannot sew anything.  So, I went off to the big box store and got myself an over the door shoe hanger.  If you go to the car section, they have different types to fit your car, but they are much more expensive.  The only con to getting a door one is that it's too long.  I just cut it though, problem solved.

Now my hairspray, toothpaste, pencils, utensils, tampons, bandaids, and electronics all have a home!

Next I needed something for my garbage.  I had seen this idea of using an old plastic cereal container with a plastic bag in it, and, seeing as I had an unused one of those lying around I figured I'd give it a shot!  

I'm not really a big fan of it in the front seat though, it moves around too much.

And, lastly, the glove compartment storage.  Mine's not nearly as cute as Elementary Organization's is, but it's still the right idea.

Insurance papers, loyalty and gift cards that don't fit in my wallet, canadian tire money, take out menus.

It's a beautiful thing.

And for the finished product!  Drum roll please!

I hope this doesn't mean people are going to start asking me for rides...

So there was a floor!

Like I said, there wasn't much I could do here, but at least now everything I might ever need is at easy access.

Remember when I said earlier that I had felt overwhelmed?  It's really not that difficult to keep things clean, but I find myself in this situation far too often, as I'm sure many of you do.  Instead of putting things away as we go, or spending five minutes a day to tidy things up, we let things get out of hand.  The lesson here is to clean as you go, so you don't end up in stressful and overwhelming situations!  I'm just not sure I've learnt that lesson yet.

Cookies, Cookies, Cookies!

Once upon a time a pale, freckled, redheaded girl moved to North Bay for school.  No, not Pippi Longstocking or Anne of Green Gables!  That scared girl was me!  I had enrolled myself in Nipissing University's sociology program, and moved myself and all my worldly possessions 4 hours away from my home to start on a new journey.  It wasn't as easy as I thought though, and I found myself skipping school more and more, and spending my time at home.  Here I baked often, cookies, cakes, you name it, I'd bake it!  I tried my hand at mini lasagnas, tiered cakes, and even fondant!  I baked and baked, and my roomies loved coming home to find me baking (or cleaning!).  Alas, when I transferred back home and moved back in with Mom and Dad, the baking came to an end.  In North Bay I'd dance around the kitchen blaring my music and singing at the top of my lungs, but back at home I couldn't  do that anymore, because my mom worked from home.  This also meant that while I was baking, and generally making a mess, Mom would often come down and begin rampaging through the kitchen making a fuss about the flour on the counters and floor, and the batter splattered on the walls.  Baking lost it's appeal with a mother breathing down my neck.

I know, that's a lot of writing, and no one asked for my life story, right?  There is a point to this, I swear!  The thing is, I could, at one point, bake!  And I was darn good at it!  Times have changed.  I may have lost my touch.  I baked 3 different kinds of cookies today, and I'm not as pleased as I wish I were!  Granted, I was always more of a cake person, but cookies still shouldn't be so hard for me!  Well, I'll fill you in on all my mistakes in due time.

Game plan!

First up, Banana Rainbow Chip Cookies.  These cookies caused the most problems, simply because of my own absentmindedness.  I forgot the eggs!!  As I rolled them into balls, and patted them into cookies, I thought that they didn't feel moist enough, but I had followed the instructions, so it must be right!  I had them in the oven for about ten minutes, and they still weren't looking like cookies, so I double checked what I had written down, and, sure enough, I had forgot to write down to add 2 eggs!  Despite what my mother suggested (which was to throw the whole batch out!) I decided to dump the slightly cooked cookies back into the bowl, along with the ones that hadn't been cooked yet, and put the two eggs in, mixed them up, and tried again.  It actually worked out alright!  I overcooked the second batch by a little bit though, I forgot that they needed to cool down a bit in order not to break apart...

Piggy Joe thinks the batter's quite tasty!

But it wasn't quite right - it wasn't nearly moist enough.  Oh ya! Eggs!

Crinkled cookies

Overcooked batch on the left, good batch on the right

Next, Cake Batter Pudding Cookies.  This recipe calls for yellow cake mix.  I don't know about you, but I have never seen yellow cake mix, and, to make matters worse, I forgot to write it down on my shopping list, so this morning I was running around town trying to find some!  First I went to Shoppers Drug Mart, where they only had white.  Then I went to BulkBarn, where, once again, they only had white.  Then I tried the Superstore, which was a feat in itself seeing as I try to avoid that place as much as possible due to the long lines and the fact that their debit machines are usually broken.  ANYWAYS,  ranting aside, I found golden cake mix, and assumed that that was the Canadian equivalent to yellow cake mix.  This recipe made quite a few!  Here they are all piled up.

Perfectly baked, slightly golden!

Last I tried my hand at these Strawberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies.  This provided me with another Canadian obstacle though... I've never seen strawberry cake mix!  I wanted these cookies though, so I had to find a way to improvise, and I came up with the idea to mix a box of strawberry Jell-o with a box of white cake mix.  I had no idea how it would work, but I had high hopes.  Just think about the possibilities if this recipe works!  Grape cookies! Blueberry cookies!  Any Jell-o flavour could now be a cookie flavour!  And it worked!  It really did!  I'd probably add more white chocolate chips in the future, but the cookie itself turned out!  A word to the wise, though, these cookies expand like crazy!  They get huge!

I loved the color, the Jell-o really made for something special!  I wish

I had a little girl to bake for!

And then it expanded and they all stuck together!  They did come apart

after though, thankfully.

All in all, I was in the kitchen for a good couple hours but, really, there's nothing better than seeing people enjoying something that you put your blood, sweat, and tears into (well, your eggs, milk, and vegetable oil).

Alright, so I have an addiction to Piggy Joes.  And now you also

know that I can't make a good shaped cookie patty.

Cookie pile!

As a bonus I made some Rice Crispies, because, well, who doesn't love Rice Crispies?

Parmesan Baked Egg

Sounds like a delicious, wholesome breakfast, doesn’t it?  I love parmesan, (and any cheese, for that matter!) and what better way is there begin my day off than with a breakfast with a little flavour?  Most mornings I have a bagel with a melted slice of cheese, or some overnight oatmeal.  Both are tasty, but don’t require much effort and lack some flavour!  So I took my grumbling belly to Pinterest and found this delectable looking dish curtesy of Pinch of Yum. 

Well, unfortunately I’m not much of a cook.  I can make noodles, but that’s about it.  Regardless, I decided to give this one a whirl.  Problems started early, first I broke one of the yolks, then I cooked my green onion for too long.  Then I cooked the whole thing too long!  She even warns of the timing, but despite her better judgement, I let the eggs cook longer since they looked too runny for me.

If you like yolk, leaving them in a couple minutes longer won’t harm you.  That second dish there was for my mom, and she wasn’t complaining.  I, however, am not a big fan of the yellow stuff.  I confess that I only like to dip my toast into it, which I couldn’t do with this dish.  You’ll also notice the burnt green onion and spice mixtures on the top – again, I’m no chef!

All in all, I’d say this is a good pin for anyone who can do some basic cooking!  For myself, I might want to stick to oatmeal and bagels.

In other news I have a whole bunch of baking I plan on doing during my day off tomorrow.  Went and bought all the ingredients this evening, so expect some cookie posts soon!